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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1910)
lO THE 3IORMXG OREGOXIAX, TITTTRSDAT. JULY 21, 1910. POHTLiXD, OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oraion. Fostofflee as Subscription Batn In-rartably In Advance. (BI MAIL). Oaily. Sunday Included. six month".... Daily, Sunday Included, three month".. 2.25 Dally. SundRT Included, one month.... !? IJallv lth.. c i ' , C Y, 8.25 Dally, without Sunday, three month"... i-ja DallV. Wlliimit a,lnv month.... .00 weekly, one year i" "'. one year f Uunday and weekly, one year 0 (Br Carrior). . Pally, Sunday Included, one year...... 22 Jjally, Sunday Included, on month.... -73 . How to Remit Send Postofflce money or fr. express order or personal check on your local bank. Etamps. coin or currency are at the sender's rlek. Give Fostofftce address In run. Including county and state. Postase Bate" 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent: Is 2S Pa". 2 cent"; SO to 40 pales. 8 cent": K to 60 paea, a cents. Foreign postage double rate. rn Business Office The 8- C. BeeX with fapeclal Agency New Tork, room" 48 ? T"bu building. Chicago, rooms 610 012 Tribune building. FOKTLAM), THURSDAY, JITLV gl, 110. IHE ASSEMBLY'S OPPORTUNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY. Today's Republican assembly in Portland Is the first representative conference of the party of Oregon in six years. It is the largest represent ative iinfpnnA nf naptv VAp ritftlri In the etate. Disruption of party through unguided plurality primaries and mi nority nominations have presented the need of remedies so strongly that conference has been called of party delegates from all the counties. The two chief objects of the conference ere, xirat, Ltr ueime jjany itKjiitxsa ouu, second, to name candldaets who shall be acceptabla to majority members of the party. The advantage of no one group of party members nor that of any candi date should guide today's delibera tions. This is not a time for 'lining tip" support for faction or candidate. It is a time for men to reason to gether; to review the past and think to devise ways for rational party or ganization; to submerge factional dis putes and to call fittest men to seek nomination in the primaries. It should be more important to the assembly who these men shall be than to par ticular aspirants for office. A political party has. the right to determine within its own organiza tion who Its candidates shall be. This principle has been enunciated recently In forceful manner by Roosevelt, Hughes and Taft. It means that the Republican party of Oregon has full right to determine, by means of to day's assembly and September's pri maries, who shall be its chosen can didates. The spirit and conscience of two thirds the voting citizenship of Ore gon of Republicans are represented In this gathering. Else the call for assembly would not have found such Immediate response throughout the commonwealth. This conference can nark a turning point in political af fairs of Oregon. It can begin a new epoch. The responsibility and the op portunity are great. The assembly is expected to rise to full realization of both. MR. JOHXSON AS A FINANCIER. Much current comment appears in the press touching the financial astu elty of Mr. Johnson. AVe mean, of course, the particular Mr. Johnson whom future historians and epic poets will mention as the glory of the negro race and the champion who laid low the hope of the whites. When a wor shiper Inquired what he intended to do with the 1163.000 he made by his prowess at Reno, Mr. Johnson replied that he would invest it in Government bonds. "They don't bring so much," he sapiently commented, "but they's gilt-edged." Fo.tunately this eminent personage Is in a position where he can pay more attention to security than to the rate of Interest. The sum of $168,000 Js enough to produce a comfortable subsistence at 2 per cent unless one's tastes are more luxurious than ath letic. Many less famous mortals are not so happily situated. To them the Income which their Investments will produce is a matter of prime moment and many are so eager to obtain an rxtra $10 or $20 a year that they risk their principal for the sake of it. Our colored luminary Is wiser. The problem of safe and productive Investments for small capitalists is one that has not yet been solved in the United States. Our financial geniuses have been so occupied with other subjects that they have not given their minds to it. Whether the other subjects to which they have seen fit to devote their attention were more Important than this one or not Is a question which deserves consid eration. Several European nations liave made the financial interests of the small investor a matter of pro found study and careful legislation. They have found it possible to obtain for him a fair rate of interest on his money with complete security. Con cerning big capitalists, they have not been so anxious on the supposition that these people are competent to look out for themselves. Here it is the little fish who are told to swim as they may while the anxious care of the Government Is devoted to the whales. Which policy is the wiser. time will tell. The United States is full of schemes for separating ignorant people from their money which would not be tol erated in France, England or Ger many. Persons who have not studied finance with assiduity have no way to distinguish between dishonest and reliable investments when both kinds are advertised in similar language. The consequence Is that dishonesty thrives and habits of saving are dis couraged. Happily, there is now a movement of wide extent to educate the general public concerning invest ments and save the simple from the wiles of the swindler. Many periodi cals publish financial articles every week which are truly educative. They appeal to the man of ordinary Intelligence as well as to the special ized capitalist and doubtless have helped to save many from ruinous Investments. Something more Is needed, however. The United States would profit largely by establishing some financial institu tion like the French credit fonder which deals in mortgage loans and Investments on a scale which is Adapted to the means of very humble people. We do not mean that the Oovernment ought to undertake this business, but that It offers an inviting field to private enterprise of unim- peachable Integrity. I Here Is the Ancient Order of Hi bernians holding an assembly. In Oregon, too, where assemblies are "unlawful." It Is a good week for as semblies, though. The Irish couldn't be kept apart, or separated, with a, shillela'h. "BALLOT TITLE" KYI LH. Ballot titles of Oregon's thirty-two Initiative and referendum measures have been prepared by the Attorney General. These titles purport to give the gist of each bill. By them the mass of the voters will Judge the re spective measures when "legislating" in the election booth. Yet these titles do not tell the de tails and particulars that should be taken into account in lawmaking. They give voters no fair knowledge of whether the proposed "measures should become laws or not. They never do even in a lawmaking assem bly. Constitutions of every state for bid reading of bills on final passage in Legislatures by title; they compel reading of bills In full. Yet on final passage in the election booth there is no reading of bills in full; only by title. The titles give -no idea of the Inner merit of the eight county bills, nor of conflicting boundaries, nor of local needs and interests. They tell noth ing of the vicious contents of the so called employers' liability bill. They dress up In fine words the pet fads of URen. They utterly mislead as to the constitutional amendments en tax ation. The title of the woman suf frage amendment flatly misstates the purpose of the measure by represent ing it as "granting to all taxpayers, regardless of sex, the right of suf frage," whereas Instead it grants the right of suffrage to all women citizens of 21 years, regardless of whether they are taxpayers or not. These shortcomings are due to the limited carrying capacity of the few words that compose the title of a bill. The Attorney seems to have done his best, except as to the woman suffrage amendment, whose title he certainly should have made true to the purpose of the measure. It Is manifestly im possible for. a title, containing but 100 words, to cover completely a measure carrying several thousand words. A title cannot do this in assembly law making, nor can it in election-booth lawmaking. Most "legislators" in the latter case will listen only to the fair sounding title an act that constitu tions forbid to delegated lawmakers. This is one of the many reasons why "direct" legislation is a menace to the public interest. Yet ITRen and Bourne aver that the "direct" method should be substituted for that of legis lative assembly. TUB YEAR'S FOREIGN TRADE. Whatever, misgivings may be felt over the liberal decrease in that "bal ance of trade" which represents the difference between what we sell to foreign countries and what they buy of us will be softened by the details of our foreign commerce for the fis cal year ending June 30. The figures of the Bureau of Statistics show total exports of $1,744,966,203 and Imports of $1,557,854,854, thus leaving a bal ance in our favor of $187,111,349. This excesBS of exports over imports Is the smallest that has been reported since 1896, although the total amount of exports and imports is, with the single exception of 1907, the largest on record. The shrinkage in the "balance of trade" was almost wholly due to a falling off in exports of food stuffs and heavy Increases in imports of materials used In manufacturing. These figures quite unmistakably show that an increasing army of workers in our factories is supplying a home market for large quantities of food stuffs which were formerly ex ported to Europe. The import figures also reflect the increased demand for materials to be worked up into fin ished products in this country. De tails on each commodity are not yet available for the entire year, but for the eleven months ending May 31, a decrease of $67,000,000 in foodstuffs exported was more than offset by a gain of more than $93,000,000 in "manufactures in partly finished state," and manufactures ready for consumption. To supply employment for our factory hands who in turn supplied the Increased home demand for foodstuffs, it was necessary great ly to increase the importations of raw and partly finished material, needed In this country. In hides and skins there was an increase of $36,000,000. The enor mous growth of the automobile indus try is reflected in an increase in the imports of rubber of $40,000,000 over the imports for the preceding year. Iron ore, chemicals, drugs, fibers, leather and numerous other commod ities needed in manufacturing all showed heavy increases over the pre ceding eleven months. This great economic change may not meet with the approval of the theorists who be lieve that our greatest prosperity lies In an enormous balance of trade cre ated by selling so much more to the foreigners than they sell to us. A close analysis of the various features of the year's business will, however, reveal a condition far from unsatis factory. When our manufacturing industries reach the point where they can employ enough people to consume all of the foodstuffs at home, the im mense sums now paid for freighting the surplus to foreign countries will all be saved. RBHSKO THE BTBLE. Irrespective of their religious opin ions, all readers will be interested in the proposed publication next May of a new and revised edition of the Eng lish Bible. It is Intended to signalize in this way the 300th anniversary of the authorized, or King James' ver sion. The work is to be done under the supervision of Oxford University, but many distinguished scholars of this country and Canada will partici pate. No extensive changes will be made in the text of the King James version. The purpose is mainly to substitute modern words for those which have become obsolete and pos sibly to correct some of the mistrans lations which deface more or less seri ously the received version. Very likely there is no danger that the spurious passages will be excised from the New Testament so that those who base their religious hopes on these texts need not fear for their sta bility. The revised version, which was prepared some years ago by a band of competent scholars, never has be come as popular as might have been expected from its surpassing merits No doubt the reason may be found in the slashing changes It made in cer tain much-loved passages. In Paul's famous 18th chapter of Corinthians, for instance, the bold revisers substi tuted "love" for the Tiythmlc "char ity." Many pious believers were also repelled because "hell" was replaced here and there by some such expres sion as "Hades." It is extremely doubtful whether any revision of the Bible is desirable. Ac curacy in translation is a subject which interests nobody but. scholars, and they can make their own trans lations. To the great public the Bible is a monument of English literature, fully as much so as Lear or Robinson Crusoe, and it is difficult to convince readers that they have not been im posed upon when any alteration is made in the accustomed phraseology. The plea that it is a religious docu ment as well as a work of literary genius does not amount to much. No body can be expected to alter his re ligious opinions merely because a Bcore of learned revisers see fit to correct the language of a text, and if opinion will not be affected by verbal changes, why go to the trouble of making them? The fact of the matter Is that any alteration in the language of Scrip ture., however guarded, tends to shock religious faith and unsettle the con victions of the plain people. To them the Bible Just as it reads, with all its defects, errors and spurious passages, is Inspired by the Almighty. Either, it is impiety to alter, the language of the Bible or else the doctrine of its inspiration, as this doctrine is under stood by the multitude, must be aban doned. And when ytu Impair popular faith In the literary work of the Crea tor where are you going to stop ? Bet ter let the obsolete words stand and preserve popular theology from the shock of novelty. OREGON'S BISV TAX COMMISSION. Last week the Oregon Tax Commis sion C. V. Galloway and J. B. Eaton members issued a letter to County Assessors telling them it is their law ful duty to list .mortgage notes on as sessment rolls for purposes of taxa tion. The Commission was plain in Its Instructions and read the law to the Assessors. This week the Commission backs away from those instructions, saying they were not "mandatory," but "ad visory," for the purpose of equalizing state taxes between counties that as sess mortgage notes and those that do not. This is mere quibble of words and evasion of responsibility. The Com mission could have no other object, in last week's letter than taxation of mortgage notes. Else why should the Commission take up the subject at all? Effort to tax loans of money is absurd and foolhardy. The Commission did not, obviously, foresee the consequences of its letter to County Assessors. After hearing the protests against its action, the Commission says it leaves the whole matter to discretion of Asses sors. That is where the matter has rested heretofore, yet for state "equal ization" "the State Commission has not needed assessment of mortgages. Tax officials in the State Capitol are getting their eye-teeth cut. Having been called to their present jobs for political qualifications instead of for knowledge of tax business, they are learning as they go along. It is pleasing to see that since last week they have learned a useful lesson about mortgage tax. This threat of mortgage tax has been felt by borrowers already. Mort gage notes and contracts hereafter made will certainly fix upon borrow ers the obligation of paying this in crement whenever levied. Most of them already carry this requirement. ANOTHER GlESS COMING. There is a slight decline in the birth rate in Kansas, as shown by the vital statistics for 1908-1909. A statistician heretofore unknown to fame comes forward with the accusing cry that the growing popularity of the automobile is to blame for this showing. The fact, known to everybody, that the birth rate is kept up by parents whose financial condition does not warrant the ownership of automobiles disposes of this theory. In point of fact, the women who bear children (not an oc casional child, but children in regular rotation, until families of from six to ten are acquired) take little note of automobiles, except to keep their little ones out of the way of rapidly-driven machines. They would as soon think of riding in or owning an aeroplane. The relatively few women who go speed crazy do not belong to the class about whose homes little children swarm, with their small demands upon the time of the mother and the revenue-producing abilities of the father. Clearly, therefore, the Kansas statistician will have to guess again in his endeavor to account for the short age in the baby crop In his state last year. After all, the birth rate in Kansas showed a diminution of but slightly over 2000 not a "startling reduction in view of the fact that many enter prising Kansans removed from that state to the Pacific Northwest last year and are yet to hear from. AMERICAN INDIAN IN HISTORY. On June 27 an International Con gress of Indians was held at Mus kogee, Okla., to which went repre sentatives of every tribe in the United States and some from Canada and Mexico. A year 'before there assem bled in the Valley of the Little Big Horn, in Montana, the aged and emi nent chiefs frorr nearly every prom inent reservation In the country. A striking and sorrewhat pathetic spec tacle was presented of an old-time Indian council. There was a primi tive camp of old-time tepees and moving in and out among them were the chieftains, dressed in the full rega lia of savagery. Moving pictures were taken of them that will be preserved as a historical portrayal of a sturdy and fast disappearing race, each chap ter of whose history since the advent of the white man upon the American continent has been replete with ro mance and tragedy. Human above everything else, the race has resisted at every point the advance of civilzation. There is many a tale of tragedy in connection with this passing that never has been told and never can be. Not all of these tales. If told, would redound to the credit of the red man. Upon his side there has been treachery and cruelty and blood thlrstiness, often vented upon unresisting helplessness and slaked upon the blood of the Innocent. In support of the spirit of reprisal that bade the Indian, if he could not strike the right one, to strike any member of the hated race of the pale face, deeds of murder and acts of atro city were done. But he is passing; he will soon have passed, and the estimate of his faults will give place in story to the events that caused them to over shadow his many really admirable traits of character, chief of which were bravery, endurance and loyalty to his tribesmen in peace, and to his race in stress of war. The names of Massasolt and King Philip and Tecumseh, of Joseph and Moses and Geronimo and of number less others, who dogged the footsteps of civilization from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, are in evidence of these racial traits. As estimated by Ridpath, the most striking character istics of the race were "a certain sense of personal independence, wil fulness of action and freedom from restraint." Upon this basis it is no wonder that the race has retired slow ly and vengefully before the advance of civilization, making a desperate stand wherever possible, and marshal ing the forces of savagery to its aid when hard pressed. These things are matters of history, yet they have so far receded from the present that the glamor of romance has fallen over them. Especially on the Eastern bor der the Indian has come to be lauded for what was noble in his nature and pitied for his savage characteristics. To preserve and commemorate that which especially pertains to the North American Indian, in a racial sense, as evolved from his contact with the white man, a movement was inaugu rated several years ago by Rodman Wanamaker, of Philadelphia, and others for the erection of a National memorial on some Government reser vation in New York on a site to be selected by the Secretaries of War and the Navy. Other memorials represent ing state, rather than National hisory or sentiment, have been erected in various places. In Portland's City Park are "The Coming of the White Man," and the statue of "Sacajawea." Others representing the massacre of settlers are found in many localities, one on the Muskingum River, in Ohio, above Marietta, telling a tale of horror equal in its line to that told by the Custer monument in Montana. In spite of all this, a recent writer, who has been studying the history of the North' American Indian from the viewpoint of pity and admiration, says: "When the last member of the race shall have folded his blanket about him and passed over the Great Divide, we shall remember the Indian tag brave, loyal, self-sacrificing and honor able to a marked degree." Distance may lend this enchantment to the review of Indian history. But whether it does' or n6t, the act of Congress whereby a National me morial will be raised to the Indian is commendable, since he certainly has been often in the foreground of the history of the occupation and settle ment of the North American con tinent by the white man. It is unfortunate for a. large number of citizens of the thriving town of Gresham that the short-sighted policy of a few property-owners has forced the Mount Hood Railroad to change its route so that the corporate limits of the city will be missed by about two miles. The attempt of this road to secure, on reasonable terms, right of way and depot grounds at Gresham was not different from that of other transportation companies in - various parts of the Pacific Northwest. Land which has been practically worthless for years, and which would, without railroad facilities, remain so, on the approach of the railroad suddenly be comes so enormously valuable that the roads are in many cases obliged to make a wide detour in order to secure the right of way at a reason able figure. The worst feature of these hold-up games is that broad minded, liberal property owners are obliged to suffer for the avarice of their neighbors. Tacoma has secured the latest thea ter to be erected by Klaw & Erlanger. According to a dispatch from the City of Destiny, it is to be fully as elab orate an affair as any of the others which the "personal representative of Klaw & Erlanger" has been building around the Pacific Northwest. "Klaw & Erlanger now have the Northwest well in hand and developments will be fast," says the versatile representative. Having the situation "well in hand" is not a new expression. One of England's greatest Generals had the Boer war situation "well in hand" for so many months that the British war chest was as empty as a drum, and the soldiers were almost barefoot from running away from the Boers, while the General was "leading them on." Can it be that Messrs. K. & E. are simply leading the trust-busters on with this fine line of conversational theaters? The suicide carefully planned and deliberately executed in the City Park some days ago was that of a man who had lived forty-five years to so little purpose that he did not see the incon gruity of marriage with a young girl of nineteen. Because he could not persuade her to . overlook this dis crepancy between youth and age he took his own life, not rashly but de liberately, accounting life as without value to him. In point of fact the world loses ' nothing when a man who refuses to learn the simplest les sons of life grows tired at middle age and voluntarily quits living. There is this to be said in behalf of this indi vidual, however: the pistol used to ac centuate his weariness of life was turned only against himself. The young woman was permitted to live In the enjoyment of the common sense with which kind nature had en dowed her. Now Thomas J. Cleeton, who was a candidate for County Judge before the county assembly, refuses to be bound by that body's action and bolts. Of course. That's Cleeton. He was not recommended by the assembly because the assembly knew him and his rec ord and would not and could not trust him. The campaign of 1895 and the betrayal of Senator. Dolph by Cleeton are not forgotten. Twelve hundred Republicans from all over Oregon ought to know what the party wants and to be en titled to speak for it. Their assembly today makes it clear, after all, that there Is a Republican party. The inspiration of the "non-partisan" judiciary movement is a con certed effort by interested lawyers to keep on the bench the present Demo cratic judges. That is how "non-partisan" it is. Across the peninsula at Vancouver they are taking steps to hold a. county fair this Fall. By all means arrange fora Portland day and see how large a delegation we shall send. Oregon Is a law-abiding state. South of the Ohio River, that Pullman por ter wouldn't have lasted sixty seconds, whether he did it or not WHY TRY TO TAX MONEY AT ALL! Candid Plea for Exemption of Notes. Aeeemnts and Cenrh. CORVALLIS. Or, July 17. (To the Editor.) The Oregonian's editorial to day, "The Folly of Mortgage Tax" is timely and to the point. During four years, just prior to the repeal of the mortgage tax law, Benton County ac cumulated $47,000 delinquent mortgage taxes. This $47,000 the county never received. But the county paid the state about $8000 slate taxes, that being the state's proportion of the delinquent tax on mortgages during that time. It was much the same in other counties. The balance of the property paid dou ble and unequal tax to that amount, in plain violation of section 1, article 9, of the Oregon constitution, which provides that "the legislative assembly shall provide by law for uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation. And shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a Just valuation for tax ation of all property, both real and personal" . . . (excepting exempt property). What the county failed to collect one year the overburdened tax payers made up next year. That is one effect of trying to tax intangible personal assets. Out of over $100,000,000 on deposit in the banks within the State of Ore gon, In 1909, the assessors found for purposes of taxation less than $13,000, 000, of which $11,000,000 was in Mult nomah and Marion Counties and in cluded the notes and accounts of those counties. And likewise on taxation of notes and accounts the proportion was not far different. The effort to find such assets for taxation results in great injustice to such persons as are sur prised into including in their property lists this species of assets. e e e I would like to call attention to the article of the constitution referred to. The state tax commission, which is supposed to be composed of experts in such matters (and its deliverances sure ly prove it, don't they?) appears to pay particular attention to making "Nick Carters," or "Old Sleuths" of County Assessors in ferreting out money, notes, and accounts, and to pay much less attention to the real spirit and the plain letter of that constitu tional provision which guarantees a uniform and equal rate of taxation. The taxation of money, notes and ac counts operates, and always has operat ed, to secure an unequal rate and a not uniform scale of taxation and every person, every assessor, and every in stitution handling money and its rep resentatives well knows this. The tan gible property lands, houses, live stock, etc. always pays for this blunder whenever an assessor eager to make a record undertakes to find the money, notes and accounts. It immediately leads to subterfuge, evasion, conceal ment on the part of a class of tax payers. It is a direct premium on dis honesty according to the Tax Com mission's interpretation of -the law. But, fortunately, the Assessors and the people generally recognize that in terpretation of the law which the Tax Commission has failed to discover, and by almost unanimous consent does not regard these Intangible assets as law fully suDject to taxation. The unani mous will of the population upon any given subject interprets the constitu tion In accordance with that will, an?. when at variance results in constitu tional amendments. The sooner the Legislature recognizes this will of the taxpayers of Oregon and declares no tax on money, notes and accounts, the better it will be for Oregon. The pres ent law keeps vast quantities of capi tal from Oregon which the state and its undeveloped resources need. The City of Los Angeles alone has more money on deposit in its banks than all the banks in Oregon combined. m But for purposes of assessment, to go a step further, what Is money? When one says he. has money in a bank, Is that strictly true? I think not. Dur ing 1909, the Benton County banks re ported a combined deposit of about $1,000,000. But was the money actual ly in Benton County? The reports pub lished do not show it was in Benton County. They report certain specie, certain currency. Approximately 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the deposits or something like that, and that is a high percentage of actual money. The money itself; where is it? As a matter of fact, there is no such an amount of money in existence as the combined bank deposits the world over repre sent, and every financier knows it. That being the case your Assessor seizes one man's ready cash for pur poses of taxation, and that man is pay ing almost exactly that proportion more tax than others who do not place their money in his sight. Out of $1,000,000 on deposit in Benton County last year $28,000 was given in to the Assessor! Is comment necessary furth er to illustrate the futility, the abso lute ridiculousness of undertaking to make a few taxpayers bear an unequal burden of taxation on this account? The people who entertain the views here expressed owe it to themselves and to the purity of our state laws to demand of every candidate for election to either house of the Legislature a pledge to vote to repeal any laws which seem to require money, notes or ac counts to be taxed. see When a rattle-snake strikes a man it causes his blood to coagulate so it will not circulate In his veins, and un less something is done to counteract this the man dies. Taxation of money, notes and accounts does in a lesser de gree to the free and untrammeled cir culation of money about the same thing that rattle-snake poison does to a man, and as a result Oregon has always been avoided by outside capi tal. Worse even, our local capital Itself goes to other states, with more liberal laws, for investment. These are facts well known to most people who have much to do with money, and to some who do not. It would be well to look closely to what kind of material goes into the Legis lature, that such evils may not be too long continued. J. H. WILSON. Panama Shoes Quite the Thins:. Boston Traveler. "Have you seen my new Panamas?" "There is nothing new under the sun," says an old adage: but did you ever hear of panama shoes? Well, they are here, but not with bells. Plain in the ex treme. Most women will have them this Summer. They may be bought for $10 or $30. - For some time large consignments of panama hats received by a large Lynn shoe firm have caused comment. Was there not enough money in the shoe business and was the firm going to sell hats? was but one of the queries. But now the mystery has been solved. The carloads' of hats which have been re ceived are being turned into shoes. The shoes, so the fashion notes say, are to be the real thing this . Summer, but not only the women. The only pleas ure the men will derive from the new novelty is to dig for the necessary 10 or 20 spot. The shoes are to have leather soles, with the uppers made entirely of panama straw. Atlantic City's Latest. Boston Globe. A newspaper paragraph says that fat women are rolling on the sands at At lantic City to decrease their girth, but because of pressing duties it is impossible for us to make a trip to Atlantic City now. Civil Service for Cows. Buffalo Express. The Department of Agriculture will conduct a model dairy farm in Maryland. Now is the time for cows aiming to get a situation there to prepare for trie Civil Service examination. DEMOCRATIC NON - PARTISANSHIP Logic of the Nomination of a Non partisan Judiciary. PORTLAND, July 20. (To the Edi tor.) The assembly of non-partisan lawyers which has nominated a ticket of non-partisans for the four places on the State Supreme Court to be filled at the November election declares in its platform: "We believe the non-partisan selec tion of the judiciary will tend to ele vate the dignity and independence of the courts and that the plan adopted by us will enable the voters of the state, without political obstruction or interference, to select candidates for Judicial offices rather upon their merits and qualifications as judges than upon their political affiliations or the strength of the parties to whloh they belong." And then, on the heels of this bom bastic pronunciamento this "non-partisan" assemblage of lawyers, none of whom, it Is to be inferred, belongs to any political party, proceeds unani mously to nominate the Identical judges who are now on the bench by virtue of the operation of the very system which the assemblage condemns! e . If the "operation of political parties" for almost a generation succeeded in keeping Judges McBride and Moore on the state and supreme bench, where does the "elevation of the character of the bench" come in by the nomination of both of them for another term? Why pass high-sounding resolutions declaring by assumption that a con dition exists which loudly calls for re form by reason of the continuance of certain men on the bench by political parties and then proceed to 'nominate the very same men for re-election? If tweedledum has made a mess of a certain. thing, why oracularly call pub lic attention to the fact that you are going to prevent a repetition of the mistake by inaugurating tweedledee as a new force when it is universally ad mitted that there's no difference "twixt tweedledum and tweedledee? If Judges McBride, Moore and Cle tand have heretofore been unfit Judges by reason of their being Republicans, why are they named for re-election at all? And if they have made efficient and satisfactory Judges where- is the need for this stilted cry for a "re formed Judiciary?" Everybody knows that Judges King, Slater and Gatens were named for the positions they now hold because they were Democrats. Governor Chamber lain appointed them solely and ad mittedly because they were Democrats in order, as he claimed, that we might have a "non-part'san judiciary." But why select Democrats unless it is for the reason that it is expected they will counteract in their decisions the parti san attempts of the Republicans to give political color to their findings? Why does the presence on the bench of a Democratic judge make it non partisan unless his pronounced Demo cracy asserts itself to "stand off" the Republicanism of the Republican Judges? , If they do not use their belief in the creed of the Democratic party to offset the appearance of Republican tendencies in the decisions of their col leagues, what has been gained by the selection of Democratic Judges at all? And if Judges Moore. McBride and Cleland were worthy of recommenda tion for re-election, being Republicans and having made splendid records and worthy of unanimous indorsement, what need to fear from the presence of two or three more like them? And since Judges King, Slater and Gatens . are recommended for re-election because they are Democrats, it was of course so ordered -because with out this recommendation it was feared their places would be filled by Repub licans and since. therefore, it is a movement to . see to it that a few Democrats are given judicial positions it follows that It Is a distinctive parti san movement In the Interest of the Democratic psrty of the state ss sll so-called non-psrtlsan movements hsve been for several years past. Further, if the lawyers as a class are better fitted to name candidates for ludlcial positions, as they openly claim themselves to be by reason of their familiarity with court business, why are they also not better fitted to elect them without the intervention of other classes of voters, who are quite as apt to spoil ths choice at the polls in November as at the polls in the pri mary nominating election? It is an old fashioned notion, even yet quite gener ally held, that decidedly the most inter ested person in any kind of litigation is the party to the suit himself not even excepting the lawyer and that he should have the widest possible freedom in the selection of the man who shall preside at his trial; but this latest phase of the "non-partisan" movement in Oregon, admittedly 'n the Interest of the Democratic party, and, therefore, flagrantly partisan in its essence, takes for its fundamental Justification the assumption that the parties most directly concerned in the results of a judicial opinion shall have the least to say as to the character of the man who shall deliver It! e e Finally, this cry for "non-partisanship" has been the main stay of the movement which has stealthily but by regular degrees fed the Democratic party of the state until the Republicans are disorganized and utterly at sea. It is now to be seen if the State As sembly, which has been called -to turn the tide, if possible, will seriously give heed to the latest manifestation of the effort to elect Democrats to high official position lest, without it, as is odmitted by its sponsors, the purely Democratic partisan movement might otherwise fall. T. T. GEER. One Weak; Spot In the Scheme. Newark News. "You ougnt to have your ear equipped with demountable rims," said an auto mobile man to Richard C. Jenklnson, the other day. "All you have to do is carry an extra rim with inflated tiro. In case of a puncture it can be easily at tached by a 12-year-old child in two minutes." "Yes," said Mr. Jenklnson. "but the trouble is always to find the 12-year child." Why Boys Are Brave. Brooklyn Life. To his teacher's request that he give the class ideas on the subject of "Brav ery," little Johnny delivered himself of the following: "Some boys is brave beeause they al ways plays with little boys, and some boys is brave because their legs Is too short to run away, but moat boys is brave because somebody's lookin"." Amateurs at the Game. Puck." "Ths proudest boast of the old-time robber barons was that they never robbed a poor man." "Those fellows. were amateurs at the game," explained the great captain of In dustry, "and didn't understand how much money there was in It." China's Predicament. Providence Journal. It begins to look as If, when China wakes up. she will find the bed so crowded as to make it difficult for her to turn over without raising a rumpus with ths parties on either side. What He Had. Pittsburg Post "Well. I think the doctor is about through with me. Told me my ailment is practically cured." "What did you haver "Two hundred dollars, originally." OREGON INVITING FOREST FIRES. Carelessness Along the Tillamook Road That May Spell Disaster. PORTLAND, July 19. (To the Editor.) The Oregonian publishes an account of the great loss of life and property in the states of Washington and Idaho by forest fires, and in nearly all cases caused by the careless work of man. Our State of Oregon, so far this season, has escaped any dangerous or expensive forest fires, but the country is very dry, and ws are having our usual northwest winds. If every precaution is not used. Oregon, will suffer from man's careless ness. The writer has just returned from Tilla mook over the Wilson River road. Along that road in the timber belt, the timber owners have five men acting as lire war dens whose duties are carefully to watch for fire, and should fire break out at any point to get men qinckly as possible , and subdue it. thus protecting ths tim ber. The expense of this is borne by the timber owners alone: they get no help from county, state or Government. On this same road, Tillamook County has a crew of men repairing and build ing roads. They are cutting logs and brush and piling "up great windrows of inflammable material along the county wagon road, a main thoroughfare be tween Forest Grove and Tillamook City. The stub of a cigar or cigarette thought lessly thrown by a passenger on the stage might cause a lire whose damage no one could guess. Tillamook: county has one of the largest and finest bodies of timber that the sun shines on, a body of timber that draws the attention of the greatest financiers of the country. They realize the great future value of this Immense tract of virgin forest and are trying to protect it from fire. . The Hill and the Harriman Interests have heard of this great timber belt and want ths carrying of it to the consuming market and are rushing railroads into it as fast as men can do the work, but the people of Tillamook who will reap ths largest benefit from the timber do not seem to realize that they have any Interest In the timber. . They do not make any effort to save it. but. on the contrary., are increasing the fire hazard as fast, and as much as they can. The State of Oregon has a fire law.. There is a penalty for setting out fires during the dry season, but there fs no law and no way to stop the cutting and piling of brush along the public highway, where in a few hours of hot sun and wind it gets dry as powder and will burn Just as quickly. Cannot something be done to prevent this work? The writer personally spoks to the man In charge of the work and cautioned him against the danger of fire. His reply was. "Oh. if anyone is mean enough to set the timber on fire they will go out in the woods and set it." He could not see where there was any hazard in the work he was doing. The writer does not believe there is anyone mean enough maliciously to set the timber on fire. It Is making the fire trap or .the inflammable heap, and the careless or thoughtless one who does the damage. P. S. BRUMBY. OLD EVIL IN "DIRECT SYSTEM" If People Cant Elect Good Lawmakers How Elect Good Laws? Aberdeen Wor'd. People know enough to make their own laws, contend Government faddists. Possibly and perhaps. Considering the quality of some Legislatures and legis lators, the argument would appear to be good. But do the people cars? In view of their indifference in the mat ter of se'ection of publio officers an indifference that extended so far that they surrendered control of their af fairs to bosses and ward politicians and were forced to devise a means of re gaining it is it supposable that they will pay any attention to laws? That they will give such laws such study and attention that laws deserve? True, not enough study and attention attend legislation in Legislatures, and it is also true that law-making In such bodies is largely a case of compromise,, but more care Is devoted to laws than would be the case were the people to enact acts by direct vote. Exper.ence in a Bister state shows that the peoote do nt know hart the time, what they are voting for. The evstem is cumbersome, expensive and useless. It destroys gcvernmeiit as it was devise,! in this country. Need for such destruction is not yet apparent. Present gosrnment is all right if the people will take an interest in in ' If they will not, it is slUy to argue that they will become interested is something new. Whole remedy for evils, real or fancied, lies in the hands of the people. If they do not want to undertake it now, they will be forced to later when the entire fabric of gov. ernment becomes rent through their own folly. United States still Lives. Boston Transcript. There is no government in Washing ton, but the United States still lives. The Cabinet is as much scattered as were the thousand cattle on the thou sand hills mentioned by ths clergyman who stumbled in his speech. Early Harvest In Lake County. Silver Lake Leader. George Cooley came in from ths Siean country and spent Sunday in town. George during his absence of two or three months had cultivated quite a beard, which he had promptly harvested upon his arrival. The Trouble With Bryan. Richmond Times-Dispatch. "How can I tell? How do I know?" said Mr. Bryan when asked If he would run again for the Presidency. He never did know and always tried to tell. That's why he almost ruined the party. Force of Habit. Montgomery Advertiser. "Your wife wishes to speak with you," said the spirit medium. "Tell her I fed the parrot svsry day and watered the flowers, too. while she's been gone," said the absent-minded man. Might Have Msde n Fortune. Chicago News. Had Messrs. Taft and . Roosevelt looked out for the really necessary they would have made a contract with a moving-picture machine man before . they met. Not for Taft. Philadelphia Inquirer. A leather belt 243 feet long and'val ued at $500 has Just been made. No, gentle reader, it is not to be sent to Beverly. Catting the Traces. Atlanta Constitution. Every time they hitch the lame ele phant to ths Republican bandwagon they may look to see the lnsugents cut the traces. A Wasted Chance. Come, give me back my life again, you heavy-handed Death! Uncrook your fingers from my throat, and let me draw my breath. Tou do me wrong to take me now too soon for me to die Ah, loose me from this clutching pain, and hear the reason why. I know I've had my forty years, and wasted every one; And yet I teil you honestly, my life is not begun; I've walked the world like one asleep, a dreamer In s trance; But now you've gripped me wide awake I want another chance. My dreams were always beautiful, my thoughts were high and line: No life was ever lived on earth to match those dreams of mine. And would you wreck them unfulfilled? What folly, nay, what crime 1 You rob the world, you waste a soul give xns a little time. Henry Van Dyke.