Sf THE "KEW AGE, POBTLAND, OBEQOK Hrtttljllth 5tfllll A.ll jp414.44.UUU W A. O. dRIFTMN, Mnnnitor Ofllro, Itoom 317, Commonwealth llulldlng Eniercltthei)otomctI'ottlnd,Oruon, Miecond-clus matter. . SUBSCRIPTION. One Year, payable In advance.,,.,., $2.00 Our Candidate for President JOSEPH BENSON FORAKER Of Ohio txW EDITORIAL MtMIMWMMMIMMMMt WATER AND LIGHT. Notwithstanding tho complaints about tho water system, nnd the de mands for ItH reorganization, nnd for better service and cheaper water, no body proposes to turn the water sys tem over to a private corporation, and phico tho city at Its mercy. Such n proposition would be voted down al most unanimously. Then why do tho people continue to allow a private cor poration to own and operate tho elec tric light Hystem, giving tho people an abomlnnhle service at exorbitant rates? There Is just as much reason for the city owning Its light Hystem as Kh water Hystem. Iloth elements are natural products, or at least elec tricity Is a natural force and ho Is the water power, and tho conversion of the electric force Into light Is a very simple procosH. The light Is carried from tho houico of power by wlro con iIiiHh; the water Is carried by pipe conduits; the city should own or con trol the source of onu as much as Jho other. Iloth light mid water are of utilvermil use; uverybody must have them, and It Ih onu of tho very Unit duties of government to supply the people with such universal necessities, their sources or materials being fur nished freely by nature, as cheaply as possible. That a great city lllto Port land would own and operate Kh own waterworks, as a matter of course, and yet iimko no movo"to also own and operate lis light plant, Is curious. If public ownership Is a good thing In the one rase, It Ih In the other. That thu city Ih grosHly overcharged for the lights It iisch, and that the people are overcharged also as Indi vidual couHiimerH, could be easily shown. When 0110 UiIiiUh that tho soiiiTo of power Ih practically free, and that transiiilHslou, once the wires are up, Ih almost freo also, and that tho expense of maluteuauco and oper nt Ion Ih comparatively small, mid then considers what an enormous number of customeiH the company Iiiih, every body paying for Its light, It cnu be readily perceived that tho prollts must he very gieat. And these profits ought to go bach or rather ho Kept In tho Hist place In the people's pockets, It would scorn that If tho city gives tills light and power octopus the priv ilege of using the streets, without which It could do no business what ever, It ought to furnish the city freo lights, or nt least lights nt about cost, In recompense for mich a vastly valu able privilege. Hut tho city not only has to pay for Its lights after having given IIiIh monopoly tho use of Us streets, but must pay an exhorbitaut price, probably 100 per cent more than could ho llgured as the cost and a fair profit. Not only so, but the city pays a very largo mini annually for lights that it does not get at nil. Sometimes a lot of them are nut for a few min utes only, sometimes for hours, and this may happen during dark evenings bo that people have to grope their way homo as best they canbut tho bill Is Just tho samo. The company doesn't. know Its lights are out, or doesn't eare, when It makes out its bill. Tho peoplo are taxed entirely too much for light In their houses and business places, too. Ah wo have In dicated, light lu a city as largo aa Portland ought to bo very cheap, With tho hundreds of thousands of lights, costing but little more thnn a very few, tho cost per light, or per house, ought to diminish aa thu city grows, but ns this octopus has a monopoly of courso It will not reduco tho prlco until it has to. Under such circumstances tho city ought to make a movo for public own- or8,,lp of tno c,cctr,c "snt system. condemn tho whole plnnt, have a court nnd Jury dotermlno its vnluo, Isauo bonds pnyablo In CO years at a low rate of Interest, appoint a light commission composed of citizens of high character, and so cut off ono claw of this Intolerable octopus that has Portland so completely In Its grasp. MORE TROUBLE BREWING. A press dispatch this week from 131 Paso, Texas, says: "Negro soldiers of tho Twenty-fifth infantry stntloned nt Fort HIIbs have threatened to raid UiIb city and citizens nro arming them selves and aro ready for an outbreak. Between tho Negro troops and whites saloon fights havo been numerous. Four of the soldiers assaulted a whlto man, but wcro overpowered nnd tlrlvon bnck to the barracks. A notice was sent to the officers of tho fort thnt tho soldiers must bo kept at the bar racks If they wanted to avoid n clash. Tho citizens also warned tho soldiers that they would find tho white men of 131 Paso prepared to mcot them any time. The guardhouso at Fort Miss Is said to bo filled with fractious Ne gro soldiers who have had troublo with the citizens It) the city, nnd thoso nro threatening to revengo the nllcgcn Insults to the soldiers. Several sol diers have been beaten In saloon brawls and tho officers at tho fort have cut off penults for more than four Negro soldiers to be absent from tho post tit tho same time. All must be in quarters at 7 p. m." It Is nt least quite probablo that behind the account Is a studied and systematized plot to got the colored soldiers nt 131 Paso Into trouble, mid provoke them If possible Into doing something lllto what It was alleged some colored soldiers nt llrownsvlllo, lu the sumo Stato, did, and for which they were discharged "without honor" and without u trial. It Is well known thnt there Ih a rabid antipathy to the preseuco of colored soldiers lu Texas, howover well they behave, nnd the slightest misconduct on their part would subject them to all sorts of ex aggerated and Invented accusations on the pnrt of n portion of tho peoplo of the town where they nro quartered. Tho above story has the earmarks of a fako nnd a canard on. Kh face. It Ih not nt all probablo that tho soldiers havo "threatened to raid tho town," mid tho statement that ono whlto man was assaulted by four soldiers, but were driven back, Is at least unlikely. The dispatch reads all tho way through as If It had been concocted not only to slander tho soldiers mid prejudice the public against them, but to lay 11 foundation for future accusa tions of a more serious nature After two or three such reports hnvo boon sent out by tho Negro-haters, wo mny expect, to hear that tho soldiers havo "Hhot up" tho town, nnd If anybody should get killed In a row down there, which happens not very Infrequently, doubtless the Negro soldiers will be charged with the murder, and there will bo plenty of witnesses to swear to It; mid then perhaps theso troops will also bo Incontinently discharged "without honor." Wo presume theso colored troops are not perfect, mid that they do not always behave like a Sunday School teachor In a church, but probably thoy aro no worso behaved, and likely much better, than many whlto soldiers simi larly situated. Soino of tho latter drink more than Ih good for thorn, nnd get Into brawls, mid 110 long dispatches aro sent out over tho country about It. Wo don't bollovcd those colored troopB havo made any such threats as are alleged, ami If any of thorn did, that it was because of indignities In lllcted upon them by peoplo who nro determined to make troublo for them and get rid of them. PERPETUAL FRANCHISES. Though pledged to do so, at least so far as Multnomah county members nro concerned, tho legislature repealed no perpetual franchises, not oven tho gas franchise, which It was particular ly Us duty to tho peoplo of Portland to do. What an absurd, unreasonable thing It Is that this GO-yenr-old fran chise, granted when Portland was a little town Of 0,000 or 7,000 people, should bo held sacred mid binding up on the city, now and for nil future time, so that u few men can makoland malm persons occasionally, and themselves millionaires every few years nt tho expense of tho peoplo. Isn't It curious, wonderful, nstonlsh- lng, that 17G.000 peoplo will allow a.n,Manlitnfl l..u rk lift Imt.narwl lltintl illUllinl 1.Q l.lllO IV WJVi .l,,WW- M' swindled, robbed, and forced to pay nn cxhorbltant prlco for Inferior gas year after year and decado after do- cade, and cannot elect anybody either to the legislature or the city council that will do anything to rollevo them; but on the contrnry elect men who will go back on their word and sell out to the gas company and tho rest of the monopolistic corporations every tlnio? Tho gas company now has a lenso of Its monopolistic life for two years more, at least, and oven then It will hnvo a few faithful servants nmong tho hold-over Senntors, but It would seem Impossible thnt It can prevent tho revocation of those old franchises, nnd that without any compensation, again. To pay them for giving up tho franchlso nfter having mndo millions out of It, Is nbout ns cheeky a propo sition as over was made. It Is aH If some ono hnd agreed to nllow another to steal from him, nnd this hnd been going on for ninny years, and when tho victim called tho bargain off ho should be told that ho must pay tho licensed thclf n Inrge sum In recom pense for giving up his privilege, and thin nfter ho hnd become n multi millionaire. Mr. II. D. Orccn, who died some years ngo, mndo n largo fortune, even when tho town was comparatively small, out of tho gas business, mid wo believe nobody over henrd of his do ing anything for tho benefit of tho town; nnd slnco then other men hnvo been getting very rich, by charging thu peoplo mi cxtortlounto price for poor gns and tho peoplo enn do noth ing nbout It. Thoy thought they could, and oxpectod this legislature would repeal thoso old franchises, ho thnt the city could nssumo somo con trol over this monopoly, but they wero mistaken In tho men they sent up to Salem. It appears that It was tho gns company thnt thoy woro Intent on serving Instead of tho people. And It soouiH to bo tho snmo with n majority of tho council. So It mny bo horeaftor, nnd porpot tiully, porhnps, but wo think tho peo plo will begin to wnko up soon to tho Importance and necessity of being morn careful about tho men thoy olcci to theso positions. MORE VICTIMS. The street car octopus has two other victims this week, ono man killed outright nnd n boy nearly killed. Tho cars had fonders, but of course they woro of no uso to protect theso victims. They nover hnvo been of any use, and Micro Is apparently no Intention of over making thorn so. Wlint does the company enro nbout n person run over mid killed occasion ally? It docs care, of courso, If dam ages enn bo recovorod by tho family or holrs, to that extent; but It tnkes the chances on convincing a Jury, or at least one Juryman, thnt thoro was "contributory negllgenco," nnd so con tinues to use tho woreo than worthloss fenders. It Is true thnt a porson on gottlng off a car should not go over ncross tho other track without looking out for an approaching car, 'but on tho other baud a inntormnn on passing n car that has Just stopped to let off a pas senger ought to slow down nnd ho on tho lookout for Just such nn occur rence, for a great ninny peoplo do not Btop to think nbout tho other track, nnd this fact ought to bo taken Into consideration. In tho enso of tho Uttlo boy tho motornim. mny not havo been to blnmo, but tho public cannot expect thnt first-class or competent motor- men will bo employed, for It Is not rea sonable to Biipposo that ninny such men would work long for tho starva tion wages paid them. Thoro Is scarce ly any occupation, not Involving much responsibility nnd lntelllgonco, In which n mnn cannot oam larger wages and bo far moro Independent, so It would bo unreasonable to expect soverul hundred good men to porfoini thoso exacting services and submit to humiliation and n sort of serfdom for scarcely enough to procure only tho barest necessaries of life. 80 tho company would prefer to kill Incur the Ill-will of the public gener ally, taking chances on a damage suit once In a while, rather than go to tho oxpenso of paying Its men decent Tarn trta wlilnll tvmllfl ntnmmt tn n In. "UfitO, .. 'TWU.U UU.WUl.b lu Ull III- ! crease of ?300 or so n day, and provld- lng their cars with up-to-dato and, best approved fenders and other equip- mont. Its motto la, "Tho public bo d ", and tho public seems to agree that It deserves to bo. MR. LOSS HARD FIGHT. Tho troubles of Mr. Losb In carry ing out his contract on tho Drnln-Coos Bay railroad, wero duo In part to the fact that he was so busy with the affairs of the United Railways, and this project, of Immenso vnluo to Portland nnd tho Wlllnmctto Vnlloy, has been harrassod nnd blocked or chocked and Injured In every possible way by tho octopus that has Portland and a lot of other townH of this region In its clutches, nnd wnnts to hnvo no rivals or opponents. It alms to con trol nil tho water power of Western Oregon, furnish nil tho lights, oporato all the city, suburban nnd Inter.urbnn railroads, and hold ns great and abso lute a monopoly ns possible In this city nnd throughout tho Wlllnmctto Valley. Thcroforo no Boonor did Mr. Loss get capitalists Interested In tho United Hallways project than this monopoly octopus "queered" tho pro ject with them, mid ho had to hunt up new mon. It Is stated now thnt tho enterprise Is fairly on Its feet nt Inst and will go nhend, In splto of eory- thing that the octopus could do to defeat It, but oven now It Is not safe to let it bo known Just who nro its backers or what tliolr program Is, lost tho malign Influenco of tho tcntnclcd monopoly should yet bo nblo to defeat or further delay It. It Is quite probablo that when tho business at Drain Is nil sifted out It will bo found thnt Mr. Loss' troubles there, costing him $00,000 of his own money, nro purtly traceable to this snino source This greedy nnd ro morscless devil fish will not nllow any competing enterprise to exist In this region, If It can help K, nnd It will crush nnybody If It hns tho power who seeks to help develop tho country mid bonoflt Us peoplo, If thorehy ho In terferes lu tho least degroo with ItH operations mid doslgns. Tho soonor Portland clips somo of tho claws of thlf omnivorous crenturo tho easier It will bo dono, nnd If It la not done tho concern will practically own or at least bo lu dictatorial control of tho towmboforo many years, It will oloct councllmcu, mayor, members of tho legislature, oven Judges, mid tho peo ple will bo powerless In ItH greedy nnd blood-sucking grasp. Tlio Government doesn't booiii to bo proving much against Dinger Her mann, but If it gets a fair oxcuso tho Jury may convict lilm on Ills roputn tlon nnd on general principles. Stnto Printer Dunlwny nut In nn ox pensive new plant, nnd so It would not havo been fair to put him on a tint salary nt first, ns tho Governor well Knows. Gottlng n nomination Is nn oxpon- slvo and difficult Job; a poor man has to keep out of politics undor this won derful reform law of Mr. U'llon's. Ex-Senator Gearln hns had enough of running for office ugnlnst a big re publican majority. But ho doesn't wnnt to bo Mayor, anyway. Tho Govornor has been having somo fun with tho defunct legl<itiiro this weok, and It certainly gavo him plenty of opportunity. Votora of the Fourth ward will doubtless nil got a lot of free tickets to Dakor's Thentor this Spring. I)ut won't thero be a scramblo for Chlof of Pollco when Chief Grltz ninchor quits noxt Summer? Hecauso ho had to veto or approve one or two formal school bills, the Governor waa pretty mad. Apparently Treasuror Worleln can stay thero as long as ho lives If ho wnnts to. v Next Monday Is tho last day of this Congress and of Senator Mulkey. Tito county officers are happy; they didn't havo to run this year. And Htlll the Mayor quotes Scrip ture, and thinks, d It. It is not likely" that Mr, Devlin will have a walkover. - We Cater Specially to the Small Buyer UNIVERSAL SUPPLY HOUSE Delicatessen and Groceries Home Cooking a Specialty. Try Our I HOmC Made PiCS ' Phont East 592 1 3? E. BurniMt St., Hut Unbn Art. WILLIAMS & SWANK STAPLE & FANCY GROCERIES Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, Teas and Coffees Telephone Kast 1G02 2.12 I.nraboe Street 1'OItTI.ANI), OltKOON EUREKA MARKET HKNHY KAKSIIKNDEIt, Prop. Choice Fresh and Cured Meats. Fish and Poultry riioiieMnlti2r,2l Co. 14th and Glisan, Portland, Or J. B. SIMMONS Choice Staple and Fancy Groceries CIGARS, TOBACCO AND CONFECTIONERY Delivered to All Parti of the City. 4G3 Glisan St. Tel. Pacific 199 McGUIRE & TAYLOR Staple and Fancy Groceries .35 Grand Avonuo Phone East 2629 PORTLAND, OR. A. H. Willett & Co. Wliolennlu ntiil ltutnlt GROCERS Special Prices to Restaurants Prompt Delivery Phone East 283 128 Grand Avenue l'linnu I'iivI lie H.1I lUTHtiTimllullillliir H0LBR00K & LEVEEN Tailors for Men 150 Sixth St., cor Morrison PORTLAND OREGON Finest Made Adams Fire Proof Stove Blacking. No odor. More durable. Only blacking made that will remain on Air Tight heaters. fOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS ..... A THOUGHT Thnt llio schsoii MiKKenti l new Spring Hint Is a Good Thing toki'CilninlmIlliRtlt'ft) Indies ell FOR ANY MAN Who want urco unit en vnluo for lit J"""1': " '.Uf i'i0 ""' CHICAGO ClOTII ING COMPANY. 69-71 Third Street Frederick A. Kribs Correspondence Solicited 328-330 chamber of commerce PORTLAND FUEL COMPANY Su lion to PIONKR, C R. DAVIS and PMOCNIX rUCl CO. PHONE CAST 26 287 C. MORRISON ST. H-. SSSS!''9! Roy". New Cat- , .,. .uw .,,, lauiMui, wiruon rail, tOKe. Xr4 F'" -F?i 0ak' ,4Foot A.h, Sawed Oak, Sawed Fur, Sawed Alc, Sawed KnoU. ' i"-wKljr vlJr ekR3 MB'rlv5IH!E:'L'J u 0. PICK TRANSFER & Safes, Pianos Furniture wwt4, stored Office Pkwve, 596; SUWe, Black 1972 PASTEURIZED DAIRY COMPANY, Inc.. l'RKlcurlzpil Milk, Cream; nutter, Kkih, Cottage Cheese, Checne,. llutler Milk. QUALITY ICE CItKAM Milk -i per cent guaranteed I'liono Kmt KM12 .100 Iltusell Street I'OUTLAKD, OltEClON Michigan T"11 Company II. CItAW, Proprietor Phone East 2806 154 Grand Avenue. NOB HILL MARKET A. SCIIObZ, Proprietor. Fresh, Cured and Smoked Meats Sausage and Poultry Tel. Main 818 Cor. 21st and Irving Streets. D. BREEDLOVE & SON. GROCERS 361 East SeventhSt., cor. Stephens Phone East 768 PORTLAND, OR. M. E. PUGH Fancy & Staple Groceries Phone East 440 447 Union Avenue, North PORTLAND OREGON WE ROAST OUR OWN COFFEE- SULLIVAN & KRUEGER I'lioliu Miilll lb'.M Doalors in Staplo and Fancy GROCERIES Teas, Coffcon and Spices Sixteenth and Glisan Sto. Free Delivery PORTLAND, ORE- Centennial Market & Grocery J. J. JJLU.M Iluiulqiinrtcrfl for " GOOD THINGS TO EAT Groceries, Meats, Fish, Poultry ALWAYS THE BEST School Supplies, Shoes, Gloves, Notions l'linnu Mnln 27'JI 522-524 N. Twcnty-fourth Street 1'IIONK MAIN 1K3 Martin-Marks Coffee Co. HIGH GRADE COFFEES TEAS, ETC. Tho excellence of Monto Cricto .Tnvn anil Moclia Colleo stands in high lavor.. 252 Third Street PORTLAND, OREGON J. A. EASTES Staple & Fancy Groceries Choice Teas, Coffees & Spices Dry Goods and Notions ALL THE LEADING BRANDS OF FLOUR GOODS DELIVERED PROMPTLY 432, 434, 436, Union Avenue North Corner of Tillamook St. Phone East 66O i)e.er in Washington, Idaho & Oregon TIMRER ft MINFRAI llNfTC Portland, Oregon STORAGE COMPANY. w ucked fw sMMia Cnn. P0ITUND, OREGON