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THE M0KX1XG OKKnONIAN. THURSDAY, FEBKUAIiY 21, 1901.
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PORTLAND, THURSDAY, FEB. 21.
Very peculiar ideas of personal honor
are harbored by Hon. A. S. Dresser,
Joint representative for -Clackamas
and Multnomah. Desiring nomination
for the Legislature, he pledged himself,
In the letter we print today, to sup
port Mr. Corbett for the Senate. His
letter also specifically Included a pledge
to join In a caucus and to vote for Mr.
Corbett in that caucus. We think we
need do little more than call attention
to the pitiful exhibit of duplicity set
out on the first page of The Oregonlan
today. "We should say, in view of this
exhibit and of Mr. Dresser's course of
action, that neither his word nor his
bond was good for anything. "Was the
pledge given on compulsion or under
duress? What were the threats against
Mr. Dresser's life, liberty or reputation
that compelled him on the 10th day of
April last to come to Portland and so
licit aid to enable him to sit in the
Legislature? What show of force left
him no choice but to appear here as a
man whose principal ambition in life
was to help put Mr. Corbett in the. Sen
ate? Or, If we suppose that he labored
under a misapprehension of the facts,
what view did he form of Mr. Corbett
as an honorable and high-minded gen
tleman, as a forceful man of affairs,
as a prominent figure in the history of
the Pacific Coast, that he has since seen
reason to change? As Mr. Corbett has
lived and toiled, saved, counseled and
generously bestowed here for fifty
years, so he was when Mr. Dresser
sought to identify himself with him;
so he is today. As Mr. Dresser was
when he came to Portland with profes
sions of friendship and loyalty on his
lips, po he is today. That is, Mr. Dresser
was a sneak then and he is a sneak
now. Such men come and go.
From the Philippines news comes al
most daily of progress by the authori
ties of the United States in pacifica
tion of the islands. Through a judi
cious admixture of generosity and se
veritygenerosity to those who yield in
good faith, severity towards those who
are guilty of treachery, disloyalty and
cruelty steady change is taking place
in the aspect of affairs The civil com
mission is everywhere at work, and the
more capable of the people are being in
vited to co-operation with the authori
ties of the United States in the work of
civil government. The party friendly
to the United States is rapidly gaining
ground. Great numbers of the fore
most Filipinos are uniting with and
are lending aid to pacification of the
country. It is the purpose and it will
continue to be the purpose of the Amer
ican people to establish in those islands
a government as free and liberal and
progressive as our own, fully in accord
with the principles of liberty and self
government, on which the American
Republic rests. When this comes to
be understood, as it surely will ere long,
the Filipinos "will not want the United
States to withdraw. It is only the am
bitious politicians who have made the
trouble. Some . at them have been
killed, others have fled, a few have
been deported, and niimbers are sup
posed to be in hiding places, seeking
a chance to escape from the country.
Aguinaldo has disappeared, nothing
has been heard of him, with certainty,
for more than a year, and the only
remnants of his soldiery are a few
groups of brigands, which our troops
are hunting down. By constant exer
cise of kindness and show of respect
for their rights, customs and prejudices
the people are being won over rapidly.
The outlook is excellent for complete
establishment of peace and order.
The Salisbury Ministry is contem
plating an extension of the land-purchase
plan, by which tenants on Irish
estates are enabled to become absolute
owners of the land they till and occupy.
The money to purchase it from the
landlord is lent to them out of a special
appropriation made for that purpose by
Parliament. The price the tenant Is al
lowed to offer averages a sum equal to
the ordinary rent for seventeen years,
and it is repaid to the state In ninety
eight semi-annual installments equal to
about one-half the former rent. At the
end of forty-nine years they or their
sons will own the title to the land.
Since 1885, when this land-purchase
system was enacted under Gladstone's
Ministry, about 30,000 peasant proprie
tors have been created by this method,
for whom the land commission has ad
vanced $82,600,000. But landlords with
peaceable and industrious tenants have
been unwilling to sell on these terms,
and the problem today is, What shall
be done to induce the remaining land
lords to sell their lands to the tenants?
T. W. Kussell, Member of Parliament
from Ulster, a strong Conservative,
urges the government to extinguish
non-resident landlordship by extending
the land-purchase plan into a scheme
of universal tenant ownership, which
would require the staking of the im
perial credit to the extent of at least
$486,000,000. Mr. Russell would add a
state bonus to the price formerly of
fered, in order to induce landlords to
sell. In face of this proposed vast ex
tension of the present plan of land
purchase through government ad
vances to the tenant, how stupid are the
wild cries of the Clan-na-Gael that
"Ireland "has become a dying nation,
dying of thirty years of Parliamentary
agitation." What a barbaric medley
was presented in proceedings which in
cluded the hissing of the name of Great
Britain's dead Queen, the singing of
the Boer national anthem, followed by
an Irish national song!
The contention of the Democrats that
the United States is bound by the Tel
ler resolution, and therefore can take
no action on the proposed Cuban consti
tution, is answered by the Republican
leaders, who fairly say that "the Teller
resolution is no pledge nor treaty; it is
not superior to the Monroe Doctrine,
one of whose provisions we violated
when we interfered in the case of Cuba
and took that colony away from Spain.
It is at the utmost only a law of the
United States, an expression of senti
ment or expediency, constructed ac
cording to the light which Congress
had at the time of its passage; it is
like any other enactment, subject to
change or repeal, and is no bar what
ever to this country taking whatever
action may be necessary to guard its
Interests in Cuba." There is undeniable
force In this reply. It is clear as a
matter of common sense that Cuba, for
her own protection and national preser
vation, cannot afford to be independent
of reciprocal relations of a most inti
mate character with the United States.
If Cuba insists on absolute independ
ence of the United States, why, then,
she must put herself into a state of am
ple defense against Spain, when that
power pops up some day with a de
mand on Cuba to pay an enormous
debt which Cuba has repudiated. With
out the Navy of the United States at
her badk, Cuba will not be able for
twenty years to come to prevent Spain
enforcing the payment of this great
debt at the cannon's mouth. The United
States, as a matter of national self
interest, could not afford to see Cuba
surrendered or sold to a foreign power.
If Cuba proposes "to paddle her own
canoe" henceforth, the United States
does not desire to interfere, but the
United States in self-defense is bound
to see that no foreign power shall take
the craft when Cuba can no longer pad
dle it.
THE SECRET OP REFORM.
"There is no law of social organi
zation," says the Christian Register,
"which will keep ignorance, self-indulgence,
laziness, dishonesty and brutal
ity from sinking to the low levels of
shame and misery; there is no human
power Which can shut out an honest,
virtuous, frugal community from prog
ress toward the enjoyments of peace
and prosperity." Here are facts worth
repeating; facts the value of which no
years impair and no sophistry can sub
vert. The history of the race attests
them; life, individual and collective,
everywhere mirrors them. "Hogarth's
'Idle Apprentice' and his 'Rake's Prog
ress'," significantly declares the jour
nal above quoted, "were not Idle Inven
tions. He pictured what he saw."
We are not to forget, though some
times we seem in danger of sb doing,
that the things he saw are still to be
found. Suffering, shame, guilt, retribu
tion, are real things provided for the
Idle and the dissolute, according to
laws that are never broken. Men and
women cannot be saved from these
things by legislation. Those who can
walk should not be carried. They
should, on the contrary, be allowed to
walk, and, refusing to do so, should, as
eventually, in spite of all "help," they
will, be left behind and taken but
slightly into the great movement
known as progress.
To assume the care of the children
of an effortless, characterless man is
to encourage Tiim and his kind in
thriftless or dissolute habits. The "poor
fellow" of the community where work
is the standard of moral and financial
character is in the first place self-elected
to fill his lowly or dissolute station
Jn life. The lowly is not necessarily
unenviable, since if with it honesty,
contentment and plenty abide, it repre
sents an estate the value of Which
Kings may envy but cannot compute.
It is well to reflect that any change
that does not improve the individual
quality of men and women represents
Imperfect effort "All the brushes
which civilization has Invented for the
human toilet would be useless In Cen
tral Africa; all the refinements "of the
table would be wasted upon the rude
and roysterlng. But whatever awakens
a desire for better things will suggest
a way of getting them." Herein lies
the secret of reform which they who
pester Legislatures to pass personal
purity laws and bedevil society In the
interest of making the luxuries of life
"free" for all have never yet discov
ered. THE FUEL QUESTION IX ENGLAND.
Among the resolutions that will be
submitted by the council of the South
of Scotland Chamber of Commerce for
discussion at the annual meeting of the
Associated Chambers of Commerce, to
be held next month In London, is the
following: "Resolved, That as the fu
ture of Great Britain lies In the power
of Its manufactures, it is expedient that
the question of the continued exporta
tion of coal should be considered, and
a decision in regard to it reached." The
anxiety betrayed In this resolution con
firms the opinion recently expressed in
an official report by Rufus Fleming.
United States Consul at Edinburgh, to
the effect that the fuel question dis
turbs the far-sighted British manufac
turer more than any other of the many
that now confront him. Simply stated,
"he cannot shut his eyes to the mean
ing of $3 50 coal." This opinion is for
tified by well-known facts. All coal de
posits in Great Britain are known, and
there are few fields that have not been
worked for a long period. Prominent
mining engineers predict that the work
able seams of coal In Scotland will be
practically exhausted in twenty-five
years, and that the best of the coal in
several English "districts will "not last
longer than 1930. The enormous drain
upon these fuel storehouses of the ages
is wilnesed in the figures, which show
that the coal output In Great Britain in
1900 was considerably more than 200,-
000,000 tons; the recklessness of this
drain, to which the resolution' above
quoted points, is shown in the state
ment that one-fourth of this vast bulk
was exported.
Anxiety upon this point is not new.
Three years ago the Institute of Mining
Engineers at the annual meeting in
London strongly urged an export duty
of 12 cents per ton on coal, but man
ufacturers took no notice of the propo
sition, and nothing came of It The
high prices of coal which have pre
vailed for the past eighteen months,
however, presented an argument of an
other kind, and the earnest attention
of manufacturers has been awakened
to a question that threatens the basis
of their industries. True, the danger
is not imminent, but a quarter of a
century Is not so long, and In the mean
time serious embarrassment to trade,
already boldly menaced by competition,
must result
As shown in the Consular report to
which reference is above made, the
metal trades in Great Britain have
greatly declined since January, 1900.
The difference in the beginning and at
the end of that year was that between
"enormous activity and practical stag
nation." This decline was a feature of
the last six months of the year, during
which time American and German com
petition became sharply manifest Es
pecially in the early Autumn, offers of
American Iron and steel at reduced
prices had a crushing effect on the
market. In this emergency the in
creased cost of coal becomes serious,
and, though but one factor in the vexa
tious problem that confronts British
manufacturers of iron and steel. It is
one that cannot be eliminated therefrom.
AN IMMORTAL ADVENTURESSt
Thackeray is the greatest novelist of
the "Victorian age. "Vanity Fair" is
his greatest book, and "Becky" Sharp
is its most memorable character. Why
Is "Becky" Sharp Immortal? She was
only a very brilliant, clever adventur
ess. This no more explains the impres
sive quality of the heroine of "Vanity
Fair" than the fact that Sir John Fal
staff was a most dissolute and worth
less adventurer explains the fact that
he is the most immortal character that
Shakespeare ever drew. "Becky" Sharp
is immortal for the same reason that
Falstaff inspired "Prince Hal" to mur
mur over his supposed dead body, "We
could have better spared a better man."
"Prince Hal" knew that Falstaff was
a liar, a thief, a coward, a cheat, a
rake, a drunkard, but he could not for
get the memory of his fas'cinating in
tellectual sparkle; his gibes, his flashes
of merriment that were wont to set
the table in a roar.
It is something so with "Becky"
Sharp. She is an adventuress, a liar,
a hypocrite when hard pressed to suc
ceed In her intrigues, and yet she Is a
most brilliant and accomplished
woman. Her natural brains are fine,
her wit keen, her vivacity captivating.
She admits that she reverences nothing
but prosperity, admires nothing but
success, and confesses that the hard
lines of poverty in childHood and the
petty grinding tyranny and insult she
suffered In her life as a governess had
made her into a woman without faith,
hope or charity. She has a certain
frankness, at times. Inherited from her
French mother, and In one of these mo
ments said she would have found It very
easy to be good if she had been born
rich; and this is the clew to the whole
woman. Had she been a woman of
commonplace talents, she would have
been content to live and die a drudg
ing governess, but she was full of tal
ent and ambition, and was determined
to be a social queen or perish in the
effort. She is not a dissolute woman in
the sense that she is a born sensualist.
She is no more dissolute by nature than
Napoleon, but, like Napoleon, she is
intensely ambitious, has no use for vir
tue that is Its own reward.
Virtues that declare no dividend in
some personal or social advantages are
not virtues, but infirmities, to "Becky"
Sharp. She is df the same type of am
bition as Beatrix In "Henry Esmond."
She would not choose a dissolute life
for its own sake, but had she been
the wife of an honest peasant she would
have left her husband without hesita
tion to be the mistress of a King.
"Becky" Sharp, however, is a better
woman than Beatrix, for If she could
have captured a man whose character
commanded respect among men and
who could have supported her decently.
Instead of marrying a horse jockey and
a gambler, like Captain Rawdon Craw
ley, she would have been a good wife.
She despised Amelia for preferring
worthless George Osborne to gallant
William Dobbin, and she never was so
proud of her husband as when he
thrashed Lord Steyne. She shows her
better nature when she exerts herself
to persuade Amelia to marry Dobbin,
despite the fact that Dobbin has just
denounced her as a woman of disrepu
table character to Mrs. Osborne.
From start to finish, "Becky" Sharp
is so cleverly drawn that she retains
the sympathy If not the admiration of
the reader to the last We think of her
early life as a brilliant, gifted child
that never had any childhood in the
humane senEe of the word; of her life
as a young woman, left an orphan
without money or friends, obliged to
become an ill-fed, ill-clothed. Ill-paid
teacher in a school presided over by an
Ignorant, vulgar woman. This bril
liant, friendless, poverty-stricken girl
resolves to make a marriage that
means rescue from penury at the first
opportunity. She angles for stupid Joe
Sedley and nearly lands that fat floun
der; then she fascinates Sir Pitt Craw
ley and marries his shiftless son. The
gambler-husband Is a dull fellow, a
dissipated dragoon, whose Ignorance
and animalism soon wear out his wel
come. The wife's brilliant wits are
soon employed successfully in increas
ing the family income and enlarging
her area of distinguished, aristocratic
acquaintance. Then comes the intrigue
with Lord Steyne, its discovery, the
separation between husband and wife.
This is "Becky" Sharp's Waterloo. She
has played her cards well, but luck has
been against her. She has lost and she
goes Into social Siberia on the Conti
nent, a comrade for gamblers and kin
dred shady folk.
"Becky" Sharp is Thackeray's great
est character; his only memorable
woman, save Beatrix, who is a chip off
the same block. Amelia Is an amiable
creature, but a goose' Laura Is a dull,
domestic fowl; Ethel Newcome is a cor
rect, high-bred English girl; Blanche
Amory is a very mean woman, without
brains or passion enough to make her
interesting. They are all wooden In
dians or blue and white china dolls
compared with "Becky" Sharp, who is
Thackeray's only memorable flesh and
blood vital female figure. The failure
of both Dickens and Thackeray to draw
a fine, noble woman of the quality of
the heroines of Scott, George Eliot or
even Charles Reade, marks either the
limitations of their experience or the
power of their imagination. Thackeray
evidently thought in a large way
women tended to be either "Becky"
Sharps or Amelias, modified somewhat
by the fortuitous circumstances of
early friendly formative influences, or
the reverse: This is not the picture of
women we And in Shakespeare or even
in Fielding, whose Amelia is a far finer
type of impressive good womanhood
than anything wrought by Thackeray.
Thackeray had seen the type of female
adventuress he paints so powerfully In
"Becky" Sharp. He never saw the type
of Maggie Tulllver or Dorothea, so he
never painted it.
As every thoughtful observer expect
ed, the unrebuked, lawless violence of
Mrs. Nation has begotten violence. A
clergyman Who led a band of riotous
prohibitionists at WInfleld, Kan., last
week struck a barkeeper with a hatchet
on the head and severely wounded him,
and since that date a woman, the wife
of a saloon-keeper, has been shot to
death by a mob. The students in a
Methodist college have declared in fa
vor of lynch law. It is high time for
the law and order element of Kansas
to step in and enforce order, unless
they wish to have the good name of
their state disgraced throughout the
country. The Kansas Senate the other
day killed the bill restoring capital pun
ishment The representatives of the
people have not manliness enough to
restore the death penalty, but they
complacently view a mob inflict the
death penalty in the most barbarous
form of torture. The law was grossly
violated when the mob burned a negro
to death at Leavenworth', but Bible
quoting Mrs. Nation did not sally forth
with a hatchet to smash the windows of
these barbarous outlaws. She reserved
the protest of her hatchet for men
whose lawbreaking consists in the Ille
gal sale of liquor. If logical, she ap
proves of lynch law, whether it appears
In the form of roasting a negro or
Wrecking a "Joint"
It Is now set forth with utmost con
fidence by medical science that the
source of malarial fevers Is the bite
of mosquitoes, and that yellow fever,
one of the malarial types, Is produced
or transmitted by a mosquito of a par
ticular kind. The Pan-American Med
ical Congress, in session recently at
Havana, authorized this statement:
The board declares that the specific cause of
yellow fever Is still unknown: that It can bo
transmitted only by mopquitoe; that, In con
sequence, disinfection of clothing, premises
and other things Is unnecessary; that dirt and
filth have nothing to do with the Inception or
the continuance of the disease that It may
occur and spread even In the cleanest locali
ties; and that only one kind of mosquito can
convey the yellow fever.
An article on this subject from the
Boston Herald, printed In The Orego
nian today, will serve to give an idea
of the nature of these discoveries and
their importance. If the conclusions be
correct, we have in them the most re
markable of all the discoveries of med
ical science.
Mr. MacLean, in the Canadian House
of Commons, .urges Caoada to follow
the example of Russia and impose a
retaliatory tariff' upon 'the United
States. The government representa
tives made no reply; they are sensible
men, who know that when it comes to
the matter of retaliation, the United
States can squeeze Canada in various
ways quite as hard as Canada can the
United States. The difficulties between
the United States and Canada can be
settled only by a spirit of justice and a
willingness to believe that compromise
is not seldom sound statesmanship.
Canada could accomplish nothing by
following Mr. MacLean's policy of a re
taliatory tariff. Its imposition would
only provoke retaliation, and the result
would be a long delay in obtaining a
full and satisfactory settlement of the
Alaska boundary question.
We were told by our reformers last
Spring that It was shameful the way
the charter of the, City of Portland had
been Jockeyed with In politics. Prom
ise was made that if their Legislative
ticket ..were elected this wrong should
be righted and a charter should be en
acted solely for the good of the city,
with no political trading. But in fact
all jobbery of politics with the charter
known heretofore .and It has been rank
pales Into Insignificance in compari
son with the attempt of the "delega
tion" at this session to trade every
thing in the cjty for votes for United
States Senator, now and two years
hence. Censurable as Simon has been,
this discounts all his performances
completely He simply isn't "in It."
Strife between railways in Oregon
has brought into the Legislature a bill
to compel all new roads, when built,
to pass over or under other roads, at
every crossing. In a state so new as
Oregon, such regulation is premature.
It would too greatly increase the cost
of building new roads and would go
far toward .keeping new roads out of
Portland and other towns, which could
scarcely be entered without crossing
existing roads. It would greatly bur
den short roads, to be built here and
there, yet obliged to get Into terminal
points. In the hands of the great rail
roads, already established, if would be
a heavy club with which to beat down
small local enterprises.
Denounce the President for doing
what is necessary In the Philippines
without authority from Congress, and
then keep Congress from enacting- the
authority. This is the antl programme,
and nothing could be more beautifully
simple.
Shortages are reported in the school
lahd accounts In 1894 and 1895. That
was six and seven years ago, and this,
we take it, is as closely upon the heels
of such things as our Legislature can
decorously tread.
Legislative animadversion upon labor
conspiracies to injure persons and prop
erty of employers is resented by labor
leaders at Washington and defeated at
their solicitation. It is a significant
confession.
Mr. Mays and his friends are indefat
igable in their factional activity with
charter and other things. This Is well.
Make hay, etc Opportunity may not
pass their way soon again.
The compulsory pilot Jblll is an effort
to force all pilotage on the river Into
the hands of such skill as that which
has piled up the steamer on the Morri
son bridge.
MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA.
The Latent, Perhaps. Greate.it, Vic
tory for Medical Science.
Boston Herald.
Among the great achievements of sci
ence In the 19th century, our victories
over disease give special distinction to
the closing decade. Consumption, the
most fatal of all diseases, has been found
curable In its incipient stages by con
tinuous living In pure air; dlptheria has
been conquered by the anti-toxlno reme
dy: malarial Infection has been traced
to Its sole cause in the bite of a certain
species of mosquito, and this has just
been followed by the corresponding dis
covery that yellow fever Infection like
wise originates With the same Insect This
latest discovery Is a direct outcome of the
occupation of Cuba by the United States,
and It Is probably not too much to say
that its value to humanity Is immense
ly In excess of the costof the war with
Spain.
Yellow fever thu3 appeal's to be a par
ticular virulent form of malaria. This
seems to account for the close resem
blance of that disease to certain forms
of malaria, so that at our Army hospit
als at Santiago In the late war, one was
often mistaken for the other by the sur
geons. These discoveries will not only
effect radical changes in dealing with
malaria and yellow fever, but economic
results of far-reaching Importance may
be looked for. The knowledge of these
diseases, and consequently of the proper
methods of treating them, can hardly fail
to Change the relations of civilization to
the tropical regions of the earth.
Malaria is a disease so universal In its
range as to comprise vast areas of the
temperate zone in its fields of Infection,
as well as the greater portion of the
tropics, where Its most fatal forms pre
vail. It has, therefore, been the chief
bar to spread of modern civilization In
the tropics, and, in Its guise of yellow
fever. It has converted certain cities and
districts, into veritable plague spots; for
Instance, Havana, Vera Cru2, Rio da
Janerio, and a large portion of the Afri
can Coast. Malaria and yellow fever have
been chiefly responsible for the long ac
cepted dictum that It Is physically Impos
sible for the white race to flourish in the
tropics. With the source of the evil
known, and the remedy accordingly made
possible, will not the dictum itself lose
Its authority, and the Vast tropical re
gions, the most fruitful portions of the
earth, be added to the undisputed domain
of modern civilization, as represented
by the white race?
The white race can live and civilization
flourish almost anywhere when Infectious
disease is kept away. As a rule, life is
more agreeable for most persons in warm
weather than In Cold, and In mild cli
mate than In a rigorous one. So with prop,
er clothing and det, life In tropical cli
mates can probably be made comfortablo
and healthful. The main thing is to keep
mosquitoes away. By the proper use of
screens, and, perhaps, of ointments obnox
ious to Insects, there should be no great
difficulty In this, so that, with well ar
ranged, portable nettings, it would even
be possible to sleep safely In the open
air. Hitherto the needed precautions
against these Insects have not been taken,
since they have been regarded merely as
a painful annoyance, rather than the ter
rible pests that they have been discovered
to be.
There are remedial means as well as
preventive. While Infection from mos
quito bites can be diminished immensely
by proper screening, etc., It can hardly
be wholly avoided. But, in case this hap
pens, the remedial methods- that have
been devised promise to make the illness
slight and recovery almost certain. Pro
fessor Koch announces that he has been
entirely successful with his experiments
with Inoculation against malaria, both to
prevent infection and to cure; and like
results are reported from applications of
the yellow fever serum of Dr. Bellanza
ghi. Altogether, the conquest of malaria and
yellow fever must mean benefits Inesti
mable or the human race. Here In this
country yellow fever has Inflicted enor
mous damage In the South, and that sec
tion" has stood in constant dread of its
Inroads. With Us nature known, it will
not be a difficult matter to rid ports like
Havana and Vera Cruz of it entirely, and
radically different quarantine methods
against Its entrance In this country will
be In order. And It seems likely that a
new era In tropical civilization will date
from the beginning of the 20th century,
at whose threshold these discoveries were
made.
Gallatin in Antl-Inipcrlallnm.
New York Times.
The Democrats In the Senate cannot
readily give up the notion that there Is
a Constitutional difficulty In the way of
administering the new territory acquired
by the United States through the treaty
with Spain. We venture to commend to
their careful attention the views of Al
bert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treas
ury under Mr. Jefferson, whose argu
ments Anally prevailed with the Presi
dent. Jefferson at first held that the
acquisition of Louisiana required a Con
stitutional amendment to sanction the
action he had taken. "Our peculiar se
curity," he wrote, "is In the possession
of a written Constitution; let us not
make It a blank paper by construction."
To this conception Mr. Gallatin, by
far the soundest and clearest and most
conscientious reasoner of Mr. Jeffer
son's Cabinet, not excepting Mr. Madi
son, who had not nenrly his moral fidel
ity and courage, replied:
To me It would appear, first, that the "United
State as a Nation have aft Inherent right to
acquire territory.
Second That whenever that acquisition Is by
treaty, the Fame constituted authorities In
whom treaty-making power Is vested have a
constitutional right to sanction the acquisi
tion. Third Thnt whenever the territory has been
acquired. Congress has the power either of ad
mitting into the Union as a new state, or of
annexing to a state with the consent of that
state, or ot making regulations for the gov
ernment of such territory.
Reviewing the clause that reserves to
the states or to the people the powers
not delegated to the United States, he
points out that all treaty-making is for
bidden to the states, and that the pow
er of acquiring territory, if reserved,
must be reserved to the people at large.
He concludes:
If that be the true construction of the Con
stitution, It substantially amounts to thin, that
the United States are precluded from and re
nounce altogether the enlargement of terri
tory; a provision sufficiently Important and
singular to have deserved to be expressly en
acted. Is It not a more natural construction
to say that the power of acquiring territory la
delegated to the United States by the several
provisions which authorise the several
branches of Government to make war, to
make treaties and to govern the territory of
the Union?
To this reasoning Jefferson, not un
aided by his sense of the tremendous po
litical convenience of the doctrine,
yielded.
Winn by Flattery.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The people of the state re-elect Sena
tor Hoar, and even revere him, because
they know that he believes with all his
heart that, however wrong they may be
on the Philippine question, they are Im
measurably greater than the people of
any other state can possibly become. It
is difficult to resist that kind of flattery,
and In Massachusetts they do not try.
They simply crown the flatterer with
laurel.
From the "Miflt" Column.
Albany Democrat.
Arthur Dunn, The Oregonlan's Wash
ington correspondent, has Just been elect
ed president of the Gridiron Club, and re
cently presided at a banquet at Which
there were four Cabinet officers. And yet
Congressman Tongue says this corre
spondent is a very stupid man.
i
The Shlp-Sbbjildy Ship.
Philadelphia Times.
"I stand on the beach," says Hanna,
"But to save me I can't iy
"Whether that ship Is heading for shore
Or going the other way."
MANSFIELD ON" STREET 3IAXXERS.
Ills Ideas Are Too Radical, hut There
Is Something: In Them.
Chicago Tribune.
Richard Mansfield criticises with great
severity the manners of tho men of the
present day. He mourns because men no
longer lift their hats to women with elabo
rate and sweeping gestures and because
they no longer rush to the curbstone and
uncover when they see a. lady approach
ing on the sidewalk. Mr. Mansfield has
been so closely associated with the char
acter of Beau Brummel that it Is only
natural he should miss the stately and
formal manners of an earlier day. But he
is also a modern actor, and should there
fore make more allowances for the great
ly altered conditions of life which have
brought with tham a corresponding change
In the manners of the people. If Chicago
men, for Instance, should adopt the rule
of rushing to the curbstone when they
see women approaching whom they know,
and saluting dlgnlfiedly as these women
pass, they would be likely, while rushing
to their saluting stations, to bump Into
and Incommode seriously other pedes
trians. On the Crowded streets of a great
city different rules of politeness must pre
vail than on a leisurely and fashionable
boulevard.
It has been rarely charged against
American men. even by the m6st preju
diced of their European critics, that they
are lacking In deference to Women. The
criticism has more commonly been that
In this country the average woman Is a
qiieen and the man her willing and obedi
ent slave. Mr. Mansfield would be the
first to admit that true politeness Is more
a matter of kindly deeds than of genu
flections and gestures. And, Judged by this
standard, he would nlso probably agree
that the modern American does not suf
fer by comparison with his ancestors of
three or more generations ago.
At the same time It must be confessed
that the quick, nervous, absent-minded
business man of the present day does lack
the graceful and stately manner of the
typical "gentleman of the old school."
That he would be benefited by a study of
the repose and ease which were then the
rule Is also true. But he should not be
too much blamed for what he is not re
sponsible for. The world changes and
each age brings with It a change In man.
ners. The average man is chiefly a prod
uct of hla surroundings, In manners as in
everything else.
A Financial Monarch.
Baltimore Sun.
Mr. J. P. Morgan, of New York, Is a
financial magnate of such tremendous
Importance that English speculators In
the stocks In which he Is Interested "are
taking out insurance policies on his life
to protect themselves In the event that
a panlo follows his death. Policies have
been taken out In London, It Is reported,
which in the aggregate amount to many
million dollars. Mr. Morgan consequently
stands in the same class as the late
Queen Victoria, whose life had been in
sured heaiily by shrewd and thrifty Eng
lish tradesmen. The New York financier
Is represented to be In the b3st of health,
with apparently many years before him.
Englishmen have been startled, however,
by his recent plunge Into the billion-dollar
steel pool. A man who engages In
such gigantic operations, they argue, Cah
not suddenly pass out of life without
causing disturbances in the financial
world. American Insurance companies are
more conservative than the British con
cerns, and none of them Issue policies on
tho plan which seems to be In such gen
eral favor In England. Insurance of this
kind is a form of gambling which differs
little In principle from the most reckless
games of chance. Mr. Morgan's present
robust state of health warrants the ex
pectation that ho will attain a ripe old
age, in which event the Insurance com
panies will collect enough premiums to
protect them from loss. On the other
band, some sudden spell of illness .might
end his life at any time, entailing heavy
losses upon the companies, and perhaps
forcing soma Into bankruptcy. The game
Is a risky one for Insurance concerns and
their stockholders.
The Flan: of England.
New York Sun.
What is the "flag of England," mean
ing the national flag of Great Britain?
This question has puzzled a good many
Americans recently, and, according to one
English writer, has puzzled even a good
many Englishmen. The union flag blue,
with the crosses of St George, St An
drew and St. Patrick upon It ought real
ly to be the national flag, but Its use Is
restricted almost wholly to the army, the
regiments of which have carried as the
"Queen's colors" for 60 years, and will
now carry It ns the "King's colors." With
various devices this flag Is 'used as the
banner of certain high official.;, as the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, tho Viceroy
of India and the Governor-General of Can
ada. The British Navy uses the white en
sign, n white flag showing the red St.
George's" crose, with the union flag as a
canton or small subdivision in the upper
corner nearest the staff, and the Royal
Naval Reserve uses the blue ensign a
blue flag with the union In the corner as
a canton. The use of both white and
blue ensigns Is governed by stringent
laws.
Of course, the royal standard, or, more
properly, royal banner, being the personal
flag of the sovereign, cannot be the na
tional flag. The only other flag Is the red
mercantile flag, which Is familiar to all,
a red field, with the union as a cinton in
the corner. This probably must be taken
as the British national flag; and so It
seems to be accepted, the world over.
Oregon Already Hn One Lair.
' Chicago Tribune.
Evil days are ahead of the cigarette.
Agitation looking to Its suppression, in
wholo or In part, has spread over the
land. An Investigation- just completed
shows that tho Legislatures in at least
13 states are considering the adoption of
more or less drastic measures, that 11
states already have laws on their statute
books prohibiting the sale of the paper
wrapped weed, and that the W. C. T. U.
and other "organizations are urging the
adoption of stringent legislation in half
a dozen other commonwealths.
The states under the first head are;
Illinois, Minnesota,
California, Indiana.
Montana, "West Virginia,
Missouri, Nebraska,
Kansas, Delaware,
Massachusetts, North Carolina.
Michigan. '
Under the second head are:
Rhode Island, Vermont,
Iowa, Ohio.
New Hampshire, Pennsylvania,
Mississippi, Connecticut,
Arizona, Georgia.
Texas,
Among the states where the women and
schoolteachers are seeking to arouse their
legislators to action are:
Tenhes8ee, Oregon,
Maine, Washington,
Utah, "Wisconsin.
So far as known, but two states in tho
entire 45 are paying no particular atten
tion to tho subject Wyoming and Louis
iana. The Door Opened Toward Him.
Youth's Companion.
Right side and wrong side lie so close
together that the ability to generalize
from a single example Emerson's defini
tion of genius is sometimes misleading.
A New Orleans lawyer who was recently
asked to talk to the boys of a business
school prefaced his address by a few ex
tempore remarks:
"My young friends," he said, "as I ap
proached the entrance to this room t no
ticed on the panel of the door a word
eminently appropriate to an institution of
this kind. It expresses the one -thing
most useful to the average man when he
steps Into the arena of life. It was"
"Pull!" shouted the boys, with a roar
of laughter, while the horrified politician
recognized that he had taken for his text
the wrong side of the door.
xote" and comment
Is 'the state song to bo "Just One Sen
ator"? "Tho Dark and Bloody Ground" seems
to have shifted to Kansas.
The massacre of women is not the most
effective Way to promote temperance re
form. People who have railroads which they
need in their business had better nail
them down.
Naturalists declare that the lobster Is
becoming extinct. They should push their
Investigations a little further.
The members of the Legislature may
think they are tired, but they ought to
see the condition of the public.
Edwin Markham has been called tho
Alfred Austin of America. Puzzle Find
the man who got the worst of it.
There Is yet a little time left for work
If the legislators feel that they would be
benefited by a change of employment.
Now It Is reported that General Wheeler
wants to go back to Congress. Nothing
Is too desperate for the game old fighter.
The London newspapers say they see
the end of the Boer war. Those London
newspapers are always looking back
ward. Altgeld Is abusing Grover Cleveland. If
he can get a rise or two out of Petti
grew, Grover will stand a ' good chance
for a third term.
The Mexican Herald does not believe
that the Mexican dollar can be driven
Out of.the East. "The big business houses
of the Far East," It says, "and the Chi
nese compradores, always accustomed to
the Mexican dollar, give it the prefer
ence. Few other coins have been better
received in any part of the world. And
any one who knows the Intense conserv
atism of the Chinese may well doubt If.
even in the Philippines (where there are
not a few Chinese traders), a new dollar
can wholly drive out the tlmo-honored
Mexican coin. On the mainland the Mex
ican dollar is a standard of value, and
the Chinese are marvelously well ac
quainted with every feature of It, and
can detect a counterfeit In the dark!"
An official of Cramp's shipyard says
that it costs from $4000 to JS000 to launch
a battleship. "The building of the ways
for the ship to slide down over Is tho
main Item, and then comes the greasing,"
he said. "Every Inch of timber over
which the vessel slides must be covered
with a lubricant. Different firms use
different substances, but soap and tallow
form the main ingredients of them all.
At the Cramps's we use a layer of beef
tallow and a layer of soft soap, and,
taken altogether, between one and a half
tons of the stuff Is required to put a
move on the average battleship. The tal
low Is spread on first, to the depth of
about three lingers, and the workmen
use big flat trowels to make the surface
as smooth as possible. Then they pour
over the soft soap, which Is just thick
enough to run, or about the consistency
of tar. As a general thing, the double
coating answers the purpose admirably,
and the ship glides into the water as if
it was sailing on air. If it sticks, as
has happened in a few cases, It Is likely
to spring some of the vessel's plates, and
accidents of that kind are so costly that
nothing' Is spared to avert them."
t
PLEASANTRIES OF PARAGRAPIIERS
Maud I don't like to see you throwing your
self at Fred. Elizabeth Why not? He's a
good catch. Tit-Bits.
A Tempting Thickness. "Is that Ice thick
enough to skate on, little boy?" "No. sir; It's
only jest thick enough to try and see If It's
thick enough!" Puck.
That's "Why. "How can you go with Fred
Squandret, Laura? He's such a spendthrift."
"What If he Is? He spends It nearly all on
me." Philadelphia Evening" Bulletin.
Mostly Bluster. "The mnn who Is waging
war on the modern prizefight It a regular Don
Quixote." "You think so?" "Of course: he'a
only fighting -windmills." Philadelphia Press.
Carrie (joyfully) Harry has proposed to me!
Bertha Oh, well, I wouldn't mind. He's such
an odd creature, you know. Tou never can tell
what he Will do. Boston Transcript.
Church You say she's an enthusiastic Chris
tian Scientist? Gotham Well, I should say
so! "Why, she can eat a plate of etewed tripe
and think It's Ice cream. Yonkers Statesman.
She "Was Posted. "The bride must have
studied the marriage service a long time."
"What makes you think so?" "When the of
ficiating clergyman faltered she prompted
him." Chicago Record.
Observing the Proprieties. Mrs. Chugwater
Joslah, that niece of mine down in Aurora
has married the allm-legged young fellow from
St. Louis who used to come and see her now
and then. She sends me her wedding cards.
I Bupposewe ought to make some reply. Mr.
Chugwater Certainly. Send her our regre'ta
or something of that kind. Chicago Tribune.
Manrlce Thompson.
(Jame3 Whltcomb Riley's tribute to his friend.)
He would have holiday outworn. In sooth.
Would turn again to seek the old release.
The open fields the loved haunts of his youth.
The woods, the waters, and the paths of
peace.
The rest the recreation he would choose
Be his abidingly; long has he served
And greatly aye, and greatly let us Use
Our grief, and yield him nobly as he de
served. Perchance with subtler senses than our own
And love exceedlns ours he listens thus
To ever-nearer, clearer, pipings blown
From out the lost lands of Theocritua.
Or. haply he is beckoned from us here.
By knight or yeoman of the bosky wood '
Or, chained In roses, haled a prisoner
Before the blithe Immortal, Robin Hood.
Or mayhap. Chaucer signals, and with him
And his rare fellows he goes pllgrlmlng;
Or Walton signs him o'er the morning brlnt
Of mystic waters, 'midst the dales of Spring.
Ho! Whereso'r he goes, or whosoe'r
He fares with, he has bravely earned the
boon.
Be his the open, and the glory there
Of April buds. May blooms and flowers of
June!
Be his the glittering dawn, the twinkling dew.
The breathless pool or gush of laughing
streams.
Be his triumph of the coming true
Of all his loveliest dreams.
Cleon and I.
Charles Mackay.
Cleon hath a million acres, ne'er a one have I;
Cleon dwelleth In a palace. In a cottage I;
Cleon hath a dozen fortunes, not a penny I;-'
Yet the poorer of the twain is Cleon. and
not I.
Cleon. true, possesseth acres, but the land
scape I;
Halt the charms to me It yleldeth money
cannot buy.
Cleon 'harbors sloth and dullness, freshing
vigor I;
He In velvet, I In fustian, richer man am I.
Cleon Is a slave to grandeur, free as thought
am I;
Cleon fees a score of doctors, need of none
have I;
Wealth-surrounded, care-environed. Cleon fears
to die;
Death may come; he'll find me ready happier
man am I.
Cleon sees no charms In nature, in a daisy I;
Cleon hears no anthems ringing in the sea and
sky;
Nature sings to me forever, earnest listener I;
Stale for state, with all attendants, who would
change? Not I.