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POKTLAXD, MOJfDAT, OCT. IS, IBIS.
SECRETARY LANE'S LANU POLICY.
Secretary Lane's Interview on his re
turn to Washington foreshadows much
legislation beneficial to the West, if
Congress gives heed to his recom
mendations. There is good reason to
expect that Congress will give need, tor
the Secretary's recommendations are
likely to be backed by earnest efforts
of President Wilson to secure action
on them. The President has shown
his ability to handle Congress by his
success with the tariff and In keeping
that body at work on the currency.
Representative Clayton's renunciation
of the Alabama Senatorship at the de
sire of "the head of the party" shows
how the President is regarded by
Democrats In Congress. They recog
nize him as not the merely titular but
actual head of their party and follow
him loyally.
Mr. Lane's utterances may, there
fore, be taken to forecast the action
. which Democratic leaders will propose,
at the suggestion of the President, at
the approaching regular session, as
well as the spirit in which he will ad.
minister existing and prospective laws.
He will cut red tape in the interest
of the settler and will push along
reclamation projects, but will not yield
to the demands of speculative land
owners whose property is covered by
Government projects. He will ask
Congress to permit settlers to hold
Irrigated land for several years with
out nnvrriAn t for water and to lengthen
the period over which payments are to
be spread from 10 to 20 years. He
will ask for a drainage law similar to
the Irrigation law, probably on the
lines of that proposed by the drainage
Congress.
Alive to the great possibilities of
the Western arid land and of the Mid
dle Western and Southern swamp land,
Mr. Lane looks forward to the day
when it will produce enough meat and
crops to supply the entire country.
That is the work to which this coun
try should be setting its mind. It is
shameful for a country as rich as
the United States to .be talking of Im
porting meat and of the high price of
food and clothing when we have within
our boundaries the means of abun
dantly supplying not only our own
needs but those of other nations. We
need but to develop our own resources
on the lines laid down by Mr. Lane,
to make the land cultivable and to
get the people on the land, to use our
resources without destroying them as
we have done In the past. Then
we can lower the cost of living while
enhancing the prosperity of the farm
ers and, with It, of all other classes.
FEDERALISM IN GREAT BRTTAIV.
As the day for final action on the
Irish home rule bill approaches and
as danger of armed resistance in Ul
ster to an Irish Parliament grows,
cool-headed, unprejudiced Britons In
cline more to the Federal system of
government as the -one way out. They
see this amount of logic in the Ulster
Protestant contention that. If the
demand of the majority of one island
In the United Kingdom for autonomy
is to be granted, the like demand of
a majority In one section of that
Island should be granted. Ulster Pro
testants maintain that they have as
Just cause to demand that their racial
and religious idiosyncrasies have free
play under a local government as have
the Catholic Irish. As the Celtic Irish
hold England responsible for perpetu
ation of the animosities which have
kept Irish nationalism alive, so do the
Scotch-Irish hold England responsible
for their being in Ireland.
The Scotch-Irish are mainly de
scendants of Scotchmen who went to
Ireland at the invitation of the King
for the purpose of fastening Anglo
Saxon supremacy on the Island. They
were to be the governing class and
they have been so for over two cen
turies and a half. They have always
been loyal to the British government,
though they compelled the grant of
real legislative power to the Irish
Parliament during the' brief period of
Grattan's Parliament. That, however,
was at a time when no Catholic had a
vote. They have seen the power gradu-.
ally taken away from them until now
it is proposed to subject them to a gov
ernment in which they would be ruled
by the race they want to rule over.
They contend that It Is as intolerable
to them to submit to Irish Catholic
rule as It has been for the Irish Cath
olics to submit to Scotch Protestant
rule.
This condition suggests the separa
tion of Ulster from the rest of Ire
land and its government by an Ulster
Parliament But the Scotch-Irish
Protestants are In the majority in only
four of the nine counties of Ulster,
and the province as a whole Is about
equally divided between the two races
and creeds. If majority rule Is to be
established In each section, then,
argue some, four northeastern coun
ties would be cut off under a separate
parliament.
When this suggestion Is made In
Great Britain the question is prompt
ly asked: If this Is good for Ire
land, why not for England, Scotland
and Wales? If Ireland may be divid
ed, why may not England and Scot
land? One Englishman Is quoted as
suggesting a local parliament for each
section of England divided on the lines
of the seven kingdoms of the ancient
Saxon heptarchy. The Irish Issue
has thus brought up the whole ques
tion of federalism as applied to the
United Kingdom and finally to the
whole empire.
The Imperial Parliament Is over
burdened with work and Is always far
jn arrears of the nation's needs. It
attempts as much as our Congress
would if It undertook all the legisla
tion now produced by the state legis
latures. Local Interests and some na
tional Interests are Badly neglected.
Advocates of federalism are already
setting up the claims of Scotland and
Wales to home rule and concessions
to those countries would surely oe
followed fcy a demand for a subordi
nate parliament for England or for
each of several divisions of England.
This would bring closer the realiza
tion of the dream of imperial federa
tion, with a parliament composed of
representatives of the mother country
and all its colonies legislating for the
common interests of the whole
empire.
Unionist wlll doubtless oppose such
changes violently, for they cannot dis
tinguish between federalism and sep
aration. Their idea of Union is one
parliament ruling over all, not one
parliament caring for general Inter
Mi while subordinate parliaments
care for local Interests, They attempt
a parallel between the demands of the
Irish Nationalists and those of the
Southern Confederates, Ignoring the
fact that the Irish ask to be placed In
the same position in the empire as
the Southern states occupied In the
United States both before and after
the Civil War.'
If Great Britain should adopt the
forforai avstnm. It would be a much
stronger federation than that of the
United, States. All power exercised
by the local parliaments would be
delegated by the central parliament
which would still exorcise all power
not thu delegated. There would be
no twilight zone, no opportunity for a
state rights doctrine.
THE TWO BBYA-tfS.
Secretary Brvan did not always be
lieve that a high Government official
could not live In Washington on less
than 120,000 a year. His estimates
of the high cost of official living were
far more modest when he wrote me
following, which the Indianapolis Star
has exhumed from the files or tne
Commoner to plague its owner:
If you pay a Judge $5000 a year he will
live la accordance with the habits of plain
people. He will rent a modest house, 4n
a quiet quarter of the town, and will live
on a slmnla scale. If you raise his salary
to $7500 he will get a more expensive house
aad live among people who adopt the SISuO
scale of living. If you raise his salary to
$10,000 he will only get a still more ex
pensive house and live on a still more cost
ly scale. If vou give him $12,500 or $15,000
ha will spend his Summers at a fashionable
watering place, etc. And thus, by these
successive Increases of salary, our Judges
get In the habit of living among the rich
people: they breathe the atmosphere of the
moneyed classes, and In that way get out
of touch with the masses of the people, for
whom the courts are to hold the even scales
of Justice.
Substitute the words, "Secretary of
State," for the, word, "judge," and
this should describe the present view
of Mr. Bryan as to his own position,
but it does not. The Nation gives him
$12,000 a year, but he has got into
"the habit of living among the rich
people"; he "breathes the atmosphere
of the moneyed classes." He does
not ask Congress to raise his salary,
but he neglects the business of the
people while endeavoring, by deliver
ing lectures, to raise it to $20,000 a
year that he may live up to the mon
eyed atmosphere he breathes.
There have been two Bryans, One
is the Bryan of the BO-cent dollar, the
dollar banquet and the simple life at
Fair-view, the Bryan who sought of
fice. The other is the Bryan of the
$12,000 salary and the $20,000 style
of living among rich people, who flies
about the country trying to procure
the additional JS000 In the time which
he has promised to give the people.
This Is the Bryan who has attained
office.
OVERCROWDED; BCT BT WHOM?
An "advocate" presumably a law
yer who has time on his hands aside
from the more or less arduous labors
of his office writes to The Oregon
ian complaining of the overcrowding
of the legal profession. There are
16,000 lawyers In New York, and there
is expert opinion that 6000 Is enough.
As a layman. The Oregonian is pre
pared to suggest a smaller figure than
6000. There are too many lawyers
everywhere In New York, in Oregon
and In the other states; but there is
also too much litigation far too
much. If there were less for the
courts to do, there would be fewer
lawyers, for more of them would
starve.
The Oregonian Is no pessimist, but
it thinks that starvation, and nothing
else, will stop the rush to the profes
sions. The law is not alone in having
too many lawyers. Medicine has too
many doctors; and the pulpit has too
many preachers. If 70 per cent of the
New York lawyers get not more than
$3 per week per capita, most of them
will have to drop the law, and do
something else, perhaps go back to
the soil. It Is the same with the doc
tors and with the preachers. Many
of them do not make a living and
never will in their professions. We
suspect that most of the ne'er-do-wells
in the law, medicine and the ministry
will not do any better In any other
pursuit. The reason is that they have
been over-educated into thinking the
world owes them a living.
Readers of The Oregonian may have
observed a statement in a dispatch
from New York that a doctor whose
marital troubles were occupying a
good deal of attention earns from
$75,000 to $100,000 per year. Strange
ly enough, with a great many people
domestic Infelicities increase in exact
ratio . as their prosperity grows; but
that is another matter. The fact that
one doctor makes in fees $100,000 per
year merely proves that people are
ready to pay doctors well. It Is the
same with lawyers, and occasionally
a preacher gets a fair salary. All of
which shows that the rewards are
there. If the lawyer or -doctor or
preacher has the tact to discover and
the ability to earn them.
We have too many lawyers, doctors
and preachers indeed. But have we
too many good lawyers, good doctors
and good preachers?
. A MEAN DISPOSITION.
From a "personal letter" from Mr.
Alfred D. Crldge, one of the authors
of the $1600 tax exemption amend
ment, forwarded with leave to print
all or any part of it, the following is
extracted: . -
If Michigan exempts a twenty-acre stump
farm for five yeara on the value of the land
only, and Oregon exempts the Improvements
and labor valuea thereon for the same time,
which will encourage the settler the most?
The land Is not assessed now for an average
of $13 an acre, so that the settler In Mich
igan would only escape upon $300 of as
sessed value. No man can go Upon such
land and hope ' to accomplish anything
without that amount being invested before
the expiration of a year in buildings, fences,
livestock, etc If he cleared two acres he
would add at least $100 In labor valuea For
the flvs-year period ha would certainly be
ahead In Oregon on tax exemptions, and
If before that period expired he would
have Invested $1500 In Improvements and
livestock which is what we want him to
do he would certainly be very much more
encouraged. Then In Oregon we would
continue to exempt his little farm, all but
its natural value unimproved. while in
Michigan they will Jump all over him
for the taxes on every lick he ever strikes
on the place and treat him as an undesirable
citizen ever after by fines upon his thrift
and Industry.
Except as a matter of contrast it is
not a question as to whether the Ore-
gon Single Taxers' plan la better far
the country than the Michigan exemp
tion. It is whether the proposed Ore
gon exemption will not retard develop'
ment It may be said in passing, how
ever, that such "labor values" on land
as fencing and clearing, which Mr,
Cridsje mentions, are assessed as lanq
values and would not be taxed for five
years if the Michigan plan were
adopted in Oregon,
The Oregonian has heretofore point
ed out that a $1609 exemption on im
provements and personalty would In
crease the taxes on raw land and ham
per the consummation of the chief
desire of Oregon today the eultlva
tion of eut-over lands, All Mr. Crldge
jffers in extenuation of this proposed
.setback is the promise to the home
builder on logged-off land that, while
In the day of his struggles, need and
deprivation his taxes will be Ln
oreased, he can be comforted by the
hope that he will be able te save
something over pereervt tax methods
as soon as he becomes prosperous.
Mr. Crldge remind us of an Indi
vidual who Is known as the meanest
man in Kansas City, Whenever that
person's little daughter begs for an
ice-cream oone he asks her If she
wouldn't rather have a gold watch
when she is 18 years old.
A ivew BocRca or snergy.
Professor Frederick Soddy predicts
great changes in the economic and
political life of the world when the
secret of transforming the elements
into one another shall have been prac
tlcally mastered. It can now be done
in one or two cases but only very
slowly. For use In the arts of life It
must be done rapidly, so that great
quantities of energy may be liberated
and applied In a short time. The
processes of civilization consist mainly
in employing physical energy for van
ous purposes, such as manufacturing
goods, transporting them from place
to place, printing books, building
houses and the like.
The more physical energy man has
at his disposal the faster civilization
develops and the transmutation or
the elements promises to' afford him
quantities of it far In excess of any
source ever known before. This mas
ter secret, as Professor Soddy reminds
us in his lectures, has been sought for
centuries. The medieval investiga
tors believed that they could change
one metal into another by heat and
certain magic drugs, , but, as we all
know, they did not succeed. The
modern laboratory can employ much
higher temperatures than were avail
able in those early days and our sci
entists have at their command far su
perior resources of all sorts, but their
attempts to transform the elements
succeeded no better than those of
their medieval predecessors up to very
recent times.
Indeed the common belief was that
such a process was impossible and
reputable scientists had given up
thinking about It. Those who still
searched for the secret of transmuta
tion were classed with the Inventors
of perpetual motion and the clrcle-
squarers as Impractical dreamers, if
not among positive fools. But witn
Madame Curie's discovery of radium a
great change came over scientific
thought. It was presently observed
that the energy given out by radium
was due to the break-up of its atoms.
As they fell asunder they sent forth
atoms of a new element, . helium,
which had been formed from those of
the original substance. This was an
Instance of genuine transformation
and It was extremely significant on
account of the vast quantity of energy
liberated In the process. An ounce
of a pure radium salt in the course of
its change into helium sets free more
than a million times as much physical
energy as can be obtained from the
same weight of any other substance.
Unfortunately, however, the change
takes place so slowly that the practi
cal arts can ' profit by it only very
slightly. The complete transforma
tion of an ounce of radium compound
would require some thousands of
years. During that time it would emit
as much energy as ten tons of coal
would in burning. But the coal burns
In a few hours and therefore its en
ergy Is Incomparably more useful at
present than that of the radium.
But Professor Soddy hopes, or per
haps even expects, to see processes
Invented by which the transformation
of the elements Into one another can
be carried on rapidly and thus the
energy which Is liberated can be ap
plied to the common uses of civiliza
tion. It will do the same work that
we now obtain from coal, wind and
water power, only a great deal more
can be accomplished, because the sup
ply will be multiplied many times
over. Just what the effect will be
upon the world Professor Soddy illus
trates by recalling the changes which
the use of natural sources of energy
has already brought about. In the
beginning the only available energy
men had lay In their own muscles and
those of their wives and children.
No doubt the earliest method of in
creasing this slender resource was by
capturing slaves and taming wild ani
mals. Banded together in communi
ties, people could present a stronger
front to their neighbors than isolated
Individuals could. Moreover, organ
ized tribes preserved Internal peace,
which afforded an . opportunity to
make the most of the human and
brute energy at their disposal. Hence
tribes and nations had a serious eco
nomic significance in the beginning
of history. Civilization could not have
originated without them and the
slaves of whom they made use. But
as science discovered and harnessed
the natural sources of energy ' one
after another it became economically
unprofitable to depend on slave labor.
Mechanical Invention was the greatest
of all emancipators, because It could
underbid human muscle. The scienti
fic progress of our own day has gone
farther still and made exploitation of
the brutes unprofitable In many cases.
No doubt the time will come in. the
ordinary course of events when no
living creature will be kept In slavery
for the work It can do.
Tribes and nations, have been' sig
nificant In the history of civilization
because they have enabled groups of
men to utilize the physical energy
they commanded and to acquire more
at the expense of their neighbors. But
science, the great developer of energy
In modern times, is totally oblivious
of national and tribal limits. Its ef
forts are world-wide. It has formed
the intellect of mankind into a union
which knows no boundaries whatever.
The best utilization of the supplies of
energy now at our disposal requires
not the mutual hostility of mankind
but their complete co-operation and,
therefore, under the action of eco
nomic progress, the old barriers be
tween the nations are vanishing. They
will vanish much more rapidly when
the new sources of energy contained
in the atoms of the elements have
been made available.
The transformation, of radium into
helium Is therefore seen by Professor
Soddy as the first step in an economic
process which Is sure to produce a
new civilization. When this source
of energy - has been utilized as we
now utilise eoal the last relics of war
will disappear, for the excellent rea
son that . men will have nothing to
fight oven Energy will be so abun
dant that every person may have all
he needs or wants. Nations will fade
out of existence because their'cltlzens
need seek no advantage over others.
The reign of universal peace will be
ushered In by the achievement of uni
versal plenty. Men will finally love
one another like brothel's, because the
motive for mutual robbery will at last
have disappeared. It seems almost
aa if the advocates of International
peace ought to appoint a day of prayer
to hasten the transmutation of the
elements.
Senator Borah will stump Massa
chusetts in support' of A. P. Gardner
and the new Republicanism, of which
he is the foremost champion, and says!
"I am going to be there with my war
paint on," In making this announce
ment, the Boston Transorlpt speaks
of Mr. Borah as "a consistent foe of
standpatlsm" on both sides of the Sen
ate and adds!
The sincerity of the man, hi great ability
as a lawyer, his powers in debate, bava all
combined to seoura tor him the title of
leadership among those who are fighting for
ths rarltallalng of the party oreed, the re
organisation of party procedure, and all
with no thought of personal gain.
The Idaho Senator will put the Bull
Moose on the defensive.
At the recent Franco-British Travel
Congress la London a Frenoh delegate
said tourists were entitled to better
telephone and telegraph service. He
told of long waits in his own country
and said that to his certain knowledge
a telegram from London to Paris with
prepaid reply could be sent more rap
idly via New York than direct. If one
criticises the service, one Is subject to
a fine for "insulting an official,", as
Prince von Wled recently learned In
Germany. In all three of those coun
tries the telegraph and telephone sys
tems are government monopolies. Be
fore we make a change in that direc
tion, we should assure ourselves that,
it. will be a change for the better.
frtinrmi T?nnafvlt fttvles the exemp
tion clause of the income tax law a
premium on race suicide. He reasons
that the exemption, of an additional
$500 income for each of not more
fho tnrt .v.iir1r-n Is an inducement to
limit the number to two and that by
a law of nature, a race in which the
average family consists of less than
four children Is doomed to extinction.
. ir o isnn nTsmntlon were eiven
for each child, a premium would be
r,. nn famillfta of eisrht. for it WOuld
exempt the man with $4000 income
entirely. Colonel Roosevelt wouia
grant no relief from taxation to
married couple without children.
TnTnattpr-Gen3ral Burleson's Idea
rtvii RArvirA rpform is to take away
the protection given by the law to
tjnnhiiran noHtmasters ana to sur
round with it the .Democratic post
masters he Installs. Can he not see
that this action is an Invitation to Re
publicans to repeat the operation
ree-aln rtower? It makes
the protection offered by the civil
service law a delusion ana tne wnoie
system a farce. But he only cares to
,r.s,, tha hunrer of the office-
seekers who now surround him and Is
indifferent to the ultimate effects or
his action. '-.
tha lntpritfLt bridfre Is built
aa aVin.ll noon See electrio railroads
penetrating the fertile valleys of
Clarke and Cowlitz Counties and cen
tering in Portland. These counties
hovA na vet hardly begun to develop.
Bad roads make farming unprofitable
ninv nroductlve sections ana so
land Is not cleared and population in
nn. hut slowly. Electrio lines will
bring Portland markets to the farm
ers' doors. The whole region win
profit Immeasurably by the bridge.
hna hApn nrot-osed to match
Mothers' Day with Fathers' Day and
now the Hartford Courant proposes
ttoIoo riav" with direction that
pawnbrokers' shops be closed for those
teAntv.fnnr hours. We shall next
have Mother-in-Laws' Day, Father-ln-
Laws" Day, Cousins' Day ana otner
days until all the days in the year will
be used up.
ctoA-PrAsident Marshall attributes
his present happiness to the absence
of children from his house, yet ad
vises others to marry young and have
children. He appears to be making a
virtue of necessity in naving . none ui
his own.
- -..,. .siiKiinn to twentv-storv
W C7 ginio vj nj,.-
buildings in Portland is possible in
terference wlth aviation. The man
who uses his ten-story roof for start
and arrival has a legitimate "kick."
That body of land as large as Green
land discovered by Russians north of
Siberia will make an excellent penal
colony that even a George Kennan
cannot penetrate.
Albany is due for some extra public
ity. Merchants of that city have
placed a large order In New York for
goods to be shipped by way of the
Canal.
1 :
If the "wireless eye," which works
only in the dark, Is made perfect and
cheap, many men will acquire the
habit of staying at home nights.
Mrs. Pankhurst will be foolish to
attempt to land under an assumed
name. The brickbats In her fists will
establish Identity.
Only 44 per cent of the officers of
the Army are West Pointers, but they
are the leaven that puts "ginger" in
the lump
Oregon needs more specialists like
Ernest Hale, of Cottage Grove, who
grows thirty-two tons of carrots to
the acre.
Lloyd-George's programme savors a
good deal of the "forty acres and a
mule" of Reconstruction days.
People who complain of the high
cost of beef are commended to a diet
of chicken and eggs.
Spencer, the multi-murderer, is de
termined to prove he Is no mere ama
teur killer.
Coffee Is going up, making further
grounds for complaint
Lay away the score card with the
straw hat
Stories of Natural Science
Synopsis of Lecture) at Reed College,
Delivered by Dn William Cenge
Morgan,
NO. St SIMPl-IFTINO TUB MY9TERT
OF FIHE.
The mysterious properties of fire
as they appealed to old-time philoso
phers are accredited with inspiring a
great deal of the chemical research of
centuries whloh has resulted in the
present status of a highly comprehen
sive science. The reason for ths long
delay in coming to a well-founded
conclusion regarding combustion Is that
for centuries there wars fsw strictly
scientific views of the numerous well
known natural phenomena. To give a
phenomenon Its aocurate scientific ex
planation the observation on which the
explanation is based must be correct;
that is, to explain what happened an
observer must bo sure that he has
heard, seen and felt correctly what has
happened.
From what the ancients knew of fire,
their theories ware logical enough,
charmingly ingenious and, from having
bean based upon faulty observations,
consistently wrong. At this time there
was no comfortable certainty that the
moldy old list of but four elements
from which a whole world of things
was oomposed could (till reign sover
eign and unimpeachable. Beecher de
cided in 1660 that these elements did
not compose everything, and that they
wers not properly chosen. He accord
ingly, made a revision, and substituted
what ho called "terra plnguli" as one
of the elements, and attempted an ex
planation to make the process of burn
ing - seem . reasonable. Another ex
planation cams from Btahl, who In 1697
diverged from previous dogmas. Here
we are told of a substance present In
Inflammable material ready to escape
In flame. This substance was so light
that it had negative weight, hence the
loss of weight in burnt materials. This
substance had the dignity of the name
phlogiston Indicative that an essen
tlal for the prestige of a new theory Is
a name of high-sounding Import
a e
The development of the phlogiston
theory was a more or less logical
process, the obvious Iobs of weight In
burned matter naturally showing that
something was taken away. What went
away was phlogiston and what re
malned was dephloglstlcated matter,
thus bringing the conclusion that ash
or residue of oombustlon, plus phlo
giston, was equal to the original sub
stance before burning, besides showing
that long names could make a dis
course sound very learned. Faith In
the phlogiston theory held steady for
many years, and there was a long
search to find the method for bottling
up some of the phlogiston for experi
ments. Carrying out the theory, pure
phlogiston would have obligation to
burn without leaving any ash; so to
find the substance with this qualifica
tion could not have been an elusive
task. Further research produced the
gas hydrogen, which appeared to have
extreme lightness, and burned without
residue; evidently this might be the
phlogiston which formed an important
part of all Inflammables.
e
If chemical research is to be success
ful, the necessity for correct observa
tion demonstrates Itself. The phlogls
ton theory was not successful Taking
certain things for granted, such as the
obvious loss of weight during com
bustlon, has been a stumbling block to
centuries of philosophers and chemists;
theories llloglcally drawn from accur
ate data have never been so obstructive
as logical conclusions based on falla
cles. Doubtless there was a firmer
basis for the phlogiston theory than
for any previous theory of combustion,
as, for instance, the one which merely
said that fire was a "subtle fluid"; lor,
in admitting fire to bo "subtle," a
scientist merely chooses a dignified
way of saying, "I know nothing about
It," and such perfect resignation as this
has accomplished little in the maze of
chemical research. Since the time
when progress began In chemistry, few
gases, fluids, or solids have been sat
Isfactorlly catalogued .by the word
"subtle." .
So, then, the exploding of the phlo
giston theory came as soon as more
perfect methods of measurement could
show that far from growing lighter
as It burned, matter actually Increased
in weight Early experiments In this
direction were not conclusive, but start
ed a growing scepticism which resulted
In establishing that In all cases matter,
burning, takes on weight Here is the
correction of the misleading fallacy;
a candle weighs less after burning than
before, but then add to it the weight
of the gas given off by combustion,
and the sum is greater than the
weight of the original candle. Simi
larly, coal weighs less than Its ashes
plus the gas produced by combustion.
The tremendously important law of
conservation of matter follows close
ly upon these conclusions. Were mat
ter really resolved Into nothing by com
bustion, chemists would likely be still
more embarrassed for an explanation.
but the products of combustion having
ben caught and measured give consis
tency to recent theories. The gain In
weight realized in combustion assures
that the present methods of chemical
procedure embody soundly based ideas.
A number of publications coming out
in about 1775 gave almost simultaneous
testimony thai combustion brings an
addition In, weight the addition being
from no other possible source than the
air itself. Those who furnished tne
means of establishing these Important
claims were the chemists, Scheele,
Priestly and Lavoisier. The fruit of
investigations of these three chemists
of the modern school is the discovery
of oxygen and of the part played in
combustion by air. Furthermore,
chemistry begaD to be a science haying
a height of respectability equal to tnat
of mathematics, and was no longer
either a black art or a magic cult
RUSHING INTO CTIE PROFESSIONS
Starvation Walts on Most members of
-the Bar, Says Writer.
M'MINNVILLE. Or.. Oct 10. (To the
Editor.) A professor in an Eastern
university. In an article In relation to
attorneys, says that there are 16,000
lawyers in Greater New York, and that
70 tier cent or them live on tne verge
of starvation, with an Income of- not
more than $3 a weeK. lie quotes some
writer as saying that the trouDie is
ovar-crowdlne. This writer quotes
the chairman of the New York County
Lawyers' Association as Baying, that if
there were only 6000 lawyers In New
York, instead) of 16,000, their chances
would be very fair, almost good, but
he urges young men not to aspire to
the bar.
Last June our Supreme court ad
mitted 10 tne Dar, on oxa-uuiii-nuu, n
class of about 106, and another class is
to be examined at the new term of the
court In addition to this, several are
admitted every week, on motion, on
certificates from other states. It will
be seen that there is a great "rush"
for admission to the bar in Oregon.
A lares majority of those admitted
will be disappointed by finding almost
nothing to So. The bar is already bad
ly over-crowded in Oregon, and this
rush is very foonsn. .-.very county
seat has several times as many law
yers as can find adequate employment
and towns that are not county seats
have an over-supply.
Permit me to quote two stanzas from
Saxe, who was himself a lawyer:
I've waited and waited In vain,
.,( 1 1 n a ,n ODenlne to find.
Where an honest young lawyer might gain
Some reward lor tnis ton 01 nis raina.
Oh. how can a modest young man ,
E'er hope " for the smallest profession ,
The profession's already so full
iir lawyers ,u .. w j.u.. .
ADVOCATE.
Balboa of Panama
By Dean Collins.
West o'er the waves went the ships
steering Steadily,
Taking the trad a wind that nevsr
- fails or Veers,
Daring all dangers roughly and
Balboa and his brawny buc.
caneers,
"Red rubies rich In the islands of Ind
arej
Spices and silks to the ransom of a
king;
Diamonds, as duit driven down by the
wind are;
Olittarlng nuggets in the cold clay
cling,
"Seek we a sea-way to where wealth
awaits us;
Out unto Indus our strong ship
steers;;
West o'er the wild wave the gold gleam
baits us;"
So sang Balboa and his brawny buc
caneer!. Purple rose Panama, misty and distant;
Sharp her sierras sheared the South
ern sky;
Forward and shoreward struggling, in
sistent Pressed they the quest up the massy
mountains high.
"Grottoes of gold In the Indies are
gleaming;
Diamonds as dewdrops, or as wo
man's tears;
Just o'er the crest, ths dominion of our
dreaming";
So sang Balboa and his brawny buc
caneers. Rich as the rug for a Persian prophet's
kneeling,
Far fell the land as they crowded
o'er the crest
Misty and mild as a maiden's eyes ap
pealing. Rolled another ocean away Into the
West
"Wild as the wisp o'er the mad moors
dancing,
Vanish the visions we have vainly
followed far;
Where in the West are the gems of In
dus glancing?
Where are the grots where the gol
den nuggets are?
"Stern stands the barrier, broad across
the sea-road.
Beating us back from our quest of
all the years.
Where, through Its wide wall, lies for
us a free road?"
So sighed Balboa and his brawny
buccaneers.
Northward and Southward, sailed, the
seamen daring.
Coming from all countries, seeking
still afar
Down through the stormy straits unto
Indus faring
Still o'er the middle seas lay the
mighty bar.
Still the stern barrier, terrible and
towering.
Four times a hundred years on the
ocean lay.
Bidding men bovc fore its battlemented
lowering.
And fare forth to India on another
way.
Four times a hundred years and its
reign is ended.
Cleft Is the crest that arose in stub
born pride;
Stone bones ore broken- and the earth
thews are. bended;
Straight through the wallstead lies
a sea-rood wide.
Out of the dim post chant a lusty
chorus.
Stalwart Balboal The task that you
besrun
You and your buccaneers finished lies
before us;
Orient and Occident are welded into
MORE INFORMATION DESIRABLE-.
Practicability of Swan Island Plan
Iteeda fc-nglneer's Inveatlsratton.
PORTLAND, Oct 1L (To the Edi
tor.) It sounds almost presumptuous
to talk of digging out Swan Island by
the roots, as It were, and filling up
from it the Mock's Bottom lands and
Bridgeport Nevertheless, with the
intoxication of big things doing in the
air, it may be attempted, and it is to
suggest careful Inquiry and planning
before it is attempted that this Is writ
ten. Millions can be very easily spent
but unless carefully plonned for, on
ticipated profits and benefits will not
come back; even the Manama canai
was not successfully attempted until
many years after it was suggested, and
its plans were revised more tnan a
dozen times.
If we ore to spend millions and mil
lions of tax money on public improve
ments ond every enterprising com
munity has to spend them we can ar
ford to toko time enough reasonably to
figure out the probable outgo and In
come.
Years asro I saw nine ducks killed at
one shot on Mock's Bottom Slough, but
cautious hunters did not count on this
for an average. They picked them up
generally one by one and many they
missed or lost Even In hunting, luck
alone cannot be depended on. The pro-
nosed extraction of Swan Island Is an
engineering scheme and I and many
other taxpayers would llKe rurtner in
formation from the engineers before
voting on the proposed bonding issues.
First has the treacherous quality 01
the soli, or rather water and soil of the
Mock's Bottom lands been sufficiently
considered? During the building of
the O.-W. R. & N. Co.'s line across this
bottom it was commonly reported that
100-foot Dlllnsr was necessary in places,
and even then they sank through much
of the soft ground almost of their own
weight
Mr. Willard, I think it was, also triea
down there on the bank of the river to
moke an excavation for a drydock, but
after spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars was compeilea to aesis. oe-
couse the bottom of his drydock would
not stay in place, but rose in the exca
vation like water in a pipe under pres
sure.
Will the Mock's Bottom land hold up
a fill or will it under pressure ooze out
Into the river? Second After a hole
40 feet below the ordinary water level
is dug where Swan Island now Is will
it stay dug or will Its banks be con
tinually oozing in? Third would not
this proposed turning pool make a Bet-
tlintr basin for the river whlcn wouia
largely fill up with Snags and sediment
at every flood in the Willamette River?
The natural forces that made tne
Island are still active. Would they not
attempt to restore It and would not the
annual expense for all time of the
maintenance of this harbor be very
heavv? Fourth The Bridgeport
scheme of improvement is one unit in
the design; could it not be taken up
first and completed by dredging from
tha west channel of the river? In this
way, the harbor area would be in
creased and a minion or wu -ip.-i
preparatory work, as it were, tnat
would be useful in itself and would
olso serve as a fair test of the utility
and practicability of the whole design.
Will not the island ana tne m..
Bottom lands keep? It hardly seems
probable that they can much Increase
in their present estimated value dur
ing the next few years.
Let us reason together a little while
first and then if it seems wise we can
tackle the Job. Tiius. J., si-tuau
Right to Use the Title "Hon."
Buffalo (N. Y.) Express.
"How did Calkins get the right to
stick that 'Hon.' in front of his name?
He never was In Congress, was he?"
"No, but he once Impersonated a mem
ber of Congress over the telephone."
Twenty-five Years Ago
From The Oregonian .of October 13, 1S8S.
Mltcholl, Intl., Oct. 12. Gov. Hill, or
New York, inaugurated his canvass of
Indiana at this place today.
Olympia, W. T., Oct 12. This city
was visited by on unusually heavy rain
and wind storm, accompanied by light
ning, at 2 o'clock this morning. During
the storm, notwithstanding the dark
ness, Mt Rainier, 60 miles distant, was
distinctly visible, being almost a mass
of electricity,
Ellensburg, W. T., Oct 12. Col. Cook.
ex-Territorial Councilman, died at his
farm this afternoon. He was one of
the oldest settlers in Kittitas Valley,
coming when the Indians were trou
blesome, and had to fight his way. Ha
was a cousin of Jay Cooke and a.
brother of E. M. Cook, one of Oregon's
first Secretaries.
St Louis,' Oct 11. A special from
Nogales, Ariz., says: The last remnant
of Geronlmo's band of renegade
Apaches have been captured Jn thu
Sierra Madre Mountains, in Sonera,
Mexico.
The weather yesterday was misera
ble, still the Republicans of Portland
and vicinity got out, despite the mud.
and rain, and rallied heartily and en
thusiastically for the standards of pro
tection of American industry and labor,
Harrison and Morton. The procession
was a mile long and there were fully
3000 men In line. Nine policemen, un
der the leadership of Officer Collins,
headed the procession. Orand Mar
shal B. B. Tuttle, with the following
olds, oil mounted on fiery Bteeds, ca mi
no., t: O. Summers. Raleigh Stott, W. 13.
Gilbert George C. Sears, S. J. Barber,
John F. Staver, T. B. McDevltt, J. E.
Mayo, Sam Simmons, C. M. Forbes,
George Longford, E. M. Sergeant W,
II. Saylor, H. It Alden, O. F. Paxton,
Alfred F. Sears, Harry E. Northrup, W.
N. Dlmmick, V. P. Boise, I. A. Macrum,
George T. Wlllette, Tom Lewlston, M.
F. Mulkey, J. J. FltssJmmons, P. B.
Sinnott The marine band of 22 pieces,
under the leadership of Ralph W.
Hoyt came next Then cam. the
Harrison brigade, headed by It M. Mc
Masters, C. D. Lownsdale, with the
flambeau club, the Blaine Club, under
command of M. Q. Griffin.
A boulevard 20 feet In width is to
be built from the Barnes road up to
the summit of the hill In Irving Park
through tracts owned by A. H. Johnson
and Eugene D. White, upon Mr. Rob
ert Irving's tract
H. R. Dunlway, while descending
yesterday from his lumber wharf in
East Portland to the Alblna ferry, was
by a slip of the ladder pitched head
first into the river between the boat
ond the wharf. H swam out.
Half a Century Ago
Prom The oregoulttn of October It. 1.03.
Bannock City. Sept. 27. Considera
ble excitement has been manifest for
the last two weeeks on account of tha
conduct of one S. C. Hoyt who has been
running pret(y high on the swindle. Ho
swindled John Balonche and skedaddled.
Four men started in pursuit and tamo
up to Hoyt on Burnt River and they
brought Him bock. It is shown that he
was owing Balanche $3400, Reynolds
11000, Smythers $700, Hurd $500, Dr.
Overbeck $150, Brown & Martin $288,
his clerk, Mr. Graves, several hundred,
as well as others, In all about $.000.
It is proved that he carried away tivo
purses and that the contained about
$9000 In dust
Washington, Oct 6. The captures in
the battle near Chattanooga have in
creased the prisoners in Lib by prison
to over 1000.
Washington, Oct 6. A colored bar
ber direct from Richmond says pcoplo
are dally sending their effects fioutli
In anticipation of an attack. Last week
the State Guard was called out to sup
press a threatened bread riot. Hundreds
of Government employes, with their
wives and wives of soldiers, assem
bled In 'front of the state capltol,
armed with clubs and missiles, demand
ing of the authorities rellof for starving
children.
The distinguished Cathollo mission
ary Father Do Smet, left on the steamer
last night He intends going to St.
Louis and returning via Fort Benton
to his labors among the Indians who
Inhabit the Rocky Mountain region.
His honor, Gov. Pickering, of Wash
ington Territory, was in the city yes
terday and favored us with a call.
APPEAL I "PI-EASE DON'T KISS MB,"
Four-Year-old Girl on 70O0-M1U Trip
Comes Labeled to Gowna.
The child who attracted the most at
tention on board the Kronprinzessln
Cecllle, arriving from the Weser, was
four-year-old Margaretha Rltchen,
with a placard stitched to the skirt of
her dress on which is written in sev
eral languages:
"Please take core of me,"
"I am going to my mamma."
"Please do not kiss me."
It seems that Margaretha's father
died in a town not far from Vienna,
and her mother married again. The
mother emigrated with her new hus
band to Kenwood, Sonora County, Col.,
leaving the child behind In the care
of a relative.
When she was ready to receive curly
headed little Margaretha the mother
sent passage money to the old country
and! directed that her daughter bo
Bhlpped. When she reaches California
the child will hove traveled about 7000
miles.
The steamship doctor was thoughtful
enout-h to protect the child from
germs likely to be transmitted through
kisses.
The immigration boaTdlng officers
found that Margaretha has only $5.
which was forwarded here In the care
of an immigrant society. There is
a family traveling to San Francisco
in about eight days. In whose car.
Margaretha will probably be sent
Meanwhile she will be held on Ellis
Island.
The stewardess toon tiargaretn:i
ashore yesterday afternoon to buy her
an apron in Washington street,
Hoboken.
Getting the Best
Through
Your Newspaper
During these crisp, cool days of
Fall when everyone Is sharing in the
bustling activities of the season, the
advertising columns of The Ore
gonian are at their best Advertis
ing is always Interesting to readers,
but it. is especially so now, and one
really does oneself an Injustice not
to read carefully each day's offer
ings. Store news, touching upon eve"'
article of wearing apparel for m,n,
woman or child, is presented in the
most attractive and informing .man
ner. And every other line of busi
ness and professional activity with
the many opportunities for saving
and investment. Is being announced
dally in our advertisements.
Not to be posted on these ever
changing, and Interesting phases of
our life Is to be behind the times
unprogresslve and neglectful.
To get the full value of The
Oregonlan's columns, read the ad
vertisements. Adv.
f