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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1904)
res E FRIDAY, DBCBMBBB 14. lfrO. PORTLAND. " OREGON. Editorial Page of TKe Journal ti 1 .1 1 THE OREGON DAILY AN C . MCK MM Published every evening ' except Sunday ) and ' every Sunday morning at streets, Portland, Oregon. RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR THE, COAST. THE KEY to regulate transcontinental freight charges is at Panama. So long as the little railroad across t he isthmus was controlled by the transcon tinental railroads, so long as they were in a position to fix trohibitive rates there, just so long could the high freight rates from seaboard to seaboard be maintained. The key to the whole situation, as we have said, and as the people fi the Pacific coast, have found to their cost, was at Pan ama, and so Ipng as control of that road remained in private hands just so long could they expect to suffer. . (The road with the exception of a very insignificant proportion of the stock fell into the hands of the federal government when this country bought the Panama right-of-way. Rut there was in existence a contract with the J'acific Mail Steamship company, which had yet some little time to run and could not immediately be abro gated. Hence, notwithstanding the government was in Control, it was impossible to do anything to afford im mediate relief. That contract will expire by limitation a lew months hedec and it is announced .with seeming authority from Washington that the affairs of the isth gjian road will at once be put upon a new basis. This is precisely -what has been expected and the out come will be of tremendous importance to the Pacific coast. The road being under the control of the "govern ment it is taken for granted, that it will be run in the in terests of the whole people. If this is done then the rites fixed for moving freight across the isthmus will be so fixed as to stimulate rather than retard commerce. .When the rates are fixed at figures to cover the cost it will mean that steamship lines will be ,put on both sides of the- isthmus to take care of the business which comes over the isthmian railroad. The tariffs being so mater 8liy reduced water competition will be inaugurated, which the transcontinental roads will be forced to take into consideration, with result that the tariffs to the coast cities must be reduced to meet the inevitable cut Me will therefore begin to get benefits from the canal right-of-way purchase long before the canal itself can be completed. This is no more than might reasonably be' expected from the government, but the semi-authoritative an nouncement from Washington will nevertheless be hailed with general satisfaction. REPRESSION OF THE RANGE WAR. THE COMPLAINTS made against the governor of Oregon because he does not stop the range war in eastern Oregon and punish the offenders would be entitled to more serious consideration if they were accompanied with definite suggestions as to just what course he should pursue to accomplish these ob jects. )t is not intimated that the situation is one requir ing, or even enabling him to declare martial law and call out the state militia. There are no known, open rioters to quell, no threatened movement to destroy property and life that can thus be met and suppressed, and no sheriffs have called upon the governor to act. The sher iffs and district attorneys up there are 'elective officers', over whom the governor has no control. H they do not perform their duty he cannot remove them gnd appoint Others' in their places. One method of aiding in the detection and apprehen sion of the guilty parties is to offer large rewards there for, and the governor did offer a reward in one instance, but payment of these rewards are conditional upon the favorable action of the legislature, and so offers of them re not very effective. It might be wise for the legis lature to pass a law empowering the governor to offer and pay rewards in his discretion, but at present there ia no law and no fund for sue a purpose. The range war is no new thing, and is not indigenous to eastern Oregon. It is carried on t frequent in tervals, if not continuously, in Wyoming, Colorado, and in a less degree in other range states and territories, and while if there is any possible way to do so, it ought to be suppressed and those who carry it on duly pun ished, yet these are very difficult things to accomplish, even if the officers mentioned are honest and efficient, and impossible if they are not so. The regions where these barbarous reprisals occur are usually mountainous; the country is rugged and very sparsely settled; wily We stockmen inhabiting it are familiar with it; the sheep murderers commit their atroc ities at night; and finally, if one knows in any specific case who they are he may consider it as much as his life is worth to tell and probably he could not prove the truth in a court All this is deplorable, shameful, disgraceful; but just what is the governor going to do about it If the sheriffs and district attorneys of the counties where these out rages occur can or will do nothing? It is not altogether the cattlemen who are to blame. The sheepmen suffer worse, because their flocks are more easily gotteft at than are range cattle or horses, and also because sheep are more destructive to the range and more obnoxious to settlers. Not long ago a core or more of horses were found dead in a remote set tlement in southeastern Oregon, merely because they were ranging on public lands adjacent to the claims of a few settlers, who had no more right to the range out side the boundaries of their claims than the horse own ers. A bad example is quickly followed and becomes a custom. One reprisal follows another and they develop into a chronic feud, habitual lawlessness, anarchy. Sow we believe that the people of Grant. Crook. Lake and any other counties where, these outrages have oc curred should get together and stop them. The ma Letters j a Big Vary. Portland. Or.. Dec. 15. To the Editor Of the Journal: Tour editorial yesterday en the "Demands for a Great Navy" la another Of your recent puffe to fan the navy erase that of late has taken no session of our people and Is running like an epidemic through our body politic. To have a- big navy to swell the pride ef the military and strut around over the high seas to bulldogs Other nations ne protection, but a menace. to security. We have escaped, at least, two great ware by not having a big navy. First, when the Alabama claims were to be -settled with England after the war of the Rebellion when the military of this country and England did their heat In gt up a great war between the two ftnglieb speaking eounlrlee. Our gov ernment heellaleaV et hoi qne thing our small navy could not compete with the INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED BY JOURNAL PUBLISHINO CO. OFFICIAL PAPER OF THE CITY OF PORTLAND A MAN with young onions, each 3 bushels of onions; ponnas or terrace chickens); 2 crates berries; 3 crates 1 crate black caps; parsley and thyme Now this man little tract Perhaps w ITH ALL faultfinders, if there perfect rectitude big navy of England. It was here that the peace men of the United States and England, the real patriots, stepped In and arranged the Geneva conference, which settled the matter In dispute at less cost than the price of a week's war and with which the people were well satis fled, except the military, who predicted all kinds of disaster to the flag. Another lime In our history we paused. President Henjamrn Harrison was within a week of declaring war upon Chili, at the Instigation of the Roman hlerachy, ostensibly to aveng an Insult to oar navy, but In fact to help down the anil-Roman uprising In the Shooting republic, and we only hesitated berause our navy was not sufficient, and thus averted a most disgraceful conflict. ImrMrtl.il history will some day show that our acquisition of the Philippines was anything hut honorable, and the de mand for a big navy now is to keep In subjection an unwilling people, as well as to make us a "world power." by which we now simplv mean "military power." if by "world power" we have hereto fore meant the same as the great powers JOURNAL J NO. P. CARROLL. The Journal Building, Fifth and Yamhill jority of those people, we have no doubt, are naturally and by inclination yes, and in practice, too law-abiding, respectable, intelligent and worthy citizens. But manifestly a considerable proportion are not so. And some of the majority may have been quiescent and cal lous. But they should be so ho longer. A repetition of the past year's record should be prevented. If it cannot be agreed upon as to where sheep shall range, the good, rc sponsible people of that region should agree that what ever the consequences to the range, these criminal, cruel slaughterings of stock shall, cease, or that those com mitting these heinous crimes shall be punished. There ought to be enough such citizens as we haye Indicated in any county in Oregon to bring about this result. Whether the local officers have done all they could to trace these crimes to the perpetrators and to punish them we do not know. Local newspapers ought to be informed better on that subject, and it is their duty to insist that if this has not been done it shall be done in future, and to bestow censure in no mild or mealy mouthed manner if it be not done. The situation is such as to call for consideration by the next legislature. A reward fund to be used by the gov ernor at his discretion should be provided, and also, pos sibly, a fund for the purpose of employing detectives and assistant prosecutors. For Oregon surely, cannot afford to have these crimes continue within its borders. PRODUCTS OF ONE ACRE. an average amount of strength, am bition, industry and brains does not need very much land in thia wonderful Pacific northwest in order to make a good living. In any of many local ities he can do so on a very small tract of land from five to twenty acres. Hence he does not need a large amount of money to begin with, for such tracts can be bought for from $75 to $aoo an acre very likely can be found for sale for less but we are speaking of lands es pecially adapted to certain products- fruits, vegetables, berries, melons and poultry. Here is an example of what a man did this year on a single acre of land near Clarkston, Ida., with irrigation: He had been a locomotive engineer for 30 years, and concluded to retire, and bought only one acre of land. He had never done any farming or gardening or paid any attention to horticulture in his life, but he inquired, learned, watched, worked, determined to make the most out of that acre, and this is the result: He has a neat residence, outbuildings, chicken yard, and a small lawn, in which are two bearing almond trees and many rosebushes and other flowers. He has an orchard of 65 choice peach trees, and between them he has 2,000 strawberry plants, 100 berry bushes, 80 grape vines, two beds of asparagus and a bed of celery. He has aoo chickens, and during the first nine months of 1904 he sold 375 dozen eggs besides using all he wanted at home. He also raised the following stuff: 340 boxes oi peaches; 75 pounds of Lima beans; 30 crates of wax htans; 100 bunches of radishes; 20 dozen bundles of bundle containing one dozen bunches; 6 dozen cucumbers; 50 watermelons;! IO bushels of potatoes; 25 dozen peppers; 12 bushels of apples; 24. squashes; 16 crates of strawberries; 150 vims ne raised lor ana tea to tne of red raspberries; 2 crates dew blackberries; 3 cratea black raspberries; 50 bunches asparagus; 100 pounds of beets; 1 ton of carrots; 150 heads of celery; one half crate of plums; 5 crates of apricots; I crate of quinces; mint. for table use for himself and wife. only aimed to raise all he could on his acre, primarily for the use of his family, and see what a variety and abundance he had, and enough surplus to sell to buy groceries if not clothes and all from one acre! How much could a man who utilizes the soil to the best advantage get out of 5. -10, 20 acres? Not every body can find land that will yield all that this acre did, but there are thousands of patches of land of from 5 to so acres in Idaho, in eastern Oregon, in Southern Ore gon, in western Oregon, in Washington that tilled for all they are worth will yield plenty to support a good sized family and leave a rainy day surplus. Moral : If you can't get a big tract of land get a good you will be better off. THE MAYOR'S GRATUITOUS FLING. DUE RESPECT to the mayor and late city engineer, no matter bow persistent and clamorous the "knockers," kickers and was opposed to it a consciousness of in all his public transactions, the city engineer never should have resigned. If a public official is right and either his character or reputation is at stake, his duty to himself, which after all it! its best sense is his highest duty, demands vindication, no matter what the clamor raised, and until that comes he should be content ith nothing less and no power should force him to re tire nnder fire. So far as the mayor's reference to "knockers" goes it was gratuitous and entirely uncalled for. The report of the original investigators was con firmed by the mayor's own investigators who entered the Tanner creek sewer and found conditions if anything worse than they were originally reported. In one thing both officials unite that is in the expres sion that the subordinates in the engineer's office are in competent and some of them crooked. Enough has al ready developed to demonstrate that there is something rotten in the office and that the rottenness is by no means confined to the head of the department. There is a very general sentiment that the office should be cleaned out so that it may start anew under another head with a clean bill of health. If the subordinates are not faithful it is impossible for the head to guard the public against imposition; if there is need of raising the standard in one direction there is also need, which should be heeded, to aise it in another. of Burope, why have thousands of the young men left those countries and come to our shores? Is It not to escape the military conscription that presses every young man Into the armies and navies? What Is militarism In Russia and social ism in tho,rest of Burope but the popular protest against the militarism despotism of those governments? Again, have we only recently become a "world power?" Have we not been a "world power" in' the higher and nobler sense an Industrial power these de cades? We have been the asylum of the oppressed of sll lands, just because of the opportunities of expansion given to young men without the handicap of a military conscription. Conscription will come with a large navy. 3. F HANSON. Gloom D (speller. "Ah"' she sighed, "I seem to be filled with vlnnm that nnnnt he illsnelle1 " "Oh. don't despair," he rejoined "Later5! on when radium gets cheaper you can swallow a small piece." Small Change Carnegie needn't gat angry; Use worst or the Joke Is not on him. England and Thibet have made treaty. Thibet la the lamb. The southerners rn.ike a bi fusa about a email matter only a Crum. It la a consoling thought that Judge K waynes are very rare Jn this country. The (treat trouble about investigations la that generally they need fhveatigat la. I'mamana, Panamalana. Panamanians are all In use In different newspaper of flees. A coin dropped In the Salvation Army's Christmas dinner pot ia well spenL That Portland Hlllsbnro road Is prom ised again soon. We shall believe In it whan we see it Girls who have a notion of proposing must make up their minds to do so soon, or be out of order. But if the Democratic party la reor- a-anlied once or twice mora will there be anything left of it? The Wall street bears have been ac complishing a good deal mora lately than the Russian bear. Nan la described In dispatches as being In high spirits. Perhaps the prison has a secret sideboard. If you don't sea what you want In this world, you can ask for it, but the chances are that you won't gat It JS A good many Republican members of congress who affect great admira tion for the president really "dislike him. President Roosevelt wants the Indians to be mad to work. Didn't he get ac quainted with any Indian while living out west? Mavbe Mrs. Chadwlck really thought Andrew Carnegie's name waa good who ever signed it It looked good to her and to her bankers. The Portland Journal's cry of 'stop thief" is not fooling the public. Rose burg Plalndealer.' Certainly not,, but It Is Bearing the thieves. If Mrs. Chadwlck can par up and have a-lot of money left there will be a mul titude of people who knew all the tuna that she never did anything wrong. Teachers deserve the higher salaries which it has been decided to pay them. On the other hand, the public is entitled to the best services of the best teachers. The idea that railroads should exist and to be operated for the benefit of the people. Instead of the people existing for the benefit of the railroads, is 1 astonishing one to the magnates. Mrs. Chadwlck aaya she la going to pay all her debts But can she find any more Beckwlths and Newtona to accept her new "securities?" and whose name will she use nowT Mrs. Cannon, widow and third wife of Abram Cannon, thinks he died of grief because he had violated the reaenu ana .the church law by marrying a fourth wife. But there are fare more probable causes. Oregon Sidelights Lota of fine apples around Durkte. Baker county. A Falls City man has put out 10,000 strawberry plants. Grants Pass will probably soon have a new Iron foundry and machine shop. Echo la to use crude petroleum on three blocks of Its main streets as an experiment Several eountlea have made no exhibit Drenaratlons yet. They'll be sorry If they do nothing. The Athena Press says hunters from that town brought down only one lone goose and a coyote got that. All the Ave members of a family on McDowell creek have been helpless with typhoid fever and one of them died. The 8prlngfleld council is opposed to a third saloon In that town, but the 1400 thus to be gained is a temptation. Hon. H. B. Miller, consul to Nlu ohwang will meet with a big formal pub lic reception at Eugene, his home, on his approaching visit The Baker City Herald publishes a long article on "How to And an oil well In Kansas." But what would be more to the point Is an article telling how to And an oil well in Oregon. The very fact that Coos county ia preparing to make a btg Ana exhibit at the fair la already attracting- many peo ple's attention to that exceedingly re sourceful but slightly developed region. Bach of several towns up the Willam ette valley end in southern Oregon have had a number of cases of diphtheria. This dread disease Is caused by filth or foul air. There is no nerd of It. Clean up, yv don't ahut out fresh air. Oakland, Or., correspondence of Rose burg Review: The Portland Journal did wrong in suggesting that the Arkan sas mule debase hla character aa a time honored beast of burden by engag ing In prise fighting don't degrade the mule. Orants Pass Herald: There Is a per sistent rumor afloat to the effect that a child died-near thie city from diphtheria without any medical attention except that, of the so -celled magnetic healing. If this Is true the coroner and prosecut ing attorney should investigate it with out delay. Astoria Budget: Astoria's building boom still continues and work on the construction of a number of new struc tures will he In progress sll winter. It Is safe to say that more new residences and business blocks have been erected In Astoria during the present year than during any previous two years In the history of the city. The Bcho News, otherwise an enter prising local paper, le such a botch In point of typography and printing aa to be unreadable, which causes the Irrlgon Irrigator to say that "it Is an exponent of the resurrection resurrecting 'pi' from the hell box. looking it up with a boot jack, reading the, proof with a can opener, taking the "forms with axle gresse. and printing them on a cider press. " 2- -err Trie Market Basket Perhaps many of the women shop pers remember laat season when they turned up their noses at the grocery man who sold them a pound of onions for 10 cents. It is not likely that many of them have, forgotten that Incident It waa rather an expensive impression 10 cents for a single pound of onions. Most everyone likes a dish of onions here and there in the food and a great many of them prefer several dishes. Not one In 10,000 of the shoppers knows where onions are obtained, or how. Oregon as an onion producer is at the head of the' class, aa far as the Pacific slope is concerned. Oregon raises more onions than the rest of the coast states put together, and the onions raised here are superior to those raised elsewhere, and in all the markets of the coast Ore gon stocks bring from 10 to 26 cents a sack more than those grown In either California or Washington. In normal seasons Oregon prodnoee on an average about 200 cars of onions. There are practically S00 sacks to a oar. making 60,000 sacks of onions, or 6,000, 000 pounds as the yield. This season, on account of unfavorable weather end the ravages of cut worms in some of the best onion producing sections of the state, the crop waa cut down to ISO cars, or to more closely estimate it 4.600,000 pounds. This season, on account of the small crop in other coast states, the market opened very high at the Arst of the sea son, and lias never shown an inclination toward weakness. Dealers who pur chased onions freely from the growers laat year around 46 cents a sack were very anxious this year to buy the same class of goods at over double that amount and today- they ore paying prac tically 2 H cents a pound to the growers. The lack of sufficient supplies of onions on this coast during the past sev eral years has caused the larger dealers to look to outside places for their goods. Some thought that they could secure them east of the Rocky mountains, but this has been given up. Last season many large shipments of onlona were brought In from far off Australia, and it was these onions that cost the house wives about 10 cents a pound. For them the grocery men paid aa high aa $7.60 per 100 pounds, ana tnen too very heavy chances of rot and a break in the market. The shortage this year has caused dealers to again look to Australia for supplies, and during the coming month the Initial shipments will be received In San Francisco, where they will be dis tributed. Of course, Oregon will not need any of these onions this year not for a time at least but the bring ing of them into this country may pos sibly save the housewives from paying such exhorbltant sums as they did last season. It Is now a little mora than a week before Christmas, and there la much anxiety among the people aa to where their turkeys are coming from. Gen erally at this time the receipts in the wholesale district are quite liberal, but very few arrivals were reported up to today. Good turkeys are hard to And, and even the poor grade stock la selling at 16 cents a pound at retail. This was the top price reached at Thanksgiving time. However, ohlekens are very cheap on account of the heavy supplies and the small demand. At this time there are always large receipts of chickens, but the public taste seems to be for other food. There is a shortage of fame geese. These generally come several weeks before Christmas, in order to al low the dealers to fatten them. This season very few came, and those In mar ket are expected to bring almost as high prices as turkeys. There are good sup piles of wild birds and prices ore lower. Fresh garden greens are very plentiful, and prices ore practically the same as laat week. Oranges are of better quality than last year at this time, and do not coat aa much. - Japanese orangea are here, but on account of the war the shipments this year to the United States will be small. The California tangerine is quite pien tlful at the same prices. Good bananas are hard to find, but the cheaper grades are selling at less prices. Columbia river smelt are cheaper this week, but the supplies are still vsry small, and It will be some time before they will go into general consumption Columbia river salmon is coming in very slowly, and prices are high. Most of the supplies now In market are from the sound, and are 01 tne coia storage va riety. The prices on various products at re toll are: Chickens, 13 15c; turkeys, 26o; tome ducks, 7 6c & 61 each; tame geese, si.zow 1.76 pair; mallards. 86c$l pair; teal. 40 4 SOc pair; widgeon, 66c pair. Oranges, 26040c dozen, tangerines. 16c; bananas, 26060c dosen; grapes, To kays, Verdals, Cornlshons, 40060c per five-pound basket; apples, fancy Splts enberge, $1.6001.76 per box; Bald w las, 61.60: Rhode Island Greenings, 61.60, pears, winter Nellls, 61.60 per box; grape fruit, 6 for 26c; Jersey cranberries, 16o quart; strawberries, lbtyzoo pouna. Steaks, 6016c pound; mutton chops. 6016c pound; veal cutlets, 1O012V4O pound; pork chops, lO012Vo pound; roasting beef, 10, 12tt016o pound; boil ing meats, 608c pound; pot roast 80 lOo pound; corn beef, 8010c pound; ham. 16o pound; boiled ham, 30o pound; spare ribs, 8010c pound; pork tenderloin, 20c pound. Crabs, 2 for 26o; lobsters, 20c pound; eastern frog legs, 60c doxen; shrimps, 20o pound; eastern prawns, 80c pint: salmon, 2 pounds 26c; flounders, 10c pound; rock cod, It He pound;, California soles, lie pound; perch. 10c pound; Cali fornia etrlped bass. 16o pound; Sacra mento shad, 2 for 26c; smelt Columbia river; 16c pound; Puget sound, 10c pound; catfish. 10c pound; black cod, 2 rounds 26c; halibut, 2 pounds 26c; stur egon, 12 Ho pound. New potatoes, 8 pounds for 25c; rad ishes, turnips and green onlona, 2 bunches 6c; water cress, Sc bunch; lettuce, fancy heads, 2 for 6c; egg plant. 6019c each; mushrooms, 26086c pound; tomatoes, 10c pound; huckleberries, 8 pounds 26e; rhubarb, 4 pounds 26c; sweet potatoes, 10 pounds 26c; walnuts, 2 pounds 26c; others. 20c pound; beans, string, 2 pounds 26c; limes, green. 2 pounds 26c: artichokes, 76c081 dosen; celery, 6010c head; peppers, 12 hie. pound; cabbage, 14 016c head; cauliflower. 10016c head; Oregon garden pees, 8 pounds 26o. In winter quarters North Dakota. December 14. The morning Is clear and cold, the mercury at sunrise 22 de grees below sera A Mr Haney, with two. other persons from the British es tablishment on the Asslnlboln, arrived In six days with a letter from Mr. Charles Chahoulllee. one of the company. who with much politeness offered to render us any service in his power. - " Jewis ana Clark In what is now The Play From drums to Are eaeapea. the Co lumbia theatre waa Ailed last evening by a brilliant audience in honor of the Arst presentation in Portland of a more or less celebrated musical comedy, "The . Billionaire." with Thomas Q. Seabrooke in the title role and our. own Diamond Donner as the prima donna. There may have been people there who were disappointed, but I do not' believe they pan look each other in the face this afternoon and say they were not amused moat of the time. From where the writer sat, the show was a great big hit. slacking up only toward the finish. The muslo of "The Millionaire" la always Ught-walated, But never thor oughly bod. The book is not a world beater. There lent a great individual voloe in the company. But when you come to look at it as a whole, it will be difficult to name a musical comedy heard here this seaaon whloh nave greater sat isfaction than the Smlth-Kerker crea tion. The plot if it can be dignified by auch a name waa amusing, to ear the least. A billionaire, knowing no other way to get rid of hla money, goes Into the theatrical business, takes a young vocal pupil under his wing, buys her a theatre and makes her a star. It la a gentle satire on theatrical management of the present day, and offera a wonder ful amount of side-splitting situations, especially, I imagine, to those who know the show business thoroughly. me strength or the piece is the man ner of its production. The costumes are dazzling, the femininity so numer ous, or numberless, that you forget to 100 at anytning else and the scenery la beautiful. The lost act ahowlnc a section or the stage and auditorium of a theatre, la a commendable novelty, Much of the ."talent" displayed during the mimic performance could well be elimi nated, but this. Is forgotten while -you listen to the rousing ensembles. Portland waa out In force to welcome home Diamond Donner, the prima donna. She Is about the "cutest" morsel we know of on the stage out here. She fa vored us with that Jack-knife dance which made her famous in "The Prince of Pllsen." - Her first appearance waa the signal for an ovation, which waa often repeated aa gradually she made It known that Diamond Donner had won her way on talent, rather than mana gerial Influence. Miss Donner Is a per fect picture, and aa graceful a bit of girliahnesa aa they make. Mr. Seabrooke baa been aeen in much funnier parte. The Billionaire" waa written for Jerome Sykea, who was es sentially a singing comedian, which Mr. neaorooke is not He won a good deal of laughter, but the only aopg he really goi away witn was -That Street In Heaven They Call Broadway" funnv enough to carry itself. The star made a speech, largely concerning Miss Don ner, who 'whs quite overcome by her re ception. A distinct hit of the- e venlnsr was Jnate Intropldl aa Mrs. Peppercorn, a modern Zaxe-esque Mrs. Malaprop with flaming hair and a burning ambition for her daughters' matrimonial future. Another who will not soon be forgotten waa Har ry Mocdonough. appearing first aa a waiter and later aa a singer. His imita tion at the Italian tenor Is about the funniest thing we have witnessed in an age. The two daughters of Mrs. Peppercorn were well done by Helen Dexter and Lois Swell. They appeared to excellent advantage in the mixed quartet "If You Are Mine, and I Am Tours." which is the prettiest melody of the entire score. RACB WH1TNBT. A LADT TJMtJXvA. A handkerchief betrayed body Ur sula, Here was a eomely young woman who bet a few paira of atocklngs that she would enter the home of a certain man who had declared he would not tolerate femininity in his household. And she aid it: Anthony Hope is responsible for "The Adventure of Lady Ursula." a bright refined comedy In which Florence Rob erts delighted a houseful of the Mar quam's patrons last night at the fourth performance of her week's engagement '" noDeris loves Ursula, and it Is a part that any woman of real tempera ment would love. She throws her whole heart Into it, and while she Is on the stage the comedy never lags. Briefly stated, the plot of the play la thla: Lady Ursula dons masculine attire and thus gains admission to Sir George Sylvester's house, but. not with out trouble. She Is forced to smoke a pipe, to sccept a challenge for a duel. to drink to her own health and compete witn otner. phases or masculine life as It was In England In the days of pow dered wigs and patches. And then, alas! she loees a 'kerchief, more plainly marked than the hieroglyphics of our modern laundry men, and Sir George discovers, to bis astonishment, from her timidity and shapely limbs, that the supposed earl Is a woman a sister of his enemy. The romanoe ends with a prospect for wedding belle for Sir George and Ursula. There Is very little for the company aside from Miss Roberts and Lucius Henderson, to do. The star acquitted herself admirably. In her second act dress she was a picture of loveliness, and she went on and on so easily through the various phases of her char acter that one wonders If there actually exists a role which Florence Roberts is not capable of playing. Mr. Henderson as Sir George has much to do. and as a rule does It well but he would Improve his performance mightily If he would be Induced to for get the distressing habit of gesticulating during every speech, which is a serious cloud on the ability he possesses. William Terence deserves commenda tion for a clean-cut performance of two characters, Mr. Bllmboe and Mr. Dent. The Mr. Castleton of G. Gregory Rod gers was crude and amateurish, and lacked the first essential of acting pronunciation. The production, scenlcally, was fully up to the Roberts standard, the excep tion being the faulty manner of lighting the stage. Tonfght Miss Roberts will appear as Nora In Ibsen's "A Doll's House," for the first time In Portland. The same bill tomorrow afternoon and "Marta of the Lowlands" will close the engagement Saturday night. nAjrx x or Frank James, known to the world as the most desperate, of outlaws and over whose head hung the heaviest rewsrd that has ever been offered for the cap ture of a human being In this country, says he ia 41 much maligned man. He said so at the Empire theatre last night when he was Introduced at the conclu sion of the last act of "The Fatal Scar." No man baa a bigger heart than he. he said, no "man has greater love for hie fellow-man, and no man has higher regard for and hopes ef society thsn he who was qnee an V?caat fugi tive, who succeeded for years tn baf fling the efforts of federal detectlvea, the great Plnkerton agency and the meet noted criminal takers In the country, and the united, efforts ef the police and 0 "esie 1 Roosevelt and tne Railroads From the Philadelphia Press. The railroad system of the country would pass through momentous changes If all that 1 'resident Roosevelt recom mends In his nsssage were enacted. Much doubtless never will be. Tears would be required for changes so sweeping, so omnipresent and so radical. On rates President Un...lt nr.w.n.u "not that the Interstate commerce com mission shall fix all rates (aa has been asserted in some comments on tbe mes sage), but that where a shipper objects to a rate the commission shall hear evi dence and argument and decide whether the rate la reasonable of unreasonable. If the commission decides against the rate and names another Its decision la blading until a circuit court reverses its finding. This would practically vest In the commission the judicial power to de cide whether the rate of a common car rier is reasonable or unreasonable, a power which now veata In the courts of common law. This power la today not sought, owing to legal delays In Its exercise. Whether, a summary author ity such as is proposed by the president would be "due process of law" only the federal supreme court oon decide. He would be a rash man who predicted lis) opinion. Against rebates, through private cars. etc., the president utters a sweeping op position, but he proposes no new legisla tion to bring these under the jurisdiction of the commission. Rebatea have nearly all disappeared from general traffic. N06 all are gone, but most have been re moved. They remain in special traffio. and. while the president condemns re bates through special oar lines, sidings and terminals, he proposes no legislation to bring these as well aa express com panies, sleeping and palace cars, refrig erator lines, oar trusts and all the cor porate and private accessories to rail road traffio under the jurisdiction of the commission. Nothing la more needed. On nothing la congress more slow to act, . On administration the president pro poses changes more extreme than on rates. Congress a doaen years ago re quired safety brakes on freight care, a reform not yet complete. The message proposes to odd to this e block signal system. This la on indeterminate term whloh would necessarily .vary from a costly automatic service to the mere substitution of a space Interval for the time Interval which now breeds countless accidents. Any auch change would be costly, but it would reduce accidents and pay in the end. Half the fatal accidents are, however, due to trespassers. If President Koooevelt will propose some efficient exclusion of tramps from tracks and yards and keep the public from trespassing he will have an universal railroad gratitude. Half the loss of life laid to railroads are due to a lax publlo which will not punish trespassers. But President Roosevelt la no believer In self-acting reforms. He proposes a federal inspection service for 1,600,000 freight cars, 60,000 passenger cars and 41,000 englnea, eo as to see that they are provided with the right brakes and theae In working order. A federal In quiry for accidents fs another proposition which would require a force competent to investigate yearly 11.000 accidents, the death Of about (,404 persons and the Injury of 60. 000. Block signal legis lation would doubtless require a third inspection service when It Is in operation. The federal law Is also to decide the qualifications for railroad employes by "providing that only trained and expe rienced persons be employed In positions of responsibility connected with the op eration of trains." It is to limit railroad hours of labor. It Is to provide medals and other prises for "coses of conspicu ous bravery and self-aarrlflca In the sav ing of life in private employments un der the jurisdiction of the United States, and particularly in the land commerce of the nation," and "drastic punishment for any railroad employe, whether offi cer or man. who, by issuance of wrong; orders or by disobedience of orders, causes disaster." Lastly, the rule free ing the employer from damages for acci dents due to the negligence of a fellow servant is to be changed by making the, employer liable to his employes, aa he now Is to the public for the negligence of any agent The object of all these proposed re forms Is admirable, but it is plain that railroad lines with a. federal inspection of safety appliances In brakes and brook signals, federal inquiry: 0 accidents and another into the hours and qualifications of employes, with federal laws to punish accidents In the federal courts, and to give "due recognition" to good service, would bear a very remote resemblance to the railroad systems which are now in all these matters practically a law unto themselves. Nor oon It be forgotten that, if these radical changes are proposed by the president of the United States, it Is be cause the people are atek at heart over the wholesale destruction of life on our railroads, far exceeding that In Burope, and the disgraceful dishonesty of noto rious rebatea to trusts. If these evils are not reformed as they should be and oon be by the railroads themselves, fed- 1 eral legislation will surely oome which will make even President Roosevelt's recommendation seem mild by compari son. sheriffs forces of the entire middle west. The press had maligned him. he said. It was his one and only aim in life to live down and prove to the world the gross injustice that had been done him by the flaring "yellow-backs," mag azines and other sensational publications throughout the world. James appeared twice In the perform ance of "The Fatal Scar." When the heroine was In deepest despair. Inextrl cally caught In the tolls of the villain, when all had apparently deserted her, she cried out in her anguish: 'Oh, who will save me?" "I wilL" It was the redoubtable Mr. James, who appeared suddenly at the aide of the heroine and pointed a long glitter ing gun at the head of the villain. It was then that the audlenoe threw aside whatever of restraint it had observed and gave Itself to general approval. The other appearance of Mr. James was at the conclusion, after the villain had been arrested, the heroine had come Into her fortune end married the hern, and. everything else had turned out jest en they should In real good plays. He delivered a brief though vehement ad dress, which was spasmodically Inter rupted by the audience in Its admira tion. The play is spectscular and as mele- dramatic as It very well could be Mlsa Blolse French was an excellent heroine as Zepher McVane, and B. J. Ernst did the heavy part of George Leclalr In a way that mode every one In the audi ence hate him. Through the efforts of ths ladles of the Catholic Debt eoclety of The Dalles the 88,000 debt on the church in that city has all Been paid oft A.