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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1907)
3 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, ..MARCH 31, 1907. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. KT INVARIABLT IN ADVANCE, (By Mail.) Oally, Sunday tncludeo. on year... Tlallw B. - .. .1 - .. In.l.ia tnnnthl .8X 4 25 Tlallv' CiKrii. thr, monthl.. 2.25 Daily, Sunday Included, on month. ... .JJJ Dally, without Eundar. on year dally, without Bunday, all montha J6 Daily, without Sunday, three month.. i rlly, without Sunday, on month Sunday, on year J-j Weekly, on year liaud Thursday) Sunday and Weakly, on year B BY CARRIER. Bally. Bandar Included, on year...... JJ Ually. Sunday Included, on month.... HOW TO JtKMIT Send postonTlce money erdar, express order or personal check your local bank. B tamps, coin or nra at th aendei-s rtsk. OW postottlc aa raa la full. Includlnr county and ataxa. IWiTAUK EAIE8. Entered at Portland, Orason. PostotTtca ma Eecond-Claaa laauar. JO ts 14 Face 1 i to 28 Page J e, 0 to 44 Pace. " 6 to 60 Face Foreign Postage, double rate. IMPORTANT Tha postal law are atrlct. Newspapers on which postage ta not lull prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EATKK BCHtNfcSS OFF1CB. Th 8. C. Backwltb Special Aiency New .York, room 42-50 Tribune bulldlni. ao, room S10-B12 Tribun buUdlBC KEPT ON KALE. Chicajro Auditorium Annex. Postoftics Kftwi Co.. 178 Dearborn atrct. 8. Paul, Minn. N. Bt. Marie. Commercial Elation. . , Umrer Hamilton A Hendrlck. sts"'rr Seventeenth street; Pratt Book Store. l- Fifteenth street; I. Weinsteln; H. P. Ban en. Kiuuu City, Mo Rtckeecker Cigar Co, JVInth and Walnut. " Minneapolis M. J. Kavanaugh, SO South Third; Eagle News Co.. corner Tenth and Eleventh; Yomt Nws Co. Cleveland, O. James Push aw. SOT. Su perior street. Washington, D. C Ebbltt House, Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia. Pa Ryan's Theater Ticket r(tlce; Kemhle. A. P.. 3T35 Lancaster ave f'Bue; Penn News Oo. I New York City U Jones A Co.. Astor tdiouae;; Broadway Theater News Stand. 1 Buffalo, H. Y. Walter Freer. Oakland, t'al. W. H. Johnson. Four teenth and Franklin streets; N. Wheailey; Oakland News Stand; Hale News co. Ogden D. U Boyle, W. O. Kind. 114 Twenty-fifth street. rmah Bark alow Bros., Vnlon Station; Ifafcesth Stationery Co. Kacnunento, Col. Sacramento ' Co-, 439 K street. Salt I-alte Moon Book A stationery Co,; I Xtoaenf eld A Hansen. Los Angeles B. ii. Amos, manager aavern rntreet wagons. hmn Diego B. B. Amos. J.oiig Beacb, Cai. B. E. Amos. 1'aeadena, Cal A. F. Horning. ,. J-ort Worth, Tex. Fort Worth Star. Hi n Franciseu Foster A Orear. Ferry Hews Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; li, Parent; N. Wheatley. Goldfield, Nor. Louie Pollln. Kureka, Cal. Call-Chrontcl Agency. Norfolk. Va. Krugg A Oould. I'lne lMM'b. Vaw W. A. Congrov. U-ORTLAND, SUNDAY; MARCH SU 1KQ7. i BASTE R. I The word Easter is derived from the piame of the Teutonic goddess of Spring. Hwho was called Ostara. It Is one of the primitive festivals of the world and jits celebration began, perhaps, when toe ilirst Winter gave way to the first jaSpring. Peoples of Semitic origin name it from the Chaldee word Pascha, which has passed into the romance tongues in -many forms. At this season the !Jews slew the paschal lamb In. com f cmemoration of the passover of the de letroying angel who spared not the first I born of the Egyptians, but withheld his fjiand from the children of Moses if they Jaad sprinkled the lintels of their doors with the blood of exemption. The Jews celebrated the Passover on the 14th of I March. By an easy transition the ear- iy c-hristiaos round, tne date appropri ate to commemorate the death of Jesus ' who was spoken of figuratively as a i paschal ottering, since his blood ex Umpted the faithful from the penalties t sin. But the resurrection followed so soon after the crucifixion that the UJoy of the Christians in their risen Lord obliterated the sad memories of his rdeath, and Easter became with them a vtime of triumphant joy. Partly to biark their difference from the Jews, artly because Mary had told the dis-!-'iples that Jesus rose from the dead 'ln the end of the Sabbath as it began i to dawn toward the first day of the week," the early Christians chose the "next SuDday after the Passover for Htheir Easter. Thus the Christian feast .originated in distinction from the and liu Jewish and Germanic festivals. In those days and for many centuries a.t'terwardi there was more or less con ftfusion in the calendar. The Passover rwas supposed to be celebrated at the 'time of the first full moon following rtho vernal equinox; but this epoch had laiot been exactly fixed by. astronomers, oior had the length of the solar year Kbeen precisely determined. According fiy, there was great uncertainty about fehe date of Easter in the early church. ,The famous Council of JJlce. fixed it upon the Sunday following the first full janoon after the Passover and commis sioned the biphops of Alexandria, "which was then the scientific center of rMi world, to ascertain the proper day each year and notify the church; but fcjheir calculations were not very aocu-ju-aie. and different parts of the world l-oiitirtued to celebrate Easter upon dif ferent days. In the middle of the fifth (Christian century, for example, Rome, fan a certain Spring, had Easter on JiMarch 26, while Alexandria had it on liApril 23. Uniformity was reached very Wlowly.. e.ven after the calendar had riieen corrected; but now virtually the ((whole civilized world outside of Russia lakes for Easter the first Sunday that bs separated from the vernal equinox tby a full moon. In the Southern Hemisphere Easter l omes 1n the Fall instead of the Spring. Dt marks the departure of Summer and jpiie resignation of the world to ap proaching death instead of that renewal f life which we of the Northern Conti nents experience as the sun crosses the auator. When civilization in the aus Ltral regions has ripened and the Poly nesian poets yet unborn shall have written their resurrection hymns, will their verses swell with the exuberant Joy which thrills all our churches on Easter day, or will something of Au tumnal sadness permeate them? Will Australian Easters, when that Repub lic is ancient and the wandering New Zealander makes his meditation on the ruins of London bridge, forget the crucifixion, as we do, In the gladness of the resurrection, or will they remem ber the .dying more vividly than the risen Jesus? Certainly the festival cannot have for the Southern Hemis phere the same primal fitness as for us. iHere the new birth of Nature repeats with each recurrent year the story of the Savior's victory over death; the swelling buds and nesting birds reit erate the lesson of our hymns and eer imons that life is once more in the as- vendant; and the miracle of Spring as It unfailingly returns, prophesies the final miracle of the risen dead. As the seed must fall into the ground uid die, so must the body of man de- scend into the tomb; and as the seed, though dead, bursts Into life again when light returning -wakens the earth from its Winter sleep, so in that Spring time of the soul, when the Lord shall appear In the East encompassed with the multitude of the angels, the slum bering generations of men "sown In corruption shall -be raised in Incorrup- tion; sown In dishonor shall be raised In glory." Every rose leaf, as it pushes toward the light, foretells the last vic tory of life over death. Every apple blossom unfolding' its petals to seek the sun of April prophesies the flowering of the soul in the eternal Spring of par adise. The lovely miracle of the open ing buds proclaims to us year by year the gospel of everlasting hope. With the bloom of the daffodils in the borders and the leaves of the maple peering tenderly from their balsamic shards the sting of death and the victory of the grave seem but for a moment only, while the reign of life and love is for eternity. But love must sleep ere it rises. The great ideas which fertilize civilization and draw humanity Godward, like the wheat that the sower casts upon his field, cannot be quickened except they die. The frosts of Autumn smite the prophets and lovers of mankind. They are despised ana rejected. When they are "in the world, the world, knows them not." They "come unto their own and their own receives them not." Some of them are crucified, some are burned. Some are slain by the poisoned shafts of ridicule and scorn. The piteous race of men, ever fighting its own good, well knows how to make them perish. They descend into the grave and their thought Is buried with them. The Win ter, of forgetfulness. sweeps -across-the earth and above the tomb where the prophet slumbers the chill snow banks itself as if forever. But Winter Is not eternal; oblivion cannot defy resurgent Spring. There are vernal equinoxes in the universe of thought arid resurrec tions for buried love. After the Win ter of its death the idea has its season of bloom and fruitage. The roots of progress suck nutriment from the heart of the dead prophet. No triumph of wrong can be perpetual; no doctrine of despair is true. Life is the ultimate victor over death; and as at Easter, we forget the cross In the Joy of the res urrection, so one day shall we forget the cruelty and strife that we now call civilization in the reign of universal love. ONE "WOMAN'S HARD LOT. A week ago a young man named An derson, living on and working his father's farm near Beaverton, came to his -death while -drunk 'by hanging head downward from a load of hay on the way home. The team had run into the roadside and stayed all night in the rain. When Anderson's father was in formed, he stormed and raged at the neglect of the animals, and, according to a county paper, cursed, his boy and otherwise vented his rage. Meeting the son's wife on the road, looking for her husband, he abused her in like manner. Since the young woman was taken a bride to the farm in 1902, she had aided her husband in all the work, subject to abuse and ill-treatment by the fa ther, patiently putting up with it, as well as meekly bearing the -burdens imposed-by a husband who, though af fectionate, was a. hard drinker, because both were given to understand they would have half of the old man's ranch for their labor. This was also neigh borhood belief. What she endured Is known but to herself. Hope sustained her and it may be she saw bright days ahead when the old man should be taken away. Since the death of the son, the fa ther has ordered the wife off the place, and it is said she even dares not re turn for her clothing. As there Is no written evidence of agreement or con tract, the old man repudiates every thing. The wife has applied for admin istration of her husband's estate, and it Is the hope of the neighborhood she will get what is her due. The lot of woman on the farm Is at best a hard one. JJays or toil are lengthened far into the night -by duties that seem never to end. When to the ordinary work is added the hard out side labor that ambition encourages in the belief that some day there will be the coveted reward, the wonder is the poor ''helpmeet" does not break down and in heart-weary despair give up the battle. Surely, woman's other names are Faith and Hope, Give the woman her due in this as in all other cases. THE CALIFORNIA SPIRIT. The abatement of the floods in North ern California reveal the extent of the damage done to the island meadows and dairy ranches and to the fields and orchards . of the Sacramento and its tributaries. But, nature Is kind, to Cal ifornia, In a recuperative sense. The Spring is already advancing and warm life-giving air and sunshine will speed ily coax vegetation from the drenched soil, while California energy, loyalty and hope in the future will restore them to productiveness and beauty and promise. The urban spirit that is un daunted by earthquake . and' fire, the essence of which is belief in and love of California, is not likely to outdo the rural spirit that is imbued with the be lief that all things are possible in an agriculture that is brooded over by Cal ifornia skies and given root In Cali fornia soil. It is true that the people of Cali fornia have been sorely tried in the past year. They have seen, their beau tiful and busy metropolis shaken by earthquake and devastated by fire, and twice have the .people of different sec tions of the state been forced by hun dreds to flee from, their homes before the encroachment of angry- waters. But who has met a Californian who. In discouragement and apprehension, has fled his state in the belief that he can better himself elsewhere? Of course, there are those In California, as else where, who are always seeking and never finding Arcadia, which, by their interpretation, means a place where men can get riches, or, at least, a competence, without work; but to the actual resident, California means all that is desirable and of good repute in climate, in resources and In returns for legitimate endeavor. To them an earth quake is an Incident, a conflagration, an accident, a flood simply an unrea sonable outbreak of the elements, the effects of which will soon be overcome. While there is much in California methods and morals that may be se verely criticized and deprecated, there is in this spirit of loyalty of her citi zens something that is truly admirable something, it may be added, worthy of imitation by many citizens of Ore gon. It rains upon occasion in California until the rising waters threaten to . "drench the steeples, drown the cocks," but what of It? It cannot last long. Skies of brass may stretch for weeks over the valleys until everything be comes as dry as dust, and pathetically thirsty. But what of that? The cheer ful Californian is serene in the thought that it will rain sometime next year, perhaps, and has not a word of com plaint about the climate. This is loyalty; it is also common sense, and by contrast it should put to shame those of our own citizens who fret unceasingly about rain and mud in Winter and sunshine and dust in Sum mer as if these seasonable conditions were something that belong to Oregon exclusively. JUSTICE IN AMERICA AND ENGLAD. The trial and conviction of Horace George Ray.ner, which took place the other day in London before Lord Chief Justice Averstone, illustrates some of the differences between the administra tion of criminal law in England and America. Rayner was accused of mur der. (His defense was insanity. The trial, conviction and sentence occupied less than a day, and the jury was out only nine minutes. With us the trial would have con sumed several weeks. Many, days would have been spent in obtaining a jury. Numerous experts and brain spe cialists would have given their opinions on either side, and the trial might even have been suspended, like that of Thaw, to Inquire into the prisoner's mental state. Lord Alverstone heard no ex perts. On the contrary, he told the jury that they must pay no attention to the plea of insanity. If Rayner drew his pistol with the intention-to kill, he said, they must find him guilty Of wil ful murder; and so they did. With -us, a Judge would not ' have -dared to charge the jury so explicitly. He would have refined upon the ques tion and drawn many distinctions, leav ing the jury perplexed rather than in structed. Furthermore, here the con demned man. could have asked for a new trial, appealed his case from court to court and delayed the execution of his- sentence -almost indefinitely. : In England his only hope lies in a plea for mercy to the Home Secretary which is not likely to be granted. Which is the better way? The Eng lish method saves time and money for the public and invests the law with ter rors which are unknown in this coun try; but it is careless of the rights of the accused. It is an aristocratic sys tem which assumes that Judges are in fallible. Oiir American method is per haps too solicitous for the rights -of prisoners. If it errs, it is In the opposite direction to the error of the English law. We are careless of public time and money and our 'dilatoriness has brought the courts somewhat into con tempt. But we do not execute so many Innocent men as they do in England. It cannot be conceded that the denial of the right of appeal to prisoners is a merit in British Jurisprudence. It is a relic, of bloody tyranny, and whatever reforms we adopt in our law we should never admit that one among them. New trials ought not to be ordered ex cept for error which deprives the ac cused of some substantial right; but to forbid them where there is gross wrong to be corrected, is monstrous. Dl'MONTS T.ATKST SMASHIT. Aeronautics suffered another set-back last Wednesday in Paris through the wreck of the aeroplane . flying machine of Santos-Dumont. This air navigator has made numerous sky voyages in gas airships the kind that is held up by a balloon. This method of sailing in the air is practically the same as that af forded by the old-time balloon. The aeroplane method Is a new one. how ever, and never' yet has been success ful, except for short flights. The buoy ancy or lifting force of an aeroplane comes from box-shaped wings, which, driven through the air by a propeller, rise from the ground, owing to the in clination of the planes. This lifting en ergy, coming from friction of air on the planes, is commonly exemplified by the ordinary kite, and it may be said that the wings of aeroplane flying machines are patterned after the box kite, which first suggested the idea of the aeroplane flying machine. Experiments with aeroplanes have been made in many places in the Unit ed States and Europe in the last few years. They have been called the prop er type of flying machine. Birds use the aeroplane principle in sailing through the air, and some inventors have tried to imitate the wings of birds In me chanical contrivances, but without sue cessful results. Many small boys have studied the motionless sailings of sea gulls through the air, over Portland's waterfront, as the birds make long sweeps,- upward and then downward without perceptibly moving a muscle. The. gulls change slightly the angle of their wings in .the air, as they ride or fall. The momentum of their bodies is the driving -force. AsHhls momentum slackens, they increase it by beating their, wings against the air. In this same manner, aeroplane in ventors are trying to enable man to fly with kite kings. The wings are to be shifted as to their angle, according to the speed of the machine and the driv ing force is to come -fronj. a light gaso-Unei-engine. As-speed shall .increase, the planed wifl be shifted nearer to the horizontal; the-machine will rise either by1 increasing the driving force" or by giving the wings more angle or by both, ,i Evidently, this' makes a very compli cated mechanism. No machine has yet been made having the necessary bal ance and at the same time possessing the required range of shaftings for aeroplanes and driving energy. Santos- Dumont made but a short flight in his Bird of Prey No. 2, as his latest kite -machine is called, and, as the dis patches state, escaped injury. The ma chine was wrecked, but the dispatches do not say how badly. The Dumont machine may be de scribed as consisting of two box-kite wings, a 100-horse power engine and a seventy-ight-inch propeller and three rudders. The two wings, having spread . of forty-two feet, from tip to tip, and being twenty-four inches wide are -placed at an angle of eight de grees. The wings are of thin wood and their frame of light mohogany. The central frame is of metal and the rear frames, supporting the rudders, are of bamboo. The speed required for flight Is thirty-seven miles an hour. Dumont has declared confidence in his ability to win with the aeroplane the $10,000 prize the Grand Prix d l'Aviation. To do this he will have to make a one kilometer circuit, slightly more than three-fifths of a mile, at distance of not less than three feet from the ground. In a letter to the Automobile from Paris, the experiments of a contempo rary of Dumont's M. Vuia are thus described: . M. Vula, who commenced aeroplane ex periments long before Santos-Dumont. bas at last attained a certain amount of success. On the BagateUe ground, in the Boia de Boulogne, several attempts were made this week. The flrst time the machine took a short jump only a few Inches from the ground. On the second flight the machine rose four feet from the ground and traveled thirteen or fourteen feet. On a final at tempt being made, thirty or forty feet were covered at an increased height from the ground. M. Vula is th second person In France to accomplish a successful flight on a heavier than air machine. Defects dis covered in. the aeroplane are Its lack of equilibrium and a slight Inefficiency in the twelve-horsepower carbonic acid motor. On striking Che ground one of the road wheels of the aeroplane was buckled up, thus pre venting further trials for the present. It 1h interesting to note that the carbonic acid nglne was designed by the late Leon Ser- pollet. In appearance the aeroplane re sembles a bird with its wings extended. It is supported on a four-wheel frame, raising the wings about five feet from the ground.. Henri Kapferer bas tested his new aero plane, built for him by Volsin Freres, and provided with a Buchet eight-cylinder en gine. The trial took, place on the Sar trouvllle plain, near ParU. but no attempt was made to rise lora' the ground. At the time jcf the Lewis andt Clark Exposition in Portland, . nearly two ears ago, several airship flights were made over the' city, in a balloon air ship. T.he bailo,n has not been made a successful mean of air navigation. It is unwieldy and, siovr and subject to the winds, and piust be kept charged with gas thatt js always escaping through the balloon." TbJiai- oons are made in varying foruis, mct of them cigar shaped. Since the bal loon was -invented by the Montgolfier brothers, in France in 1783, little has been made out of it for an airship that should have dirigible qualities and be driven through the air as a means of transportation. The favorite experi ments nowadays are with the aero plane. WHAT ABOUT THE HOME CONSUMER? The recent bulletin issued by the Bu reau of Commerce and Labor, showing that the United States has now taken third place among the nations of the world in point of tacpoTts of manufac tures, will afford new material, for the standpatters," who will Insist that the increase In exports is made possible by high protective tariffs. They will,, as usual, evade the question whether American manufacturers are not ena bled to increse their sales abroad by charging the home consumer an unrea sonable price, made possible by the pro tective tariff. The manufacturer must make a fair profit on his aggregate business. If a tariff wall permits him to charge an exorbitant price to the home consumer, he can afford to sell abroad at a price that does not leave him a profit on exports, for on the whole he will make enough to pay divi dends. If the American consumer does not like the tax thus imposed upon him for the -benefit of foreign consum ers, he must console himselr with tne reflection that the United States has advanced to third place among the ex porters of manufactured goods. The bulletin above mentioned shows that the exports of manufactures from the United States now amount to $700, 000,000 a year, which is an increase of 100 per cent in the last decade. In the ten years ending with 1905, manufac tured exports from America Increased in value 100 per cent, those from Ger many 75 per cent, from the United Kingdom 40 per cent, and from France 25 per cent. The rank of the leading four export -countries and the approxi mate value of exports of manufactured goods are as follows: United Kingdom, $1,400,000,000; Germany, $1,000,000,000; Unite States, $700,000,000; France, $500, 000,000. It is worth while to note that while there has been a very marked increase in exports of manufactures, there has not -been a corresponding increase in exports of raw materials. On the con trary, if a comparison be made of the relative amounts of Imports and ex ports of raw materials and manufac tures, it will be found that, as the per cent of exports of manufactured goods increases and the per cent of imports of such goods decreases, in -practically the same ratio the per cent of raw materi als exported diminishes and the per cent of raw materials imported in creases. This means that we cannot hope to be an exporter of both raw and manufactured goods. The bulletin now under consideration explains this by saying that "with the rapid increase of population of the United States, and therefore of the consumption of natural products, the quantity of food and raw materials remaining for distribution to other parts of the world has not in creased proportionately; and with the development of manufacturing faclli ties and the trend of population to the manufacturing centers, production of manufactures has rapidly increased, and the surplus of these manufactures which may be spared for foreign mar kets has also increased." In other words, we are, relatively speaking, de creasing the number of our producers and increasing the number of our man ufacturers, thus creating at home a larger market for our ' raw materials, as also a relatively larger market here for raw materials produced elsewhere. We shall all Tejoice over the growth of exports of manufactures, but still en tertain doubts as to the wisdom of en couraging exports at the expense of home consumers. - SQUARE DEAL IN LIFE INSURANCE. That the disclosure of crooked meth ods In the management of the life in surance companies had- a very marked effect upon the amount of new business written during the year 1906 is shown by statistics which have been gath ered and tabulated by the Spectator, of New York. Though there was a gain in the total amount of insurance in force, thus indicating confidence in life insurance In general, the gain was less than half that for the preceding year, the loss having fallen upon the large companies, which suffered most by the exposures. The figures, which do not include fraternal insurance, show that there are in force life insurance poli cies aggregating in amount. $13,720,000, 000, or $800 for each family in the United States. While accurate figures are not available concerning the amount of fraternal Insurance, the best information at hand indicates that there is in the neighborhood of $10,000, 000,000 of fraternal insurance in force, making a grand total of twenty-three billions, or an average of $1350 for each family. ". With the exception of one or two very small concerns, there is not a life in surance company in the United States but shows a good margin of receipts over disbursements, and, in the case of the larger companies which suffered by the exposures, a profit -is shown over the receipts from premiums alone. The same showing is made in totals for all companies. For example, the Equitable Life received premiums to the amoun of $57,285,000, and other revenues 'bring the total receipts up to $76,854,000, while it paid out to policy-holders $44,457,000 and for other purposes sums bringing the total disbursements up to $55,72S,- 000. Taking aggregates for aii compa nies, the total premiums were $526,000, 000, the total receipts $65.900.000. the total policies paid $287,000,000. and the total disbursements $419,500,000. From this it will be seen that the In surance business has not suffered so seriously as some of the managers would have had us believe would be the case when the Investigations were be ing conducted.' The cry of alarm was much the sjme as that set up recently by the railroad companies. In the end the insurance companies will profit by the investigations, for illegitimate ex penditures will be discontinued, and, when assured of honest management, the public will be more free in trans acting business. That Evelyn Thaw will be the chief sufferer if her husband should be ad judged insane, seems probable from the comment that has been made upon the latest phase of the case by Eastern lawyers. Prosecuting Attorney Jerome took particular pains in his cross-ex amination of witnesses for the defense to bring out the fact that if Thaw was insane at the time he shot Stanford White, he was also insane prior to the time he married Evelyn. It will be re membered that he did not marry her until some time after she had told him tht stories eoout White, and her testi onytended to show that he was insane prior to the marriage. If he was then Insane, the marriage was invalid, and it will be the duty of relatives or those In charge of -his estate, to bring pro ceedings to set aside the marriage con tract. This would prevent Evelyn from receiving support from his estate or a share in it after his death. It is there fore apparent that there- -is not much choice for Thaw and his wife between a commitment for insanity and a con viction of guilt. If there be any differ ence it would probably be in favor of conviction, for the jury would likely- take as lenient a view of the case as possible in his behalf. The tract of land In the Valley of the South Fork of John Day River that has been restored to settlement, compris- ng- 26,240 acres of agricultural and grazing land, affords an opportunity for home-building that settlers will not long overlook. The tract is favorably situated, though yet without railroad facilities; the climate is relatively mild, and when the isolation of the section broken up by homes and school- houses and other accessories of civili-" zation, and tapped by a railroad. It will be a most desirable location and one that -promises excellent returns to industry and enterprise a few years hence. Eveti the friends of ex-Senator Bur ton have little to say in approval of his course in publicly discussing his case after conviction and punishment. He has offered' no new evidence upon the subject. He had his day in court, was defended by able lawyers, and had every opportunity to present fairly and fully every defense he had, technical or otherwise. The almost universal opinion is that he should have kept still as to the past and try so to gov ern his actions in the future that he might regain to some extent, if possi ble, the confidence of the people. The bootless discussion In regard to Mary Baker G. Eddy goes on and on. For obvious reasons neither side is able to advance an argument that convinces the other. In the realm of contro versy no opinion is conclusive; no word the last word. What is truth, absolute and convincing, to one mindi is rank est sophistry to another. This is espe cially true in matters of religion where everything must be taken on trust. The discussion of Eddyism and Mrs Eddy is, therefore, not only a waste of time; it is a weariness of the flesh. St. Johns Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Albany, celebrated its semi-centennial in that city Thursday evening. This was one of the earliest lodges of Ma sonry instituted in Oregon, though its number seventeen, shows that Mason ry had a firm foothold in Oregon half century ago. The passing of the years was realized when the only sur viving charter member of the lodge. Mr. Niinrod- Price, bowed with life's toll and vicissitudes, appeared at the banquet given in honor of the occasion. Harry Lane now knows how his com patriots felt when he didn't know whether he would run or not and was quoting scripture. Mr. Thomas, his likely rival for the Democratic nomina tion for Mayor, is now the one who doesn't know. Let those who trembled when Wall street bears played football with rail road stocks, not long ago, take notice that' bank clearances of New York and Chicago gained 20 per cent last week and Boston 18 per cent. The French warships do not appear to terrify the Sultan of Morocco. In view of recent catastrophies in the French Navy, he evidently thinks the French have more to fear than him self. Portland bank clearances last week showed a gain of 56H Per cent over the corresponding week last year. Thus do manufactured "panics" affect business in substantial cities. The late "pacification' of Cuba cos the United States about $2,500,000. Will Cuba please pay this bill of expense before she needs "pacifying" again? Of course, if Hood River or Willam ette Valley should lay claim to the chubbiest babies and prettiest girls, that would make trouble, too. There wouldn't be any fight at all if Hood River or Willamette Valley or Rogue River apples were better than the two other kinds. The fuel dealers ought to become our most "substantial" citizens, if they shall continue to levy high toll on con sumers. Mr. Masters, evidently, would rather represent the Fifth Ward in. the Coun cil than live in that .ward. "Brain-storm" doesn't seem to help a man In court it he has committed lesser crime than murder. We know of a lot of gentlemen who will desire to sell to the T. M. C. A. a site for its new building. Is the -Mayor's office hunting the man or the man hunting the office? Bills for those new hats will come In tomorrow. SYMPOSIUM OF CURRENT OREGON TOPICS Why Hitchcock Didn't Slim AH the I-rttera Orrgns't Indian Maidens for Jamestown Troubles of the Rural Telephone h- Monie Apples Are Just as tiooil aa Others Excitement Up In Wallovra How to Get Away l'Tora Coo Bay. RESIDENTS of Oregon who have had homestead and timber-iand proofs held up under the orders Issued by ' former Secretary of the Interior Hitch cock, will get some understanding of the Hitchcock idea of management of public business from a story related by an Ore gonian who was in Washington soon after Hitchcock went into office. The new Secretary felt the burden of respon sibility and did not intend to let anything go wrong If he could help it. The first day he was in his office a stenographer of the department came in with a stack of about 50 letters that had been dictated by one of the clerks in the usual manner. He laid the letters before the Secretary for his signature. Mr. Hitchcock looked at the pile. "Sign there," said the stenographer in a low voice at the same time pointing to the space left at the bottom for the signature. "What is this?" inquired Mr. Hitchcock. I don't know; sign there," was the reply. 'You leave these and come back for them later," directed the Secretary, "I am not going to sign anything until I know what it is. I will read them over." The stenogrpaher bowed submissivery and went out. In an hour he was back with another stack of letters and was told to leave them also. The proceeding was repeated several times during the day and when closing time came the Sec retary bad hardly made a beginning on reading the pile of correspondence. The next day he realized what he was up gainst and upon inquiry learned that it was customary for letters pertaining to a certain class of routine business to be written by clerks and signed by the Sec retary without reading them. He shook his head but signed without any more delay. WHILE J. C. Cooper's plan of send ing to Jamestown a drill team of Oregon girls costumed as Indian maidens has met wide commendation, there is occasionally heard a disapproving voice. From The Dalles comes a protest, per haps, for the reason that real Indian maidens are common there and the resi dents of that place find nothing in the appearance of their aboriginal neighbors So attractive as to make it desirable to dress up their own daughters in imitation. The Dalles Chronicle makes the criticism and bases it upon the assertion that send ing back a drill team of Indian maidens will give Eastern people an impression that this is still the wild and woolly West and that conditions of modern civ ilization are not to be found In Oregon, While visitors at the Fair would know that the young ladies dressed in cowgirl costumes and blankets were merely fixed up for the occasion, yet they would get a wrong Impression that it would take an Immense amount of advertising overcome. "No doubt Colonel Cooper has the best of intentions," says the Chron icle, "but is It not time Oregon was laying aside her sw-addling clothes, wip ing off the war paint, burying the toma hawk and Indian blanket, relegating the war dance and the Indian costume to innocuous desuetude and taking her place where she belongs, and where her envir onment places her? Why always be ad vertising that we are barbarians when we are not? Such conditions would never attract homeseekers. What man would care to bring his daughters or sons up in such an atmosphere as some would like to indicate prevails In Oregon the best state In the Union." N rural telephone lines, where there are six. or eight patrons on a wire, and where every family includes six or eight persons, it very frequently taxes the capacity of the line to serve the wants of the patrons. Under such con ditions it Is not surprising that crossed talk is the source of as much trouble as crossed wires. And crossed talk causes no more trouble than cross-Hs tening, for when one has the receiver down others who may be trying to get central are helpless. Up in Clackamas County, where they are now connecting their rural lines with long distance, they have been having a particularly exasperating time the past week, as indicated by the report of a rural cor respondent of an Oregon City paper. He says that "what came near putting the whole telephone system -out of or der by the wires getting burned up by a long-distance and cross-talk quar rel was stopped by every one getting tired and hoarse holding the receiver. and it was all caused by a misunder standing by rubbering to some cross talk by some, who, it seems, believe In a minority rule, and not a majority." Peace was established In this Instance without the use of language that would make the wires spit blue fire at every telephone post. THE "just as good" controversy has taken on another phase, no less interesting than that which has oc cupied the attention of Oregon fruit growers and frulteaters for some time past. Recently a Hood River paper published a "cold-storage" story to thel'erfr.(ccount of the presence of the erred tnat an appiegrower m that part of the state found apples on the ground In his orchard in March that had been preserved by the covering of snow which Nature had spread over them. That's nothing, thinks the Umpqua News, which saya that a resident of that section has picked sound and de liciously crisp apples oft his trees in March. "We might have known it be cause Umpqua Valley beats the world," concludes the News. But the Medford Tribune comes back with one better by saying that in Rogue River Valley the apples keep so long that they are com pelled to brand them In order to de termine the year in which they were grown. It will be Hood River's turn to tell another story after the Willamette Valley has been heard from. BUT the tellers of apple stories will have to take a back seat this week and listen to the Wallowa County nar rators of animal stories. From the town of Wallowa comes the story of some loggers who went to bed in their cabin without closing the door and in the night heard what they thought to be a dog prowling around the room. When one of them got up and kicked it he was re warded with a good scratching, which he found was administered by a cougar. Tho cougar went out, but when the door was closed tried to re-enter through the roof. He was driven away by shots from a gun. Another Wallowa animal story comes frfm Enterprise. It says that Lee Fleshman, a farmer of Northern Wal lowa went on a bear hunt with two neigh bors. Fleshman started home three days before his companions, but when they arrivtd Fleshman had not appeared. A searching party was organized, and af ter a few miles they found where the hunter had trailed a bear. Following the tracks, they finally came upon a huge bear lying across the mouth of a cave. They began firing, but. heard muffled cries in the direction of the bear and desisted. On approaching. they found Fleshman in the cave and imprisoned there by the dead body of the bear. Fleshman had tracked the bear to the den and entered to shoot it, when bruin made a dash to get out and ran over him. He killed the bear lust as it reached the opening, and the heavy carcass rolled back and filled the passage. He was unable to move It and had been imprisoned four days, during which time he had exhausted his pro visions. OOS BAY Is Just now hopeful of finding a "way out" without wait ing for the completion of the Drain- Coos Bay Railroad. A project is un der way for the establishment of an automobile line from Coos Bay to Ya quina, between which two points, it in said, the auto could run at a high rate of speed on the hard ocean beach ex cept for a short distance near Cape Pcrpetua, where a hill road would be necessary. Cape Perpetua is a moun tain whose precipitous side extendB down into the ocean. The only way at present to get around the mountain Is by traveling a narrow trail cut in the side of the mountain several hun dred feet above the water. Teams can not be driven around the trail, but travelers go on horseback. The height is so great and the cliff so precipitous that many travelers become dizzy and must go around the trail on JtaTids and knees. The promoters of the auto line will find a way of getting around the rear of the mountain or cut the trail to the width for a wagon. HAT Providence sometimes takes a hand in railroading, is the opin ion of the Klamath Falls Herald. which relates the Incidents of a for tunate accident on the road leading out from Thrall. while the encins was backing up to couple onto the train to start for Pokegama one of the drive wheels came off and dropped by the side of the track. When an attempt was made to move the engine out of the way it ran off the track and could not be gotten out of the way for several hours. An examina tion of the wheel showed that the ac cident was due to the breaking of the axle, and that the break was an old one, the wheel beina: held on bv a small piece of iron. The wonder is that the wheel did not come oft when the engine was pulling a train around curves, instead of while it was back ing down with no load whatever. Therein the Klamath Falls paper sees the hand of Providence. THE Yakima country is by no means alone in the effort to develop ar tesian wells, for in Southern and Southeastern Oregon work Is contin ually in progress with, a view to find ing new sources of water with force sufficient to bring it to the surface without pumping. A Jackson County man has ordered a well-boring ma chine that will bore a hole 22 inches in diameter and 4000 feet deep. He proposes to go into the well-boring business on a large scale. M. L. Pel lett, residing near Ashland, has a a 800-foot well that flows 5000 barrels of water a day 12 months in the year, and he is so enthusiastic over the out look that he will proceed immediately to bore more wells. He is proposing to furnish the City of Medford with water from his wells, and thus solve a perplexing problem for- that munic ipality. The water is now used chief ly for irrigation. IN these rushing days of prosperity, very few busy men neglect their busi ness for politics. Candidates for office in city campaigns are likely to find that out as forcefully as did an up-Valley can didate for the Legislature, last June. He had plenty of promises o active support from men who were believed to carry considerable weight in political contests. But the returns were sadly disappoint ing to him. Commenting upon the result he said: "Well ther-e is one thing cer tainthat there is a whole lot of men in this county who are cither mighty big liars or who are entirely lacking in influ ence." And he was not the first candi date to find it out. THE extent of the Indirect influence of an epidemic of some dread disease is said to be well illustrated at Astoria. Though there has been hut one case of spinal meningitis at that place, it is re ported that there has been much suffering ma-iaay in -tne .-vormwest. as said ty an Astoria paper, "Quite a number of per sons have had to pay a physician's fee before they could be convinced that the pains in the back of their heads Were not symptoms of the dread disease." If im agination does as much for doctors in oth er cities, spinal meningitis will at least increase prosperity in some quarters. R BPORTS of the scarcity of lime hava aroused the interest of Marion County people who hope to see the day when Ore gon builders will get their lime from that county instead of sending over to Puget Sound for it. According to the Woodburn Independent, there is at Scott's Mills a mountain of ' material from which lime can be burned. The lime for the first brick building in Salem was procured at Scott's Mills. Now that coal has been discovered in the same -vicinity, the resi dents of that part of the state are hopeful that they may see the construction of a branch railroad that will open up two new Industries. plished by patient, intelligent effort. Nature will sometimes do by chance. A Yakima orchardist has a peach tree for which he has been offered $3000, but he thinks it sis worth much more for bud ding purposes. The tree is a new va riety, supposed to have been originated by crossing the peach with an apricot, thereby securing a sweeter fruit that ma tures early in June. The quantity of fruit the one tree bears Is of small value, but the buds will be used In grafting other trees, thus increasing the Btock of to new variety.