J 5 THE MOTHCI2CO 01H2GAXIAS, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, -1901. he vzaomaxu Entered at the Ponoffice at Portland, Oregon, as second-class matter. TELEPHONES. Editorial Rooms HAi i Business Office... CG7 REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. By Mall (postage prepaid). In Advance Dally, with Sunday, per month $ S3 Dally, Sunday excepted, per year 7 50 Dally, with Sunday, per year 0 00 Sunday, per year 2 00 The Weekly, per year 1 50 Thh "Weekly. 3 months W To City Subscribers Dally, per week, delivered, Sundays excepted.l5c Dally, per week, delivered. Sundays Included.20o POSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada and Mexico: 10 to lC-page paper ....................lc 16 to 32 page pajter ................2c Foreign rates double. Newa or dlsoussion Intended for. publication in The Oregonian should be addressed Invaria bly "Editor The Oregonian." not to the name of any Individual. Letters rotating to advertis ing:, subscriptions or to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonian." Tho Orcgonlan does not buy poems or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to It without nollcl tatlon. No stamps should bo Inclosed for this purpose. Puget Sound Bureau Cnptaln A. Thompson, office at 1111 Pacific avenue. Tacoraa. Box 055. Tacoma Postfllce. Eastern Business Ofllce 17, -48, 49 and 59 Tribune building. New York City: 4C9 "The Rookery," Chicago; the S. C. Becjtwlth special agency. Eastern representative. For sale In San Francisco by J. K. Cooper. 740 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Gold smith Bros.. 23C Sutter street; F. W. Pitts, JOOS Market street: Foster & Oreax, Ferry JCewB stand. For sale in Los Angeles by B." F. Gardner. 259 So. Spring street, and Oliver & Haines, 100 So. Spring street. , For sale In Chlcaco by the P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street. For aale In Omaha by H. C. Shears. 103 N. Sixteenth street, and Barkalow Bros., 1012 Famam street. For sale In Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co.. 77 "W. Second South strest. For sale In New Orleans by Ernest & Co.. 115 Royal street. On nie In Washington D. C. with A. W. Dunn. 500 14th N. W. For sale In Denver, Colo., by Hamilton & Kendrlck, 900-012 Seventh street. - TODAY'S WEATHER. Rain; cooler; brisk to high southerly winds. PORTLAND, SATURDAY, FED. 3G. In the squabbles and scrambles of politicians for the little offices in Port land The Oregonian has but a languid interest. It is a fight between factions and a plague upon both. Whether the offices be held by one set or the other makes no difference to citizens in general. But this contention, unfor tunately, affects important business In terests. The proposed change in the Port of Portland Commission is an out come of this petty war of political vexa tion. The efficient men are to be put off the commission, or conditions are made under which they cannot remain, and the best part of the knowledge that has been acquired through study and long experience is to be lost to the city and to its commerce. Whatever of ineffi ciency, or of pigheadedness, there was in the commission, is, however, to re main, if this policy is to go through, and it is to have a reinforcement that has everything to learn. It may well be feared that money again is to be wasted, as it was aforetime, on experi ment, without knowledge. We are get ting results on the rivers; why should the commission be changed? If The Oregonian were allowed a word and in this it has no doubt it speaks for the business people of Portland and for the owners of property who must pay the tax it would say: Continue the Port of Portland Commission as it is, for it now has the work well in hand and is getting results, and provide for con struction of a drydock by a separate bill; either charging the Port of Port land Commission with the work, or naming a separate commission for ex ecution of it. Portland wants the dry dock, and doesn't want to lose the services of the efficient men of the Port of Portland Commission. The Oregonian still ventures the hope that the bill to set a premium on irre sponsible parentage will not become a law. Provision for payment of $50 a year for support of each child that may be thrown on the state will surely run into an enormous abuse. It soon will make baby farming a leading indus try; it will cause children to be aban doned by worthless parents and con scienceless relations; it will Induce per sons in other states who want to be rid of children to bring or send them into Oregon and abandon them and there will be no possibility of sending such children out of the state, once they are in it -It will multiply children's asylums under ecclesiastical direction, that children may be brought up under church tutelage; and thus the state will be made to pay for propagation of church doctrines and articles of faith. From every point of view the proposal is open to grave objections. As an en couragement of worthless parentage, of abandonment of children, of Imposition and fraud upon the state and of prop agation of ecclesiastical tenets at the cost of the taxpayer, it could not be more subtly devised. These are reasons why The Oregonian still ventures the hope that the bill will not become a law. When Mrs. Nation was in Des Moines, la, her attention was called to saloons, and she said: "Smash 'em!" At Mus catine, she made this significant re mark: I am In the hands of the Lord and will leave for Chicago tomorrow morning. I will do no smashing In Iowa, or any other state, until all tho hell holes In my own state are wlpod out cf existence. Then I will organize a band of wcir.cn who will smash all of the saloons In the wcrld. The United States first, Europe next. At Chicago she said: All you women and men who believe in God ar.i cur cause, arm yourselves and go out and s ash every one' of those "hell holes" that you Cin f.nd. Don't be afraid, the Lord Is on our c2d2 and will take care of you, no matter whether you get arrested or not. We merely mention these sayings of Mrs. Nation, in connection with the theory of our honest and sincere re formers who say that her smashing is strictly in accordance with law, and only so intended. Her utterances show that the law is the least of Mrs. Na tion's troubles. It cuts no figure with her whatever, for her authority, sole and unimpeachable, is "the Lord." Now, this is all very well. No one should condemn the prophetess because she disowns amenability to statutes or peace officers, unless he has first made A sure of his own impeccability. For ex ample, if cranks should temporarily secure control of the Oregon Legislature and decree that nobody should have wine or beer at his meals, few who use those table beverages would scruple to honor the law in the breach. There fore, let Mrs. Nation's fealty to the in ner light be viewed with equanimity. But let us have no more pious pretend ing that her only desire is to be within the law. She is for smashing every- where else precisely the same as In Kansas. So she must be defended, if at all, upon other grounds. It is evident that the much-vaunted harmony among the railroads has not developed to the point of killing com petition between the transcontinental lines in the Northwest The Northern Pacific is as much out of tune with Its neighbors as ever, and its hostility to Portland seems to be growing. When Portland takes steps to build a railroad to the Nehalem country, the Northern Pacific declares that It will build the line, and such a line as will yield Portland the least possible benefit When Portland Inter ests stir toward building a road on the north side of the Columbia, the North ern Pacific steps in to block the game, and would, it is said, go to the length of building to Vancouver to keep the trade of that section away from Portland. The Northern Pacific is understood to have made overtures to buy the Colum bia Southern. These activities of the Northern Pacific bode no good for Port land, because that company seems bound to Puget Sound and to have no use for this town further than to pull business from It There Is ground for the belief that the Union Pacific and the Great Northern are not pleased to patronize the Northern Pacific at the hard terms it imposes on business be tween Portland and Puget Sound. The action of the Portland & Puget Sound corporation in opposing the attempt of the Washington & Oregon Company to take the old grade between "Vancou ver and Kafama is fairly open to the construction that interests adverse to the Northern Pacific are preparing to make use of the property. Under the circumstances, those interests could hardly be other than the Union Pacific and the Great Northern. On this as sumption the new road is in the interest of Portland because its object Is not to make Portland tributary to Puget Sound, as the aim and purpose of the Northern Pacific seems to be, but to give freer rein to trade and let the best town win. Portland's advantages would then weigh in its favor. Portland has much to gain from the Increase of the Independent and fair transportation agencies In Its territory, and all such enterprises should receive encourage ment of those whose interests He here. TUB SHIP SUBSIDY SCHEME. The argument against the ship sub sidy proposition never has been put more tersely and forcibly than by the Jackson (Mich.) Press, which sums the matter up in the statement that "a business that is not self-sustaining is not worth having." If American ships cannot compete with foreign ships on their own merits, then let us patronize foreign ships. The attempt to "build up the merchant marine" by taxing the people is merely taking from one pocket and putting Into another. There Is no real gain whatever. Thus far, the Chi cago Chronicle. But, let The Orego nian add, there is actual loss and there Is great injustice. Loss, because it Is an attempt to force results against eco nomic laws; injustice, because it Is un just to take money from the whole people by law and bestow it upon a few who are already enormously rich. It is admitted that the original bill was drawn by an attorney of a great steamship company. That it has been amended in great degree under the same supervision Is common knowledge. More than nine-tenths of its benefits are to go to a few persons. The criti cism that the measure was Introduced In return for large campaign contribu tions does not emanate from Demo cratic sources alone. So stalwart a Re publican journal as the Chicago Inter Ocean declares that this is a general impression, If not a moral conviction, throughout the Eastern States. This journal last named adds its tes timony to that heretofore supplied from Innumerable sources that the bill Is un popular throughout the Middle West Certainly it has the very fewest friends among the representatives of the press, in any part of the country. The politi cians who have interest in the contin ued ascendency of the Republican party may well hesitate to drive it through. It may not be brought up again this session. But it is believed there will be a special session, called chiefly on account of the state of affairs in Cuba. Should this bill be driven through at a special session, it would be worse still. The Administration could not get rid of the charge that determination to pass this bill was a main reason why the session was called. In such as sumption there would be political cap ital enough to rehabilitate the Demo cratic party. MEDDLESOME LEGISLATION. The W. C. T. U. is earnest In advo cacy of the bill before the Legislature to abolish child labor during the school months of the year. The good women of this organization see. It may be feared, but one sideof a question that, like all others, is two-sided. Education for the laboring class, to which solely this law would apply, is not all ob tained, or to be obtained, in the schools, in the view of many thoughtful, prac tical men and women, education of the hand is of much greater because of much more practical value to the masses than a literary or even a busi ness education. The need of the pres ent time is represented by boys and girls young men and young women who have been taught to work. It is not necessary nor Is It desirable or wise for every boy and girl to spend the en tire period of what is known as the "school year" in school up to 12, 14 or 16 years of age. So far from being educated in a true and helpful sense by such a course, children may be and many times are handicapped in the industrial race by It This Is not to say that every child should not be given the groundwork of a good English education. It is merely a suggestion that it is of more profit to a boy who is to be a carpenter, a blacksmith or a farmer to learn during the plastic years of his life to handle the tools of his trade than to "gradu ate," according to the accepted term, from the grammar school, and perhaps push on into the High School, become expert in higher mathematics and be able to analyze, to the satisfaction of his highly Imaginative teacher, "The Vision of Sir Launfal." ' Girls whose parents are of the work ing classes need to be taught the de tails of good housekeeping; to sew, to darn their stockings, to bake sweet, wholesome bread. Boys of the same class (which, by the way, to the extent that it is formed of cheerful, compe tent, willing laborers, forms the bone and sinew of the country) should be taught to use their hands tn the dlrec- tlon of the vocation which they expect or are likely to follow. Falling In this, the latter drift almost surely Into the grand army of incapables, among whom the High School graduate is by no means unknown, that burden the air with the plaint, "No man hath hired us." The former essay to "work out," and, without knowledge of domestic du ties, compose the discontented army of servant girls who "detest housework," know nothing about its details, and drift from place to place, scorning to learn. It Is necessary In congested manufac turing or Industrial districts, and es pecially where the foreign element pre dominates, to protect children of tender years from lives 6f drudgery in mills and mines by a child-labor law. And in order that such children may not fol low in dense ignorance the footsteps of their parents, compulsory education laws are enacted. There is in this state no need of either, and since there Is al ready too much disposition on the part of theorists to Interfere In behalf of the state to relieve parents of their natural and rightful responsibility in the care, education and maintenance of their offspring, it would be well to fore go all legislation of this character, at least for the present. We are too prone to set up a standard of living, grade It "necessary" and attempt to bring all classes to it, regardless of their own ideas of what constitutes the neces saries or comforts of life. This is a mistake, since its drift is clearly toward paternalism in government as opposed to individual responsibility, upon which all citizenship worthy of the name Is based. SMITH'S REITERATED ERRORS. F. Hopklnson Smith continues to re peat his absurd assertion that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" precipitated the War of the Rebellion, and that It painted a false picture of the conditions of the South before the war In Blaveholding days. Mr. Smith was born in Baltimore in 1S38, but left the South when he was 20 years old. If he had ever read "The Key to Un cle Tom's Cabin" he would hesitate be fore he charged Mrs. Stowe with mis representation and exaggeration of Af rican slaverj'. She told the exact truth about Its best and its worst aspects. The good side of slavery was never set forth more attractively than Mrs. Stowe portrayed it as It was found un der humane and high-minded planters, like Shelby in Kentucky and St. Clair in Louisiana. The brutality of the ruf fian slavedriver Legree was surpassed by the cruelty of the historic female "Legree" whom the mob of New Orleans would have lynched If she had not sought safety in flight Mrs. Stowe's book was true. When Mr. Hopkinson Smith calls It "the most vicious book that ever appeared," he condemns the sentiments and action of Washington and the sentiments of three famous slaveholders, Jefferson, Clay and Robert E. Lee; of Lincoln, who said, "If slavery Is not wrong, noth ing is wrong"; of Wesley, who called It "the sum of all villainies." Mrs. Stowe's book did not cause the Civil War, which grew out of an at tempt to puBh the compromise measures of 1850 to a logical extreme. Out of the compromise measures of 1850 grew the Kansas-Nebraska act, which called the Republican party into victorious life. What did precipitate the war was the election of Lincoln. Mrs. Stowe's book appeared in 1852. The Republican party did not date from her book. It dated fr6m the Kansas-Nebraska struggle of 1S54-5G. After the passage of the com promise of 1S50, with Its object-lessons of slavehuntlng at the North, the bat tle to the death was on against further encroachment of slavery into new terri tory. Nothing that Mrs. Stowe said or omitted to say could have averted civil war, so long as the South was deter mined not to submit to the Constitu tional election of a President upon the platform of the non-extension of slav ery. The raid of John Brown, which Mr. Smith says made civil war Inevitable, had no effect whatever upon the hasten ing of civil war. His act was repudi ated as the deed of a monomaniac by the Republican party, whose growth was injured rather than Increased by Brown's raid, as It enabled the South to insinuate that it sympathized with and probably secretly instigated it AX UNLOVELY PICTURE. The commander-in-chief of the G. A. R. charges Congressmen who are mem bers of that body with being disloyal to the organization in the matter of legislation. The commander-in-chief of the G. A. R. speaks of comrades in the highest places who "are false to their obligations." It Is not easy to under stand why a refusal on part of a Con gressman to vote for unwise or extrav agant pension legislation should convict lilm of disloyalty to the G. A. t, which was not organized primarily to extort by political pressure extravagant pen sion legislation from the party in power. Senator Hale, of Maine, and Senator Galllnger, of New Hampshire, recently expressed the opinion that it was high time to call a halt in the matter of spe cial pension legislation. Senator Gallln ger, chairman of the pensions commit tee, declares that "there is a movement on foot all over the country to flood Congress with requests for pension leg islation, and the soldiers are being led to believe that it Is not only a proper thing to do, but that it Is the easy way for them to get their pensions allowed and Increased." He says that over SOOO of these bills have been Introduced in the present Congress, and that their number is likely to be trebled within a very few years. Pension attorneys are advising old soldiers to ignore the Pen sion Bureau and apply directly to Con gress. The leading Grand Army news paper, published at Washington, has editorially declared that pensioners could not get Justice at the Pension Bureau, and advises them to have their Congressmen Introduce bills to give them pensions or increase of pen sion. The House recently passed 184 of these special pension bills at one sitting, and Senator Galllnger said that one Sen ator had introduced 162 special pension bills at this session, another 145, an other 133, another 119, another 87, and another 81. The number of pensions so far grant ed on account of the war with Spain and the Philippine rebellion is 3800, and the applications number over 38,600. This is nearly equal to the number of applications which had been made dur ing the first two years of the Civil War. when we had nearly a million of men in the field, and when the fighting included the great battles and dreadful losses of the Army, of the Potomac, from Bull Run in 1861 to Antietam In 1862, and the great battles and severe losses of the armies of the West, from Fort Don elson to Shiloh. With an Army of year ly a million of pensioners and an annual pension expenditure of over $140,000,000, the commander-in-chief of the G. A. R. Is not satisfied, and thinks the growing disposition to resist further increase of extravagant pension legislation Is an exhibition of disloyalty to the order- on part of Congressmen who wear Its but ton. It would seem as if the G. A. R. commander-in-chief regarded the alle giance of a Congressman to the order as paramount to his duty to his country. THE HERO OP SHILOH. The death of General B. M. Prentiss at the age of 81 years removes from this world the last survivor of the division commanders under which Grant's Army of the Tennessee fought the terrible first day's battle of Shiloh. When the battle opened at daylight April 6, 1862, Grant's Army consisted of the divisions of Generals Sherman, Prentiss, Hurl but, W. H. L. Wallace, McClernand, besides the division of General Lew Wallace, which did not become engaged until the next day. The first fury of the enemy's assault fell upon the raw division of General Prentiss, who, like General Hurlbut, was a man of South ern birth, a native of Virginia. The di visions of General Prentiss and General W. H. H. Wallace made a splendid fight from daylight until about 4 P. M., when the enemy succeeded In forcing their lines. General Wallace was killed, and General Prentiss with about 3000 men taken prisoner. The stubborn resist ance of the divisions of Prentiss and W. H. L. Wallace, upon which the brunt of the enemy's tremendous as sault fell, saved the day to Grant Shiloh was one of the great critical battles of the Civil War. Its loss by Grant meant the loss of the whole of West Tennessee, that had been won by the victory of Fort Donelson. The bat tle wa3 saved the first day by the fight ing of the divisions of Prentiss and W. H. L. Wallace, who were both vet erans of the Mexican War. Sherman, who was In command when the attack began, displayed great energy and cour age, but the real saviors of that first terrible day's battle were Prentiss and W. H. L. Wallace. The efforts of the enemy to force the troops of Prentiss and Wallace out of what was termed "the hornet's nest" cost them four-fifths of the terrible losses of the day. From Grant down, all the Generals engaged that day on the Union side are dead. Lew Wallace, who by confusion of or ders did not reach the field, still sur vives. Of Buell's Army, engaged the next day, all the Generals of division are dead, save General Alexander Mc Cook, of the retired list of the regular Army. New York City seems to be nothing daunted by its experience with the Dewey arch. The strenuous and un availing efforts that were made to pre serve this structure In commemoration of the Admiral's achievement in Manila Bay are remembered as a part of the collapse of the Dewey boom subsequent to the Dewey homestead episode, which followed closely upon his return to the United States. The magnificent arch was, after months of haggling and en deavor to preserve it, at last razed to the ground. Unmoved by this expe rience, certain zealous citizens have inaugurated another attempt to com memorate the valor of the United States Navy In a similar manner. In the opin ion of Mayor Van Wyck, who has given the scheme his official Indorsement, $1,000,000 ought to be raised for this purpose. The suggestion, in the light of experience in memorial monuments in New York, is appalling. To raise this amount, or a quarter of it by pop ular subscription, as proposed, means a lot of begging and scheming along familiar lines from penny subscriptions to legislative appropriation and final appeal to the Government in the name of patriotism to lay hold and complete the Job. A naval arch properly de signed and constructed and suitably emblazoned with the deeds of our naval heroes would adorn Battery Park, even as the magnificent tomb of General Grant adorns Riverside Park, but the strain to get it would be out of all pro portion to its value to the contributing public outside of New York City. A correspondent points out that Maurice Thompson was born in Indi ana, which is true, and which does not affect the statement that he was a Southern man. His parents were both Southern people who moved back to Kentucky and were living In Northern Georgia when the Civil War broke out S. S. Prentiss and Albert Pike were born In NewEnglandand John Slidell In New York; but their whole active ca reer was spent at the South. They were Southern men In sentiment and feeling. Much more was Thompson a Southern man, for both his parents were South ern folk, his childhood and early man hood were spent In Georgia, and from that state he Joined the Confederate Army. His birth was a mere Incident; his whole breeding was at the South, and his parentB from the South. If there is to be no accumulation of property In Oregon, there can be no increase of industry; and the tendency, Llf not the direct object, of the bulk of our legislation Is to prevent Increase of property. Stated differently, the tendency or object is to compel the care ful, prudent and industrious to support the Indolent, vicious and worthless. Many of our so-called philanthropists are helpers In this scheme. It makes careful, earnest, self-respecting, self denying and laborious people very tired. And now the state is asked to give money to a girls' Industrial home. But why stop with girls? Are there not boys, and mothers and fathers and old maids and Chinamen? And are not all citizens worthy alike of the state's solicitude? A man mistook a companion for a wildcat near Salem the other day and discharged a load of buckshot into him. The Legislature, on this slight hint, might appoint a state examiner of shotguns and hunters. Judging from the number of amended charters before the Legisla ture, Oregon towns are growing faster than they can keep up. It also goes to show there are politics elsewhere than at Portland. A bill is in the Legislature for crea tion of a Labor Commission. The main Idea or purpose Is to create conditions under which the Commissioner and his deputies can draw salaries. CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES New York Times. Our official declarations of policy abound with the most positive assertions that we cannot consent to the occupation of the Island of Cuba "by any other European power than Spain under any contingency whatever," a affirmation which the change in the status of the island compels us to modify by the exclusion even of Spain". But one of the "contingencies" of the exercise of perfect and uncontrolled sov ereignty Is war, and war may lead to de feat, and defeat to complete conquest and occupation of the territory of the van quished. The exercise even of the un limited power to create debt Involves contingencies to nearly related to the usual causes of war that we should be in excusably blind If we excluded them from our consideration of the problem of Cuba. It Is to be remembered that France long before the breaking out of the war that liberated Cuba served notice on us that on account of the large pecuniary In terest of the French people in tho debt of Spain she could not view with unconcern any hostile move of the United States against the West Indian possessions of that country. Here Is an apparently irreconcilable conflict. Our Supreme Court and our Con gress have declared that Cuba is to be considered a sovereign nation. Our firm and long-established policy, which pru dence and a regard for the peace and safety of the Nation forbid us to modify or abandon, declares that some of the attributes of sovereignty Cuba must not and cannot possess. It Is too late to plead the Improvidence of tho Teller resolution. We cannot release ourselv.es from that binding covenant. From the Impossible) situation created by the late discovery that an irrevocable, promise conflicts with an unalterable pol icy a way of escape must be sought. We presume the Administration would be grateful to any statesman who should point out that there Is any other way out than that which lies through an ap peal, with sufficient time for Its consider ation, to the reason of the Cuban people. It can be foreseen that the now dying violence and the clamor of the assault upon the Administration for its course In the Philippines will be renewed upon the first Intimation that It has any other intention toward Cuba than the with drawal of our forces and the sending of a Minister Plenipotentiary to Havana on receipt of the news that the new consti tution has been adopted. We are already told that the paralysis of business in Cuba through the fear that we shall withdraw our guarantee of public order before any effective substitute for It has been pro vided by the people of Cuba Is only part of the game to repudiate the pledge of the Teller resolution. But sober-minded Am ericans read that resolution as a whole, and with a full sense of the natural mean ing of Its terms. We did not merely dis claim the Intention to exercise sovereign ty over the Island and stop there. We declared that our Intervention was for the pacification of the island, and that we should leave the government and control of the Island to Its people "when that is accomplished." Any argument that at tempts to show that pacification has been or can be accomplished so long as peace Is maintained only by the restraining pres ence of a military force, but without guarantees of its continuance, will not command the attention or the assent of the American people. We went to war with Spain, not to free the Cubans, but to put an end to the perilous condition of tolerating a hell on earth at our very doors. We are not so short of memory and fickle of Impulse as to have gone to all the cost and risk of the Spanish war simply to change, not the nature of the peril, but the subject matter and the parties belligerent In the hell on earth at our doors. Civil war In Cuba or war with a European power other than Spain would be no less Intelorable to us than the con flict we intervened to suppress. No Gov ernment wth a sense of responsibility to tho people It represents could be so reck less of future perils and trouble, so in different to the counsels of common pru dence, as to let the forts and the forces of Cuba, the independent power to make treaties and conclude agreements with foreign countries, and the responsibility of internal tranquility pass wholly out of Its control until Its own Interests had been recognized and adequately pro tected. The definition of our relation to the Republic of Cuba is very likely more fit matter for a treaty than for a constitu tion, but we sincerely hope the convention now In session in Havana will see and undertsand tho necessity of considering with open minds the demands wo shall be compelled to make. "Lohengrin," In New Yorlr. New York Times, February 7. The bare record of the fact that "Lohen grin" was sung at the Metropolitan Opera-House seems enough in these days to the professional reviewer of musical performances. But those who go to the opera not every night, but only once In a period, must also be considered. There fore, let it be repeated here that Wag ner's most mellfluous, most popular and perhaps least appreciated opera was heard once again at the opera-house last night by one of thoso audiences which arc assembled only at performances of this work. "Lohengrin" is beloved of the people because of its sentiment and Its honeyed measures, but there are very few indeed who have penetrated th Inner poe try of the work. Read Wagner's own analysis of the characters of Lohengrin and Elsa. Read his description of Or trud, the political woman, the woman without love. Read Wolfram von Es chenbach's summary of the story In the last lines of his "Parzlval." Read the "Schwan-RItter." Then go and hear Wagner's "Lohengrin." But the chances are that the gentle reader will do none of these things, and Wegner's "Lohen grin" will continue to be for him a pre lude, a prayer, a scene of darkness and discord, a wedding feast, and a tuneful story of a life. Tho performance last night differed from preceding ones of the present season in that Mine. Gadskl was the ElBa. It Is unnecessary to make any detailed com ment on her Interpretation. It is not un known to this public as one of much wlnsomeness and gentleness. Musically, it is distinguished by a sympathetic qual. lty of voice and much feeling. Mr. Jean do Reszko was In good voice, a matter which seems to go without saying now, and. of course, sang the title role as only he can. Mme. Schumann-Heink was again a vigorous and dramatically powerful Or trud, and Mr. Bertram was efficient as Telramund. Mr. Edouard de Reszke re peated his familiar impersonation of tho King. Mr. Muhlmann was the Herald. Mr. Damrosch conducted with authority, and the orchestra did its work well. Tho audience was very enthusiastic. An Invasion of Mexico. Worcester (Mass.) Telegram. Henry M. Flagler, having strewn Flor ida with fine hotels. Is now preparing to Invade Mexico, It Is said, erecting hotels that will attract tourists Dy the thou sand. Aguas Callentes, Guadalajara, Chihuahua and the City of Mexico are those to be first given comfortable, mod ern hotel accommodations, and, while the presence of modern hotels usually begins the destruction of much of the Inherent attractiveness of a place, It is a necessary forerunner of the tourist with his open purse. r- A Judge on Female Witnesses. Chicago Journal. The psalmist said in his haste all men are liars, but Judge Waterman says de Hbertely that all women are not reliable witnesse's, and draw on their imaginations for their facts. The Judge will get him self disliked. He does not say that they are deliberate perjurers, but that "women are of a more imaginative nature than men, and though it is no doubt uninten tional, they come to believe as true what they at first only Imagined, and maintain their belief In spite of all cvldenco Josalnst It," THE NATION WOMAN. Some Recent Attempts to Give Her n. Characterization. Possibly the performances of Mrs. Na tion could be borne better If she were an attractive woman. But here ia a wom an who hasn't a solitary attraction to off set her acts that is to say, if we may believe the statement of a Topeka man who writes thus about her to the Kansas City Journal: She Is fat, noisy and Impertinent. She hasn't the first conception of cood manners or politeness. She will snatch a cigar out of a man's mouth and go to roaring In the mid dle of the- street about her own call to vlslt- out the vengeance of the Lord. She has no discrimination, and she Is coarse and talky to tho utmost degree. Yesterday she jumped on Policeman McElroy, an old soldier, a Chris tian and a Prohibitionist, and called him a "red-nosed old soak!" I followed her around the other day and watched her closely, but L haven't yet been able to place her definitely. However, she belongs In one of two categories. She either Is Insane on the liquor question, or else she Is & common scold, such as our forefathers used to duclc In a pond. But nobody, we may suppose, had ever imagined that she was a Queen, sitting on beauty's throne, and had descended with all her winning charms begirt, to smash liquor shops with a hatchet. The Indigna tion of the Louisville Courier-Journal, therefore, Is likewise misspent. It says: She has reached the point of Intoxication with her own vulgarity, violence and no toriety. ThU was well demonstrated by her action In going Into the men's waiting-room at a railway station, and In the language of a fishwife ordering- a smoker to remove a cigar from his mouth. That Incident was but the natural outcome of her Idea of "smash ing " what she does not approve and of the license which has been accorded her in fol lowing that Idea. But the Courier-Journal makes these further remarks, which are very sound: It Is Idiotic to say, as soma do sny. that she has a rlrht to take the law Into her own hands because the officers of the law do not perform their duty. That Is simply to argue that when an officer falls to enforce a law any Individual who chooses may set himself above all law as an autocrat whose only authority Is In his own will and muscle. It the officers of the law refuse to do their duty, the people who make the laws and create the officers have their adequate remedies. Violation of the law cannot be cured by worse violation of It The plain truth la that this poor creature has been permitted to defy public order, peace and decency simply because she Is a woman. If she had been a man her first offense would have been her last. These Judicious remarks are from an editorial in the Kansas City Journal: When the officers of the law neslect or re fuse to do their duty. It is the business of the people who elected them to bring pressure to bear. Elective officers are never deaf to good, earnest, vigorous protests and appeals from the people. If they regularly and continu ously fall to enforce a law. It Is because a majority of the people are either opposed to enforcement or are Indifferent on the sub ject. If the demand for enforcement comes from too small a fraction of the people to Influence the officers, the recourse Is not for tho minority to take the law Into Its own hands, as Mrs. Nation has done, but for It to strive by peaceful and educational methods to create a stronger sentiment for enforce ment. Many a law has become obsolete be cause the people did not want It enforced. It Is one thlnr to place a law on the statute book and quite another thing to make It ef fective. It must have the general and pos itive approval of the people before It can be come successfully operative. Tho reason why the law aralnst murder or the law against larceny Is enforced Is because the officers of the law understand that the people want it enforced and will hold them accountable, not because the law Is on the statute book. Bui She Doesn't and Isn't. New York Times. As might have been confidently expec ted, emotional women In various parts of the country are emulating the brisk achievements of Mrs. Nation, and there by not only making nuisances of them selves, but clearly and convincingly dem onstrating their own utter lack of the reasoning faculty and of the power to un derstand more than the outward form of thlnsrs. When Mrs. Nation "smashes" saloons In a prohibition state, she has. If not Justification, at least excuse. The officers of the law have neglected, and in offect refused, to execute the law. So far as regards certain matters in which Mrs. Nation takes an Intense and legiti mate Interest there Is no law In Kansas, and, with the support of her fellow citi zens, she has assumed the responsibility of exercising judicial functions. Her course Is exactly that followed in Cali fornia by the vigilantes, who, by punish ing criminals who would otherwise have gone unpunished, made frontier life mo derately safe and prepared the way for methods which, when they came, tho vigilantes were the Hr3t to hall as im provement!. The strength of Mrs. Na tion's position is recognized, both by the liquor dealers whose property she de stroys and by the officials who still exe cute In Kansas other laws than thoso relating to the traffic In Intoxicants. The saloon men dare not resist her attacks, and the police court judges dare not hold her for trial, even when a policeman ven tures to arrest her, which Is not often. It is possible at least to hope that Mrs. Nation knows why and to what extent her acts are right, and that she is too sensible a woman to attempt the dupli cation of them In states where the liquor business Is legal. If she doesn't and isn't, she will simply become a member of the criminal classes, as some of her would-be imitators have already done, and almost certainly she will find the consequences serious both to herself and to her cause. Costume Forty Yenr Aro. Harper's Weekly reprints the sketches and cartoons by Its artists in 1SG0, on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales. "If the pictorial art of the period icals of those days was as true to life as It now aims to be," comments the New York World, "the Metropolitan Opera house on gala nights has never exhibited a more imposing array of bare shoulders than was visible at the Academy ball in honor of the Prince." The ladies' elabo rate crinoline costumes vie in elaboration and elegance with Worth toilets of today, but the men are not so effective. The pictures recall the fact that the dandies of the time ran largely to whiskers. Most of them have their chins and cheeks al most concealed from view by the hirsute growth, and the Prince is the only mous tacheless man on the floor. Brother Dickey's Dilemma. Atlanta Constitution. "Dls heah kidnapln business," said Brother Dickey, 'is gwine too fur fer de good er de country- Some er dese tough ol sinners is takin' advantage er It. I give It out on Tuesday las', at pra'r-meet-ln date on do follerln Sunday I'd take up a special collection ter pay my back salary, en please God, dey wuzn't but two ol' women and one blind deacon In de meetin'-houso w'en Sunday come. All de res' er de congregation sent wol dey wus kidnaped, en wouldn't be back 'fo nex' year! Now, don't you call dat trl flln'?" England Not Keeping Up. London Dally Mall. The United States are now beating us In the matter of exports, and Germany Is advancing on the same path by leaps and bounds. We are In the position of an old-fashioned firm that still insists on doing business upon the ancient lines, and is being pushed out of the market Jfevr Books. The Library Journal reports tho follow ing popular novels a3 asked for at the delivery desk: "The unleavened bread-winner." "A knot of cold ribbon." "To git & to keep." "The dlmnlght marriage." "Ygu and mo and some others- NOTE AND COMMENT Queen Victoria's reign was rather long, but we are doing pretty well with our own, thank you. Terry McGovern is going to give up tho stage. He finds it easier to make a hit In his former profession. Promotion is so rapid in the Army now that a commission is almost worth tho chances a boy runs at West Point. The Seattle lady who was robbed of her diamonds on the Oregon express has tho chance of her life to go on the stage. As a fitting celebration of Washington's birthday, the Legislature will end its la bors. Sorry the holiday isn't Thanksgiv ing. W. K. Vanderbllt has christened his new automobile the "White Ghost." Ho evidently expects it to do some spirited scorching. Senator Towne has gone into the liquid air business Being on I he cold outside, anyway, he will not feel the drop In tem perature. If F. Hopkinson Smith keeps on "knock ing" "Uncle Tom's Cabin," some enter prising manager will make a fortune by reviving it. Why doesn't the impressario who is conducting the concert of the powers put on the South African Dewet for one ot the numbers? It's getting along toward seedtime, and If somebody isn't elected United States Senator pretty soon the supply will be considerably shorter. A Chicago coal dealer was robbed ot $SO0O by burglars the other day. How about the theory that there Is honor among a certain class of people? There is no use of wasting sympathy on Boni de Castellane. A man who Is not smart enough to take advantage of the bankruptcy laws deserves to bo hounded with creditors. Misquotations of book titles by the pub lic library reader is a perennial source of amusement to the bookman. Follow ing are some of the latest calls for books at a Western library: "Account of Monte Cristo," "Acrost the Kontinent by Boles." "Bula." "Count of Corpus Christy." "Dant's Infernal Comedy," "Darwln'3 Descent on Man," "Feminine Cooper's Works," "Less Miserable." "Some of Mac beth's Writings." "Something in the way of friction," "Squeal to a book." To Inmates of a Scotch asylum, working in the garden, decided upon an attempt at escape. Watching their oportunlty -when their keeper was absent, they approached' the wall. "Noo. bend doon, Sandy," said the one, "And I'll cllm up your shoulder to the top, and then I'll gie ye a hand up tae." Sandy accordingly bent down. Tarn, mounting his back, gained the top of the wall, and, dropping over the other side, shouted, as he prepared to make off: "I'm thinking, Sandy, you'll be better ta bide anither fortnight, for you're no near richt yet." One night, when the attendance in a small town in the French provinces was especially bad. Sarah Bernhardt, bored by the small size of the audience and Its stupidity, resolved to make the most ot It. The play was "Camllle," but. Instead of speaking the lines as Dumas wrote " them, Sarah made up the play as she went along. Interpolating such opinions as, from minute to minute, she had ot the audience. She called them unutter able things, and In a highly dramatic way. The Innocents applauded these sentiments vigorously, upon which dhe called them something worse. PLEASAXTIUES OF PAIL.VGUAPIIEUS Of Another Metal. "II boasts that he Is a man of Iron." "Then he's no Judge of met als. He can't tell Iron from brass." Chicago Evening Post. Money In Politics. "What we need do," . cried I, hotly. "Is to take money out of pol itics!" "I took out all I saw. sir!" protested the legislator, with convincing candor. De troit Journal. Proved It. "What do you think, Carlce. went out and sans at an entertainment In a private Insane asylum." "Did she say wheth er they showed their Insanity much?" "Oh, yes; they encored her three times." Phila delphia Bulletin. The Truth Forced Home. "I'm afraid." sha sighed, "that I'm. getting old." "Why?" ho asked. "When I go to the gorcery now, tho clerks don't nearly break their necks trying to beat one another In getting my order." Chicago Times-Herald. Hints on Fashion. Mr. Goodlelgh Sister Gabbelgh, you don't know how much you are missing by not attending church regularly. Mrs. Gabbeish I don't miss so much as you think. I have subscribed for two fashionable magazines. Baltimore Sun. Mistress There Is only one possible objec tion to the place. The children will keep you busy cooking; they are great eaters. The New Cook Don't let that worry you, ma'am. They won't be after I have begun to do the cook ing. Boston Transcript. The. Deoartment Store of the Future. "Who are those solid-looking men going up In the express elevator?" "They are capital ists We have a marked-down sale of railways today 'on the twenty-fourth floor In the second annex back."-CIevcland Plain Dealer. 0 Iloclc Me to Sleep. Elizabeth Akers Allen. Backward, turn backward. O Time, In -our flight. . Make me a child again just for tonight! Mother come back from the echoless shore. Take me again to your heart as of yore; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care. Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; Bock me to sleep, mother rock me to sleep! Backward, flow backward. O tide of years! I am so weary ot toll and of tears Toll without recompense tears all in vain Take them and give me my childhood agalnl I have grown weary of dust and decay Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away; Weary of sowing for others to reap; Rock me to sleep, mother rack me to sleep! Tired of the hollow, the base, tho untrue. Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you! Many a Summer the gras3 has grown green. Blossomed and faded, our faces between; Yet, with strong- yearning and passionate pain. Long I tonight for your presence again. Come from the s-llcncc so long and so deep Rock me to sleep, mother rock me to sleep! Over my heart In the days that are flown, No love like mother-love ever has shone; No other worship abides and endures Faithful, unselfish and patient like yours; None like a mother can charm away pain From the sick soul and the world-weary brain. Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep, Rock me to sleep, mother rock me to sleep! Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold. Fall on your shoulders again as of old; Let It drop over my forehead tonight. Shading my faint eyes away from the light; For with its sunay-edged shadow-3 once more Haply will throne the sweet visions of yore; Lovingly, softly. Its bright billows sweep; Rock mo to sleep, mother rock me to sleep! Mother, dear mother, the years have been Ions' Since I last listened your lullaby song; Sing, then, and unto my soul It shall seem Womanhood's years have been only a dream. i Clasped to your heart In a loving embrace. J With your light lashes Just sweeping my face, Never hereafter to wake or weep; Rock me to sleep, mother rock mo. to sleep!