Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1903)
THE SUNtfAY OREGONlAir, PORTLA'ND, ItEAUGBf 15; 1905. Statere at the Potto r s at Parti mi. Orecoa. &s second-class matter. REVISED SUBBCxUPTIOX KATES. Br (postage prepaid. In advance) Xtellr. with Sanday. per saosin.....,..!- Dally, Sunday excepted, per Tear.......... Dtilr. irtth Sunday, per year 8.00 Sub at y, per year ........... ....r....... -W The Weekly, per year 1-52 The Weeklr, S noath... ....... -&0 To City Subscribers Dally, per -week, delivered. Sasday excepted .15c DUr. per week, delivered. Sunday lncluded.20a POSTAGE BATES. United States. Canada aad Mexico: 10 to 14-page paper............-..- ic 14 to 28-page paper.... - -20 Psreign rates double. Xews or discission Intended for publication la The Oregonlan should be addressed Invaria bly "Editor The Oregonlan." not to the name f any Individual. Letters rfUtlr-K to adver tkteg. Mfetcrlptlcn or to any business matter bouM be addressed simply "Tie Oregonlan." Tfce Oreeoataa does not buy poems or stories trees tedlvlduals, and -cannot undertake to re tra any manuscripts sent to It without solici tattes. Ko eta saps should be Inclosed for this rpe. Eastern Business Odce, 43. 44, 45, 47. 48. 49 Trfbws. building. New York City: 510-11-12 Tribaae building Chicago: the S. a Beckwlth Speelal Agency, Eastern representative. yr sale la San Francisco by L- E. Lee. Pal ace Hotel news stand: Goldsmith Bros., 238 Sutter street; F. TV. Pitta. 1008 Market street; J. X. Cooper Co.. 74S Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear. Ferry news ctaad; Frank Scott, SO Ellis street, and N. Wheatley, 813 Mission street. . For sale In Jjo Angeles by B. F- Gardner, tU South Spring street, and Oliver & Haloes. South Spring street. Far sale in Kansas City. Mo., by Ricksecker Cigar Co., Ninth and Walnut streets. For sale in Chicago by the P. O. News Co., , 217 Dearborn street, and Charles MacDonald. B Washington street. .For sale In Omaha by Barkalow Bros.. 1612 Far&am street; Megeath Stationery Co.. 130S Faraam street. Far sale in Ogden by W. G. Kind. 114 25th street i Ja. H. Crockwell. 242 25th street. For sale in Salt Lake by the Salt Lake Xews Co., 77 West Second South street. Tor sale In Washington. D. C. by the Ebbett Kesee news stand. For sale la Denver, Colo., by Hamilton & SCattdriek, 800-812 Seventeenth street; Louth an & Jackson Book and Stationery Co.. Fifteenth ad Lawreaee streets: A. Series. Sixteenth aad Curtis streets. TODAY'S WEATHER Cloudy and threaten teg, with probably light rain or snow; winds meetly southerly. TBeTBRDATS WEATHER Maximum tem peratsre. 41; minimum temperature, 34; pre cipitation, 0.00 inch. PORTLAND, SUN DAT, MARCH 15, 1003 PASSING OP "LEGAL" GAMBLING. While the State of Washington makes it a felony to keep a gambling-house, the State of Arkansas, it Is said, Is per mitting the development at Arkansas Hot Sorlngs of a gambling resort of magnificent proportions and appoint ments, which bids fair soon to rival that of Monte Carlo. Yet it may be doubted whether the games at Arkansas Hot Springs will be permitted to have per manent existence. Th6ugh Arkansas, as compared with some others, may not yet be a state of highest moral culture taking the whole people together yet fhere are In Arkansas large numbers of the best and most moral people, and they certainly will be a growing force In the affairs of the state. One of the chief drawbacks Is the large negro pop ulation, whose educational and moral status, in the mass, is necessarily low. The State of Washington, in a pitch of moral enthusiasm, has gone to an ex treme of severity that Is perhaps un equaled. The trouble will .be found, in enforcement of the law. Juries In the principal towns will hesitate to bring in verdicts of guilty, when the effect will be to send the offenders to the Peni tentiary. At Arkansas Hot Springs, as at Monte Carlo, the persons who play are visitors, almost wholly; yet the State of Arkansas Is so great a common wealth that Us fortunes cannot depend on encouragement of the- games, as In the little principality of Monaco, which is a gambling resort and nothing more. No permanent gambling resort, there fore, Is likely to be maintained at Ar kansas Hot Springs. In Europe there has been growth of sentiment during many years against the public games, that once were much more common than now. Monte Carlo, indeed, remains the only "legal" .public gaming resort In Europe. In Germany and Belgium the games have been com pletely closed. Of the "German resorts, that at Baden-Baden was the most fa mous. Towards the end the direct rent paid for the privilege of running the Baden-Baden tables was 50,000 a year and the net annual profits ex ceeded 100,000. Yet, of course, the profits of the tables were in significant In comparison, with the money brought to Baden-Baden and ex pended there, for the number of visitors during the season reached nearly one hundred thousand. Other gambling re sorts In Germany, as at Wiesbaden, Homburg and Nauheim, were closed be fore that at Baden-Baden. At Ostend, In Belgium, the public gaming tables were closed on the 10th of October last; and this was an end in Europe to all rivalry of Monte Carlo. The so-called Rhine gaming resorts were a product of the long peace that followed the Napoleonic ware. Europe was then rendered safe for pleasure travel, which the birth and growth of railways came In due time to facilitate, while the aristocratic and leisured classes, finding that time lay heavily on their hands, took up gambling with zest. Again, the Rhine gambling-houses were the first to provide palatial mansions with good music, high-class cookery and sumptuously furnished ball and recep tion-rooms, the cost of -which was de frayed from the profits of the games, In 1854 Prussia started the German movement for suppression on the Rhine tables, which was taken up by the North German Confederation later and carried finally Into effect under the con solidated -empire. To close the games at Ostend the Bel gian government has been compelled to use force; for though as a matter of fact the Belgian law was enacted several years ago, its extension to Ostend was delayed proof of the energy and Influ eoce brought to bear In opposition to it. Ever since Ostend blossomed Into a health and pleasure resort, public gam ing had been In operation there; and later attempt was made through an English syndicate to set up a rival to Monte Carlo. A large sum of money was paid to the municipality for the concession, and the blow to the town effected by the abolition of the tables was and Is & serious one. It always has been difficult to continue the popularity of a "resort" when gambling has been suppressed; and the Belgian government already has been obliged to advance a large sum for the completion of works at Ostend which otherwise' would have be& supplied out of the municipality's gambling reveaue. In consequence of the abolition of the public ames In other parts of Europe foe, following the example set by Ger many, the games in Switzerland and Spain, have also been suppressed lionte Carlo la flourishing- mightily. The gfeat Riviera establishment was started ki 1S56. In lS62.the Prince of Monaco,, then a; poor man, was paid 13,000 a year for the "concession"; and later the lease was extended' to the year 1916. This was modified, however, and In 1S97 a new arrangement was made to run fifty years. The capital stock of ihe syndi cate la a producer of revenue equal to stock In the Standard OIL Dividends are enormous. A great syndicate has made an effort to get i "concession" for a gambling establishment at San Remo, n Italy, en attractive resort Hot far from Monte Carlo: but, though a vast sum has be?n offered, the Italian government has re fused. Even the little Republic of San Marino, on the Adriatic,-has declined a very tempting offer of like kind. Monte Carlo, therefore, remains the one "legal" gambling resort. Only an irresponsible little principality Monaco is a "state" of five square miles remains to legal ize gambling and to live upon 1L Pre tension of any state or municipality to importance and dignity presupposes moral conscience and sense of moral responsibility; and gambling therefore cannot have legal recognition within It. XERITS OP AMERICAN AUTHORSHIP It is now eleven years ago since a Philadelphia- publishing house (Messrs. A. J. Holman &" Co.) asked" Professor Hllprecht, of the University of Pennsyl vania, to prepare a historical sketch on the explorations In Bible lands, to be printed at the close of the nineteenth century. Tne long aeiay mat nas in tervened between the order and its de livery is due to the new and important discoveries that have incessantly been made. It Is a striking testimony to the assiduity of American research and the conscientiousness of American scholar ship. The knowledge of this fidelity, with Its incidental assurance of accu racy, must, for every thoughtful reader. Immeasurably heighten the value of the beautiful, fascinating and almost epoch making volume which at length has is sued from the Philadelphia press, and whichstands alone In giving to the English-reading public a clear conception of the gradual resurrection of the prin cipal ancient nations of Western Asia and Northern Africa Assyria, Baby lonia, Palestine, Egypt, Arabia and the widely scattered habitat of the so-called HIttites. We shall attempt no summary of the contents of Professor Hllprecht'a noble work, "Explorations In Bible Lands During the Nineteenth Century," for It would not satisfy the lovers of this won derful lore, who will be content only with the book itself, and as for those who have never discovered the charm of these resurrections, they can only be urged to seek them in some such at tractive and authoritative source as this American scholar supplies. It la our purpose merely to call the attention of the critically disposed to a field of liter ary effort in which this Nation needs to ask no odds on account of its youth. The basis of Hllprecht'a labors, of course, lies in the generous public spirit which makes the University of Pennsyl vanla's explorations possible; but ma. terial support of authorship has been vouchsafed, as it has been necessary, la all time. The splendor of his achieve ment, however. Is all his own, for it in volves not only natural gifts and stead fast devotion, but residence abroad at the scene of excavations. In German universities among old manuscripts and also in this country with books and printing presses. Money has supplied the sinews of the archaeological cam paign; but the triumph Is the general's own. The revival or classicism has abun dantly Justified Itself In the Elizabethan and early Victorian eras. But the vogues of Its disciples, notably such thinkers as Macaulay, Arnold, Ruskln, our late and romantic poets and our great mod em novelists, has served to emphasize an aspect of literature which is undenia bly great, but which does not exclude the highest irreatness of other kinds. It suited the purpose of Macaulay, brll Hant critic though he was, to disparage criticism In comparison with the art, for example, of poetry. The greatness of Homer and Milton seemed to him the only greatness deserving of homage; and to an extent we will all agree with him. But the faults of the poetic age. If It comes to the odium of comparl son, must not be Ignored if we are re quired to consider those of the critical age. It is In the infancy of a nation's development that Its imagination soars on highest wing Homer, Aeschylus, Shakespeare, or In a smaller way our own New England poeta The splendor of that first burst of song never re turns. Traveling dally farther from the gorgeous East of youth, the radiance of morning fades Into the light of com mon day. We become merchants and manufacturers; we write intricate stories and criticism, but no great poems. But poetry is not enough. Its dreams are ennobling, but they are dreams. They may be wrong; and scholarship has been commendably busy learning the mistakes of Its great poets He brew, Greek and English. An error In the great man Is, Indeed, more grievous for hie greatness. Who can estimate the damage bequeathed to posterity by the exuberant pages of ancient poetry which myriads have accepted- as an in fallible guide? Who will undertake to disparage the toilsome labors of the lit erary student or the archaeologist as he digs out the Inflection or the inscription which has long held the" world In Intel ectual bondage as blighting as the taskmasters of Xerxes or Pharaoh? There Is no sign manual on the poet' view of truth which debars It from the operation of. the scholar's view of truth. The song of the sun standing still for Joshua must come under the tests of as tronomy; Cortex did not discover the Pacific, Keats to the contrary notwith standing, and anti-Semltfc hatred is not sanctified by its reflection In the pages of Shakespeare. It becomes necessary to know how truth and error are com blned In Macaulay's Judgment. It re quires to be seen how Insecure Is the foundation upon which repose the colos sal structures of Ruskln. Any indictment of current American literary achievement lies against all the modern world; and authorship Is win nlng laurels, here as elsewhere. In realms of the highest value and Import ance. In history. In criticism, In archae ology. Its triumphs are great and per. Lmanent. It Is doubtful If any literary period in the history of civilization has more profoundly Influenced the mind of man than did the fifty years In which Darwin and Spencer, Huxley and Tyndali, revolutionized the story of ere ation. Hardly less momentous than that achievement Is the work embodied irf this book of Professor Hllprecht; for it Is the beginning and the making of the scientific reading of' the greatest book In the world, aad the remodeler for all time of the fabrics from which have been woven the vital forces In a civilization of 060 years. It is e labor not to be despised or reckoned unfavor ably In comparison with any that Amer ica has brought forth. Surely it Is an Inspiring thought that the world had to wait for the latest of the nations to tell the true story of Its earliest years! Surely it is a dramatic climax to the migration of the Aryan round the globe, that the Farthest West turns back to nucover reverentially the cerensests of the Farthest East . A VICIOUS PROPOSAL. Among the various card games- which have sharpened the wits, beguiled the tedium and promoted the gayety of na tions, none holds a more honorable post than the ancient American Institution of seven-up, or old sledge. Either the two-handed or the partner game affords an excellent trial of wit and memory, and few games of chance, as all card and dice games are when fairly played, offer a larger scope for the profitable exercise of individual acumen. It Is with regret, therefore, that we observe the Iniquitous proposal of a member of the Oklahoma "Legislature to alter an important rule pf this time-honored game by statutory enactment. The bill to question proposes to amend the rules of seven-up by providing that when the nondealer has six points and begs," If the dealer gives him one it shall not put him out if the dealer can make enough to go out on his own "giv ing" hand. It provides the same thing as if the dealer should count and score his hand before the "one" given to the nondealer is scored. A great many seven-up players have expressed ap proval of this bill. Their Indorsement is based on. the fact that when the dealer has enough points In his hand to go out it Is a great hardship for him to turn down his hand because he cannot "give" the nondealer out. It is indeed an exas perating situation. It must be remembered, however, that the despair of one player is perfectly counterbalanced by the elation of the other. This Tact is what gives to sport its Immortality. It is hard lines to lose out by a safe hit In a fourteen-innlng game of baseball; or in billiards to see your opponent win out by a run of 15 or 20 and. leave you In the one-hole, or go down In the twentieth round by a chance blow from a groggy antagonist. But all these- things confer their equiv alent In joy upon the winner and make him more eager for another fray. To reduce the chances of despair In sport is to minimize the chances of joy, and that is to kill the Interest in the game. The Oklahoma proposal Is to be con demned, not only on Intrinsic grounds, but because it is an obvious outgrowth of the modern abominations of cinch, high-five, pedro, etc., which have been grafted upon seven-up for the benefit of the weakmlnded, the avaricious and the sensational. The time when the non dealer begs with only one point to go is usually the psychological moment In a well-played game. It Is an advantage no more than commensurate with the dealer's prerogative of "turning Jack." Not only that, but once the historic in violability of the "gift" is impaired. there is no telling what may follow the entering wedge. Thereabout hang some of .the most hallowed memories of the card table, such, for example, as the exploit of the daring begger, who took his gift and' thereupon proceeded to make high, low, jack, gift and game. We are credibly Informed that a Port land clubman' recently begged on the queen and six, and was given, and then would, have caught the dealer's lone Jack If he- had only had sense enough to lead the queen. If there is to be statutory reform of seven-up, let It attack, not the time- tried rules of the game, but the mis creants who abuse it. The Oklahoma statesman would be better employed If he would propose to clip the wings of the- too dexterous dealer and. forbid him to count more than one turned Jack on a single aeai. it tne nrst jacic is not counted unless It remains the trump, we shall remove a serious temptation to skullduggery. Some limit might well be set, also, upon the exploits of con sciencelesa beggers. To beg on the ace or deuce might properly b,e punished with thirty days, and begging on both ace and deuce could without Injustice be made a penitentiary offense. Seven-up, It would appear, shares with our Institutions in general the danger of corruption from modern degenerative tendencies. In the honest days of old the dealer could be trusted, but now adays the tendency to stock the cards seems on the Increase, and if anybody needs protection it is not the dealer, but the helpless elder hand. We see a fur ther manifestation of this tendency In such games as whist, where the effort is to supersede the natural play of In dividual generalship by nn artificial and more or less dishonest system of mem orized rules and prearranged signals. It Is time for a return to the Jacksonian simplicity and rugged directness" of our forefathers. Enchre, poker and seven- up the grand tripod of American paste- boardlal achievement! From tlus pal ladium of our liberties let the vandal's hand be stayed! STORY SIMPLE MORAL PLAIX. i Within the past week a man, clever and Indeed skilled in the great National game of "humbug," has cut a wide swath through a select circle of so- called "truth-seekers" In this city. Not only have the curious, the Ignorant and the emotional been led captive by his clever manipulation of the old game of "know-all' as extending into the misty regions of the unknowable, but so per suasive Have been his accents, so Illog ical his logic, so guileless his manner and so seductive his presence, that some of the very elect have been "taken in and sadly done" by him. It is not to the discredit of human In telligence that it seeks to compass all knowledge. The spirit of inquiry that urges It on opened the realm of science. peopled It with facts and introduced its facts to the world. It Is, however, to the discredit of human nature that rt is so easily Imposed upon by a faker who, possibly equipped with the little learn ing that Is a dangerous thing, juggles with accepted facts and seeks to make the "new thought," so-called, a ladder by which he can climb to wealth, to social tolerance ana to religious or churchly Indorsement It Is not surprising that the Idly curi ous, the Insanely restless, flock to the standard of. the sleek .pretender who promises to Induct them Into the secret places of mind, where the mysteries of all life are laid bare; where the 'source of all power Is revealed, and where the Individual may of his or her own will Tlse to the subllmest achievement, com pass all knowledge, discard all conven tonalities and be "free" Thre are per sobs ki every community who can be caught by an astute angler of this type who are. Indeed, waiting to be caught. It Is surprising", however, and humiliat ing as well, when a large number of decorous matrons and modest maids in any community flock to hear a pretender of this class, who hesitates not to ad vertise himself and his purpose boldly, discourse upon sacred matters pertain ing to marriage, to wifehood, to mother hood and to maidenhood. Perhaps the most humiliating feajture of the late oc currence of this kind In this city Is that it Is but a new Incident added to an old story. The good brethren of a church were caught off their guard, as. good brethren have been caught before, and the pretender was enabled thereby to adjust the mantle of orthodoxy to his shoulders; good women were induced to listen to his babblings from an honest desire to become better, and the mantle of respectability was added. As for the rjest, the curious sought him to hear what lie had to say, and the Immoral to discover some new excuse for their de flection from decency. The- result was a crowded theater and a church given to a base use. The story la an old one. Its lesson Is plain. THE THRESHOLDS OP SPRING. Some of our New England exchanges more than two weeks ago reported that "premonltors and precursors of Spring are' much in evidence." New England is to be congratulated, for there are not many evidences of the near approach of Spring with us yet about Portland. As early as March 6 the .wild flowers were reported in bloom atGrant's Pasa, Or., but Oregon is a great state and Grant's Pass Is nearly 300 miles south of us, so that we do not claim this .Spring for wardness of Southern Oregon as a rule for the whole state. However, "the pre monltors and precursors of Spring" named In oup New England exchanges are limited to the presence of the red headed woodpecker and the unfolding of the skunk cabbage in the low grounds. This does not mean much more for New England than the bloom ing of the pussy willows in February. New England will not have any unfold ing of her wild blossoms before the first week of April, except In a few favored warm nooks in the woods where the arbutus and the liverwort may prema turely appear. Not before the shad bush begins to whiten the woods the firflt week in May will New England obtain the full of her Spring resurrec tlon of plant life. How Is It with Ore gon? There are few signs of renewed floral life with us yet, tor our Spring opening, as we fix it by the thickets beginning to light up with the scarlet glow of the blossoms of the wild currant. Is late this year. In March, 1898, our wild flowers began to appear by th'e 5th of the month; in 1899 there was no resurrec tion before the 19th;. in 1900 and 1901 the wild flowers began to be seen by the 9th, and last year It was the 23d beforet any blossoms were in evidence. The promise this year is for even a later opening day, but even In our most back ward seasons our vegetation Is at least two months In advance of that of the North Atlantic seaboard states. Even Jn the favored spot of Lakewood, N. J., the Spring resurrection is not farther advanced than it is in Oregon, for In some parts of.the state wild violets and. other early flowers are Jn bloom by the middle of February. .Of course, no just comparison can Be made' between. sties of 8000 square miles area,. like Maeea-' chusetts and New Jersey, and a state like Oregon, which has an area of 96.000 square miles, exceeded only by Texas, California, Montana, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming. It is traversed by mountain ranges and has a great diver sity of climate. In such a state of magnificent dis tances Spring would iave a different opening day in Eastern than in West ern or Southern Oregon, so it is difficult to compare the climate and Spring vege tation of Oregon with, that of a small seaboard Atlantis state. The New Eng land Winter fairly sets in by the middle of November, and does not end before the middle of April; indeed, in some sea sons the last week of April Is disfigured by a snow storm severe enough to cause belated trains. The New England Spring is a sour, sullen season until about the first week in May, and then it suddenly, breaks like a beautiful fairy suddenly out 'of the earth. This beautiful, brilliant, sudden, splendid resurrection of Nature that New Eng land May exhibits is unknown in Ore gon, which lacks the flush, bounce and affluent beautj-of New England's short lived Spring. The Oregon Spring wakes early but dies so late that we can hardly tell when Spring has melted Into Sum mer, while the New England Spring rises late and retires early. The su periority of the Oregon climate lies In the fact that we have more days be tween February and November when we can live comfortably out of doors. If our Spring lacks the floral splendor of the New England May, It Is never chronically ugly and forbidding, like the April mood of the Eastern Spring, but our Spring is never followed by en op pressive Summer, for In our hottest days, and our hot days are very few. the nights are so cool that you are sure to sleep welL Our seasons melt almost Imperceptibly Into each other and our climate in its perennial mildness gives a far larger number of days of agreeable outdoor life than Is obtainable In New England or In any other state of the Atlantic seaboard until you reach South Caro lina or Georgia. The old veterans of the Army of the Potomac among our citl zens can recall the frightful weather ex perienced on the Virginia "peninsula" between the James and York Rivers in April, 1862; the cold rains, the mud, which did not begin to disappear before May. The weather on the Potomac In March was still more Inclement. We find a deal of fault at times with our Winter and Spring wet weather, but It Is ethereal mildness compared with the blizzards that sweep New England in March and the cold rains that are the rule In Virginia during March and April. We complain sometimes because we have no standard of comparison, but let a man who has lived In Oregon or Washington State five years return to the Atlantic seaboard and spend a sin gle Winter and Summer and he will soon wish he was back again in Oregon, with its mild Winters and cool Sum mers. There is one thing, however, in which the Atlantic seaboard 3tates have the best of us they have a far larger num ber of native songbirds; Why this is so we do not know, unless it be that the Winter rains followed by the cool Sum mers are less favorable, to -insect life than the hot Summers of the East. The utterly worthless English sparrow is as numerous here as at the East, because he lsDOt Insectivorous; he, Is ubiquitous you.,find him In Egypt at the-foot of the Pyramids; you findiini wherever refuse food Is found, but he is no fly-catcher or. bug-eater or worm-destroyer; he Is a- fighter .and a foul feeder, and so he is always la eYluecwe where raaa makes his habitation and scatters carrion in his streets. But of the beautiful native songbirds of the extreme East we have comparatively few in Oregon or Wash ington; they are not entirely absent, but y6u are not awakened at' daylight by the same loud burst of incessant melody that strikes your ear at daybreak In the Spring and Summer mornings of the East. We have a number of recently im ported European songbirds, but the na tive American rsongbirds are not nu merous in Oregon. The meadow lark Is about the only fiae native songster that Is common in our fields. The beautiful crow blackbird does not whistle from, the tops of our tall trees; the Baltimore oriole does not illuminate the darkness of our forests with his bright orange dress; the bobolink does not bubble with merry" laughter in our fields. The robin is with us, but not in flocks as at the East, and he Is not so cheerful a bird. The native songbirds that are with lis do no seem to multiply as rapidly as they do at the East, and in thia. respect alone Oregon lacks something of the charm of the New England Spring, whose air Is always vocal with the songs of our most tuneful native American birds. THE QUESTION OP FRANCHISES. George C. Slkes, secretary of the Mu nicipal Voters' Teaeue of Chlcaro. con tributes to the current number of the i Atlantic Monthly a very Interesting and Instructive article on the question of franchises, which he considers the most Important phase of the city government problem, since in his-Judgment the public-service corporations under present conditions are the moat active and po tent cause of municipal corruption and mlsgovernment. In St. Louis the agents of these corporations have recently been shown to be guilty of bribery. In Phil adelphia the control of these, corporate interests is absolute over the. executives and administrators of the city govern ment In every community large enough to make the control of fran chise privileges of large value, the public-service corporations not only make excessive profits through their piracy of the municipal franchises, but not sel dom, as In Pennsylvania, subvert the ' mechanism of both local and state gov ernment. That the people in large American cities have begun to recognize the situation is shown by the referen dum vote on the question cf municipal ownership in Chicago at the April elec tion of 1902. The vote was: Ownership of street railways Fori 142,823; against. 27.003. Ownership of HihUng- planta For, 139.W9; against. 21,304. The vote on these propositions had no legal or binding effect; It was merely an expression of opinion, but it revealed the great popular discontent with the evil private administration of municipal public-service Industries. In the United States more than half the water works plants are already under public man agement. There are In this country 460 municipal electric light plants and four teen municipal gas plants. The Federal Commissioner of Labor In his fourteenth annual report says that the cost of pro duction under municipal management compares very favorably with the cost of. production under private manage ment; while wages are usually higher and the price to consumers almost In variably lower than .under private man agement. The railway across the Brook lyn bridge was for many years operated by the Bridge Commissioners, and the road was remarkable for enormous traffic, efflciencyr of service, freedom from accidents and good treatment of employes. The New York and Boston subways are owned though not operated by the public. The only notable instance Of failure of municipal ownership of a public utility is furnished by the Phila delphia gas wqrks, but the whole mu nicipal government of that city Is a failure because It is the chained slave of the public-service corporations. The only danger that Mr. Slkes sees In the gradual extension of municipal activity is that American cities may attemnt to municipalize at too rapid a rate. There Is danger, too, that public service corporations may succeed in un loading their properties at prices greatly In excess 6f their Teal value. "When cit ies are given by the Legislature full power to deal with the whole matter of municipal franchises, to undertake pub lie ownership and management or to decline It, asseems expedient, they be come masters or tne situation. Tney are ho longer powerless In the presence of the publlc-eervice corporations to un dertake to render the service them selves. In absence of effective compe tition, the price of armor-plate to the Government was raised until Congress some two years ago was about to au thorize the payment of $545 a ton, but the Senate amended the appropriation bill so that the Secretary of the Navy was authorized to erect a Government armor-plate plant if he should be un able to secure plate at reasonable prices. By this action of Congress the Secretary was able to club the armor-plate con tractors Into furnishing the Government at prices more than $100 a ton lower than the Government otherwise would have had to pay. The Government did not desire to go' into the armor-plate business; neither did it wish to submit to extortion. If the cities of America generally possessed the power to rau nlcipalize, the mere existence of that power in reserve would put the public service corporations on their good be havior, Mr. Slkes thinks that the fundamental mistake has been In treating franchise grants as contracts, unalterable without the consent of both parties, like ordl nary contracts concerning property. The only way for a city to retain complete control over Its public streets is for it not to surrender beyond recall any rights of use or of occupancy In such streets. The city Is In complete control only when the grant Is terminable at the will of the authorities. In Massa chusetts grants do not run for any defi nlte term, but all grants are subject to revocation at any time at the will of the governing authorities. In the City of Washington all grants by Congress to public-service corporations are by their terms subject to alteration, amend. ment or repeal at any time. Under thlH system Washington and Boston have developed the best street railway sys tems in the world. Washington was the first city to secure the underground trolley system, because Congress had. the reserved power to require its adop tlon whenever It seemed expedient. Bos ton has three systems surface, elevated ana unaergrouna j corrs.us.iea mat passenger may make use of all three for a single fare. In legislating for Porto Rico, the Phil , ipplnes and Hawaii, Congress ias sub j stantially enacted the franchise policy that has. produced such good results In Washington and Massachusetts. Mr. C liar lea Fraacie Adams, as chairman of a M assachusetts legislative commit tee or Inqalry into the question of the proper duration of franchise grants, re 'ported in 1S93 in favor of the grant without fixed duration, but terminable by the public authorities at any time. The Chicago Street Railway Commis sion in Its report to the City Council In December, 1900, agreed with the conclu sion of- the Massachusetts commission in favor "of the grant without fixed duration, but subject to termination at any time upon certain conditions, one of which should be the taking of the prop erty of the grantee at a fair valuation." The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce approved of this view that sound pollar required the retention by the public au thorities of the right to terminate the grant at any time when the public In terests demand It. The ancient Greek practice of drown ing physically frail children was due to the fact that In Sparta and In Athens all the work was done by slaves and every citizen was expected to be fit for a soldier, since war might strike the state at any time. To destroy the chil dren who did not promise to become arms-bearing- men was natural. But In our modern life to maintain that only physically fit children should be born would have robbed the-world of some of its greatest men and most Illustrious benefactors. Newton was a posthumous child, an exceedingly frail child, but he llv t0 be over 80. D'Alembert was a very puny child; Pascal was an Invalid; Gibbon was a frail youth afflicted with the worst form of double hernia, which finally caused his death. Daniel Web ster was the eighth of nine children, and so frail at birth that his life was de spaired of; he was educated because his father thought that he would "never be strong enough for farm labor. In mod ern life there is room for children of frail physique If their mental powers are not Impaired. William Pitt was a very pre cocious child, but of very frail physique; he was often 111, always weak, and it waa feared that it would be Impossible to rear a stripling so"tall, o slender and so feeble. He lived on port wine by order of his doctors In his boyhood, was a man of delicate constitution all his days, and died in his 47th year. These historical illustrations of famous men who were physically very feeble chll dren might be easily multiplied. Mod era life has rx room for imbeciles, but has plenty of room for physically frail children If they are mentally and mor ally fit. Carbolic acid seems to have been a fayorite beverage in Chicago during the first "days of March. Within two days twenty persons sought and found relief from themselves by suicide, and three times that number made unsuccessful attempts in the same line. The pre ferred agent in the process was carbolic acid. A peculiar feature of suicide epi demies is that special methods have yogue at different tlmea Now hanging Is the favored means, and again the pistol Is brought into most frequent requisition. At another time poison rules the suicide's whim, and at another drowning- is the preferred method of eelf-destructlon. These are freaks at all times who switch oft the main line, but In cases of an epidemic of suicide one route Is favored and In a majority of cases taken. This, as well as the epi demic Itself, Is explained by the "law of suggestion, wnen expiameo. at an. xi Is a common saying that great minds run In the same channel. Epidemics of crime and of suicide would seem to In dicate that the principle underlying this statement applies also to weak minds, The young orators of Oregon may be interested to learh that Massachusetts today has no conspicuous orator In the judgment of the leading papers of that state. Senator Hoar has a weak and piping voice, which is fatal to his effect iveness as an orator. Ex-Governor Long also lacks the voice of an orator. There are no good stump speakers In either party; Mayor Collins, of Boston, a Democrat, is the best, but Is only fairly effective. George Fred Williams has a fine voice and a handsome pres ence, and Lieutenant-Governor Guild is the best stump speaker of the Repub llcans. Edward Everett had a charm lng voice; Daniel Webster had the port and front of Jupiter Tonans, and Wen dell Phillips In -voice, face, figure and grace was in the first rank of great ora tors. It Is easy to say of a man that he Is "voice and nothing else beside,' but without the voice of an orator no brains will make a man an effective public speaker. The Orcgccian is assured that Its news report of yesterday attributing to rep resentatlves of the Hlllsboro railroad people the assertion that their plans have been blocked by the City & Sub urban was to that extent erroneous. The editorial comment based upon the same Information would also appear to have betn based on a misapprehension of the facts. We were misinformed by those whom we supposed entitled to credence. and the correction is cheerfully, made. The disposition of these two street rail roads now seems to be to unite on single street for then-Joint use in the northwestern portion of the city, and it is certainly very desirable for the public Interests that some sucn arrangement should be carried out Keepers of diaries are drawing the records to prove that the weather from March 9 to 14, Inclusive, of the present year was almost an exact counterpart of weather conditions of the same period of last year. High winds, cold rains and flurries of snow alternated, the only dif ference between the two seasons being that more snow fell In March, 1902, than has thus far fallen In March, 1903. This merely goes to show that we have March weather In March, regardless of the year a discovery not very startling, though probably new to those who depend upon their memories for facts in regard to the weather. The value of products shipped from Porto Rico to the United States has ad vanced from less than $2,000,000 In 189' to $3,634,176 In 1902; while shipments from here to the Island have Increased from a little over $2,000,000 to above $12, 000,000. This great expansion In com merce Is due to the establishment of free trade between the two countries. Freer commerce with Cuba, with the Philippines, with Canada, "with South American countries and with other na tions would undoubtedly show equally flattering results. M. Legouve', the dramatist and mem ber of the French Academy, who died yesterday, was in the 96th year of his age, the oldest of all the world's famous men. ' . NOTE AND COMMENT. The amazing thing about It Is that any body should have been fooled by ColHage. The manner and matter of his announce ments were enough to fix his character. But some people like that sort of thing; Wo wonder if there can be any connec tion between the appointment of a now Land 'Office Register at Oregon City and the violation of a certain written pledge under which an, Oregon -City .man got Into the Legislature of 1901. It will be rather hard on the ambitious "newspapers" striking for the forest re gion of South Central ,Oregon If the tim ber land is all scrlpped. It Is to be feared people of that Isolated country will ap peal In- vain for these papers if there are no land notices to print. The receipts from the sale of Missouri's surplus poultry and eggs last year were $17,000 greater than the receipts from the state's surplus crops of corn, wheat, oats, flax, timothy seed, clover seed, millet seed. cane seed, cotton seed, castor beans, to bacco, broom corn, hay and straw. It Is painful to read In an esteemed New York contemporary that the additional trains officially declared to be running on the Manhattan Elevated "start punctual- at 14 o'clock, and run at 7 per cent, in tervals up to the hour of declaring extra cash dividends. They are now In full op eration on the Blasted Hopes division of the road." Uncle Sam Is worse off than we thought. Why couldn't that million acres of dfiaert In Southern California have been saddled on the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad? We suppose, however, that there will be the usual rush to enter this land, even if tho settlers have to use camels. There Is nothing so attractive to the mass of citi zens as a large tract of Government land Just "opened" somewhere. The excavations which have been going on In Rome under the direction of Profes sor Alroli seem to prove beyond peradven- ture that an ancient Etruscan city occu pied a part of the site of the present city long before the fabulous founding of Rome by Romulus. One of the Interesting things which the excavations have revealed Is the certainty that there was an artificial lake in the Forum in front of the Rostra. The lake still holds water, now that the place' has been cleared. The demand for American peanuts In France is practically unlimited If the American exporters can meet the prices paid for the African nuts in the shell. ranging from $3.95 to $4.73 per 220 pounds. During the past year about 10,000 bags of American peanuts were received at Mar seilles, and the Consul-General says that the oil Into which they were manufactured was of good quality, although the quantity was rather less than that derived from the same amount of African nuts. It Is said that the pope Is almost a vege tarian. 'His early breakfast consists of a cup of chocolate or coffee, the latter but rarely. Two o'clock is the dinner hour, when he partakes of a bouillon and a cou ple of eggs cooked In Bordeaux wine. The pope rarely takes meat, but Is very fond of salad a dish which does not agree with him, but In which he Indulges now and then notwithstanding medical orders. Supper Is served at 10, after which his holiness retires to his study, where ha often works until the early hours in the morning; , In 1900 the Government deeded away 13.500,000 acres, of land; In 1S01 these dis posals reached 16,000,000 acres, and in 1S0J nearly 20,000,000 acres, while at tho rate at which the present year has opened, ita record will be at least 23,000,000 acres, or as much as was disposed of at any time during the great emigration rush to tha West. Yet the population does not cor respondingly increase in tho states whera the lands are taken. This indicates greater activity on the part of the specu lators and timber-grabbers than "on tha part of the 3ettlers and homeseekers. The Boston Transcript publishes free ol charge on its editorial page this luminous advertisement: Persons with knowledge of good positions In volvlngr large compensation, easy hoars, oppor tunities to make on the side, experience un necessary, Intelligence a superfluity, etc., are requested to communicate with PresIdenTheo doro Eoosevelt at tho Executive Mansion, Washington, as Mr. Roosevelt haa on his list a large number of ex-Congressmen for whom ha would gladly provide Jobs outsido the pubiia service. This Is an excellent opportunity fot firms that advertise copying at home or Etrus can art work at home to secure the services ol several persons of high social standing1 and questioned Integrity. No. canvassing positions wlU be considered, as ex-Congressmen hav been found to bo sour on the canvassing prop osition. Barring the dreadful stampede which good judgment could avoid, and the occa sional charge of an enraged bull to escape hi-- tormentors, or some fretted cow to protect her calf, the killing of buffaloes was a sport without peril, and a business void of hazardous incident, carried on with such ruthless, wasteful and unneces sary destruction that the memory of it excites the pity. Indignation and disgust of the present generation. In Kansas alone, between 1S68 and 1881, $25,000,000 waa paid out for bones gathered on the prair ies and sdld to beutlllzed In various car bon works. It took 100 carcasses to make one ton of bones, the price of which was $3. So this vast sum represents 31,000,005 buffalo, or more than one-half of the total number of all the cattlein the whole Unit ed States in 1902. On the Santa Fe trail, and miles away, too, from the usual j course of travel, as Major Inman relates,) In some places one could walk all day longl on the dead bodies of buffalo without! touching foot to the ground. Tho Indianapolis Sentinel Is in a dread ful state' of mind because the 8tate Leg islature voted to place a statue of Georg Rogers Clark In Memorial Hall at Wash ington. "The sole purpose of thl3 idiotic performance is to Insult the memory ol Thomas A. Hendricks," shrieks our Demo cratic contetmporary. And then it scolds "the Democratic turncoats" who sat by and heard Hendricks "accused of treasor and never resented it." Both Republlj can3 and Democrats of Indiana, excepq the Sentinel, seem to think the Hendricl partisans would best let well enough alone. If there was doubt of the propriety of having General -R, E. Lee's statue ir that National collection, there should bd no doubt whatever about keeping Hen drlcks' statue out. Leo went wrong, it li true; but the manner of it and the charac ter of his service stamped him as an hon est man and a man of the highest mora quality. Hendricks, without the lncen tive that was so strong to move Lee fought his country from ambush. It l Impossible' to Imagine Lee in Hendricks! piece -taking the course of the Indlanlar There may be a question as to whethe Clark was a representative citizen of In dlana, but he was a character of hlatori note in the Ohio Valley, and one emi nently worthy of a place in. Memorial Hall And almost anybody would be preferablj to Tom Hendricks, '