THE MOANING OREGONIAN,, SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1900.
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SH DlFKICHlrrES Aim irnrr-
ISH CHARACTER.
The difficulties that beset the British
government In meeting- the emergencies
p every one of its Important wars are
beat; for the British empire has al-
lost no standing army, and is obliged
can armies into being when an emer
gency arises. This is a work that re-
luires time. In the case of our civil
par it "was more than one year before
iintary forces could he brought into
effective shape, and nearly two
gears before they could be brought up
nigh fighting power. A like condl-
ton, is the British handicap now. More-
rer, the movement of large bodies of
poops by sea is necessarily slow; but
lact the British government in less
three months has sent to South
ica the largest -army ever transport-
over seas. These forces, however.
not yet an effective army. There
much raw material, which it will
ike time to convert into a seasoned
Dldiery.
jit is an expression not uncommon
aat Great Britain is an all-conquering
rant, menacing the-liirerties of" all
reaker nations; yet we have it also
rom the same sources that the British
apire has run its race, is decadent.
id no longer can be a terror any-
fhere, or even a formidable antago
nist; in proof of which Is cited its fail-
Ire thus far to make head against even
xe little South African renublics. It
lould seem wise, however, not to dog
matize on this subject now. It will be
stter understood, later. To us. indeed.
lere seems no reason to suDnose the
Iritish man less likely to be tenacious
his purposes now than formerly: and
le history of Britain for many centu-
Ses shows that no nation, not even
lome, has maintained Its own side of
controversy, in an emereencv. with
i more obstinate purpose or more dog-
d resolution. It is probable Britain
L1 have to send 250,000 men, or even
reater numbers, to South Africa, be-
bre this war can be ended: but she
lal send them, because the prestige of
fie empire is at stake, and there is no
lolce about it.
i From the first The Oregonian has
lought it highly -orobable that the
British forces shut up in Ladysmith,
timberley and Mafeking would be lost.
I was not possible, perhaps, to wlth--aw
the forces from Mafeking and
Imberley; but clearly it has been a
lunder to allow the force now at
ladysmith to be shut up there. It
lould have retired before the superior
brces of the Boers, disputing the
round all the way, till the columns of
inforcement shpuldjje metJIha dlm-
lties of the British campaign have
isen chiefly from the necessity of
laking every possible effort to relieve
He garrison or ladysmith; for the na
kre of the country is such that the
Isadvantages of the undertaking are
reat. and nerhaps insurmountable.
ut for Ladysmith, the British columns
ttvla strike at the heart of the Boer
ites through a comparatively easy
illitary route: whereas now thev are
ed to all the disadvantages and obsta-
es or the effort to relieve Ladysmith.
column of 50.000 men pushed into
ae heart of the Orange Free State and
ienacing the Transvaal would have
led off the besiegers, not only of
ladysmith, but of Kimberley and
ifeklng. This, it is said. was the
rst plan of campaign. "Why it was
aandoned has not been explained.
lllitary judgment was at fault, or was
:rinced to political considerations.
The sequel will show whether Great
itain is degenerate and decadent, or
at. Speculation on the subiect -would
iturally take the color of the oreju-
ce or feeling that inspired It. But it
certain that the people of Great
Britain are practically of one mind and
pose towards the South African
far. They mean to see it through.
rer all obstacles, and in spite of all
aecks and disasters. The public nress
: the country bears witness that at no
ariod of their history have the British
aople risen in a body to confront a
are problem with more unanimity of
aument. There are Englishmen who
slieve the war ought to have been
everted, and some even have stoutly
3clared that the policy that led up to
was unjust; but with one accord
Slishmen echo the sentiment ntterefl
jie other day by Sir "Wilfrid Laurler,
t-emler of Canada: "It is said we are
I aging an unjust war. I do not intend
examine that question. The war is
aing on. Our motherland is at war.
ghat is enough for me." It is the sen
Iment of instinctive attachment of all
Stanly men to their country's cause.
is the sentiment that holds our own
bldiers to their work la the Phillnnlne
llands. It is an echo of our Decatur's
bnous toast, "Our T country! May she
rer be right! But our country, right
wrong!" without this patriotic in-
inct no people can have a country.
IThe history of the advancement of
ae world has been one long succession
conquests of the less efficient by the
tore efficient peoples. Our own coun-
xurnlehes one of the most consplc-
aus of examples. We have pushed the
itlve Indians, the French, the Span-
5, the Mexicans, out of our wav at
l-ery point where we have come in con-
Let with them. We have beaten down
aeir fighting forces and absorbed the
hnnants, as we now are doing again
the Philippine islands and the Eng-
sh, are doing In South Africa, This Is
the main road on which civilization
sets ahead. Civilization through con
quest Is the chief law of progress. But
men have learned that liberty and Jus
tice must be estitbllshea" as the"base of
all permanent conquest and civilization.
All the liberty that is worth having, all
the liberty that the world values, has
been gained by forcible overthrow of
systems not fit to live. Whether Brit
ain has become too weak to continue
her part of this mission we shall see
through the outcome of her war in
South Africa; but those who profess to
think she has run her race and this
the beginning of her end, we think will
see more clearly after a while.
AJfOTHER TOMBSTONES 2S"EEDED.
"Vancouver island, the marine ceme
tery of the Pacific, has claimed another
victim. This time it is the east coast of
the island that is the scene of the dis
aster. As the property loss through
the wreck of the Miami will exceed
$250,000, there does not seem to be much
of a choice between the east and west
coast of the island, as a location for the
destruction of property. There has al
ready been a considerable number of
costly wrecks on the east coast, and at
least one high-priced steamship, the
San Pedro, left her bones down at the
lower end of the island, right at the
entrance to Victoria harbor. The east
coast wrecks, however, have an advan
tage over those that take place out on
the west coast, and near the entrance
to the Straits of Fuca, in that lives are
seldom lost.
Down around the entrance of the
Straits of Fuca a kind of a rivalry has
always appeared between Flattery
rocks, on the south, and "Vancouver
Island, on the north, as to which could
claim the greater number of victims.
Between the two of them they have
managed to pile up a greater list of
disasters than has been recorded on
any similar length of shore line be
tween Panama and Alaska. Inside the
Straits the Miami disaster is the worst
that has occurred on the Canadian side
since the loss of the San Pedro and
Barnard Castle, but Point Wilson,
way up the Straits, within forty miles
of Seattle, gathered In the Umatilla
and Kilbrannan, with an attendant loss
of about $300,000, since the San Tedro
was wrecked.
Treacherous rocks, tide rips and
storms will always make it expensive
for underwriters who carry policies on
vessels trading to ports on the Gulf of
Georgia or Straits of Fuca, and the his
tory of shipping in that section will
probably continue to be a long record
of disaster. This is an unpleasant sub
ject seldom dwelt on by Puget sound
papers, but, considering the uncompli
mentary remarks that these papers
have been in the habit of making re
garding insignificant delays to ship
ping on the Columbia, it is not inap
propriate at the present time.
WALT'S DE3IAND.
Italy is again pressing upon the
United States government Its demand
that the slayers of the five Italian sub
jects lynched some months ago by a
Louisiana mob shall be punished.
From present indications the authori
ties at the Quirinal will not be satis
fied with the payment of an indemnity,
as has heretofore been the case when
Italians have been the victims of mob
rage. Congress might be persuaded to
vote an appropriation for this purpose,
as the easiest way out of the difficulty,
but it may be doubted whether it can
be induced to go further than this.
The plea of the United States In the
matter is, unfortunately, a weak one.
That the federal government is power
less to act because the outrages in
question took place in a sovereign
state, whose authorities will do nothJ
ing against the mob leaders, will
scarcely hold in International law, by"
which civilized nations are bound in
their treatment of the subjects of other
countries. Italy can very properly re
spond that she knows nothing of our
scheme of federal and state govern
ment Her subjects came to this coun
try under a national treaty which
promised them protection of life and
property.
The situation is one which thoughtful
American citizens can scarcely regard
with self-complacency. The remedy
suggested in the president's recom
mendation that congress pass a bill
giving the federal courts jurisdiction
over cases "in which ioreigners are as
sailed by mob violence, is worthy the
considerate attention of that body. The
present condition of affairs in this re
spect is not only unsatisfactory, but it
may at any time lead to costly compli
cations with nations that will be more
peremptory than Italy and better
equipped to insure attention to their
demands.
THE SEW PACIFIC.
Herbert Howe Bancroft, in his most
recently published volume, "The New
Pacific," directs attention to the ex
traordinary expansion which has taken
place in the 'commerce of the Pacific
during the last two generations.
Thirty years ago Japan's foreign trade
was next to nothing; now it is worth
$200,000,000 a year. A proportional in
crease of China's commerce would
bring the valuation of it up to 2,000,
000,000. It was computed in 1894 that
the ships of the Pacific states had in
creased within the previous decade by
499 in number and by 121,690 in ton
nage, while the ships of the Atlantic
and Gulf states had decreased in the
same period by 710 in number and by
135,000 in tonnage. The great Yukon
river a few years ago knew no craft
save the kyaks of the Eskimo. Now on
this great river of 2000 miles' course
there are some forty lines of steamers.
In the northwest of America, until
lately deemed uninhabitable, a dozen
railroads are either finished or In
course of construction, as, for example,
those of the Pacific & Arctic Railway
& Navigation Company; the British Co
lumbia & Yukon railway; the roads
from Skagway to Fort Selkirk, from
North Vancouver to the Lake Atlin
gold fields, from Rodson to Midway, a
branch of the Columbia & Westernr
while the Anglo-Alaskan syndicate has
organized a company for the construc
tion of a railroad from the Unalakllk
river to the Yukon. There are two or
three trans-Pacific cable lines In con
templation, the cost of which Is esti
mated at $10,000,000 each. One of these,
the British-Pacific cable, is to connect
British Columbia- with Australia an"d
New Zealand; another, the Pacific Ca
ble Company, with which the Hawaiian
government signed a contract before
annexation, was to lay a cable between
the United States and Hawaii, and on
to China and the Philippines.
These facts, collected and recited by
Mr. Bancroft, pceseht & remarkable
contrast to the situation 6t sixty years I
ago, when vessels bound for the Pacific
rounded Cape Horn or the Cape of
Good Hope, and, creeping along the
coasts of , America or Asia, called at
"various ports for traffic, returning after
an absence of one or" two years. Today
at Vladivostock, Yokohama, Tien Tsln,
Shanghai and Hong Kong, from twenty-five
to fifty steamers of the Pacific
Mail, the Canadian Pacific, the North
ern Pacific, the Oriental & California,
the Oriental & Peninsula, the Trans
Siberian or the Japan Mall Steamship
Company may any day be seen at an
chor, arriving and departing. The
Japan Mail Steamship Company, the
largest but one in the world, includes
eighty-three steamers, entering dvery
commercial port of Japan, Corea, China
and Siberia.
WAR LEGISLATES.
Somebody once said, "War legislates."
This Is true in a very large and com
prehensive sense. Not only does war
legislate In the sense that enormous
political abuses are not seldom uproot
ed by the sword, but the art of war
itself is through' war radically en
larged or reformed. The ironclad war
ship of the Monitor pattern dated from
our civil war of 1861-65, and revolution
ized the naval warfare of the world.
The Prussian needle-gun won Sadowa
in 1866, and changed the fate of Ger
many, for, out of the defeat of Austria,
Prussia became the ruling force In the
Frankfort diet, and out of this superior
ity of Prussia came the present empire
of Germany. War certainly most ef
fectively legislated In this instance, and
war most effectively legislated when
it extirpated slavery in America and
when it crushed Napoleon at Waterloo.
These instances are sufficient to Illus
trate -the political effect of the critical
wars of the nineteenth century. The
present contest between the British and
the South African republics Is not likely
to have any such ending as the ulti
mate defeat of the British armies. Of
course, in that event the result would
be of far-reaching political conse
quence, for it would be followed In all
probability within ten years by an In
surrection In India and the occupation
of Herat by the Russians, with a view
to exercise pressure upon the British
Indian empire If Russia should not be
permitted to work her will In China.
This radical political revolution and
legislation by the bayonet we do not
expect to come out of the Boer war,
because there is no reasonable expecta
tion that Great Britain will be ulti
mately defeated. But there is another
result that is sure t6 come out of the
Boer war, and that is the enlargement
or reform of the art of war. For the
first time since the invention and gen
eral employment of the modern maga
zine rifle and quick-firing cannon, their
value in war has been fairly tested.
The needle-gun used by the Prussians
and the chassepot used by the French
in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71
was no better weapon than the Spring
field rifle, with which our regular troops
were armed before they were furnished
with the Krag-Jorgensen; so tha the
Franco-German war did not test the
value of improved rifles as the Boer
war has done. The brief Greek "war
with Turkey did not determine their
worth; neither did our brief struggle
with the Spaniards over Cuba, nor our
war in the Philippines. The Spaniards
armed with Mausers were too few to
make a test fight; and the Filipinos
could not shoot, as a rule, no matter
what gun they possessed. But the
Boers have the best of Improved maga
zine rifles, and are, as a rule, good
shots, so for the first time in the
history of modern warfare we can tell
what effect upon the art of war the
general employment of these Improved
magazine rifles and rapid-fire cannon
is likely to have for the future.
The battle of Modder River, fought
by General Methuen, was a test of
modern warfare. In arms, ammuni
tion, tactics, on either side, the latest
theories were put Into practice, and the
result was enlightening to those who
have hitherto believed that intrenched
lines can be carried without destructive
loss to the assailants when that attack
Is made direct In front, against white
troops of sturdy fighting stock. It can
be made against the "hill tribes" of
India sometimes with success; it can
be made against Filipinos who cannot
shoot straight, but it cannot be made
successfully against white men of
sturdy fighting stock who can shoot
Btralght and cannot be rattled by a
shower of shrapnel. The Boer war is
the first great object-lesson of real
value that we have had of the effect
of the employment of modern magazine
rifles and rapid-fire cannon In the
hands of men who can shoot straight
and are not easily rattled by shell fire.
It Is clear that, except when by ma
neuvering or surprise the enemy is
caught, in the trenches so that he can
be enfiladed by artillery, it is practi
cally impossible to carry an intrenched
line defended by modern magazine
rifles and rapld-flre guns in the hands
of an Intelligently led and well-posted
enemy. It is also clear that the wars
of the future will call for the employ
ment of large numbers of mounted
riflemen.
Moltke foresaw this a3 a result of
magazine, long-range rifles, and rapid
fire, long-range field guns. Sheridan,
too, foresaw it, and predicted that wars
would become infrequent or at least of
shorter duration because of the expen
slveness of the Improved weapons of
destruction. It seems probable that the
lesson of the Boer war will make for
peace, so far as America is concerned.
The strongest power in Europe would
say: "If the Boers, with improved
magazine rifles and rapid-fire field
guns, could seriously stand off Great
Britain, what hope should we have
to make successful war with a nation
of 72,000,000, with plenty of 'money to
arm her people with magazine rifles
and rapid-fire field guns of long range,
commanded by West Point artiller
ists?" Out of our 72,000,000 of people
we could raise for national defense in
sixty days a force of 100,000 mounted
men who could ride as well and shoot
as well as the Boers. This force, added
to an infantry force of 250,000 armed
with modern rifles and Icannon, would
easily make our country victorious over
the invading armies of the greatest
power of Continental Europe.
Lawyers of the sixth judicial district
are In court with a petition to the
judge In favor of discontinuing fees for
defending paupers charged with, crime.
When taxpayers who read the petition
have recovered from their astonish
ment and regained their "breath, It is
to be hoped they will not fall In ex
pressing proper apprecfatlon of the
high sense of civic spirit and profes
sional ethics which the unusual docu
ment reveals. The membershlD of the I
-bar' In general ha'v In recent""yeafs,'l
been subjected to much denunciation
for its alleged lust of money and dis
regard, of Its obligation 'never to al
low personal or pecuniary considera
tions to Interfere with prompt aid to
the defenseless and oppressed." It Is a
pleasure to "find one body of lawyers
who recognize their general duty as
officers of the court to render service
to destitute persons accused of crime,
where It does not Interfere wtlh obli
gations elsewhere. Undoubtedly the
action taken at Pendleton will add
to the repute of the profession, increase
its respectability, and help to bring It
to the high plane of honor that ought
to characterize the bar. Events have
not been wanting in the past two years,
even at the capital of the state, to
lower the standing of the profession
and smirch the Integrity of attorneys.
The petition at Pendleton ought to
have curative and corrective effect, and
it deserves careful reading by all citi
zens, as well as prompt emulation by
lawyers in the other judicial districts of
the Btate.
In the recent discussion of the gen
eral pension bill for the year 1901, car
rying with it a total of $145,000,000, Com
missioner Evans was denounced by
Representative Curtis, of Kansas, but
most vigorously defended on the re
publican side by Ray of New York,
formerly chairman of the committee on
Invalid pensions, and Mahon of Penn
sylvania. Mr. Mahon said the whole
agitation against the commissioner was
due to Washington pension sharks, who
sent to old .soldiers and their widows,
whose names and addresses they could
learn, blanks upon which to make ap
plication for pensions. In less than one
case in forty this ended their connec
tion with the case. But as soon as the
claim was allowed, Mahon said, they
took $10 from every case -In which their
names appeared, or $25 in case a special
contract had been executed. In the
year 1898, the first one of the adminis
tration of Commissioner Evans, he paid
out to attorneys $730,000, half or two
thirds of which went to these pension
sharks in Washington. Last year the
commissioner paid but $477,000 to them,
in which fact he found the motive act
uating tha present attacks upon the
commissioner.
The annual session of the fruitgrow
ers' convention, called to meet at Cor
vallls, next week, should, and no doubt
will, be largely attended by men whose
brains direct the use of their hands in
frultralslng. Subjects of great value to
horticulturists will be presented and
discussed at this meeting by practical
men. Haphazard fruitgrowing is a
thing of the past, so far as meeting the
exaotlng demands of a wide market
is concerned. The kitchen orchard,
gnarled, mossgrown, unsprayed and un
cultivated, may continue to furnish its
quota of wormy apples and pears for
"family use" (If the family Is not par
ticular in regard to the juices that go
to make up Its elder), but those who
reckon fruit, even for home use, at its
full value, are fain to discard ignorance
for knowledge In fruitgrowing, and
gladly profit by the suggestions that
the fruitgrowers' convention gives out.
Miss Helen Gould la an excellent
young woman, and has great wealth at
her disposal. She did not accumulate
it, but inherited it; and there is no
disposition to censure or criticise her.
But the wealth which she possesses is
the product of wrong. It would better
have been left In the hands of those
from whom her father wrested It. Here
are the vast accumulations of the Car
negles and the Rockefellers. Are the
wrongs and sins through which they
were accumulated to be compounded by
occasional donations to this charity or
that? These extraordinary fortunes,
gained in every case through the favor
of government in one way or another,
cannot be cleared of the infamy of the
methods of their acquisition by any
beggarly plan of partial restitution.
This wealth would better have been
left In the hands of Its rightful owners.
It may be just as well to whisper to
our fearful "antls" who can't sleep o'
nights because of their dread of stand
ing armies, and yet who want the
United States to establish the Independ
ence of the Philippine Islands and to
guarantee that Independence protection
and defense against the world, that this
policy, would make necessary the crea
tion and maintenance of a larger army,
as well as a larger navy,- than the di
rect annexation of the islands to the
United States would require; for the
danger of a conflict with foreign na
tions on account of these possessions
will be far less if we hold them than if
we turn them over to the inhabitants,
who are unable to restrain or govern
themselves, and would be indifferent to
wars which we were bound to fight for
them.
There are two great results of the
Roberts case. One is the obvious dem
onstration In national moral sense, with
Its precedent for all time against sim
ilar offenders. The other result is to
drive another nail in the coffin of strict
construction. The plain truth is that
Roberts is thrown out of congress, re
gardless of anything the constitution
may guarantee him. Self-preservation
'Is Nature's first law. Against it,
whether in foreign wars or menace of
Internal corruption and decay, the Iet-j
ter of the law will be Invoked In vain.
This necessary Interpretation Is what
makes the constitution a living, breath
ing instrument and guide of advance
ment, and not a dead wall across the
path of progress.
Cows are wretchedly thoughtless
creatures. There are well-authenticated
charges that these animals step into in
stead of across suburban bicycle paths,
and even, in some instances, as clearly
denoted by their tracks, follow these
sacred paths on their way to pasture or
while carelessly feeding on the com
mon. Abolish the old-fashioned brutes,
or compel their presumptuous owners
to shut them up and feed them the
year round!
ItuBkln's Early Manner.
New York Times.
One of the most distinguished of Amer
ican artists once remarked, apropos of
some change In his esthetic views: "Oh,
yes, at the proper time I had RusldnJ"
And it is not to be denied that in the
score of years following 1S50 the young
men and women of the United States who
were interested in. art were apt., to con
tract the feverish enthusiasm of the gifted
writer much as they had the inflamma
tory and temporary affections of child
hood. It was the strength and the weak
ness of the author of "Modern Painters"
and of "The Stones of Venice," that his
enthusiasm was attainable and deeply en
joyable by those who had little Teal knowl
edge of art and was delightfully proof
against the disturbing and difficult critical
assaults of those that bad such knowl-
edge. It was,, moreover, an essentially In
fectious sentiment because It involved a
moral standard, and there is nothing so
insinuating and so penetrating as the
consciousness of moral superiority in
matters requiring no personal sacrifice.
In Ruskin himself this sentiment had In
his later years some curious effects, and
gradually changed him from the preacher
of a new, or what he thought was a new,
gospel of art to a lonely recluse, dream
ing beautiful dreams and only at rare In
tervals sendimr out some eloquent and
dimly intelligible cry of prophecy or warn
ing. It Is rash to predict the place In literary
history of a writer. who for so many years
was the center of active polemics, but
there is reason for the belief that Ruskin
will be remembered, so far as he Is re
membered, rather for the way in which
he was able to express his thought than
for the thought itself. He had the rare
gift of an individual style, rich, flexible,
rhythmic, and portraying. There is noth
ing in modern English more full of the
writer's own sense of beauty and delight
In It than the finest passages of the early
work of Ruskin. It tv as in the true sig
nificance pictorial, not merely descriptive,
but revealing, and to be read with satis
faction by those to whom his philosophy
was shallow and his esthetic dogmas un
interesting. It is to be doubted If he Is
much read now, despite this most unusual
charm. But it is the fortune of some of
his earlier and much of his later work to
have passed Into the class which collect
ors value and libraries are bound to pre
serve, and It may be that in another half
century, when the last echoes of the con
tests In which he engaged have died out,
he will claim a higher rank than is now
accorded him.
THH REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES.
Statement Iy the Chairman of the
County Republican Committee.
PORTLAND, Jan. 26. (To the Editor.)
In my judgment, anonymous criticisms of
the republican city and county committeo,
with speculations as to Its Intentions in
the coming primaries, are not deserving
of notice; but The Oregonian's comment
on recent letters Is entitled to respect and
consideration, and, as chairman of the
committee, I- beg leave to say that I
heartily concur in what it says about
the necessity and justice of having free,
fair and honest primary elections, with
full right to every voter to select and
vote for whom he pleases as delegates to
the convention. I most earnestly desire
that every vote cast shall be honestly
counted for the persons for whom it is
cast, and do not hesitate to say that I
voice the sentiments of the committee
of which I hav the honor to be chair
man. In this view, every honest repub
lican will concur, and no fair man will
question the sincerity of the committee
without some foundation on which to base
his charge. The committee is the execu
tive agent of the party, chosen by the
party to care for and conserve its best
interests, and the committee has not, and
will not, at any time enter upon an im
portant duty or take an important step
without consulting as many as practicable
of the prominent members of the party.
I do not, however, concede it to be the
duty of the republican city and county
committee, in the exercise of their high
privilege of selecting judges and clerks of
republican primary -elections, to search
among the citizens of the city and county,
or among those who merely claim to be
republicans, for the purpose of finding out
If there be factions or cliques, and, if
found, to crystallize those factions or
cliques Into separate bodies within the
party, by selecting, for and on account of
each, a judge or a clerK, or both, to rep-
resent the interest of each at the polls.
It Is too plain for argument that such &
course would beget factions, by recogniz
ing them at the outset and nursing them
into vigorous life. The members of the
committee do not believe in such political
action, and I could not answer to my
party If I pursued it. I believe I voice
the sentiment of the republican party of
Multnomah county in saying that the
right and proper course to pursue, and
the course which, with the aid of my as
sociates and the counsel of prominent
members of the party, I purpose to pur
sue, is this:
First To select as judges and clerks
men who are, and who are known to be,
just, honest and capable citizens, and
who, recognizing their duty, will not fail
or hesitate to do it, and see that every
republican voter has free, fair and full
opportunity to vote for whom he pleases,
and that the vote so cast Is counted as
cast.
Second To see that the judges and
clerks so chosen are republicans. t
There Is no person in Multnomah coun
ty more anxious than myself to see har
mony prevail In the ranks of the republi
can party, for It Is only by harmony that
the fullest measure of victory in the com
ing election and in the presidential election
soon to follow can he attained. For many
years past the majority of the prominent
men of the city have been either actively
Interested within the lines of the repub
lican party or In affiliation with it, and
the regular republican organization has
stood for the best business interests of
the community, and nation, Including, es
pecially, the- monoy .standard of commerce.
The gold standard la secure, but other
questions of national importance, of spe
cial significance to the Pacific coast, aro
pressing for right solution, and It is my
earnest hope that the party will be as
harmonious for expansion as for a sound
financial policy. To secure the highest
unity of action, we must have opportunity
for a fair primary with assurance that
votes shall be counted as cast The pri
mary election Is to be a republican elec
tion; the voterB should be republican; the
judges and clerks must be republican,
worthy and honorable. I can ask no more
of them, nor can the republican party
desire more from them.
DONALD MACKAY,
Chairman of the Republican City and
County Committee.
o '
CARNEGIE ON POVERTY.
It Is a Blessing: "Which He Has Sadly
Misnsed.
Indianapolis News.
It Is indeed Interesting to hear a million
aire, like Mr. Carnegie, who has made
much of his money through the use of
the taxing power with which a kind gov
ernment has clothed him, discoursing on
the blessings of poverty. His remarks
recently ' addressed to the young men's
Bible class of the Flfthavenue Baptist
church, New York, are so exceedingly
interesting that we cannot refrain from
setting out at least one statement of the
Carnegie doctrine. He said:
In these daya we hear a lot about poverty.
Tne cry goes up to abolish poverty, but It will
Indeed be a sad day when poverty la no longer
with us. Where will your Inventor, your
artist, your philanthropist, your reformer In
fact, anybody of note come from, then? They
come from the ranks of the poor God does pot
call his great men from the ranks of the rich.
Mr. Carnegie is entirely right. But the
thing that trqutyes us is that, he himself
did not staypopr. In this same' address"
he said:
As a young man, I had the best education In
the world with which to begin life. I was born
to the bleEsad heritage of poverty.
Clearly, Mr. .Carnegie has sadly misused
his opportunities. His whole life has
been devoted to the work of abolishing
poverty In his own individual case. With
all his splendid education for so he
speaks of it he .has developed Into a rich
man, and has joined those ranks from
which he says "God does not call his
great men." Thus his life Is a painful
and obvious contradiction. Not only has
Mr. Carnegie striven for wealth, but he
has worked every influence he could com
mand to Induce the government to go
into partnership with him and to help
him make money. Of course, it may be
said in his behalf that he did not realize
In the beginning what a dreadful curse
riches would be. But it must also be
said that even now, he shows no dispo
sition to cripple himself seriously in order
that he may enjoy his "blessed heritage of
poverty." As a specimen of hypocrisy
unconscious, indeed, as most hypocrisy
is Mr. Carnegie's apologia pro paupertate
will take high rank.
B
PENSION FACTS.
Commissioner Seems to Have the
Better of the Recent Controversy.
The report on pensions of the senate
subcommittee, which has recently been
printed, is an interesting document, since
it shows that the chief complaints of the
resolutions of the G. A. R. aimed at Com
missioner Evans were without founda
tion. These chief complaints were that
disabilities were not aggregated in the
ratings, and that no pensions were given
to widows under the act of June 27, 1890,
who had an annual income of more than
$96, aside from their daily work.
To the first charge the commissioner as
serted that disabilities were aggregated
or combined in fixing the ratings. "For ex
ample," he said, "here Is one case ad
judicated yesterday. It was for rheuma
tism, disease of the heart, and senile de
bility. It took all of these disabilities
to give a man a rating of $6. Any one
of them would not have given him such a
Tating under the act of 1S90; it was the
combined disabilities."
Commissioner Evans denied that ha had
made new rules regarding evidence. He
said: "The same rules of evidence In all
cases apply that have been for many
years applied. Not a new rule has been
established by this administration govern
ing the evidence that will allow a claim
or disallow it."
The decision under which rule 223,
which simply prohibited compounding
of ratings and against which the claim
agents and their allies have de
claimed so vigorously, was made by As
sistant Secretary of .the Interior Cyrus
Bussey, a republican official, on January
7, 1893, two months before Mr. Cleveland
wa3 Inaugurated, although the rule Itself
was not Issued until the June following.
The second complaint of the G. A. R.
committee, with reference to widows, dis
closed the fact tnat the bureau has al
ready gone beyond technical limits In the
interpretation of the law. The commis
sioner of pensions said:
"Tho act of 1890 required a widow to be
wholly dependent before she could have a
pensionable status, and yet that clause is
a little Indefinite. It says practically
that the widow must be without other
means of support than her dally labor.
Now, a widow might have $75 a year in
come from some source, and if this law
were in force, as it Is worded, she would
be worse off to the extent of S2L than
though she had nothing. Therefore the
secretary of tho Interior ruled (and that
is a rule which has governed the practice
of the bureau since) that whero a widow's
Income from other sources than her dally
labor did not exceed in amount what her
pension would be under the law, she
should be deemed to be without other
means of support, and thus give her a
pensionable status."
Deputy Commissioner Davenport said
that -under the present law regarding
high-rate pensions, "there Is no way of
determining whether these beneficiaries
are entitled to the high rates they are now
drawing. A person totally incapacitated
for manual labor by reason of rheuma
tism, receiving a pension of $20 per month,
applies for an Increase; an order for his
examination is issued by the bureau, and
the surgeon finds the claimant confined
to his bed with rheumatism, and, of
course, requiring the aid and attendance
of another person: a certificate eoes in
at $72 per month. The pensioner, In many
Instances, improves, and no longer re
quires the regular aid and attendance of
another person, but the bureau knows
nothing of this, and the pension goes on at
$72 per month."
Mr. Davenport also says that while the
commissioner may order the examiners to
visit such a pensioner, he is not compelled
to submit to an examination. If the law
were made mandatory, he would. If found
without his extra disability, be reduced to
$30 per month. The law requiring bi
ennial examinations of all pensioners was
repealed in 1879. Mr. Davenport says
that there are four men in Washington,
each receiving a pension of $72 per month,
who draw salaries ranging from $1200 to
$1600 a year. It is notable that the sub
committee did not see fit to recommend
such a law as Mr. Davenport advocated.
India's Colossal Task.
Chicago Tribune.
The famine in India is assuming appall
ing proportions, and the government has
on its hands a task of magnitude. In
times past Great Britain generally has
rendered material assistance in the way
of contributions for relief of the queen's
starving subjects, but this year England
is too busy expending money, and blood
as well, in South Africa to be able to
furnish any aid, and so there will be
no Mansion House fund, despite the fact
that It never before was so badly needed.
Fortunately, the Indian government,
having had to deal with these terrible
famines so often, has the work of relief
thoroughly organized; and thus Is en
abled to make a minimum of food go
much farther than was the case before
system took the place of haphazard as
sistance. Nevertheless, the natives, who
at best are poorly nurtured, will die by
thousands.
An Idea of the extent of the famlno
can be gained from the statement modo
in Calcutta the other day by the viceroy
of India. Lord Curzon said that while
the greatest number of persons to whom
relief had been granted in any previous
famine was 1,250,000, there were already en
the relief list this year over 3,000,000. When
it is realized that this number must be
largely Increased before fresh crops can
be raised, and that there are nearly
50,000,000 people in the districts affected, it
becomes apparent that a calamity of a
colossal nature Is Impending.
Past experience shows that the number
of deaths from starvation will bo consid
erably augmented by the disinclination of
persons to make known their condition.
Too proud to ask for assistance, in many
cases they slowly die by inches unless
their needs are accidentally discovered.
The Liquor Question in Alabama.
Coffee County Enterprise.
Our position in the llcker business is
about this: If a fellow won't step on the
varmint it won't bit him; and you can
carry a hoss to water, but you can't make
him drink. We have yet to hear of com
pulsory drinking, and never yet saw a
barkeeper drumming business on the out
side. c
A Subscriber's Little Growl.
Electrical Review.
A newspaper in a Michigan town says
of its local telephone service that it is
something like a horse that had only
two faults the first that It Was hard to
catch when in the pasture, and the other
that it was no good after It was caught.
o-p
No Cause for Despair.
Philadelphia Record.
Mrs. Youngwife The baby talks Inces
santly. I think he will grow up to be a
congressman.
Mr. Oldbach I wouldn't worry about
it, if I were you. Maybe he'll be a
barber.
Cornea High.
Philadelphia North American.
"Oh, yos," said Farmer Redbeet, "my
son's tokin the higher education in the
East, an' judgin' by the demands he
makes on me for cash, It gits higher and
higher every year."
NOTE AND COMMENT.,
Ettu,
Kwang Su?
Roberts would have done better possi
bly In a single combat
When Builer reports with regret the
war office views with alarm.
In spite of his name, General Schwam
has not yet been put to flight
The Boers seem to be holding their
ground, although it Isn't theirs. ' -
Perhaps after all Bryan was merely
taking lessons in running from 'that os
trich. Emperor William's mother-in-law 13
dead. Professional jokewriters, here 13
the chance of a lifetime.
While Professor Aggassiz 13 in the Fijia
It is possible that he may get some in
side information on the anatomy of the
untutored savage.
It Is unfortunate, but nevertheless
true, that congress cannot afford to pro
long the Filipino war in. order to gtvo
leathor-lunged senator's something to
talk about
Sir Thomas Lipton has applid for mem
bership in the Chicago Board of Trade.
He showed every indication of being
game when he was over here last sum
mer, but now he has made good for all
time.
Just what kind of weather the month
of February is to bring Is what the old
est Inhabitant and other weather sharps
are now worrying about Soma think
the weather will continue as of Ite for
tho remainder of the winter, while others
are certain that there will be a cold
snap in February. The latter beck their
opinion by stories of great storms they
have seen here In February, all of which
they claim are the frozen truth. A party
In a Front-street store was discussing this
conundrum yesterday, and finally an old
timer said he had often seen six weeks'
sledding in February. A eanneryman,
whose name suggests winter wsather.
stated that a good many years ago he
crossed Shoalwater bay on the ice on the
Fourth of July, and that on his way he
came across a flock of about 200 swan
which had been caught by the ice freez
ing to their wings, and that he killed the
whole of them and secured feathers
enough to make a dozen feather beds, and
down enough to mako a pair of pillows
for each. Nothing was said for a while,
and then a logger, who had been listen
ing, observed that he remembered the
circumstance, and that his family now
had four of these feather beds, and pil
lows to match, which had been given hlra
for hauling the swan to the shore, where
they were plucked. The eanneryman then
took the logger out and treated him.
For several reasons the firemen would
like to be excused ftom ever again fight
ing a fire like that at the Standard Oil
Company's place on Tuesday. One of
these reasons Is that they worked In mor-
tal dread of an explosion which would
doubtless have killed a large number of
people, and might have flooded the river
with boiling oil and caused no one ean
Imagine how serious a disaster. Another
reason is that In addition to the wear
jind tear on the men and machinery, a
largo part of the hose of the department
was thoroughly soaked with oil from
being dragged aroundin itt DhislsMkely
to render the hose worthless, and the
commissioners have no money to buy
more. They are now endeavoring to de
vise somo means of getting the hose
freed of thi3 oil before It spoils the rub
ber imbedded between the layers of cot
ton. They have not yet discovered any
way of doing this, but the chief and tho
commissioners are studying on the prob
lem. The oil company Is not doing any
thing toward rebuilding their warehouse
or providing for the better protection of
their tanks, until It is seen what action
the council wlil take on the two ordi
naces now before them for regulating the
storage of oil in the city. The general
opinion is that the company should never
have been allowed to locate storage tanks
inside the city limits, and that It is
practically Impassible to fix them In any
way so as to provide with certainty
against accident which might cause a
general conflagration. "Water jackets
around the tanks would be a great protec
tion, and high solid walls would also bo
a protection, but should a tank of gaso
line explode It would probably blow down
wall3 and blow up every tank within
them. There Is a hesitation on the part
of some to make a law which would
oblige the oil tanks to be removed from
the city, but removing them to a placo
where their explosion could do no harm
la really the only safe course. The ques
tion of cost, it is said, need not be con
sidered In this case, as the company is
not poor, and It would work no great
hardship if they had to move their tanks
out of town, and lay a pipe line to bring
the oil In.
a e
The Postmaster's Statesman.
The following 13 from the Albany Her
ald, whose editor is a McBride postmaster,
at Albany. These contemptible little
scrubs have one motive in politics. That
motive is to keep the noae at the public
crib, and the man through whom that de
sire finds gratification is perforce a states
man. Such is the basis of the Albany
paper's estimate of little George McBride.
This statesman furnishes the editor with a
postofflce, and that is enough. The editor
will sing the statesman's praises every day
of the livelong year. Of the "many good
reasons" discovered by this editor why
"Senator McBride should be retained In his
present position " none, however, is equal
to the Albany pcatofflce. Here is the
postmaster's screedr
The Oregonian ha3 begun lt3 campaign against
Senator lIcBride, and In tha way of an after
thought, or foot note, the editor of The Orego
nian assures Its readers that he la not himself
a candidate for- Senator JIcBrlde'a place, mod
estly admitting that he does not possess tha
necessary qualifications. In addition to thla
fact, it would hardly bo expected that thei edi
tor of The Oregonian, who puta la his time
fighting th& republican administration and at
tacking without reason the state's representa
tives at the national capital, would have th
effrontery to ask for this or any other office
from the republican party. tChe people of Ore
gon have become so used to these senseless1 at
tacks that they are regarded aa the mischief
making of a professional ecold. and nothing
worse. There are many good reasons why Sen
ator McBride should be retained in his present
position. Foremost among them Is that ha has
now secured Important committee places, which
will enable him to exert a powerful influence
for his state, and which ..rtjuld require years
for a new man to reach. Oregon'a representa
tives In Washington have Just gotten welt Into
the harness1, and are in a position to do the
state some good, and they should by all means
be kept there for a. few years.
B
Same Old Story.
Baltimore Sun.
The new year brings no change aftoE
Tls Just the oame old thing.
The same old songs of, ninety-nine v -,
The present year we sing.
Otis cables over here
Aggie's "on the run,"
TVhlle the Boer still sits near Ladysmltn
With his Bible and bla gun.