X
THE MORtflNGr OREGONIAN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1900.
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PORTLAND, WEDNESDAY, JAX. 31.
BRITISH PREPARATION, AT LAST.
The British nation, finding out at last
what it ought to have foreseen, that
the undertaking: before it is a very seri
ous one, is now settling- down to busi
ness. The preparations are really co
lossal; they are backed by money and
credit -unlimited; they will be sustained
by a spirit which realizes that a na
tional history of fifteen centuries looks
down from its summits upon British
achievement, now extended to all the
lour quarters of the globe, and expects
the prestige of the empire to be main
tained. A nation in such a position,
with such a history, has but one thing
to do when beset with the difficulties
of an arduous undertaking. It must
go ahead.
The situation is found to require 200,
000 men, it may require 300,000. "What
then? The nation has them, and more
if more are necessary. On the subject
of the war there is absolute unity of
national sentiment. The British em
pire, as one man, will 'support the war.
The rich will not spare their wealth;
no class will spare Its blood. National
spirit rises to meet the most serious
effort which the nation has been called
on to put forth since the fall of Napo
leon. It is surprising that we have so
many among -us who have seemed to
suppose that the British people would
he daunted by defeat and would quit,
rather than fight It out. The fact Is
that each and every successive reverse
has made it more certain that they
would fight it out. Not a soul in the
British dominions who does not know
that in such an emergency as the pres
ent the spirit that made the empire
must come forth to maintain it. To
-us it has seemed -unwise to suppose
that the scepter would be suffered to
pass from the British empire yet.
Therefore with every reverse we have
looked for redoubled exertions. So it
will be, till the tide turns. Under such
menace to national prestige, no British
man can think of anything else.
Such is tha- nature of the defensive
position held by the Boer states that
the British armies must outnumber
their adversaries at least three to one.
Holding the inner line, the Boers have
every advantage of Tapld concentration
upon any point. Each separate British
force must therefore be powerful
enough to meet at any point of collis
ion the shock of nearly the whole Boer
armies. It is clear from the outline
presented what the general plan of the
British campaign will be. General Bul
ler's present force in North Natal will
remain; whether the garrison of Lady
smith be lost, or not. It will be ex
pected to detain a large Boer force
there, while the main army under Lord
Roberts will be pushed from the Cape,
into the Orange Free State, and
through it into the Transvaal. It may
take several months, or even a year, or
longer; for it is no small undertaking
to crush armies that number from 60,
000 to 100,000 men. It could perhaps
scarcely be done by sheer fighting, but
as time goes on the war will put a con
stantly increasing strain on the re
sources of the Boers, from which the
British will be measurably exempt. The
war, indeed, can have but one termi
nationunless the British nation is now
degenerate and its old power a bank
rupt asset, to be written off the roll of
living history. Challenged as Great
Britain is now, with the eyes of the
world upon the issue, there is but one
course for her now, and she certainly
will pursue it.
The elation which the Boer victories
have occasioned in many minds, here
and elsewhere, is natural enough. But
it will presently be changed to indig
nant remonstrance against employment
of the colossal power of a great nation
against two weak states. Exultation
and defiance will be replaced by ap
peals to sympathy, as the preparations
for these great military movements
grow towards maturity. But that the
British government, supported by the
British people, will see it through, there
can be no doubt; for it Is a matter
now not of choice, but of compulsion.
Not only the prestige of the empire, but
the retention of the British flag in any
part of South Africa, depends on it.
The Oregonian believes that the result
of the war will be the federation of all
South Africa under the British flag,
after the manner of Canada and Aus
tralia, with full recognition of colonial
self-government and equal laws for all
men. Thus only can the advance of
empire justify itself. In her treatment
of her American colonies 130 years ago
Great Britain had not yet advanced to
this principle, and she lost them. But
it is her colonial policy now. Perhaps
in any event she could not have held
our states, which, with a vast continent
before them, had a profound Instinct
of nationality and of incomparable de
velopment; but with loss of these states
she changed her colonial policy, now
Imposes only nominal sovereignty,
leaves her colonial possessions to local
self-government, supports their public
works, and even allows them to tax
goods from the mother country as they
like. If we stay in the Philippine
Islands, our government there must
likewise he fashioned and directed to
beneficent ends.
It is not for -us to speak for the Brit
ish people or their policy. They will
speak and act for themselves, as we
shall do; but it remains always to be
said, at the end of every remark on our
own national policy, at home or abroad,
that the flag of the United States can
not be a symbol of oppression, but al
ways and everywhere Is and must be a
guarantee of liberty, now and evermore!
IHE ATTEMPTED ASSASSDTATIOX OP
GOEBEL,.
The attempted assassination of "Will
iam Goebel cannot be described as un
expected, for when political passion on
both sides has been stimulated to the
boiling point in a state like Kentucky,
scenes of mob violence or Individual
vengeance are likely to take place. The
citizens of Kentucky, irrespective of
party element, particularly the relig
ious element, have been In a state of
alarm for ten days past because of the
peril that threatens their common
wealth through the efforts of "William
Goebel to override justice and unseat
the duly elected and legally seated of
ficers of that state. On the 23d inst. a
day of humiliation and prayer for the
preservation of law and order was ob
served in Frankfort by the churches
of all denominations. No such event
growing cut of a purely political situa
tion has ever been known before. Goe
bel is not a native of Kentucky, but
Is "a carpet-bagger," like the unscru
pulous republican politicians who were
indirectly responsible for the organiza
tion of the "Kuklux Klan" and the
crimes perpetrated by it.
The bitterest political enemies of Goe
bel are not Kentucky republicans, but
Kentucky democrats. The two mem
hers of the state board of elections who
Issued the certificate of election to Gov
ernor Taylor were friends of Goebel,
but were fair-minded, liberty-loving,
honest democrats, who held political in
tegrity above partisan advantage cor
ruptly obtained. Judge J. K. Morrison,
a lifelong democrat and friend of Goe
bel, a man of prominence in his party
and state, declared a week ago that
the unlawful partisan and revolution
ary attempts of Goebel to usurp the
governorship meant anarchy for Ken
tucky and lasting disgrace for the
state. Judge Morrison declared that
the evidence offered by Goebel and his
friends in contesting the seat Of Gover
nor Taylor and the other republican
office-holders altogether fails to support
their right or claims, which are without
foundation in law or in morals; that
the present course of the Goebel de
mocracy meant sure disaster to the
party in' the future. It has been pre
dicted that persistence by Goebel in his
high-handed course in outraging the
sentiment of the majority of the people
of the state, as represented in the le
gitimate republican majority given
Governor Taylor, would breed scenes of
bloodshed and popular insurrection.
This prediction has been realized by
the attempted assassination of Goebel.
Goebel, it Is true, has fallen by the
same brutal, cowardly, bloody code of
private vengeance which he did not
hesitate to invoke a few years ago
when he shot a political enemy, a gal
lant old ex-Confederate colonel, to
death in the streets. His action on
that occasion was so detestable that
United States Senator Blackburn pub
licly denounced him as a murderer. It
Is true that Goebel's own hands are
stained with the blood of private
vengeance; it is true that he is a bold,
brilliant, bad, corrupt man, who has
recklessly nlayed with the passions of
human nature among an ignorant, in
flammable people; it is true that he has
ruthlessly sown the wind until he has
reaped the whirlwind. Nevertheless,
his attempted assassination was not
only a great crime, but it was a very
gross political blunder, as political as
sassinations have always proved, in
both the ancient and modern world.
As a matter of fact, political assas
sins have always been fools and not
seldom knaves, from Brutus down to
"Wilkes Booth and Gulteau. If public
sentiment is with you, your act of as
sassination is wholly unnecessary, and
if public sentiment is not with you,
your act of assassination is without
palliation and is an act of private hos
tility and vengeance; a frightful crime
and the grossest sort of a political
blunder. If Goebel had succeeded in
his act of usurpation, it would have
been. his political ruin and that of the
democratic faction which supported
him in his crimes against free, fair
and honest government through an un
terrified and untrammeled ballot-box.
Even when the political assassin kills
a man whose political and personal
crimes leave him without friends
among good men and true, his crime
works no cure of the situation, but only
makes it worse, so that Charlotte Cor
day's deed only reinforces the propo
sition that political assassination,
whether Its victim Is estimable or de
testable, is not only a crime, but worse
than a crime, a gross political blunder.
THE CLAYTOX-BULWER TREATY.
The report that the British govern
ment is entirely willing to withdraw
any ground for opposition"" to the build
ing of the Nicaragua canal, so far as it
rests upon the Clayton-Bulwer treaty
of 1850, is entirely credible. The first
article of this treaty framed by Presl-'
dent Taylor's secretary of state, John
M. Clayton, and the British minister,
Sir Henry Bulwer, provides that neither
government "will ever obtain or main
tain for itsarc any exclusive control
over the ship canal which may be con
structed between the Atlantic and the
Pacific oceans by the way of the River
San Juan de Nicaragua, or either or
both of the lakes of Nicaragua or
Managua, to any port or place on the
Pacific ocean; or erect or maintain any
fortifications, or occupy, or fortify, or
colonize, or assume, or exercise any do
minion over Nicaragua. Costa Rica,
the Mosquito coast, or any part of Cen
tral America; or make use of any pro
tection which either power may afford,
or any alliance which either power has,
or may have, to or with any state or
people," for any of the above? purposes.
This treaty the British government
can well afford to treat practically as
obsolete, because by its official action
in the past it has treated it as obsolete
by voalating it. In November, 1881,
Secretary Blaine wrote Minister Xiowell
that the Clayton-Bulwer convention
was made forty years ago, under con
ditions which "were temporary In their
nature and can never be reproduced."
Mr. Blaine further proceeded to point
out that "the operation of the treaty
practically concedes to Great Britain
the control of any canal that may be
constructed, because it is incumbent
upon Great Britain, with its extended
colonial possessions, to maintain a
much larger naval establishment than
we require. Hence, if the United States
bind themselves not to fortify a Nica
ragua canal on land, Great Britain,
then, would have an advantage which
J would prove deoisive in the possible
case of a strangle for the control of
the Interoceanic waterway. The treaty,
moreover, binds the United States not
to use its military force in any precau
tionary measure, while it leaves the
naval power of Great Britain perfectly
free and unrestrained. If no Ameri
can soldier is to be quartered on the
Isthmus, no war vessel of Great Brit
ain s'hould be allowed in the waters
commanding either entrance to the
canal."
Mr. Blaine's view was that to per
petuate any treaty which impeaches
our rightful and long-established claim
to priority on the American continent
would be as absurd as it would be for
the United Staets to demand a share
In the fortifications by which Great
Britain excludes all other powers from
the waters of the Red sea, and thus
virtually controls the Suez canal, or to
demand their neutralization. Mr. Fre
linghuysen, who succeeded Mr. Blaine
as secretary of state, said that Great
Britain "now exercises absolute sover
eignty over Belize, or British Honduras,
and that, since 1850, the boundaries of
the Belize Settlement, now transformed
into a crown colony, had been greatly
extended at the cost of the neighboring
American republics." Under the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty, neither the United
States nor Great Britain has the right
to exercise sovereignty over or to colo
nize a foot of territory. Mr. Freling-
huysen pointed out that since Great (
Britain has violated and continued to
violate that provision, the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty is voidable, at the pleasure
of the United States. This is the posi
tion taken by the friends of the Nica
ragua canal bill In the senate, viz.,
that Great Britain, having failed to
conform to the provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty that treaty is voida
ble at our option, and for this reason
congress will proceed to exercise the
option. In other words, England will
not enforce against a friend a treaty
which her own action has made obso
lete. ESSENTIALS FIRST.
Representative Tongue's effort on be
half of a national exposition to be held
at Portland is ill advised. If Portland
would indorse the project, it is likely
that the Oregon delegation could get a
considerable appropriation from the
government to give tha big show a
start. But Portland .does not want the
exposition. There are many things It
needs which It would very likely lose
if it were to strain Itself to get money
for an exposition. The benefit that
would result from an exposition would
be transient. It would mean a large
number of sightseers and increased
business for a few months, and then
the inevitable slump. It is noteworthy
that the trustees of the Chamber of
Commerce did not grow enthusiastic
over the project when Mr. Tongue's let
ter was read yesterday, and that some
of them remarked that Portland needs
a deep channel to the sea more than it
does an exposition.
Representative Tongue's suggestion
that money might be obtained for an
exposition at Portland affords an op
portunity to say to him and to the
other members of Oregon's congres
sional delegation that the great ques
tion before the people of Oregon today
is that of a 30-foot channel from Port
land to Astoria and a 40-foot channel
at the mouth of the Columbia. It over
shadows every other subject. Upon it
depends the salvation of Oregon. "With
out deep channels Portland cannot hold
its foreign trade and Oregon will lose
prestige as a commercial community.
Products of farm, orchard and range
amounting to over $45,500,000 a year,
manufactures aggregating $56,000,000,
and a foreign commerce of between
$9,000,000 and $10,000,000, all depend upon
easy access to the high seas. If any
money can be got from the govern
ment, let it be for river Improvement
where it will do some good, and not
for an exposition which will be of only
temporary benefit. An exposition will
give producers a chance to display
their commodities; deep channels will
help them to get their products to the
markets of the world, without delay
and at minimum cost. An exposition
at Portland would do the city and the
state as little good as the midwinter
offshoot of the Chicago show did San
Francisco and California, or as the in
terstate fair did Tacoma and "Wash
ington. Surely, Representative Tongue could
not have been aware of the heavy bur
den which Multnomah county is bear
ing when he proposed an exposition for
Portland to jeopardize river improve
ment projects. Tiring of government
red tape in the matter of river im
provement, Multnomah county took the
matter in its own hands nine years
ago and created the Port of Portland
commission. Up to yesterday it had
expended $724,154 99 in deepening the
channels. Of this amount, $356,154 99
was raised by direct taxation, and
$368,000 from the sale of bonds, Includ
ing premiums. If Representative
Tongue gains his proposed exposition,
Multnomah county will stand little
show of even getting back this $724,000,
and besides it will have to put up a
desperate fight for further appropria
tions to continue river work.
It is gratifying to note that the
Chamber of Commerce is alive to the
situation and is considering the advis
ability of sending an agent to "Wash
ington to press legislation of import
ance to Oregon. Portland will respond
cheerfully with funds to maintain this
agency, for the achievements of Gen
eral Beebe last fall indicate what can
be done by direct effort Intelligently
and vigorously applied. What we want
is deep channels, and not shows, water
and plenty of it.
Stupidity in public financing was
never more clearly exemplified than In
the showing made by the offices of the
clerks of the circuit and county courts
and county recorder of Multnomah
county. The unnecessary multiplicity
of departments and the consequent
waste of public funds in administering
county affairs are plainly apparent in
the expense exhibit. Private business
managed in this way would send its
proprietors into bankruptcy by the
shortest possible route. Taxpayers
groan under the burden, resort to every
shift and turn to carry it, and finally,
in many instances, deliver their prop
erty over to the taxeaters, finding it
Impossible "to make an empty bag
stand upright." To continue to carry
this burden Is unnecessary; to groan
under it does not In the least degree
lighten its weight; to assume that there
is no help for it is to confess judgment
upon the charge of being unlearned in
the simplest methods of successful
business transactions children if not
fools in finance. Let consolidation as
opposed to these departments be one of
th watchwords of the season of politi-
cal haymaking now on, to the end that
the wastefulness of the separate ad
ministration thereof may be stopped.
This is, to be sure, but one leak in the
county treasury, but it is one that it is
well worth while to stop, since at
least $11,000 of the taxpayers money
filters through it annually, and dropB
into the outstretched hands of officialism.
The Salem Statesman asserts that
The Oregonian has been "dictatorial."
It has been dictatorial on one point
only. It has demanded and insisted
that free-silver advocates be turned out
of congress. This was an effort that
cost it twenty years of labor; and every
little time-serving politician and news
paper in the state, Including the paper
at Salem, was at one time or another
against it. Of course, they are all for
the gold standard now, and all continue
to abuse and vilify The Oregonian for
the "dictation" that prevented Oregon
from being a crazy silver and populist
state. Men like McBride, Hermann and
Tongue never knew they were for the
gold standard till after the great fight
had been won. Others haven't found
it out yet, but would declare for free
silver and monetary debasement as
loudly as ever, if they supposed it
could win. On this subject The Ore
gonian has, indeed, been dictatorial.
And there are -some results, but not
all that could be desired.
Anti Cochran, of Missouri, 1? cut to
the quick that Great Britain should not
have torn hair and cracked heels to
gether over the doubtful boundary
while Alaska was still supposed to be a
frozen wilderness, not worth fighting
for, and that more interest was taken
in the Transvaal after the discovery of
gold and diamonds than before. If Mr.
Cochran is content to berate and exe
crate this lamentable inconsistency, we
can only wish him all joy of his under
taking. But if he lias set himself the
task of modifying human nature so
that such apathy to things unprofitable
and alertness to things lucrative shall
cease" to disfigure history, we should
seriously advise him to avoid useless
trouble and expense.
It Is not long since Tillman and his
compatriots were denouncing McKinley
for going ahead in the Philippines' in
stead of looking to congress, which
alone is competent to declare a policy
concerning them. Now he is frantic
because McKinley has done this very
thing. "The president," shrieks Till
man, "has declared that upon congress
rests the responsibility." It is mon
strous, in Tillman's view, that the
president should thus "shirk the bur
den" and endeavor to "shift it to our
shoulders." To do Mr. McKinley jus
tice, he has tried very hard to pacify
the antis. But it is evident the task is
impossible.
Smallpox has broken out among the
Indians of the Colville reservation, In
Spokane county. Medical and sanitary
science will be taxed to the utmost in
battling the scourge under the condi
tiors existing on an Indian reservation.
It will be interesting to observe wheth
er or not these powerful forces of civ
ilization will be strong enough to cope
successfully with this disease among
the Indians, stamping it out, while yet
there is material for it to feed upon,
and reducing the death rate among its
victims to the minimum.
Goebel's attempted assassination Is
apparently due to an almost irresponsi
ble or perhaps half-sane man, whose act
in no way inculpates the anti-Goebel
faction any more than Gulteau's crime
inculpated the Conkling faction. It
ought to serve one useful purpose, in
relieving the situation of much sup
pressed feeling, and showing everybody
the dangers in which official Kentucky
is dwelling. This warning explosion
may avert a great catastrophe.
The promptness and efficiency with
which smallpox patients coming Into
this city are rounded up and isolated
by our health authorities cannot be too
highly commended. The dreams of
even the most timid need not be dis
turbed by fears of an epidemic of this
disease while this Intelligent vigilance
Is maintained at the city's gates, pro
viding, also, citizens look to their own
defenses In the way of cleanliness and
vaccination.
Because unlimited and unrestricted
suffrage was imposed upon the negro,
however mistakenly or prematurely, Is
reason enough to Tillman why the
same thing should be done with the
Filipinos. The more obvious and sen
sible application of the argument does
not occur to him. And this is states
manship! Americans who . are controlled by
good sense and see through the hollow
ness of demagogic appeals, mmst be
pardoned for not believing that there
Is anything in the ascendancy of the
flag of their country in the Philippine
islands that Is or can be inconsistent
with liberty.
Mason in the senate is a spectacle of
folly, and in connection with the dis
placement of that grand old man, John
M. Palmer, for him, one for grief. For
this loss to the country and to the dem
ocratic party silver is to blame.
The South Diversifying.
The Age of Steel affirms that the mills
and spindles of the Southern cotton in
dustry are now capitalized at not less
than $125,000,000. The New Tork Journal
of Commerce finds that $33,000,000 was in
vested in spinning and weaving mills in
the South last year. Most of the mills
are owned at home a wholesome feature
and one that promises them exemption
perhaps for a time from restrictive leg
islation. Railroading is too unprofitable
in the South for the average citizen to
put his money into railroad stocks and
bonds, with the result that the owner
ship of railroads has gone largely to the
great centers of capital; but mill profits
ranging as high as 40 per cent a year
tempt the local capitalists to invest.
"Northern corporations," says the Jour
nal, "have built several mills in the
South, but It has from the first been the
boast of Southern people that much of
the greater part of the cotton mills were
owned at home. This investment of local
capital, therefore, indicates marked prog
ress in the accumulation of wealth, and
the profits from these Investments In
crease the incomes of a very large num
ber of Southern families."
The multiplication of mills, furnaces
and other manufacturing plants in the
South means a large development of com
mercial life more merchants, agents,
banks, clerks, etc. A new class Is being
created, in addition to the agricultural
class, whose conservative Influence upon
public opinion and politics must tend to
modify the Ideas of the agriculturists. A
one-sided interest tends to one-sided opin
ions. But an. almosDhsra .of industry.
trade, banking and commerce will insen
sibly alter the tone of political oratory.
The disposition of the agriculturist to
deem the merchant and banker his nat
ural enemies may not wholly disappear,
but it will be lessened when these citi
zens live next door and axe -seen to be
not much worse than others. In this view
the 5000 spindles now running hi the
South and the mining of 40,000,000 tons
of coal signify a quiet revolution tending
to better knowledge and harmony.
i O ft " '
GOLD STANDARD IN JAPAN.
Further Particulars and Details of
the Change.
New Tork Journal of Commerce.
The adoption of the gold standard by
Japan constitutes one of the mbst inter
esting chapters In the history of national
finance. The Chinese Indemnity, paid in
silver, but converted into gold, afforded
Japan the means of effecting gold pay
ments, and the promptness with which
this opportunity was seized, and the skill
with which the substitution was effected
with no derangement of business, reflects
the highest credit upon the Japanese min
ister of finance and his associates.
. There has now been published in "Pub
lic Policy," issued In Chicago, a most
Interesting account of the circumstances
leading up to the change of the stand
ard, the process of substitution and the
beneficial effects thereof, by Mr. Uchlda,
Japanese consul at this port. It is not
necessary to repeat the story of the cir
cumstances leading up to the change. Of
the results of the change Mr. Uchlda gives
little statistical information, because thus
far but little Is obtainable. A foot note
says:
"Statistics giving the wages of mechan
ics for the several periods covered by these
tables will be supplied as soon as received
from authentic sources. They will show
that mechanics wages at the present time
under the gold standard are higher than
they were under the silver standard." The
wretched pretense that labor is benefited
by cheap money is thus, as In so many
other Instances, exposed.
Of the general effects of tho adoption of
the gold standard, Mr. Uchlda says that
prices have ceased to fluctuate with sil
ver and the elimination of this risk is de
veloping industries and commerce, as la
shown by the increase of bank clearings,
by the favorable condition of foreign
trade, which our sllverltes have pretended
was benefited by a failing monetary unit,
and by stability of prices for agricultural
products and the wages of labor; our sll
verltes have imagined that a merely ap
parent advance In wages and prices, due
to a shrinking unit of measurement was
a benefit to farmers and laborers. Some
of our advocates of cheap money would
have admitted if pressed that steadiness
In the rate of exchange was favorable to
international trade, though most of them
supposed that the cheapening of money
promoted exports and retarded Imports.
Mr. Uchlda not only cites the beneficial
effect of a steady rate of exchange upon
the foreign trade of Japan, but adds:
"This benefit to the export merchants"
it will be observed that he claims the
benefit of a constant rate of exchange
for the export trade "communicated it
self through them to those engaged in
agriculture and manufacturing, producing
the commodities that enter into our ex
port trade."
The special interest of Mr. Uchlda's
article lies in its account of the process of
the substitution of the gold for the silver
standard. Everyone Is aware that the
new gold yen was made of the same value
as the old sliver yen, so that the change
of standard was effected without chang
ing the measure of values, but a subse
quent decline of silver threatened to em
barrass the government in carrying out
Its plans. By October 1, 1897, when the
change was to go Into effect, the mints
had struck very nearly 50,000,000 yens in
gold. The government offered gold in ex
change for silver yens at several points
and effected this exchange at once with
the Bank of Japan and the Yokohama
Specie bank, and it redeemed In gold coins
orders previously issued by the mint for
sliver yens in exchange for bullion depos
ited for coining. The redemption of sil
ver yens closed July 1, 1898. At this time
the total production of yens had been
105,133,710, of which nearly 100,000,000 was
the next export, 11,000,000 was spent in
China during the war, nearly 6,000,000 was
circulated in Formosa, over 45,000,000 was
exchanged for gold, and a balance of less
than 3,000,000 is presumed to have been
lost or destroyed.
The withdrawal of silver yens is thus ac
counted for:
Directly exchanged for gold 38,648,297
Bxch'ged after receipt as revenue 3,977,099
Exchanged In Formosa 2,962,973
Redemption of mint certificates.. 25,678,148
Redeemed in Bank of Japan notes 3,827,304
Total 75,083,822
A little more than a third "of this sil
ver was recoined Into subsidiary pieces;
the rest was sold In Shanghai, Hong
Kong, to foreign banks, and sent to China
and Formosa to meet government expend
itures. The loss on all this was 5,397,581
yens, which was more than offset by the
seigniorage on the subsidiary coinage, so
that the retirement of the silver yens cost
the government nothing. The bank clear
ings for four years were:
1893 262,881,406 I 1897 713,857,687
1895 388,165,360 1893 1,016,229,212
The imports in 1898 were abnormally
Increased by a short rice crop Involving
importation, and by very heavy Imports
of railway material, cotton and tobacco.
The foreign trade for 1S97 and "three
fourths of 1899 was as follows:
Imports. Exports.
Twelve months, 1897....219.dO0,772 163,135,077
Nine months, 1899 174,173,869 176,369,232
On the first day of January the process
of retiring all government notes and all
notes of the national banks was com
pleted, and the only paper money now cur
rent is the nate3 of the Bank of Japan.
a 0
Memory, and "What Then?
Max Muller, in The Nineteenth Century.
I knew Macaulay, of whom it was said
and believed that he could repeat a lead
ing article of the Times after having read
it once; but I never had the heart to ask
him to let me hear him do so. Professor
Conington, at Oxford, enjoyed the same
reputation, but I never heard him either
repeat a few pages after he had read
them. Still there Is nothing so very in
credible in this, for when I was at school
at Leipslc, and the whole class was pun
ished by being kept back till they had
learned two or three chapters of Cicero,
I generally was off in about 10 minutes.
I could not do that now for my very life.
I lately read a very interesting book by
the Rev. H. C. Adams, a master at "Win
chester, which was, and Is still, famous
for its system of "standing up." As it
was published In his lifetime, and In the
lifetime of the pupils whom he mentions
by name, I think he may be fairly trusted.
He tells us in "Wykehamica (1878) that he
knew a schoolfellow who never could learn
his repetition, but who could nevertheless
go through the whole of the scores in the
matches with Eton and Harrow from the
very first, giving each player his correct
number of runs, and particularly the man
ner in which he was out.
Ho knew another, of no remarkable ca
pacity, able to say the whole of the Eng
lish Bible by rote. Put him on where
you would, he would go fluently on as long
as there was any one to listen.
"When large standings up were said,
sometimes 13,000 and 14,000 lines were said,
and.were said well, too. In Bishop "Words
worth's time, one boy In the senior part
of the fifth took up the whole of "Virgil
for his standing up, and acquitted him
self brilliantly, that being only a portion
of his eight lessons. I have made tho
reading of the Times every morning re
sponsible for the gradual paralysis of our
memory, but what shall wc say when we
are told the late editor of the Times, Mr.
Chenery, whose death is still deplored by
so many friends, knew the Koran and the
Old Testament In Arabic and Hebrew by
heart as well as anv Ullema or rabbi?
Perhaps those who. like myself, knew him
i. -kbIL may. fppi a little, skentical. He car
talnly never mentioned this extraordinary
power to me. Judging by our own capac
ity or incapacity, we may perhaps recall
to mind the well-known lines of Horace
which we learned at school many years
ago, and which may still supply some com
fort to weaker memories end humbler
souls:
"Est quodam prodire tenua, si non datur
ultra."
OVERTHROW WAS C03D7LETE.
Cromwell and His Ironsides In the
" Battle of Marston Moor.
Theodore Roosevelt In February ScrHmer.
Sweeping down the line, the Ironsides
smashed one regiment after another, until
In the fading summer evening Cromwell
had almost circled the Royalist army,
and came to their left wing, where he saw
the Royalist horse, charging the right
flank of the Scots and harrying the rout
ed Torkshire foot. ' Immediately he re
formed his thoroughly trained squadrons
almost on the same ground where Gor
lng's horse stood at the beginning of the
battle, and fronting the same way. The
foot of the association formed beside
them, and just before nightfall the Purl
tan cavalry and infantry made their final
charge. Goring's troopers were returning
from their pursuit; Lucas' men were re
coiling from their last charge. In which
Lucas himself had been captured. They
were scattered like chaff by the shock of
the steel-clad Cromwellian troopers. Tid
ing boot to boot; and the remaining Roy
alist foot shared the same fate. Tho
battle was over just as night fell, stop
ping all pursuit. But there was little
need of pursuit. A3 at "Waterloo, the
very obstinacy with whjch the fight had
been waged made the overthrow all the
more complete when at last It came.
Night went down on a scene of wild con
fusion, with thousands of fugitives rfom
both armies streaming off the field through
the darkness; for the disaster to the
right wing of. the Parliamentary army
had resulted not only in the rout of all
the Torkshire men and half of the Scotch,
but also in the three Parllmentary com
manding generals. Leven, Manchester and
Lord Fairfax, being swept off In the mass
of fugitives. The fight had been won by
Cromwell, not only by the valor, coolness,
keen insight, and power of control over
his men. which he had showed in the bat
tle Itself, but by the two years of careful
preparation and drill which had tempered
the splendid weapon he used so well.
a
Their Ample Preparation.
Relative to the Boera' preparations for
war, a contributor to a London paper
makes a significant showing, which strikes
the British all the harder because nine
tenths of this money was taxed out of the
pockets of Englishmen in the Transvaal:
In a. brief article the other morning, replying
to the question of a coneotoadent, you consider
tho statistics of Boer expenditure with refer
ence to the suggestion of the Dally News that
war outlay may be Included under head3 other
than "illlltary." Tou give the general result
of the figures on that assumption, but I ven
ture to think that a. comparative analysis of
them, under each head, for both the periods
six years from 1SS0 (the first year for which I
have them) to 1804 and 3 years from 1893
(the year of the raid and of antecedent menace)
to the third quarter of 1S98 Is equally signifi
cant: First period "Military" 313.G8S
Second period "Military" 3,6-11.080
First period "Public "Works" 2.122,482
Second period "Publlo "Works" 2.400, G45
First period "Special Payments" 434,400
Second period "Special Payments".... 1,203,54(1
First period "Sundry Services" 770.372
Second period "Sundry Services" 1,203,820
The supposition of the Dally News adds con
siderable strength to the proof that It was from
the year 1805 the year of acute alarm, for their
independence that tho preparation of the Boers
grew to a scale at all adequate to the exi
gencies of the case. Under one head onlj that
of "Publlo Works" Is the ctlsproportton for the
two periods not excessive, though It Is etlll re
markable, having- regard to the difference of elx
years and three and three-quarters. But If wo
allow some of the works to have had a military
character, these would be for the most part of
a permanently defensive nature, irrespective of
any particular expectation of hostilities. The
Increasing probability that war would be forced
upon the Boers would only necessitate enlarged
arsenals and additional fortifications under this
head.
Lienor and Labor In the Transvanl.
Interviewing- John Hays Hammond in the Engineering-
Magazine.
There has been heretofore not only lack
of good legislation, but utter laxity in the
enforcement of such law as there Is. To
this is atrlbutable the deplorable condi
tion as regards the liquor traffic. The
statutes are nearly prohibitive, so far as
the sale of liquors to natives Is con
cerned, but there Is not even a pretense
of enforcing them. It Is no uncommon
sight to see on a Sunday afternoon a hun
dred Kaffirs, miserably intoxicated, with
broken heads and eyes nearly knocked out
as the result of drunken fights. The
liquor is an abominable whisky of local
manufacture, made and supplied often by
the very men who preach religion and
temperance to the negro.
The peculiarly bad conditions af
fecting the mining Industry are confined
to the Transvaal. In the other Dutch re
publics such flagrant abuses do not exist,
and the consequent change In govern
mental conditions will be correspondingly
less. But there will be an indirect benefit
at Kimberley from reduced cost of po
litical administration, which will not be
without influence.
i e
Britain's Dockyards.
Scottish American.
Britain possesses several home dock
yards, situated respectively at Portsmouth,
Sheerness, Chatham, Pembroke, Gosport
and Deptford; but, perhaps, more Import
ant in the event of continued strife, she
also possesses dockyards at Gibraltar, Mal
ta, Halifax, Bermuda, Cape of Good Hope,
Jamaica, Ascension island, Trlncomalee,
Sydney, Esquimau and Hong Kong. Malta
is the most extensive of all the colonial
depots, and here vessels of the largest
dimensions can be docked and repaired.
C 1
The Boer nail the Devil.
Louisville-Courier Journal.
There is a story of a Boer farmer who
answered a doubter of the existence of a
personal devil by getting down the family
Bible. ""Why, I can show you his pic
ture," he declared, turning to a cut of the
Old Boy, hoofs, tail, horns, and all. That
sort of man may not be a shining light in
civilization, but he usually makes a pretty
good soldier.
0 6
Aid to Memory.
Philadelphia Press.
"Tou don't get much chance to ride
your wheel this weather."
"No."
"I guess you almost forget you have a
wheel, eh?"
"Oh, no! I'm still paying the install
ments." A Sufferer.
Indianapolis Journal.
"Has the thirteen superstition had any
Influence In your life?"
"Influence? Iim the youngest In a
large family, and I wish I had a dollar
for every dinner I've had to eat off the
sideboard."
e
Envy.
Atlanta Constitution.
It is said that Mr. Howells gets ?10 a
line for his poetry. "And Just think of
It," exclaimed one of tho envious, "he
can write a thousand lines a day!"
1 t O-I" ' '
Altrnlsm.
Chicago Record.
"How did Sinclair Shabbs win that rich
Boston girl?"
"He told her to think of all the luxuries J
she would be able to give him if she
married him."
o
Hot His Choice.
Chicago News.
She Tou're Inclined to be stout, aren't
you?
Ho (rather ahssJJo, indeed. I simply
can't heln.it.
NOTE A3M) COMMENT.
"Why does not England put this Trans
vaal question to Reltz?
The navy is said to need more officers.
It certainly needs more Deweys.
Factories put money into circulation, of
course, but nothing to compare with sen
atorial elections.
Probably when Ladysmith falls, some
of the generals who were sent to relieve.
It will hear something drop.
Reinforced by the Japanese poodle, the
Russian bear ought to be able to cope
with any dragon that ever flew.
Tho contractor who took the Job of float
ing the lightship seems to have discov
ered that she Is not a light ship after alL
It looks now as If the quickest way to
reach Ladysmith will be to dredge out
the Tugela and sail up with the sear
sweeping British navy.
It 13 evident that no platform will ba
strong enough to uphold the trusts, al
though the platform builders will un
doubtedly hold them up.
Now New Tork is going to improve her
canal. If she would combine with Chi
cago perhaps between thm they would
be able to carry out that Nicaragua pro
ject. Bryan says he Is carrying around a bar
rel of oil to pour on the troubled waters
of democracy. He Is more llkaly, how
ever, to pour It on. some burning; Ques
tion. Among the earliest of Oregon's sprlnff
vegetables that grow out-doors all winter
ore Brussels sprouts. If your garden area
Is limited, the quickest way to get them
Is to sprinkle cabbage seed over your
Brussels carpet in the evening and harvest
the sprouts for breakfast next morning.
At th eCIty Park Sunday afternoon th
old pioneer white-headed eagle jumped
oft the perch plump Into the bath-trough.
"Aha!" said Parkkeeper Myers, "that
mean3 a change In the weather moro
rain. That eagle always takes a bath
when rain 13 coming on; never knew it
to fall." It was bright and sunshiny at
the time, but the sidewalks were wet next
morning.
The heads of Chinese firms, drsssed In
their be3t long-tailed blue silk night
shirts, were out calling most of yester
day, accompanied by their children, clad;
In all the colors' of tho rainbow, gayer
than the lilies of the field, and as bril
liant as birds of paradise. At avery placo
they visited they left their calling cards
long strips of red paper with a few Chi
nese hieroglyphics on them and were giv
en In return a similar card. Wine and
other liquors, cigars, sweetmeats, etc..
were furnished all callers, and expres
sions of good-will and a happy New Tear
were heard on all hands.
Misfortunes never come singly, and Syl
vester Pennoyer has found this out. To
have his dwelling seized in the unrelent
ing grasp of the law was bad enough,
but there are other ways of making ducks
and drakes of one's property than goins
bondsman for an unfeeling and heart
less city. Mr. Pennoyer has a little farm
at "Woodstock, on which he has a largo
duck pond, and recently he purchased a
dozen duck3 to stock this pond, looking
forward to having a large flock next fall.
The ducks were duly sent to tha farm
and turned loose on the pond, when tha
man in charge of the place discovered
that 11 of them were drakes. Further
particulars are unnecessary, but there
are other things accursed under the gold
standard.
"When the animal transport Lennox left
Portland she had In addition to har band
of horses and mules an Immense quantity
of Portland bran. It was god bran, and
no one at Its birthplace ever dreamed
that It would meet the fata it did. Manila
papers just received say that people along
the water-front there were recently sur
prised one morning at seeing the bay filled
with floating sacks of bran. It was Port
land bran, and the cause of its being over
board was quickly traced up. The natives
had been kept at work all night unloading
the Lennox, and in order to lighten their
toil and save two other handlings of the
bran, they had dropped overboard every
third sack. They thought that there was
luck in odd numbers, and they consider
ately allowed the government to retain
two-thirds of the bran.
ii) s
Torpedo-Boat Destroyers.
Blackwood.
The demands upon the officers and men
of a torpedo-boat destroyer are enormous.
Comfort, as It is understood in a big ship,
is quite unknown. Even in what Is known
as moderate weather, cooking is almost
an impossibility, though this Is less to be
regretted, for tho dura ilia of the most
Inured seafarer often give way, and ho
feels a certain distaste for food when,
besides the extremely lively motion given
by the waves, the whole structure vibrates
and trembles under the strokes of the en
gines and the kick of the propellers. Tho
duties, which torpedo-boat destroyers
would be called upon to undertake in war
time are desperate In their risks.
Tho little ships are the enfants perdua
of the fleet. Even if they can carry their
dread assault to a successful Issue, it will
only be by the greatest chance, thay they
themselves escape destruction. The torpedo-boat
destroyer officers look coldly up
on death as their more than probable
fate In action, but each thinks that every
thinghimself, his ship and crew will bo
well lost If he can only plant one deadly
stroke which sends 'a battle-3hip to tho
bottom. It Is a comparison between a few
thousand pounds' worth of structure, its
armament, and a crew of less- than 50 all
told, against a floating castle which rep
resents more than a million of money and
carries TOO or SCO of an enemy'3 seamen.
a
Klssinsr Onr Boyi Good-XIfcht.
V.". L. Sandford In Galveston News.
Ohf what a change comes over thlaga,
What quiet Alls tho place;
The winter evening slowly drags.
The purple flames that race
Far up the chimney seem t shad
Less cheerful warmth and Hsht,
"When, putting on their llttte gowns,
We kiss our boys rood-night.
"We follow them oft as they gs
With rlnglngr laugh and shout.
To fondly tuck them In the bed
And turn the gaslight out;
And, clasped In one another's arms,
So warm and snug and tight.
They fill our hearts with wowhlp
When wo kiss our boys good-night.
And as they drift to slumberland
We linger 'round thenr cot.
For lof a strange enchantment
Binds U3 voiceless to the spot.
And life somehow grows sweeter.
And the vexing cares take flight.
When, bending o'er their sleeping form
We kiss our boys good-night.
Then, looking to the future.
Into whose mysterious years
They must go to meet Hfe"3 issues.
Now with gladness, now with tearsj
We prav that He may lead, them
Ever ln.the path of right.
When no more beneath our raof tres
We may kJs? our boys good-nlgaU