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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1901)
THE MORNING OREGONIAN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 19Q1. te t&vge&m&n Entered tt the Postofflce at Portland, Oregon, ts second-class matter. TELEPHONES. Editorial Rooms 1CG I Business Office.. .CG7 REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATE3. By Mall (postage prepaid). In Advance Ialiy, with Sunday, per month.... $ 85 Dally, Sunday excepted, per 5 ear. ........ 7 50 Dally, with Sunday, per year. 0 00 Sunday per year 2 00 The Weekly, per year .'- 1 50 ""Xtoo "Weekly, 3 -months OO To City Subscribers Daily. jer week, delivered. Sundays exeepted.lSc Daily, per -Reck, dellcred, Sundays included.20c POSTAGE HATES. United States, Canada and Mexico: 10 to 10-pare paper..,.. .......... ...........lc 16 to 82-page paper..... .2c Foreign rates double. Kews or discussion intended for publication In The Oregonlan should be addressed invaria bly 'Editor The Orercnlan." not to the name of any indlt ldual. Letters relating to advertis ing, subscriptions or to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonlanj" The Oregonlan does not buy poems or stories irom Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to It without solici tation. No stamps bhould be Inclosed for this purpose. JJtret Sound Bureau -Contain A. Thompson. office at 1111 Pacific im!iuc. Tacoina. Boxi)33, T&coma Postofflce. Eastern Business Office S7. 48. 4!) and 53 Tribune "bulldinc. Neu York City: 4C0 "The Hookery," Chicago: the S. C. Bcckwlth special agency. Eastern representative. For sale in San rrancl-co by J. X. Cooper. 74B Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Gold smith Bros.. 23C Sutter street: F. W. Pitts, 1008 Market street; Foster & Orean Ferry news stand. For .sale in Los Angeles by B F. Gardner. 559 So. Spring: street, and Oliver &. Haines. 100 Bo. Spring street. For Bale in Chicago by the P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street. For sale in Omaha by H. C Shears. 105 N. Sixteenth street, and Barkalow Bros., 1C12 Fa-nam street. For sale In Salt Lake by the Salt Lake Co.. 77 W. Second South street. On file In Washlncton. D. C with A. W. Dunn. 500 14th N. W. For sale In Denver. Colo., by Hamilton &. Kendrick. 000-312 Seventh street. TODAY'S WEATHER, Partly cloudy, with probbaly an occasional shower; -warmer; south to west winds. POItTXAXD, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3. PttOSPERITr THROUGH GAMBLING. Some of the citizens of Portland seem to entertain the notion that an attempt or thought to put a stop to or a check upon gambling befits only a country town or provincial city. They talk as If gambling were a thing to be expect ed In every place of considerable im portance, and even an important aux iliary to the life and activity of every city worth the name. But in fact no city is big enough to permit this vice to run riot. In the two greatest cities of trie United States, New York and Chicago, strenuous effort is put forth and constantly maintained to minimize this -vice. It is known, indeed, that the vice cannot be wholly suppressed; but the crusade against It never stops. It Is at all times a lead ing factor in local politics and admin istration. The effort to suppress this vice, then, Is not characteristic of the country village. Nor is it a fruit of narrow and illiberal ideas, as some seem to suppose. Gambling Is a perni cious vice, which all communities that have a moral basis endeavor to hold under restraint. No doubt certain kinds of business, certain small Industries that are legit imate, are favored, to an extent, by open gambling, for Jt makes money 3nove freely in certain directions; but in the long run It can do a community no good, but only evil. Nothing else is so fruitful of general immorality; but to say nothing of this, it is an economic waste, destructive and frightful, In pro portion to its extent. It is productive industry and accumulation, not idleness or dissipation of money or wealth, that contributes to the material well being and progress of a community. Time spent in the pursuits of Industry is better for the community as well as for the Individual than time spent in gambling, as saving and accumulation are better than vicious prodigality. It is often said It is nobody's busi ness what a man does with his money. In a sense this is true; in another sense it is not The vice of gambling throws many heavy burdens on society. How, then, is it nobody's business? It leaves legitimate debts unpaid and children unsupported. In its effects It is always robbery; and will you say that it Is no body's business? Society finds it neces sary to be organized at all points against robbery- It has always been so; always must be so. It Is a re proach to any community to permit un restricted gambling, or to permit it to any extent within its reasonable power to restrict it Every one is aware that there are many minds upon which the argument on its moral side will not take hold; but it is really an insult to commoH intelligence to put forth the prefense that gambling has for a community Its economic advantages. Its economic ad vantages are really very similar to those which would result from highway robbery, if that form of human activ ity were permitted to become general. Business, trade, Industry, profit, are founded on equivalents of exchange. Gambling is the negation of the prin ciple. Its product, therefore, is beg gary, not wealth. The notion, we should hope, is not very prevalent that ' this town or any other can reach pros perity through gambling. "WILL KELP "POOR JACK." The experience of underwriters on both the Atlantic and the Pacific for the past Winter will have a tendency to make the men before the mast much better risks from an insurance stand point than they have been In the past. The late Samuel Pllmsoll spent many years in endeavoring to secure for the sailors the same consideration which the underwriters will now force owners to extend to them. As Mr. Plimsoll made his appeal from a humane and not from a commercial standpoint, it failed to secure the recognition which would otherwise be accorded it. Sail ors were cheap and plentiful, and the owner who could pile on a few tons more than was good for the safety of the ship was always willing to sacrifice the safety of the crew, so long as the underwriters would foot the bills in case of loss of the vessel. Mr. Plimsoll ham mered away at his hobby, however, and eventually succeeded In securing the passage of the law which prevented overloading a ship. The Pllmsoll mark oa the side of British ships has saved thousands of lives and millions of dol lars. The experience of the past few years has demonstrated, however, that an "under load line" is almost' as much a necessity as the Plimsoll mark. On the Pacific over 100 lives and four fine ships have been lost "within the past four months because of an Insufficiency of ballast and the Improper stowing of that which was on board. On the At lantic, the losses of the marine under writers during: the past "Winter through salvage and other claims have amount ed to over $2,000,000. Nearly all of this loss was on tramp steamers which had attempted the voyage across the Atlan tic without being submerged to a proper depth to admit of a successful struggle with the gales which sweep over the Atlantic during the Winter Season. The successors of Mr. Pllmsoll will now have a better opportunity to enlist the assistance of underwriters in their cause, and the appeal of the al mighty dollar will hardly fall on such deaf ears as are turned to the appeals made lor the good of humanity. THE SOX OF HIS FATHER. Carter Harrison Is elected Mayor of Chicago for a third successive term against the earnest desires and efforts o'f the best people of Chicago; nor does the resemblance of his career to that of his noted father end with this, for he has pursued the same curious course of mingled straightforwardness and crafty demagogy that won and held for his father both eminence and af fection in life and death. The contest just ended was much like others Chicago has passed through on the one side, respectability, high per sonal character, the "law and order" element and the great newspapers; on the other simply Harrison. The Mayor has been the "friecfd of the poor man." He withstood corporate designs on franchises and corporation deals with corrupt councils. His veto messages have bulwarked the city against many a dangerous inroad, and one removal after another was bravely made in the determination to secure the merit sys tem from clamorous spoilsmen. On the other hand, his antagonism to corporations has been carried to un wise lengths. It has impeded street railway development unnecessarily, be cause the Mayor was willing to sacrifice the city's real interests to his own pop ularity. Most pernicious of all, In the stubborn contest so long waged between the building interests and the labor unions of Chicago, to the city's grievous discomfort and incalculable loss, he un remittingly played into the hands of the strikers and declined to lift a finger to bring the struggle to an end and raise the embargo on Chicago's progress. Along with this he has sedulously cul tivated the "wide open" vote by lax regulation of the liquor and gambling evils, which has earned him the ill will of all that are deeply concerned for the moral and religious life of the com munity. Such is Harrison, and such Is the regime Chicago has deliberately chosen for another two years' term. Part of his majority may doubtless be set down to the inevitable reaction from the high tide of Republican success in 1900, and it is equally certain that Mr. Harrison will abate none of his commanding pic turesqueness in Democratic National councils. He will come out strong for the man whose nomination in 1904 is a foregone conclusion, and If there is none such, then Chicago will have a candi date that will add interest to the game. AN ILLUSTRIOUS EXILE. The ,repprted banishment of Count Tolstoi from Russia, which has fol lowed fast upon his excommunication from the Greek Church, which is the state religion of Russia, cannot be con sidered as an unexpected event, for our Ambassador to Germany, Andrew D. White, in his "Walks and Talks With Tolstoi," published In the current num ber of McClure's Magazine, quotes him as saying that every morning when he awoke he wondered he was not on his way to Siberia. Prom the standpoint of Russian ab solutism, Tolstoi Is a proper subject for banishment from Moscow, because he is a very attractive, very gifted teacher of radical communism and a preacher of doctrines that fall little short of ni hilism. He Is a man of the highest genius in literature, but his social and political theories would be the death not only of Russia, but of any other settled government in the world, for he is not a scientific thinker, but a dan gerous visionary and incendiary in Moscow, because his house is a meeting-place for all the political agitators of the empire. His living-room is built and furnished like the cabin of a Rus sian peasant; he dresses in a peasant's blouse, wearing a leathern girdle and high jack boots. His disciples all wear the peasant costume. He puts police men and soldiers in the same category, as using force to protect property and therefore to be alike abjured. He told Ambassador White that to his disbelief in any right of ownership literary prop erty formed no exception; that in his view he had no right to receive money for permission to print a book. He had an absurd notion that the Shakers In America had a valuable and important influence on society; he had a poor opin ion of women; he revered William Xiloyd Garrison:, spoke with admiration of Theodore Parker's writings, but the greatest of American writers to him was Adin Ballou, the philanthropic Massachusetts clergyman and religious communist. He invariably gave cop pers to any Russian beggar who asked alms, so of course the beggars were sure to attend him when he walked abroad. No argument could convince him that this Indiscriminate almsgiving was responsible for the swarms of street beggars that infest all the public places in the important cities of Rus sia. He is. described as a blissful ego tist whose love of humanity is associ ated with a depreciation of the ideas of others and with virtual intolerance of all thought which differs in the slightest degree from his own. He de preciated women as not equal to men in the highest qualities, saying that "men will at times sacrifice their fam ilies for an idea; women will not." He declared that he had known but two or three really self-sacrificing women in his life, and they were unmarried;-that women and womanish men take natur ally to old absurdities, such as "the trinity, spiritism and homeopathy"; that education would not change women; that women were illogical by nature. He believed In non-resistance to a degree that he did not approve of Theodore Parker's giving a pistol to a fugitive slave and advising him to defend himself. In his greatest novel, "War and Peace," he expresses a very low opinion of Napoleon, abso lutely denying his military genius; he did not believe in the existence of any such thing as military genius, and he accounted for Napoleon's amazing series of successes by saying that "bat tles are won by force of circumstances." J He liked L-anfrey and Taine because they denounced Napoleon; and further said that a recent-book on Napoleon's relations to women showed that he took the lowest possible view of woman kind. Tolstoi has no liking for poetry. He denounces all science, commends what he calls "faith," urges a return to a state of nature, repudiatesv marriage, although he is most happily married and the father of sixteen children. He holds that Aeschylus and Dante and Shakespeare were not great In litera ture; that the Rev.. Adln Ballou was the" foremost literary character America has produced. Tolstoi holds that Mi chael Angelo and Raphael wer.e not great In sculpture and painting; that Beethoven, Handel, Mozart and Haydn were not great In music; he declares Napoleon had no genius, but presents Kutusoff as a military ideal. This ex traordinary man, who is now in his 73d' year, was an engineer officer in the Russian Army during the Crimean War. His youth was as wild and dissi pated as the average young army offi cer of his day. His views on religion include "non-resistance," non-ownership of individual property, and literal obe dience to the precepts of the "sermon on the mount." His views on women and marriage are a return to views of TertuJHan, one of the fathers of the church, who held women In contempt as responsible for the fall of man. This is the strange man of' literary genius darkened with streaks of political and social Insanity that Russia is reported to have banished. He has made him self a political incendiary under an absolute government, and his expulsion Is not unnatural, and from the Russian standpoint certainly not unjust. DIFFERENTLY IN NEW JERSEV. That Is a very suggestive incident in the story of the steel trust's new in corporation papers in New Jersey the fee for filing was $220,000, a sum not tobe despised by the treasury of any state. New Jersey has made it an ob ject for business corporations to Incor porate under its laws, and these fees are an Incidental reward. The rate of taxation on the papers Is 20 cents for each $1000 of the total amount of capital stock authorized, and in no case less than $25. We have repeatedly called attention to the desirability of some such law for the State of Oregon. It is a fact that while such taxes are almost uni versal, we have none in Oregon, and an easy source of revenue is thereby thrown away. Within the past two years 678 companies have filed incor poration papers with the Secretary of State in Oregon Here is a minimum, at $25 each, of nearly $17,000, to begin with. But few of them have so low a capi talization as to be let off with a $25 tax. If we suppose that the many cor porations which do not specify their capital stock are as numerous as those that would pay over the minimum of $25, substantially the sum total of the capitalizations filed would become available for an additional 20'cents per $1000 tax; and as the Incorporations of the past two years aggregate. over $127, 000,000, we might have raised, through the per cent tax, an additional $25,400. When the O.' R. & N. was incorpo rated at $35,000,000, Its fee for filing would have been $7000. When the Pa cific States Telephone & Telegraph Company was Incorporated last May at $15,000,000, its filing fee would have been $3000. These taxes are very easily raised and paid, just as railroad and mining companies now pay stamp taxes under the war revenue act. Meanwhile our real estate and retail business have been burdened to raise the 50,000 that might have been collected from the corporations. These thing? were urged upon the Legislature, but it was too busy not electing a Senator to consider them. The incorporations of 1901 and 1902 will be many and of great aggregate cap italization, but the state treasury will derive no return for the privileges al lowed by the state's laws. WHAT CUBA WANTS. Representative Moody Is doubtless partly right and partly wrong in his estimate of the Cuban character.. The excellence of the social and domestic virtues he saw displayed there, It is gratifying to be assured of, and profit less to doubt; but the qualifications for self-government-a few exceptional Indi viduals can display upon occasion are inconclusive as applied to a whole peo ple, ruled for years by tyranny and, so far as politics is concerned, chiefly In terested in open or secret revolt. Mr. Moody's testimony from his visit to Havana and vicinity is chiefly valuable for his corroboration of the view, rap Idly gaining currency, that Cuba will accept the Piatt amendments in her own way, in her own time, provided she Is by us dealt with properly. It is going to make all the difference in the world with us in Cuba whether we propose to negotiate with her or dic tate to her; whether our aim is diplo macy or force, whether our implement is mutual advantage or a ramrod for cramming unwelcome things of our own choosing down her throat. We take it that apprehension of this fact at Wash ington and by prominent Americans who have visited Cuba since adjouVn ment of Congress Is the 1 explanation of the unexpected Cuban change of front What the high and mighty Sen ate, with al its pretensions to wisdom and courtesy, was too blind to see and too discourteous to allow, McKlnley and Root have discovered and men like Mr. Moody have inculcated as they have mingled with the Cubans on their own soil. The statesmanlike way to do this thing Is to sit down with Cuba and out line, as between man and man, an ar rangement of give and take. Cuba wants self-government very well. But she also wants protection. This self government Itself will be made more secure by the activities contemplated on our part in the Piatt amendment. The transfer of the Isle of Pines to the United States to be used as a naval sta tion, and the ceding of coaling stations on the Cuban coast, will enable this country to stand at close guard over Cuba, and at the same time strengthen her strategically. That which ' the United States asks Is a small compen sation for the protection that she pro poses to give in return. Cuba has not now nor will she ever have the re sources to build a navy extensive enough to fortify herself against a strong power. Under the relations pro posed by Uncle Sam she will not need to huild a navy. She will be able to use all the money that would other wise be spent upon battle-ships and cruisers in reviving her industries and J, promoting her material and educational welfare. We have here, In a word, an arrange ment of mutual advantage, securing to' Cuba a stronger guarantee of the kind' of protection she needs than the Monroe Doctrine affords the rest of Central and South America. What Cuba wants Is recognition of her right to considera tion. She Is likely to be fair and even generous in negotiations. She Is certain to be an ugjy customer In the role of a- badgered Inferior. Lord Salisbury's continued ill health has renewed the reports of his resigna tion at do far distant date. His aggre gate length of service surpasses slightly that of Mr. Gladstone, amounting to twelve years and 153 days, the longest record of the century, save that of Lord Liverpool, who was In office fourteen years and 329 days. He Is In his 71st year, and his retirement would be no injury to his party, for, although he 13 an able man, there are a number of men among the English Conservative leaders who are quite as able and young enough to do more than make good the place of a very sick old man. Sis nephew, Arthur James Balfour, is a man of great ability, and Secretary of War Broderlck and George Wynd ham are men of great promise. The death or retirement of an able Minis ter in office is not a matter of so much consequence to his party as the death or retirement of a great party leader out of office. The retirement of Parnell was a great shock to the Irish home rule party, and the retirement of Glad stone reduced it rapidly to a drifting wreck. But the death of Pitt, followed at no very long Interval by the death of Fox, had no serious influence upon; English politics. The unrelenting war against Napoleon proceeded without faltering to a finish, despite the fact that there was always a peace party In the great English manufacturing towns, like Leeds, but Its voice was as unavailing and it was as bitterly de nounced as the opposition to war with the Filipinos Is today. Nobody is In dispensable in this world. The sudden death or retirement of even a great mfen has small effect upon the general political drift under a settled govern ment like that of England or the United States. Of course, a government like that of the first Napoleon was founded upon the victorious bayonets of that great warrior, and since his government was really a mUltary camp, it could not survive the death or retirement of the genlUs that established it We had supposed it had become im possible for agents of Eastern journals to "work" cities of the Pacific Coast on false pretenses. Yet now we hear that a commercial journal of New York has been taking a large amount of orders for advertisements and 'subscriptions here, on the promise that not less than one column of matter each day, of spe cial interest and value to Portland, would be sent through from here over the wires by the Associated Press, and published not only in that particular journal, but in all the Associated Press newspapers of the United States. Rep resentations .of this kind are wholly fraudulent Merely local matter, writ ten to further the interests of .a partic ular locality, is not accepted by the As sociated Press; and If ltwere, the news papers of other parts of the country would not print It. The Associated Press will transmit any quantity of news of general Interest, but nothing that Is Intended merely to subserve the interests' of special Individuals or particular localities. This ought to be known; and agents of Eastern publica tions,! who come round to solicit busi ness on such representations as those we have indicated, ought to be told to "move on." The development within a few years of the American shoe trade in Great Britain and her colonies is causing un easiness in English trade circles. Ac cording to a report recently forwarded to London by a British commercial agent in the United States, the sales of American boots and shoes in the British possessions have jumped in three years from about $700,000 to $2,100,000 annu ally. Furthermore, this agent declares that these articles are "being pushed with success in places where British made goods ought to have practically the monopoly." This movement, though still in its Infancy, Is probably regarded as a menace to British trade because of the enormous gains that have been made In American exports to England In the past five years. It must be con fessed that there Is some ground for uneasiness over the prospect Let us advise the anti-imperialists to beware those asterisks in MacArthur's latest bulletins. They have been mak ing such ado lately over similar excis ions that the Administration may be putting up a Job on them. It may have s.omethlpg in reserve which will make complaint as to the omissions look fool ish.. In other words, those asterisks may be loaded. If Nicaragua Canal policy is to be formulated on both sides of the water by our transcontinental railroads- and their British stockholders, It is perhaps of the highest fitness that Pierpont Morgan and J. J. Hill should be the recognized custodians of the Panama Canalf Only, it seems unnecessarily brutal. In passing on from libraries to thea ters Mr. Carnegie opens up an endless vista of expectation. There are so many human institutions in painful need of the endowment of a model. If Mr. Car negie doesn't weary, he will soon have Aladdin's lamp ignomlnlously "faded." If the anthracite miners pursue their purpose of driving non-union men out of their districts, they will go far toward forfeiting the sympathy engen dered by President Mitchell's able diplomacy. A man can't quit his job and at the same time hold on to it. Aguinaldo has taken the oath of al legiance. Now If Edward Atki'nson, W. J. Bryan and the New York Even ing Post can be induced to do likewise, the Insurrection may be considered a closed incident Aguinaldo, it is said, "does not know what course to adopt" It Is not, per haps, unreasonable to suppose that cir,. cumstances over which he has no con trol will decide this momentous ques tion for him. " We trust no Americans will secure railroad mining or manufacturing con cessions in China. How should we like to see Chinese doing that sort of thing in this country? Or even Britishers? BRlTISrAxD AMERICAN DISTRUSTS Now York Times. Under the title "England and America; Strangers Yet," Mr. Arnold White con tributes an important article to the cur rent number of the Anglo-Saxon Review. His point is that it is urgently neces sary that the two great branches of the English-speaking race should really un derstand each other, but that the facili ties for such an understanding have not yet been provided. Indeed, according to him, they ate facilities largely for mu tual misunderstanding. We forget wheth er it was an Englishman or an Ameri can who said that the so-called "com mon language" was, in effect, an une qualed vehicle for the carriage and prop agation of mutual misunderstanding. But that epigram Is, to a considerable ex tent, Mr. White's thesis. Mr. Arnold White himself Is as free from the Im plied reproach as" almost any English speaking man you could name, on either side of the water. He knows his United States very well. And his appeal Is main ly to his own countrymen. He puts to them very frankly the Industrial decad ence of England, as compared with the industrial advance of this country. He tells his countrymen frankly and strik ingly what no Englishman would have acknowledged 10 years ago, what few Englishmen are prepared to hear now without wincing, that "financially speaking, London Is on the wrong side of the Atlantic Ocean." And he empha sizes the fact that the "trade deficit" of Great Britain runs Into hundreds of millions, almost hundreds of millions sterling, and that the sources from which such deficits have In the past been made up, the carriage of goods and their In surance, are running comparatively dry. "All which means that It has now, for the first time, come to be recognized by Englishmen in general that it is more Important that they should understand us than that wo should understand them. The British public is ill-informed about America, In tho first place, says this can did critic, because the "special corre spondents" of the English press date their correspondence from New York, Why the American public is so misin formed about England Is a point which he does not labor so much and about which he does not seem to be so clear. It evidently would not do to say that It is because the special correspondents of the American press date their corre spondence from London. If he said that, there would be a general cry of "He blasphemeth!'1 from London, and a gen eral 'Inquiry from the United States, whence else should the correspondent of an American paper date his letters and prociire, his information? Mr. White ha3 no answer ready td that question. But in answer to the correlative question, ha seems to Insist that the American corre spondent of a British newspaper should live In Washington. It does not seem to us that there is much in that It Is highly theoretical to say that American opinion is to be bet ter deduced from its political capital than from Its actual, meaning its commercial, capital. The local opinion of Washing ton "is of no more value than the local opinion of any other city of equal popu lation. It Is of less, because It is not real opinion, but the reflex of the desires of u community which is "supported by the Government." It is quite true that Congress roughly represents the opinion of the United States. But Whoever trie's to know beforehand what Congress is going to do about any matter of Na tional concern has set himself a very hard task, for the reason that there is not one opinion, among all those which Congress formulates into law, which rep resents the feeling of the United States, as such. There is not. In either house, as Mr, Hewitt said long ago, one repre sentative of the American people, but only a large number of representatives of local Interests, local feelings, local prej udices. The total outcome, the resultant, of these cannotbe foretold, excepting by a prescience which -a. native politician sel dom attains, and which It would be abso lutely hopeless for a foreign correspond ent to attempt to attain. i Ort the other hand, what makes Amer ican correspondence most valuable to a British newspaper is not a forecast of the political opinion, which Is .impossible to be attained, but a forecast of the com mercial and industrial opinion, which Is only to be attained at the commercial center. It is not disputed that that Is New York, just as much as, In the other case, it Is London. It is roughly reflected in every day's proceedings of the Stock Exchange. Doubtless there are other centers, or rather subordinate foci, of public opinion in the United States. But "where the treasure IS, there will the heart be also." And for the purpose of Informing foreigners of American opin ion, it is really Impossible to select any other place than the commercial capital. A London editor might' as well select Lincoln, Neb., or St. Louis, Mo., or New Orleans, La., as-a place In which to es tablish his American lntormant as to select Washington, D. C. His Only Enemies. Kansas City Star. It is a singular thing that the only dis crediting of General Funaton's past ac complishments and recent undertaking should have been in certain Army circles. The great body of the military establish ment must and doubtless' does, experience a spontaneous and honest thrill in con templating the career of this gallant sol dier. Yet the only disparagements that have been heard have come from depart ment circles in Washington, and from a few of Funston's reiiow-soimers irom Kansas. The bureau soldiers are naturally against the man who has independent ideas and especially when he likes to act independently upon his theories. Funston is a man of action. Bureaus are, in clined to burden themaplves with scientific tenets, and they are especially partial to the regular organization. BUt nothing can belittle the work of General Funston in his latest or his previous exploits. He has invariably gone after something worth getting, and all his efforts have been crowned with success. He has displayed as high an order of generalship as can be developed in the handling of small forces. There Is no reason to doubt his ability to rise to greater occasions If opportunities are presented. Dinger of Oregon. Washington Special to Chicago Chronicle. It is beginning to look as if Binger Hermann. Commissioner of the General Land Office, will have to suffer for his failure to be elected Senator from the State of Oregon. Mr. Hermann went out to the Co-o early during the present year with a flourish of trumpets that indicated that he knew he would return to Wash ington with a Senator's commission in his pocket. As a matter of fact, he cut but little figure in the contest, and about all he succeeded in accomplishing was to in cur the bitter resentment of Senator Mitchell, who was chosen on the last day of the session. Hermann posed as the friend of Corbett, believing that Cor bett might aid him. Now Mitchell is after; his scalp and expects to lift It be fore Congress reconvenes. Hermann has sought assistance from the Representa tives of other states, but it is not do ing him any good. Martial Spirit. New -York Press. Morallzers on the "growth of the mili tary spirit" will find much food for sad reflection m these days at the city's great show place, the coliseum of the new world Rome. Thousands of New York ers gather nightly to behold a mimicry of war. In which hundreds of other New Yorkers have attained a proficiency which enables their performance to be distin guished with difficulty from that of those with whom war is not mimicry. There are wonderfully smart soldiers among the state troops as well as the Federal, and a vast multitude show a wonderfully keen Interest In their smartness. The successful transfer of such shows from the local interests of the armories to a great central jriace of exhibition where a considerable admission fee Is charged shows a decided popular Interest In mat ters martial. AMUSEMENTS. Gillette's Last Curtain Speech Changes in Nelll Company. William Gillette In a recent speech In Boston announced that he would make no more curtain speeches, and he in tends to do what he can to discourage the practice. Mr. Gillette said: "During the last season the papers have exhibited a strange tendency to keep me retiring from the stage, and under the circumstances I certainly feel that a far6weH of soma kind Is due from me. Although r have Intention of abandoning" dramatic work at present, this Is posi tively my last appearance personally be fore the curtain of a theater in this coun try. While It is dellghtrul to respond to the compliment of a call and to bo the" recipient of such a compliment, It is a great mistake for an actor to yield to the temptation. I feel that. In appear ing before the curtain or outside of the scenes of the play, I am shattering at one blow the illusion which not only myself, but the entire company, has been faithfully working to 'establish. This Il lusion, or sense of actuality, is at the very basis of modern effective drama, arid it should not be subjected to so rude and unnecessary a blow. For this reason, I am going to bid you, and, through you, if you will allow me, the theater-going public, a very affectionate personal fare well, although I sincerely hope to have the pleasure of again appearing before audiences In America in the place to which my work assigns me." Charles Astor Parker, manager of the Nelll Stock Company, which is soon to appear In Portland, is in the city, and will remain here for some time. Mr. Parker says the season now closing has been most successful for the Nellls, In common with nearly every other stand ard company, and that they are look ing forward to a very prosperous tour of the West, which will be extended to Honolulu. The company has lost Ben Howard and Grace Mae Lamkln since playing here last Fall, but have enlisted the support of other actors equally good, and in Mr. Parker's opinion are stronger than ever. Mr. Howard has elected to try farce-comedy this year, and hopes soon to get an opportunity to play Shakespearean roles. He Is ambitious to try himself In every branch of his profes sion, and, as he is possessed of consid erable talent, he undoubtedly will suc ceed. Word comes from St. Paul that the Boston Lyric Opera Company, under the management of Colonel W. A. Thompson, is soon to niake a tour of the Orient Miss Josephine Stanton, who has seceded from the Boston Lyrics, taking with her George Kunkel, the comedian, is now at the head of a company which Is also en route to the Orient. Colonel Thompson retains Collamarlnl, Russo and Allesan dronl, and Miss Bertha Davis, who was seen here with him last Winter, has suc ceeded Miss Stanton as the English prima donna. English makers of light operas are un usually busy. Ivan Caryll, composer of the music of "A Runaway Girl," has written the score of a piece by George Dance, author of the book of "The Girl From Paris." Leslie Stuart, who is chiefly responsible for "Florodora,"' which "Chicago will see this Spring, has written "The Satin Slipper," a musical comedy which Willie Edouln, with the assistance of Connie Edlss and Irene Perry, will produce at the Lyric Theater, London, in April. F. Kinsey Plele, author of a com edy which failed in New York a year ago. "An Interrupted Honeymoon," has writ ten a musical piece, with Its scenes in a Bond-street tea shop. Mr. Plele also has finished a drama, "Bow Bells," and Dan iel Frohman will produce It despite the experience he had with the earlier play. Edmund Plohm, In advance of "The Telephone Girl," which comes to Cor dray's next week, Is In the city. Mr. Plohm wa3 particularly fortunate in hav ing the marriage at Salt Lake of Mabel' Hlte, "the prima donna of the company, with a rich New York man for a "story" to take into San Francisco, but in doing so he incurred the wrath of the young man, and is looking for trouble when the latter rejoins his bride In Portland. Dramatic Notes. Rose Cogljlan will leave vaudeville next season, and return to the legitimate stage in a revival of Charles Coghlan's play, "Madame." After a long period of immunity "Rip Van Winkle" has beep boiled down to a one-act vaudeville piece. The Eastern vaudeville theaters are housirig the prod uct. Lulu Glaser will not be Miss Alice Niel sen's successor In Manager Perley's com pany. She will be starred next season by Manager F. C. Whitney, who intenca to take her to Australia. Owen Davis, the industrious writer of melo'dramas, has completed a play, to which he has given the name, "A Gam bler's Daughter." A Chicago actress, El sie Crescy, is to play the title role. .Miss Ada Rehan is to spend the Sum mer in Europe. She will "close the tour of "Sweet Nell of Old Drury" in May, and when she comes before the public again In the Autumn she will have a new play. An English scheme for America is a dramatic company with titled players for members. The persons named for exhi bition are the Earl of Rosalyn, Lady Clancarty (who formerly was Belle Bil ton), and the Countess Russell. 7 ' Population of India. The census enumeration of the Indian Empire has been recently taken, and the first calculation shows that there has been an increase of 7.000,000 during the past 10 years, the count now standing 2W,000,000, as the total for the empire. Such figures may possibly be better un derstood when a comparison is made with the noDUlation of other countries. On the basis of this count, India has twice as many inhabitants as the whole West ern Hemisphere, she has double the pop ulation of the great Russian Empire, and comes within 50,000,000, roughly speaking, of the total population of Europe, Includ ing European Russia. Such statements show the immensity of the problem, which England has on her hands in providing for and governing such a Vast mass of people of various races and religions. Changing Sentiment In Cuba. New York Times. With the lapse of time the probability Increases that the members of the Cuban constitutional convention will have the good sense to accept the Piatt amend ment as the basis of relations with the United States. The longer they defer action the more certain they are to reach that decision, for there is no plea or sup port for any other, outside of their own circle, while Influences of Increasing po tency .continue to press upon their at tention the only rational conclusion open to them. A Hint. "Washington Star. I hyahs about dese millionaires a-thowln money roun'. But when dey's exerclslri I can't seem to be aroun'. An' when I calls upon 'em. whah I thinks I'll fin' m, sho', Dey tells me foh to move along, an maybe slams de do1. Oh, won't you stop an listen, So's to pacify my care, I wants to ax a question Is you got two bits to spare? It's mighty good er you, a-passln money so perlltc. But Ub'aries, dey aln' no good when you can't read an' write. An' T'd like to choose my preference, if you would be so kin'. An exercise my stomach, 'stld o" worryin' my mind. When you's glvln out de presents I would 'Jke to have a share, An' I wants to ax a question la you got two bits to spare? NOTE AND COMMENT. Russia has sent an ultimatum to China. Peace cannot be far oft. Aguinaldo has sworn allegiance without the consent of the governed. Like Othello, the Boston Junta Is suf fering from the .departure of its occupa- tlon. If the Cubans are looking for a prece dent, they should cast their eyes In the direction o Luzon. Mansfield & Carnegie would make a team of theatrical managers before whlcfi even the trust would quail. For great bis crops the farmers v Now confidently plan. "Which plana are full of promise- For the bunco roan. England must have decided by this time that war In South Africa is about as ex pensive as peace would have been. Will somebody please show the weather man the time table, and point out that Spring is overdue about a month? You may blow Into atoms -, Tho Czar if you will, But. dear Brother Nihilist. There'll be a Caar still. A New Jersey burglar says he will not" rob good people. He evidently knows w the kind of game which is most profit able. It is foolish for the Kaiser to accuse aJli his stfbjtcte of being mixed up in tho re cent assault on him. Von Waldersee can prove an alibi. Frauds have been uncovered in Army affairs at Manila. If this Is not another crime" against consent of the governed it ought to be. A committee of Cubans will go to Wash ington. They may make the very grand and beneficent discovery of Hawaii Wil cox that this is a great country. It Was not as profitable to Aguinaldo to quit this time as it was in the ca&e off' Spain, but as a measure for the protec tion of his health, it was very wise. A Pennsylvania woman was frightened to death by the explosion of an alarm clock the other day. It Is time that the criminal who invented these infernal ma chines was hunted down and lynched. Feminine athletes in a game of basket ball the other night had a squabble over a decision of an awfully .mean umpire. This shows that the game is not worthy of all .the discredit cast upon it. A Norfolk cemetery has gone Into the hands of a receiver, because of the lack of patronage. If the managers were wise they would have Imported a few Kentucklans Into that neighborhood be fore this distressing state of affairs came to pass. Ajrnlnaldo's Last Epistle. I am finished, Bryan, finished. It's distinctly up to mo To coma oft my perch adroitly And to light feet foremodt. See? Square me with the push in Bosten, Give my kindest to Mark Twain; Tell him I am awful sorry That his spiel for me was vain. Tell the Democratic party That on issue can be found That will beat Imperialism: Lots of good ones lying- 'round. Tell the crowd that rooted for me Of the hole that I am In. Say I hated to desert them. But I had to save my skin. Cabla Brother Agonclllo He can act (ate away If he feels like keeping at It. But I've had 10 stop his pay. It was pleasant revolutlng 1 When the Spanish gang wan hero, And I mid the Tagala to them For big money every year. But of late I've had to travel Night and day to keep ahead Of our old friend. Uncle Samuel, And It bored me, on the dead. So I guess I'll swear allegiance. Though I hate to throw you down:, I don't think that I was destined For the Filipino crown. I'll be over your way some time. And I take this chance to state That you'll soon behold me voting The expansion ticket, straight. PLEASANTRIES OF PAIiAGHAPHEIl3 Realism. Ethel Tes, we played husband and wife. I kissed htm and said he was the handsomest man in tho world, and he said: "Here's forty dollars; go and buy soma gloves." Light. Great Matrimonial Trust. He I asked your father's consent to our engagement by tele phone. She What was his answer? He Oh, he Just sard, "I don't know who you are, but it's all right." Fun. Hardly Seems Possible. "I never saw a, woman with such an air of supreme Indiffer ence." "In what way have you noticed H?" "Why,, she never even looks after another Woman to see how her dress hajjss.,,' Phila delphia Evening BulUtlnj.,, No Fatalities. Mrs. Gopph I told my hus band I should stmpty die If he did not get me a new Easter bonnet. Mrs. Wooph And, did he get it? Mrs. Gooph Well, you haven't seen" any funerals leaving our house, hav you? Baltimore American. Desperation. Aunt Dinah Heah's a Iettah from de folks In Alabama. Says ota Uncle Eph has made three desperate attempts at suicide Inside ob a month. Aunt Ruth Deah me I Do It say how? Aunt Dinah Yes. Says he stole a shoat. kicked a white man's daw, and tried to vote! Puck. It Is well to be thankful for small mercies. Such Is the opinion of e man from whose, pocket was stolen a purse containing 25. Some months later he received this letter; "Dear Sir: I stold your money. Remorse naws my conscience, and I have sent you 3. When remorse naws again I will send you some more." Tit-Bits. Things Are Changed. "Remember, my little man." the preacher began, "that the good St. Bernard said: 'Nothing can damage me but myself.' St, Bernard was a, wise and good man, who lived about a thousand years ago. aad "Oh. well," said little Arthur, "no wonder he said It. They didn't have trolley cars then." Chicago TlmeHerald. A Russian Horntius. Baltimore American. (While the British and Russian troops con fronted each other at the railway siding In Tien Tain the Russian General is said to have called for volunteers to hold the switch. The result Is told below: Up spake the Russian Gneral. In ringing tones cried he: "Now, who will stand at my right hand And guard the track with me?" t The serried columns murmured Beside the Tien Tsln switch. When straight there rose before the foes The form of Ivan PopoIoffosodevalovoBOffiNt ivltch. Beside the Russian General, All straight he stood and proud. And. like the breeze 'mid bending trees, Hla name swept through the crowd. Uncertain stood the Britons, Not knowing which was which, " And there were those with trickling nose At sight of Ivan PopoloffosedevalovosoffltN vltch. " Now write his name in marble,. Within the Hall of Fame. But ere you do be surf that you Build an L to the same. And up and down the hallway. Through curve and bend and niche, Let there repose In future glows The name of Ivan PopoloffosedevalovosoftlU-vllch. 1