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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1895)
THE MOEXTSTG- OEEGOKIASf. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY. 22, 1895 Catered at the Posicfflee at Portland. Oresea. as second-class matter. 31EYTSED SUBSCRIPTION' RATES. By Mall (postage prepaid) In Advaute Dally, with Sunday, per month ..$ 1 00 Dally. Sunday excepted, per year....... 10 00 Dally, -with Sunday, per year ...... 12 00 Sunday, per year ...--..--.. 2 00 The Weekly, per year - 1 M The "Weekly, three months 50 TO CITY SUBSCRIBERS. Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday except ed.25c Daily, p-r Keek, dehrered. Suady lncludel.0c News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonlan rhouM be addressed Invariably "Editor The Orezonlan." not to the name of any Individual. Letters relating to advertising, fcubscrlptlons or to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonlan." The Oregoslan does not buy rxnas or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to It without solicita tion. No stamps should be Inclosed for this pur pose. DAILY METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. PORTLAND, T"eb. 21. 8 P. 1L Maximum temperature. 66, minimum temperature, -JC; height of river at 11 A. SI.. 3.0; change In the past 21 hours, 0.S; precipitation today, .20; pre cipitation from September 1, 1S94 (wet season), to date, 20.18; average. S2.bC; deficiency, 12.CS; number hours of sunshine Wednesday, 3:40; pos sible number, 10:42. WEATHER SYNOPSIS. Prom the slight but general rise of the ba rometer over Washington and Oregon, it Is in ferred that the storm area, which was central this morning off the northwest coast of Wash ington, has receded from the coast, and proba bly moved northward. General though light rains occurred today throughout Oregon and Washington, with slight changes in tempera ture. The conditions tonight point to continued Fhowery and threatening- weather in Oregon and Washington. WEATHER FORECASTS. Tiorecasts made at Portland for the 24 hours ending at midnight February 22: For Oregon Light rain In the northwestern portion, and fair elsewhere; stationary tempera ture, with southerly wind. For Washington Showery weather and nearly stationary temperature,wlth boutherly windt. For Idaho Fair weather and slightly cooler, with westerly winds. For Portland and vicinity Showery weather und stationary temperature, with southerly Hvlnds. S. M. BLAN'DFORD. Acting Local Forecast Official. PORTLAND, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22. THE RESULT, GROSS. In the local news columns of The iOregonian yesterday there was an ar ticle on manufacture of furniture, in which it was stated that "there are plenty of men, good mechanics, too, anxious to get work at $1 a day." They can't get it, but perhaps they find com pensation or consolation in the fact that official salaries, fees and taxes are still to be as high as ever. Official prosper ity is one of the clearest signs of the times. There will be little for labor in Port land or Oregon till official extravagance shall be cut off and taxes reduced, so that men can afford to invest money, , improve property and do business. So long as taxation in Portland is so mer ciless, men willing to work for SI a day, yet finding no work, will be nu merous. Capital already exposed to confiscation cannot help itself, but new capital can help itself, and it is doing it. And that is why there is nothing for labor at Portland. In comparison with the seriousness of this situation, the election of United States senator is a trifling matter. The money question is a question for the whole United States. Our part in it is very small. It is a national question, and the United States will take care of It. But this great question of local economy and administrative reform we must deal with and solve for ourselves. Our vital interests are involved in it. The prodigality that prevails In our public affairs oppresses the state, and especially the city of Portland. There can be no resumption of prosperity till the necessary reforms be Instituted In these affairs. In the best times the taxes were felt to be burdensome. In these times of general distress they crush everything. There Is no wonder that we find "plenty of men, good me chanics, too," who go begging In vain for employment at $1 a day. The money that should go to pay them is absorbed by rapacious officialism, and inen who would invest money if they were not threatened with confiscation Withhold it and sit down and wait, or Eo elsewhere. Oregon cannot Invite and will not get capital in these conditions. Of all the legislatures ever assembled in Oregon, this one has proved most recreant to its duty. It not only refuses to put any check upon the a"buses, excesses aud extortions of officialism, but pre sents an appropriation bill that has In It as many job of every kind as that of the last legislature, whose work dur ing two years has been the object of Universal reprobation. It must be given up that the republican party can not elect a legislature that will enforce the necessary reforms. The effort has been repeatedly made and fully tried; and who can wonder if the people next year shall employ other Instruments and try other means? All the jobs of all Individuals and all localities have been worked up and bunched togetherin one tontine of profli gacy, to control the election of senator or to defeat the result intended by the people when they cast their votes last June. It makes a record for the pres ent legislature even worse than that of the last. The sins of the last legis lature were largely sins of carelessness. Those of the present are not the con sequences of accident or oversight, but the fruits of shameless traffic and trade. Everybody's scheme or job, each man's particular greed, the rapacity of offi cials, the demands of locality for ap propriations, have been let in on the ground floor of "Anything to beat Dolph"; and even benevolence, piety and charity have sneaked in, under the same cover, with demands on the treas ury, which they had not expected to make till they saw this opportunity. This is a new lesson in tontines and syndicates, even for a modern legis lature. The net result but there is no net result. It is all gross It is necessary to revive the senti ments and impulses of thirty years ago to realize how important and repre sentative a figure Frederick Douglass really is In American history. He was the visible and palpable incarnation to the American people of the evils of slavery and the struggle of his race for freedom. "With achievement of that for which he labored, his personal im portance declined, but he remains a great figure in the history of a strenu ous time. LESSONS IX PATRIOTISM. It is plainly to be seen that a re vival of Americanism In the better sense of the word is making itself felt. It is not the boastful Americanism Dickens so ridiculed in his "American Notes" and "Barnaby Budge," though "buncombe" has not entirely disap peared from our street corners, stumps and legislative halls; nor is it the spirit of "knownothingism" that swept over the country before the war, though that still lingers and exerts Its influence in some of the numerous patriotic or ders; but it is an outgrowth of a real ization that we, as a people, are drift ing away from our anchorage to the principles upon which the nation was founded, and that it is time an exer tion was made to get back to it There have crept into our national life and thought practices and ideas that are mischievous In the extreme, and most of them have come to us from abroad. Thousands of citizens have but a faint conception of the ideas of personal independence and self-reliance, combined with the surrender of Individual preferences or desires for the general good, that lie at the base of a true republic, and this ignorance has for a third of a century been a powerful influence in dulling the per ceptions of the rising generation. "Within the past decade respect for law and order, for the rights of property and the rights of the individual, ha3 alarmingly diminished, and political corruption has increased. "While mobs have American leaders, and corrupt politicians American names, it is none the less true that they are both largely the outgrowth of excessive immigra tion and a too rapid infiltration of ideas and customs foreign to our American life. The necessity of combatting this loosening tendency, and of instilling a love of country into the hearts of the rising generation, and of giving the youth of America a correct understand ing of the principles our government rests upon, has been brought home forcibly to thousands of patriotic citi zens. This is why such old societies as that of the Cincinnati, Sons of the American Bevolutlon, of Colonial Wars, of the "War of 1812, the Aztec Club, the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, the affiliating women's so cieties of these orders, and other pa triotic associations, are arousing them selves from their lethargy and are be coming less and less societies of ances tor worship, self-laudation and social enjoyment, and more and more a posi tive and aggressive force for the propa gation of patriotism and true Ameri canism. They are doing tills through the press, the school, the platform, and by the celebration of days commemorat ing patriotic deeds and men. This is why newer patriotic orders are con stantly springing up, some of them in their excess of zeal adopting unwise methods, but all of them having for their object the return of America to American principles. This is what Is meant by the annually increased at tention paid to the celebration of the birthdays of George "Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the raising of flags over the public schools of the country, the delivery of patriotic addresses to the children on such occasions, and the adoption of patriotic exercises in the schools. These are times when the les sons of patriotism, of honesty, of manly Independence, of political Integrity, of respect for law, of regard for Individual rights and of sacrifice for the public weal should be taught daily by every true American, to the end that the dis organizing tendencies of the times may be checked and the nation be returned again to its safe anchorage. AX EXAMPLE FOR EMPLOYERS. Reasonable workmen, who ask for increase of wages upon losing business, generally are completely disarmed by candid dealing on part of their em ployers. This was illustrated lately by the method adopted by the South ern Railway Company to avert a threatened strike. The company made a full exhibit of its business in reply to a demand for the restoration of the scale of wages in effect before the re duction upon the Richmond & Dan ville and East Tennessee, Vlrglna & Georgia lines in 1S93. It presents a new schedule, to take effect on the 1st of May, unless the men shall assent to It sooner, and It accompanies this with a complete statement intended to ex plain and justify the company's failure to comply with the demand. This policy Is different from that of the Pullman company, which simply Invited its employes to inspect books and accounts they could not under stand. The company makes Its state ment simple and intelligible, and ad dresses It not only to the engineers, firemen, conductors and trainmen in Its employment, but to the joint com mittee of their several organizations. After stating the reductions made upon the lines which have come under its control, it gives a table showing the decrease in gross and net earnings since 1S91, when fehe schedule was adopted which theTnen wish to have restored. It shows the general de crease In railway earnings in the South, and points out that those on the sys tem of the Southern Railway Company are below the general level. This makes clear that the business must stop unless economies are made in cost of conducting it. The causes of shrinkage of business are so closely allied to those in all parts of the country that the state ment has value and Instruction every where. It Is set out that there has been a considerable reduction in the prices of the chief staple products of the South during the period of depres sion in the last two years, and this has compelled a reduction in the rates of transportation, in order to retain busi ness and so far as possible to encour age industry and trade in that section. This is no more true of the cotton-growing sections of the South than of the wheat-growingregionsofthe"West. Low prices compel low railroad rates, and low rates mean low wages. There is no escape from the necessity which urges the company to reduce wages and maintain the reduced scale till business shall Improve. Other reasons given for the reduction will apply to Northern railroads soon, if they do not apply now. The state ment shows the losses that capital has suffered in the reorganization of the Southern system, and the expenses that have been incurred in rehabilitating it. There has been shrinkage of $40,000,000 in the invested capital, and $12,000,000 of new money has been put in, from which no Income is now derived, and none is expected until a marked im provement in business shall take place. Precisely this same shrinkage is going on now among the railroad systems of the North. Enormous values will be wiped out in passage of various com panies through hands of receivers, and their reorganization on a vastly re duced scale. It will be impossible any where to keep up wage schedules when all other items of operating expense have to be cut down. Pains is taken to make this clear in the statement of the Southern Rail way Company to its employes. There has been a general reduction of sal aries, and such administrative expenses as could be advantageously curtailed, and much has been done to improve the properties and enhance their earn ing capacity in better times. It is hoped that the improvement "will re suit in increased business and in in creased benefits for those engaged in train service." Not only are complete schedules of wages and rules of serv ice presented with this statement, but tables are given showing the average hours of work per day and days per month, and the. average daily and monthly wages in each branch of the service under these schedules and rules. The whole condition of the busi ness is laid before the workmen, and they are simply asked to join with of ficers and stockholders in making the sacrifices necessary to keep the busi ness going. It seems almost a matter of course that they should assent. URDAX AXD RURAL HOMES. The latest bulletin from the census bureau deals with the statistics of farms, homes and mortgages, and is extremely instructive, overthrowing the theory upon which populism gained such a firm hold in the agricultural states of the Mississippi valley. Until the census came in with its cold and unquestioned figures, the assertions of the populist that farms were mortgaged beyond their value, and that the farm ing class in particular was under the heel of the money-lender, were accept ed by thousands who now know better. The census shows that urban homes are mortgaged In greater numbers and for' a larger sum in proportion to their number and value than farms. Class ing all together, there are 12,690,152 families or homes In the United States. Of these, 52 per cent rent, and 48 per cent live on their own property. Of those who live on farms, only 34 per cent hire, and 6G per cent own; while of those who live on lots, 63 per cent hire, and but 37 per cent own. This shows the farming class to be far better off than the mechanic, clerk, etc., in the matter of owning a home. On the owned farms there are Hens to the amount of $1,083,993,960, which repre sents 35.55 per cent of the assessed value of the farms incumbered, or a debt of $1224 on each of the incumbered farms valued at $3444. Only 28 per cent of the owned farms are thus incum bered. Roughly speaking, less than one-third of the owned farms are mort gaged, and each at but one-third its assessed value, or, in other words, farm mortgages are but one-ninth the as-" sessed value of farms. - " Statistics of town and city homes owned are not so favorable, since but little more than half as large a per cent own their own homes. Of these, a little less than one-third are incum bered, and the assessed value is but 2 times the lien, or a debt of $1293 on a valuation of $3250. The total urban In cumbrance Is $1,046,933,603. This means that the assessed value of town homes Is about 7 times the total in cumbrance upon them. The purport of these figures is that, both in respect to the proportion who own their own homes and the ratio of mortgage to value, the farmers are better off than the mass of workers in other fields of Industry. How much better situated they are during the present period of stagnation, in being able to gain at least a living on the land they occupy, as compared with the owner of a city home which is entirely non-productive, does not require statistics to make it plain. The error so general and popular, that the farmer is especially the victim of mortgages, and occupies a peculiarly unfortunate economical position, is clearly revealed by these carefully com piled statistics. There are sections where the farmers are extremely un fortunate and in a distressed condition, but for even' agricultural family thus situated, three urban families in a worse plight might be found. What is needed is less self-pity and broader views, coupled with a determination to improve the conditions of life through a strict adherence, personally and po litically, to the fundamental doctrines that something can not be made of nothing, and a bullfrog can not be transformed into a bird by changing its name. The senate judiciary committee of the New York assembly has reported favorably upon the whipping-post bill, instigated by Elbrldge Gerry, of the Humane Society, amended so that cor poral punishment may be administered as prescribed on persons assaulting a female or child of either sex under 16 years of age. This exempts wifebeat ers, whom Gerry was especially anxious to reach with their favorite mode of punishment, from the provisions of the bill. This may perhaps be well, since It has been often demonstrated that wives who submit to be whipped are of the "beaten spaniel" type of women, and will not avail themselves of any form of protection which threatens pen alty to their brutal masters. As long as It is impossible to impose a simple penalty for assault and battery upon such a man, because of the refusal of the victim of his brutality to testify against him, it is certainly idle to pro vide a severe and disgraceful penalty for this offense, which must be proven, in a large majority of cases, by the testimony of the beaten wife. "What can you expect of the financial question," asks J. S. Ciarkson, "with a gold president, a sliver senate and a greenback house?" 'What, Indeed, but that it should become a muddle of con tradictory opinions, a pitiful example of governmental experiment and a men ace to the business and Industrial in terests of the country'- Such a condi tion could only grow out of the practi cal exemplification of the idea that every man In the republic Is a master of finance and entitled to express his "views" at the ballot-box. What this country needs Is a return to the whole some principle embodied In the homely adage, "Every man to his trade." The universal ' dabbling in politics" that culminated in the "change" ordered In November, 1SS2. , brought about the financial status of the government in dicated, and Intelligent people had no reason to expect anything different. It was only the shallow and the unthink ing, wild for the time being with politi cal self-conceit, who expected to evolve a sound financial policy from the incon gruous elements thrown together by their votes. Bancroft's bill, designating insanity a ground for, divorce, has dropped quietly into the grave dug for it by legislative decency. Common manli ness acted the part of sexton, burying the disloyal, indecent proposition out of sight under an avalanche of votes. The present -legislature has no laurels to spare, and, while otherwise it might be regarded as an Insult to men, who, whatever they may be as politicians, are observant of the ordinary social and domestic virtues, to commend them for voting down this monster concep tion of marital disloyalty, it may be said without offense, under the circum stances, that the prompt defeat of this bill reflected credit upon the legislative body. The question upon which Lord Rose bery's lease of power trembled for a moment is whether India shall be ruined by reduction of import duties to save English manufactures from the ruin threatened by disturbance of Indian currency, due to decline of sil ver. English bimetalists think both could be saved by an International agreement to resume universal use of silver as money. The silver men will fight the amend ment giving authority to issue certifi cates of indebtedness to meet -a treas ury deficiency, even to the length of de feating the appropriation bill. They are unwilling to put it in power of any administration to save the treas ury from bankruptcy and the national credit from ruin. "What profiteth it a state to elect a republican legislature, when that leg islature, after Its election, turns popu list? It would have been better to eleqt an avowed populist legislature in the first place. Then It could have been held under some restraint by criticism and opposition. Many men, good mechanics, too, are hunting work in Portland at $1 a day, and don't get it; but the district attor ney's office still yields $15,000 a year, and it is worth $6000 a year to be a justice of the peace in Portland. And the legislature refuses any reduction. The movement to elect Governor Lord to the senate has been coming out of the dark gradually for some days. A Salem paper pulls what Is left of the mask off this morning. Perhaps the speaker of the house will explain his vote again today. Silver Dollar Bland says the silver party will run a candidate for the presi dency next year on the straight issue of free coinage. No doubt of it. And all those persons who profess to be re publicans, yet are free-silver men, will be smoked out. All the jobs of the appropriation bill of two years ago are In the present bill, and some of them are larger. It is a sorry outcome of the profuse republican promises of reform, and will give a great deal of trouble about fifteen months hence. At Salem all the jobs have been pooled to hold the gang together that has obstructed and prevented the elec tion of senator. The results of the work appear in the appropriation bill. Of course Li Hung Chang will go to Japan. The Chinese emperor would go himself, if it were demanded of him. China can afford to hold no humilia tion too dear a price to pay for peace. The new bonds bring 118 in New York, 14 per cent more than the syndi cate paid the government for them. This is usury with a vengeance. The legislature has the constitutional merit of brevity. It will come to an end Saturday at midnight, senator or no senator. There is some money yet In London, if money is somewhat scarce in Port land. IJERSOXS AVOHTH KNOWING ABOUT. Representative Stone, of Kentucky, weare an enormous cream-colored ulster that is the envy of the house and makes him the cynosure of all eyes. It is appar ently patterned after the familiar gray surtout worn by Santa Claus on his an nual Christmas rounds. At the annual dinner of the Middlesex Club, of Boston, on Lincoln's birthday, Harold M. Sewall, late democratic consul to Samoa, but now reformed, made a ten strike when he proposed as the nucleus for an administration for 1896, which would furnish a vigorous foreign policy Thomas B. Heed for president, Henry Cabot Lodge for secretary of state, and Charles A. Boutelle for secretary of the navy. The Count of Castellane and Miss Anna Gould will be married March 4 In the house of the late Jay Gould, on Fifth avenue. The Rev. Dr. Paxton will offi ciate. The matter of marriage settlement upon the count not a very American proceeding is not so authoritatively dis cussed as to lead to any trustworthy in ference as to the amount involved. A rumor that he has "consented to accept" $2,000.000 may be taken for wnat it is worth. Though a genial and jovial man, Can robert had a book full of grewsome sug gestions into which he frequently looked for consolation. It was the Prussian army list, published at the beginning of 1S70. There were whole columns in It of the names of officers underlined in red ink. On the margin was written "raes morts" (my dead). They lost their lives at Gravelotte, where Canrobert made a desperate stand. The great marshal was a sleek and fat man, whose portly figure gave evidence of gcod living. David Conkling, aged 93 years, died in Louisiana, Mo., recently. He was a first cousin of the late Hon. Roscoe Conkling, of New York, and was born near urles town, Jefferson county, Va., February 13, 1S02. In 1839 he made Carthage. III., hts home, until 1S51, when he came to Louisiana, Mo. While at Carthage Mr. Conkling was one of the organizers of the "Wolf Hunters," a sort of military organization, whose object was not the extermination of the animal whose name it bore, but "wolf" of another description, better known as Mormon. The fourth generation of the Carnot family, of France, has entered public life In the person of M. Ernest Carnot, second son of the late president. He is 8 years of age. He has already shown the solid qualities for which three generations of his family have been remarkable. He passed brilliant examinations at the law school and at the school of mines. Young Carnot served In the army, and went to Tonquln and Japan on a colliery commis sion. He has traveled all over the world, and was in Rio Janeiro during the bom bardment. He represents in the chamber of deputies the district of Nolay, where his grandfather was born. The Medical Record says that Charcot used to prescribe certain chapters of Zola as the surest emetic known to him; other works of the same master and his dis ciples were, in his opinion, valuable as narcotics. He used to say the best shop for narcotics was at Medam, where the author of "Nana" lives; there an infal lible "drowsy syrup" could always be got for 3.30 francs. A woman who knew the late Christina RossettI well says that although the poetess lived all her life in London, she knew very little about the city. Her home was in Torringtoa square. In the Blooms bury district, and only a stone's throw from the bustling Tottenham Court road. Miss Rossetti devoted herself assiduously to her mother and the tetter's two sis ters during much of her life, and seldom went out. She was more cloistered than many a nun. When a visitor told her that she lived in Ealing, Miss Rossetti an swered: "Ealing? Is it Hammersmith way?" She once remarked: "I am not sure thut I have one drop of Irish blood In my veins, but If I have It is a very warm one." STRAIT'S QUERY ANSWERED. "Washington. Might Sny AVhut the Voters Snid In November. New York Tribune. The gentleman from South Carolina has propounded a problem. It is a question that may well give us pause. It calls us to take stock of ourselves, and to make use of the classic phrase of the gentle man's fellow-member .from the sunny South, find out "where we are at." Mr. Strait, democrat from South Carolina Mr. Thomas J. Strait, perhaps Thomas Jefferson Strait is exercised over our na tional democracy. And who can blame him? He is a member of the present house of iepresentatives, and one of the majority party. That is reason enough for the shame and sorrow of any man. The tradition of the fathers is strong upon him. Andrew Jackson had the honor of being born In his county, and he is per fectly convinced that he represents the principles of "Old Hickory,' 'and also of George Washington. The slight differ ences in the political creeds of these two statesmen might cause embarrassment to some persons, but it never does to a thorough-going democratic orator, who can in himself harmonize and embody on all occasions Achilles and Hector, Caesar and Pompcy. Jefferson and Burr early flower of New York democracy Cal houn and Jackson or Cleveland and Hill. Mr. Strait is a true democrat, and is the indiscriminate heir to the greatness of all the ages. So he stood up in the house during the proceedings on the Springer currency bill and gave Impres sive warning to an obstreperous people: "What would Washington say today if he could come down and look upon thl3 house? Oh, tears bigger than mountains would flow from his eyes, and he would almost din from the pangs that would pierce his heart!" The testimony of Jackson, "who was born in my county." is also invoked, and we learn that "he would say, 'Get out of here!' and he would throw out about half of the mem bers of this house and lay the lash upon them." Just where Mr. Thomas J, Strat gets his somewhat Crowellian notions of the function of the president of the United States does not appear. "Old Hickory" is reported to have been imperious and fiery in temper, but there is no record of his having driven congress from its chambers. The picture of his riding down Pennsylvania avenue and telling the con gressmen to "get out of here" could hardly have failed to find a place in a historical gallery beside the pictures of those other famous forcible parliamentary dissolutions of Napoleon and the Protector of the event had really taken place. Mr. Strait seems to be a little mixed. There was an order for something like half of the house to "get out of here" issued a little time ago. But the order came not from Andrew Jackson, but from the peo ple of the United States, and was quite emphatically expressed in the election of last November. Mr. Strait must have heard about a number of his democratic colleagues being told "to get out." But what are the things that would make the mountain-weeping Washington almost die from the pangs that would pierce his heart? It is not right that things should happen thus to grieve the Father of his Country. As nearly as calm contemplation of cold types enables one to judge of the impassioned eloquence of the gentleman from South Carolina, Washington's gray hairs are to be brought down in sorrow with a mountain range of tears, each tear as large as a mountain, because some conservative people in this country wish the United States to pay its debts in good, honest money, and because some congressman of both parties were willing to pass a bill which, however, Imperfect, was an attempt to maintain the credit of the government In the eyes of the world. Mr. Strait thinks that New York wishes to "dictate to the people with her sordid gold," and he wants to know "whether man Is greater than gold." Judging from the efforts of some of Mr. Strait's friends to get gold by depreciat ing the currency and paying their debts in less valuable money, we should say that man was not In all quarters thought bet ter than gold. Manhood and the duty of paying debts with honest dollars, at any rate, weigh lighter than gold. But Mr. Strait wonders what Washing ton would say. It may be possible to judge this from what he did. When he be came president he appointed Alexander Hamilton secretary of the treasury and supported that statesman's measures. These provided that a bankrupt govern ment should pay its. heavy war debt in full, notwithstanding the fact that it was held in great part by speculators who had purchased at a discount from the poor people, who had been compelled to take Continental bills. The secretary asserted that honor required faith to be kept. He also established a national bank, and drew the first tariff act by which American in dustries were protected. Under his foster ing care a poor and despised country started on the road to wealth and great ness. That was the financial policy which George Washington approved. Now a president is in office whose secretary makes guess after guess at solving the currency problem, whose congress found aiprosperous country growing richer under the protective policy begun by Hamilton, and at once began legislation of "perfidy and dishonor" which has brought panic and disaster and left the country con fronted with the mest serious financial problems. This is a very different policy from that of Alexander Hamilton. It gives good reason to wonder "What would Washington say?" AX ALASKA MAIL ROUTE. Uncle Snm Asked to Establish. One on the Yukon. Petitions are being circulated in Alaska asking the government to establish a mail route from the coast over the usual line to the mining camps of the Yukon country. It is proposed to ask the busi ness men of the Pacific coast to indorse the petition, which is as follows: "To the Honorable the Postmaster General, Washington City Sir: We, the business men of Seattle, Wash., respect fully represent that there are at present several hundred men in the interior of Alaska, engaged in gold placer mining, mainly scattered along the Yukon river and its tributaries. "Most of them have gone there during the past year, and the last opportunity afforded them of getting mail from the outside world was the 1st of last Sep tember, and then only after traveling a distance of several hundred miles, via Behring sea. The first opportunity for re ceiving mail will be about the 1st of July next. "We respectfully submit that, in their Isolated condition, deprived of even the comforts of life, contending with many months of a dreary arctic winter, cut off from every communication with loved ones at home, the general government should extend every reasonable opportu nity for conveying mall to them as often as practicable. "We further represent that there are at present in Juneau 500 or more men waiting for the season to open sufflclently to enable them to make the journey into the Interior, and every indication points to a much larger emigration as the sea son advances. "We therefore respectfully petition that a monthly mail, for at least six months in the year, be at once established from Juneau of Chilkat, Alaska, to Forty-Mile creek, on the Yukon river, said mail to be carried over the usual and most prac tical route between the two points named above. And we will ever pray, etc" SILVER IX ENGLAND. PORTLAND, Feb.21. (To the Editor.) Our cousin of England, Mr. C. S., thinks that the evidence that the bimetalists have won in, the late elections is not satisfac tory because founded "on cablegrams in American newspapers, not on quotations from an English newspaper." Well, so he may be better Informed on this question I do not doubt he is accomplished on many others I will quote from an English paper. In the London Saturday Review, of February 2, is a letter from W. H. Grenfell, one of the members of the execu tive council of the Bimetallic League of England, the opening paragraph of which reads: "The late by-elections have been re markable for two things, for government defeats and for bimetallic successes. Since the election of South Hackney, when Mr. Flecther Moulton's return to the house of commons added another opponent to the theory of gold monometallsm, success has followed success in the bimetallic cause. Birkenhead has returned a vice-president of the Bimetallic League; Forfar has re turned a strong blmetalist, and the suc cessful candidates both at Brlgg and Evesham gave satisfactory answers to the questions which were put to them on the currency question. If the example set at the by-elections is followed at the gen eral election, the next house of commons will be monotonously bimetallic." Is our English cousin satisfied? Furthermore, C. S. admits that the "Lon don Times inclines to the dual standard." Some time ago it did not. It was stolidly for gold monometallsm; but there is not a better weathercock than the Times to show which way the wind is blowing. This is a notorious fact. It Is read by every banker and aristocrat In England. The Chronicle, Standard, Telegraph, and all of that class, are of comparatively little .mo ment. The Times is read everywhere, al though Its circulation Is less than some of the papers I have named. You can scarcely go into the reading-room -of any hotel on the continent of Europe without finding a file of the "Thunderer of Printing-House Square." The other English papers are never, or, scarcely ever, seen. I take the opportunity to write this let ter, not only for our gold-monometallic friend, C. S., but for the enlightenment of the silver-monometalists who have been lustily crying out, "England will never never adopt bimetallsm." I think she will. The signs point to it. If Germany, which was the first to unwisely demonetize silver In 1872, and started the dreadful fall in prices, now demands rehabilitation of sil ver as money of ultimate redemption, why should not England? The elections to par liament indicate she will, and that speed ily. J. B. M. SOCIETIES AXD THE CHURCH. In his letter to his diocese promulgat ing the papal edict against certain secret societies. Bishop Junger, of Nesqually, Washington, says: "Are these condemned societies so con stituted as to come under the ban of the church? We know that they refuse to make known their secrets to-the-proper, ecclesiastical authority. The church by her very nature cannot allow her mem bers to join any organization with the alms and object of which she is unac quainted. Persons who are not Catholics fail to understand the full Import of this obligation. It is directly opposed to the teachings of Protestantism. The majority of the members of these societies are Protestant. The predominating sentiment in them is Protestantism. The church cannot approve or sanction anything that has the character of Protestantism about it, though she loves and yearns for the soul of the individual Protestant. There seems to be no reason why these societies, constituted as they are, should make known their secrets to an authority, the ecclesiastical character of which they do not recognize as having any control over them. It borders on folly to expect It." m TURN" THE RASCAL OUT. PORTLAND, Feb. 21. (To the Editor.) It may be a surprise to many administra tlon democrats, as well as to others in this city, to learn that one of the federal officials here Is a ranting greenback and free-silver populist, but it is, nevertheless. a fact that he is frequently preaching his fanatic ideas, to the annoyance of many on the Union-avenue electric cars when on his way to or from his office. The person referred to Is E. C. Russell, United States appraiser at this port, and sometimes called "Judge" Russell. But It is a question in the mind3 of many if he ever earned that honorable title. How ever, it certainly seem3 strange to those who have bean forced to listen to his rantings on the greenback fallacy how he was given his present position by President Cleveland, whom he dubs "the bankers and goldbugs protector." But it is possi ble that Mr. Russell was not a populist when he received his appointment as ap praiser. It may be well to state that some of Mr. Russell's remarks in reference to Senator J. N. Dolph have been malicious and uncalled-for. The terms used by him were unworthy of a respectable democrat. I write this believing that Mr. Russell should be shown in his true light. Trust ing you will give it space in your well read journal, I am yours truly, JOHN T. RUSH, 355 Sellwood street. m A Suggestion to Grnnt and "Wallace. Eugene Guard. Fall Creek Is becoming notorious for Its many criminal cases. A few days since Thomas Warner was arrested at that place on a complaint charging him with slandering Baxter Young, who swore to the complaint. He was taken before the justice of the peace and held to await the action of the grand jury in the sum of $250, which he furnished promptly. It appears, from the complaint, that War ner used slanderous words in a public church meeting, against Young, for his neglecting or refusing to act as a commit teeman to solicit aid for the Nebraska sufferers, having been appointed by the Eugene meeting for that precinct. Linn County Bnnlc Dividend. The controller of the currency has de clared a dividend of 10 per cent in favor of the creditors of the Linn County bank, of Albany. Or. This will make a total payment of 73 per cent of the deposits. The remainder will be paid in due time and leave something for the stockholders besides, which speaks well for the re ceiver, Mr. Beall, and the bank. m Oregon the Mecca. Eugene Register. Mr. William King, who has visited this section several times, writes to George T. Hall that he expects to come out soon, and will bring with him 40 or 50 gentlemen who are looking for places to invest in property. Mr. King has Invested quite largely in property here. He resides at Bayfield, Wis. The Editor Used His Gun. East Oregonian. The tomcat that died in our back yard was buried today. The brass collar was filed off and will be cheerfully handed over to the owner upon payment for this notice. NEWS OF THE NORTHWEST. Oregon. "Walter Lyon and R. E. Cannon have pur chased the Salem Dally Post. The farmers of Morrow county are tak ing advantage of the fine weather to begirt seeding. The fruitgrowers of Salem and vicinity f have formed an association to build and operate a cannery. The estate of the late William Steen, of Umatilla county, has been appraised at $3,000. C. W. Steen, the oldest son, has been appointed administrator. During the past two weeks 21 persons have been baptized at PrinevUJe, in the cokl waters of Ochoco creek, and others are waiting for warmer water, taking their chances meanwhile with other sinners. The Lakeview Examiner is circulating a petition to have a United States army post at Lakeview, as a substitute for re occupying Fort Bidwell, should it be de cided to restore that abandoned post. The railroad company Is making Im provements at the Grant's Pass depot andi fencing in a long grass plot on its right of way. This will serve still further to sep arate the two divisions of the city, the road running through the heart of town. The Crawford sample mill in Baker City is kept busy prospecting ores of the many mines adjacent to Baker City. This week Mr. McDowell, owner of the Columbian. 13 operating the mill himself on ores from hl3 mines. An unusual and peculiar disease is spreading among the Indian ponies on the Umatilla reservation and causing much uneasiness to white settlers in the vicinity. The horses afflicted reel aud stagger, hair drops off, and sores break out all over tha body. Beach sand miners at Gold Beach lost their avocation during the fine weather, the black sand being covered up by the gray sands. The present storm, however, has raised the surf and will sluice the beaches down again, and give an abun dance of water. A number of miners at the Virtue, work ing in the deep shaft, have struck for ?3 50 per day instead of $3 25. Their complaint is that the shaft is very damp and that they are wet from head to foot during their entire eight-hour shift. The places of tho strikers have been filled, however. The fishing fleet at Astoria will be aug mented this year by several new sloops and. a couple of naphtha tenders. The can neries of today are far in advance of what ithey were a few years ago, and it will ba the modern cannery of the future that will make salmon-packing a profitable busi ness. While the frost was being thawed out of some giant powder at tho Sloan & Kaskell mine, at Susanville, last week, the tool- house became roofless as the result of aa unexpected explosion of that powerful sub stance. Every operative at the mine feels thankful that he was not near when the eruption took place. The literary society of Union precinct, Umatilla county, instead of old, worn-out themes, chose free coinage of sliver, and, though the audience was overwhelmingly populist, the opponents of free coinage re ceived the" unanimous decision of tho Judges. It is said the debate will have the effect of decreasing the populist vote one half In that precinct. "Washington. A Tacoma man has applied for a divorce because his wife called him a fraud. There is a movement on foot in Ta coma to raise a bonus among the fruit men for a cannery. A New Whatcom mill has contracted to furnish a Chicago firm 600,000 feet of fir wagon-tongue plank. The farmers of the Cove district, "Whit man county, are preparing for a coyote drive next Wednesday. The residence of Peter Altman at Sno homish was burned Monday night. The Are was started by; an qyerturnedlam. . The- treasurer-elecof .EalrhayeriL havlnge failed to file a bond, the city council has instructed the old treasurer to file a new bond and retain the office. A Spokane undertaker has contracted to bury paupers at 25 cents each, though it is admitted that the actual cost is ?9, but it is one of the tricks of the trade. It is said that a large summer hotel will be built at Brown's Point, near Tacoma, and an electric line connect It with the city. The residents of Swansea found some campers with a blazing fire near the dyna mite magazine, and requested them to leave so earnestly that they promptly complied. A sensational step has been taken in the case of A. L. Davis and others against the Washington Savings bank, at Spokane. Ten of the largest creditors of the bank have asked the court to grant the motiou whjch demands the removal of W. B. Rob erts as receiver on the ground that his work is unsatisfactory and his charges and expenses exorbitant. A harmless-looking cat caused a run away at Walla Walla Wednesday after noon. A horse attached to a light wagon was standing at the rear of G. W. Cullen's hardware store when a cat sprang upon the horse's back, frightening that animal so that he ran away. A lively spin was made until the wagon struck a telephone pole near the corner of First and Main streets, completely wrecking it. It was not learned where the cat got off. A big cougar, or mountain lion, was shot at Woodlawn, on Lake Whatcom, Monday afternoon, by Mr. Wahlstrand and Mr. Nolan. It measured six feet four inches from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, and weighed 116 pounds. The animal had killed three sheep within a day or two, and had dragged them a considerable distance into the forest. When shot, it was crouching on a limb of a tree about 40 feet above the ground. a PARAGRAPHERS PLEASANTRIES. "My furnace," said the man who keep? house, "is out of sight." "So is mine," replied another; "out of anthracite." Washington Star. She Papa is saying that you stay too long when you call on me. He All right. I will not come so early after this. Indianapolis Journal". She (bitterly) Before you married me I was an angel. I'll never be that again, I suppose? He (sarcastically) Well, I live in hopes. The Club. "De trouble 'bout de spirit ob persever ance," said Uncle Eben, "am dat it's too H'ble ter strike a man hah'dest when he's intiahly in de wrong." Washington Star. Brooklyn magistrate The evidence shows conclusively, madam, that you threw a stone at a street-car. Wife of striker No, it doesn't, your honor. It only shows that I hit the street-car. Chicago Tribune. A What are you going to do, now that you have amassed so large a fortune? B I shall retire from business, and tell everybody what a burden wealth 13, and how happy I was when I possessed noth ing. Der Schalk. "But, papa," pleaded the Impassioned maiden, "ne is the only man I Iovel" "That's right," replied the brutal old man. "I'm glad that a daughter of mine does not love more than one man at a time." Detroit Tribune. Mrs. B. I can't see what's your ob jection to young Mr. Goodly. Everybody speaks well of him. Miss B. (pathetically) Mama, surely you wouldn't wish me to marry a man that I would never have a right to scold. Harper's Bazar. Unsophisticated parent Hello there, nurse, what's the baby yelling like that for? I can't read at all. Nurse He's cutting his teeth, sir. Unsophisticated parent Well, see that he doesn't do It any more, or you'll lose your place Comic Cuts. Wing Chong Chew, who plays right tackle In a Chinese laundry, dropped a pillow-case on a stranger's toes in the barber shop last week, and came very near having to hire a lawyer to apolo gize for him. The pillow-case was full I of flatirons. Grafton Record.