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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1900)
THE MOENING OREGOjSTIAS, WEDNESDAY, JAHUAEY 3, 1900. riJu1 t rZTTSrTTS-S' fh - w Mifcta Entered at the Postofflce at Portland, Oregon, as second-class matter: TELEPHONES. Editorial Booms., ..166 Business Office GOT REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RJ&TES. Br Mail (postage prepaid), In Advance Daily, with Sunday, per month.... .........JO S3 2ailj Sundaj excepted, per year-...-..... "7 CO Dailj with Sunday, per year. 9 00 Sunday, per year . ........... .. ........ 2 00 The Weekly, per jear... ....... ............ 1 CO The WeeUj. 3 months CO To City Subscribers Daily, per week, delivered, Sundays exceptei.l5c Da y, per week, delivered. Sundaj s Jncluded.20c News or discussion intended lor publication In The Oregonian should be addressed invariably ""Editor The Oregontan' not to tne name of any mdiUduaJ, ;Lfctte!3. .relating. JO advertising, subscriptions or to any business matter should be addressed fipp$VThg: Qrj lanJp4 The Oregonian does not buy poems or stories from IndividuiiuxHcannptrtinderJateto re turn any manuserJjrtl sent to ir without solicita tion. No stamps should be inclosed for this pur pose Puget Sound Bureau Captain A. Thompson, office at 1111 Pacific avenue, Tacoma. Box S55. Tacoma postofflce. Eastern Business Office The Tribune building, Kew Tork city; "The Rookery." Chicago; the B C Beckwitfj special asency. New Tork. For sale iir-an Sgranclsco by J. K. Cooper. 746 Market street, spear the Palace hotel, and at Goldsmifh BroSyC iSutieV street. For salcMn-ClSbagobyihe P. OJlNews Co., 217 Dearborn street. TODAY'S "WEATHER.'-Occaslonal rain, with eoutherlj -winds. - -- PORTLAND, WEDXESDAY, JAX. 3 &HXIXS EXTRAVAGA2VZA. Announcements continue to be made that the report -of the proposed Fenian raid into .Canada is too preposterous for notice. It ought to be true always that a Fenian xaid on Canada is a prepos terous assumption, but Fenian raids have twice taken place in this country Blnce 1866, with lamentable results, and may take place again, because nobody can ever tell what a number of "wild Irishmen" will do whose ignorant, sen timental "patriotism," so-called, is stimulated by the anarchists, enthusi asts and cheap demagogues that infest the ranks of the Clan-na-Gael and kin dred Irish societies in America. To il lustrate what we mean by the absurd Irish-American, -we print the following extract from the call for the recent big pro-Boer mass meeting in New York city, at which "Judge James Fitzger ald" presided. The hour of England's doom has been struck. The dial lrabajnarked. hejerip,d of her de3trucU0JtIBTfiIr ffiTfflchUr,iSffTWig- "wished tor haa at last arrived. Ireland's "opportunity" is fat. $mt. gney gaiter at'lriBif dlperty will arise, like" a phBe&ic oS ihe ashes tf England's desolation. The cup of misery she has for cen turies pressed to Ireland's lips she will herself ie made to drain to the dregs. The tragedy of Da id and Goliath Is re-enacted. The Boers ofihe Transvaal "have con quered the afenles & Great Britain." Let the lovers of "liberty rejoice and b? glad. Emmet's epitaph will be Inscribed in our day and gener ation. Outside of France It would be diffi cult to find any intelligent brains In sympathy with this kind of rhe torical extravaganza. To an intelli gent American the passage we have quoted is supremely silly, but with a .certain type of Irish-Americans this kind oiJ, stuff passes' fbr-ioquence, ami thfe typeof men who. really, think that they have full right to fight the battles of Ireland's ancient wrongs from England over again in America at every opportunity ha-e not hesitated In the past to provertbgmselves bad citi eens of their adopter gauntry by pirati cal raids upon Canada There are those of us who can remiber as eye-witnesses the miserable fiasco of the Fen Ian raid on Canada In 1S66, and the sec ond attempt, that followed It at a later date. There were laughable incidents connected,. "ith the first Fenian raid AitrLthe 'second attempts said there were some dismal incidents. " The miserable thrasonical Irishmen who organized and directed this irrup tion of pirates upon the soil of a friend ly power were some of them arrested by the officers of our government, placed on trial and sentenced to a term f imprisonment. One of them, "Gen eral" John O'Neill, through his counsel asked for a merciful, sentence from United States DistricFjugge "Woodruff, on the plea DfThls services in the Union army in Missouri from 1862 to 1865. Judge Woodruff sternly refused to con sider his request, saying: "The fact that you once fought to: uphold the laws of Ujipuggermne nt does not abate the ori'-rfAUr offense in delib erately conspiring "to"violate its laws." u1?tbjsi.f4j -Rjipsed.Tvlth a Jewiyears ofipxisbnrneiriltar.e' not the real martyrs of the Fenian piratical ex peditions against Canada. The real martyrs were the gallant, ingenuous, impulsive, Ignorant Irish, youths from 08 to 20 years of age who ignorantly be lieved they were really striking a de cisive blow for the freedom of Ireland by assaulting the English colony of Canada. Some of these gallant Irish youth fought like heroes and were shot down by the Canadian militia, and a number were taken prisoners and sen tenced to Kingston penitentiary for a long term of years. No blame could be imputed to the Canadian authorities, for these misguided young men were land pirates and were legally liable to the death penalty. Butthe real mar tyrs "in these miserable Fenian raids "were the gallant, ingenuous Irish youths from the country towns in the border states, who had learned by the heart the story of the -horrors of 1798 cand had. .seen the play of Hobert Em met enacted. These "ignorant Irish boys, af number of-whom -iefc widowed mothers behind them, were the real martyrs of the Fenian raids of 1866 and of subsequent date. The Clan-na-Gael type of Irish JJinerlcan "has been a very great curse to this country. If he is sincere, he is a. most pestiferous anarchist;"ahd if he Is insincere, he is a most destructive demagogue. In other words, he not only is not a good citizen, but he is emphatically and positively a very bad citizen. He treats with contempt the laws of his adopted country, and loses ?io opportunity -embroil the United States, in difficulty with Great Britain simply because he has an Imported, hereditaxy.fcierleranoe'tti against that country. Of course if every European who sought our shores carried with him an imp&jed grievance against one of tk& powans of Europefctnd simply used his residence in America as a kind of refuge frifiOUd0ch5bCbr'ganize and execute plots against frjeiidly powers, the United States would be compelled in self-preservation to" exclude immi grants from its shores. .The -Clan-na-Gael type of Irish-American is for this reason a very bad and unwelcome cit i?ft9v He, seems to think that all the unltea states was made for is for a J bomb-proof and asyium for. Irish po litical incendiaries, and that the aver age Amejp3ougJSt to feegprpud that l his country s lawsjare violated, and his kss peaceful relations with his friendly neighbors are seriously interrupted in i order to "make "a great day 'for Ireland." THE UN'ITED STATES AND THE .BOER "WAR. - Keasons for American sympathy with the Transvaal are not far to seek. "We are all drawn from Europe at a period more or less remote, and the inheri tance of European predilection we brought with us will not be ignored. A j real or fancied Interest of Germany in .British humiliation attects tierman Americans, and the obvious antago nism to England resident in Russia and France influences those whose hered itary thought is derived from those countries. Descendants of the Dutch cannot forget that there is the Trans vaal are the remains of the fierce con flict that once raged between England and Holland for supremacy. The sor rows of unhappy Erin are remembered by every virile Irishman, whose antip athy to England inevitably inclines him to sympathize with the Boer. If denial of home rule to Ireland be Britain's fault, grievously must Britain answer for it. This and all other an tipathies to her are natural results of the influences we have enumerated, and they belong among those Intense national or race feelings that are in eradicable. They are not to be rea soned away, because they spring not from reason but from feeling.-. Tliey are not even to be despised, "becattsS they are marks of the vigorouVand the constant mind. But they are not the prime element in the considerations that the United States as a nation nwijjhiidetermming its attitude toward .the .contending forced in "South Africa. li'-Ul: S- .X:x ft. The question for us Is.no,t.one of sym pathy, for upon that we are divided. perhaps almost equally; nor yet one of intellectual apprehension of the ethnic meaning of this fierce and momentous struggle; for with all the increased ap preciation of' Great Britain's difficult task we have gained in our own, and with our better understanding of the apparent destiny of English-speaking peoplesin civilization, this" mlghtuall bpuandStpur inter-gsjEs 4i?satfist.e triunVpn. "ot "Great Britain's armsin South Africa, once we were antago nistic, to her. It has beeiu so In two wars it waW-so- in the Venezuela -episode, it may be so again. "The influ ences that have thrown us together now are the product of certain specific occurrences, and other certain specific Influences might cause our interests again to diverge. It is a question, then, of policy and not of sentiment. Is it better or worse for us that the only power in Europe that stood by us in,our,wtar with Spain. should be weak-ehe'd-ln the councils nf Europe? Is "it belter oi worse for us that the weight of power in Asia should be lost to the nation that stands for fair trade and delivered over to 'those that will treat "spheres of Influence" as trade preserves? Is it better for us that South Africa should be a hive of in dustry buying our products or an ex clusive community, where Catholicism and Judaism are crimes, and a black man has the social status of "a brute? Is it better for uV or worse that the country where we sell the bulk of our foodstuffs should be driven in upon it self and incapacitated for its present enormous consumption? Shall Asia, Africa and:.Squth America be governed by the Merciers, Bismarcks, Metter nichs'and Alexanders- of mankind; or by its Burkes and Brights, Its Glad stones "and its Peels? And, finally, is it better or worse for us that our secur ity at home and trade footholds abroad shall be left to the tender mercies of our Continental rivals', whose antipa thies, are concealed under the yery thin disguises? These are questions that ought to be. decided in a matter-of-fact way, with out appeal to prejudice or passion. Sympathy with the weak or hatred of the strong need not blind us to the truth as to our own interests. . THE FUTILITY OE SUBSIDIES. The French barks Xpuis Pasteur and Jules Verne arrived in at Astoria from. Europe yesterday, after a voyage of about 17,000 -miles 4n ballast ..They are under charter to load wheat at Port land for the United Xingdom. Seven teen thousand miles is a long distance for a ship to come, in ballast, and the voyage the Pasteur has just completed has interesting bearing on the shipping subsidy question. These vessels were built in France, to, take advantage of the French bounty law, the main feat ures jdZ which are embodied in the Payne-Hahna bill, which is now before the-American people. The bounties al lowed by the French government are about the same as those asked for American-built ships. The Payne Hanna bill provides for a bonus of V cents per ton per hundred, miles up to 1500 miles, and 1 cent per ton for over 1500 miles. The bounty secured, by the Louis Pasteur and Jules Verne is slightly higher than these 'figures, but, admitting the rate the same, and the two French vessels receive from 'the government aboutTQOO for the voyage out frxini Europe-in, "ballast If the American ship bounty is to benefit the producer and theTpeople as a whole, the French bountyV -operating on exactly the::sam&4fnes, undoubtedly accomplishes the' same ends? Such be-I itlg the case, it would be in. order for the promoters of the subsidy-scheme to explain wherein the French 'people profit by subsidizing a ship to sail half way around the world in ballast, to carry wheat for the Oregon farmer. The impossibility of the French pro ducer,, the American producer, or the people of any other nation, receiving any benefits In the way of lower freights is strikingly illustrated in the case of the Louis Pasteur. Shortly after the departure of this vessel from Limerick she was chartered to load wheat at Portland at 35 shillings. She was subsequently rechartered at 36s 3d, and on her arrival in the river yester day she could have received 40 shil lings. The liberal subsidy paid her owners has not resulted in reducing the freight rates in the slightest, for wheat tonnage in port at Portland to day is worth 40 shillings, no matter what flag it is sailing under. The law of supply and' demand regulates freights, just as it does every other commodity which Is handled by the commercial -world, and the wheat grower or the producer of any other article which is carried on the high seas has no interest in the flag under which his- product is moved, providing the work is done at a satisfactory rate-4y The -American ship Clarence S. Be ment, an iron vessel built at an Amer-' 1caii''yard,ls due"" at Portland underi Charter to load wheat at 40 shillings per ton. Her owners receive this 40 shillings out of the wheat which they will carry. The owners of the Louis Pasteur receive 35 shillings from the cargo and another 5 shillings from thje French government, so that her owners, secure the same rate as the American owners oT the Bement, and if their yessel was on th'e free list today, she would be chartered at 40 shillings and the government would, still be forsad to pay the bounty. Glittering generalities of subsidy advocates do not show Up very well when scrutinized in the cold light of facts. FIRST AND SECOIJD. We take it for granted that every live man in the state of Oregon celebrated the New Year with a resolve to take a fresh hitch on the load that has fallen to him as a member of the community, and see if he can't help the state to a higher position by the time another New Tear comes around. For every such man ther,e are two things to think of and strive after. "We are inclined sometimes ta think that the making of us will be foreign trade. An open river, at deep harbor, low railroad rates and favoring tariffs, we are apt to think, is all we need. Take a gun and go out and cpmpel everybody to do business here or through here, and the thing is done. There is prodigious activity of this school of thought at Astoria, and tod much of it at Portland. Commerce is 'air right, but-it is not the first thing"; and it cannoVbe had in a really benefi cial way unless It ls'preceded by some thing else. That something else that is the first thing is home development. Foreign trade is a mere bagatelle compared with domestic , trade. Imports and ex ports passing through a port to other points, as great quantities do at Ta coma every month in the year, have a certain but limited service for a city. The trade that amounts to something is the influx that is consumed right here, and the outgo that is produced right here. "We need people. We need manufactures. We need people that will raise crops and work up lumber and dig in mines. Especially we need Industry that will produce rawi-mate-rial "from the earth and then' turn it Into finished product ready for xetail. If a man would come here to Portland and start a bank with ?2,000,000 capital, he would be of less real use than half a dozen farmers with a bare suffi ciency, who would start up dairying and stockraising on a small scale and stand by their product till they saw it made into the best butter and. cured meats. Give Oregon a busy agricul tural and industrial population, getting all that can be got out of the soil and making it up into woolens, linens, cordage, hams, bacon,- beef, shoes, hides, doors, furniture, flour, and the problem of foreign trade will take care of itself. Second Side by side with this inter nal development we must facilitate our means of exchange with the rest of the world. Business will go where it en counters least obstruction. The free port of Hamburg is the wonder of com mercial Europe. Everyudqllar saved to ships; that', visit the Columbia river is two dollars in the pockeVof the farmer or laborer here, because it gives him more profit on his wheat or more days of employment in the year, and also assures him a future. Everything that makes trade easier at Portland is of the highest importance to workers here in every department of industry. J We have a direct interest, then, in Im provement of the river, in the Nica ragua canal, in easy entrance for goods from Asiatic ports, in increased rail road facilities from the great interior. Efforts to bring transports here, to se cure, favorable freight rates by rail, to establish arydock' and smelter, aj" e Of as vital interest to farmer and day la borer as they are to capitalists and professional men. What makes communities great, after all, is not prodigality of nature, but foresight and energy of men. The fu ture of Portland is in the hands of its citizens. In the path of steady, united, wise effort Is success; in the way of neglect, indifference qr disputation is failure. It will be no" consolation for us in the day of inferiority to have it said that Portland had every ad vantage over its competitors by posi tion, age, wealth and surrounding re sources, and was only deficient in pluck and enterprise. It Is not probable that the Boers will ever make an attack on a British po sition. And it is most probable that If they ever do they will meet a repulse. The advantage of the Boers Is in de fense, and they are wise in using It to the utmost. But the time will come when they will be compelled to attack or retreat Such, finally, was the posi tion of the Confederate army under Hood at Atlanta. It attacked, and was almost destroyed. The British will, in time, bring the Boers Into this position. The Boers, not so aggressive soldiers as the Confederates, probably will -not attack. Then the retreat of the Boers will begin, and, as they are pressed back, the war will be carriedJnto their own country. It may be predicted with great certainty that the Boers never will meet the British soldiery on an equal .field. Should they do so, they, .wpuld be swept away. It noy remains to be seen whether the British army . make any more front attacks and fill into the traps the Boers have pre pared for them. At a criminal trial, last week, in Vi enna, 111., a witness was testifying as to the leadership of a mob, and at the proper time was asked by the prosecu tion to point out the mob's leader. Promptly he picked out the attorney for the defense, and persisted in his statement that "He's the man," tQ the great amusement of the crowd in the courtroom. Apparently he selected bet ter than he knew. Too often the real leaders in mob violence are character less lawyers of oratorical bent, who give advice that lands the taker in jail. Labor organizations know no more dangerous rnan than the shyster who incites them to disrespect of authority. The transport Pennsylvania, which was dispatched from this port for Ma nila about two months ago, Is reported as again en route to this port for an other trip in the government servicer The Lennox, which was fitted out as a transport at Portland, has sailed for San Franclscc At the time Portland was making such vigorous efforts to secure a share of the transport budl ness, objections were raised to sending transports to this, city which had made previous trips from other ports. It was contended that when a transport was to make more than one trip in the service, the best interests of the gov ernment would be served by having her returned- to the port where she first loaded. This being the case, it would seem eminently proper "for the Lennox to be sent to Portland again. Every thing that Portland has had in this line was fought for In order to secure it, and it may be necessary to continue the fight if we are to receive the recog nition to which we are entitled. The attempt of an aged pastor to retain his hold upon a charge to which he has ministered for a long series of years, but whose' best efforts are, ac cording to the modern reckoning, "not good enough," is pathetic. On the other hand, the pastor who, recognizing the fact that "age is not strength, but weakness," and further that to be a successful minister of a growing church a man must be and keep abreast the times, and conform his work to their changes, insist upon giv ing place to a younger man, presents an example of an ability to grow old without useless protest that compels admiration. A recent example of the latter type is Rev. S. H. Virgin, for twenty-eight years pastor of the Pil grim Congregational church, of New York, who has resigned his charge In the face of protest emphasizing, in so doing, his conviction that it was time to begin a new plan of W;Qrk; that what x$$s needed under the changing condi tions was a large "institutional" work, such as a younger and more vigorous man ought to help lay out if he were going to engage in it There is a dig nity in such a voluntary retirement that cannot fail to impress thoughtful men as eminently becoming to age. The "pig-sticking" stories, said to emanate from British soldiers in South Africa and printed in local English pa pers, are yery like the stories written to home papers by some of our sol diers in the Philippine islands, shortly after the Filipino outbreak. Authors of stories of this sort like to draw the long bow. It will be remembered that the volunteers from some of our states wrote home telling awful stories about "pot-hunting," "slaughter of niggers," and even killing prisoners. They want-, ed to tell frightful stories for home consumption. But. when the letters were published and inquiry was made, it was, found that the romancer had been at work; and the writers of the letters admitted It. Men of the Second Oregon, however, did no work of this kind. But the stories of "pig-sticking" that come from South Africa are evi dently of similar quality. The enormous sum of ?6,500,000, paid to the Northern Pacific for timber lands, in Washington, is a present made by the United States to specu lators who have done nothing to earn It There is no use to complain about it now; but the policy was the greatest of all possible mistakes. It was not necessary to waste the public domain in this way in order to get a railroad. The Great Northern was built without any subsidy. The government's largess, in the case of every railroad that re ceived it, went to greedy speculators who gambled on it, and neither gave nor did anything for it. Promotion of the anti-trust confer ence abqut to meet Is bordering on the hysterical. Fervid appeals to "save the country" may easily overshoot the mark. The trusts must be rigorously dealt with,' "there is no" doubt about that. Yet the country is managing' to worry along temporarily without serif ous inconvenience, and will attend to the trust problem in proper time. But calamity howls of too poignant agony will only make the howlers the object of derision and -weariness The railroad argument against the Nicaragua canal now is, of course, that the canal is eminently desirable, but we must proceed cautiously, carefully, deliberately and with circumspection. Let us look deeply and at length into the. Panama project. Let us wait as long as possible for the new commis sion to examine and report. This posi tion is defended, with zeaij apd all pos sible plausibility by the Seattle Post Intelligencer. A correspondent wants to know "for what reason and for why" Great Brit ain is fighting the South African re publics. We cannot possibly enter into the whole question, and all the partic ulars of the' dispute many of which are in dispute. But for short answer we will say that the British seem to be fighting the Boers for the reason that the Boers declared war on the British. Burns reports the formation of a big republican club, "among the nie'fcpL Ship being several of the most promi nent democrats of the county." Parti sans shout "Imperialism" and ''mili tarism," but farmers know these issues are as hollow as the free-silver cry. Steamship companies that disobey the immigration acts should be brought up with a round turn. Let us not have one law for the friendless immigrant nd another for the powerful corpora tion. . mm , "TOM PliATT HE DONE IT." He's te Man Who Made tho Gold Platform. New York Pi ess. What In the world, has come over the gentlemen who are disputing among them selves as to who it was that made the gold plank which was nailed into me re publican platform of 1SSG? Senator Fora ker says he is the man who did it. The ex-Secretary of war says it isn't so. It was the Hon. Russell A. Alger. H. H. Kohl saat is more modest. He declares that he Jiad a lot to do with it, but he admits that there were others. It was done by a party of friends of Major McKlnley. Be sides Mr. Kohlsaat there were Mark A. Hanna, Henry C. Payne, Senator Proctor, Myron T. Herrick, ex-Governor Merrlam and M. E. Stone. They were assisted and supported by Joseph H. Manley, of Maine, and W. Murray Crane and Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts. Come, come, gentlemen. Why this at tempt to steal honors from a meek and 'modest citizen in New York? It was the Hon. Thomas C. Piatt who did it. He was the only man at the convention who want ed the gold plank. He -whittled It out all by himfeelf with his own little jackknife, and then, with the plank under one arm, a hammer in bis hand and his mouth full ok nails, he climbed up on the platform, with all the other delegates trying to pull him down, and there, in the teeth of the united opposition of the entire convention, he nailed It. down nailed It so full of nails that it looked like the steel plate of a battle-ship. We know this is so. Mr. Piatt himself say so. He has told about it a thousand times. He has a hundred columns written about it in his favorite newspaper. When ever he, loses a republican assembly dis trict of scalps a republican, congressman! In New York he shouts out victoriously, "I wrote the gold plank and I made the convention take It against its will!" And his favorite newspaper says, "Yes, he did." What do the republican leaders of the United States mean by Ignoring the claims of the republican leader of the Mazet com mittee? A FLEXIBLE TERM. Contraband Means Different Thinjrs at Different Times. Philadelphia Press. No goods are, in and by themselves, free from seizure as "contraband," be cause the essence of "contraband" Is not cieated by the goods but by the condi tion of war which makes possible the hostile use, and It is hostile use which makes contraband. For weapons, and this extends to stretchers, saddles, belts and all appliances of military use, in cluding mealcnes and food so put up that it is plainly an army ration, the presump tion of a future hostile use is immediate and Instant! No one questions seizure and forfeiture m this case, though a neu tral Hag" and a neutral port as the ap parent destination intervene to screen the real purpose and intent o the neutral shipper and owner. For other articles, the circumstances must dec.de. Stationery is not contra band, but the English shipowner who car ried r stationery with a Confederate im print put' on" In London found that such paper was contraband. Medicine is not contraband, but large quantities of qui nine at a time the Confederacy was be ing shaken worse by the ague than by our armies was contraband. When the Peterhoff during the CIvlJ War was seized on Its way to Matamoras, a neutral port which supplied the Confederacy much as Delagoa bay Is, supplying the Boers, our courts held that the arms on board, some with U. S. A. on, were contraband be cause their destination was clear, but the food and the vessel were not contraba,! d because the destination of the food was not established. The British vessels now seized are un der British law and British control. If they are seized by British ships while Great Britain is at war, the neutral cargo has a claim to damages, no more. The Dutch vessel and its cargo are different. Search is permissible, for war exists. Seizure and forfeiture only come If proof exists of the specific destination of the flour on board to aid the hostile forces of the Boers. A mere chance .s not suffi cient. In one case Judge Story held that the probability of use by a hostile popu lation Is not enough. It must be still more. The food must be dea ined for a hostile fprce. Even in the cheeses con demned by an English judge. Sir William Scott, Lord Stowell, there was evide ce to show that Brest, whither the cargo was bound, had no need for cheese and that the French navy had. The United States has therefore a clear duty. It has a right to insist that no American cargo shall be forfeited un'eas a reasonable probability exists that the cargo, food, or other merchandise, not munitions of war, is on its way to aid Boer hostilities as Its final destination. If this can be shown, forfeited such goods must be, though under a neutral flag and bound for a neutral port. c 'ENGLAND IN ADVERSITY- The LisHt 'Thrown by Adversity on National Character. The Outlook, Dec. 23. Many Americans believe that the war In South Africa is without moral justifi cation; many more that, although Eng lish rule In South Africa is to be desired from every point of view; the present war Is unnecessary; but It Is to be hoped that no American has seen the spirit- In which England rha,s take,n.hfetjalam.l.tle,? without, a thrill of admiration. One of the chief uses of great national experiences Is the searchlight they throw on national Ideals and character. A profound Individual experience always brings character out In clear and Individual lines. A man is often lost In the rush of activity, but when there comes some tremendous event in his life" thd'activItlesTceaseTor a moment, and theiman stands revealed to himself and his fellows. In like manner, a great nation carrying on world-wide activities sudden ly shows its heart when a great calamity strikes home. The CSntinental press, as a rule, has reported with undisguised de light the story of British disaster, treat ing the English precisely as It treated us at the beginning of the war with Spain, and for precisely the same reasons: I& norance.of our motives instinctive antag onism between institutions which diverge at fundamental points, and instinctive fear of commercial competition. The English will look to their own col onies and"to their kin beyond the sea for insight into their motives. They will ex pect, as they have received, sharp criti cism; but they will also expect, and they will receive, recognition of the essential qualltlesfof character which Inspire all their enterprises: The secret of English greatness lri adversity has perhaps never been better expressed than by an Ameri can. Speaking at a dinner at Manchester 62 years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Is it not true, sir, that the wise ancients did not praise the ship parting with flying colors from the port, but only that brae sailer which came back with torn sheets and battered sides, strlpt of her banners, but ha lng ridden out the storm? And so, gentlemen, I feel In regard to this aged England, with the possessions, honora and trophies, and also with the Infirmities, of a thousand jearg gathering around her, irro trleably committed as she now Is to many old customs which cannot be suddenly changed: press-ed upon by the transitions of trade and new and all Incalculable modes, fabrics, arts, machines and competing populations I see her not dispirited, not weak, but -well remembering that she has seen dark days before Indeed, with a kind of Instinct that she peea a little better In a cloudy day, and that In storm of battle and calamity she has a secret vigor and a pulse like a cannon. I see her in her old age, not decrepit, but joung and still daring to bellee In her power of endurance and expansion. Expnnslon Sentiment in the South. Louisville Courier-Journal. In the South the tide for expansion grows dally stronger. The latest" demo cratic leader to pronounce against the policy which would commit the demo cratic party to opposition of our national destiny Is Chief Justice Snodgrass, of Tennessee, who, in proclaiming his can didacy for the United States senate, says: We have acquired the Philippines-, and I do believe In pushing the war to a speedy end, in establishing American authority over them and maintaining It forever. We owe these people protection from themselves, as well as from despotic powers which would absorb them upon our abandonment. From a small strip on the Atlantic coast we have expanded. It has been our boast that it was democratic extension. Lately the republicans have joined In the work and are disposed to claim credit for It as their own policy. 1 deny it. I deny their claim and right to put us In antagonism with our great est policy and grandest history. They cannot take It from us, and we cannot deny our noblest work, and It ghes me pride to stand 3a this platform. Judge Snodgrass Is right The policy of expansion is the old democratic poli cy, which the republicans have been shrewd enough to take up, and which some democratic leaders are trylner to get democrats to antagonize simply be cause the republicans have taken It up. Judge Snodgrass does not believe in such short-sighted folly, nor does he believe the democrats of Tennessee can be led into it - in " Boers Are All Fighting Men Nott. New York Press. Under American decisions the owners of the cargo have said good-by to it. In the Commercen case the supreme court has held that the formal neutrality of a port to which .foodstuff is consigned will not avail to prevent its capture it the cargo is clearly Intended for the use of the cap tor's enemy. So this Swedish vessel, bound with a cargo of grain to the neutral port of Bllboa, Spain, where lay a British fleet, was adjudged lawful prize of a Yan kee privatepr in the war of 1812. The British fleet In front of Bllboa was not more plainly in evidence than the Boer army behind Lorenzo Marquez. This port Is a broken-down Portuguese settlement which, for its own requirements, would not consume a cargo of American flour In a generation. Under our own law, then, chances for a profitable trade with the Transvaal are complicated by a risk which I no marine underwriters would be likely to take. Given the destination of the flour to the Transvaal, its contraband character is certain. Foodstuffs become contraband when meant to feed fighting men, and every man in the Transvaal Is now a fighting man. i o ' A Phrase In History. The celebrated dying injunction of Law rence, "Don't give up the shlpl" has gone into history and become fixed there as one of the heroic utterances of patriotic com manders. Yet we find Its authenticity ques tioned at this late day. An aged corre spondent, writing to the Hartford Courant from Waterbury in Connecticut, gives this account of Its origin. He says: Somewhat more than 50 years ago it hap pened to me to meet at the house of a mutual friend a daughter of, the late Xfajor Peniamln Russell, for many jeara editor of the Boston J Centlnel. She was a bright. Interesting woman, and a, brilliant raconteur, and she tcld me a number of anecdotes of her father, who wa3 a strongly individualized and notable character ! for a good many jeara In Boston. Among them was the following: The battle between the Chesapeake and the Shannon took place just off the Massachusetts coast, and a sailor In some way got ashore and hurried to Boston with the news. It was In the night, and he went straight to the Cen tlnel office, where he found Major Russell, tc whom lie told the story. Including the death of Lawrence. "What were his last words?" said the major. "Don't know," said the man. , "Didn't he say 'Don't give up the ship' I" "Don't know,' eald the man. "Oh, he did," said the major. "I'll make him say it" and he did so much for history. i o Senator Stewart on Expansion. A dispatch from Washington to the Chi cago Inter Ocean, December 2?, says: Senator Stewart gave expression to his ' views on territorial questions today, and , Intimated that he would have conslder- able to say on the subject when it Is brought up in the senate for consldera , tlon. I "The less we depart from the old terri torial system in governing our new pos sessions," the senator said, "the les3 inno vation we make in that system, the bet ter we will be able to manage what wq have acquired. That system has proved satisfactory for years in handling all the new territory we have secured. It ought to be good enough for the latest acquisi tions. "My policy Is to take all the land we can get, and treat the people who come with it as our children. We cannot afford to treat some of them as stepchildren. When we begin that we may have discord in the family circle. I believe in ex pansion, as already stated, and believe that It was necessary to the good of the country. A country which does not grow Is like a tree which has attained Us full growth begins to decay." o i Political Traffic in the "Blood of Our Soldiers. Salt Lake Tribune. Two officers just returned. Major Noble and Captain Dunning, say that all Agum aldo and his cutthroats are waiting foi ls to be bribed, but the same encourage ment continues to be extended to them from this country. The navy and army of the United States broke the fettei3 that had been welded upon them ana their ancestors for 300 years, and they Were tendered the same5 freedom that the men of the United States enjoy. But they wanted to loot the city of Manila, and when this was denied them they planned a wholesale massacre of all the white people In Manila. And they have ever since had the warm sympathy or Edward Atkinson, Senator Hoar and the Salt Lake Herald. According- to the tes timony of General Wheeler, . General Lawton and many other officers of tne army and navy, this sympathy has kept them fighting and killing our soldiers. And the meanest feature of It all Is that the outcry is simply Intended to affect the election of next year. i IBP " It Is Here to Stay. Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, dem. Or course Mr. Bryan and all hfs fol lowers will object to any law which will insure a stable currency for this country, but they may as well admit the fact that such will be the law. Congress is only doing what all civilized nations have already done, as well as some not altogether civilized. The gold standard la bound to prevail throughout the financial world, and the. United States cannot af ford to lag behind the procession, nor will It. o ti Generous Man. Philadelphia Press. Mrs. Youngwed You know Uncle P.'nch er said he was going to send us some thing that would help us save our coal bills this year? Well, It came. Mr. Youngwed Really? A stock of coal? Mrs. Youngwed No. A little arrange ment for filing bills. o Revised Version. New York World. "Well, that's enough to try the patience of Job," exclaimed the village minister, as he threw aside the local paper. "Last Sunday I preached from the text, 'Be ye therefore steadfast,' " said the good man; "but the printer makes it read, 'Be ye there for breakfast' " Hit That Depends. Chicago Post. "What is the difference between a sharp man and a smooth rascal?'' "Frequently there Is no difference. The term depends upon whether you profit or lose by the operations of the man in question." Rime o the Ancient Arffner. Xew York Sun. It is an ancient arguer. And he stoppeth a college youth. "By thy long, gray beard and glittering eye What's up thy sleeve, forsooth?" "The fact Is this," the ancient said. "I want your company Next week, old man. to celebrate The twentieth century." The youth, he grasped the skinny hand, "You're rushing things," quoth he, "You've got to wait another year For the twentieth century." The ancient's eye gleamed still more bright His head was full of thought; "Look here, my friend, let me explain, Jan. 1, first year, was naught." The youth, he sat with stolid face. He could not choose but hear The plaintive tale of centuries And that poor long-lost year. At last he made a break and saldr The ancient's tale was done v "Your argument was logical. But I'll put up the mon.' " Then quoth the ancient arguer (A rlsht game sport waa he), "And yet I hate to take you up Upon a certainty." Alas, alack, the Wellesiey style He did not well divine, The word came back: "The century ends With 1899." "By his gray beard and glittering eyel" Nc-wswore the ancient's friend. "He sets no thousand out of me, I'll have some slight amend." And be argued thus: "If naught was the first year A. D., Then, naught was the first century; And the century closing with this year la the eighteenth. Money's mine, you hearJ" NOTE AND COMMENT. Let us he thankful that the Boer war has not yet devastated the columns of the magazines. , The bear that talks like a lamb is again crying peace; hut he doesn't turn his voice in the direction of Japan. People whose New Year's resolutions still remain unbroken can take hope. They are ahead of the average. Food Commissioner Bailey must remem ber that In his campaign against bad but ter he has a strong antagonist In the faculty of viewing with alarm. Aguinaldo ought by this time to be weil fitted for a seat In the United States sen ate. This man Wolfsohn must have an envi able reautation for veracity when his statement that he is not dead is discred ited. South Africa may be the graveyard for English generals' reputations, but thar Is going to be a day of resurrection down there before long. No more reservation Indians will be al lowed in wild West shows. Perhaps now we shall see the real savage in the arena. Instead of his tamed and civilized descend ant An Austrian zookeeper who tried to run a bluff on a den of lions was torn to pieces. If there 13 anything in this story that will be of benefit to Oom Paul, he is welcome to It One of the greatest needs of this last year of the century Is cheap and good champagne. There Is, of course, plenty of cheap champagne, but it 13 not good: on the contrary, it is very bad. There is a laige and rapidly growing class in this country who have or are developing cham pagne appetites and who have only beer Incomes, and the man who can discover some way of furnishing good champagne at the price of beer, will be a benefactor to a large class of people, even if he does not make much money out of his discov ery. Apropos of the recent death In buttle of General Henry W. Lawton and the enthusiasm of the people In raising a fund for his family Is told a civil war story of the then Captain Lawton. While on a short furlough In New York, he attended the performanceof the opera "Maritana. ' The martial spirit of Don Caesar de Bazan completely won him. The tenor was a good one, and the young captain wa3 taken with the solo beginning: "Yes, let me like a, soldier fall Upon some open field." Captain Lawton remarked to frlend3 that the song expressed hia sentiments exactly. Upon his return to the field he had the bandmaster procuro the music and arrange it into a march, which became one 01 the favorite pieces of the regiment Tin piece of music Is still known among the general's friends as "Lawton's song." All the dies used In manufacturing United States coin3 during the year U9 from the penny to the double eagle, hav been sent from the mlnt3 of Carson Cltj. San Francisco and New Orleans to th United States mint in Philadelphia, to be destroyed as required by law. This work was to be done yesterday, January 2. Th work Is done under the immediate dlrec tlon of the superintendent of the mint. who la assisted by the assayer and chie coiner. These officers gather In a littl. room in the basement in which thaxe- aiv a number, of furnaces, which are usti only for the purpose of destroying die Each die is thrown into a xed-hot furnac and kept there until it Is white hot It Is then taken out with a huge pair of tons' and placed upon a forge, where a grea. sledge hammer crushes It Into a mass of steel, hearing no resemblance to its former condition. This process Is carried on until every die Is destroyed. It is believed that the number of 1S99 dies to be destroyed will exceed 1000. Belgian hares are no new thing in the Portland market, considerable numbers of them having been received during the past two years from a. man who is breed ing them In Marlon county. Southern California is now excited over the Bel gian hare industry, and pure-blooded buck hares are quoted at from 5200 to J6G0 each, and people Imagine there is millions in the business. The value of the hare for food is very highly esteemed. It is said to be free from the heavy, oily substances found in ducks, chickens and turkeys, and the flesh, while very nourishing, may be taken with relish and profit by any invalid. The hares are said to be good to dress a pound for every month of their age, up to six or seven months, and they Will sell for 20 cents per pound, which is the regular market price for turkeys. A Los Angeles paper grows so enthusiastic on this subject that it advocates a rab bltry in the rear of every city lot to pro vide food and pin money for the family, and states that from a buck and five does 300 hares can be raised per year, and the original stock yet remain! The Belgian hare, as seen in the markets here, looks as If it might be good eating for those who like such things, but it will be a long time before the public will prefer them to chickens, ducks, or turkeys. They may fill a long-felt want In countries where game Is scarce, as In Belgium and the region about Los Angeles, but by the time every family In that town raises 300 bares per year In their back yards, the hares will become as great a nuisance as the jackrabbits, which are now In many places on the coast collected by being driven Into pens and slaughtered by the thousand, to rid the country of them. T 1 A Sons ov the Parting Year. S. E. Klaer In Chicago Tribune. Good-bye. old year, good bye'. You have not brought me wealth; You hae not raised me high. But you have left me healtli Good-bye. old year, and as you go My praises go with thee: You leave me tolling up the hill, I see you passing on, but still Hope lingers here with met Good-bye, good-bye, old year! Tou have not made me great; Beyond, new task3 appear. And I must work and. wait Good-bye, old year, but as you go Still bear my praise away, " Since I may toll, and, tolling, holdt Within my breast the faith. o old. That sights a coming day. Good-bye, old year, good tyel ' "3Tou ba.ve not brought me (am; You leave no honors I Slay proudly rush to claim Good-bye, old year yet as you leave, O taks my praise along. Since I may still through hopeful eyes Perceive far-distant glorias rise And sing a hopefuL oong. Good-bye, good-bye. old yeart The way Is rough before. And strewn along the rear Are dreams I'll dream no moret Good-byev old year, and let me sing Thy praise as be3t I can. Since I am loved and still may lovo. And elnce thou hast not robbed me o A fair man's faith, in raaal