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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1901)
I F- THE MOBNING OBEGOfflAN, THURSDAY, MAY SO, 1901. lPrVrt YtTftYf ( sracefnL It may be said, however, that r&V4-&44-t-W J this fault to some degree Is or may Entered at the Posloffioe at Portland, Oregon, as .necond-class matter. TEr.KPHONES. , Editorial Booms 106 Business Office. ..687 REVISED SUBSCRIPTIONRATES. By Mall (postage prepaid), in Advance "Dally, with Sunday, per month $ 85 Daily, Sunday, excepted, per year........ 7 BO XaJly. with Sunday, 2er Tear....- ...... -S 00 Sunday, per year'... ;....... .....2 00 The Weekly, per year 1 50 The Weekly, 3 months .................. SO To City Subscribers Dally, per -week, delivered. Sundays excepted.l5c Daily, per week, delivered. FundaslncludedJMc POSTAGE KATES. United States, Canada -end Mexico: 10 to 16-page paper... lc 16 to 32-page paper....... ........... ........2c Foreign rates double. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonian should be addressed invaria bly "Editor The Oregonian," not to the name cC any individual. letters relating to advertis ing, subscriptions or" to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonian." The Oregonian does not buy poems or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to it without solici tation. No scamps should be Inclosed for this purpose. Puget Sound Bureau Captain A. Thompson, office at Ull Pacific avenue, Tacoma. Box 955, Tacoma Postoffice. Eastern Business Office 47, 48, 49 and 59 Tribune building. New York City; 469 "The Bookery," Chicago; the S. C. Beckwlth special agency. Eastern representative. For sale in San Francisco by J. K. Cooper, 746 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Gold smith Bros., 236 Sutter ertreet; F. W. Pitts, 100S Market street; Foster & Orear, Ferry siews stand. For sale in Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner, 259 So. Spring street, and Oliver & Haines, 106 So. Spring street. For sale in Chicago by the P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street. For sale in Omaha by Barkalow Bros., 1612 Farnam street. For sale in Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co., 77 TV. Second South street. For sale in Ogden by "W. C Kind, 204 Twen- ty-flith street. On file at Buffalo, 2T. T., In the Oregon ex hibit at the exposition. For ale In "Washington, D. C, by the Ebbett Souse sewstand. For sale in Denver, Colo , by Hamilton &. Kendrick, DOS-912 Seventh street. TODATS "WEATHER. Fair and warmer; northwesterly winds. POUTLAJro, THURSDAY, MAY 30. TAVGEED LEGISLATION. The r two laws relating to primary elections, enacted by the Legislature at Its recent session, are Irreconcilable. On Inquiry we reach the conclusion that It was not Intended that the Morgan bill should become a law, but that dur ing the later hours of the session, when everything was in confusion, it was called up and passed, without being noticed by those who had Intended to arrest it Senate bill No, 191, which also was-passed, was intended to super sede the Morgan bill House bill No. 188. This act also seems to leave much to be desired, but it is workable, while the other Is not. A. law for regulation and control of primary elections seems to The Orego nlan very desirable, and even neces sary. It is much to be regretted that the Legislature gave us two laws which antagonize each other and cannot be reconciled with each other. The Mor gan law pursues a theoretical scheme, through devious ways. It is not only inconsistent with the other act, but most inconsistent with Itself and with the constitution of the state. It is Im- possible to see how "any attempt to fol low this law can be made by any party "Or group of citizens. It will balk them at every step. This law, we think, will 4 fall by its own "weight It is perfectly unmanageable. Nothing can be done with it, or through it The t)ther -act is simple enough, though its defects are great It will not deliver conventions from control of party oractlonal machines, but it does .provide a way for contests in the pri- maxles so that different factions or " groups may all be on the same footing. It.Jakes primary elections under con trol, substantially, of the legal machin ery provided for the general elections; the judges and clerks as selected by law for the general election are to serve as judges and clerks in the primary. and there is to be an official ballot, SKbJch .alone. will be the legal one. The -yOH&rs 2uafr -duties of the judges and clerks are to -be .the same- as in the general elections, and the ballots are "to be counted under similar regula tions. This will give all parties, fac tions or .groups of citizens a fair and equal pnportunity in the primaries. The -act goes no further than the election of delegates to the conventions. The dominant or plurality faction will then proceed to nominate its ticket, which doubtless will have been "set up" al- ready. But at least there will have been 'a tfohtest in the primary, and this is something: for where the pri mary is not regulated fcy law the fac tion that "has the organization" has all the means of winning In its own hands, and "at" is -perhaps too much to expect that it will be overscrupulous in the use of them. We shall be glad to see the laws brought to the test of judicial Inquiry. But it may not follow that they must .stand or fall together. One of them seems to us utterly preposterous; the other though defective, yet has some basis in, utility, in that it makes con tests possible for control of political conventions. be found with all rigid systems of In. struction In penmanship. Certainly the excess of the slanting style of writing induced about as an illegible, ungrace ful specimen of penmanship as could well be devised, and to this fact was no doubt due the "vigorous attempt to introduce vertical handwriting In the schools. The extreme here has been, as might have been anticipated, unsat isfactory, and whether the "go-between style which will now be at tempted in the New York schools will prove satisfactory is at least a matter ofdoubt, since the product will be "a hybrid which is most likely to be "cranky." Expert teachers of penmanship nearly all declare that the pupil receives only the elementary forms of writing in the schools, no matter what system is used. From this as a working basis is later evolved the real and characteristic handwriting that in many instances Is totally unlike the outlined system used In his instruction. Individuality is a pronounced characteristic in handwrit ing, and this being true, teachers should be given a wide latitude in directing it, developing as far as possible the sev eral tendencies they may discover in the work of their pupils, without being compelled to adhere rigidly to one sys tem of penmanship or another. It is manifest that unless this is done the writing taught in the public schools of the country now of ihe Spencerlan system, with the exaggerations of slant and running Into a guesswork of let ters; again of the vertical system, with Its proneness to fall over backwards, and finally of the "go-between" system that Is likely to pitch the letters of one word or line forward arid those of an other in the same sentence backward will be a thing neither of beauty nor utility. And since it is not possible to return to the system of writing as taught in the district schools of a for mer generation, with the "gray goose quill" fashioned into a pen, the copy book made at home of good foolscap and copies "set by the master," as In struments in its development it Is not Improbable that recourse will be had to the pocket typewriter, and instruction in the manipulation of this machine be substituted for the various systems of penmanship that are contending for recognition In the public schools. How ever this may be, it is certain that the handwriting of the pupils of. our schools, above the fourth grade, at least, is not at present a credit to any system of penmanship or to the per plexed teachers who are themselves striving to .reconcile the differences in two exaggerated styles, so that the let ters In the one shall not run along the line in a meaningless way, or those of the other fall backward in the attempt to stand upright, struggling in both cases to eliminate thej individuality thaf makes handwriting handwriting. But It wak not yet part of 1hls Union"- an assertion -that not- only- establishes- tne majority decision In the Downes case, but goes far-toward ""supporting thg contention qt the miority in the Delima case. , It appears to us that the Supreme Court has too little-regarded J in this' matter the contention offered, in the brief of Mr. Charles A. "Gardiner, -of New York; who has "very ably rriain tained that the disposition and admin istration of new territory are political rather than judicial questions, and that the courts 1should be guided by the acts of Congress, as the proper expression of the National . will. The majority decision really acts upon tha,t principle in its adherence to the su preme and wide authority of Congress and in its faithful following of the acts that have been passed; but a more spe--clflc recognition of the principle would have disclosed the true nature of the issue, and especially would" have made it clearer, to the generaL .mind. The utterances of Chief Justice Fuller and Justice Harlan, appealing as they do to political sentiment, certainly give weight to the Idea that the question Is a political one, and they"hardly com port with that habit of the Supreme Court which the Chief Justice himself fondly referred to in his centennial ad dress of December, 1889: "Scrupulously abstaining from the decision of strictly political questions and 'from the per formance of other than judicial duties." fur beauttr and -visor and valor, 'doubt less fought and fell full of. cheer, for 'theywere of the sanguine type "Who never turned, their -iaek; butT marched brea&t forwards, t Never, doubted clouds would, break; Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wronsr would triumph. Held, we fan no rise, are baffled to flghf bet ter. Sleep to wake. - r MEMORIAL DAY. HAXDirUTTIXG "AS SUE IS TAUGHT." - The attempt to Introduce vertical handwriting into the public schools in many sections of the country, including those of this city, several years ago, does not seem Xo have met with success commensurate with the effort that was put forth. Whether the advantages of rfhe system" were riot found to be great enough to warrant the insistence upon the methed exclusively, or the system Itself was merely one of the fads that from time ,to time, and indeed quite frequentlyspring "up as a product of Etrainettje&ucational effort does not ap-pear-3yhatever may be the cause, the school -anltitfritiee of JCew York, city re- cently decided unanimously to ellmi- mate the stiff, vertical method from the fechools and adopt by way of compro mise pencerJan. style, retaining at the same Time some of the more grace ful characteristics of the upright, or vertical' system. That there are advantages in the bold outlines of vertical writing is generally conceded, but no one asserts that -beauty is one of them. The pupil, so far as our observation has gone, has usually developed a very awkward and cramped -style under the strict and con stant sppervlslon of the teacher, which was made Necessary by the substitution of the new for the old method. This style later, when the restraint was re moved, ran Into an Inartistic "back hand" that was neither legible nor J KUIiliER'S INADEQUATE GROUNDS. Chief Justice Fuller undertakes to say that the majority opinion In the Downes case Is wrong, because of Chief Justice Marshall's opinion in Lough borough vs. Blalje, to-wit: The power to lay and collect duties. Imposts and excises may be exercised and muet be ex ercised, throughout the United States. Does this term designate the whole, or any partic ular portion of the American Empire? Cer tainly this Question can anmlt of but one an swer. It Is the name glen to our great Re public, which Is composed of states and ter ritories. The District of Columbia, or the ter ritory west of the Missouri, Is not less within the United States than Maryland or Pennsyl vania, and it Is not more necessary on tho principles of our Constitution that uniformity In the Imposition of imposts, duties and ex cises should be observed In the one than In the other. As to this decision, there are two alternative Interpretations. If it means to enunciate a principle of uni versal application to all future acqui sitions of territory under whatever cir cumstances and under whatever specific treaty forms, then Chief Justice Ful ler Is right If Marshall was merely recognizing and recounting a fact then In existence, then Chief Justice Fuller Is wrong. And the evidence is all against him. The question at Issue in Loughbor ough vs. 'Blake was whether Congress had the right to Impose a direct tax on the District of Columbia, Hence its decision is not a decision that our terri tories, including "the territory west of the Missouri," were a part of the United States. As .Marshall himself said, no such question was presented "for the consideration of the court" The existing territories were parts of the United States why? Because they had been Incorporated. Treaties had defined our boundaries as external to the territories. The .ordinance of 1787 recognized them as prospective states and this recognition was In 1790 extend ed to all "territory of the United States south of the River Ohio." "When Mar shall made his statement, in 1820, every settler In the Northwestern territories and in the Florida and Louisiana ces sions had gone there under the express guarantee that he should enjoy the rights of United States citizenship and be eventually admitted Into the Union. Moreover, In the case of Cherokee Nation vs, Georgia, Marshall makes plainer what was In his mind concern ing the territories. "The Indian Terri tory," he said, "Is admitted to compose a part of the United States. In all our maps, geographical treatises, histories and laws, it Is so considered." That Is, he was not enunciating the thing as an arbitrary ruling, but he was merely commenting on it as a fact. The.terrl tory was a part of the United States because the proper laws had made it such. It was, in fact, a political mat ter. In which it was, as he said, the duty of the Supreme Court "not to lead, but to follow, the action of the other departments of the Government" It Is a violent assumption that if Con gress had declared that the Florida Peninsula, for example, as It has done In the case of Porto Bico and the Phil ippines, should not be an Integral part of the United Statls, Marshall would have tried to overrule Congress and declared it was such integral part. A. still clearer ruling upon this point Is Umt in the case of Fleming vs. Fage, opinion by Chief Justice Taney, the whole bench concurring. The. contro versy in this case -was over the status of Tamplco and certain ports in Louisi ana and Florida, not yet provided for by Congress, and the ruling was that until such laws were passed, laws like those Marshall had recognized in the Loughborough and Cherokee decisions, acquired ports, for tariff purposes, were not integral parts of the Union. The ports, the court said, "must be regard ed as foreign until they were estab lished as domestic by act of Congress." The new territory, said the court, "as regarded all other nations, were part of the Uinted -States, and belonged to them as exclusively as the territory in cluded In our established ""boundaries." Memorial day, as it falls into natural neglect year by year, measured by the decreasing number of participators and the fading ardency of interest shown, inspires the question why, when the din of jnaterlal conflict Is long died away, do we continue to dwell on the story of the soldiership of the dead armies of the Union. "Why this sea of tossing flowers, these fluttering flags, these dirges, these memorial panegyr ics, this pathetic music? Surely, not to stir bustling maturity least of all cyn ical old age, but as part of the educa tion, of the growing generation that saw not the war and yet may thus be infected' with the nobility of Its'splrit. It Is sound civic policy to see that even if the storms of "Winter mar the sim ple story of these dead soldiers' grave stones, the thrilling memory of all they did shall be to our children's children, like love, the old, old story, yet ever new; thus feeding their imagination with that sentiment that saves a state when all debate Is closed and the war of written and spoken words dies 'away before the realistic speech of cannon. "When our growing children all over the country stand beside these graves they shall learn that their moldering tenants when the Nation was steam ing- with the forvent heat of clvlL twar at all Its joints, when unselfish 'valor stood for the most precious sinews of war, turned their backs on all ihe emol uments and prospective prizes of peace and put themselves voluntarily into the bloody whirlpool of war to conquer a peace. 1 The time Is not far distant when the bereaved .who honor the vacant "chair .where their soldier used to sit will be the only visible mourners and decorat ors of patriot graves on Memorial day. When the gathering shadows ofrcom-' lng death begin 'to reveal themselves to the 'last survivor of the -great war for the Union, it would assuage his. bitterness of parting to haVe the proud and sweet'ittemory that he would leave not a few behind who would" always 1 hold him in respect because her was one of those .upon whom the Union leaned for support"; that he was one of the shining stones in that wall of gal lant hearts that stood between ttfe-bay-onets of the enemy and the life of the Nation. But in this intensely utilita rian age patriotic memories have small tenacity of life. It is as true with states as it Is with individuals that "nothing dries so quick as tears." At the outset of the war it was this gross utilitarianism that made the great City of New Tork a disloyal camp of greedy, cowardly traders and gilded knaves until the farmers and artisans of America leaped to their feet, musket in hand, at the sound of the shot against Sumter. Then, and not till then, did the great City of New York pronounce decisively for the Union. She had heard from the rural' districts. Every farm and every factory had an swered Lincoln's call with a vast cheer, and New York City, under the duress of public opinion, was obliged to march to the music of the Union.- The Union was saved by this' uni versal uprising of the farmers and me chanics of America, the plain people, whose patriotism was of that instinct ive sort that cherishes the flag with a sentiment akin to that -with -which a loyal lover prizes a flower that symbol izes his lady's love; he proudly wears her colors next his heart. These men of instinct were men whose Ideas, had it not been for the war, might have been bounded by a farm, a family or the narrow excitements and petty per sonal rivalries of village politics; but whom the war bugles of 18G1 waked to a higher level and a more heroic life. Their overpowering uprising quelled all thoughts of compromise and made the war essentially the fight of the farm, the forge and the factory for the per petuity of free Institutions. It was an army of farmers, artisans and traders who fought for the enlargement of civil liberty under Cromwell; It was an army of farmers, artisans and traders that won the battle of the American colonies under Washington, and it was an army of farmers, artisans and traders that from ocean to ocean in the armies of the Union deep bolted with their swords the Republic which Washington found ed to the bedrock of nationality. To men of 60 years of age, to whom Memorial day brings back thrilling memories of forty years, ago, when young mothers oecKonea tneir nus bands back with their babies in ar.ms while they murmured "forward and farewell," the thought that obscures this occasion Is that our bravest and our best men lived not to swell the jubilee of the restored Union. They died ''for me and you," without Knowing whether we were victors or vanquished. Let us hope that those who died without knowledge of, the ultimate Issue of the conflict in which they lost all that Is lovely In life's rosy morning do at least know that they did not die in vain; that the Mississippi flows unvexed to the sea; that the flag of the Union floats from ocean to ocean, from Maine' to Oregon, from the Great Lakes- to the Gulf, and that their graves are a Mecca to which . the real 4salt of the state they saved annually makes af fectionate pilgrimage. It Is these voice less veterans of the Union Army, who knew the cross 'but not the crown of glory that the thoughtful man thinks most tenderly of -today.' And yet these "buoyant youths, .who died full of youth s'" The rapid advancement of t applied electricity is noted in the statement ' of a man whose business it was. to in vestigate all of-the electrical street rail ways ,when first established,' that al most nothing in use ten years ago has a place In the electrical appliances "now in use as motors. 'Practically- all of these first appliances,, have" gone to the scr,ap heap, accompanied by many of later device. Inventive genius and ex perimental skill go hand in-hand in the equipment of newly harnessed forces. The first steam engine was little more than a tub on -wheels, bearing scarcely the slightest resemblance to the splen did locomotive that now draws the- rail road train. Changes have taken place less rapidly In -railroad equipment In recent years,, experience -having sifted out the best and Invention 'having ap parently reached its limit In engine building. The same Is essentially true In 'the construction of electrical machin ery, hence the degree of change that has been observed in tle past ten years can hardly occur in .the ensuing ten perhaps not in the next fifty years of electrical development 'COMMUNITY OF INTEREST." 1 New York Evening Post Mr. SohlfTs testimony before the In dustrial Commission yesterday gave a clear and conservative presentation of the "communlty-oMnterest" theory. A rate war, Mr. Schlff explained. Involves serious loss in earnings -to all the com panies Ipvolved. Under such conditions, "the property suffers, and railroad' men are unable" to pay high wage3 to their working force, Now, if the stockhold ers of the one road hold stock In the other, not necessarily the controlling in terest, they will not vote to take any action to reduce the values of their holdings. This is a community of in terest" Mr. Schlff here undoubtedly out lines the real extent and the proper scope of the original communlty-of-lnter-est plan. We say the (original plan, be cause it is manifest to every one con versant with the situation that in prac tice the plan for controlling a rival cor poration's policy has passed far beyond the plain and simple theory which Mr. Schlff enunciates. To buy up $10,000,000 or JfiO.OOO.OOO worth of the stock of a rival railway, and assume Its ownership In perpetuity by issuing bonds of the pur chasing company In exchange for It, Is something very different from what "Mr. Schlff describes. From one point of view, Indeed, the transaction does not differ from the smaller operations of 20 years ago, when the present railway systems were built up by purchasing "useful con necting roads and issuing stock or bonds to pay the price. But purchase of "feed ers" belonging strategically to a given system differs in all essential points from purchase of rival lines, and it Is on this control "of rivals that the controversy hangs today. So long as purchases of this sort are made and held by Individuals, objection to the policy must be confined to general grounds. But this plan, except In a few of the Gould and Vanderbllt connections, is no longer pursued. The price is too enormous, the consequent locking up of capital too embarrassing for evert the largest capitalist to embark his private fortune in it Hence the practice of buy ing the stock of a rival company and sell- Dr. Frank' Parkhurst, of Chicago.. The lng It to another railway, whose credit Oregonian found the account of the -j is .thereupon pledged o raise the funds. A correspondent calls the attention of The Oregonian to the fact that the Rev.Dr.JParkhurst,who recently visited Fort Sheridan, near Chicago, and con- 'demned the Army,, "canteen," was not Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, of New York City, as printed. In The Oregonian, but Rey. visit of the Chicago clergymen to Fort Sheridan in the Army and Navy Regis ter, and based its paragrapn upon tne printed discussion of the "canteen" be tween Colonel Van Home, U. S. A., and a Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, found in that.paper. The confusion of Dr. Park hurst, of' Chicago, with the Dr. Park hurst, of New York City, was a slip of the pen, for Dr. Parkhurst, of New York City, Is" a supporter of the Raines law, of New-York City, which permits the sale of liquor on Sunday with food orders, and Is pm record as favoring the opening of saloons on Sunday un der certain safeguards. Of course, holding these views, Rev. Dr. Park hurst, of New York City, approves of the -ArnTy canteen as an aid to temperance. In New Hampshire . the House of Representatives Is considered too large for efficiency, haying about 350 mem bers, while the 'Senate, with but 24 members, Is thought lb be scarcely large enough. The reorganization of the two branches Is the chief question for 'the coming Constitutional Conven tion to -consider. In order to cut down the size of the House it will probably be necessary to establish the district system of representation, such as now exists in Massachusetts. Under the present system every town and wards of cities 'haying 600 Inhabitants may elect one Representative"; If 1800, may elect" two Representatives and 'so proceeding' in that'proportion. Whenever any town, piace or city wara snau nave less than v 600 Inhabitants, the General Court shall authorize such town, place , or ward td elect and Bend to the Gen eral 'Court a Representative such pro portionate part qf the time as the num ber, of Us Inhabitants shall bear to 600. This Is the "old town system of repre sentation' that originally was In vogue throughout all New England. As proclaiming a belief that the soul and. body are Inseparable, living to gether 'and dying together, and in due time to be resurrected together, the Seventh-Day Adventlsts represent what may in this day of progressive thought be called the unique In religion. These people .make no half-way claims to divine favor. They have the truth, not a truth, and the composure with which they condemn "the wicked" to annihila tion -in the lurid fires of the last great day is only equaled by the fervor with whjch al(jare warned to flee from the wrath to come. "Freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience" is one of the "blood- bought privileges". of the American peo-. pie. Hence those ho can reconcile these doctrines with divine mercy and goodness and find consolation in the belief which they support may do so unquestioned as to their right in the premises. 1 , The President and his wife will reach Washington today, glad, no doubt, to be safely home again, but disappointed nevertheless at their Inability to carry out the carefully prepared programme of the trip upon which they set out with such pleasant anticipations a few weeks ago. While the entire country will rejoice that Mrs. McKinley's life was not f 6rf elt td her lack of prudence In undertaking an exhausting official journey With her husband, it will ar dently hope that she will remain In quarters sulte3 to an Invalid the next time the President undertakes a conti nental tour. A gentle, amiable- and gra cious woman, her chief care must un-i fortunately be given, to the "house she lives In," the economics of which are' seriously disturbed by much jostling. Here, again, it might be argued that. If the shareholders of the buying company vote to make the purchase, the possible risk of the venture Is their own affair. But this sort of public appeal to share holders Is exactly what does not hap pen. The board of directors controls the property, a firm of bankers or a single capitalist controls the directors, and the .purchase Is made as In the cases of the Burlington and the Southern Pacific at the single bidding of this outside Interest It has been a common saying, among participants In the Northern Pacific struggle, that In this Instance one great Interest had disturbed the balance of power among the railways, and that the other Interest had to retaliate In Its own defense. The case, it Is Intimated. Is parallel to the case of thp states of Europe If one power were to move sud denly towards the seizure of neutral territory The analogy is striking, but it was not, in our view, carried far enougn. ir we could Imagine a European sovereign secretly effecting such a seiz ure, and a rival sovereign, equally on his personal Initiative, attacking his rival on the spot, both using all of the re sources Intrusted" to them for the peace ful management of the state, and each announcing, after the die was cast, that legislature and people should foot the bill, then, in our judgment, the analogy with some recent railway episodes would be complete. But what we have described Is medieval diplomacy and medieval war. If investors In our railways wish to oc cupy the position In which such a policy would place them, they are welcome to the glory. We do not believe they do. , The Russian Finance Minister. ' Contemporary Review. The long series of disasters, the stag nation of commerce, the glutting of the markets, the scarcity of hard cash, the weakening of credit, the fall-in securi ties of' every description, the crash of Industries, the ruin of individuals, the misery of large numbers of the unem ployed, constitute a spectacle unparal leled In the history of the Russian Em pire. Within the short space of a twelve month there has been a maximum fall In Industrial shares from 573 to 247 ru bles; metallurgical securities have In one case dropped frpm 2310 to 1025 rubles; naphtha shares have shrunk in value from 13,200 to 10.500 rubles; a number or Important works have gone into adminis tration, or declared themselves bank rupt; works which cost 24,000,000 rubles In building have not been .opened. Others, which seemed to be thriving for years, have been definitely closed; millions of poods of pig Iron are waiting for buy ers; 734,000.000 rubles of Bejgian capital paid less than 2 per cent Interest last year, and 17 Belgian companies are pay ing no dividend, whatever, while thou sands of workmen htve been turned adrift and their families left famishing. What are the causes of this unheard-of "crisis? Scores of people in Moscow and" St. Petersburg, who feel themselves ag grieved by the action taken by the Fi nance Minister in cleansing the Augean "stables of Jobbery, declare that It has but one cause the short-sighted policy of M. WItte. "He is a railway administrator, not a financier, and his mischievous ac tion on trade and Industry njay be lik ened ).o that of a bull In a china shop; he lrivltes foreign capital to this country, whereupon countless works are built and the markets are glutted with products for which there Is no demand." And this short and simple account of the matter is adopted as satisfactory by hundreds of the seml-Jntelllgent classes, who are wont t'o takq ihelr opinions ready-made. M. WIte is consequently held to be ruining his country, and If the Czar had not a clear mind and a Strong will of his own on the subject, the Finance Minister would have been long since enjoying his otium cUm dlgnitate. ' A "REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM." New York Times. Mr. J. Plerpont Morgan ha3 Just done a considerable public service. The tariff on foreign works "of art has long-been a grievance to all American lovers of civ ilization. American, artists there -at one time were who regarded it as protective, and agitated" for It But by the nature of the case, they were not very Import ant American artists. There was even one American artist who humorously pro fessed to regard the duty on antique works of art aat protective protective, he said, "of the Infant American indus try of manufacturing old masters." But there was no greater extravagance of Dlngleylsm, a term which connotes even more of stupid greed than Its prede cessor, which we used to call McKlh leylsm, than the refusal to exempt from duty works of art Imported for the ex press purpose of adorning American mu seums. This tariff tax Is like the do mestic tax, 'Which some of the states have Imposed upon bequests for the public benefit WJth respect to these latter laws, several possible puoUc "benefactors have strongly and practically expressed their disgust with laws which fined them for giving away money. They have sim ply announced Jtheir refusal to give money to an object meaning the public, of which the representative, meaning the Legisla ture, insisted upon loading them with penalties for so doing. But It has been reserved for Mr. Mor gan to make a practical and conclusive demonstration of the Imbecility of the Dlngleylsm which fines a citizen heavily for Importing a work of art for the bene fit of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Morgan, the cable tells us, has acquired the Mann heim collection of medieval works of art, which one of the first British authorities on the subject assures us Is worth $2,500, 000. The natural destination of the col lection so purchased Is, of course, an American public museum- Since Mr. Mor gan Is the purchaser, we should assume that its destination was the Metropolitan Museum, of this town. But, as the cable at the same time tells us, Mr. Morgan has signalized his disgust for the partlcula phase of Dlngleylsm in question by an nouncing that he w6uld not be heavily mulcted In order to confer a benefit upon his fellow-citizens. Since Congress would make a public benefactor "stand and de liver" before benefiting his fellow-citizens, he has determined to make over the col lection to the South Kensington Museum rather than to any American institution. We hope he has left himself a loophole of escape In case Congress, on Its part, should find a loophole of escape from the stupid and greedy provision which Is In question of the Dingley tariff. But if Congress does not recede, the Mannheim collection will remain In South Kensing ton as a monument of Congressional bar barism. Probably that would not visibly affect Congress very much. It would be hard to find an equally numerous hody of American citizens who cared less about these things, and who were more ignor antly contemptuous of the claims of es thetic culture. But there will stand the fact that a- collection, worth $2,500,000, which might have been in New York or Boston or Philadelphia or Washington, Is in South Kensington merely because Con gress, to put it vernacularly. "Is a hog." That kind of, demonstration must finally penetrate even the Congressional pachy derm, Mr. Morgan has gone about It In the right way to make Congress ashamed of Itself. Cheap.. Kansas City Star. The cheap methods and the shallow satire of William J. Bryan are once more evident In his editorial comments upon the Cuban Commission, in which he as sumes that the favorable Impression made upon the delegates In Washington was due to the social entertainment given them. Such an assumption does not hurt the authorities at Washington, whoso duty It was to treat the distinguished Cu bans with. extreme courtesy, but It is a gross Insult to the members, of the com mission. After all, perhaps, Mr. Bryan's contraction policy comes by nature. He certairily never has expanded to the per sonal and mental dignity and justice that are essential to broad statesmanship. NOTE AND COMMENT, If the Shamrock had carried an Ore gon pine stick-it-wouldn't have happened. L A& long as the flsh continue to blta there- is little hope for suppressing the whisky trade. The Halted. States Supreme court ap pears to be looming up as a. goal for war correspondents. Morgan is still In -Europe. It probably requires times. to load the continent for shipment to America. Mr. Bryan sjys he Is f or McLaurin. ' Every man's quarrel Is Bryan's oppor tunity, to get lntd print ' The machinists strike will have no ef- I feet on politics. The political, machines are all running smoothly. King Edward will make his next cruisa with a life preserver 'rtied around him, and possibly one Inside. . Business Is so lively on the stock mar ket that a man can make a very good profit on an Investment of only a few hundred million -dollars. j v The attention" of the jCubans who are opposed to the rule of the United States Is respectfully called 1 to the" recent achievements of one Weyler. And the most remarkable thing about Colonel Mills. Is that he has neither writ ten magazine articles nor been mentlont J as a vice-presidential possibility. The British army has over 570 commis sioned officers (exclusive of quartermas ters and riding masters), who joined as privates. No other European army con tains anything like so 'many. From 185 to 1S9S the number of commissions granted from the ranks was 343 second lieuten ants, 507 quartermaster and 5d riding masters, or a total of SD3. The number of commissions of those'from the ranks, amounted to 85S4. t Doctors still disagree. Judging by thl extract from an address '.recently deliv ered by Dr. C. E. Walton of Ttfew York: "We occasionally hear It disked: 'Would It be wise to establish a olatr of homeo pathy in an allopathic conege? Let us answer this by asking: Would be wlso to establish a. Protestant chair In a Cath olic institution? Would It be wise to drill Democrats In a Republican, camp? It Is just as difficult to gather figs from thistles now as It was nineteen centuries ago. The Silent Army. Baltimore American. rWritten for the Union Veteran Association of Maryland, and dedicated to comrades who fell in battle or perished in the line of duty. It Was delivered in an impressive manner by its author, Mr. Thomas M. Kenny, on the oc casion of the annual banquet of the associa tion.) Along the Avenue of Fame bullded to honor ,them So pure, ornate, and yet, so simple in its majesty That, Instinctively, one could but feel For such a aettlng, rare must the Jewel he; While yet the sun was high o'erhead, Gllrrtlng with Its rays the burnished steel; Erewhlle the thousands lined the way "Whose every voice rang out a welcoming:, I saw them pass; a glorious pageantry. Music was playing; banners were flying. And yet, beside their face, seared and seamed; All else seemed naught. Some, too, .were scarred, and maimed. Not all however hardly did they try Could march erect, and some an empty sleeve Did wear: aye, proudly wore. Beside some old and tattered battle flag. Nor needed else, to guerdon their bravery. Shoulder to shoulder they marched; Elbow to elbow as of old. Those "Boja In Blue," hearts of gold, "While cheer on cheer echoing wide. Told Of the people's love, and: pride. Ah! who, to see them, would not cheer? Remembering: alt; and hold them dear? And cheers were theirs the living, 'till The rear guard passed, all then, was still. The first revolution in Cuba will soon be due. It can hardly occur while the authority of the United States is jstlll supreme; but that will be withdrawn soon. Then the proceedings usual in Spanish-American countries may be ex pected, to begin. It Is a little early to launch Presl denlal booms for 1904. There is plenty of time for frosts both on the Hanna, buds and on the Fairbanks buds. And the Democratic party, moreover, may be "in It' before the end of the year 1904. Four hundred striking "handkerchief girls at Passaic stoned the factory and In a spirited charge rescued one of their number from a squad of police. Thus does the equality of the sexes advance apace. Remember Meiklcjohn's Fate. Atlanta Constitution. .Minister Conger Is In Washington, and it is observed that he has not separated himself from his present Job to make that race for the Iowa Governorship. Conger Is no Spring chicken In politics. He has been -drawing salary 'from that time in the far distant past that the memory of man, runneth -not to the con trary, and he Is taking no chances. He has announced his perfect willingness to cash li his lerolsm at this time and modestly acknowledges that the guberna torial chair is just his size, but he "does not belong to the class of amateurs who give up one office before eafely landed In another. The distinguished Iowan will, however, do well to watch things at Washington. The administration would shed no tears ovqr his absence from China, and there Is a bare possibility that unless he looks sharp he may be Melkle-johned. Another thieving officer has been sent to prison for irregularities at Manila. The contrast with the Spanish regime will not occur to the antls, but it should not be lost upon the Filipinos. Considering -what we- did1 on Vene zuela's -account in 1894, her present ob streperousness Is a. 'trifle disconcerting. Evidently the Monroe Doctrine ris a( rule that works only" one way.' Theater, Theatre. Notes and Queries. It seems to have been forgotten thal'l theater, was so -spelled in England some 300 years ago. The Pilgrim Fathers car ried it to America. Of course, the word is decidedly ugly, but to accuse the Amer icana of having perpetrated It is ab surd. If your contributor will look back Into English hooks of long ago he will find many words spelled -exactly as they 'are printed in America to'day. In "The Whole Art of the Stage," 1864, "theatre" Is spelled theater. Heroism of Women. New York Tribune. The" captain of the MlaslssIIppI River steamboat which was sunk the other night, declares that the women passengers acted with great steadiness of nerve and courage. Doubtless that Is true, and It is nut ill lue icaai. huvci ui .suii jbiu&. On Innumerable occasions in recent years it has been observed that In emergencies of great peril women have" been less sub- t.m . mn..f, unA tll,Y -?aoi. 1ot ...... jcul lu ai4. iu umtu agci tuau aajeaj. Returning thence at midnight hour. And musing there, methinks I dreamed. Peopling the court of honor, with silent tread I saw them move the Unforgotten Dead. I saw, unheralded, hero comrades march, And turn, and wheel, with elbow1 touch As keen and conscious to the spirit eye As in those days, along another way. They side by side pressed on, to victory; And In whose breast the sword of death Their duty done found ever-ready sheath. Ghosts? Aye, specters they; Borne in rags, with tattered flags Cherished, and followed, in many a fray. "With muffled drum, see how they come! Armed cap-a-ple, with musket, and saber, "Ghosts of the Ked-hand from over the bor dfr." Deathless heroes I Do ye seek a name? Mayhap 'tis 'scribed on the roll of fame, Or, mayhap they sleep beneath some stone "Whereon is 'graved a holy legend "Un known." Lost in the maze of the war blasted track. Some are "The Boys who did not come back." See! How they go charging. To the trumpet's shrill sounding. The deep-mouthed guns pounding. Up, up; now. away! . Now, shattered, and broken, spreading dismay. Musketry flashing, sabers flashing, "Wielded by loyal hands, hearts ever true. Hark! Now, the shot and -shell; "Wide ope the gates of hell The bell of war's passion; Seething and surging, writhing and turning Until, at last:, the Old Plac" triumphant; Forgotten the cost. tb.en.Mn such BlorloUS Vis ion. Specters, from Spcterl&nd. Sbadowy phantoms Booted and spurred., and r)dlng apace; Carbine sunslmging. bugle blasts ringing; Musketeers; cannoneers ;jjlve them a place. The prison pen opens. Thousands on thou sands, , Hollw-eyed, famlne-craied. God! what a sight. "Were they from among us these tatterde malions? Can these be our boys, 'went forth in their might? Soldiers t Heroes? These, in rags? Glorified -ragaf and "hallowed flags, gpecters from Deadland, ghosts of the red hand. Ghosts t)f the redband from over the border, "W" could not honor them? "Who would ndt chier for them? . Who dareir now to gibe at them.. Passing away In the shades of the 'night? On a fine SOO acre farm near Fallsvill", N. Y., live Cliarlottevand Susan Clonser, two middle aged sisters. The farm and Its handsome stone residence are their own property, and notjfor twenty years has a man slept In the house. In 1SSI their father died and slnc$ that they have maintained the rule mentioned. A few days ago Samuel Clouser brother of the two women, came on a vlt from New Tork, where he his become wealthy In business. They received him with evary Indication of sisterly affectioruand he ex pected to remain in the house for a few days, but shortly after dinner cne of tho sisters Informed him that he must go elsewhere to sleep. They positively re fused to give any reason for the strange rule and he was forced to take up quar ters In the village hotel. f "The manufacture of pens in the United States is confined to only four companies, although one might suppose there were many more," said a Coaneci ticut man, who is engaged in that lhi& of work, the other day. "That does not Include the making of gold pens, which Is a separate Industry, but pens of steel, brass and German sliver, The steel for these pens Is brought chiefly from Shef field, England, as Is the best blade steel. Many experiments have been made with steel manufactured over here, but It never has sufficiently stood the test- The Imported product comes la sheets about three or four inches wide and from six teen to twenty feet long. The Impression would be that such little articles so uni versally used as pens would be entirely machine made. Not so. From the mo ment the sheet steel Is started on its way Into pens till the finished -goods are boxed and labeled it is handled by employes seventeen different times. The points, even, have to be ground fwice ground and cross-ground, as we style it in the fac tories. These factories, four In number, as I have said, are located one each at Camden, N. J.; Merlden, New York and Philadelphia, turn out about 1,500.000 gross of pens annually. First-class pen3 ought to Bell for about Jl per gross." PLEASANTRIES OP PABAGRAPHEIIS "Papa, what Is a syndicate?" "My son. it la a body of human beings entirely surrounded by money." Life. Mr. Crlmsonbeak Do you know that man GoIdbugK? Mrs- Crlmsonbeak Tea; rich. Isn't hCT 'Tea; he told m today-that when, he wu bcrn he didn't have i ahlrt to his back!" Xonkers Statesman. ik" Diplomacy. Little Willie Say, pa, what's diplomacy? Pa Diplomacy, my on Is the art of making people believe that you believe that they believe what-you say whea you know they don't. Chicago News. The Cherub's Bath. "My wife didn't stay but a week down at her mother's." "Homesick?" "No; but her younger sisters admired our baby so much they nearly washed it tp pieces." Chicago Record-Herald. Philanthropist "What's the matter, little boy? ..hat are you crying about? Little Boy The fellers on the street haVe formed a trust, and t ain't In It. A feller can't play baseball or shinny all by hlsself,. can he? Boston Tran script. The Modern View. Son I haven't the sit vantages you had. when you were a young man. father. Father Tou haven't? Son : talnlv noil you didn't have to waste f tr years of your life In a college as I have don. Ohio State Journal. Just "What She Ncedtd.Tess Delia Mo Is wants me to try her drtismaker. I wonder If she'd suit rce. J-. OB. yes, indeed; she 3 Just the one for you Tess Really? Jes Tes. she's a wonder. V.'r.y. she can make ire . plainest Mnd of people look' nice. Philadelphia IHess. As a Iast Rewrt. 'No. Mr. "WalklndetV impatienfv rcoliJi? the young woman. "I wl.l not marry yoix I hae lold you so a hundred times before'.' "Miss Kmlly." pleaded the youth. ' "that is the only thing on which we have ever differed. "Won't you agree to arbi trate It?" Chicago Tribune. Hospitals In New York. "It struck mV said iPauroIman 0"Blfl", In speaking of the af fair, "that the man's skull was fra'tured, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and locted him up as a drunlc tnatead of faendlne Dim to a homRal" Clearly th officer had a tenrtftr heart. In spite of his brusque manner: Puck. $ 71s 31a7 Orchartl. Joel Bentpn In the Junior Munsey. If. Ilk? the Aloe, which a hundred, years Must Jive. to blossom this display should be If tho crowded orchard as it now appears. Might never oftener Its aweet splendor see Than when It rounds a patient century. How we should visit It with Joy and tears. Even cross the world to view one Apple Tree I As a rose forest thrillea by Eden's spell. Now comes transcendent this parade of May; Nature's broad scaled, supremest miracle Of blossoming acres in a massed bouquet Of scented cups, fresh breaths from Paradise. With songs of birds and murmurous bum of bees; . , Can itj be true that, hidden from-mortai eyes. Aught so transfigured; seraph orUngei sses? i wast A-i Sv.ms