Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1900)
B THE ttORXIXft OHEGOXIAX, V$TUK7)AY, JULY 21, 1900. x$ Qitesgouicm I Entered t the Postoffice at Portland. Oregon. as second-class matter. TELEPHONES. Editorial Booms.... ICG I Business Office... .C67 REVISED SUBSCRIVnON RATES. Br Hall (noMace oreD&ld). tn Advance I Daily, with Sundar. txr month $0 83 Dal.y, Sundaj excepted, per year... 7 00 jDsu.y, with hunday, pfr year 8 W0 I Sunday, te- ear 2 00 iThe Weekly, per year :....'.... 1 50 IThe Week 3 months 50 2 oo jj To City Subscribers I Daily, per week, delivered. Sundays excpted.loc Daily, per week, delivered. Sundays lncluded-20e POSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada, and Mexico: J 10 to 10 page paper ...1c 1 16 to 22-page plr 2c orwgn rates double. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonlan should be addressed Invariably "Editor The Oregonlan," not to the name of cny IndivtluaL Ittra relating to advertising. subscriptions or to any buMnesa matter should be addressed simply "The Orgonlan." Tho Oregonlen does not buy poem or stories (from lrdlviduals. and cannot undertake to re I turn any manuscripts wnt to It without solicita tion. 2o stamps should be Inclosed for this 'purpose. Puget Sound Bureau Captain A. Thompson. office at 1111 Pacific avenue. Tacoma. Box 833. I Tacoma postofllce. Eastern Business Office The Tribune build ing, New Tork City; "The Rookery," Chicago; the S. C Beckwith special agency. New Tork. For eale in San Francisco by J. K. Cooper. Ti8 Market street, near he Palace hotel, and Jt Goldsmith Bros.. 236 Sutter street. For sale In Chicago by the P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street. TODAY'S WEATHER. Fair and cooler; I "westerly winds. PORTLAND, SATURDAT, JULT 21. "INAXIEXABLE RIGHTS OF MAT.' Governor Rogers, of the State of "Washington, has sent out a new edition of his pamphlet on "The" Inalienable Hights of Man." "We have looked over it with some care. Chief of these in alienable rights we find to be the right of the individual to be supported by the state especially If the individual be a trifling fellow who doesn't like to work. This, indeed, is the basis of Bryanlsm. J.t is the socialistic idea. It is govern mental paternalism. It is the war of the indolent, the unenterprising, the worthless, on those who by intelligent industry and constant exercise of pru- "dence and self-denial with it, have nanaged to acquire property. All such, In the judgment of Governor Rogers, are enemies of "the people." This, moreover, is the basis of Bryan poll- itics. It Is the underlying postulate of Ihe Kansas City platform. It proposes, In effect, to make the country carry its shiftless, idle, trifling or worthless pop ulation, and give them everything they want, without the necessity of plan ning, working and striving for it. Governor Rogers tells us that "free land is the first demand of nature." Nobody has any right to land. The land belongs to "the people." Private owners are usurpers. So, in regard to all other property. There ought to be equal division. There is no reason why one man should have more than an other. The state should "fix" all alike. The man of industry, prudence and self-denial is not entitled to anything more than the man of self-indulgence and sloth. Indeed, the disposition to work, the exertion of superior force of mind and the application of it to the affairs of life, are signs of a disposition of injustice and tyranny which the state ought to suppress. "Why, indeed, why in the name of justice, in a coun try where equality is or should be the rule, is one man allowed to get the start of another? And yet, under our sys tem and practice, "inalienable rights" are thus trampled under foot! Again, if anybody is allowed to make money in manufacturing or mercantile pursuits, we are told that the system is wrong and oppressive. Nobody is to be permitted "to levy tribute upon ex change." To admit this is to deny or disparage another fundamental, nat ural and inalienable right of man. But in that state of nature to which this oracle appeals, there is no ex change, for there Is nothing to ex change. In primitive times, that was the condition at Puget Sound. But after all. Governor Rogers doesn't find his ideal in the primitive conditions at Puget Sound, when the natives had the absolute equality that Is the basis of his system of inaliena ble rights. His ideal republic of the present time Is the Puyallup reserva tion. But he doesn't see how artificial it is. He proceeds to tell us that ad joining the little city where he once lived (Tacoma) there is a comparatively small Indian reservation, containing some thousands of acres of valuable land. On this land each family has its cabin. Its little field and its domestic animals; there is a free home to every member of the tribe, and there is ex emption from taxation, which Boon would pauperize them all. Governor Rogers calls these "natural" conditions, and he calls them ideal. These people "are in possession of one of the great natural rights of man, the right to free use of the soil; a right with which na ture, or the Creator, has endowed each and every child born into the world, yet now by our laws largely denied to white citizens " But what put the Indians in this posi tion, and what has supported them in it? Money wrung from the toll of the pecple of the United States. That land always was there, but the Indians did not use it. The United States took hold of it, put it in cultivation, built houses for the occupants, supplied them with domestic animals and with Imple ments of agriculture, hired workmen and overseers, established schools and paid the cost, and even furnished the Indians with food and clothing. This superintendence by the United States, at the cost of better people than the In dians, continues. But Governor Rog ers thinks the condition of the Indians at Puyallup the height of felicity; and the conclusion derivable from his argu ment is that he wants the United States to settle us all upon reservations. He tells us that the condition of these In dians is better than that of the greater part of the people in the adjacent City of Tacoma; and further, that "it would appear that white families should be at least as well provided for as are In dians." It would be fine, no doubt; yet there are some who would hardly be content with the Indian reservation system as the embodiment of the high est results of civilization; nor does it appear where the money would come from to support the people of the United States on this ideal reservation system. Go ernor Rogers we take to be a good representative of the socialistic idea that has converted the Democratic party into the Bryan party. The social istic or communistic doctrine penetrates the parts', through and through. The shriek for free silver, the outcry against property, the clamor about Imperialism, are but signs or offshoots of the funda mental idea, The whole movement is profoundly socialistic, touched here and there, more or less deeply, with com munism and anarchism. No intelligent observer can misunderstand its charac ter and tendency. No man is to have any advantage in property or business oyer any other man. Government is to put all upon absolute equality. For tunes are to be leveled. And then, of course, there will be a return to the conditions of primitive and savage life. Then there will be no large taxpaylng class who may be drawn upon for cre ation and support of the Puyallup res ervation scheme. It is this hostility to private property that everywhere animates and supports the Bryan scheme of politics. It is a tendency to hark back to barbarism. The appeal for it Is addressed chiefly to ignorant and irresponsible suffrage, and there it finds. its main response. The real object is to use government as a means of spoliation, for support of in dolence and incapacity. It is a tend ency which the immense power found ed on universal suffrage gives to poli ticians who strive for their own ad vancement by showing the Indolent and inefficient how they may hope for ad vantage to themselves by voting away the property which others have accu mulated through Industry and labor. This is the basis of the campaign of the Bryan party, and Governor Rogers helps to make It plain by his doctrine of the Inalienable right of idleness and inefficiency to take the fruit of patient. I persevering and self-denying Industry. A large part of mankind want to get for nothing those things that are due only to steady, prudent and self-sacrificing labor, pursued without intermis sion or relaxation of effort, through the whole lifetime; and to men of this description the party led by Bryan makes its principal appeal. It is an at tack not merely on wealth in Its larger aggregations, but on every man's mod erate savings. The man who has accu mulated something by his industry, and doesn't want to share It, through com pulsory legislation, with those who "want something for nothing," would do well to vote against the party of Rogers and Bryan. For what reason has Governor Steunenberg, of Idaho, been rejected? Because he put down rioters, dynamiters, destroyers of prop erty. Why the declaration against gov ernment by injunction? Because the injunctions complained of were a means of preserving order, stopping riot and preventing renewal of attack on prop erty and destruction of life. It is tyr anny, it seems, to Interfere with these "inalienable rights of man." A GALLANT SOLDIER. Colonel Emerson H. Llscum, Ninth United States Infantry, who fell at the head of his regiment in the assault on Tien Tsin, has been buried at Tong Ku. Colonel Llscum was born in Bur lington, "VL, in 1841; he was among the first to answer Lincoln's call for troops in April, 1861, and served in the ranks of a three months' regiment at the fight of Big Bethel, Va., in June, 1861, where Theodore Wlnthrop was slain. He en listed in the Twelfth United States In fantry in February, 1S62; was wounded at Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1S62; was commissioned Second Lieutenant in February, 1S63; was badly wounded at Gettysburg, July 2, 186S. He became Captain In the Nineteenth United States Infantry In 1870; Major of the Twenty second United States Infantry in 1892; Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty fourth United States Infantry in May, 1896. He accompanied the Twenty fourth Infantry to Cuba, and was badly wounded at San Juan Hill, July 1, 1898. For his services he was promoted to be Brigadier-General of Volunteers, in August, 1898. He became Colonel of the Ninth United States Infantry, May 16, 1899, and accompanied his regiment to Manila. Colonel Liscum was brevetted during the Civil War for gallantry at Be thesda Church, Va., and before Peters burg. The American Navy lost some minor officers fighting the Chinese in Novem ber, 1S56, but Colonel Llscum Is the first American Army officer to die In battle under the flag in China. He was an admirable soldier; a man of excep tional modesty, of absolute sobriety, a man of strict honor, courtesy, human ity, discretion and courage. With the scars of three wounds already upon him, he started for the Philippines, lit tle expecting to get his death wound in China. Colonel Llscum left a wife, the daughter of the late General Alex ander S. Dlven, who was an eminent citizen of Eimira, N. Y., and Colonel of the One Hundred and Seventh New York Volunteers In the Civil War. THE RETIRED LIST. The retired list of the regular Army Includes 7C4 officers. Of this total, there are 327 officers who are 65 years of age and upwards to 88. which is the age of Brigadier-General D. H. Rucker. Four officers are 85, two 84, two 82, three 81, two 80, four .79, twelve 78, nine 77, six teen 76, fourteen 75, fourteen 74, ten 73, twenty 72, fifteen 71, twenty-six 70, forty-one 69, thirty 63, twenty-nine 67, thirty-three 66. and fbrty 05. The oldest officer of the Army now living, Brigadier-General Daniel H. Rucker, was appointed to the Army from civil life in 1837. He was brevet ted for gallant and meritorious con duct at the-battle of Buena Vista. The next oldest officer of the Army, and the oldest living graduate of "West Point, is Major William Austine, of the class of 183S, who was brevetted for gallan try at the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco. Among the other officers of the retired list who are veterans of the Mexican "War are Generals "Wilcox and T. J. Wood; Colonels Getty, L. P. Graham, John P. Hatch, Fitz John Por ter, L N. Palmer, M. D. Simpson, James Oakes, and Captain N. J. T-. Dana. Among the surviving Mexican "War veterans outside the regular Army are General "William B. Franklin, of the Union Army, who is 77, and General James Longstreet, of the Confederate Army, who is nearly 81. Among the distinguished Generals of the Union Army upon the retired list are Ll.eu-tcnant-General Schofield, who is '69; Generals D. E. Sickles, 77; Howard, 70; McCook, 69; Ruger, 67; Wheaton, 67; Forsyth, 66; Merrltt, 64; Balrd, 76; D. S. Stanley, 72; Parke, 73: Bradley, 78; Carr, 69; Long, 63. Colonel John Green Is 75, and Major T. I. Eckerson is 79. Only 25 per cent of the total number of officers upon the retired list are gradu ates of "West Point; 12 per cent were ap pointed from the Army, and 63 per cent were appointed from civil life. The gallant Ninth Infantry is prob ably in sore straits at Tien Tsin. It has been in sore straits before, and came out with a record of undiminished bravery and effectiveness, though with sadly depleted numbers. It is pain fully apparent that the allied troops before Tien Tsin are greatly outnum- bered by a well-equipped and deter mined foe, and that the losses all along the line will be heavy. Of these losses it is not surprising that the Ninth has had its full share, since it is noted for being found, when occasion calls, "on the rough edge of battle." NEW ENGLAND HAS MOVED WEST. Rural New England Is charged with social and religious degeneracy by sev eral New England critics. Including Governor Rollins, of New Hampshire, who makes a good showing of facts in support of his position that non-church-golng people are far more numerous in rural New England than they were fifty years ago. Limited to the rural population proper as found in the small villages, it may not be denied that the charge of degeneracy is not easy to refute. The present indications are that the June census will return the foreign-born population of New Eng land as 1,750,000, against 600,000 foreign born residents In 1880, and 1,100,000 foreign-born residents in 1E90. Half of these foreign-born residents are found in Massachusetts. There are probably 300,000 Irish-born inhabitants in Massa chusetts, and some 225,000 Canadians. There are some 30,000 Germans in that state, and an equal number In Con necticut. There are 3000 Portuguese in Massachusetts, and Immigrants are in creasing. There are 100,000 Irish-born in Connecticut, and at least 75,000 Ca nadians in Maine. A considerable num ber of Irish and Canadians become farmers in New England, and the Por tuguese become farmers, fishermen and millhands. These newcomers of all sorts are welcome, for they replace the more progressive inhabitants who have gone "West. The ambitious, vigorous young men of New England find bet ter opportunity for their powers in the small towns of the West than In the big manufacturing cities of New England, and there is a steady flow of New Eng land's best rural population to New York, Ohio, Illinois, the trans-Mlssls-slppl states and the Pacific Coast. The competition of Western agricul ture has caused the abandonment of a good deal of New England farming land in the mountain and hill towns of Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecti cut, What was once an old-time vil lage center, but Is now overgrown with forest trees, is not an exceptional sight in the Green Mountain region. The able farmer, when he lost his purchas ing power, "pulled up stakes," and the enterprising village storekeeper was obliged to follow the example of his customers. The steam railroad and the trolley have wrought the destruction of these old-time flourishing small New England villages. The great factories have starved out the small industries. Out of this stagnant industrial environ ment and social atmosphere every rest less, aspiring New England boy hastens to escape. He seeks employment In the large towns and cities of his state, or goes to work for a railroad, so that the large towns and cities of New England show growth while the small villages dwindle or stand still. But the vast majority of the vigorous, ambitious young blood of New England goes West; in fact, has been going West steadily for sixty years. Of course, the native-born and bred New Englander who lacks the physical energy or mental hardihood to aban don the dnll, decaying cot where he was born, is sure to degenerate. Under such conditions of deserted farms and declining villages, human deteriora tion is sure to follow. The social at mosphere of these small villages Is hap pily described by Judge Oliver Wen dell Holmes, of the Massachusetts Su preme Court, as full of the ennui of life rather than its sublime mystery. Religious indifference is prevalent. The boys are without any of the Idealism of youth. The young men have no seri ousness, but are Instinct with the bru tal cynicism that is a natural growth from an indolent and spiritless life. These dull and weak New England de generates, when they work at all, drop down into the ranks of unskilled labor, and not a few of them help to make a startling record for crime in the rural districts. The New England newspa pers admit that Western Massachu setts, New Hampshire and Maine have much of the old Yankee stock scattered over the hillsides that is of bad quality run out and welcome the foreign Im migrants as far superior to the native idler and degenerate of the hills, for the native degenerate of the farms is de scribed by the Springfield Republican as a man "without ambition, who sinks rapidly into moral torpor and often be comes a criminal of the most dangerous type." The failure of the church to reach these New England degenerates Is well known. They are among the most hopeless of all the heathen of civilization. Out of this cold bog of New England social dullness, out of these little mountain towns, came mans years ago a startling growth of rellg ious cranks and charlatans; prophets of the quality of Joseph Smith, Will lam. Miller, Brigham Young and John H. Noyes, the evangelist of commun ism, which Included sexual stirpicul ture. The best of rural New England went west many yoars ago, and as a result lives today in the rural life of the great states of the Middle West. The dull or spiritless New Englander who still sticks to the dreary, listless environ ment of his small mountain town is doubtless Justly described today as de generate; he is the dregs of a fine stock, even as the Georgia "cracker" is the dregs of a fine stock. The best of New England still holds its own in her large towns and cities, and In the small towns of the West. One passage In Mrs. Conger's letter to a friend In Des Moines should secure attention from all who take malicious pleasure in the observation that mis sionaries from China hither would be -quite as much in order as missionaries to China hence. She says: We see very much In our servants to respect, admire and even love. They are so patient, faithful, attentive, thoughtful and kind. The qualities of character they manifest surprise me. Heathens? In some ways, and so are we alL This frank utterance. Intended for no eye but the recipient's, discovers the character of the typical missionary in a way whioh should disarm malevo lence and set out In bold relief the bar barism sometimes extolled as the equal or the superior of Christianity. This devoted woman, who, looking on her Chinese servants and seeing the good in them, learned "to respect, admire and even love," who bore voluntary tribute to their "patience, kindness and fidelity," whose catholic spirit ex claimed, "If they are heathens, s'o are we all" Is probably filling a dishon ored grave in Pekin, her frail body fiendishly maltreated and dismembered by the heathen hordes she loved and sought to help. For her faith and con secration to the truth as she saw it she has suffered martyrdom, and passed Into that blessed company of those who have for conscience sake been stoned and sawn asunder and slain with the edge of the sword. Of whom the world was not worthy. It is to be earnestly hoped that Eu gene V. Debs will develop the moral courage to resist overtures made to him to cancel his entry in the Presidential race. Such withdrawal would leave only eight starters, as follows: For President. For Vice-President. REPUBLICANS: William McKlnley. Theodore Roosevelt, of Ohio. of New Tork. DEMOCRATS: Wm. J. Bryan, of Nebraska, .Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois. P0FUL1ST8: Wm. J. Bryan, of Nebraska. Charles A. Towns, of Minnesota. MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD POPULISTS: Wharton Barker, Ignatius Donnelly, of Pennsylvania. of Minnesota. PROHIBITIONISTS: John G. Woolley, of Illinois. Henry B. Metcalf, of Rhode Island. SOCIALIST LABOR: Job Harriman, . Max 8. Hayes, of California. of Ohio. SOCIALISTS: Valentine Remmlll, of Pennsylvania. DB LEON Joseph F. Malloney, of Massachusetts. UNITED CHRISTIANS: Dr. S. C Swallow, John G. Woolley, of Pennsylvania, of Illinois. Besides, if Debs declares out, what will become of hiB running mate, Job Harriman, of California, the Social Democrats' entry for Vice-President? If the Republican National Committee is correctly quoted In Its decision to send Roosevelt to the West, it has taken the advice of some one of dis cernment. Here is a device for injec tion of life into an otherwise dull cam paign. Let Roosevelt, Lodge and Lit tlefield come West, and let Wolcott, Lafe Young and Governor Geer, of Oregon, go East. They will get audi ences who could not be attracted by the old familiar names. And let the Democrats do likewise. What a fine campaign the Bryan people could put up In the West with .fifteen or twenty speeches each from Hill, Daniel, Grady and George Fred Williams I And how it would stir up Democratic enthusiasm for Towne and Thomas, Steve White and Dockery to go down the line for Bryan and Stevenson through New York, Pennsylvania and New Englandl These strictly bi-partisan suggestions are offered gratis, and with due regard to the temperature of the season. If we must have a campaign, why not have a diverting one? Official announcement of yearly gifts and endowments was part of the pro gramme of many of the higher Institu tions of learning at the commencement exercises last month. These gifts were bestowed this year with a liberal hand, both upon Eastern and Western insti tutions, the latter, if anything, faring the better of the two. Of the former, Brown University, in Providence, R. I., announced at the reunion of its alumni that through the generosity of Mr. Rockefeller and its alumni and the en terprise of its president, It would enter upon its inext year's work richer by a round million dollars than before. This Is significant, In view of the fact that during the incumbency of E. Benjamin Andrews as Its president the endow ments of the institution grew Smaller and smaller each year, showing that financial fallacies and economical va garies are not meat upon which educa tional institutions feed In these practi cal, common-sense days. - - The Seattle Time3 says It has Inside Information that the census of its city will show the population to be about 85,000. We have no certain information yet as to the census of Portland. But we know there are 20,489 school children in Portland, and 14,507 In Seattle. Also, that the registered vote of Portland is 16,300; that of Seattle 10,940. If, there fore, on her ratio of voters and school population Seattle has a total popula tion of 85,000, Portland, on the like ra tio, should have a population of fully 125,000. However, Portland has not nearly so many. We think the return will be under 95,000. But If the return for Seattle should be 85,000, there will be "stuffing" In it to the extent of at least 20,000. Her school census, just returned, and her registration of voters for the present year, make It Impossible that her aotual population should ex ceed 65,000. ' An anonymous friend and well wisher sends in the following request: Dear Sir: After diligent perusel of your paper I am In dout whether you would advise mo to vote for McKlnley or Bryan. You speak of the coming of election day and lnterroate that a man might as well take to the woods on Nov. S. Is this the most dennate advise you have to offer? If our correspondent is situated so he can, we urge him to employ election daj in Eome neighboring grammar school and form a speaking acquaint ance with the English language. It is not the business of government to protect men against the consequences of their own rashness and folly. It may be due to humanity that measures be taken to rescue men who were fool ish enough to go without necessary equipment to Cape Nome; but there 4s no ground for appeal in their behalf as matter of right. If government is to adopt the policy of protecting people against their own Improvidence, it will have business enough. The fact that Minister Conger sent a cipher dispatch at some date undeter mined, conveying information that he and other foreign representatives were in extreme peril, is not of the highest Importance. The question is not whether he was alive June 20 or July 6, but is he alive now? Minister Wu's dispatch says "the State Department's telegram has been handed to Minister Conger." If this can be done, why cannot other infor mation be adduced? Why is the date missing from Conger's telegram? Observe that Conger speaks of being under fire from "Chinese troops." He doesn't say Boxers or Insurgents, and he knows the significance of words. Added particulars of Boxer atrocities lead to the belief that they must have been recruited partly from the ranks of Hoboken tugboat captains. Mrs. Bryan in Politics. St Louis Globe-Democrat: Lincoln, Neb. The Bryan of 1D00 Is not exactly the Bryan of 1S96. An evolution has taken place. It is in the direction of more Bryan. The ego has grown. "Mrs. Bryan has got the strongest say so of any woman I over saw," Chairman Jones, of the National committee, had oc casion to remark to tome of his feliow commltteemen four years ago. The com mittee had found it Impossible to manage the candidate, The only person- who seemed to do- so was Mrs. Bryan. She dictated the retirement of Gorman from the head of the committee. Mr. Bryan consulted her on the plans of the cam paign, and deferred to her intuitions. When Mrs. Bryan said one thing, and tho National committee another, the for mer "went" with Bryan. Mrs. Bryan's personality is till impres sive, but not eo much so as it was four years ago. And it may be added that the National committee cuts an even lea conspicuous figure than it did then. Four years ago Mrs. Bryan was almost as much a part of the campaign as Mr. Bryan. She went everywhere with him. "She was always at his elbow to give him tho right hunch," to quote one of the coterie of Bryan men at Lincoln. Mrs. Bryan participates in the porch and parlor conferences. Mr. Bryan listens to her views. But all of those around him say that while no change has taken place in the mutual confidence. Mr. Bryan no longer depends upon Mrs. Bryan for Judgment and guidance, ao he did. They add that Mr. Bryan has grown and broadened a great deal. "Grown, yes; broadened, no!" Bryan has grown. He soys "1" with more emphasis than in 1ES3. A SICKENING DOSE. Ho-rr an Arkansas Democratic Organ Takes Its Medicine. Pine Bluff (Ark.) Prcee-Eagle. Bryan has again proved himself a big ger man than tho Democratic party by forcing a. specific 16-to-l-free-silver-or-bust plank in the platform adopted at Kaasaa City. This was done against the advice and best judgment of nearly all the prominent party leaders from all sec tions of tho country: but they finally bowed their beads- and bent their wills to that of the eminent Nebroskan, who threatened over a long-distance telephone not to accept the nomination unices the platform was constructed to suit him. This, meant that he would run on the platforms of tho Populists and Free-Silver Republicans and defeat any other man the National Democracy might name as Its candldatq for the Presidency. The "bhiff," whether sincere or otherwise, had its desired effect, and the leaders of the great party of Jefferson smothered their convictions and Inserted a plank in the platform which they know from the experience of the past will alienate the Eastern and Middle Western States from tho party, without one of more of which thero is not tho slightest hope of Demo cratic success at the polls in November next. The plank in tho platform that calls for Independence for the Filipino?, a sub ject race, confessedly unfitted for self government, while this Government shall undertake to protect them from foreign invasion, ia by no means the least of the inconsistencies and absurdities of the Bryan dictated platform, and: will never receive the support and sanction of a. ma jority of the American people. But we should not forget that it is Mr. Bryan who is again running for President of the UnHed States, and that, as in 1896, he is not obliged or beholden to the De mocracy alone for the privilege. We aro only one of a thxee-cornerd political alli ance of that distinguished gentleman's formation for his own uses and purposes; and as he controls absolutely and unequi vocally three-thlrdB of the etock in said political alliance, it Is perhaps meet and proper that he should dictate all the platforms and conduct the triple-headed crusade against a sound currency and the bugbear of imperialism as his own sweet v.ill and fancy Iteteth. That Mr. Bryan to a consistent and per sistent man his own enemies will admit; we have the word of tho Memphis Commercial-Appeal that ho is a great, intense and good man, and that he is a much-deluded man wo need no more certain evi dence titan his own recent assertion that he will carry all tho Eastern and North ern States, not even conceding rock ribbed Republican Vermont to McKln ley. But he Is Democracy's candidate for tho Presidency, and as such we hoist hln name alongside that of that sterling time tested Democrat. Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, m the hope that Time, the torofo bulkter and leveler of all things terres trial, may look with a kindly eye upon the weaknesses and errors of the pusil lanimous alleged leaders of the once proud and all-powerful Democratic party, and in tho end rescue them from the slough of Populism and despond into which they were plunged by a meaning less metaphor a borrowed figure of speech at Chicago one blood-heating, brain-beclouding, oventful July day four years ago. Tribute to Minister Conger. Des Moines Register. Major Conger was a perfect type of American manhood, and a better man never lived. Fifty-seven years have passed since the day he was born in Galesburg. 111., and they havo been busy and useful years. He was in Lombard University when the Civil War broke out, and went from there to the front, where he served throughout the war with great credit. After the war he began the prac tice of law in Galesburg, but In 1S70 he came to Iowa and bought a farm near Dexter. His public career began in that county, where he held a number of offi ces, among them Treasurer. In 1SS1 he was elected Treasurer of State, and held that office for two terms. In 1885 Major Conger was sent to Congress, and ho represented this district for three terms. In 1831 Mr. Conger was appointed Min ister to Brazil, and he served our country there until removed by President Cleve land. Mr. Conger then returned to Des Moines and engaged in business, among other things organizing tho Co-operative Bank of Iowa. When President McKln ley took his chair, Mr. Conger was reap pointed Minister to Brazil, and remained thero until President McKlnley tendered the appointment of Minister to Pekin, which he accepted at the President's re quest, and he has since rendered conspic uously able service at that post. That he has served faithfully and well every one who knew the man can testify, and when he went down before the sword In that last brave stand, when the ammuni tion was gone, his list thoughts were of the Stars and Stripes and his duty. He enlisted in tho Civil War at the age of 10, fought his way to a Majorshlp, and has 'now died at his post of duty serving his country. Blessed be the memory of such men as Major Conger. Don Dickinson's Prophecy. St, Paul Pioneer Press. Among the many leading Democrats who repudiate Bryan is Don M. Dick inson, who was Postmaster-General under Cleveland. In a recent lntervlow he said he entirely agreed with A. 'S. Hewitt, of New York, who had stated that he would not voto for Bryan for any office un der the National Government, no matter what platform he stood on. He was, ho said, one of those who sought to secure the elimination of the coinage clause from the Democratic platform, believing that that would defeat the nomination of Bryan. The movement was successful In point of numbers, but failed for lack of skillful leadership In the convention. "I now predict," he said, "that Bryan will not get within 2.000.000 as many votes as he did In 1S96." Speaking of Adlai Stevenson, he said that ho had never been a Gold Democrat, but was originally a Greenbacker. Stevenson was his assistant while Postmaster-General But he was silent on the money lssuo until the Chicago convention In 1S96. when he was a candidate for renomlnatlon and came out for free silver. Southern Iron Exports. New Tork Commercial. It Is only five years since the first for eign shipment of Iron was made from Birmingham, Ala. This was a shipment of 250 tons only, and was, of course, pure ly experimental. Birmingham's iron ex port Is now as high as 50,000 tons a week. Let It be remembered, too, that the man who made the initial shipment to Europe was a Southerner. Northern energy has done a good deal for Birmingham's iron industry, but it hasn't dono everything. THE ANSWER OF CIVILIZATION." Chicago Tribune. The long period of agonizing suspense is at an end. There can be no doubt now that the white men, women and children, numbering nearly 500 soldiers, missionar ies, members of foreign Legations and their families who were in Pekin are dead. There is room for hope, however, that the women and children met death at the hands of those who loved them, while the men fell fighting like gallant I gentlemen, and no one fell alive into the nanas oi tne uninese to expire unaer those tortures which their savage In genuity loves to inflict. This is not the first time, since Eng lishmen were thrust into the black hole at Calcutta, that white men have been the victims of Asiatic savagery. There was the Indian mutiny. At Cawnpore aboul 1000 died. Never before, however, has a blow been struck which has 'af fected so many nations and united the powers of tho earth in a new Asiatic crusade. But there is a day of reckoning In store. Among those powers whose Ministers have been murdered at PeKin there are some Portugal is one of them which are not strong enough to do much toward punishing those who have wronged them. There ere other powers which are strong and will not hesitate to use their strength. This country, Russia, Great Britain, France and Japan will not tako their hands from the plow until this Chinese question has been settled. To every contest between the powers of civilization and those of seml-clvlllzatlon there can be but one end the victory of the former. To secure that victory In tho case of China, patience, harmonious action on the part of the powers, and many soldiers will be required. They will be forthcoming. Nor will the United States, whose citizens, soldiers and civil ians have been so foully done to death, be found lacking at this urgent hour. St. Paul Pioneer Press. Thero Is no longer a shadow of doubt that the worst has happened and that all the foreign legations at Pekin have been destroyed and their inmates massacred. Including the Ministers and their wives and children and many other foreigners who have taken refuge there have been murdered by the Chinese troops, under the lead of Prince Tuan. with what cir cumstances of diabolical cruelty will per haps be never known. Such veiled and guarded utterances of the Chinese of ficials as have reached the coast cities no longer seek to conceal the horrible fact, but, are attempts to escape the con sequences by throwing the responsibility upon Prince Tuan, who is represented to have seized the reins of power a3 the head of the revolutionary Boxer move ment for tho extermination of the for eigners. "The extremity of a force ls.the nucleus of a reaction." The bursting out of the long pent-up floods of the Chinese hatred of foreigners, with its tragic consumma tion in the massacre of the Legatloners at Pekin. will. It is not to be doubted, prove the beginning of a new era for China. By that act she has invoked and made inevitable the invasion of her long cherished seclusion by the armed forces of modern civilization, to be followed by the far more powerful commercial forces, which will work the awakening of her people from their centuries of slumber and their conquest to the domain of modern civilization. Chicago Times-Herald. Thero can be no longer doubt that the Chinese Empire and no band of lawless Boxers is behind the vague horror that is mercifully hidden from Christian eyes In the shambles of Pekin. They were royal Chinese troops that beat back Admiral Seymour and his motley little army of rescuers. They are regular Chinese sol dierstaught if not actually led by the German drillmasters, who since the Jap anese war havo been converting a Chi nese mob into a modern army that are attacking Tien Tain. It is no Boxer horde, armed with the miscellaneous weapons of outlaws, that Is handling the Mausers and Maxims and Krupp guns with such deadly effect upon the allied forces. No; It is China, with her imperial le gions drawn from a teeming population that raises the yellow flag dripping with the blood of betrayed innocence and de fies a horror-stricken world. History presents no such spectacle, pro vides no parallel to which the statesmen and leaders of Christendom can appeal for guidance. The British experience in India comes the nearest In the elements of brutal force and superstitious race hatred. But the British had the skeleton of military organization and sovereignty in India by which they rallied and con quered. All Christendom has no footing in tho Chinese Empire and no common policy to direct Us campaign of retribu tion and atonement. That Christendom will find means to avenge the massacre of her innocents, the torture of her wounded defenders, tho mutilation of her dead, the fanatical de fiance of the common code of National honor and security, we do not for a mo ment doubt. China has taken up tho sword and the torch, and In fire and blood will China bo taught that there Is a power in civilization that rests on some thing besides myriads of subjects and tho fatalism of bloodthirsty rulers. Des Moines Register. It is tho most appalling spectacle of tho century, and there have been few worse In all history. The great massa cres of history are recorded as follows: In B. C. 331 Alexander put 8000 Tyrlans to tho sword and crucified 2000 for not surrender ing: Tyre. ,,,.. Marlus, the Roman General, slaughtered 200,000 Teutons and Ambrones near Alx In B. C. 102. Octavlanus Caesar ordered the death of 300 Roman Senators to the manes of Julius Caesar in B, C 40. Jews to the number of 1.100.000 were mas sacred in tho fall of Jerusalem. A. D. 70. Casslus. the Roman General, put to death 200.000 Inhabitants of Selucla In A. D. 103. The "Sicilian Vespers" massacre In 12C0. when over 8000 French were murdered at Palermo. JSt Bartholomew's massacre commenced on the evening of the festival at Paris In 1752. Seventy thousand Huguenots were murdered by secret orders from Charles IX, at the In stigation of his mother. Catherine de Medicls. Massacre of MacDonalds at Glencoe, Scot land. In 1G02, for not surrendering to King William. Twelve thousand Chinese put to death at Batavla In October, 1740, under pretext of In surrection. Twenty-four thousand native Christians re ported murdered In Cochin, China, and 22.000 In Annam. in 18S5. Native Christians la Armenia, numbering from 00,000 to 40,000, according to various re ports, killed by Kurds or Turkish soldiers In 1803. The whole Christian world has heard the dying cries of the tortured and butchered Christian men. women and children in Pekin, and China will now bo called upon to answer. Her life may bo tho penalty. NOTE AND COMMENT It isn't so hot as it might be. The work of the peace conference still goes merrily on in China. Bryan's voice is still for war so stlll-ln, fact that nobody can hear It. Now that sports are dull, why not get up a few lively thermometer races? A little more weather like this will draw out tho oldest inhabitant in largo numbers. If China wants to make a good showing on her census, she had better take it. Immediately. With half the world already engaged ln war. the Kentucky Democrats are "pull--lng off a convention. "When on some distant future day Some scientist shall turn the clay, To learn of prehistoric man. He'll find that Eryan also ran. : It Is reported that the Kansas corn crop Is in danger, and Mr. Bryan is beginning to breathe easily onco more. The navle3 can't use any of their boarders in tho interior of China, but they seem to have plenty of rumors In active operation. I Tho chances are that General Joe Wheeler will mistake the last trump for a call to arms, and apply for a commis sion at the front, "What are the wild waves saying?" ,i She asked, as they sat on the logs. "I cannot tell," replied the youth. "But they're saying. If they speak the truth. That tho hotel men are hogs." Huge Daub is the name of a candidate, for Presidential Elector in Missouri. It is not known how much of a figure ho will cut on the official canvass. Eleven Justices of the Peace in St. Louis, fastened upon the city by a Dem ocratic law, ask from the municipal treas ury $3197 70 for street-car fares In a sin gle year. In other words, each Justice spent SO cents In car fare every day in the year. The Kansas prison binding twine plant Is contesting with the binding twine trust for the trade of the state. Warden. Tomllnson says that the penitentiary plant will save the farmers of Kansas at least SXO.OOO this year, and every year as long as the state plant Is maintained. That Is twice as much as the plant cost. Strange we never miss the Winter when tho blizzard howls outdoors. Strange we never miss the Springtime when tha rain unceasing pours. Strange we never miss the Summer when tho nun Is hot o'erhead. Strange we never miss the Autumn when the woods are turning red; Though we think and think about It. still it strikes us very queer We never miss a single thing as long as It la here. The Mnrtyr.s of Pekin. S. E. Klser In Chicago Tlme-Herald. The little one looks In her mother's eyes While the wild mob howls without; "Oh. why do they starve us?" the llttto one cries, "And what Is the trouble about? What have we done, that they seek us today, Vowing to capture and torture and slay And why do the nations let us wait In hunger and danger and doubt? "And why do we hide?" the child demands, "And what have the guards to fear. Since thej that besiege are but savage bands. Armed with the bow and spear Slnee they that defend us have deadly guns; Why do they flee from the clamoring ones Why do they close and bar the gates Why are we starving here?" "We ha-e sold them guns." tho mother repUe,r "Of the best that we have In store. " And our agents are seeking to civilize And teach them and sell'them more, Fer ever where Civilization goes She hurries to arm and equip her foes With the engines of war she builds In the shops where her fires roar." "And why do the nations heslt-ie?" The child exclaims aghast; "Why must we suffer and starve and wait, Anl when shall the siege be past? , Havo not the powers been made aware Of the fato we fear and the woes we share, And will they not send their ships With conquering hosts, at last?" "At last! ah. yes!" the mother sighs, "They will come to avert the wrong They will como when the last defender Uaa Defiled by the savage throng! But ere they com thoy must take the map And mark for Briton and Russ and Jap And Gaul and German the zone That to each shall, at last, belong!" On the walls hangs many a martyr's head. Waiting the reckoning day! Wlwre they fell the ground Is accursed and red. And tho stains will not wear away! From the reeking ditches In which they 11 The bones of women and children cry For the vengeance the nations owe The debt that the world must jay. The Well-Rend Mnldcn. Baltimore American. Oh. yes. she read the papers; In fact, she had the blues Whenever It so happened She could not learn the news. And warn't It Just awful That Ladysmlth affair? The hat was not becoming; In fact, not fit to wear. Dear me! It was Just painful Tho news that -a:ne each day. Why, Just to think' Tho prices Are going up. tl-y say. She thought war "as a horror Humanity's dlsr . Why. It had ral. no prices On every kind lice! And politics? ft loved It. She thought It just too sweet. She hoped none of the tickets Would ever meet defeat. She doted on the papers That told of each dispute. And. oh. the campaign buttons She thought they wero so cute. And had she read this morning Tho terrible report That told of a great slaughter Around tho Chinese court? Great slaughter? Yes, she read it Sho had read It through and through It said that Bargalnseller Cut prices square In two. Oh. yes, she read the papers. Dear me! Sho always did. She loved the foreign letters From Paris and Madrid. Indeed, It was Important That she should take the while To read them, and keep posted Upon each change of style. Population of District of Columbia. Tho Census Bureau gives the percent age of increase of the population of tho District of Columbia during the last' decade as 20.93 per cent. This does not compare favorably with the gain for the preceding" decade, which was 29.7 per cent. This percentage was larger than that for the United States, which was 24.86 per cent. If the proportionate increase in the District of Columbia still exceeds that In the country at large, as was the case between 1S70 and 1SS0 and 1SS0 and 1S90. then the larger estimates of the popula tion of the United States will prove to be Incorrect. A gain of 20.9S per cent over 1890 will give a present population of only 75,270.000. The District has, however, at this time but 27S.217 inhabitants, or not much over one-third of 1 per cent of tho total population of the country. It is not safe to base conclusions regarding the United States on the result In the District of Columbia, which has no im portant manufacturing Industries, and which attracts only an Insignificant frac tion of the large foreign immigration. A