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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1913)
TIIE MORNING OREGONIAN, SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1913. rOKILAMD. OREGON. Entered at Portland, Oregon. Postofflc a Mcoud-claa matter. Subscription Hate Invariably In Advance (BY MAIL) Dally, Sunday Included, one year .... . .8.00 Jjaily, Sunday Included, six months .... Dally, Sunday included, tnree months 2 t)aily, Sunday Included, one month .... ,75 Ually, without Sunday, one year -u Daily, without Sunday, six months Daiiy, without bunday, three months .. 1-75 Daily, without Sunday, one montn ..... Weekly, one year l.ov Eunday, one year z.6u Sunday and Weekly, pne year IBT CAKRIER) Dally, Sunday Included, one year Dally, Sunday included, one month '3 How to Remit Send postoftlce money or Aer, express order or personal check on your local bank, stamps, coin or ourrency are at sender's risk. tilve postofflce address in lull. Including county and state. Postage Kates 12 to 10 pages. 1 cent; 18 to 82 pages. 2 cents; 84 to 48 pages, 8 cants; 60 to 60 pages. 4 cents; 62 to 78 pages. 0 cents; 78 to 82 pages, 6 cents. Foreign post age, double rates. Eastern Business Offices Verree & Cotik lln, New York. Brunswick building. Chi cago, Steger building. Kan Francisco Office R. J. Bldweil Co.. T42 Market street. European Office No. 3 Regent street S. Vv. London. PORTLAND. SATIRDAY, JTJIT 86. 1018. SYSTEM NEEDS IMPROVEMENT. A valuable contribution to existing Information on the practical use of the initiative and referendum in Oregon, prepared by' Judge Charles H. Carey, of Portland, was read before the Colo rado Bar Association, at Colorado Springs, July 10. While Intended pri marily to give others an intelligent conception of the application of a prin ciple in one of several states the ad dress Is also a conservative introspec tion of Oregon's need for Improvement in the machinery of direct legislation. Judge Carey does not make futile denial that the system Is working fair ly well and that the majority of the voters are satisfied with it. He not only admits these facts, but asserts that the system must now be recog nized as a part of the American scheme of self-government.. Faults in Oregon that need and can be corrected are discussed upon the sound assump tion that "the system may have as many forms and varieties as there are states to adopt it and each state may find it wise to profit not alone by her own experience, but by the experience of others." Judge Carey mentions as objection able the covering of multifarious sub jects in one bill or amendment; the repeated introduction of the same measure; the excessive number of bills and amendments presented; the selfish obstruction by referendum of popular legislation; the forgeries and other frauds committed by petition circula tors; the circulation of misleading let ters and advertisements in behalf of or in opposition to measures by leagues or associations of unknown or anony mous membership, and the deceptive or vote-catching phraseology of meas ures. These criticisms are not' based on what might happen, but are founded on specific instances. As a good ex ample of the omnibus measure the amendment proposing abolishment of the Senate and other governmental changes, defeated in 1912, Is cited. Judge Carey finds that "within the 100 word legal limit the Attorney-General mentioned thirteen different subjects embraced In this bill, but that it con tained nineteen others not enumerated. Such conglomerations he properly characterizes as flagrant abuses. We can think of no logical objection to adoption of his suggestion that the Constitutional provision governing en actments of the Legislative Assembly that "every act shall embrace but one subject and matters properly connected therewith, which subjects shall be ex pressed in the title," should be applied to initiative -measures. It may be argued that this restriction "would re sult in the breaking up of omnibus bills and an increase in the number of measures on the ballot. But each proposition would be simplified and the scope of proposed legislation would not be increased. The overburdening of the initiative is not wholly in nu merical excess of measures. Their volume or combined scope of contents is greater cause of trouble. Various ways of limiting measures are discussed by Judge Carey. An arbi trary limit on number is deemed im practicable and subject to the abuse of loading the ballot with inconsequen tial measures to the exclusion of im portant ones. Commendation is given to the plans, more or less differing in detail, in California, Michigan, Maine, Nevada and South Dakota, for having the initiative measures first submitted to the Legislature. If there adopted in the original form, submission at the election is rendered unnecessary; but If not so adopted, or if amended, then the1 original is submitted to the people with the alternative measure, if any. The plan has Its attractions, but It seems to us it also requires a form of safeguarding not yet provided in any state. The number of Initiative meas ures would be cut down if the Legis lature acted both in harmony and good faith, but if obstructive in tendency or contentious In spirit, each measure pe. titioned for would bring forth two at the election following the session of the Legislature. Alternative or rival measures, as it has frequently been pointed out by The Oregonian, tend to defeat each other, even though a ma jority of the voters favor the basic principle involved in each. That fact has been amply demon' strated in submission to vote of rival county road bond enabling acts in Ore gon and in the defeat on its first sub mission of the present Portland com mission charter when it was presented together with a rival charter. Possibly some form of preferential voting on alternative bills would cure the latter defect, and it seems clear that in any event a much more comprehensive code of application than now exists must ultimately be provided in this and other states. The other citations by Judge Carey of misuse and abus of the machinery of direct legislation are repetition of history with which all well-informed persons in Oregon are familiar. The prevention of most of them does not require great study, and with others, like the petition . frauds, corrective measures of several kinds have here been discussed. The main difficulty seems to be In arousing a public recog. nition of their importance. There is actually small distinction between a hold-up of laws In the Legisfature by bribery and the hold-up of laws by forged referendum. A Legislature can be bought for only two years. A - forged referendum, if allowed to stand runs for about the same period. The succeeding Legislature may be pur chased, but once gone to vote and adopted, a law that has been referend ed is fairly safe from evil attack. This is the chief distinction between the two crimes in matter of effect. But there are some laws, such ad current appropriations, that lose their force If delayed In operation. Blocking of oth ers for two years may have strongly deleterious effect on the public wel fare. Corrupt practices In the Legis lature have given grave cause for the adoption of the referendum. It would seem that public interest in preserving the purity, and effectiveness of the remedy ought to be as great as the public interest in the disease. MILK-AM)-WATER POLICIES. Ambassador Harry Lane Wilson, who has come all the way from Mexr ico to tell President Wilson and Secre tary Bryan "what Is going on in Mex ico, will find the American Govern ment flopping around with its spineless foreign policy and in deep consterna tion that there is a Mexican problem to be met. President Wilson wants neither to mediate nor to Intervene, nor to recognize the Huerta govern ment, nor to sell' munitions, nor to send troops to the border or anywhere, nor to prepare for contingencies, nor to acknowledge any special Interna tional obligation whatever. What he wants Is to forget Mexico and to be permitted to let that unhappy nation go its own way, or Its several ways. What matter if Americans are assas sinated, or Mexicans by the thousands are robbed and slain, or worse? The Americans ought to have stayed at home. Have we not repudiated the dollar diplomacy? But Mexico presses hard for atten tion and brings even Secretary Bryan back from the profits and pleasures of his Chautauqua tour. What is to be done about it? Is Mexico to swel ter in blood at our back door forever, and are we to shut our eyes and close our ears to the horrid spectacle? Can we? .Are we still to pretend that our failure to recognize the de facto gov ernment there, although the European powers have recognized it, Is the main tenance of an attitude of strict and proper neutrality? Or are we to ac knowledge that it has contributed powerfully to the chaos of arson, bloodshed and destruction which have blighted the land? Yet we talk of a protectorate over the Central American republics. How does the Wilson Administration pro pose to support a protectorate that will be effective in maintaining inter nal order and in preventing foreign in vasion? By Chautauqua chalk talks? WHERE ARE THEY GOING? The Progressive party registration in the State of New York is less than 10 per cent of the 390,021 votes cast there for Theodore Roosevelt. It would ap pear to be clear that there is no con fidence among the Progressives them selves that the party created by Theo dore Roosevelt has come to stay. The same phenomenon of the rapid subsidence of the Progressive party movement is visible in Oregon. Mr. Roosevelt, as a candidate for Presi dent, received 37,600 votes; yet the total Progressive registration in Ore gon up to May 17, 1913, while the fever of revolt was still running high, was only about 10,000. In Multnomah County, after the Progressive party had a legal existence and the registration books had been reopened, the total sup plemental enrollment was as follows: Republican, 17,061; Democratic, 6963; Progressive, 3037; Independent, 1072; Prohibitionist, 917; Socialist. 551. The Progressives, it will be seen, were about 10 per cent of the total, and about 20 per cent of the Republican enrollment. The figures under the new permanent registration are im perfect, but they seem to give about the same proportions. The Progressive party showing is about one-tenth of the total, or one-fifth (or less) of the Republican totals. Yet it is possible to be misled as to the meaning of those striking figures. They certainly indicate that the Pro gressive party has not yet established itself, but it is too much to say that the Progressives have returned to their old allegiances, which were chiefly Re publican. In Oregon it is plain that there is to be no numerous Progressive party not now, at least but it is obvious that there Is a large body of independ ents, mainly registered as Republi cans, who propose to hold themselves in readiness to vote as political condi tions or the personnel of candidates appear to them to warrant. They have not been reclaimed by the Republican party; nor have they been won by the Progressive party. DEMOCRACY IN THE NAVY. So Imbued with the delightful spirit of Democracy is our effervescent and lately reorganized Navy Department that It has set out to instill the beau tiful quality of brotherhood and equal ity into the country's men of war. The most recent step in this direction is a "single-mess" order, which requires that officers and men must commingle In good fellowship over the festive din ing board some three times each day. Not only must the food of officers and enlisted men be partaken at the same time and place, but It must be of the same quality and variety. Heretofore it has been a practice in the Navy to maintain a strict discip line. Necessary to this harsh rule was a strict line of demarcation between officers and men. It Is traditional that they should not dine at the same board, for anything bordering on fa miliarity has long been held in mili tary and naval annals as detrimental to that grim necessity of the service, discipline. Hereafter, no doubt, we shall hear the boatswain requesting the Rear-Admiral to pass the gravy. Such easy and unconventional table repartee as "Ship me a hunk of bread. Cap," with the congenial response, "Sure, old sport," will be exchanged between the commanding officer and a gunner's mate. It will make Naval life far more free and easy. Yet it is hardly to be ex pected that the Navy Department will stop with the wiping out of a hereto fore insurmountable barrier between officers and men. Why not let the humble sailor in the rank have more to say about the conduct of affairs aboard ship? A system of balloting would be a delightful innovation for establishing and regulating many strict requirements of the service. The hour of arising, for instance, might be re adjusted to suit the majority, each man to have a vote. A naval initiative and referendum would also be an ex cellent arrangement for application to mandatory and arbitrary utterances from the fleet Admiral or other stern authorities. Then the recall should not be overlooked for use on officers who are so hopelessly steeped in the ways that make for naval efficiency that they fall to adjust themselves to the new democracy. ' Verily, there is a broad field for new activities. The Department's re cent "single-mess" order is a big step toward a broader democracy and when this policy has been pursued to Its log ical conclusion, the Navy may not be much good for mere fighting purposes, but it will be far more delightful as a retreat for the care-free young men in the ranks. A PLEASANT FICTION". W. D. Howells short story In the August Harpers' touches one of the sore spots of the world. Its theme Is the difficulty we all have In finding out whether a book is worth reading or not before we buy it. If a friend has made the venture and is kind enough to give his verdict all is well. One can then purchase the new book, or borrow it with reasonable assur ance that he will not be victimized. This is the way most enduring reputa tions are made in literature. Printer's ink counts for less than the quiet talk of neighbors. But a friend's Judgment upon a book is not always infallible. Tastes differ even across a fifty-foot lawn. Mr. Howells solves the perplexing problem of the unread and suspected book by establishing an extraordinary Individual behind the counter of a bookstore. This hero, whose praises we cannot sound loudly enough, re solves that he will tell every customer the unvarnished truth about every item of his wares. If the latest novel is a fraud he will say so without quali fication. If it is as good as Jane Eyre he will say that, too. While we await the advent of this kind of booksellers we may, in some degree, depend upon public librarians for the invaluable services the fabulist supposes his hero to render to a thank ful world. Public librarians are trained In our times to know more or less about the volumes they handle. Now and then we discover one who reads a good deal and whose judgment can be depended on. When consulted with proper deference these young women will disclose remarkable truths about best sellers and other prodigies of literature. We have been spared many a painful disappointment by timely warnings received at the public library. A book has been puffed in all the magazines. It Is bound in en chanting colors and illustrated with bewitching pictures. One takes itup with lavish anticipations of delight. but the librarian lifts a cautious finger and whispers "trash," Just in time. More and more we may hope these diligent and capable young women will become the public's friendly guides as to what to read and what to let alone. HOW TO BEAD. Dr. Claxton, the United States Com missioner of Education, holds decided opinions upon the value of good read ing. He said at Salt Lake City, ad dressing the National Education As sociation, that literature was the most important of all school subjects, and added the remark , that any person who would read four good books every year as they ought to be read would be well educated by the time he had gone through 100 volumes. This is probably true. It would he difficult to select a hundred books of ordinary excellence which do not among them contain in one form or another the essentials of human knowledge. They would omit, of course, a great many technical mat- ;ers, but these are not usually spoken as part of education In the broad sense. They are rather concerned with pro fessional training. Even novels, de spised as they are by up-to-date li brarians, are not devoid of instructive contents. They enrich the attentive mind with many a fact and historic scene, which are retained all the more fixedly for their artistic setting. Novels are undeniably "improving" to the mind, although usually in an indi rect and desultory way, which can hardly fall to exasperate systematic pedagogues. Their motto is "Better not taught at all than taught by un orthodox methods." The benefit we get from books de pends naturally upon our reading hab its. There are slow and painful read ers, who toll through every book they take up, omitting nothing and treating every word as if It were as Important as every other. The truth la . that there is precious little of much value in any volume except the very great est. Here and there lies a gem glit. terlng brightly, but all around it there is clay. An expert reader is one who can skip and skim his way through a book, selecting the gems without miss ing any of them and getting over the clay without weariness. This requires a great deal of practice. Perhaps it requires native genius to be done in perfection. The art of skipping not only saves time and toll, 'but it contributes to one's moral uplift by keeping the temper serene. Nothing is more irri tating than to be obliged to linger over the padding which most authors stuff Into their books, and the judici ous never do It. They approach a new and untried book gingerly and with in finite precaution. Perhaps they begin their acquaintance with it by a peep at the last line or two. How does the heroine perish? Or, if the ending is happy, how is the wedding described? Then our prospector will dip Into the middle of the book with detached curi osity, cherishing his skeptical mood and not permitting himself to expect much. If these investigations are not too discouraging he finally turns to the second or third chapter and begins to read in a businesslike way. Your experienced and hardened booklover seldom reads the first chap ter of a novel and hardly ever the first page. Authors commonly use the be ginnings of their books to flop around In rather aimlessly. They are like motorcycles, which cannot start off without making a good deal of empty noise, though they often run with con siderable speed after their preliminary gyrations. Geniuses must have a little space in which to "catch their stride." It is not the slov and toilsome read er who receives the most benefit from books. He Is like a traveler who makes himself so tired climbing a mountain that he cannot enjoy the view from the top. Rapid reading is the best at all times when one is seek ing information and often when en joyment Is the aim. Comparatively few books are to be chewed and di gested." It is necessary for modern Intellectual workers to skim through scores, or, as Bacon puts it, to "taste them." Closely allied to the art of skipping Is the valuable capacity to extract desired Information from a book In spite of the author's craft in concealing it. Even books which have been written expressly to impart in formation have a way of hiding it under masses of rubbish. A good in dex cures this defect, when such a thing is provided, but too often it is forgotten, or left out maliciously. When there is no index the seeker for facts has to Judge by the general ap pearance of a page whether it con tains anything of value or not. In stinct and practice make one so adept in this sort of mining that it is possi ble to run through hundreds of pages in an hour or two, missing nothing that is worth while. The searcher Is guided by catch words, capital letters, figures, anything that bears the re motest relation to the object of his quest and when his eye lights upon a landmark he stops and reads.- The art of digging information out of books is one of the advantages which a college graduate possesses over the self-taught man. The latter Is pretty likely ' to have studied half a dozen books with great thorough ness and they have made him a man of power. The college student has skimmed through scores, seeking here and there what his Immediate need called for, and they have made him a man of swift adaptability. When by any educational process power and adaptability happen to be combined in the same individual, the result Is effi ciency of the fIVst order. But not all reading is for informa tion. Now and then one takes up a book, not to improve his mind or to excite himself over a plot, but to en Joy the literary quality. Then the reader's mood is leisurely. He lingers over the exquisitely-chosen adjectives, he lets the cadences of the prose echo and re-echo through his mind. It does not matter where he begins to read nor where he stops. In Paradise all walks are equally lovely. People who know how to make the most of their lives acquire both habits. They read for information in order to make breadwinning more facile, and they read for beauty in order to make the life that the bread nourishes more desirable. It is hard to find justifiable comment on the case of a clerk in the postofflce who receives $100 a month and con fesses to embezzlement of several hun dred dollars. Although denying that it had any influence on his crime, he admits that he has been paying loan sharks 5 per cent Interest monthly for three years on a small amount he bor rowed. If any moral can be extracted, it is that the man who gets into the clutches of a Shylock loses his self-respect, following which crime may be but a matter of time. It is one thing to weep and wall be cause most of our opera is sung in foreign languages. It is a very dif ferent thing to help resolve the diffi culties in the way of better things. Eleanor E. Freer, who dislikes French and German on the American stage, has set some of the fine old English lyrics to music and the music is said to be equal to the poetry. She has found the true way to emancipate our art from foreign shackles, that is to produce as good art here at home. A woman cannot support herself and two small children decently on $17.50 a month. The world would rejoice to know what deluded the Case commit tee into believing she could. It does not require much figuring to show that $17.50 a month means $4.37 a week, or thereabouts. If it requires $10 a week to support one person de cently, how many can live on $4.87? The man who writes to The Orego nian to bewail the multiplicity of use less animals in the city vents a com mon woe. We know of a rooster, for example, with a voice like a battle trump which begins to crow every morning precisely at 3 o'clock and keeps it up for an hour and six min utes. His wealthy and beautiful mis tress sleeps serenely through it all, but the neighbors ! There Is nothing surprising in the discovery of bankruptcy and usury laws on the records in the ruins of Babylon. That city was a commercial capital with a World-wide trade. Condi tions were substantially the same as In a modern mart and laws were enacted to fit them. That the laws were Simi lar to our own simply attests the sta bility of human nature. Recently the office of the Mitchell Sentinel was robbed, so the report says, of "several valuable papers and money to the amount of $50." Part of the loss la understandable, for a thief could create havoc by taking all the sporting exchanges. But how he found "money to the amount of $50" in a country printing office passeth comprehension. Ella Flagg Young's retirement from the Superintendent's office In Chicago is not an auspicious circumstance. She was elected because of overtowerlng merit. She has served the schools with distinguished ability, and now she feels obliged to retire because a group of politicians oppose her. Schools and politics never thrive well in the same garden. In barring Shakespeare's portrayal of the Jew from the public schools, the Los Angeles board may with profit substitute Montague Glass" produc tions of the lovable Potash and Perl mutter. The Hermiston project is especially favorable to grapes, and there will be an immense yield this year. Hermis ton is in the garden belt of Eastern Oregon. Only those who are sound in mind may marry hereafter In Pennsylvania. The office cynic insists that those sound in mind do not want to marry. The report of the killing of two can didates by electricity during initiation into a. secret order will scare many a prospective hull. A-most wonderful thing for the poor kiddies will be that trip to the country. Are you doing anything to help it along? Democrats in Cone-rss flcrit hltterlv among themselves. Still the pie-dlvid-ing bond will prevent a serious breach. An evangelist Inherited a fortune through having gone into a saloon. We refuse to point the obvious moral. And if the forecasters continue pre. dieting "showers tonight" until Sep tember, they may score. Newsboys will avoid I. W. W. meet ings. Thus their minds will escape a most dangerous virus. Mediation for liberated peon bri gands! Don't make us laugh our Up is chapped. Cool breezes and an overcast sky never . were more welcome and re freshing. Icemen must weigh out their wares. Is there a scale of weights small enough? It would seem that the phone trust has been Invited to disconnect. Human life is cheap in. China, VALUE OF HOGS IN THE) ORCHARD Xhey Give Fraltg;roiver Big; Profit, Says Mr. Armstrong;. CORVALLS, Or.. July 22. (To the Editor.) The Oregonian asked .Satur day "Why Not More Hogs." and the applegrowers of Oregon and Washing ton might well give attention to The Oregonlan's question. Every farmer In the Willamette" Valley knows that the old, neglected orchards have helped to fatten many hogs, but the new and advanced applegrower who in many cases is a city man, thinks It would be a sort of desecration to feed his beautiful fruit to hogs. But let us look at where the profit comes In. I cannot give exact figures, but. I know that good apples can be grown, sprayed and cultivated in the Willam ette Valley at from 15 to 25 cents per box. On the tree a box of loose1 apples will weigh about 40 pounds net. So we may say they are worth about half a cent per pound on the tree. In a plentiful season they would cost a good bit less; in a short season a little more. I speak of good apples and define a good apple as one that once the peal is off it equals in soundness and flavor the best fancy apple grown. At 20 cents a box or half a cent a pound that means good apples cost the grower about $10 per ton on the trees. Once the apple leaves the tree the ex pense begins to come on. Picking and hauling to apple home cost 5 cents, grading and sorting perhaps another 6 cents, packing 5 or 6 cents, boxes hauled and nailed, 12 to 15 cents; paper and labels. 2 or 8 cents;, hauling to cars and shipping, 2 or 3 :cents. This brings a 20-cent box or apples up to 50 or 60 cents a box on trie cars, inen there Is the big freight East, 50 to 75 cents, icing and cold "-Storage some more, commission, 10 or 15 ' cents; retailer's profit, $1 or nvuch more.- So a box of apples for which the con sumer pays $2 or $2.50 only yields about the original 20 cents on the tree to the grower, and though plenty of hogs fatten on them as they pass from grower to consumer they will bring no more to the grower than the original hog would pay to his owner in the orchard. But to get back to the value of ap ples as hog feed at, $16 per ton I am well satisfied they contain more value of succulent nourishment than, say hay at the same price. It is not so much the actual food value of the apples that is so. valuable, but the fact that they enable the hog to assimilate and thoroughly digest expensive concen trated grain foods, which otherwise would pass unasslmllated through him. In our home experiments, while we kept no accurate account, we filled the pigs up well with cull apples, then gave them a very small amount oi chopped wheat -or shorts with most satisfactory results. I feel satisfied that if the large apple growing ustricts would give their attention to raising more hogs with the view or leecung all their Inferior or slightly-inferior apples it would place the entire apple business on a much more independent footing and give a much more satis factory price for our better grades of fruit. GEORGE ARMSTRONG. THIS MAN SAW JIT. HOOD "LIGHT." His Wife Couldn't See It, But He Has Better Eyesight. PORTLAND, July 24. (To the Ell tor.) Your editorial about "Seeing Things" prompts me to add my state ment to. that of others that ther6 was a short red flare on Mount Hood for a few moments and The Oregonian had better inquire further before jumping to the conclusion that the red light existed only in the imaginations of Impressionable Individuals. There seemed to be two spots of red light somewhat blurred the brighter a lit tle higher and to the east and a fainter, smaller light a little lower and to the west. Whether It was red powder, forest fire of a house on fire. It Is impossible for me to say also the exact location as the outline of the mountain could not be distinguish ed. But as we see Mount Hood every day from the porch of our house, this faint, blurred red glow was too high for any city light and too red and too large and red for the blurred light ot a distant star. It flarred up and was visible for only about half a minute and seemed like It might be below the highest peak of the mountain and the climax of a bright glare dulled by the hazi ness around the mountain. I pointed out the light to my wife but she failed to observe It and re marked, "Well, I can never see as far as you can."- Her eyes cannot deciph er a street sign half the distance at which I can read It. Your observer should get another pair of glasses. The light appeared about 10 minutes past 10 o'clock. D. A. DONELSON. OPEN OR HOODED STlRRUPt Latter Kind Unhesitatingly Commended By an Orderly Sergeant. Caspar Mayer in the Army and Navy Journal. In a recent Issue of your paper I read comments on the open and hooded stir rups for the use of the cavalry. When I joined the army in 1888 we had the open stirrup, and after much effort this was abolished. I have used both stir rups since. The disadvantages of the open stirrup, for American cavalry, are: It is not safe for riding in ranks unless it Is made unduly large, and It does not give the necessary protection against heat or cold, to ride with an open stir rup in very hot or very cold weather causes suffering. Using an open stir rup in ranks your neighbor, while go ing at a gallop, keeps pounding, not on purpose, the upper part of your toes and your shoes with the rowels of his spurs. He cannot help it; you do the same thing to him. To prove this I ask that those Interested visit a cavalry stable. Examine the hoods of the old stirrups, and you will find then full of dotted lines, often badly so, caused by the rowels of the spurs. This shows that the hood of the stirrup catches what without a hood the foot and shoe of the rider would have to stand. About 20 years ago my captain asked me one day how men came to rowel up their own stirrup hoods that way. I told him that it is not the owner of the stirrup, but his neighbor that does it. He walked off making ungrudgingly the most uncomplimentary remarks about his powers of observation. For my part I surely hold to the hooded stirrup. Holding a Trunk for Board Bill. KAHLOTUS, Wash., July 19. (To the Editor.) Please tell me how long & party can hold a trunk or other be longings for board bill. I have always understood" It was 90 days by law be fore the holder has a right to the hold ings. I know of a party that has a trunk and she claims it is only 30 days, B. F. A boarding-house or Innkeeper has a right to hold the trunk for an un paid bill for three months, after which time. If the bill has not been paid, he can advertise to sell the prop erty at public auction, after giving the owner thereof 10 days" notice either by mail, advertisement In a newspaper, or a notice posted in three public places within the county. Tne Old School Slate No More. Columbus Dispatch. Remember the old school slates. bound In red flannel to prevent the noise of slate rattling that used to be come unbearable until manufacturers found how to muffle them? Stores selling school supplies used to carry great stocks of them, for It was a rare day In a room that did not see a slate or two broken; but where are they all now? Since the Boards of Health decided that they were insani tary and decreed against them, the wnole tribe has disappeared. Half a Century Ago (From The Oregonian July 16. 1861.) We and our readers have become so accustomed to the daily mall consid ering It now a fixed and permanent institution that it may be well briefly to notice somewhat heavy burdens borne by the stage company for the benefit of Oregon and the Northern territories, without, as It seems to us, a corresponding compensation. The route from Portland to Sacra mento is not a regular one, according to the usage of the Postofflce Depart ment, but was let by special contract, commencing in September, I860, for four years, at $90,000 per annum. Un der this the stage company for nearly three years has done its duty with astonishing promptness, keeping ahead of the schedule time allowed, which from April to December eight months is seven days, and during the re mainder of the year is 12 days. The money due is paid in currency, thereby causing a loss of from 20 to 30 per cent during the last year; and as the company Is compelled to pay the wages of all Its employes and the cost of everything it purchases in coin, it will be readily seen that the sacrifice is very serious. It is also to be re membered that the company contrib utes $10,000 in coin every month In wages, payment for rents and proven der, and thus really in its disburse ments benefits our community more than the stockholders. Postmasters along the line are Instructed to keep all coin which comes Into their hands. subject to special order of the Depart ment, and we are Informed no collec tions are made In currency. The coun try through which the route passes is so sparsely settled that travel cannot be expected to pay except perhaps dur lng a very few weeks In the year any thing toward the enormous expenses or keeping up such a line of coaches. The dispatches received yesterday and the preceding day are continued proofs of the success of the union cause against secession. The price ot gold a pretty sure Indication of pub 11c sentiment and confidence has gone down lower than it has been for more than a year, and we rejoice that all that we hear Is full of bright hope for the country. Twenty-five Years Ago From The Oregonian. July 26. 1S88. Olympia, W. T., July 25. The famous case of Nevada M. Bloomer, appellant. v. John Todd, J. E. Gaudy and H. A, Clarke, commonly known as the wom an suffrage test case, came up before the Supreme Court this morning. Dr. B. E. Miller was married last night to Miss Jessie Burbank at the residence of the bride's parents, Rev. J. Q. A. Henry officiating. Ellensburg, W. T., July 25. The steamer City of Ellensburg left Port Eaton, 32 miles east of Ellensburg on the Columbia, Thursday morning, July 19, and run through to a point seven miles up the Okanogan River on Sat urday evening. The proprietors of the line, Nixon & Post, had Captain W. P. Gray, one of the most competent men in the territory, run the boat up to Foster Creek Ferry, 10 miles above the mouth of the Okanogan River and 350 miles from the mouth of the Columbia. It had been prophesied by many that it was impossible to run a steamer on the Upper Columbia River and many bets were made that the steamer would never make the trip; but she surprised her owners and captain in her magnifi cent behavior in swift water and the speed made on driftwood fuel. People along the route were overjoyed to see the steamer at their door and expressed their delight by waving hats and bon nets and firing guns and pistols. The steamer opens up and demonstrates the practicability of an entirely new route to the famous vvenatchee, Methow and Okanogan valleys, besides supplying the Immense Inland empire known as the Big Bend country. The people in Holladay's Addition and in the other addition at the north end are getting Impatient waiting for the completion of the upper portion of the railroad bridge so It can be used for local traffic. Buy a. town lot and grow rich. FUTURE OK REPUBLICAN PARTY, Reunite Once Triumphant G. O. Under New Name In Urged. PORTLAND, July 25. (To the Edi tor.) Can the Republican party sur vive the shock it received at the 1912 National convention? Judging from past history In, polit ical parties I, for one, have little hope of the Q. O. P. ever becoming the dom inant party again. There is such a feeling among the masses of the people against bosses and bossism. such as was so strikingly shown in the 1912 National Republican convention, as to make it exceedingly difficult to bring back to power the Republican party without some modifl cations. At present the greatest essential Is leadership. Practically all , the once great leaders have been repudiated by the people at home. No one who de sires success politically appears to be willing to risk his political fortunes to a sinking ship. Providence will somehow raise up a leader who will reunite the once tri umphant party. It will most likely be done under a new name. As all parties wish to be known as progressives," why not call the new party "The Na tlonal Progressive Party?" It may be Providence that Mr, Roosevelt omitted the word "National from his new party. Why not start the ball to rolling here in Portland, Oregon? CHARLES T. 1TFHERSON, DO AWAY WITH THE CATS, ALSO. They Are Worse Than Dogs In a City, Is Charged. PORTLAND, July 23. (To the Edi tor.) Permit me to say I am a lover of animals and believe their place is outside the city, as "A. B. G." says re garding dogs. But they are no more unsanitary than cats or chickens. A bunch of fighting cats will destroy more garden in one night than dogs. They are worse than dogs about the doors and porches. They will startle one out of sleep with unearthly noise. The family cat has been known to give and bring disease to children. Last Summer several had rabies and two women were bitten by them. Cats will destroy birds and steal young chickens. Cats are born thieves about the house. One can catch more mice In a night with a trap than a cat will catch in a week. Chickens should go, too, or else be subject to strict regulations as to sani tation, number on ground space, and crowing of cocks at all hours under windows.' I live in a congested district, where some make a pretense of clean ing out their old chicken coops. The dirt is dumped in the garden and when the rain wets it the stench after the sun sets is unbearable to a person of refined sense. Out with dogs, dirty cats, noisy cocks and unsanitary hens. O. L C. Aged Woman's Walk; of 300 Miles. London Star. In 1861 an old Cornish fishwife of 84. named Mary Callinack, walked from Penzance to London to see the great exhibition in Hyde Park. The distance Is nearly 300 miles. The old lady cre ated a sensation and was noticed by Queen Victoria. She had vowed to call on the Lord Mayor before returning, and she carried out her intention, but, of course, was not permitted to walk back home. More Humidity By E. A." Beala, Weather Man, and Dean Collins, Hot Weather Poet. PROLOGUE, BY ME. Oh public, take a slant and note What the great Weather Man hath wrote To get the goat of a humble "pote." "HUMIDITY," BY BEALS. Thou pent up scribe, who toils within lour walls confined. And knoweth not the meaning of "Humlditv." Here will I try, then, to enlighten your viuii mina. If I can penetrate its plain stupidltr. May the words I say To you today Drive you to seek humility; I will show you here So do not sneer Humidity's utility. It is that blessed vapor That makes fnr t V, rH ftx. o-t--ti - . The dew drop on the blade of grass That rivals diamond's sheen; The mother of the rain drop; . ine sparkling crystal snow. Whose beauty Is not dreamed of. By those, too blind to know; It purifies the atmosphere, Scatters burning raj-s of sun. And if you'll read its history xina it in cycles run. Amphibious. It rises from the bosom mt tne sea. And floats on the breeze, giving life tiu&uty ( To the land; and with verdure it makes mature smile. From thence to the rivers it tarries a wniie; Then again back it flows to the "bound ing main, Where as from a, chrysallis emerges again To go on its beneficent rounds to man Kind. Knowest not thou, thoughtless scribe. of "peeved mind. Humidity's effort is spent ceaselessly In your own behalf, and such ingrates as thee? No wonder the elements rise in their might Complaining humanity to buffet, - end smite; So do not condemn what is not under stood. By growlings, and whines which is in gratitude. r You Just Imagine you are "hot," And let your "temper go to pot. It's not like your good-natured mien To fume and fret, and scold, friend Dean, Just be as happy as you can, Like me, your friend, the Weather Man, EPILOGUE. (Coming right back at him.) Oh Mr. Beals, my spirit squeals Neath thy reproof's acidity. My soul proclaims the thrust It feels I hasten with rapidity , Now to admit you may be right In the effusion you indite Defending that "Humidity." It may be my stupidity. My brain's profound torpidity. That made me feel that It was hot When you averred that It was not. In spite of the humidity. Return to your placidity Forgive my words' turgidity; My plaint at the torridity. The calor and acridity; My sighs for the frigidity Of lemonade's acidity. Your poem's fair lucidity Speaks well for the humidity. Now that it's cool, I were a fool To argue long By line or song Or mingled words' turbidity. But though this thing "Humidity" O'ercomes the soil's aridity, Makes grasses grow And roses blow And red beets glow In garden row, And "ripens cherries for the can. Still I am game thus to proclaim It wilts my collars just the same-Ha-ha! I gotcha. Weather Man. Safe at the Home Plate. The McTavish family was dining and each member eagerly watched Mr. Mc Tavish carving the fowl, none so ea gerly, however, as the dog, for that intelligent animal never took his eyes off the luscious bird. Suddenly the knife slipped and sent a fragment of poultry rolling on the floor. "Michty me," cried McTavish, "the leg, me own favorite bit The dogll get It." "No, It won't, father," said the youngest McTavish. "He'll not get It. I've got my foot on it." FEAT U R E S OF The Sunday OREGONIAN Summer Girl Confessions Rita Reese talks with the typical Summer girl and delves into the gentle topic of seashore flirtations. A refreshing page feature, elaborately illustrated. Leaving Husband Behind la a wife justified in leaving her husband to shift for himself in the city while she has a few weeks in the mountains or at the seashore? Laura Jean Lib bey takes up this subject in her usual entertaining vein. Hearing With the Eyes An ab- sorbing page feature on the remarkable work of teaching the deaf to see all that they cannot hear. Theodore Roosevelt He writes of Applied Idealism in public affairs and, in a full-page arti cle, gives one of the most inter esting chapters of his auto biography. Cleopatra Sets the Styles Al though dead many centuries, it is revealed that the famous Egyptian beauty still has a wide vogue. Some Famous Stars Just how they looked to an old stage hand is set forth in an enter taining way by that pictur esque and reminiscent individ ual. Whipping the Mississippi An illustrated story of real ad venture and achievement in which a party of engineers mastered the belligerent old river. These Are a Few of the Many Features. 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