Morning Oregonian., January 29, 1900, Page 6, Image 6

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PORTLAND, MONDAY, JANUARY 20.
IDLE TALK ABOUT .MEDIATION.
A cry of indignation has been raised
that our government has denied diplo
matic recognition to a representative of
the South African Republic The very
question at issue between Great Britain
and the South African Republic Is in
volved herein; for the main root of the
contention that has led Tip to the pres
ent war Is affirmative of the right of
suzerainty by Great Britain, and denial
of it by the South African Republic
Before the bar of the world the con
tention is the same as that involved in
our civil war, when the United States
asserted a sovereignty which the Con
federate states denied. Great Britain
did not accord diplomatic recognition
"to representatives of the Confederate
states though, of course, she permit
ted them to live within her domains. It
is not for us at present tordeclare that
the South African Republic has a status
entitling it to diplomatic representa
tion; for if Great Britain's suzerainty
is in force, if she is simply coercing a
disobedient dependency, the South Af
rican Republic has no status entitling
it to enter into direct diplomatic rela
tions with the United States. By the
convention establishing British suzer
ainty the foreign relations of the repub
lic were placed under the supervision
of Great Britain. The Boers contend
that this suzerainty, established by the
treaty of 1SSL was superseded by the
convention of 18S4, under which Great
Britain merely retained the right to
veto any foreign treaties, except with
the Orange Free State, its Dutch neigh
bor, and it is principally this very con
tention that Great Britain denies.
But the United States cannot enter
into this controversy. According to our
official publications, the South African
Republic has not hitherto been classed
with the countries sending diplomatic
representatives to the United States.
Indeed, the republic .has not undertaken
hitherto to- accredit such repersenta
tives to other nations. If hereafter it
is to have diplomatic recognition it can
get it only through successful dispute
of Great Britain's claim of suzerainty,
by force of arms. That is just what
the war is about, and the war will set
tle it.
Dr. Leyds, European agent of the
Boer states, who sojourns mostly at
Brussels, some weeks ago drew up an
address, for which he solicited signa
tures throughout Europe, to be pre
sented to the president of the United
States, in which appeal was to be made
for intervention, in these words: "Deep
ly moved by the terrible and sanguin
ary conflict in which two civilized na
tions are engaged in South Africa, the
undersigned make an urgent appeal in
favor" of that mediation that you alone
are in z. position to offer. We implore
you to fulfill this sacred duty toward
the fraternity of mankind." This as
sumption that the president of the
United States alone was in a position to
offer mediation could have no founda
tion. Why could not the appeal have
been made as well to the czar of Rus
sia, the emperor of Germany, or the
president of Prance? Here is virtual
acknowledgment that at the present
stage of affairs- diplomatic recognition
or intervention could' not be expected
in Europe. ,Bur we think that appeal
has not yet been" presented to the pres
ident of the United States. Indeed, as
the telegraphic reports of yesterday tell
us, Dr. Leyds, now on a visit to Berlin,
is so sure of victory by the Boer states
that he- declares mediation is not want
ed from any Quarter; Zor the Boer
states not only will vindicate their in
dependence, but mean to wrest from
Great, Britain the territory she has
hitherto taken from the Boers. That is
what they surely will do, if they can.
The world may, however, expect to
hear from the British side, before the
final settlement. Meetings of our citi
zens, calling for Intervention or media
tion, can produce no result but the pe
culiar 3dnd of oratory that seems to
.belong to such occasions, even if it does
not always befit them.
If the Boer states shall succeed in the
war. as It is now boasted they will, the
whole world will "recognize" them.
But no . meetings, no resolutions, no
orations in this country, will have the
slightest impression on the course of
affairs, or affect the action of our own
goyernmentas between the belligerents.
If both parties should ask it, no doubt
we should try to arbitrate the conten
tion; but the Boers have not asked us
and probably -will not, and the British
certainly will not, for the British em
pire is now In such position that it
must see tills war through, or go out
of business.
Great Britain, which has been the
leading force in the world's affairs since
Waterloo, and has put many a bridle
in the mouth of other nations, is now,
when difficulties beset her and reverses
meet her. In a position which recalls
Byron's vigorous lines in "Childe Har
old"; He -who ascends the mountain tops will find,
The tallest peaks most wrapped In cloude and
snow;
He who surpasses or subdues mankind,
Must look down on the- hate of those below.
It applies to every strong and assert
ive nation, and to every strong and
assertive man. All nations are jealous i
of the one of largest Influence and
greatest power In affairs. British de
feats therefore call forth cries of delight
more in Europe than in America, be
cause America has not felt as Europe
has felt the ascendancy or domination
of Britain. Again, among men, only
inferiority passes without challenge,
and the whole tendency Is to eliminate
and suppress able men and to bring me
diocrity to the front.
THE PERENNIAL PARADOX.
Dr. Martlneau's answer to material
istic philosophy, that It ignores the
moral consciousness atf an ultimate au
thority, is sound; but he errs in re
fusal to accept the conclusions of evo
lution as applied to the growth of that
consciousness In man, from rude begin
nings up to its acme In such elevated
minds as that of Dr. Martlneau him
self. The beginnings of moral conscious
ness. are plainly discernible In domes
tic animals. The finer type of house
dog may be said to know when he has
done wrong. He Is susceptible to re
proof through the grieved tones of his
master just as much as through the
more tangible demonstration of the rod.
Rage and grief, joy and impatience, are
seen in rudimentary form with domes
tic animals, and portrayed In their
tones. The fidelity of some of them
puts to shame the perfidy of many men,
and of genuine heroism there are few
finer instances than that of the brave
gorilla, who, seeing a younger mem
ber of the tribe about to fall -into the
hands of their pursuers, rushed back
at imminent peril to his own life and
brought the little one to a place of
safety.
In this case we see in elemental form
that sense of responsibility for one's
fellows which has, through the 150,000
years or so of man's life upon the earth,
developed Into moral consciousness,
duty, conscience. If we compare the
sentiments manifested by highly de
veloped animals with the low Intelli
gence of savages who live on desert
islands, clad only In the long hair of
their bodies, housed only by caves and
trees, fed only by such carrion as the
waves bring to shore, we get a hint, not
only of what the dog and horse might
have become if speech and hands had
been given them, but also a suggestion
of the vast distance traveled by man
himself since the human form was first
seen upon the planet.
Yet the history of consciousness Is
not consciousness, any more than moral
philosophy is the soul, or the method
of creation is the Creator. Science can
explain such things as duty, conscience,
the belief in God and immortality, the
sense of moral guilt, but it cannot ex
plain them away. It is a mistake to
think the profoundest convictions of the
mind can be expressed in terms of mat
ter. But, on the other hand, it is a
mistake to apply evolution to every
thing but the moral sense and there
abandon It. The position of Dr. Mar
tlneau comes painfully near being a
stand at the last redoubt of "special
creation." The thinker who Is to har
monize delstlc philosophy with the
facts of science has not yet arisen.
ENGLAND THE FOE OF LIBERTY.
They who arraign England as the
embodiment of greed and the foe of
liberty must have studied its history,
literature and language to poor pur
pose. We had a war with England in
177G and again in 1812. We may have
another some time; but that need not
blind us to the facts of her history, if
we are living for anything else in this
world beside race hatred and partisan
disputation.
England is the home of the thoughts
these antls array as the rallying cries
of liberty, the literature in which they
have pervaded the world, the very
words in which they are clothed.
Where but in England did Cromwell
and Milton, Chatham and Burke, Peel
and Cobden, Bright and Gladstone la
bor, speak and write, not for English
men alone, but for mankind through all
succeeding generations? Who but By
ron fought and sang for Greece, who
but the Brownings hymned free Italy,
who but Gibbon freed history from ec
clesiastlcism, who but Wlckliffe gave
us an English Bible, who but Nelson
and Wellington set bounds to the over
mastering ambition of Napoleon, who
but Darwin and Tyndall, Huxley and
Spencer, have freed the mind from the
ancient shackles of superstition?
What would our O'Days and Rig
gens, who parade their "hate" of Eng
land, have? Let the sway of England
be crushed, and which of the gre,at
powers will they choose to control the
destinies of Europe? Will they have
the Dreyfus case for. their token, or
lese-majestle, or the Inquisition, or Si
berian prisons? The brand of iniquity
and decay is upon Spain, the French
republic is In the hands of an unscru
pulous oligarchy of prelates and sol
diers, Russia is all but an unlimited
despotism, and the deadliest Conti
nental foe of human liberty Is the great
military power of Central Europe, with
its head in Prussia. They who would
destroy England In the name of liberty
know not what they do. They take the
weapons English ideals and the Eng
lish tongue have forged through cen
turies of struggle, and turn them
against the land of their origin. His
tory regards It as a happy day for man
kind when New Prance and New Spain
passed into the hands of England. If
the antls are right, history Is wrong.
REDEMPTIVE RATHER. THAN RE
TRIBUTIVE. The radical change of viewpoint from
which the state regards the criminal Is
presented in the recommendations
made In the annual report of the state
prisons commission, of New York, re
cently published. While the changes in
prison methods suggested are probably
surprising to the general public, they
are not so to those who have followed
closely the trend of thought among
penologists during the past few years.
They advocate the abolition of the
lockstep and the striped garments, the
extension of the parole principle and
the treatment of the younger misdoers
as deserving instruction rather than
simple detention and the harsher
measures of prison discipline.
The keynote of the suggestions is
that the appeal should be made to the
prisoner's self-respect. The Intent is
that from the prison doors shall be
taken the-legend "Abandon hope, all ye
who enter here," and that the whole
scheme of penalty shall be considered
as redemptive rather than retributive.
It may be objected that this is "crim
inal coddling," and, indeed, it may so
prove, If not wisely done. But, says
the Troy Times, "no one who has read
the Sing Sing prisoners' paper, the Star
.of Hope, and heard the voices which
find expression there will deny that
even under the mildest treatment
probaole within .prison walls or compat
ible with prison discipline the life of
the convict has lack of the awfulness
of retribution."
The state prisons commission appar
ently desires that the state apply to the
prisons the principle that it is pru
dent for a community to be philan
thropic There Is often a moral saving
by kindness and an Improvidence in
severity. If the state can turn out
from the prison a better Instead of a
worse man, it is a saving to the state
a3 well as to the discharged convict.
The prisons of the country are held
by observant men to be the test of lt3
civilization, inasmuch as they -are the
last places to feel the Influence of
growth. One reason of this is the dis
position ingrained in human nature
to view the imprisoned criminal as a
wild animal in a cage, with the day of
the opening of his door a thing to be
dreaded. Even wild animals are not
tamed by this process. Another cause
of public aversion is the Isolation of
the convict, who by this means be
comes foreign to the people's knowledge
and therefore to their sympathies. The
establishment of the prison paper at
Sing Sing has been a powerful factor In
breaking down this barrier between the
prisoner and hope of future usefulness.
It has given prisoners a chance to
speak for themselves In an orderly way,
testifying that there is penitence as
well as punishment, ambition as well
as degradation, hope as well as re
morse, in their lives.
The experiments suggested are de
cided Innovations upon many precon
ceived views of prison life and disci
pline, but without innovation there is
no advance, and the boast of enlighten
ment of the age would be In a sense
empty, did It not apply to the dealing
of the state with the large class made
up of Its younger evil-doers.
A DUBIOUS PROSPECT.
Forecast of parliament's attitude-'to
the war seems on the whole more op
timistic than facts will support. It Is
not at all Improbable that unless Buller
has something far more favorable to
report, the present cabinet will be to
some extent recast. The ministry Is
not likely to be overthrown, but it will
be reformed to the extent that Lord
Lansdowne, the head of the war office,
will be replaced by a statesman of
practical common sense. The liberal
critics of the ministry argue that it
was Dord Lansdowne's duty to insist
that his colleagues should heed the
warnings of Sir William Butler, a vet
eran commander of South African ex
perience, and of "Lord Wolseley, and not
precipitate England Into a war for
which she was not prepared. The an
swer of Mr. Chamberlain is that the
war was inevitable; that the Boers
were ready for war, were determined
to force war at once because they knew
that they were ready while Great Brit
ain was not ready. Probably this is
true, but the British were as ready for
war as they ever are or will be until
defeat forces them to respect modern
knowledge and experience and in time
of peace make due preparation for war.
Paul Kruger knew he could force war
in forty-eight hours the moment he
was ready, and nothing that Mr. Cham
berlain said or left unsaid would have
procured much delay In the utterance
of the Boer ultimatum The Boers
seized the initiative in the start, and
even as Moltke at once transferred his
armies to French soil and kept them
there, so the Boers up to the present
time have confined the fighting entirely
to British territory. At the outbreak
of the war the advantage was with the
Boers whether as regards armament,
position and numbers, or military tac
tics and information. The British war
office clearly was Ignorant of the num
bers of the Boers and of the strength
and superiority of the Boer artillery.
As to the military prospect Itself, the
remarkable defensive strategy of the
Boers, together with their possession
of the passes of Natal and the
line of the Orange and Caledon rivers
fully doubles their resisting force, and
Lord Roberts needs 150,000 men to
break or turn the enemy's position.
General Sherman could not by frontal
attack force Resaca, although he had
two men to Joe Johnston's one. Gen
eral Buller has 5000 wagons operating
from his railroad to feed, move and
supply 15,000 to 20,000 men. When Granf
moved across the Rapldan with over
100,000 men In May, 1864, he had but
4000 wagons. A mobile army down to
fighting trim takes four wagons to a
regiment, while Buller's train gives a
thousand more wagons for a fifth of
Grant's whole army.
The prospect for success for Bullet
Is slight; he cannot now hope to do
more than to hold the Boer army in
Natal while Lord Roberts and Kitch
ener with their reinforcements move
against the line of the Orange river
via Colesburg. But in this event the
Boers 'could rapidly transfer their
troops by rail from Natal to the Orange
river at Norval's Pont, while the Brit
ish could only make such a transfer
by withdrawal to Durban and a sea
voyage of 300 miles to East London
and thence forward to Molteno.
An English officer writes the Spring
field Republican:
The English people will riot even allow the
ordinary preparations for war to be made with
regard to mobilization In. good and early time.
"For fear," as they put It, "the enemy might
find causa to complain of England'? getting
ready for war." Such words as "blood-gulltl-ness"
and "magnanimity" are fine phrases, but,
as applied to the Boers and the. Transvaal,
would find a good substitute In Bismarck's
saying, "I alwajs treat a gentleman like a
gentleman; but a plrato like a pirate and a
half." There can be no toope for the English
people, either now or In the future, unless they
abandon th spirit of pretense and hypocrisy
which at present too often guides their conduct
in pubIc affairs, and learn that -this world Jb
a Btern school, without meroy In the struggle
for existence, where the maker Invariably goes
to the wall; and Is not now, and never can be,
a Sunday school for the education of children,
or a society for the propagation of the doc
trines of Gladstone.
This English officer points out that
the English army transport Is fatally
defective; that until some terrible de
feat, like Jena, Sadowa or Sedan, has
humbled the English people to the dust
and obliged them to consent to univer
sal conscription, they cannot hope for
success in a modern war which cannot
rest its shoulder on a great English
fleet. This English officer Is a loyal
Englishman, and Writes more In sorrow
than In anger over the present situa
tion In South Africa, He fairly says
that the United States is just as stupid
and improvident as Great Britain in
lack of preparation for war, and has
only been saved from terrible humilia
tion by Its geographical isolation and
Its good luck In escaping war with a
formidable, well-armed, well-prepared
and well-led enemy. He says:
If they had. bees Uoers, led by German of
ficers, at Santiago, no American -would have
left Cuba, except as a prisoner of war. The
Spaniards were Ignorant of the advantages
which they really possessed at the- time, and
so did not advance and avail themselves of
them. It wao the American fleet, and not the
American army, that compelled the full surren
der of Cuba.
In volume of domestic exports our
country Is rapidly closing the gap be
tween It and Great Britain. It Is now
but $34,000,000 behind, and undoubtedly
will soon take the lead and keep it.. In
1875 the exports of Great Britain were
more than double the value of those of
the United States. But in 1899 the fig
ures for the United States were $1,253,
480,000, while those lor Great Britain
Were $1,287,971,000. From 1875 to 1899
Great Britain's domestic exports In
creased from $1,087,497,000 to $1,287,971,
000, or 19 per cent, while those from
the United States increased from $497,
263,737 to $1,253,486,000, an increase of 152
per cent.
If we want 'to commit ourselves to
the policy of maintaining a largestand
ing army, our shortest way is to guar
antee the Independence of Cuba and
the Philippine islands, engage to de
fend them against the assault of other
powers, furnish them with money, as
Senator Hoar suggests, with which to
begin business, and employ our army
to do the police work of native admin
istration and to keep other nations
away. That policy will give us a suffi
ciently large army and navy.
There are those who think, or pro
fess to think, that the English people
will flunk, confess themselves whipped
and quit the South African war. The
pregonian is not of that opinion. Pos
sibly It may misjudge the British peo
ple; possibly they may have sunk into
pusillanimity and degeneracy, and be
willing to let historians begin to write
the decline and fall of the British em
pire; but before it accepts this judg
ment The Oregonlan will wait and see.
Investigation of the officials of the
state department at Washington, re
specting the foreign relations of the
South African Republic, shows that no
government has accredited a diplomat
ic agent to that government. Holland
Is the Only country which has given
any kind of recognition to an agent of
the Transvaal, and this recognition
could hardly be called official. Of
course, there is warm sympathy In Hol
land for the Afrikander Dutch.
Of course the Boers are a brave peo
ple. They can fight. So could and so
did the Modocs; and in proportion to
numbers they inflicted greater losses
than the Boers have yet inflicted on
the British. Back and forth across the
Tugela river the battle sways, as it
swayed "for three years back and forth
across the Potomac and Rappahannock,
In our civil war. We shall see, perhaps,
whether the British get tired "sooner
than we did.
Our Washington dispatches say the
house is In favor of submission of a
constitutional amendment to provide
for the election of United States sen
ators by popular vote, but that the
senate opposes It. It Is not surprising
that the senate opposes It. Such meth
od of electing senators would retire
every little cheap trickster from the
senate, at the end of his term; and
these constitute a majority of that
body.
It was the gallant Decatur who gave
the sentiment: "Our country! May it
ever be right! But our country, ""right
or wrong!" Andrew Carnegie calls this
an "Immoral sentiment." Commend us
to a sentiment uttered by a man who Is
ready to flght for his country rather
than to the utterance of a man whose
life has been devoted to. colossal and
successful schemes for robbing it and
his fellow man.
A question that Is coming to the
front these times is. Why didn't we
concede to the Confederate states na
tional Independence and the right of
self-government? In all the history of
this world no people ever were fitter
for it. Yet in the new lights of today,
what a crime It was to trample down
their right of self-government!
The legislature of California, called
to -meet in special session, will assem
ble today. It is to make another effort
to elect a United States senator, and
probably will succeed, since It would
hardly have been called had not mat
ters been pretty well "fixed."
SOUTH AFRICAN WAR,
Earnest Words From Sources Tliat
Seem to Be Entirely Reliable.
New York Christian Advocate.
Tho Very Rev. James Green, dean of
Marltzburg, who emigrated to Cape Col
ony In 1848, and was dean under the al
most forgotten Bishop Colenso, and his
successors since 1857, has written to a
friend In England some suggestive words:
"Up to this time God's chastening hand
has been heavy on the English In South
Africa, In the sufferings which so many
hundreds of our women have had to en
dure, and are still enduring, and nothing
but poverty fronts, we may say, thou
sands; but I look forward to the English
supremacy being re-established In the end,
if we will but humble ourse.lves before
God. I do ao, because tho Transvaal gov
ernment is a military oligarchy, corrupt,
oppressive, and blindly ambitious, whereas
ours always alms at being just and gen
erous; so, while the Transvaal would
scornfully tread us under foot, we are
ready to give the Dutch everywhere equal
rights with ourselves. . . . Therefore It
Is that I trust to see tho queen's sover
eignty upheld, but how soon God only
knows. The war Is a, civil war reaching
from Cape Town to Delagoa bay, and
tho Dutch have been diligently preparing
for It for 20 years, but I hope the energy
with which they have commenced tho war
will hasten the end. They have apparent
ly brought their whole force into the field,
having themselves no reserves to fall back
upon. Their efforts must consequently ex
pend themselves in a short time, and then
let us pray that peace may be restored."
But they, will not attract quite so much
attention as a communication in the Mis
sion World from the Rev. J. S. Moffat,
son of the celebrated Dr. Moffat, and
brother-in-law of Dr. Livingstone:
"With the thunderous clash of arm3 all
around us. It may seem scarcely a time
to secure a hearing on anything like the
religious and civil welfare of the native
In South Africa. Yet the war now go
ing on between white men Is being watched
by the natives with Intense concern. A?
one of them put It to me the other day:
'If the English win, then we black men
can breathe and live; if the Boers win,
then we may as well die, for we shall
be no more looked upon as men, but as
cattle; so we shall all go home and pray
to God to make the arms of the English
strong.' And this is really the question of
the day In South Africa: Are we to have
all men, British, Boer and aboriginal,
dweling together with equal rights as men
under the British flag, or are w to bays
the domination of a Boer oligarchy over
British and blacks alike? In-the Transvaal
the black man Is not a human being."
a i
"THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY."
Mr. Bryan's Eastern Trip Not Des
tined to Improve His Chances.
New York Tribune.
Mr. Bryan comes East a second time.
Once before he Invaded what he called
"the enemy's country," with results -which
he surely cannot have reckoned entirely
satisfactory. New York, New Jersey, Con
necticut and Maryland had voted for a
democratic president in 1892, but gave
Ggainst Bryan about tho oiggest majori
ties they had over given; against any
body. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
had been republican, but enormously in
creased their majorities. In brief, Mr.
Bryan was the worst beaten candidate in
the Eastern states that had ever received
democratic support, and he had no rea
son to presume that his appearance In
this region lessened In the least public
hostility to him and his objects.
But Mr. Bryan tries it again, and as no
body can suppose that he finds it neces
sary to seek in this region support In a
nominating convention, it must be in
ferred that he hopes to strengthen himself-
in popular estimation as a candi
date by his performances in this quarter.
If It seems strange to anybody, and even
incomprehensible, that the man should
indulge such a hope after his experience
in 1S96, it may be answered that he knows
as much of Eastern opinion and Its modes
of operating as many of the democratic
leaders In this region have known, for
they not only advise and invite him to
come, but show in their own conduct pre
cisely the same notions of popular feel
ing which he exhibits.
The bottom of his belief and theirs Is
that democracy can succeed only by
stirring up the poor, lazy and stupid
against a state of society which bestows
rewards upon intelligence, thrift and in
dustry. It is just as well to face the fact
that there exists a natural antagonism be
tween tho elements described, which finds
expression in heavy democratic votes In
the least Intelligent parts of some cities,
and Is the basis of every hope indulged by
the lowest demagogues who preach hatred
of law, of property and of capital. Mr.
Bryan can find a mob In nearly every
great city which will yell itself hoarse In
greeting the worst things he can say
against the employers of labor, the laws
which protect property and the enterprise
which combines intelligence and money
and toil to produce wealth. His blunder
and that of his advisers is in supposing
that such mobs represent or ever can rep
resent In this region more than a minor
ity of voters.
o
THE NEWSPAPER MAN.
He Is the Unappreciated Drudge and
Outcast.
Gerald Stanley Lee, In the February Atlantic.
In every city of the land the newspaper
man is an outcast. He knows more people
to be a stranger to than any other being
in the wo'fld. He has no holidays. HJs
Christmas is the record of other men's
joys. His Thanksgiving Is a restaurant.
Even the Fourth of July and Sunday, ser
vants of the commonest man, refuse him
their cheer. The Fourth of July Is the
day he must be In every place at once, be
cause everything is happening; and Sun
day Is the day he must make things up,
because nothing is happening. His labors
are our pleasures. He gets his vacation
by doing another man's work, and earns
his living by watching other people live.
The very days and the nights turn their
natural backs upon him. The lamp Is his
sun by night, and the curtain is his night
by day, and he cats his supper in the
morning. His business Is the reflection of
life. He .is the spirit behind the mirror.
What Is left to us is right to him, and
right Is left; sometimes right side up Is
upside down. The world is all awry to
the newspaper man. It whirls across the
hours In columns, now In one edition and
now In another, but It heeds him never in
return. He is a spectator. The show
passes before his face a shut-out. un
sharlng face. He lives as tho years go
on, a notobook under the stars, and when
the notebook Is scribbled out he dies.
. . . Men who might be immortal, morn
ing after morning, week after week, year
after year, fighting to be allowed to live in
the current of a day, reaching in vain
for something that lasts longer than a
day to hold to, only to go under like all
the rest a few bubbles a two-Inch obit
uary at the bottom of a column, by the
man who Is going under next, and tho
story Is told. The man who can furnish
quantity and quality at once, who can
thrive on the Impossible, who can swim
in the wblrlpool Instead of being carried
with it, is a man who sums up in himself
not only the definition of what the prob
lem is. in literature, today, but the an
swer to the problem.
4 a
The Czar Wants an Offset.
The concession recently granted by the
sultan of Turkey to Germans for a rail
way from Konieh, in Anatolia, to Basso
rah, at the mouth of the Euphrates,
seems to have caused a jealous feeling at
St. Petersburg, and to have excited the
Russian foreign office into making new
demands at Constantinople. An offset in
Russia's interest is wanted for the Ger
man concession. This is a railway 150
miles long from Kara to Erzeroum. Rus
sia controls Kars, and the 150 miles of rail
way wanted would open up a commercial
route of considerable Importance now
served by camels and pack animals from
Tabriz. If Germany extends her political
Influence into Eastern, Central and South
ern Asia Minor by having obtained the
Konieh-Bassorah concession, Russia, too,
desires to confirm her claim to a sphere of
influence in the northern part of Asia
Minor, where she already has a foothold.
But It is precisely this assertion of a
Russian sphere of influence In Asia Minor
that offends the sultan, who has no Idea
of surrendering his Asiatic possessions, as
he has been compelled to surrender his
possessions in Europe. The Kars-Erze-roum
railway Is, therefore, not -likely to
materialize soon.
New Era In the Soudan.
The arrival of the first through train at
Khartoum January 10 and the capture of
Osman Digna a few days later near To
kar, are events that mark the conclusion
of the old era In the Eastern Soudan.
Constructive statesmanship may now be
expected to repair slowly the losses Inflict
ed on the country by centuries of bad gov
ernment. The architectural remains found
in the region between Khartoum and Ber
ber and in other parts of the Eastern Sou
dan show that a large population once
filled the country. Peace will give oppor
tunity to rebuild, but half a century will
probably be required to counteract the
effects of Mahdlsm. The Western Sou
dan, between Lake Tchad and Darfur, is
still controlled by native, or Arab, mili
tary dictators,
t '
Liberia Again Solvent.
Liberia, having obtained an Income from
royalties paid by the English rubber syndi
cate. Is now again paying Interest on her
debt of $500,000, on which she defaulted 25
years ago The arrears of Interest have
been cleared off by an agreement of the
creditors to receive $75,000 as payment In
full of all back interest. A reduction of
the rate of Interest has been conceded also
from 7 to 3 per cept. the rate rising
per cent every three years till It reaches
5 per cent. The development of the rubber
industry in Liberia has attracted much at
tention and gave rise to the recent story
about a concerted demand of England and
the United States for a definition by the
French of their frontier when it tend3 to
encroach upon Llborian territory.
Glinerlng to Worn-out Notions.
North Yakima Republic.
The Olympla Standard holds that the
19th century has been completed, and that
we are now in the 20th. The Standard al30
believes that free coinage of silver spells
blmetaliom, and entertains all the rest of
the vagaries which are nowadays called
democratic principles.
THE OREGONIAN'S ANNUAL.
AH Records Broken.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The annual number of The Morning Ore
gonlan, published at Portland, Is a re
markably fine sample of what that thriv
ing Pacific city can do in the way of first
class newspaper work. The number con
sists of a 36-page paper of ordinary size
and shape and a supplement of conven
ient form, which comprises 24 pages, and
J3 given up wholly to the reproduction of
Pacific coast scenery and buildings, and
to the photographs of men who are emi
nent In business and political circles. The
Oregonlan long ago established Its repu
tation as a thoroughly progressive jour
nal, but never in Its long and prosperous
career has it produced anything at all
comparable with this annual number. It
has had ample material to work upon, as
the following excerpt from an editorial
review of the past year will indicate:
"Productions of farm, orchard, dairy
and range amounted last year to $45,530,737.
This Includes $9,500,000, which sales of stock
brought Into the state. The yield of min
erals was $3,743,103, of which $3,2S5.000 was
gold, $193,940 silver, and $254,163 coal. Man
ufactures were, according t,o the best esti
mate, $56,140,195, Tho lumber cut, which
Is Included In manufactures, was the larg
est In the history of the state. It amount
ed to 669,530,000 feet, valued at $6.22S,230.
The product of fisheries was $2,443,155.
Portland's foreign commerce for the 12
months ended November 30, 1899, was
$9,130,803. This makes a total of $117,007,993
for products and foreign commerce."
Peer of Them All.
Marlborough (N. Y.) Record.
The editor of The Record has received
from Mr. A. C. Sandford, of Portland,
Or., a copy of the annual number of The
Portland Oregonlan for January 1, 1200,
which, for magnitude, variety of contents
and beauty of illustration, Is the peer of
any newspaper ever Issued east of the
Rocky mountains. The newspaper proper
consists of 36 pages of the New York Sun
size, which with the exception of a couple
of pages devoted to foreign and general
news and a page of editorials, are filled
with matter pertaining to the city of Port
land and the state of Oregon. The details
of the agricultural, horticultural and man
ufacturing industries are replete with In
terest, and one might spend a week in
their perusal without falling short of good
reading. In addition to these, there is a
supplement of 24 pages, 11x16 Inches in size,
every page of which Is filled with line
half-tone engravings, Illustrations of
buildings, landscapes, waterfalls, etc., and
a large number of portraits of prominent
business men, state and municipal officers,
bankers, etc. It Is not surprising that,
Portland people should be proud of the
exhibit, and that they should desire to
circulate it to fullest extent. What would
be the feeling, if he could arise from bis
grave now, of the congressman who two
generations ago objected to the acquisi
tion of Oregon on the ground that it was
so far from civilization that the peo
ple of the United States would never be
able to visit It, and that it could never be
represented in congress because the repre
sentative could not go to Washington and
return in the same year?
Splendid Destiny for Oregon.
Lancaster (Pa.) New Era.
The Morning Oregonlan, published at
Portland, and the leading paper pub
lished in Oregon, on January 1 Is
sued the most remarkable number In Its
history. The reading portion ran Into 35
pages, while there was a pictorial supple
ment of 26 additional pages, with about
500 illustrations, covering the great state
of the Northwest coast, from its most
minute to Its greatest Interests. It is not
easy to decide whether the written or the
pictorial part of The Oregonlan's work is
the better done. We have the history of
Oregon from the beginning until the pres
ent time, with that of her many and vari
ous resources, industries, advantages and
future prospects, admirably detailed, leav
ing nothing further to be desired. In the
pictorial portion of the work we can sea
much of what Is told in the letter-press,
and In this way get the fullest possible
details concerning the state. It is only
when we carefully examine these several
publications that we begin to fully realize
what a magnificent domain Oregon actual
ly Is, how great are her varied resources,,
and what -a splendid destiny lies before
her.
Progress Something; Remarkable.
Sacramento Bee.
The New Year's edition of The Portland
Oregonlan, 60 pages, contains an exhaust
ive history of the state of Oregon and of
that great Northwestern city, Portland.
The diversified Industries of the state are
fully exploited, and supported by statistics
dating back to 1850. Oregon's progress In
development for the last two decades has
been, according to thi3 showing, some
thing remarkable.
The paper is replete with special articles
dealing in facts and figures, and the illus
trated portion presents to the eye beauties
of our sister state to the north that the
pen cannot portray, Oregon is a truly won
derful state, and this Issue of The Orego
nlan presents It to the world as It Is, and
with no apparent effort to boom It beyond
what Is warranted by the soil, climate,
forests, fisheries, mountains, streams and
lakes, with which nature has so liberally
endowed It.
One of the Greatest.
Toledo CO.) Blade.
The Portland Oregonlan has Issued itsr
annual number which is full of facts and
figures showing the development not only
of that city and state, but of the entire
Pacific coast. It Is a most remarkable
showing, and not the least feature of the
developments Is to be seen In The Orego
nlan Itself. The number contains 36 pages
be'sides an excellent illustrated supple
ment. In all making one of the greatest
newspapers published on the coast.
B
Steel Tics.
The use of steel ties Is constantly en
gaging the attention of American railroad
men and their popularity seems to be In
creasing. According to Information sup
plied to the Railway Review by Mr. T. A.
Corry, resident engineer, steel ties have
been in use on the Mexican Southern rail
way for eight years over a distance of 141
miles, and so much satisfaction have they
given that they are about to be adopted
for the entire mileage of 22S miles. The
tie employed la an Inverted trough, six
feet long, five inches deep and 8& inches
wide across the bottom. The rails are 60
pounds per yard, and the track-gauge Is
three feet. The metal ties are not used
on bridges or about shops and round
houses. Tar Is applied to them to prevent
rusting. Much has been done In recent
years toward preserving wooden ties by
injecting Into them substances that pre
vent decay and the depredations of worms
The life of a tie may be thus extended
for many years. But the process Is ex
pensive, and ties ara becoming scares,
NOTE AND COMMBNTJ
It Is almost as easy to pass resolutions
a3 It 13 to make them.
I report with regret.
We have- not licked 'era yet.
BULLER.
It I3 singular that pro-Boer sentiments
should be accompanied by ao much con
talk.
Since Roberts could not succeed himself,
Utah Is going to elect a man to succeed
him.
Kruger can stand tho loss of a battlo
or two, now he knows that Judge O'Day
and General Killfeather are with him.
The pro-Boer agitation arrived just in
time to save the antl-expanslonista from
the embarrassing position of being without
a cause.
Iron Is said to be coming down in tho
United States. It has been coming down
for several weeks in the vicinity of the
Tugela river.
This business of making senators prove
that they are entitled to their seats seems
to be an unwarranted Interference with a
time-honored custom.
The fact that the'd'et of Finland bit
at the czar's bait, proves what we were
told In the geographies that the diet of
Finland consists chiefly of fish.
Emperor William has had a birthday,
and Is being bombarded by a poet lau
reate. Now, perhaps, he will have mora
sympathy with hi3 grandmother.
A stout-built, elderly man. wearing a
small umbrella attached to his skull cap,
has been seen sauntering around town of
late. Outside of his headgear, there 13
nothing peculiar about him, and he seems
to be thoroughly "at himself." From a
few minutes' conversation with this stran
ger, it Is learned that he la a mining man.
He was in Arizona for some time and de
vised the umbrella attachment to his head
gear to ward off the evil effects of tho
sun, and he says ho finds it equally useful
In Oregon to ward off the rain. He has
been out In the hills back of town pros
pecting, and has found "colors," but this
is nothing new. as colors can be found
along almost any creek In Oregon.
Ono of the marked characteristics of tho
"Mr. Dooley" stories whose author, Mr.
F. P. Dunne, was In Portland last week
is the accuracy of the Jbroguo used In
them. Irishmen who read the stories pro
nounce them exact reproductions of tho
brogue as they know It, and call attention
to the fact that no Irishman pronounces
a double "e" with a long sound. Words
such as sea, beat, meat, and the like are
pronounced with the long sound for tho
reason that this used to be the correct
pronunciation of them, and the old form
has been retained In Ireland. Mr. Dunna
says that Kipling's brogue, while humor
ous, is not absolutely correct, adding that
Kipling told him that he (Kipling) never
made a study of the brogue, and could
not write it accurately.
Complaint Is frequently made- about the
reckless manner In which thoughtless per
sons scatter orange peel and banana skln3
about the sidewalks. This is a great nui
sance, and puts the Hve3 and limbs of
pedestrians In jeopardy. Such rubbish
strewn on cement sidewalks especially m
wet weather Is very dangerous, but It
seems practically impossible to put a step
to the habit of strewing It about. No sen
sible, thoughtful person throws orange or
banana peels on the sidewalks, and remon
strance against the habit on the part of
The Oregonlan is of little avail, for people
who do this are not to bo Influenced by
anything that may be 3aid or written. If
the police would arrest a few of these
persons who litter the sidewalks with
their garbage and endanger the lives and
limbs of benslble people. It might check
the practice.
A big Scandinavian woodchopper, who
had been working In company with a fel
low countryman at some point along tha
Columbia, recently quit his job and camo
to town. He was telling some of his
friends yesterday how he dissolved tho
partnership. Each of the men had an
outfit of cooking utensils and cabin fur
niture of his own, and they owned a lino
long crosscut saw between them. When
Hans decided to quit, Ole offered to glvo
him $10 for his traps, Including his half
of the saw. Hans was willing to sell for
that sum, but when Ole .proposed that tho
$10 should be applied on an old debt, Hans
would not have it that way. He made a
fire In which he piled his furniture, cook
ing utensils, etc., and while they wera
burning, he took an ax and hacked the
saw till he broke it into two parts, and
offered Ole his choice of them, and then
came away. This is not exactly a new
way of paying old debts, but It Is an orig
inal way of dissolving a partnership.
The mild winter has enabled the Ore
gon hens to keep the market pretty well
supplied with eggs, and Imported eggs
have been In small demand. As spring 13
approaching and eggs are likely to hatch
out. Importers are pushing off their stocks
at prices which enable retailers to sell
them at two dozen for 25 cents, or, by
marklnsr them "fresh ranch egg3," at two
dozen for 35 cents. A man who Is fond of
fresh eggs was about to buy some yes
terday labeled as above, but, on seelngr
the smoke marks on them, which showed
that they had been "candled," he called
the trade off and began to revile tho
dealer. The latter offered to guarantee
the "soundness" of the eggs, and said tho
age of them made no matarial difference
In the quality. The customer replied that
there was not much difference- between
egss one day or one week old, but these
Imported eggs were six months old, and
if put in a warm place would hateh out
In a few hours, and the chlokens would,
come out armed with spurs an Inch long
and fully feathered.
It is to be hoped that school children will
avail themselves of the opportunity to sea
tho fine collection of birds eggs which
ha3 recently been presented to the city
museum, but the sight of the eggs should
not inspira any youth with the collecting
mania. There is a law providing an ade
quate penalty for destroying the eggs or
nests of any kind of singing birds In this
Uate. The collection of eggs for a mu
seum can be commended, when the work la
done in a proper spirit, and no eggs aro
needlessly destroyed, as sueh a collect-on
gives thousands an opportunity to see the
eggs, but Indiscriminate collection of eggs
should be discountenanced, and parents
and teachera should take every suitable oc
casion to Impress upon their children and
pupils that they should. In every way. pro
tect and encourage the birds, and never
wantonly or cruelly molest them, or de
stroy their nests and eggs. There has
been a great Improvement in this matter
of late years, and birds are becoming much
more numerous In and around the city
than they used to fca.