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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1911)
THE 3IORXING OREGOXIAN, TlJlMOAT, OCTOBER 10, 1911. F ---. - POBTLAXD. OMCOX. Ot.r.4 at Perraad. ro. Poatorfto eoal -.:aa Mat:r. , kwMcrcuoa KilnwtW tsi Aavaalc. IBY MAIL.) - .. . I 00 X1.! : T. luBQir nnnitu, v.. I..: r u.d.. Included. SI month. ... , Iair. Sunday Ineiuded. thr month.. j tmry. undaw included, on. aimta.... -IT Laj.r. without uiw!r. on 7r f rl.y. without s month.. .. ti.. w.ihout tjiular, mr month... T'.nr. wltaout Buaay. oa moatjk...... .7 wit:r on rr Sunder, or y.f . OJKt7 Ul MklT. OS 7r " IBT CARRIER.) Pally. Btrno'ty Included, en T tiir. Saadar Included. tt moats ' Ux to Ketnit Send PoatofSe """"J vSr. axpre udrr or personal cn your local bank. Stamp. om cu'r"!!1I sr. , la Mdtri rua. Oi P,lo','7 4dra t fu.i. lACudln county and lt rr wo-il to 14 pas. 1 : t li . 2 cm: so to p. cent. to pace. cwu. ror..n potas Aaabl rat. Eaun Bosiaee Oracss V.rr C.V Un .New Tor. Hninaalc bulidla. -ni-caao. stager buUdlac. Karwcwaa OfTJeo No. a Resect an . V. LMdoa rorruxD, ttxsdat. oct. . itu. HiHOLI ALUM IS A HOLE. Tha next session of Contra will how bow strong la tha poaltlon of tha man who bides his Una a. When tha Tariff Board reports on th wool and cotton schedules. President Tift will ba able to pat the Democrats And Insurgents tn as deep A hole) as they tried to put him In At th last ses sion. They Joined In Instructing the board to report At the opening- of the coming session. And th only excuse they cn find for not Acting on the report Is to Attack th findings of fact made by the board. With A strong measure urging Imme diate revision of the wool snd cotton schedules tn AccordAnce with the Tar lff Board's report.. the President will stand before the country as the cham pion of tariff revision. He will be barked up by ascertained facts gath ered by skilled statisticians from every wool-growing and manufacturing country. Tha schedules in question have been th chief object of attack before public opinion And they are of most personal Intereat to every In dividual, for they deal with the cloth ing of every person. The public will ba watching and it will want results, regardless of party advantage. It will look to Congress to act or show a good reason for not acting. Th Democrats may attack the find ings of the Tariff Board and uphold the bills passed ny them and vetoed by the President at the last session as th bills th conditions demand. If they do. they must show on what basis of fact th bills were founded and prove that their Information Is mora reliable than that of the Tariff Board. They must also explain away the trade by which Insurgent support was secured for the wool bill and th egregious blunders which made the cotton bill an absurdity. They must answer th destructive analysis of thee bills which th President has mad on hi present tour. If they seek to discredit th Tariff Board, they will hav to offer an al ternative means of gathering the facts on which th tariff should be based. The only other means so far known is hearings before committee, which hav been entirely discredited by experi ence. With committee hearings th public Is disgusted. They dare not propose a Tariff Board with power to draft a bilk for that would Involve a surrender of some of th precious prerogatives of Congress. Should the Democrats and Insur gents meet the case by passing again the popgun bills of last season, th tame would be squarely Joined between scientific revision and guesswork re vision. Opponents of the President would be on the defensive with a weak cas to go before the people. If they pass bills which fairly accord with th President's recommenda tions, they will admit that he has been In th right all along and will im measurably strengthen his position. The Insurgents will be In an even worse position than the Democrats. They have been the loudest ahoutcra for a Tariff Board and schedule re vision. If they Join th Democrats In attacking the Tariff Board's work and refusing to act upon It. they will be Abandoning what few principles they ever had. If they vote to carry out the President's recommendations and pass bills baaed on the Tariff Board report, they will b admitting that they were wrong In voting with th Democrats at the last session. It is difficult to guess what they will do. for th last thing they care about Is consistency. I-ET TDM CALL OX MX, BKVAX. There will be no dissent from th confident statement cf Mr. McKer cher that If President Taft will rec ommend. In his next message to Con gress, "a law preventing the shipment of alcoholic liquors from wet terri tory to dry territory, and the submis sion to th states of an amendment to th Constitution of the United States forever prohibiting the manu facture and r.al of alcoholic liquors. It might bring about momentous re sults." The reults woulj be moment ous Indeed. They would Insur th defeat of Mr. Taft for re-election by an unprecedented majority and plung th Nation into a controversy besld which the tariff, the trusts, arbitra tion, conservation and all th rest would pale Into Insignificance. ilr. McKercher knows, of course, that Mr. Taft will d nothing of th kind. He cannot. Th Inexpediency of such a suggestion 1 so obvious and th practicability of the remedy so questionable In the minds of moet peo ple that few or none wi:i expect th President to get Into the dix-uwlon, or will criticise fclm for avoMIng It. Th party Prohibitionists are A Strang lot. They struggled vain ly for many years to make pro hibition a political question, and made so little headway that th movement was practically taken out of their hands by the Anti-Saloon Lragu and similar organizations; and mighty strides were made. But when the Anti-Saloon League at tempted to to ahead of public senti ment snd Impose prohibition on com munities and states that did not want It and sen not ready for It. they, too. lost ground. Now the old line party men th old guard, like Mr. McKerchrr. Mr. Newell an J Mr. Am of are In th limelight again, propos ing methods that never yet succeed ed and following a leadership that knows only th straight way to de feat. Why do the party Prohibitionists th Prohibition party propose to bother President Taft? If they are to go ouutd th virtuous racks of - I their own small and select party, why do they not send out a Macedonian cry to Mr. Bryan for help? Mr. Bryan Is a Prohibitionist. ,H practice pro hibition, which Is th best prohlblton and th only real prohibition. H preaches It. too. H wound things up badly last year for the Democratic party in Nebraska by his loud demand for a prohibition declaration In the Democratic platform. He all but read himself out Of th Democratic party as A result. Mr. Bryan Is never dis mayed by the hopelessness or Imprac ticability of any cause. He is the man of th hour for the Prohibitionists. HOET WOBK FOR HOXEeT MEN. Th Oregonlan ha no purpose of prejudicing In any wsy the hearing before Judge Galloway over the State University referendum petitions. The petitions are admitted on all sides to b foul with fraudulent names, bogus signatures, false handwritings. The extent of the perjuries, falsehoods and forgeries appears to be not open to controversy, except that th one side says ther are enough authentic names to render the petitions valid, and th other aid Insists that nearly All the petitions Are so tainted by fic titious signatures and faulty affida vit that they should b rejected. A summary of the situation as it stands was stated In A striking manner by a correspondent of The Oregonlan yes terday: It mar lntert Orolna reader to know that f n.arly M.OoO name on th unlv.r it p.tltioD all but about i'O0 w.r cured br Portland circulator. of the about tiXXt wr Mcurad br l men who bar udd.nly left th tat. two who cannot h local. d. on who admilt'd that h mado hi atfldalt und-r an aumd nam. nd anoth.r whoa testimony I of lt.lf ufTl elnl to nd him to th p.nltntlary. Tmm men ha t.atlfl.4 that tby hav. wrltt.n hundred of T,m- In th p.titlon. or of rrputabl cltln hv worn that thlr irnatur hav been forl. proof ba bB mad of th. wrttlos In th namaa of cltl B.n who ha boon d.d tor jwn, womrn hav tatlfl.d that circulator wrot In th HUM ot th huaband. brother and aone-tn-law and y.t tb.r ar atlll remaining; hundred of eaaea equally uaplclou that rinnot be lnvtlatd with th limited fund at hand. WKhout declaring that the univer sity has made out A case against these petitions. Th Oregonlan does not hes itate to say that enough ha been shown through this hearing to con stitute an unanawerabl indictment against th whole practlc and method of petition-making and signature-chasing. Payment of a stipulated sum per name or per day to professional or amateur petition-circulators ought to be mad A crime. It Is ah open lnvi tAtlon to fraud. It Is debasing And wrong. It makes th referendum an Instrument of corruption And malic. Anyone or any interest willing to pay the price can hold up any legis lative bilk however meritorious and however much needed or desired by the public. Who will venture to Jeopardize th general faith In his proper or disin terested motive by supporting the present methods under the present system? Who will say that honest men. acting from high motive, are not the ones, and th only ones, to whom should be lnstrusted the func tion of procuring petition to Invoke A referendum on any legislative act? BRAT!' STIMTXAXTS. Statistics Just obtained from th University of Oregon throw A bright light upon th comparatlv mental ca pacities of athlete And those disagree able Indllvduala who are known A "grinds." The grind Is A person who goee to college for the txtrgordinAry purpoee of studying books. In other words, he is en IndlvlduAl who "bones" Instead of playing footbalk attending hops and consecrating himself to track athletic. The Innate Inferlorltx of his souk or rather hi brain, comes out as one would expect In these statis tic. A young man who will pore over Cicero when he might be practicing football shows too little Judgment to be very bright, and as a mAtter of fact he Is not bright. At any rate, he Is duller than th quarterback, who looks upon Cicero as A confounded bore. Th figures show that th grind average only $4.1. while th football men average 85. S. If that does not settle the question of compar ative intellectuality, we should Ilk to know what could. We learn from the same set of statistic that football Is A far more Intellectual pursuit than basebalk The men playing the latter comparatively stupid game ran up an average of no more than IS. 8. which, strange- to say. was worse than th addle-pated grind did. But saddest of all Is the record of the handball players, who. we under stand, ar pretty generally women. At last convincing evidence Is at hand to prove that women are men's Intellec tual Inferiors, since the handball play ers, poor things, get an average of only SO. 8. Even the grinds shine beside thee benighted souls. Th motal of all this is evident. There is no need to recite It, but we will do so, since there may be a hAndball player or two among our readera The moral Is, then, that If you wish your brain to grow big And fat, you should practice track athletics, which earn 88.4. Nothing else is so stimulating fb It. The next best intellectual exercise Is singing In the flee club, which earns S8.1. The very worst thing you can do. next to playing handball. Is to stick to your books. a rrzzuc ix hvmax urtv On or th marvels, eccentricities or by whatever name called, of human life end conditions was revealed in Linn County A few weeks go when, upon th commitment of a shoemak er, of Lebanon, to the insane asylum It was discovered that the man who had lived and toiled among the peo ple of that town for several years, was not A man. but a woman. Quietly. Industriously. eArnestly pursuing his simple vocAtlon. this woman-man did not attract attention out of th or dinary. 'or many years. In conjunc tion with his partner, to all seeming a man w ho had missed th best part of life and was therefor somewhat ec centric after th manner of th warped and stunted men of his class, this strangely perverted but harmless crratur lived the silent as well as the simple life for fifty years, and finally, th father dying and leaving him alon in possession of his dls natured secret, his figment of reason guv way and he was committed to th tnsan asylum. wbr th secret of his Uf was discovered. All of this and but Uttl more has been told In the news columns of th state press little more "because there Is little more" to tell. The rest Is locked In the domain of cause, to which. In this case, the only key la Imagination. In the words of Whit tler: Th outward, wayward llf w aw. It hidden spring w may hot know. The key to such a life must for ever remain hidden; the web that was - s i ., - - ... - fashioned from circumstance or fan cy, colorless and awkwardly woven, has fallen from the loom of We, a useless fabric, A composite flAW. Nor Is It liven oa to dlacern The sorrow with th woman berni What forged her oruel chain f meofl. What al hr feet In olllude. , It la not our to aeparate Th tangled akeln of will and fte. Kindly, sober. Industrious, self sup porting, this strange creature lived A llf that was accounted blameless. To 11 appearance happy nd contented, she was abandoned In the end by the few wit that had served the pur pose of life in the narrow sphere of its environment and went unresisting ly to the insane asylum to complete the dull contract with the powers that projected her into existence. rSKLEeVS. HOT nAXGMOCS. Samuel W.McCall, writing In the cur rent Atlantic Monthly, does not seem to be enamored of Oregon's new Pres idential preference law. In fact, while not exactly predicting them, he sug gests some dire consequences that are possible in the working out of the act. Commenting on the provision that denies the elector the right to vote for more than one candidate for National delegate or for the nomination of more than one candidate for Presiden tial elector, he says: y "It some candidate should be pre eminently fitted above all others for the place and should receive all the votes, the state would have only a sin gle delegate to the convention," And Again: "A minority of a pArty In the stste may nominate candidate for electors hostile to Its Presidential candidate. If the vote of the Presidential electors of Oregon shall not some time be di vided, even though the popular vote may have been strongly tn favor of a given candidate. It will not be the fault of this law." The Oregonlan never discovered any thing useful or ornamental In the pro portional representation feature of the Presidential primary law of Oregon, but It Is not alarmed over the possible but Improbable results foreseen by Mr. McCall. As for the division among the Presidential electors, we shall no doubt have to rely on the, unwritten law of the state which forbids thwarting the people's will In Senator-making And law-making, and no doubt extends to President-making. And there is A safe and dead sure check against sending short delegations to the National con vention. Let every candidate be care ful to vote for himself. Nobody can possibly then get all the votes. FUXERAL INCONSISTENCIES. From the Account of the late Mr. Charles Buhlond's funerak which was conducted according to his directions. It appears that he must have been an unusually sensible person. He en Joined upon his wife not to make the occasion lugubrious. On the contrary, everybody was to be a pleasant as possible, no black was to be worn, flowers were to be profusely scattered about And Joyful hymns were to be sung. The reports of the event say that the funeral was actually con ducted much as Mr. Buhland wished. The flower were abundant and fra grant. His wife wore A white dress and she was cheerful enough. In spite of her loss, to sing one or two uplift ing melodies. Inasmuch as both Mr. Buhland and his wife believed that his so-called death was merely a tran sition to a more agreeable world than this, where he would be freed from many undesirable Incumbrances and endowed with many new capacities. It Is really hard to see why they should have looked upon hi funeral as an occasion for grief. One would as soon think of -weeping to hear that a man has fallen heir to A great es tate or that he had been restored to sight after long blindness. AH devout people believe that death transfers their friends to A far better world than thla - It Is A process by which they lose nothing end gain Im mensely. But for all that the ordinary funeral Is as gloomy as It can be made. The black clothes, the closed shutters, the ostentatious hush, the ob. truslve sobs, the officlousness of the undertaker, all combine to make one feel that the departed has not bet tered his condition A great deal. The usual funeral sermon, which fries hard to breathe a note of hope, sounds far from congruous with these emphatic elements of woe. Judging from the funeral alone. It would be hard to escape the conclusion that the friends of almost every departed person be lieve that he has gone to a place of sorrow, and not to a world where all Is light. Of course, it is too much to expect frail humanity to be logical about anything, but is it utterly im possible ever to make our practices at iunerals Jibe a little better with our beliefs? The pervading gloom at ceremonies over the dead seems to Indicate that the prospect of a future life under happy conditions Is at best but a for lorn hope. Most of those left behind act as If they never expected to meet the departed again. If their faKh were as genuine as Mrs. Buhland's they would hardly admit that any sep aration had occurred. She declared that her husband was In communica tion with his family within three hours after the funeral. Not everybody can expect to be so promptly favored, but there Is no reason why Christian men and women should not look on the bright side of death. Certainly for them It has a bright side, though many are" reluctant to admit It. No doubt our funeral lugubrious ness. like a great many other undesir able customs, comes down to us from A long line of savage ancestors. Th in bred ghost worship of the primitive man keeps Christian expectation of heaven in the background. Our an cestors looked upon a departed soul as something to be feared. It must be propitiated by all sorts of cere monies. It must not for An Instant be allow ed to suspect that its loss was irreparable. Unlesw the ghost was pla cated by sobs, howls and sacrifices. It was extremely likely to visit its for mer family and friends with calamities too terrible to think of. We can un derstand from these beliefs how the custom originates of making A whole household miserable for a long time after one member of it has died. It arose from fear of the dead, not from love. All those hideous performances were observed In the first place to ward off the anger of the departed, not to show hovr much he was mussed. And they were kept up until It was reasonably certain that the ghost had finally left the neighborhood. We thus perceive why it is that mourning must last during an exact period. A widow must not permit herself o leave off black for a year. A husband must wear weeds for eighteen months, perhaps. Our sav age ancestors believed that the ghost lingered about its former home for A f fixed period. And unless it was propl- , tiatetl all that -time by the self-abase- j ment of the survivors there would be I trouble. When the ghost finally left : the premises, then the widow might resume the colors of brightness and the widower might lay aside his in- i slgnla of woe. We no longer think of j the souls of the departed as objects I of fear, but we retain A surprising I number of customs which arose from the - primitive belief that they were malignant powers. We are not now afraid of the ghosts of our lost friends, but we act precisely as If we were. Instead of rejoicing to think' how happy they must be In their new and better world, we practice the same pro pitiatory rite which were invented when It was believed that they wan dered forlorn and enviously malicious around their former homes. The savage feels that a living person Is always an object of envy to a dead one. The ghost Is not extinct, to be sure, but it is hardly alive either. It retains Just enough vitality to be con scious of what it has lost by death and to wreak Its malice on those who retain their bodies and experience the Joys which the warm flesh implies. The science of the civilized man ha emancipated his Intelligence from these groundless fears, but his Inher ited instinct, which Is deeper than in telligence, still feels them and trembles At them. For this reason it will prob ably require many thousands of years to banish our funeral customs. They come to us with the aborted vermi form appendix from Innumerable gen erations of forefathers and oan scarcely be eliminated without a sur gical operation. What are the marks by which a man's acquaintances recognize him? In John Gant's case It was his beard but that is not usually the case. No doubt the beard helps, but most men who have hairy faces can shave them clean and not become unrecognizable. We dare say It Is the general aspect of a man rather than any particular feat ure which fixes his Identity. Some times a total disguise is betrayed by some subtle tone of the voice. It Is said that each voice has peculiar vi brations which never change from youth to old age. If Portland concerns are to be shut out of handling Government works, which has an eight-hour day provision, because the Portland working day Is of nine hours, Portland manufactur ers would better swing In line and get the work. If we are to become a manufacturing city, we must shape ourselves to fit the conditions that go with It. This Is not a matter of trades-unionism or open shop; it means business and reputation for the city. The tailors should be encouraged to carry out their resolve that men's clothing shall hereafter be adapted to men's bodies. Of course anything of the sort is unthinkable so far as women are concerned. The element ary purpose of clothing Is to enhance the wearer's beauty. Protection I subordinate to this great end by many degrees. But there is no reason why we should not be beautiful and com fortable at the same time. President Taft requires less evi dence than a Mlssourlan to convince him. but his perilous ride on ML Rainier will have served a good pur pose by showing him the need of good roads In the National parks. The Medford people should take the hint and show Mr. Taft how greatly good roads will Improve Crater Lake Na tional Park, but without as perilous a demonstration as that on Mt. Rainier. It Is not surprising to learn that Dr. Grant Lyman is "sorry he ran away." Most men are sorry when it dawns upon them that they have done some thing foolish. . Dr. Lyman's sorrow would be more satisfactory if it arose from repentance of his sins. Inas much a It has no deeper root than the failure of his effort to escape pun ishment, we can hardly hold It up as an edifying spectacle. Dr. iLyman's desire to ride to Jail in an automobile explains why so many men go into get-rich-qulck games. They regard as necessaries what are really luxuries and are un willing to deprive themselves of such things until they have acquired the means by the gradual process of hon est work. In their haste for the au tomobile, they get the striped suit of the convlck The senior Senator from Oregon rode In a railway mall car from Wash ington to New Tork yesterday to gather data for use during the coming session. Since Oswald West walked the West Side tracks while Railway Commissioner, there had been no such heroic devotion to duty. The Council of St. Helens is consid ering a franchise for a street railway that will in time extend to Houlton. That little line will be the beginning of a system that will develop Co lumbia County, for she has resources that equal any In the state. A pitcher in the Washington State League was sent to the penitentiary yesterday for robbery, which leads to the thought: Why not have an Inter state league of striped players next year? Stealing bases would be A great feature. The trifling fact that alt the seats for the big games have been sold will not keep Bob Stevens from seeing the winners grab the pennant. The Sheriff of Multnomah Is A posse coml tatus wherever he goes. The ordinary citizen, who Is the mainstay of this great republic, will do well to begin today a course of study in awe and humble respect of the po licemen who will guard the route of the parade tomorrow. When young women get chummy and one appears in a striking new coat, the others must try it on. Im agine men doing that! - Local strikebreakers are certainly living in a luxurious manner. AH each needs Is a valet. Watch the milk and butter begin to come from Tillamook, the great dairy county of Oregon. How to manage a husband" must be a feature in the studies at Smith College. . A Gold H'.ll man thinks he has the champioa so.uash. weight 78 Bound. ' 1 Gleanings of the Day Foreign cigarettes ara one of the great drains on the wealth of China. According to the customs returns in the year before last, 8.000,000 taels went up In cigarette smoke, and last year 9,000,000 taels were similarly lost. In various large cities of Klangsu prov ince an anti-cigarette society has been etarted, which Is becoming very popu lar. The members undertake to smoke no cigarettes themselves and immedi ately to report to the officers of the society any memher who breaks the rules; when he will be fined. It is pro posed to start a similar society in Hupeb. Woman suffrage has been proposed in the Persian Parliament, but Its sole champion was quickly squelched when he asserted woman's rights during the debate on the suffrage bill. His name Is Hadji Vekll-el-Roaya, and he said: I beg leave to aak for what reacon should women be deprived -of votea; are they not human belnga. and are they not entitled to hav the same right as we have? I beg th "Ulema" (the learned Clerical members of the Mejllia) for a reply. The following crushing reply was made by Sheikh Assadollah: "We muat not discus this Question, for It Is contrary to the etlquett of an Islamlo. Parliament. But th reason for excluding women Is that God has not riven them th capacity needed for taking part In politics and electing th representatives of the Na tion. They ar the weaker sex. and have not the aam power of Judgment a men hav. However, their rights must not ba trampled upon, but must b safeguarded by men a ordained In the Koran by God Al mighty. Th development of cartels, which are generally the closest approach Ger many makes to trusts, has extended to the banking business, according to a book by Dr. Jacob Rlesser, a transla tion of which has been made for the National Monetary Commission. Ger many has five great groups comprising 41 banks. In which the process of con centration still continues. Dr. Rleeser says the concentration has many ad vantages, both for the banks and their customers, and says of the Relchsbank: It must be acknowledged that th regu lation of our money circulation and of our system of payment, credit and currency, with which that Institution had been in trusted, ha been in good hands. He says that in 1900 and 1907 It was "of the greatest aid in preserving the German money market and the entire economic organization from lasting dis turbances of the gravest character." American manufacturers are con tinually missing Are by going after foreign trade in the wrong way. An example is furnished by the following extract from the report of Lyster H. Dewey, a botanist of the Agricultural Department, who attended the recent Fiber Congress and Fiber Exhibition at Soerabaya, Java, for the benefit of the extension of the fiber Industry in Porto Rico: Only two automatic machines were shown for cleaning agave fibers, sisal and can tala. One from the United States, well known a an excellent machine, but prac tically unknown In thl region, was not well installed. It did fair work In om of It trials, but altogether Its showing was not entirely satisfactory. It Is unfortunate that the company sending the machine did not also send a man familiar With it to talte rharg of It installation and op eration. The other machine, made In Ger many, much larger and requiring three times aa much power1, was very carefully Installed by one of the most expert engi neers ent out from the factory. Thl ma chine was adjusted with the nicest perfec tion possible. The employes were well trained to feed the leaves and take away the clean fiber. The excellent work which It did under these correct conditions won the admiration of everyone. It is to be regretted that th splendid agave fiber rleaning machine made In the United States were not better represented, for planters had come not only from different part of Java but also from Australia and New Guinea for th express purpose of de ciding what kind of machine to purchase for their plantation. Long-distance speaking without wires has been accomplished by Grin dell Matthews with an invention he calls the aerophone. -After experi menting for some time hear Chepstow, England, In the transmission of the human voice with the aid only of the natural elements, he submitted his discovery recently to a severe test in the presence of a number of experts. He was placed in the strong room of a big London commercial house and locked in, with 9 Inches of armor steel, 9 Inches of fire brick, and 6 feet of concrete between him and the outer world. By means of his small portable apparatus he carried on a con versation with an operator In another room on the farther side of the build ing. So distinct and faithful was the transmission that the experts in attend ance were actually able to hear the tick of his watch, notwithstanding the almost Impenetrable mass between the two Instruments. On September 9 he spoke from Beackley, Gloucestershire, to a point 6hi miles away across the Severn River and he will experiment between Chepstow and Cardiff, about 25 miles. If he succeeds, he will go to Aldershot and conduct demonstrations with a view to the sale of his Inven tion to the British government, which Is now negotiating for it. A complete set of Instruments for a five-mile radius would cost about 848. It Is pos sible through this system to carry on long conversations, and each speaker can distinguish the voice of the persoay he Is talking with. No expert knowl edge, it Is claimed, la required to op erate the system. Speaking to a rep resentative of the Western Mall pub lished at Cardiff, the inventor stated: Vibrations produced In the air by his ap paratus did not talc the form of the Hert slan waves, as In the Marconi system of wireless telegraphy, in fact, they were not wave at all. Inasmuch as the disturbance were of such high frequency that ther waa no appreciable break between them, and their action waa rather continuous than fitful and separate, aa In the cas of Hert slan waves. It was this high frequency produced by his apparatus that had mad it posslbi for sounde to be reproduced and for all th fluctuation and Intonation of human speech to b transmitted so faith fully that the voice of the speaker could be recognised. Aa la a cinematographic picture, each delineation ran so quickly Into the other that a continuous sustained reproduction was th result. The canal motor-barge Is the latest thing In motor-driven craft. The first of the kind Is the Toiler which was built at Newcastle-on-Tyne for the grain traffic on the Canadian canals. Its great advantage Is its ability to. carry 100.000 bushels of wheat with only 14 feet draft, the limit allowed by the canals. Its oU-burnlng ma chinery also leaves room for 20,000 to 25.000 bushels more than a steam barge can carry. A smaller craft of the same type has Just made a suc cessful trial trip from London to Bir mingham, England, with a cargo of sugar. It travels at the rate of three miles an hour at a cost of 2 cents a mile, while a house barge makes only half the speed at twice the cost. Its adoption in place of railroad transpor tation in many Instances is predicted. FARMER'S VIEW OF SINGLE TAX. Mr. Feawlrk Sees Halting ot Oregon's Procrress.by V'Ken Agltatiaau SPRINGFIELD, Or, Oct. 9. (To the Editor.) The agitation of the single tax theory at the present time is a mlsfortun to the Stase of Oregon. The state's prosperity will continue to be retarded so long as this uncalled-for howl I kept up by a crowd of dream ers or persons who are paid for their services. Just as lawyers are paid to plead a case In court. Indifferent as to which litigant they represent so long as the ducats are forthcominir. This may be called business and busi ness methods; but, nevertheless, we must not lose sight of the fact tttat th intelligent portion of the above named theorists have enough Intelli gence to foresee tha baneful effect It would produce in that great army of small homeowners and the agricultural classes at large. " The farmers are not all fools. Broth er TTRen to the contrary notwithstand ing. They know how it would be when all the 'taxes would be forced out of their hard earnings to build all those good roads of which we hear so much of late, and to pay for all the schoolhouses, bridges and all other improvements as well as all salaries, and appropriations of all kinds. The farmer is today the poorest paid la borer. He works from 12 to 14 hours per day, and usually makes about 8 per cent net profit on the value of his Investment In farm lands and equipment. Yet he never goes on strike for an eight-hour day like his brother laborers who work In the city, but plods away from early dawn till late at night, with every Industry in this Nation depending . on that plod. And he will continue to plod, sur rounded by his happy and industrious family. Has it not occurred to the single tasters that the state of Oregon is now, for the first time in its history, receiving the attention of the great railroad and transportation companies? Lines are building or being projected into large sections of rich farming country heretofore closed to settlers and farming communities. All eyes are on Oregon at the present time, and the homeseeker and the investor will be here with the goods. If wa don't disgust everybody by attempting to do something smart by enacting every new and untried Utopian dream into law, and make an experiment sta tion of this state to try out any and all forms of government for the bene fit of the nations of the earth, our state will double in population In the next five years. The business men and financiers ot this Nation belong to the conservative class and will not Invest money iu homes, factories or any other line of business unless they are assured a stable form of government, and by no means at an experiment station where the state constitution may stipulatd that all the taxes this year shall bo paid by the farmers simply because they do not control enough votes to protect themselves, and next year by the factories or some other line of business for the same reason. With everything In an unsettled and cha otic condition, no business would be either safe or permanent. An under taking that was a sound business In vestment this year might be blown 10 miles beyond the happy hunting grounds next year by some new law or untried theory emanating from the experiment station managers. No, when you come to shouldering all the burden of taxation onto ona class, and that class, as a rule already overworked and overtaxed, you have bade farewell to American freedom and to American policies, and laid the foundation for a despotism on the ruins of a once great government that had always been the defender of the weak and oppressed. I worked for the initiative and ref erendum for the reason that I thought they would do away with the political machines. Now the time has arrived when every friend of those laws and the principles they represent must use his brains and vote to prevent them from being used and abused by every scheming fanatic like the persons who are sending money into this state in an attempt to force the people here to try out their wild and undemocratic fancies. If outsiders, who are totally disinterested in our welfare, are to be the moving factors in making our laws through the initiative, the in itiative will be voted a failure and its repeal will naturally follow. In Russia, after a man acquires a certain amount of property, he is Im mune from taxation, and his burden of taxation Is transferred to his less fortunate or more honest neighbors. We think this is very unjust in the Russian government to make the poor people pay all the taxes, but this would be the condition under a single-tax law A man with millions of money and property, not land, would not pay a single cent of tax. He would be In the position of the rich Russian, while a poor family owning their little home would have, to pay the ricn American's taxes Just as the poor Rus sian peasant pays the bills for the Russian nobility. MEL FENWICK. AS A PROHIBITIONIST SEES IT. Wants President Taft to Take Vp Their Cause. PORTLAND, Or., Oct. 9. (To the. Editor.) As President Taft has re cently expressed, at some length, his love for the courts and his reverence for their decisions. It has'occurred to me that It might not be amiss to call his attentidn, while here, to certain de cisions of the courts which are of much interest to a large and eminently re spectable portion of the oltlzenship of The" Supreme Court of the United States and at least 28 State Supreme Courts have affirmed that no man has an Inherent right to keep a saloon. The United States Supreme Court on no less than 12 different occasions has declared that there Is no Inherent right In a citizen to sell intoxicating liquors. To recite details of all such decisions would perhaps serve no useful purpose. Reference to the two following deci sions will suffice: "There is no Inherent right In a citi zen to. sell Intoxicating liquors by re tail. It i not a privilege of a citizen of a state or of a citizen of the United States." United States Supreme Court, California vs. Chrlstensen. "No Legislature can bargain away the public health or public morals. The people themselves cannot do it, much less their servants. Government Is or ganized with a view to their preserva tion and cannot divest Itself of the power to provide for them." United States Supreme Court. Stone v. Mis lsstppk , , Perhaps if some good friend in close touch with the President will call his attention to these decisions and urge that his Excellency recommend. In his first message to the next session of Congrees, that legislation in sympathy therewith be enacted, particularly a law preventing the shipment of alco holic liquors from wet territory into dry territory, and the submission to the states of an amendment to the Consti tution of the United States forever pro hibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors, Jt might bring about momentous results. As Mr. Taft seems to be anxious to get next to the hearts of the people, I do not know of any way he can better do eo than by the action here suggest ed. F. M'KEiJCHEB. N. Nitts on Ball Scores By Dean Collins. Nesclus Nitts, who, in Tunklndorf Sta tion, Was reckoned a wis by the whole poplation. With preface of plug cut to launch his oration. Reviewing the present baseball situ ation.. Remarked Sunday's scores with great gratification. "I tells you, baseball ain't as it used to be In Punkindorf here, back in '73. The players ain't hittin' the ball any ways Like we used to hit in the earlier days. And consequent, scores that you most often see, Hangs down at a measly 2 or a 3. "I grants that they're pltchin' it almost as good As I used to pitch 'round In this neigh borhood. And they are. a-catchln" of balls I'd ha thought. In "73, couldn't never be caught. But somehow the battln', it Jest 'pears to me. Ain't no wise as good as in '72. "I 'member, one time back In '74, We run up a score that was reely e score. And hammered old Baconhurst right down the line. By two hundred five to two hundred and nine. And then had to take the teams out on the park At the end of the fifth, 'cause it Jes got plumb dark. "I tedls you, I'm pleased, when the; Beavers and all Gets right down and plays good old, Punkindorf ball. Like they did last Sunday. The scores so I seen Was 1-27 and 5-17. I showed 'em to Higglns, and he says says he: , Now that's class like we had In i3. Portland. October 9. ' Conntry Town Sayings by Ed Howe I'd Uke to be' a good piano player but I'm glad I can't play Just a little. The people are always exclaiming "Wonderful!" about something that isn't wonderful. Nothing Is wonderful that has happened millions of times for millions of years. It is sometimes possible to abate 8J man nuisance. Men have a way of. saying what they think to other men. But It's different with a woman nuis ance; no one dare say anything, and, the only help for her Is the graveyard, or the Insane asylum. When you fail, your big assortment of excuses do you no good. We all pick a good deal at people we like pretty well. When we tell how people have no ap preciation, I believe we all exaggerate a little. Every poor man frequently says: "I don't care much for style; I ara satis fled if I am comfortable.'! When a young man studies law, that Isn't the worst of It; the worst of it is the country not only gets another law yer, but another politician. A man who hears that a good deal of deviltry goes on, and looks for it -with, a view of enjoying It, never finds as much as he heard about. "And what he does find isn't as pleasant aa he had been led to believe. A man who believes he understands grammar is as conceited and disagree able about it as a man who believes he understands Shakespeare. . Half a Century Ago Prom The Oregonlan October 10, 1P81. The steam ferryboat. Captain Robert Ladd, went to Vancouver yesterday oa business for the Government. She re ceived a contract for ferrying about 600 head of mules across the Column bla River at that post. The Willamette River is lower now; than It has been for the previous nine; months. There is not a mechanic or labored idle in our city and more are wanted. The Governor of Illinois says that 512 military companies have been ten-4 dered to the Government out of which 13 regiments were raised. Governor; Yates says: "If I had the authority, with prospect of arms and means, I could raise 100.000 men in Illinois alone, and carry the standard of the republic In triumph from Cairo tq Ballze." A young man came Into our office yesterday and said he was going down to California on the steamer to volun teer. H'e said there seemed to be no effort to get up the company called for in Oregon. What's Doing in Oregon Comfortable Baatlle. Brownsville Times. Some one broke into the city jail Wednesday night by prying of f the padlock and occupied tha bed. V e hav heard of persons breaking out of ja.il. but this is the first instance in which, we know of anyone breaking into jail But you can't tell what won't happen, In Brownsville. Some funny things oc cur here. prjc potato Story. Mitchell Sentinel. Our friend Jim Payne told us a few days ago that last Spring he swapped one dozen seed potatoes with Joe Rob erts and planted them, and that a few days ago he dug them and had five and a half big sacks. Now who of ou readers can tell a bigger potato story; than that? When the Editor Is -In." Weston Leader. All the editor of this paper has to do in order to keep a-swimming is to sweep out the shop, build fires, set the body type, set the ads, set and run the jobs, gather local, evolve editor ial, write the business letters, collect the wherewithal, keep the books, write the advertisements, make up the forms, run the G. Washington, mould public opinion, do the mall, gossip with vis itors and a few other little things like that. Oldest School Director In Oregon. Cottage Grove Sentinel. ' G. W. SIcReynolds of Divide attended: the school board convention In Eugene last week. McReynolds is perhaps the f oldest school director in Oregon in point of continuous service, having held a position on the board o Divide for 81 consecutive years. He Is a veteran of the Civil War and Fays he fought four years in that conflict and 31 on the school board. fc. A