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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1901)
THE MORNING OREGONIAN, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY U, 1901. he rg0matt Entered at the Postofflce at Portland, Oregon, as second-class matter. TELEPHONES. Editorial Rooms.. ..lw . Business OQoe...6G7 REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. By Mail lpostage prepaid). In Advance Dally, wits Sunday, per month $ S3 Ualiy, Sutxta) excepted, per year 7 CO Dally, with Sunday, per year 8 00 Sunday, per year 2 00 The Weekly, per year 1 50 Thb "Weekly. 8 months 60 To City Subscribers Daily, per week, delivered. Sundays excepted.l5c Daliy, per week, delivered. Sundays lncluded.20c POSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada and Mexico: 10 to lG-page paper ...lc 16 to 82 page paper ....2c Foreign rates double. News or discussion intended for publication In The Oregonian should be addressed invaria bly "Editor The Oregonian." not to the name cf any individual Letters relating to advertis ing, subscriptions er to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonlan." The Oregonlan does not buy poems or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts seat to it without solici tation. No stamps should be inclosed for this purpose. Puget Sound Bureau Captain A. Thompson. oOct at 1111 Pacific avenue. Tacoma. Box 0o3. Tacoma PoetSlce. Eastern. Business Office The Tribune build ing. New York City; 'The Rookery." Chicago; the S C. Beckwith special agency. New York. For sale in San Francisco by J. K. Cooper, 740 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Gold ttrith Bros., 3 Sutter street; F. W. Pitts. 1008 Market street: Fester & Orear. Ferry News stand. For sale In Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner. 25D So Spring street, and Oliver & Haines. 103 So Spring street. For tale in Chicago by the P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street. For sale in Omaha by H. C Shears. 105 N. Sixteenth street, and Barkalow Bros., 1012 Farnam street. For sale in Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co 77 W Second South streat. For sale In New Orleans by Ernest A Co., 115 Royal street. On file In Washtncton D. C. with A. W. Dunn. COO lita N W. For sale in Denver. Colo., by Hamilton & Kendrick. 800-812 Seventh street. TODAY'S "WEATHER. Increasing cloudi ness, probably followed by rain; southerly xtlnds. PORTLAND, TUESDAY, FEB. 12. There Is a. Job of the worst character in House bill No. 45. It Is a bill to create in counties of 50,000 or more inhabitants the office of Public Admin istrator. The bill Is not for protection cf estates and heirs, of course, but has fur Its object the enrichment of grafters and looters, who intend to prey on es tates. Under this bill, if, within thirty days after the death of an Intestate, the widow or next of kin shall not have ap plied for letters of administration, this harpy, to be called the Public Adminis trator, Is to get in and begin his work of sucking the estate dry; and there will be no possibility of getting rid of him but by paying the full fees of ad ministration, whether he may have done anything or not. This is but one feature of the bill, which has been shrewdly drawn up by shysters, for the single purpose of looting estates and TObbing heirs. When the Public Administrator, who will lie in wait for every oppor tunity, shall once succeed In getting his "flippers" Into an estate, revocation of his administration "shall not Impair his right to receive from the estate his legal charges and disbursements, to be c 'inputed in the same manner and to the same extent as the charges and disbursements, including attorney fees, as fees of other administrators"; and, m Teover, such Public Administrator is tj have the guardianship of all minor heirs. The Oregonlan dislikes to use harsh terms, but it is compelled to say that this Is a scheme of robbery and Infamj, worked up in the interest of rascaldom. It begs the Legislature to reject it. The present law as to ad ministration and settlement of estates is good enough. The office of Public Administrator, whenever it has been created with considerable powers, has bourne a synonym for corruption and sr llatlon; and this -would be equal to the worst. "We cannot suppose the Tacoma Ledger intentionally misrepresents The Oregonlan. It Is evident, however, that it has carelessly read The Oregonlan. Else it would not say that The Ore gonlan urges that the pledge of inde pendence to Cuba, given by the United States, shall be broken. On the con trary. The Oregonlan has distinctly said, many times, that the pledge must be kept. But it has said, many times, and as plainly as possible, that it was a pledge that was wholly un necessary, that it ought never to have been given, and that it will certainly invle us in another war. Cuba does not belong to the United States. By our Cv venant we renounced the sovereignty, and by that covenant we are bound. Cuba is foreign territory, is setting up as an independent state, and will have all the rights and powers of a sovereign nati n. "What then? She will have a right to make such engagements with ether nations, to enter Into such rela tions with other nations, as she pleases. And Cuba is the key to the Gulf of Mexico and to isthmus transit. The time will come when we shall be com pelled to take measures to check or remove this menace to our interests, an I then we shall be compelled to flght some first-class power with which Cuba has entered into relations. This is -what will come of "the extreme demagogical stupidity" that gave the pledge by which we now are bound. S ire nation will acquire influence with Cuba, get a hold on Cuba, and mould its policy, which policy will be unfavor able to the United States. Then what? The Oregonlan is simply invoking the I r Idence that is, or should be, watoh i'ul in a state. An Interesting inquiry, whose answer can be furnished by time alone, is, H w Is community of railroad owner ship going to work to achieve the exact details of harmony upon which it has iresjmably determined? 'Most of us arc at least distantly acquainted with these entitles) of the railroad world cabled "traffic departments" and "oper ating departments." They have well J fined characteristics, and most of their leading figures are men of origin ality and force. All owners look alike to them. But even if we admit that Mr. Traffic Manager and Mr. General Su perintendent are to be moved about as rawns upon the chessboard by Messrs. Morgan, Harriman or Vanderbilt, the further speculation is pertinent. How is the shipper himself to be reduced to a bit of clay in the potter's hands? For it is an open secret that the tyrant cf the transportation world is Standard Oil or the Big Four in beef quite as often as it is the terror-stricken rail road, vainly pleading the moral law and the consent of the governed. That Is to say, a promoter is not necessar ily an operator, nor is a financier neces sarily a railroad man. Mr. Morgan, for example, is one of the ablest bankers in the world, but whether he can make steel as successfully as Mr. Carnegie did Is not to be admitted without dem onstration. So In the railroad field. "Who is going to decide whether the Northern Pacific shall build into the Clearwater country or abandon the ter ritory to the O. R. & N.? If the offi cers of the road can't decide It, or have their advice taken, the owners will shortly be looking for a president at $2000 or so a year. And if the design is to abolish discriminative freight rates so that the humble shipper Is to get the same figure per ton as his great rival gets on his thousand carloads, who is to nullify the acumen of the big shipper who plays one traffic bureau against another and gets rates, as it were, at wholesale? These great stock operations are easily engineered through "Wall street, but the actual management of the roads is yet in the hands of railroad men. Their part in the mat ter is yet to be ascertained, and how great a transformation has come over them must develop before the commu nity of ownership has any practical meaning. After all the Northern Pacific and Great Northern have done for Puget Sound cities in the business of foreign trade, it is a trifle wearisome to read in Seattle and Tacoma papers that the blessings those bumptious towns enjoy are wholly due to their own physical and intellectual superiority. The rea son why trans-Pacific steamships un load tea and rice and load up cotton and steel rails at Puget Sound docks Is simply because the transcontinental railroads with termini there are deter mined on that proceeding. Even then a large part of the outbound cargoes are derived from Oregon farms, mills and lumber camps, and a large part of the inbound cargoes are brought by rail to Portland consumers. The rail roads do this work for the benefit of their Puget Sound terminals and for the sake of the hauls they get on the merchandise that goes across the coun try. The superior wit and environment of Tacoma and Seattle are not in evi dence In the matter, or at Issue. So with Government transport outfitting, which has made business lively on Pu get Sound this last year or two. The Government ships horses and forage from Seattle, but they are Oregon horses, hay and oats, which the Gov ernment, In Its desire to do something for the railroads, hauls over to Puget Sound from Portland, or else they are Eastern supplies, which are also ob tained through railroad Influence for the long haul across the country. These same vessels are frequently In port in the Columbia River, the Government's diverting fiction being, first, that the ships cannot come here, though at times they are actually chartered while in Portland harbor and taken elsewhere to load, and, second, that supplies cost so much at Portland that the Govern ment is compelled to buy them here and reship them to Puget Sound. In all this unlovely record, the teeming resources of Puget Sound and the high business acumen of Its men stand out as clearly as sunken reef on a dark night. "We trust the Puget Sound pa pers will continue to expatiate upon the prowess of their cities in earning the prosperity their railroads have forced upon them. Otherwise, the gaps that would be left In their instructive columns might require some Intellectual exertion to fill. AVE HAVE TARRIED. It is evident that Congress will take no step this session for the Nicaragua Canal. "We cannot, Indeed, In decency go forward without first completing with Great Britain an arrangement for supercedure of the CJayton-Bulwer treaty, or giving her formal notice that we shall consider that treaty at an end, since the purposes for which it was negotiated have lapsed and therefore we must go forward now and construct the canal ourselves. But we cannot act abruptly, and the influences in the Senate that would put the canal off Indefinitely, or forever, are glad to have opportunity to hide behind the obsta cles which the Clayton-Bulwer treaty presents. The Oregonian never has thought it necessary, or even important, that we should Insist on our right to fortify the canal. We cannot ignore the rela tion of the canal to the commerce of the world, nor overlook the precedent of the neutralization of the Suez Canal, nor be indifferent to the fact that au thorities of our Army and Navy do not urge the construction of the canal as a defensive measure or think the fortlficatloni of it a strategic or military necessity. The canal would be of small value In war, difficult of defense and practically Impossible of protection against damage. Its value must be al most exclusively commercial, and the only efficient protection it can have is an agreement by all maritime nations to respect its neutrality. It would be so easy temporarily to disable the canal that access to it by all nations at all times must be conceded In order to pro tect It. But if we are to depend on force for its protection the wisest thing would be to maintain an understand ing with the nation most powerful at sea; for protection of it will be a naval problem. It seems not to be expected that Great Britain will accept the amended Hay-Pauncefote treaty in the form In which It has been presented to the Brit ish Government. Counter propositions undoubtedly will be forthcoming. We suppose the final outcome will be a dis solution of the partnership between the United States and Great Britain for construction of the isthmian canal, that has existed more than fifty years; yet we of the Pacific Coast are tired of being told that we must yet for an in definite time sprinkle cool patience on our desire to have the canal. We know that he who would have his cake must tarry the grinding and the baking; but have not we tarried? DEMOCRATIC IIARMOXIZATIOX. In the February North American Re view Mr. Perry Belmont explains the desired reorganization of the Demo cratic party. He goes back to '72 and 76, and it is his idea that from the demoralization of '72, like that of 1900, the party should adopt the principles of 1S76 for a victory In 1904. Now the platform of 1S76 was for honest money. That is, it averred "reform is neces sary to establish a sound currency, re store the public credit and maintain the National honor." Speedy resumption of specie payment was urged, and the Re publican party was criticised for fall ing "for all these eleven years of peace to make good the promise of the legal tender notes, the non-payment of which is a disregard of the plighted faith of the Nation." Such a plank in the plat form of 1904 would doubtless be accept able to the Gold Democrats, but it needs no argument to show that it would not in itself be sufficient to hold the Bryan Democrats. The platform of 1876, moreover, de clared for free trade. The existing pro tective system, it said, had "Impover ished many industries to subsidize a few." Then it went pn with this ar raignment: "It prohibits imports that might purchase the products of Ameri can labor. It has degraded American commerce from the first to an inferior rank on the high seas. It has cut down the sales of American manufactures at home and abroad, and depleted the re turns of American agriculture an in dustry followed by half our people. It costs the people five times more than it produces to the Treasury." But Mr. Belmont conceives "anti-Imperialism" as a corollary of tariff reform, whereas free trade and expansion are entirely consistent, expansion being, in fact, a great destroyer of economic Isolation. Numbers of Democrats, also, are expan sionists, though they Insist, with inde pendent Republicans, that the islands be justly administered. What the Dem ocratic party needs, evidently, is a platform about like this; We demand the maintenance of the gold standard, the parity of all the currency, and the Inviolability of the National credit. To this end we advocate the free and unlimited coinage of sIKer, unlimited issues of paper, and payment of bonds In silver. We are In favor of territorial expansion, and to this end we demand abandonment of Porto Rico and the Philippines. We are in favor of asserting thte National dignity and honor, and to this end we de mand the dismemberment of the Army and the withholding of customary appropriations for Its support- W e demand law and order, and to this end we disapprove all efforts of our National au thorities to suppress rioting by either police or Judicial power. The fact is that Mr. Belmont does not go far enough back, by some twenty years, for his precedent. Let the party adopt the plan in use before the war on the slavery question, when it had a free-state policy in the North, a slave-state, policy in'the South, and let the territories' Inhabitants fight It out with knife and musket. If Mr. Belmont really wants harmonization, there's his model. LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY. The birthday of Abraham Lincoln is a legal holiday In Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, , New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wash ington. Full justice has long ago been done to the Idealized Lincoln; to Lin coln, the philanthropist; to Lincoln, the tender-hearted, who has been pictured as sinking public justice in private mercy, but full justice has not been done to Lincoln, the great conservative force in the statesmanship that guided us through the red sea of civil war. The wooden Lincoln that has been palmed off upon our school children Is a creature who was primarily a soft-hearted man, a philanthropist whose habit it always was to pardon deserters, a kind of a wingless angel of mercy and only incidentally a states man. The truth is that Lincoln, like Washington, was primarily a most mas terful statesman, and only Incidentally a philanthropist. The greatest los3 the Nation suffered In the murder of Lin coln was that In him expired the only statesman whose influence was suffi cient to have persuaded the country to accept a scheme of reconstruction which did not incorporate the blunder of negro suffrage. When Lincoln was elected In I860, he had disclaimed all intention to bring about social and political equality be tween the white and black races. He believed that by our form of govern ment the states which had slavery were to retain it or surrender it at their own pleasure, and that all others Individ uals, free states and National Govern ment were constitutionally bound to leave them alone about it. He believed with Henry Clay that Congress had and should exercise the right to oppose the incorporation of slavery In our new free territories. But Lincoln also de clared that "it does not follow that so cial and political equality between whites and blacks must be incorporated because slavery must not." In his last Whig speech, -delivered at Urbana, 111., October 24, 1854, Lincoln accepted the fugitive slave law as a finality "to be as fully and honestly obeyed as any other," and denies any Intention of seeking the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The same speech foreshadows Lincoln's attitude toward slavery in the Civil War: "Much as I hate slavery, I would consent to Its extension rather than see this Union dissolved." Lincoln firmly held to the doctrine of the inferiority of the negro and his In ability to live as a free man among white men. Before and after emanci pation he was a colonizatlonist. Eman cipation was a revolutionary alterna tive which he abhorred, and was forced upon him as a military necessity. He was the unwilling Instrument of eman cipation; he sincerely hated slavery and he Intensely loved the Union, but he did not want to emancipate the negro until he could colonize him in some country like Brazil. So conservative was Lin coln In his anti-slavery attitude that Wendell Phillips more than once In his public speeches after Lincoln's election stigmatized him as "the slavehound of Illinois," because of his submission to the fugitive slave law. Sumner and Wade, after a very hard parliamentary contest, defeated Lincoln's reconstruc tion plan for the government of Louisi ana, proposed in February, 1865. If Lincoln's plan had prevailed for Lou isiana and the other Insurgent states, It would have resulted In the permanent exclusion of the colored people from the suffrage In all the old slave states. To the radical, sentimental Charles Sum ner, and not to the conservative, saga cious Lincoln, do we owe the fact that suffrage irrespective of color or race be came fixed and universal in the Ameri can system. His last public speech, made in Washington City April 11, 1865, shows that Lincoln did not think the franchise should be at once conferred upon any negroes except those who "were very Intelligent or had served our cause as soldiers," and he .intimated that, so far as sustaining the new state government of Louisiana, he would not keep his promise to uphold It whenever he became convinced that keeping it was bad public policy. This latest public deliverance of Lin coln, uttered three days before his mur der. Inspires the conviction that he would have opposed the immediate and sweeping enfranchisement of the col ored people, and that plan of recon struction whose outcome was the carpet-bag governments. Not only was Lincoln's attitude regarding negro suf frage sure to have been marked by con servatism, but above all other leaders of the Union cause Lincoln's moderation of language and his humane temper had moved the admiration of many in fluential leaders among the insurgents. Lincoln had offered the South peace with full payment for their slaves after Gettysburg, and again at the famous Hampton conference, and finally, as late as February, 1865, before the final campaign of Grant, Lincoln read a message to his Cabinet, again urging upon Congress a renewal of the offer of peace to the South with payment for their slaves. As the first and the last man during the Civil War to lift the olive branch and offer it to the South at the eleventh hour when the occupa tion of Atlanta and Savannah and the great disaster of Nashville had settled the fate of the Confederacy, Lincoln had impressed the strong men among the leaders of the wrecked Confederacy with the conviction that they could safely trust their future to the conser vatism and humanity of his statesman ship. His heart had been full of com passion, and his face had glowed with kindness, born out of his broad human sympathy, when other faces had grown stern through the long vigil of the war. Lincoln was at once the conservatism and the courage of his admiration. He completely rewrites Seward's dis patch in the Mason and Slidell case with his own hand. He writes every llne of the order removing General Mc Clellan with his Own hand. His letters of stern rebuke to General Hooker and his letters of earnest remonstrance to General Meade are those of a deter mined, masterful man, whose personal eye was always on the gun. He checks Fremont and Hunter upon the prema ture attempt to force emancipation. He resolves to attempt the relief of Forts Sumter and Pickens against the Judg ment of his Cabinet. He was always a forceful, independent, conservative, courageous, masterful Executive, who did not hesitate to differ with Seward, Chase and Stanton within his Cabinet, or Carl Schurz and Greeley without his Cabinet. He always decided his execu tive policy if he did not always Imperi ously dictate It. In all matters of Im portance he had a distinct policy, and he enforced It. He held the reins as firmly and took the responsibility as promptly and completely as ever did Andrew Jackson. Another consumption cure is pro claimed, this time by a Brooklyn doc tor, who asserts that he has discov ered a remedy which, taken by Inhala tion as a vapor, hypodermlcally or through the stomach, will kill the germs of that dreaded malady without destroying the tissues which they have Invested. The announcement will in spire renewed courage In the hearts of thousands who are flitting hither and thither in the vain hope of routing the insidious enemy that is preying upor their tissues. Beyond this, the promise of the newly discovered cure does not as yet extend, though intelligent people everywhere, unwilling to admit that sci ence can be altogether baffled by any disease the germs of which It has dis covered and the course of which Is so plainly marked, join the pale host of sufferers in the hope .that a reliable cure for this most ccrmmon and dreaded of all maladies has at last been discov ered. Spain, rent by. factions," her people quarrelsome and distrustful of each other, cannot even be happy and make merry over the marriage of a Princess of the reigning dynasty. The most charming feature of The Hague wed ding, and withal the one most promis ing to the peace and stability of the Dutch kingdom, was the unaffected pleasure with which the people, high and low, but now celebrated the nup tials of their Queen. The trouble brew ing over the Spanish royal marriage is strongly suggestive, by contrast, of the difference between a contented people, happy in their traditions and condi tions, and loyal to their government, and a restless, 'discontented, turbulent race, dominated by suspicion, and su perstition, and living constantly upon the verge of governmental change through popular uprising. Milan of Servia has succumbed to death. Dissolute, incapable except for evil, an old roue burned out by the fires of his own vices, he goes to his grave unwept even by the son who succeeds him on the Ser vian throne or by the wife who, herself unscrupulous in morals, has by turns execrated and cajoled him through many scandalous, stormy years. The time has come when to be of "honored and blessed memory" a sovereign must at least preserve the semblance of decency before the world. In this, Milan of Servia signally failed, and any display of grief at his demise will be for the sake of appearances only. All things considered, there is no man on the face of the earth who could better be spared than this decayed, ex King of a not over-nice Balkan state. Sixto Lopez says the Filipinos de mand an "inalienable right." But what Is an "Inalienable right"? Does any ex ist? A right is inalienable only when It cannot be alienated, when a people can maintain It. It is the height of pre: sumption to declare the Filipinos could maintain an "Inalienable right," be cause nowhere on earth except with the Teutonic nations Is a political right in alienable. However, It Is not credited that the Filipinos burden their minds with such subtleties of political phil osophy. The conclnnous logic wherewith bar bers argue the Sunday-closing scheme would have more virtue as such, and the lubricity of Its polish would be more immaculate, If there were a corollary to keep men from shaving themselves on that day. But when a man- has li cense to use the razor himself on Sun day, who should deny him the assist ance of his friend or brother? The primary work of woman suffra gists must be with women, not men. The only reason women do not have suffrage is that the majority of them do not want it. If they wanted it, they would have It. Perhaps it is well for the framers of Portland's new charter that they have kept Its provisions secret. Otherwise it might have so many flaws that no toil and trouble could remedy them. Cleveland says the United States will never be the same again. "Very true. Neither will Grover, nor should he want to be if he is progressive. The Boer plans are Teported by Kitch ener to have miscarried. Then the British must be In more difficulty. THE SPIRIT OK CONQUEST. It Is, In Other Words, the "Ascent of. Man." Chicago Inter Ocean. "If the world powers have any recog nized creed," says ex-President Harri son in the current North American Re view, "It is that it is their duty as 'trus tees for humanity to take over the terri tories of all the weak and decaying1 na tions." He finds that "there has beeD an attempt to associate the United States with this programme of civilization, upon the theory that the 'Anglo-Saxon has a divine concession that covers the earth." "The argument," he adds, "runs thus: Major premise God's purpose is that man shall make a full and the best use of all his gifts; minor premise dominion is one of his gifts, and the Anglo-Saxon makes a better use of dominion than the Latin, etc.; conclusion the Anglo-Saxon, there fore, executes a divine purpose when he subdues these peoples and takes over their lands." Mr. Harrison, of course, meant to be sarcastic when he formulated the fore going syllogism, but he Is not the first who in sarcasm has expressed a funda mental truth. His protest, although he does not perceive the fact, 13 really di rected agalnEt conquest of any kind, whether material, mental, or moral. We have but to substitute for "Anglo-Saxon" In his syllogism "every progressive race," and we have a statement which expresses the central fact of all human history. Let us make this substitution. His major premise may stand. His minor then be comes: "Every progressive race makes better use of dominion than the unprogres sive races." The conclusion 13 obvious. The progressive races do, indeed, execute a divine purpose when they subdue and elevate the unprogresslve. This Is what they always have done. The truth is, "the ascent of man" is a continuous history of conquest, phys ical, mental and moral. These waves of conquest overlap. Caesar conquered Gaul, not so much by the sword as by the men tal superiority of his legionaries. It was the triumph of mind over matter. Then moral strength had Its turn, and the de spised and rejected Jewish teacher led captive Judea's conquerors. Though made by persuasion, this was none the less a conquest. The meek inherited the earth simply because of their superior moral strength. The American people conquered their continent, and swept aside less pro gressive races, not so much by their phys ical as by their mental and moral strength. They were animated by that spirit of conquest which springs from the very conviction of superiority of which Mr. Harrison complains. The same spirit animates the Christian missionary. He is absolutely convinced that his religion Is better than all others. He wishes others to have It because it is superior. So he goes forth upon his persuasive campaigns of conquest. We have gone into the Philippines be cause our duty carried us there. We believe we can help the Filipinos as well as ourselves. Why should Mr. Harrison bewail our conquests for civilization? Pnbllc Ownership in Vogue. New York Evening Post. The notion Is rather generally held, especially In regard to the railway "deals," that these large purchases of af filiated companies are made by the mil lionaires concerned wholly from their own resources; arc paid for, so to speak, out of their own pockets. No Idea could be more delusive. Purchase of a corpora tion, involving a dozen or a score of mil lions, is almost Invariably settled through the resources of the Investing public. Twenty ycirs ago, the favorite mode of payment was through the issuing of new stock or mortgage bonds by the purchas ing corporation. These securities were sold to the ouside public; the proceeds of the sale were used for settlement of the propertjes acquired. What the million aire syndicates did, with the assistance of the banks, was to "finance" the opera tion, and advance temporarily the needed capital, between the time when the pur chase money was paid over and when the public assumed the resulting Investment burden. The modus operandi Is almost precisely the same today. The chief dif ference is the more liberal use, nowadays, of the "collateral trust bond" device, whereby the purchasing company Is en abled to acquire and hold control without too Irrevocably pledging its own perpetu al credit. Whether this contrivance is as advantageous to the Investor as was the older practice of Issuing a bond on the purchaser's whole property, may be an open question. That it is a safer and wiser recourse for the purchasing corpora tion, however, cannot be doubted. i. Rich Beggar. Kansas City Star. Another proof of the needlessness of en couraging American shipbuilding with subsidies ib afforded by the action of the Atlantic Transport Company last week in putting orders for four more large freight and passenger steamers with the New York Shipbuilding Company. These vessels are to ply from New York, Phila delphia and Baltimore to London. The company is an American concern which owns a large fleet of steamers. It cannot sail them under the United States flag because they were built abroad. As At lantic Transport stock Is quoted at about 300, it Is to be supposed that the com pany is managed on good business prin cipals, and that it bought its ships abroad for reasons of economy. It would presum ably not be ordering vessels built in the United States unless conditions had changed so that the American Shipbuild ing Company had underbid Its foreign competitors. Mere sentiment would not induce a corporation organized to make money to pay more than the market price ior steamers simply for the privilege of sailing them under the Stars and Stripes. Here Is American Spirit. There is an American Journal called "Freedom" published at Manila. It rings with patriotism and gives forth no uncer tain sound concerning American policy in the Philippines. Referring to the rapid coming over of late Insurgents to take the oath of allegiance, and to the deportation of recalcitrant prisoners of war who have violated their oaths to the Island of Guam, Freedom wittily says: To sit In Idleness, unable to attract atten tion, would be galling. The Filipino knows that. For him death has no such horror as oblivion. To him the most comfortable home in Guam would be a hell if haunted with the vision of political rivals In Manila basking In the sunshine of success, gained by taking the right side and leading their followers to ac cept American sovereignty. Agulnaldolsm in the Philippines is deader than Bryanlsm In the United States. Now is the time for the Filipino "patriot" to get Into the band wagon. Better be a ward boss In Ma nila than a political Napoleon In Guam. Better than all, to be a prosperous, peace ful man on the American plan, with family and friends about you, safe In the possession of life, liberty and property, a part of the greatest Nation on earth. i For Sport on Sundays. Wallowa News. The barbers who are pushing the Sun day bill through the Legislature are not doing so on account of any holy rever ence for the Sabbath, but wish to go duck-hunting, etc., on that day. In other words, they wish to make it a day of sport and recreation, and are afraid they will lose their custom to their more dili gent brethren, and so wish to compel them to close up also, whether they wish to go fishing or not. We Should Have Trouble. Boston Transcript. A Cuban Government which should run up an enormous debt; which should fre quently In the Latin-American manner constantly Irritate European powers, would sooner or later probably sooner be seeking our friendly offices to save it from the consequences of its acts. To prevent such resort to us at the very out set some degree of oversight by us should be established. RESTORATION OP EGYPT. Appropriate Place for the Renewal of Civilization. Kansas City Star. The rehabilitation of Egypt suggests the possibility of the restoration of the ancient lands of Babylonia and Palestine and Assyria. It seems inevitable that nations and lands shall become degener ate and dead. Asia Ib filled with the ruins of extinct empires. In Europe what was once glorious is now the seat of decay. Civilization having traveled Westward, may be expected to turn Eastward again. Where could the re vival of activity more properly begin than in the ancient land of Egypt? This unique country occupies a curious position among the governments of the earth. Its sovereign is a Viceroy of a declining power, the Sublime Porte. But the Khedive or Turkish Viceroy of Egypt occupies a hereditary princely seat. At the same time everything he does must be scrutinized and indorsed by the British agent, who Is Lord Cromer, a man of great achievements and the real master in the rejuvenated land of the Pharaohs. Beginning as Major Evelyn Baring, a member of the International Commission sent in 1S77 to solve the financial puz zles of the government of Egypt, Lord Cromer has gradually made himself the great Egyptian expert. With the power of England behind him his diplomacy has worked one of the wonders of modern times. To young Major Baring, since created Lord Cromer, is credited the complete failure of the powers to counteract British influence, and certainly he Is the man who .discovered Kitchener and re stored the Soudan to Egypt. Now he Is building a dam across the Nile, at As souan, to help navigation and prevent the recurrence of famine. Taxation has been reformed; life and property are safe; there is a well-conducted army and the police of Carlo and Alexandria are said to be perfect. Twenty years ago Egypt was regarded as a hopelessly effete country for which nothing could be done. Today the ancient cities of Cairo and Alexandria teem with life, commerce and gaiety. The bonds of Egypt, quoted 20 years ago at 43 cents on the dollar, are now above par. Trade has expanded to such a degree that the land of the pyramids is enjoying the biggest boom in its history. A modern society Is grow ing up upon the ruins of ancient Egypt. A Cape to Calrio railway would be the final guarantee of the old land's trans formation into the leading commercial district of the Levant. Century Dispute in Advertisement. Pall Mall Gazette. It Is all to the good that whatever con troversy still remains with regard to the new century should be banished to the advertisement columns. Here are two from today's Times: TO the ENGLISH PUBLIC and the PUBLIC ABKOAD. A widespread haziness about the beginning of the Century should be dispelled. A Cen tury Is a series of one hundred consecutive years and must therefore begin with a year and end with a year. The 20th Century could not begin on thtc 1st of January, 1001, because the tenth decade ended with the 31st of De cember, 1S99, and bo terminated the 10th Cen tury, and Its first birthday will be on the first of next month, Dec. 28, 1900. A widespread haziness about the beginning of a street should be dispelled. A street may be a series of one hundred houses, and must therefore becln with a house and end with a house. The twentieth house could not be Num ber 20. because the tenth house la Number 0, and so terminates the 1st decade. Number 0 Is the first house, and the second house Is Num ber 1. This advertisement is dated 23-12-00. which means the 27th day of the elevennt month of the ninety-ninth year of the century. Could any greater evidence of national wealth be Imagined than that two con troversialists should In this way pay the price of their emotions? Lincoln's Favorite Hymn. Lincoln's favorite hymn has been de termined by Secretary John Hay, who as his private -secretary might konw, and who says that "there was one which he particularly liked." It was that begin ning "Father, whate'er of earthly bliss." The religious poem, rather than hymn, which Lincoln most often repeated was the melancholy strain of William Knox, "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud!" v The hymn which remains in Mr. Hay's memory is Anne Steele's, and is always sung to Lowell Mason's tune "Naomi." The verses are but a small part of the whole hymn as Miss Steele wrote it. As used, it is as follows: Father, whate'er of earthly bliss Thy sovereign will denies, Accepted at thy throne, let this. My humble prayer, arise. Give me a calm, a thankful heart, From every murmur free; The blessings of thy grace Impart, And let me live to thee. Let the sweet hope that thou art mlno My life and death attend; Thy presence through my Journey shine. And crown my Journey's end. "Something Too Much of This." Pendleton East Oregonian. To establishe several Institutions that are not needed and that could accomplish no good, with the aid of state money in Eastern Oregon, as has been proposed in the Legislature, would not abate or equal ize one jot or title the burden on the peo ple's back, placed there by the establish ment of these instituions in other parts of the state. An industrial school in East ern Oregon would accomplish nothing for the people of the state. It would pro vide several soft places for a few of the army who clamor for such jobs, and give a kind of free education to a few son3 and daughters who should be educated at the expense of their own parents. The insti tutions of this character now being sup ported with a liberal supply of state money are too numerous by far, and un able to do a work that can be better done by private institutions. The state Is undertaking too much in the educational line, while doing nothing well. Mr. Rosewnter's Megaphone. Chicago Tribune. The people of Nebraska, speaking through the esteemed Omaha Bee, are sternly demanding the election of Mr. Rosewater to the United States Senate. My Captain. "Walt Whitman's lament for Lincoln. O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought Is -non; The port Is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting. While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring. But, O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, "Where on the deck my Captain lies. Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up for you the flag Is flung for you the bugle trills; For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths for you the shores a-crowdlng; For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning. Here, Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head. It Is some dream that on the deck You're fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchored safe and sound, Its voy age closed and done; Fiom fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won. Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! But I with mournful tread Walk the deck my Captain lies Fallen cold and dead. XOTB AND. C0MME:T. And yet come people are praying -for rain! The first robin of Spring is now due to appear In large numbers. In spite of legislative assaults upon it, the glorious free lunch still stands. Of course, Bryan, Altgeld, Towne, Hill and the other patriots will celebrate to day. . Today's Senatorial forecast Severe frost In the region occupied by the McBrlda camp. Ignatius Donnelly Is dead, and Hon. Charles A. Towne Is about the same, thank you. Hereafter Kansas people will be obliged to drink their liquor out of tin cups, or else tip the bar'l. The Sangerfest prize fight still deprives Kruger of the place In the news columns he will need for a fitting demise. The moral wave should not be allowed to subside without a law to prevent sal mon from spawning on Sunday. The British have at last resigned them selves to, sending soldiers to South Africa, instead of peace commissioners. Personal. After a brief sojourn In Colo rado and Kansas, Judge Lynch has re turned to his home In Kentucky. The remarks of Hon. Samuel L. Clemens on imperialism will not be taken seriously. And perhaps they were not meant to be. Since little has been heard of the war veterans who went to Washington, it Is presumed they have encountered Mark Hanna. Mrs. Nation will never see herself In a Topeka saloon again at all events until the joint-keepers can lay in a fresh stock of mirrors. Inasmuch as Tennyson did not write a thanatopsls on Victoria, Austin labors un der a kinder opportunity than has ever oppressed him. before. Sing Sing prison has been declared un healthful. The death rate there might be lowered, however, by modification of somer of the electrical appliances. The Atlanta Constitution wants to know why a native of Cuba should not be called a Cube. Has the Constitution observed that the natives of Cuba, are built that way? Idaho legislators will visit Oregon's dis tinguished solons at Salem, Perhaps what the Governor of North Carolina said to the Governor of South Carolina will bear repetition. Cat's claws have been- discovered in Vir ginia sausage. The supply of man's faith ful friend in -that state must have been consumed by a phenomenally industrious poundmaster. Maybe if the state did not own 620 acres of land at Union, there would not be so much argument for an agricultural col lege at that place. The state might sell tne property If overburdened with argu ment. Several aspirants will be candidates for the Oregon Senatorshlp at the proper time. It Is solacing to note that tomor row always is- the preper time, -even though today changes to tomorrow every4 21 hours. The Tragedy of the Cherry Tree. It was only a little cherry tree. It had lived but a year or two And so it couldn't be blamed, yei sea, For the terrible, terrible tragedy That blasted it where it grew. 2. When Autumn came it went to sJeep, . And the season of cold and snow Disturbed it not, for a tree can kuep Safe, snug and warm, in its slumber deep. Though the blizzards howl and blow. And the sharp frost fell, and the chill wind blew. And the light of the sun was sone. And the weather colder and colder grew. And the rivers were frozen through and' through. But the little tree slumbered on. But then there came a suddn thaw. And a burst of the beaming sun. And the tree peeped out and beheld, with awe, The snowdrifts melting away, and aaw Them vanishing, one by one; And there came from the south a balmy; breeze, "With a breath that was soft and warm. And, it whispered to all the little trees, "Wake up, wake up, for we're done, with thesa Chill days of snow and storm." Yet something within its bosom said: "Sleep on for a little while. For there's biting frost in the days ahead. And the bright sun's rays wilt soon be fled. Though they now so kindly amlle." BUt tho warm breeze flattered tho little tree. And the sky looked kind and blue. And the sunshine bright was good to see. So it said: "These friends have been kind to me. And I'll sec what they mean to do." I And it roused Itself from Its long, long nap. And Its buds began to swell. While Its veins all filled with the flowing sap. And that very night, like a thunder clap, A killing frost there fell! And when In the Spring, through tho orchard wide. Grew a filmy lace of green. It was seen that the little tree had died. Though the warm wind 'round It sighed and sighed, Yet never a leaf was seen. 1, This story shows that the little boys "Who" like to get up too soon, And bang around with their drums and toys And waken the house with their fearful noise. Should stay in their beds till noon. " Ahrphnm Lincoln. 1(J Extol the name Of one whose fame v The tongue of scandal ne'er can mar. Our country's pride. For her he died, Grandest figure of the Civil War. ' Bern as lowly - ". As the holy Son of God. the Savior of the world.' . - Ambition's zeal He did not feel , Till slavery's war-flag was unfurled.. Strong and fearless. Never tearless While his Southern foes his will defied; Unbounded power, Was his dower Ne'er abused except on mercy's side. Kind and cheerful. Never fearful Of the final triumph of his causa; A navy brave. Crowned evry wave; Men in arms who won the world's ap-' plause. Prleeless treasure, . ' Is the measure Of the Nation's estimate of thee; i r Great peacemaker, " Shackle-breaker Of the many millions who went free. History's pages Through the ages With the theme of Lincoln's fame shall shine. And the story Of his glory Shall resound until the end of time. J. H. Fletcher. Salem, Or., Feb. S, 1201.