31
Paul Passey, the Tolstoi of the. French Kepubfic
A Religious Reformer Who Is Spreading: the. Cause of
Primitive Christianity.
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBEB 18, 1904.
ARIS, Sept. 2. (Special Correspond
ence of The Sunday Oregonian.)
France, the most emotional and in
the past the most devout and most re
ligious country In Europe, Is on the point
of having its ancient church disestablished-
and divorced from the state by a
government -whose anti-clerical policy has
been sustained by a majority of voters at
the polls. There has been no. such crisis
in the mental .and moral life of the people
since the great resolution, when for a
season, all religion was banished from the
land.
The disagreement between Premier
Combes and Cardinal Merry del Val has
thrown the whole religious system of
France Into the melting -pot. Almost any
development may be expected from, the
extraordinarily complicated situation. Ob
scure sects havo burst Into sudden prom
inence, and splendid religious conceptions,
half stifled by the indifference of quiet
times, have, in the general excitement,
blazed Into view.
One of these conceptions, hitherto little
noticed in France, is the Tolstoyan doc
trine of simple Christianity. Paul Passy
is its mouthpiece, and" now with the proph
etic ardor of a John the Baptist he is urg
ing his countrymen to give heed while
there Is time. He wishes France to-subscribe
to a belief which Is so simple all
men may understand it, and so broad that
all Christians from the strictest Catholics
to the narrowest Protestants may find
nothing In it which .they may dispute.
Its cornerstones are simple living and the
golden rule.
Foreign observers are apt to describe
France as free-thinking and Irreligious,
yet no people have at bottom stronger
religious temperaments. When a French
man turns atheist, he makes a religion
out of his atheism, and Is as dogmatic
and intolerant as any priest. He simply
represents the national religious tempera
ment In reaction.
Among French free-thinkers are some
scientists as eminent as M. Berthelot, side
by side with others of her Intellectuals,
of whom th.e most notorious example is
Paul Bourget, the novelist, who after a
The Infancy of the fooyal
BY all the unwritten laws of the finny
kingdom, the birthplace of the
royal chlnook should be upon the
sandy shallows of some river beach, where
lulling waters croon a cradle-song and
blue skies are reflected In the tranquil
depths. But nowadays the grasping hand
of science Is snatching from Mother Na
' ture even the processes of creation.
Among the marvels of modern scientific
achievement few are more Interesting
than the methods of artificial propagation.
The origin of life still eludes 'the eager
clutch of the searcher. But a long step
toward attainment has been reached by
the successful imitation of Nature's way
In the brooding of the egg.
The salmon Industry ranks as one of
the most important in the Pacific North
west. The royal chlnook, rightly named
king of the salmon family, is found only
in the Columbia River and its tributaries.
An average, full-grown fish will weigh
40 pounds and measure about three feet
in length, although specimens .weighing
0 and 90 pounds- are sometimes captured.
As a food-fish it excels all others In rich
ness and flavor. While the theory that
fish Is a braln-bullder has been pretty
well exploded since Mark-Twain advised
an admiring inquirer to -digest a whale as
his ajdequate portion, we find that by
chemical analysis chlnook salmon heads
the list of fish food values.
So material a factor in commercial
wealth is certain, sooner or later, to de
mand attention from an economic basis.
In this Instance, a steady decline in the
yearly run of salmon hastened consid
eration. Something must be done if the
royal fish were to be saved from extinc
tion. Hence, within the last few years a
determined and systematic effort has
been made by both the state and National
governments to test the theory of arti
ROOSEVELT'S UPS AND DOWNS
His Experience of Twenty Years Ago Told by a Man
ONE evening in. the Fall of 'S3 Theo
dore Roosevelt stepped from the
train at the little squalid shack town
of Little Missouri, where, 600 miles west
of StT Paul, the Northern Pacific Railroad
crosses the river of that name In the
heart of the .North Dakota Bad Lands,
cays Theodore Danz in Harper's Weekly.
He was a slender, blue-eyed young man
of 26, quietly dressed, and carrying little
baggage save a fine collection of rifles.
It was no Inviting sight that met his eyeT
All about were towering buttes of scorched
clay and gumbo hiding in their dark re
cesses, deep chasms as treacherous as the
silent, sullen, muddy river that swept
their feet.
Those who have never seen the Bad
Lands of North Dakota and their .seamy
old buttes, scarred and precipitous, can
ever understand the loneliness and mys
tery hidden In their depths, particularly
in those early days. Long a rendezvous
for bad Indians and worse white men,
the region had been shunned as a plague
spot. Four years before, hardly engineers
and chalnbearers of the Northern Pa
cific Railroad had passed through under
strong military guard, and even' the com
pletion of the railroad did not warrant
the removal of -lajor Comba's little com
mand, whose cantonment stood a few
hundred yards east of the station.
At the time of the arrival of Theodore
Roosevelt from New York not more than
a dozen residents were there to give him
welcome. "Old Man" Moore, who ran the
hotel and collected his bills with a cavalry
caber: "Bier Mouth" Bob. who keDt the
saloon; Gary Paddock, hunter and trap-1
per, and Tom Stack, the station agent,
who was usually roaring drunk, were the
prominent citizens. Added to these were
a score of nondescripts buffalo hunters,
mulesklnners, bullwhackers and horse
thieves who eyed the visitor with lazy In
difference, sizing him up as one of those
predatory "dude" hunters, who, after a
frightened existence of a day or two,
"pulled their freight" for home.
It was the time of the great and last
stand of the buffalo, when the countless
herds of these noble beasts, goaded by
the hunters of the Black Hills, had pushed
north to the headwaters of the Grand
and Cannonball Rivers, only to be met
by an onslaught from the north. They
were shot down by thousands. All along
the line of the than wobbly Northern Pa
cific were stacked innumerable piles of
hides that only represented a fraction of
the slaughter.
Came to Hunt Big Game.
It was tobe in at the running of this
big game that Roosevelt came to the Bad
Lands, then the paradise of this motley
crew of untamed humanity. Quietly he
evaded the bibulous crowd and found a
couple of quiet young Canadians, who
owned a bunch of saddle ponies which
grazed on the sagebrush flats below the
town.
A "bargain was struck, one of the broth
ers agreeing to act as guide. The ponies
PATJIi r ASSET, THE FRENCH
trial of free thought has reverted to the
strictest Catholicism. In one way or an
other all the thinking- men. of France are
at grips with the problem of religion.
Thought on the subject is In a state of
flux, and "conditions are ripe for some
great change or startling innovation.
Jn a country home at Bourg-la-Beine,
south of Paris, sharing his time about
equally between his professional duties at
ficial propagation, by the establishment
of hatcheries in the States of Oregon,
"Washington and Idaho, and also experi
mental stations. The hatcheries are usu
ally located near the headwaters of some
mountain stream frequented by the fish.
They are plain wooden structures with
the simplest equipments. Long1 troughs
of cedar are divided into compartments
which receive the eggs in various stages
of development. Strange as it may seem
to those who unconsciously connect arti
ficial propagation with the warmth of an
incubator, the troughs are filled with a
continuous flow of water from the chill
mountain stream, the purpose being to
maintain the same temperature that Na
ture supplies In the natural spawning
grounds.
When the hatcliery is in readiness the
next step is to capture the salmon.
Wooden racks are built across the river
to prevent further- progress 4 upstream.
Then by means of seines the fish are
caught and thrown into pens in the
river, from which they are taken as they
mature. The female salmon are first
killed, the process being1 fatal In any
event, and thon placed In a. narrow wood
en case on their backs. In this position,
by a dextrous movement, the eggs or
spawn or "stripped" by an attendant into
a pail, and then fertilized with milt from
the male by a similar stripping process,
after which the latter is returned to the
pen for future use if the supply of milt
is not exhausted.
Now comes the fascinating stage in the
drama of birth when the mystery of life
seems to grow and expand in open vision.
It Is ilso the most critical stage, for
when, after 12 days, a wee backbone is
heralded by a whitish streak in the semi
transparent egg, the slightest jar or dis
turbance Is fatal. By this time the eggs
have ripened sufficiently to separate from
were hrought up, saddled, and with the
extra ones packed with provisions and
blankets the outfit started for the buffalo
range, 50 miles to the south.
The guide, Joe Ferris, headed straight
through the almost trackless Bad Lands
to Pretty Buttes; here they ran Into buf
falo, and even the seasoned Ferris was
forced to admire the grim and dogged
tenacity of the stranger. Hunger, cold,
wet, all unavoidable In such a wilderness,
were lost on him. He shot straight, rode
straight, and "took his medicine" like a
man.
They packed such meat as they needed
and returned. As they passed along the
fertile river bottoms, with their wealth of
big game, this thought occurred to Mr.
Roosevelt: "If this country will support
so many elk and deer, why would It not
keep cattle?"
Bight miles to the south of Little Mis
souri the buttes receded, leaving a wide
stretch of bottom lands. Here was the
home of Joe Ferris, the guide; his brother
Sylvane, and their partner, William Mer
rifleld. They had built a comfortable
shack of logs, and as professional hunt
ers made this their headquarters. They
owned several ponies and also a small
bunch of cattle that grazed about the
valley close to the ranch. These bore on
their left hips the brand of the "Maltese
cross."
From this began the Roosevelt ranch,'
for in those days the question of land
ownership was never raised. The Bad
Lands were unsurveyed, and he who
would was welcome to all free range de
sired. So, purchasing the brand, cattle
and ponies of the Ferris brothers, Roose
velt returned to New York, with a prom
ise to come back In the Spring. When he
returned, train after train of stock cattle
rolled In after him. These cattle, after
being unloaded and branded with the Mal
tese cross, were driven to the ranch.
Found Congenial Spirits.
This was In the Spring of S4. There
were ominous signs In those days. Many
and loud were the threats about "Big
Mouth" Bob's saloon at "Little Misery"
over "stuck-up tenderfeet shassayln
'round, drivin' in cattle, an chasln' out
game." The old-timers foresaw that the
influx of cattlemen meant their doom, the
end of riotous lawlessness, and their
hearts were bad. To them the young
man was an interloper, a tenderfoot, al
though they confessed that "fer a critter
with a squint he war plum handy with
a gun."
It was a busy Summer for the young
ranchman. He took an active part in the
work of building and improving the ranch.
Endowed with a grim tenacity and untir
ing energy, he was everywhere; down on
the ground struggling with a husky calf
that objected to the branding iron, or
out in the hills after deer or mountain
sheep, always alert, quick to decide and
act, he found in that life- abundant op
portunity to develop these natural char
acteristics. He was a good, though not a "fancy"
shot; his success aB a hunter was more
due to that dogged tenacity with which
he followed his game and which, always.
TOLSTOI.
thd historical and philllogical section, of
the Bcole Pratique ides Hautes Etudes, in
Paris, gardening and evangelistic work,
lives M. Paul Passy, the son of a man
whose name will always be distinguished
among French thinkers M. Frederic
Passy, the picturesque, white-haired oc
togenarian well known as a life-long1 ad
vocate of the principles of peace and In
ternational arbitration.
the original membranous mass, and the
blood-red hue fades away. As thousands
of them He in their wooden cradles they
resemble nothing so much as pale pink
peas.
Five days more and two tiny black
specks appear, which are embryo eyes.
The eggs . can now- be handled without
damage. At the end of 35 days baby sal
mon breaks through the barrier into light
and liberty, provided the water has been
kept at a temperature of 55 degrees. One
additional degree of heat Bhortens the
period of incubation five days, while each
decreased degree of cold has exactly the
contrary effect.
He Is now as curious a little object as
could well be found. He seems all stom
ach, supplied by a needle-like backbone
less than an inch in length; a sort of in
verted nautilus, carrying his sail below in
stead of above. This enlarged stomach
Is in reality the egg grown Into a food
sac, from which the tiny creature draws
its nourishment, its own true stomach
being tucked away quite in the proper
place.
At the end of a month the food-sac is
emptied and drops off. Mother Nature
will make no further provision for the
youngster's support, but throws him at
once upon his own resources, both to
make a living and to preserve his life from
the carnivorous denizens of the deep. In
the hatchery, of course, he avoids these
dangers, -and has nothing to do but dart
after bits of liver which are thrown upon
the water.
From the moment of birth the baby Is
endowed with a lively" sense of existencer
He keeps up a constant wiggle, and
whether he floats or dives the curious
fact, of deep interest to biologists. Is 'ob
served, that he invariably heads up
stream. Never by any blunder of inexpe
rience does he turn talL It would seem
ON THE RANCH
"Who Was on the Ground.
wins In the long run. He was particularly
good, however, at long range and running
shots all the more singular, as he sights
through glasses. He had a beautiful col
lection of rifles, one of them an express
being inlaid with solid gold plates, ex
quisitely engraved with hunting scenes.
This he rarely used, however, his favor
ite being a plain Winchester of 45-calIber.
In the meantime his cattle thrived and
prospered. Other ranchmen began to
come In, and soon the seamy old buttes
held great herds of cattle, which found
there abundant food and shelter Summer
and Winter.
With the cattle came the cowboys, lean,
gaunt, young Texans, half-breed Mexi
cans, men from the South and West,, slow
of speech, quick in action, magnificent
riders who sat their sturdy cow ponies
with that unconscious grace that comes
only to those born in the saddle. Here
Roosevelt found congenial spirits. He
rode, ate and slept with them; sat at
night by their campflres listening to their
simply-told stories that often spoke a
world of tragedy; tales of "Clmmaroon"
Bill's desperate fight with rustlers over
on the Teton range; of how "Three-fingered"
Jack, the horsethief, shot three
deputy sheriffs and had nearly escaped
before he was surrounded and killed In
the Wind River Mountains; for through
the whole gamut of cowboy talk runs this
keynote of simple, unconscious manhood
the jealousy of personal valor, the gos
pel of "make rood."
First Presidency of Roosevelt.
During this time the denizens of "Big
Mouth" Bob's saloon in the little shack
town at the foot of Graveyard Butte eyed
these encroaches with alarm. It is safe
to say that no finer aggregation of great
American citizens ever went unhung.
Their protests finally developed Into
downright lawlessness, so that no prop
erty was safe; ponies were stolen, cattle"
run off or killed, and It became neces
sary for the ranch-owners to organize
for mutual protection: They met, less
than half a score of quiet determined
men. In a little frame shanty on the east
side of the river, where the town of Me
dora now stands.
.It was openly hinted that a certain dep.
uty sheriff was in collusion with the out
law element. He and a number of his
friends were present as sneering specta
tors. After a few preliminaries the "Lit
tle Missouri Stock Association" "was
formed, with Theodore Roosevelt as
president.
The latter then got up and addressed
the meeting or, rather, addressed the
Sheriff. Never In thev history of the fron
tier has such a speech been listened to.
He openly-accused the Sheriff ot Incom
petence and dishonesty, and with the re
flected light of the officer's pearPhandled
revolver at his belt flashing across his
glasses, the speaker scored him as a man
unworthy and unfit for his trust.
It Is one thing to deliver a fiery ac
cusation of general or personal charge
before a crowded meeting of law-abiding
citizens It is another to stand xl!y be
fore a silent handful of frontiersmen and
ojpenly. accuse one of dishonesty. Death
LS XUXSSO : S 0MI1XMSS
ORGANEv DttCHRlSTIANISME
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EXCELLENT PAPE!
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ORGAN' OF FBENCH TOI-STOYISM.
The Passy family was Roman Catholic,
but in 1872 when the doctrine of Papal
Infallibility was promulgated, they se
ceded from the Catholic Church, and be
gan attending Protestant places of wor
ship. Paul Passy, born in 1859, has had
an education far wider than and altogeth
er unlike that of the average French boy.
He never attended school, but was care
fully taught at home especially three for
ghinook
that the unerring instinct crystallized In
hist tiny eraln had been transmitted
through an ancestral line reaching back
to the mystic times when the great Tlvers
of the shrinking continent swarmed with
strange and hostile life, and the entire
Effort of the salmon was concentrated in
one desperate resolve to reach the spawn
ing grounds in safety and there discharge
Its duty to nature.
When the young flh has reached the
age of 4 months and a corresponding
length of three Inches It Is turned Into
the stream. Surely a tender age at which
to cast a sheltered baby to Its fate! But
at present no provision Is made, for a
longer retention In the hatcheries, owing
chiefly to the difficulty attending trans
portation of food supplies over the moun
tain trails.
.
Once in his native habitat our sal
mon soon learns to know the safe
hiding-places under the brown rocks,
and how to forage for his dinner by
preying upon the weaker-creatures, the
bugs, worms and flies. He remains in
fresh "water tor nearly twelve months;
then he joins the company of his kith
and kin and starts-on the long- voyage
to salt -water. Feasting on the feeding
grounds of the deep seas he lingers
abroad for three years, when the period
of maturity Is reached.
Then the pulse of Spring stirs his
sluggish blood, and in great schools
the splendid creatures begin the re
turn journey to the spawning grounds:
The -date of the runs and the rate of
progress seem to ho regulated by the
condition of the spawn. In the earliest
run, which occurs in February and
March, the spawn is unripe, and the
fish dally by the way, spending several
weeks between tide and fresh water,
as If they had plenty of time in which
to become acclimated to the new ele
ment. . If the pitfalls of traps, gill-
stares a man closely In the face who at
tempts It, for these men, bred in Isola
tion, are sensitive to the quick of their
personal honor, and an accusation that
would be laughed at in a convention hall
would eat out man's heart here. Stand
ing, with downcast head, the Sheriff said
never a word, but his prestige -was gone.
That was the beginning of the end.. The
sway of the "bad man" gradually gave
way before the ranchman. Most of these
were young men controlling Eastern cap
italmen of education and intelligence.
The Custer Trail ranch, owned by the
Eaton brothers, of Pittsburg, was lo
cated a few mles north of the Maltese
Cross, while to the south lay the ranch
of Mra. Lloyd Roberts, and farther on
my own.
In the Fall of 1SS6 more than 200.000
head of cattle ranged In the Lower Bad
Lands, along the Little Missouri and
tributaries. During the preceding four
years all had been prosperous, and the
cattle Increased to tho danger point. The
Summer had been intensely hot and dry,
the sun-baked river bottoms being shorn
and bars' of grass as billiard tables. Old
ranchmen shook their heads ominously
at the prospect; a hard Winter would
mean heavy loss, for not an ounce of
hay or provender stood between the cat
tle and their ability to rustle for them
selves. ,
And It came closer, and closer those
grim, scar-faced old Bad Lands clutched
at the throats of the Interlopers. Blizzard
after blizzard, storm after storm, shrank
and wasted the splendid herds to ghostly
shadows; the place was a boneyard.
Thousands after thousands of fine cattle
lay down and died of sheer starvation.
Without mercy that dreadful Winter clung
on, until the late dawning ot Spring saw
only a few wasted shadows where before
had ranged splendid herds.
.The Bad Lands were a charnel house.
Many owners were stripped bare, while
others saved but a fraction. Some gath
ered up the remnants and moved away,
while others took their own or borrowed
money and bravely began again.
Roosevelt was one of these. Although
he never again visited the ranch, he had
It restocked. A few years ago he sold
out his interests to his trusted manager,
Sylvane Ferris, who continues to run the
Maltese Cross cattle, now cut down to a
few hundred head.
King's Great Deed.
Providence Journal.
General Cronje tells about the modesty
of the King King Frederick VI of Den
markwho was a great man. .
"King Frederick VI was visiting a cer
tain Danish school. He pufa number of
questions to them.
" 'What,' he said, finally, 'are the names
of Denmark's greatest kings?'
"The well-read boys answered in cho
rus: " 'Canute, Waldemar- and Christian VT.'
"Then the schoolmaster bent over a boy
and whispered something, whereupon the
lad rose and raised his hand.
" 'Well.' said the' King, 'do you know
another?'
" 'Yes?; 'Frederick VI,' the boy ans
wered. "The King smiled. 'What great deed
did he perform?' he said.
"The boy was silent. He thought hard,
finally he stammered:
" 'I don't know.'
" 'Well, my child, b comforted,' said
tho Kinci 1 don't know cither. "
8 Jala 1S04
JPRIM1TIP
Prix. A'afeonaemeBt
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Warfle.-'
eign languages, English, German and Ital
ian. English he writes better than one
would have thought It possible for any
Frenchman to write It. He traveled. In
foreign countries to an extent very unus
ual with home-staying French folk In
America, on which he has written several
books; In Algeria and Iceland, and other
out-of-the-way places.
His religious Instruction was as much
Salmon
nets and fishwells, which line- the
march from the moment the mighty
Columbia Is entered are escaped, they
take advantage of high water and pro
ceed bystages( of four or five miles
daily to-' the headwaters of the Snake
River, a distance of 700 miles or more.
Here spawning begins the latter part
of July.
With the later runs the procedure Is
quite different. In the' Summer, or
May and June run, the spawn is found
In a condition" approaching maturity,
and, as If warned of Nature that their
time is short, the fish proceed with a
rush to the less distant spawning
grounds, making no attempt to cover
more than 200 miles, and frequently
less. The bulk of the spawn Is de
posited in September and October. An
other run occurs In July, but it Is in
ferior In both size and quality.
Once starred toward headwaters,
formidable indeed must be the obstacle
which stays the pilgrims. Neither jag
ged boulders nor treacherous shallows
deter them. In great shoals they dash
simultaneously against the rapids, each
repulse being followed by renewed ex
ertion until the difficulty Is overcome.
As an up-to-date object lessonfor those
whose pertinacity needs reinforcement,
the salmon cannot be excelled. Small
wonder that the first conscious act of
the baby salmon is to head up stream.
From the time of leaving salt water
the fish eat no food. This apparently
incredible statement has often been
questioned by persons unfamiliar with
the habits of the salmon, but the most
expert scientific Investigation confirms
it, and shows, moreover, that the throat
and stomach of "the fish begin to con
tract from the first contact with fresh
water. Salmon are sometimes taken
THE GRAVITY OF THE RUSSIAN SITUATION
Review of Conditions Showing How Czar's Empire Is Growing Weaker as a World Power.
THE greatest war raging today In the
extreme Orient since time imme
morial has long ceased to be of a
local character. It Is the war of two
races, one, nominally and apparently cov
ering one-fourth of the Inhabited earth,
but In reality torn asunder" by racial dif
ferences, with political as well as social
classes tending apart, the other a closely
united political fragment of the great
Mongol race, of one mind and of a com
pact national structure, to shake China
from her somnolent condition.
Whoever considers all the Russias as
one empire makes the greatest historical
error, for he does not realize that tho
Czar's government requires more military
forces In peace to garrison her subjected
and deeply disaffected nationalities than
the requirement of the open warfare In
the Far East. The western frontiers bor
dering upon Sweden-Norway, Germany
and Austria aro as much of a latent camp
as are the Amur provinces and Manchu
ria. As matters stand In the west so it Is
in the south. Two hundred and fifty mil
lions Mahometans are at a striking dis
tance, awaiting but the signal from their
spiritual head In Constantinople, who,
weak and wretched in his own empire,
yet wields a more" immense political power
In the Mahometan world outside of his
own country than the pope over the more
enlightened and organically patriotic Ro
man Catholics who are strongly attached
to their respective native countries.
Ill-Concealed Enmity of Neighbors.
Sweden is openly sheltering Japanese
agents. She received cordially the Japan
ese envoy after his departure from Rus
sia when he found Germany quite uncon
genial. Norway Is fortifying her north
ernmost border, and purging herself of
the Russian agents, who have infested the
country and tried to drive a wedge be
tween her and Sweden, but the compli
cations between the two sister states have
been skillfully adjusted, owing to the
statesmanlike concessions by King Oscar.
If Austria is doing the menial work of
Russia In Turkey and the Danube states
she Is certainly not doing it "for the beau
tiful eyes" (to use a French phrase) of
the Czar, but to separate those Greek
orthodox states' and rule herself, while
at the same time extending her grip from
Bosnia and Herzegovina over Turkish Al
bania. The absolute freedom of national
ity which Austria permits her Polish
kingdom of Gallcia must be a bitter thorn
In the side of Russia, who Is suppressing
her Polish people with barbarous violence,
but sees her machinations constantly
thwarted from "behind the Austrian Gall
clan frontier.
So far as her army is concerned Turkey
Is prepared for all eventualities, and mil
lions of Mahometans, in Russian domains
are ready to receive their brothers In Al
lah whenever fate decrees. The mutila
tion of tho Koran, the sacred and invio
out of the ordinary as his secular educa
tion. He was confirmed by an eminent
Unitarian pastor, Athanase Coquorel, and
since 1878, after a long moral and spiritual
crisis, he definitely went over to the evan
gelical form of faith. Since then he has
been occupied with propagandist work on
evangelist .llhes. But he felt hampered
by the dogmas of any one sect, and about
this time the writings of Tolstoy engag
ing his attention, he severed all connec
tions with .any organized church body, and
became a teacher of the simpler precepts
Of Christ on the lines laid down by the
great Russian novelist.
M. Passy, in recent letters and articles,
has mercilessly laid bare the religious
disorders of his country. The main broad
tendencies are, on one side, toward antl
clericalism, "the art of tormenting par
sons," and, on the other hand, toward
Catholic eccleslastlclsm of the most ul
tramontane type. Neither of these tend
encies is In accordance with the true
spirit Jf the age, which is, after all, a
spirit of tolerance. Another party is rep
resented by M. Clemenceau, wrecker of
cabinets and fiery champion of Dreyfus.
He would entirely separate church and
state, but leave out the persecution of
priests and religious orders. But the sep
aration of church and state, M. Passy
belleves, would of Itself settle nothing and
only add to- the violence of the struggle of
the various religious systems which are
fighting for the soul of the French peo
ple. He nevertheless, in his paper. La
Cloche d'Alarme, consistently advocates it.
Like the Salvation Army.
To preach Tolstoyan Christianity, Pas
sy has gathered around him a band of
volunteers. They preach bythe roadside.
In wine-shops, or wherever a few people
may be gathered together. The beginning
Is small and humble, but they point to
the similar proceedings of the early apos
tles, and, more recently, of the Salvation
Army workers for encouragement. They
hope the simplicity and humanity of their
doctrines will seize upon the quick imag
ination of the French masses now when
the contest between the Government and
the Vatican has made the question of re
ligion the most vital thing before the na
tion. Further to propagate his ideas, Passy
publishes a newspaper which In many
waya is absolutely unique. It has no sub-
Well-Told Story of Its Peril, the Life to Maturity and
the Propagation of the Species
at the mouth of the river whose stom
achs contain undigested sea creatures,
but never fresh-water food. When this
fact, coupled with the remoteness of
the spawning grounds is remembered,
it is no surprising to learn that many
of the pilgrims reach their long-sought
Mecca In an exhausted condition, .faint
with fatigue and bruised by sharp
rocks.
Indeed, the entire pilgrimage is keyed to
a note of pathos. No royal chlnook returns
to tell the tale of Imminent dangers passed.
In the supreme effort of creation their
lives are offered as a sacrifice, and the
first Journey to the spawning grounds Is
also the last.
A rest of two or three weeks is taken
before spawning. Then with noses and
tails the fish scoop out holes in the gravel,
under, a foot or two of. water. In these
nests the egg3 are deposited, fertilized and
left to their fate,, the average number
being' 5000 to each female.
But now a striking change has come
over the onco splendid fish. Since enter
ing fresh water the metamorphosis of
death has proceeded by slow degrees, un
til after spawning they rapidly become
loathsome to sight and touch. The mus
cular energy and power which marked
their entry Into the Columbia have passed
away. The firm, deep red flesh has be
come dirty pink In color and flabby In tex
ture. The glittering coat which once shone
through the foaming crest of a breakeror
flashed a silver streak below the green
water, has assumed an olive hue. The
scales are absorbed into the slimy skin,
which 1b disfigured by blotches and In
fested by parasites. The jaw of the male
curves Into a hook, lined with strong
white teeth, which serve as weapons In
savage contests of rivalry. When the
last duty has been paid to Nature the
wretched survivors linger about the vicin
ity until death closes the final act In the
life of the royal chlnook.
Next in Interest to the hatching of the
lable book of Islam, by the Russian au
thorities has exasperated the Russian
Moslems beyond endurance.
A most glaring confession of Russia's
present weakness has been demonstrated
In Persia, a country which seemed, for
all intents and purposes, .a Russian prov
ince. But English agitation has brought
to a standstill the further building of Rus
sian railroads to open for the latter power
the Indian Sea, since the Dardanelles are
very Inconveniently stopped up for Russia
by articles of the Berlin treaty. So the
operations of the Persian customs in the
Russian interest and those of the Russo
Perslan Bank have suffered a significant
relapse. Lord Curzon' knocked rather un
ceremoniously at the door of the Persian
Gulf and had a Persian Governor dis
missed for not having paid proper royal
honors to the British Viceroy. The Grand
Vizier Atabeg Azam, who swam too stren
uously In the Russian tide, was stripped
of his honors and sent a-traveling to Mec
ca via Japan and the United States. It Is
inconceivable why Russia did not force a
strong stand and position In the Persian
Gulf while England was In her predica
ment in South Africa. It is possible that
German pressure from the Bagdad Rail
road, whose terminals and goal is the
Persian Gulf, prevented Russia from set
tling herself definitely on those waters.'
Submitted to Humiliating Blow.
But the most unceremonious and galling
treatment accorded to Russia by Great
Britain was the Thibetan expedition to the
holy City of Lhassa, which, without any
Intent of actual conquest, was to furnish
to Russia an effective object-lesson that
her supremacy In the Buddhist regions
was at an end, and to discredit her pres
tige in the eyes of that fanatic seml-Chl-np!f
hlfirarchv. The meek submission hv
Russia to this, humiliating blow is tho J
best proof or now impotent and weak the !
Russian government feelsjtself to be.
It is not even necessary to hint here at
the unassailable position of the Indian
Empire and its paramount influence In
Afghanistan after Russian influence Is
once broken all around Its immense north
ern semicircle of the Himalayas. Tho
long Chinese boundary will undoubtedly
become a barrier to Russia against which
the Russian bear will break his teeth and
his claws as soon as Japan will find tho
time to marshal the undoubtedly unlim
ited Chinese forces, dormant though they
be, and complete the beginning armament
of the Chinese army within the empire, a
task which Japanese officers are now ac
complishing with a will.
Struck With Blindness.
Certain as the Russian government
must have been that all these external
conditions would be unchained with math
ematical precision as soon as Russia
would get entangled in a great war in
the Far East, It was nevertheless 3truck
with blindness when it courted the pres
ent war, or, not believing In Japan's
earnest will to fight, played with the fire.
The press of the civilized world was filled
with grave International questions, raised
by Japan's alleged breach of neutrality,
specially the attack of the Russian ships
In the Co re an port of Chemuipot and the
scription price, and is sent to anyone who
asks for it. Those who wish to pay for
the paper do 50 and fix the sum them
selves. Those who do not pay are not
reproached, and never gzt a subscription
notice. They may have it free as long
as they like.
The name of the paper is Ia Cloche d
Alarme (The Alarm Bell), but it relies
chiefly upon gentle persuasion and calm
argument for the enforcement of Its
ideas. It seeks to stimulate thought on
the vital religious questions of the hour.
Passy edits it himself and writes many
of the articles. Its circulation is lame,
and Is growing rapidly, and, despite its
principle of not demanding payment, Its
"fee list" is remarkably small.
The Church and the State.
"When Passy is urging his and Tolstoy's
cure for the evil of the times, French
politicians both within and without the
Cabinet are wrestling with the practical
questions the quarrel with the Vatican
has brought to the front. Nine million
dollars Is now paid annually by the state
to the church In the form of salaries to
priests and bishop3, In allowance for the
maintenance of churches and in similar
ways. The church buildings, with very
few exceptions, belong to the state, hav
ing been taken over during the revolu
tion. All the churches, from Notre Dame
downwards, bear In great black letters
over the doors the motto of the republic,
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Dur
ing the revolution, the state claimed the
right to use' the churches for any purpose
desired. Civil fetes were held in Notre
Dame, and a painter's model placed on
the high altar and worshiped as the god
dess of 'reason. Should the state desire
to promulgate a few primitive Christian
principles, such as those advocated by M.
Passy, and throw the churches open im
partially to the use of all Christians, there
would be no legal obstacle. Something
of the kind Is now done in respect to the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other
holy places -in Jerusalem, which are re
served for different denominations at dif
ferent hours.
Meanwhile, as the battle rages between
French clerics and antl-clerlcs. It grows
more probable that a man with a new and
inspiring Idea may hold the balance of
power. x HENRY LEMOINE.
eggs comes the method of shipment. Who
would believe that a fish can live out of
water, or that the delicate salmon roe,
which the slightest scratch will reduce
to a useless drop of protoplasm, can be
handled like dried pease and sent to all
parts of the world? Yet this Is one of the
surprises which science prepares with such
nonchalance for prosaic people.
Upon the downy cotton fl.annel floor of a
shallow wooden crate Is placed a layer of
eggs. The crates are then laid one upon
another, both the top and bottom crates
being packed with moss. Outside Is a
layer of ice and yet another of sawdust,
the whole being Inclosed in a wooden box
with perforated lid. In this condition the
eggs will keep for four months, In fact
they will even hatch In the crates and the
young fry essay the character of amphib
ians for 12 hours. But at the end of this
period they must bo restored to water,
from which their supply of oxygen Is
drawn, or they die.
The establishment of hatcheries and a
close season for spawning, during which
fishing is made Illegal, awakened bitter
opposition among many fishermen and
some canners. While the flrst fry were
placed in Oregon streams In 1895-36, the
subject of artificial propagation remained
an open question for the flrst half-dozen
years. Conclusive evidence has now been
given of the practical value of the experi
ment. Many fine specimens are caught
bearing In their fins the brand of the
hatcheries. If further evidence be re
quired, it may be found in the interesting
fact that while the early runs of salmon
have In recent years been light, the later
runs, whose spawn Is propagated by the
hatcheries on the Lower Columbia, have
never been surpassed. Official estimates
show that of the enormous natural out
put but 5 per cent survives, while of the
hatchery product 90 per cent Is put Into
the streams and 75 per cent arrives at
salt water and maturity.
ALMA A. ROGERS.
cutting out of the Ryeshltelnlk from a
"neutral" Chinese port, as if International
questions came In this warl Interna
tional law was finally and decisively elim
inated when In spite of the most sacred
treaties and pledges with a breach of
oaths rare even in her own history, Rus
sia remained In Manchuria at large after
she had succeeded in obtaining peaceably
from China tho "lease" of Port Arthur,
the Gibraltar of the Pacific, and tlje right
to extend at will her railway system
through Manchuria tremendous economic
conquests which would nave insured ror
ever her supremacy over the Asiatic side
of the ocean honestly and without the
danger of a war which must put in
jeopardy everything. The progress of the
peaceable conquest of the remaining coast
land would have been a natural ,one; a
manifest destiny.
After having ousted Japan from the
Asiatic mainland under the pretext of the
"integrity of China" in 1S96, with the aid
of France and Germany, after obtaining
from China the concessions of which she
had deprived Japan, the evacuation of
Manchuria wa3 the most elementary re
quirement of international honesty. Such
was Baron AVitte's constant plea. Witte,
being the only great statesman Russia
possesses at the present time, was per
fectly aware of the consequences which
such a flagrant and far-reaching breach
of faith must entail upon Russ'la. China,
he knew, would forever become disaffect
ed, and never again make a voluntary
concession to Russia, which for a time
after the Japanese war she considered as
her protector against that power, a pro
tection for which she paid almost the
monopolistic economic exploitation of
China. Witte knew that the appe
tite would come with eating, and
that the inevitable greed for Corea
would force Japan into the war un
der any condition for her own national
independence, especially as Russia,
through her fleets of Port Arthur and
Vladivostok, would command the sea af
ter she once succeeded in making the en
tire Asiatic coast as it were her "Hin
terland." Such was the opinion, too,
of Count Lamsdorff, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and Kuropatkln. Minister of
War. who Is now bearing the brunt of
the folly for the war party, headed by
Plehve and Alexleff. These two men.
one stricken since by a terrible fate, more
than anybody else are responsible for the
disasters that befell Russia and burled
in ruins the Russian fleet and the flower
of her army.
Meanwhile, famine rages in wide dis
tricts at home. Revolution raises Its
bloody head, but under the heavy hand
of an omnipresent and oppressive police
and soldiery Is just able for the present
to give vent to Its pent-up feelings In
sporadic wild outbreaks of assassinations
of men whom popular sentiment holds
responsible for'the calamities of war and
peace. But what if the soldiers will once
falter under the teachings of Tolstoi,
the Nihilists, the Socialists and the prac
tical conditions of hunger, misery, death
to play further the executioners of their
own people In the name of their discredit
ed rulers? (Copyright 1904 by Publishers'
Cleariag-House.X A DIPLOMAT