THE MORNING OREGONIAN-, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1902. toe xfg&vtian. Entered at the Postofflce at Portland. Oregon, as second-class matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. By Mall (postage prepaid. In advance) Dally, -with Sunday, per month.. $ 5 Dally. Sunday excepted, per year: - yft Dally, with Sunday, per year g 92 Sunday, per year 2 00 The Weekly, per year 1 The Weeky, 3 months 50 To City Subscribers Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday excepted. 152 Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday Included.ZOc POSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada and Mexico: 10 to 14-page paper.... le 14 to SS-patce paner. e Foreign rates double. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oresonlan should be addressed Invaria bly "Editor The Oresonlan." not to the name of any Individual. Letters relating to adver tising:, subscriptions or to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oresonlan." Eastern Business Office. 43. 44. 45. 47. 48. 49 Tribune building. New Tork City: C10-11-12 Tribune building. Chicago: the S. C. Beckwlth Special Agency. Eastern representative. For sale in San Francis -- I. E. Lee. Pal fcce Hotel news stand: Goldsmith Bros.. 236 Sutter street: F. W. Pitts. 1008 Market street; X K. Cooper Co.. 746 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear. Ferry news etand: Frank Scott. SO EIHb street, and N. Wbeatley. 813 Mission street. For sale In Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner. 259 South Spring street, and Oliver & Haines. 305 South Spring street. For sale in Kansas City. Mo., by RIcksecker Cigar Co.. Ninth and "Walnut streets. For sale In Chicago by the P. O. News Co.. 217 Dearborn street, and- Charles MacDonald. 63 Washington street. For sale in Omaha by Barkalow Bros.. 1612 Farnam street: Megeath Stationery Co.. 1303 Farnam street. For sale In Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co., 77 West Second South street. For scle in Minneapolis by R. G. Hcarsey & Co., 24 Third street South. For sale in Washington. D. C. by the Ebbett House news stand. For sale in Denver. Colo., by Hamilton & Kendrick, 900-912 Seventeenth street; Louthan & Jackson Book & Stationery Co., Fifteenth and Lawrence street; A. Series. Sixteenth and Curtis streets. TODAY'S WEATHER Occasional rain, with brisk to high southwest winds. TESTERDAT'S WEATHER Maximum tem perature, 57; minimum temperature, 01; pre cipitation, 0.15 Inch. ' i : PORTLAXD, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 22. A SPECIAL SESSION. ( A special session of the Legislature la now broached by the Taxpayers' League a body of such good record and repute that this hitherto fatherless pro ject can now count on support that Is entitled to respectful consideration. "We congratulate the league upon its temer ity. The accredited view of Legisla tures is that they are too much in evi dence as it is. There are too many laws, too many sessions. The fewer the bet ter. To propose an extra one is to court the most determined possible opposition. Most persons feel that if the state can't get laws enough passed at the biennial cessions already in vogue, it should make shift somehow to do without them. It is perfectly clear that no adequate basis for a special session would exist If it were not for the complications of the Senatorial election which will al most certainly dominate and embarrass every undertaking at the regular ses elon. This is not to eay that action in advance of the regular session is not desirable on certain subjects. But this desirability of early action would have no possible show of popular acceptance and approval, if it were generally ex pected that the Legislature would -be able in January to reach prompt action on the questions involved, unencum bered with the operations of Senatorial aspirants. We take it, for example, that an act putting the initiative and referendum in force and prescribing its mode of pro cedure, passed January 15, would be as effective and salutary in practice as one passed November 15. The enact ment of the Portland charter January 15 would be as good in every respect as its enactment November 15. What time could be gained by the Lewis and Clark Centennial between November and Jan uary would not compensate for the cost of the special session. Promptness In all these things is desirable; but another thing equally or surpassingly desirable is care in use of the public money. Every member of the Legislature is re sponsible to the constituency that elect ed him and to no one of the several in terests asking for a special session. We shall not seek, however, to min imize the dangers in which every legiti mate concern of legislation stands from the Senatorial fight, or to blink the seri ousness of the possibility of failure which is thereby involved for every one of the undertakings in question. Little was done at the session of 1895; nothing whatever at the session of 1897; the rec ord of ,1898 is a very thin volume, and at the session of 1901 scarcely a topic of real importance to the state had any careful or conscientious attention. All these miscarriages of lawmaking were due to fierce fights over the Senatorship, and the present outlook is not promising for anything better. If there is no special session, we should not be called upon to confront yet we can expect to confront nothing else than a situation bordering upon an Impasse for every project, meritorious or otherwise, whose advocates do not bow the knee to the faction in control of either house. The Lewis and Clark Centennial, the Portland charter, the Portland drydock, the State University, assessment and taxation laws, the state institutions at Salem and elsewhere, the Agricultural College, the Normal Schools, and every appropriation, every object of local as well as general con cern and importance, will be held up at the dictation of one or other group of Senatorial manipulators. It is this most melancholy and humiliating spec tacle which the Taxpayers League, as we understand its purposes, desires to minimize. It will occur to the most superficial observer, however, that the special ses sion, if called, would itself be in grave peril of running shipwreck upon these same rocks of political ambltiona The membership is the same, the ambitions are as keen now as they will be then, and it is difficult to conceive any of the alert and indefatigable gentlemen al ready In the field as voluntarily fore going advantages which might accrue to them from aid or hindrance to any undertaking whatever. The organiza tion of each house will instantly be come the prize of Senatorial combina tions. A vote on the Lewis and Clark appropriation can be traded in Novem ber for repayment in January as readily as in January for repayment in Febru ary. If it were possible to hold a spe cial session entirely dissociated from Senatorial complications, much good might come of It. Otherwise, otherwise. These suggestions are set down here for the consideration of the Taxpayers' League, the Legislature itself, and the Governor, upon whom the final respon sibility must rest The matter ia one not for Portland, but for the state at large, which is concerned in the Lewis and Clark Centennial, and which is en titled to a fair and untrammeled vote in the Legislature upon the appropria tion for that object A special sssslon that does all the good expected of it and avoids the evils feared will be well. A special session that does the reverse of this will redound to the perpetual dis credit of Its participants and its au SAVED BY GOOD. LUCK. The recent great strike lasted over five months, and the estimated general losses caused amount to $200,000,000. This great industrial struggle, which has lifted the price of fuel to over 20, 000,000 of people to $15 to $30 a ton, was not terminated by the intervention of law. It was terminated by the inter vention of a great citizen. President Roosevelt, who did- not pretend that his interference was official in any sense, direct or Indirect; he simply offered hlo personal good offices as a mediator be tween the parties to this great contro versy, for which he was courteously thanked by the representative of the strikers and insulted by the mine oper atora These mine operators yielded subsequently because J. Pierpont Mor gan ordered them to do so. Morgan had brains enough to see that public opinion was so strongly behind Presi dent Roosevelt that It .would be bad public policy for capital to show less willingness to submit to the arbitration of the President than labor. In other words, we are out of a terrible struggle by good luek. President Roosevelt's action binds nobody but himself. If he should be re-elected',"probably there would be no strike of identical character, because the operators could not afford It. They know what to expect of Roosevelt They have had all the 'intervention they want from him. But suppose in 1904 the dis gruntled plutocrats of both parties get together, and eay to the leaders of the Democratic party .XMake your platform what you please; nominate anybody you think you can elect, and we will furnish you all the support In shape of money you need. Democratic platforms are nothing but transient war cries that die of exhaustion after election. Any man you can elect will be prefer able to Roossvelt, because Roosevelt means what he says, while nobody that you can elect can possibly be as intract able as he. With us It is 'anything to beat Roosevelt.' " Suppose Roosevelt is defeated in 1904. or suppose the defeat of the Republican party does not come until 1908, or sup pose the Republican elected Is a man of equal honesty "but of distinctly differ ent temperament from Roosevelt, what then? Why, then a formidable strike in the anthracite region, for lack of a man like Roosevelt, able and willing to deal persuasively with a man like Mitchell, would be suffered to proceed to the grimmest possible extremity. Under the circumstances of the recent strike we do not believe a Republican lawyer, like Benjamin Harrison, or a Democratic lawyer, like Grover Cleve land, would have taken the Initiative as Roosevelt did In offering himself as a mediator between striking labor and its employers Officially Harrison or Cleve land would have Interfered promptly if asked for aid by the Governor or to en force the Jaws of the United States, but neither of these men would have de parted from the limit of their official duties and powers unofficially to uos their personal prestige to quell a great strike. Some great and good men, .from strict notions concerning the good policy of such unofficial intervention and me diation, would not attempt it, and some equally good men might attempt it and fall. It is clear, therefore, that we cannot afford to trust to a repetition of our recent good luck to relieve us from peri odical business distress and political disturbance that is always consequent upon a great, strike that is long drawn out We have learned by experience what dire distress can be Inflicted upon twenty millions of people at the East who are dependent upon anthracite coal for fuel, by a great strike, and we are bound in obedience to sound. public pol icy to protect this great public from a recurrence of such coal famines. Wo cannot trust to good luck. We must Intrench the paramount public weal be hind the law. Some of the soundest jur ists in the country fairly plead that while trades-unions exercise a great power they ought to be legally Incor porated; and Carroll D. Wright says that the official programme of federa tions of labor favors both State and National Incorporation of labor organi zations. Sound jurists say that while employes are liable, can be sued, can be compelled to live up to their con tracts, can be cast in damages, labor unions are Irresponsible, may violate their own codes, their own oaths, their most solemn contracts, yet cannot be brought into court. English unions make a practice of In corporating, and the recent decision of the Law Lords in the Taff Vale railway case laid it down that any organization which can work an injury must be held for the resulting damages. Trades unions should be incorporated, and a compulsory arbitration act should be passed under which every controversy between coal miners and coal operators can be heard and finally decided. The work goes on until the quarrel has been adjudicated, and then the men may re ject it or the operators reject It, but if the men work they must work accord ing to the terms of the decision, and if the operators mine they must respect It If this sensible mode of preventing ruin ous strikes does not find favor, we shall certainly do worse by adopting the rem edy of National ownership of coal mines and coal railroads, for the public will not continue to be severely distressed every two years or so by a long-drawn-out struggle between labor and capital Invested in coal mines. King Coal for the future will not be permitted to play the part of a selfish and cruel despot. The worse than folly of allowing emo tional young women and girls to engage in prison and other reform work has been illustrated many times in blighted lives and disgraced families. It has been asserted, no doubt with truth, that the evils resulting from marriages that were due to the association In Good Templars' lodges upon terms of social equality between young women imbued with the spirit of reform and men who professed to have abandoned the drink habit have much more than overbal anced the good accomplished by this temperance order. The disastrous con sequences In the same line that have occasionally followed teaching by young girls in Chinese mission schools, and even among the Indians, are also In evidence of folly of this nature, while prison records abound in instances of a similar character. The most recent of these is now before the public in con nection with the suicide of the noted outcast, Jim Younger, and a young woman whose love he won while he was .wearing prison stripes apd she was en gaged in prison mission work. His semi-tragic, semi-IntePtional "good-bye, lassie," and her impassioned declara tion, "He is mine, arid mine only," form a lovesick sequel, to a story that is, un fortunately, too real to be romantic. The moral of such a story is not far to seek. THE IRISH GRIEVANCE. The Irish people, as Gladstone con fessed, when he urged home rule, had a just cause of complaint against Eng-' land for years of mlsgovernment, from the days of Queen Elizabeth to the ac cession of Victoria, but beginning with O'Connell, a truly great statesman, who obtained Catholic emancipation in 1829, the drift of English legislation has been In the direction of the redress of the grievances of Ireland. It Is not a fair Indictment of England today that she conquered Ireland in the twelfth century; it Is not fair to hold England of today responsible for the barbarous government of Ireland under Elizabeth and James I, under Cromwell. William III and George III. There are very black pages in our own history, like our. support of negro slavery in the past, but it would be hardly fair to denounce us today because of our unlovely treat ment of both the negro and the Indian. The trouble with Ireland today is somewhat of kin to our trouble with the negro problem. It Is easy to establish a great wrong in the government of a subject people, but it is always difficult rapidly to redress that wrong when you" become alive to its existence. Now, it. Is but simple justice to England to say that if she has not redressed all the wrongs of Ireland she has made com mendable progress In that direction since 1830. O'Connell did a great deal through constitutional agitation, and it was not his fault that in his old age and' Infirmity the antics of "the young Ire land party" of 1S4S halted the progress of constitutional agitation for reform. In 18C8 Gladstone disestablished the Irish Church, and then followed the rise of Parnell, the greatest name, save O'Connell, on the roll of 'the Irish agi tators for constitutional reform. With Gladstone as an ally of Parnell, that Irish land tenure legislation was begun which is so radical that to American minds it would' eem revolutionary. Since. Gladstone's day the movement for home rule has been a "lost cause," but there has been no backward step taken in the matter of the gradual ex tension of the scope of the famous land act of 1S81. Irishmen of high intelli gence, who have recently visited Ire land for the very purpose of seeing the situation for themselves, report that the condition of things Is excellent com pared with what existed prior to the passage of the land act. The schools are vastly improved, the faces of the men and women in the streets, at the fairs and in all places of public resort wear an expression of physical com fort and mental serenity. Social hap pincsa amorfg all classes, high and low, seemed generally to prevail. The old hovels on the great estates In which the tenants formerly lived like pigs and not seldom with the pigs had been replaced by well-built and well-kept cottages of stone. The Intelligent people of all classes admitted that with the passage of T. W. Russell's land-purchase bill, under which the large landlords would be bought out by the government and the lands sold to peasant proprietors, Ireland would have small ground for just complaint. r The Irish League orator at Chicago, ex-Congressman Finerty, when he talks about the lands in Ireland belonging by hereditary right to the Irish people, talks like a visionary. We might as well talk of the lands of Oregon belong ing by hereditary right to the American Indian, or Cuba and Porto Rico to the Caribs. In our judgment the Irish party in the English Parliament, with the exception of T. W. Russell, who Is an able lawyer and a wise man. Is for the most part composed of reckfess demagogues. Tim Healey Is a gifted man of malicious temper whom Parnell feared and distrusted as a marplot of genius. Their policy In Parliament Is simply to Indulge In noisy abuse and repulsive vituperation at every oppor tunity, and not seldom some of them stoop to personal violence. The only effect of this kind of behav-; lor Is to lessen the chances of the pass age of Russell's land-purchase bill be fore the present Parliament. If this bill became a law, the occupation of the Irish Hon In the British Parliament would be gone. He would roar, of course, as loudly as before, but with the extinction of alien apd absentee landlords he would be like a dog baying the moon, and all Ireland would know it and give him the laugh for his pains. IRRIGATION LAWS IN OREGON. A short statement of the facts leading up to the present Irrigation situation in Oregon may be of service in getting tie fore the people a correct understanding of the subject Two acts of Congress and one Oregon statute bear on the matter. What is known as the Carey law (having been Introduced by Represent ative J. M. Carey, of Wyoming) passed Congress In August, 1894, and author ized the Secretary of the Interior, with the approval of the President, to con tract and agree to patent to each of the states having desert lands 1,000,000 acres of such lands, on condition that tha state provide for the reclamation and occupation of the area thus donated. A modification of this act, known as the" Carter amendment, was passed in June, 1896, authorizing the state to create a Hen against the reclaimed land for the actual cost of reclamation, together with reasonable interest thereon. Several of the states accepted the pro visions of the Carey law. Oregon was the last to act, and it accepted the Na tional donation in a statute passed a year ago last Winter. It Is to be ob served that the Carey law authorizes the donations to be made to. the state, and not to contractors who may construct irrigation works, nor to the settlers who may occupy the lands. The matter of getting the land watered and tilled la left for each state to arrange, but the arrangement must be satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior or he will not pass patent to the state. If he disap proves, the land simply remains a part of the public domain. In Oregon the diity fit making reclamation contracts was given the State Land Board, con sisting of the Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer, but such contracts do not become operative until the plans for improvement are approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Two contracts for the Deschutes Valley and two for Harney County have been signed by the state board, and are now awaiting the action of the Interior De partment. After the State Land Board had signed these contracts, last Spring, Con gress enacted another reclamation law under which all moneys received from the sale of public land in the sixteen westernmost states and territories should, with certain small exceptions, be set aside In a special fund "to be used in the examination and survey for and the construction" and maintenance of irrigation works for the storage, di version and development of waters for the reclamation of arid and semi-arid lands." Entrymen upon lands to which irrigation Is thus made available are re quired to comply with the homestead laws, actually to reclaim half the area applied for, and to pay in money to the Government the estimated amount of the Government's outlay In providing re clamation facilities. These payments may be divided Into annual Installments not exceeding ten In number. This money goes back into the -reclamation fund, which is thus made endlessly re volving. About $8,000,000 is now In the fund immediately available for Irriga tion work by the Government under the new law. Oregon hag contributed at least $911,000 of this money. ThQ ques tion that is now up for consideration is, How may Oregon receive the benefit she is justly entitled to under the new plan? Some take the view that the only practicable fields for Government opera tions under the new law have already been partly appropriated by contractors under the Carey act, and that to get those fields free for Government action under the new law pressure should be brought to bear to prevent approval by the "Secretary of the Interior of con tracts passed up In good faith by the State Land Board. This might rid the field of improvements under the Carey law, but it would pre cipitate litigation; for those who have expended considerable sums in surveys and preliminary operations would surely do their best to protect their In vestments made under encourage ment of the law. And such litigation would keep the Government out. The other extreme view is that the Gov ernment should let projects under the Carey act severely alone, not coin ing In contact with them at any point. The more moderate ones do not nee any occasion for conflict, however. They regard as unwise any disposition to Im pair contracts or to render Investments in developing enterprises unsafe. From the interview with Mr. A. M.- Drake, published yesterday, It Is apparent that there need not be conflict or friction between the two methods of land recla mation, even though the situation be not one that anybody would- have de liberately planned. An intelligent con sideration of all the factors of the case will go far toward solving the problem. The "treating" method between capi tal and labor has been frequently tried, and as frequently found wanting. This snould not be confounded with fair treatment, which is productive of the most satisfactory results. An ex ample of the failure of this method Is cited by a man whose relation to his employes was .almost fatherly. He for some time provided the girls with a luncheon, for which he charged 1 cent, merely "to save the offense of charity," although the food furnished cost him 4 cents. The girls struck for certain privileges, and later, when they begged to be taken back, the manufacturer de cided to charge 5 cents for lunch and make a profit therefrom, an arrange ment which the girls prefer to the old one. This accords with the simple standard that human nature has set up, which by an unwritten decree main tains that that which costs nothing is lightly valued by the recipient. Break down this standard and we have pau perism, with its train of helplessness and Impertinence; maintain it, and we have independence founded upon and supported by self-respect. President John Chandler, of the Brit ish Labor Association, takes too seri ously the idle threat of some American laborfanatic who declared that strik ing coal miners of Pennsylvania would "cut off the ears of every miner who returned to work." This threat was probably made, but by a wholly Irre sponsible person, whose utterances were not sanctioned by the ruling powers of the Mlneworkero' Association. There is not a trades-union In the United States that would sanction this threat, much less permit It to be executed, though possibly many unions contain members who would not be above making It Justice requires tljat labor unions, whether local or National, be judged as a whole, and-not by the ranting, belli cose members who, in conformity to the general purpose, are taken into 'them. Even churches find it necessary at times to make this plea. President Roosevelt Is right. The re ports of department officials are need lessly and tlresomely and expensively long. They can and should be short ened. If this can be accomplished In no other way, It might be well to employ a department report editor whose boll-Ing-down habit is well established, arm him with a blue pencil and set him to work. Practical persons generally will agree with the President that there Is too much public printing for the public good, and that this useless matter is unnecessary cumbered with expensive illustrations. Give the condensing edi tor and his blue pencil a chance. The country could pay him a princely salary and then save a vast sum of money by employing him. The discovery of the sodden hulk of the old prison ship Jersey In the ooze and mire in which it has so long been submerged off Brooklyn navy-yard is painfully suggestive of the cruelties and horror of a long outdated -barbarism. The historical enthusiasts who would have the blackened hulk raised and pre served as a memento of times which happily no longer exist should abate their ardor and allow the old craft to remain In hiding. Nothing that is of value to humanity can be gained by bringing to the light of day a relic that will but serve to recall scenes that would better be forgotten. The Oregonian desires to commend to the people of Portland In the heartiest possible way Mr. Stoddart's production of "The Bonnie Brier Bush." No finer exemplification of the actor's art has been given here for many a day. The piece itself, based on Rev. John Wat son's immortal story, Is one to enchain the listener's Interest and sympathy from rise to fall of curtain. The rep resentation of the Scotch people Is accu rate and Instructive, and the moral les sons of the story are such that no one can see this play without receiving im pulses toward juster thinking and higher living. As long as both sldes-in the coal strike claim the victory, the country Is safe. If each won out and is satisfied, everybody else is, or should be. HIGH TARIFF IN GERMANY. Chicago Post, Rep. Just when the sentiment for tariff re duction in the United States is revealing Itself more and more unmistakably, Ger many is at the height of Its own tariff con- te3t. The situation there Is not urilnstruc- uvo 10 uoerai-rmnaea Americans. Last year the government made some overtures to the agrarian interests by of fering a scheme of tariff advance, not be cause more revenue was needed, but sim ply to gain agrarian support. The com mission appointed to revise the Minis terial bill had a clear majority of agrarians." The result was a general rais ing of Import duties, and especially on foodstuffs. The tax on wheat was ad vanced from 3 cents a kilo to $1 79, or 56 cents a bushel; that on barley) from 4S cents a kilo to $2 14, or approximately 70 cents a bushel, and so on through prac tically all grains the commission put a prohibitive tax. Pork, which had been free, was taxed about 50 cents a hundred. The full iniquity of this policy is real ized only when It Is explained that the na tive supply of meat Is hot sufficient for Germany, and that livestock Is practically excluded. As a result the heavy burden of the tax has fallen heavily upon the German consumer, who finds that the price of meat has risen steadily and con siderably. It Is the necessities of life that the agrarian class Is taxing for its own nar row, short-sighted and selfish advantage, and no one with a friendly Interest in the prosperity of the German people will fall to await the Issue of the struggle now proceeding. Immediate prosperity as well as -progress Is involved, and the greed and bigotry of the feudal class cannot be grati fied without Industrial disaster as the consequence. It is hardly conceivable that Germany will not put herself against the current of her own commercial ad vance. And while blaming and denouncing the rapacious and sordid German agrari ans, let U3 not lose sight of our own mili tant and fanatical high-protectionists, the opponents of revision, reciprocity and an enlightened trade policy. Sir. ManKflcId Explain. The Chicago Tribune is in receipt of the following letter and the note following the letter: "Editor of the Tribune My attention has been called to the continued refer ences to Miss Margaret Anglln and the usual innuendoes a3 to why she severed her connection with my company. The facts are well known to Mr. A. M. Palmer, Mr. Paul Wilstach and others. Miss Ang lin, who played Roxane In "Cyrano de Bergorac" charmingly. Immediately after her marked success In this role received an offer of twice the sum I had con tracted to pay her for her services, and Miss Anglln accepted the offer. "RICHARD MANSFIELD." "Note. I am sorry that the facts are so simple and uninteresting nay, almost sor didbut 'tis true. It would have been more exciting, and no doubt more agree able, to have been able to relate how the poor creature was taken by the hair and dragged about the stage, or how she was, after a stormy rehearsal, kidnaped and confined In a dark room where the mon ster squirted Ink at her through the key hole punctually every 15 minutes, or how she was sandwiched between two boards (like the baby In Tolstoi's rustic tragedy) whilst the beast sat upon her and read his prayer-bqok. And then how she es caped, but ever after refused to reveal the mystery of her sufferings for fear, of the .vengeance of the bloodthirsty tyrant! "R. M." England and America. Spectator. We must conclude by a statement of the causes that we believe are drawing Eng land, and America together. We do not think, as Mr. Adams seem to think, that It Is chiefly due to English admiration for "the wealthy, the successful, the master ful." Thoughtful Englishmen do not ad mire certain aspects of American life, and those aspects are peculiarly the outcome of wealth, success and masterfulness. We believe that the approach Is- due to the fact that the two nations, by the Inter change of literature and art, and by the frequent Intercourse of personalities, are realizing that by joint effort those ideals will be attained and that by contrary ef forts they will be wrecked. It Is a suffi cient explanation. If proof Is asked for, we think we can prove our point. Who Is the American best known In England, most respected, most loved? Unquestionably Abraham Lincoln. Take any great popular gather ing of Englishmen and speak to. them of Mr. Lincoln, and a response. Intelligent and sympathetic. Is certain. But will Mr. Adams tell us that this typical American, who Is so universally Tespected In Eng land, represents "the wealthy, the suc cessful, the masterful"? If so, the people of England have strangely misread the life and character of Mr. Lincoln. Rcpcnl the Conl Dntlcn. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Rep. The country has been given such a severe lesson In the meaning of a coal famine that It would without doubt favor the repeal of all duties on coal of what ever grade. What has happened In the anthracite fields might happen In the bi tuminous fields, and. In fact, more than once during this strike the tying up of the principal bituminous mines has been threatened, and actually has occurred In the case of some Southern mines. Should there be a general tie-up, no one could measure the extent of the calamity, and It is only prudent to remove every bar rier that would stand In the way of re lief from abroad. Neither anthracite nor bituminous needs any protection in ordi nary times, and in case of a shut-off of the domestic supply the only beneficiary of the tariff would be the Government Treasury. The entire tax would come' out of the pockets of consumers already bearing the grievous burden of famine prices. Fur thermore, a coal tariff has no rightful place In our protective system. It cannot, from the very nature of things, encourage the opening of a single mine. The cost of transportation Is barrier enough against foreign competition. . Power In Great Minds. Minneapolis Tribune. The interesting thing about it Is that the three men who have settled the strike have done so without either legal or prop erty right to Interfere. The President was advised by his Attorney-General that ho had no Constitutional power whatever In the matten. He has simply used, with the utmost vigor, patience and determination, his personal Influence and the popular power of his high station. Mr. Morgan Is not an owner of the coal roads and had no property right to dictate to the railway presidents. He has simply used his great Influence In the world of finance, commerce and Industry with reason and patience and firmness. Mr. Mitchell had neither legal nor property Interest In the matter. He had won his Influence over the miners, as Morgan had won his over the mineowners, and as the President has won his over the public by earning their confidence. All three men had a power to save the situa tion In a perilous crisis, which neither law nor property can give. This is a rather re markable demonstration of the power of the American people to work directly for results demanded by the highest public In terest. The Tariff on Conl. Philadelphia Ledger. This Indefensible tax was not smuggled in, as Secretary Moody thinks, but was deliberately incorporated In the . tariff, after full debate, as an understood and consistent part of the system of class leg islation embodied In our revenue laws. It cannot be pretended that such a tax, which has promoted combinations to con trol the supply of one of the prime neces saries of life, has afforded protection to American labor. It clearly has been no protection to the public. Whether or not Its absence would have averted the pres ent difficulty, its retention certainly has been made Impossible; and Congress will be compelled to heed the demand for free fuel, at whatever cost to the crumbling fabric of tariff favorltlsm. SPIRIT OF THE NORTHWEST PRESS The Trusts and Socialism. Walla Walla Union. An Eastern writer of some note tells us that "the trusts are getting things ready for socialism," and endeavors to prove this assertion by the following analysis of commercial evolution: "The Individual work, the partnership, the corporation and the trust which is simply a partnership of corporations!" It must be borne In mind, however, that while this state of affairs will naturally appeal to our sense of justice, human nature Is still Imbued with that desire of self-aggrandizement which will not sur render itself unconditionally to the public weal. Altruism Is a theory, personified, to be sure, in some, but foreign to the ma jority of great men. Will such financial geniuses as J. Pierpont Morgan be will ing tp work on a salary, even If It would be as high as that of the President of the United States? There Is no doubt that the far-sightedness and the business Judgment of such men lie at the rcot of their suc cessful enterprises and would they not 3hun their duty or lose enthusiasm In thinking out big schemes. If they were salaried managers, instead of sharers In their own success? Then, too. It Is to bo remembered that the Government so far has not made a buslners proposition even of the mall system, the fiscal year clos ing with a deficit of over $2,C0O,0CO. Social ism may be the next thing on the pro gramme, but the road Is by no mean3 clear. More Railroads .for Oregon. Eugene Register. Just now there Is considerable stir In Pacific Coast transportation circles over the statement that the Oregon Short Line Is to put on a steamer service from Port land to the Orient. Since this line Is sup posed to belong to""the Harrlman system, which operates O. R. & N. steamers on the Pacific, the move Is not fully un derstood among Portland rallrcad men. The statement with reference to the ocean transportation comes from Salt Lake, a point of considerable interest to the West In view of Its connection with" the proposed Coos Bay road. It has been frequently rumored that the Short Line Is Interested in the proposed line to Coos Bay, but with equal posltlvcnesn It has been stated that at least a half dozen other different lines have each been put down as the one that Is bound for the bay aa Its western terminus. Some day Oregon will awaken to find several trans continental lines peeping across the Cas cades toward the old Pacific In conjunc tion with the morning sun. When more belt lines of commerce thread our valleys and climb our mountains Oregon will bound ahead with gigantic strides like to which our present progress Is as the child learning Its first faltering footsteps. Mark our prophecy. A Hnrlior-Improvement Loxnon, Astoria Astorlan. Whether or not the sea dredge will solve the great problem that confronts the Government engineers In the improve ment of the bar, the experiment about to be tried there will prove a valuable les son in harbor improvements of magnitude. There are two ways to deepen great har bor entrances one by building jetties and the other by dredging. The jetty has been tried here, and, while the suspen sion of work at the critical time made the test rather an unsatisfactory one, fairly good results were obtained. Now the de partment will try out the dredging plan, and when this shall have been done, full knowledge of the mdrlts of each will be secured. If the sea dredge will scour out a 'channel that will remain, the General Government will have accomplished a wonderful step In harbor Improvement; If the new plan falls, then jetties must be depended upon to secure the desired depth. It Is Indeed gratifying to note that the de partment has . urged the utmost haste in this important matter. There has been altogether too much delay In the past, which accounts for the unsatisfactory re sults obtained. Irrigation Needs More Attention. Pendleton East Oregonian. Oregon is put at the foot of the class among the "arid" states in the irrigation column. It Is not because Oregon has not the best arid lands of thom all, nor be cause she has the poorest Irrigation facili ties. Shehas all of these. Her lands are the best, her rivers are accessible to many wide scopes of country, and she has hun dreds of reservoir sites In the mountains for storing water. Besides, her facilities for artesian wells in the way of a natural supply at a short depth give her advan tage over many points. The trouble seems to He In the failure of Oregon peo ple or Oregon representatives to push the matter as they should. There has been too much attention paid to Government buildings and the waste of money on river Improvements and building jetties for the good of Eastern Oregon. There has been too much public Interest taken In obtaining money through handling rock and mud In the water Instead of sending water through the rich loamy lands of Eastern Oregon that are Idle from thirst and only need water to make them pro duce the marvel crops of the age. Time for Just Conditions. Bandon Recorder. Competition, which Is synonymous with contention. Is producing Its fruit and the harvest Is advancing apace. There is revolution In Turkey, Morocco, Acre, Co lumbia, Venezuela, Hayti and China; strikes In Switzerland, France, Spain, Mexico and many other places, besides those of this country, which cap those of foreign lands In their magnitude. Added to the Ills already enumerated, there are many others of a like disquieting nature, and all speak of unrest and turmoil. Tak ing a candid look at the situation, we are led to "believe that if there ever was a time when the devil rejoiced at his handi work and looked forward to the fruition of his hopes and the culmination of his pow er, that time is now. It Is time that na tions and men turn to Just conditions be fore the rod of correction descends. New Oregon Weather Remark. Whatcom Reveille. The Oregonian says we will now ""hear a great deal from the dull-witted about the 13 months in the year in which It rains In Oregon." The Oregonian correct ly designates them as dull-witted. The only really capital remark we ever heard on Oregon weather was made by a lady of our acquaintance, who. said: "We have the rainy season, and then we have Au gust." Democratic Thunder Gone. Walla Walla Union. With the coal strike ended, the Army reduced to Its minimum and Filipinos prospering and happy pray, what's left for the Democratic campaign? Not on the Small Boy This Time. Whatcom Reveille. Thre Is one gratifying thing about the Mount Pelee eruptions. The fire was not started by careless boy3 with cigarettes. Songr. Aubrev De Vere. Seek not the tree of silkiest bark And balmiest bud. To carve her name while yet 'tis dark Upon the wood. The world Is full of noble tasks, And wreaths hard won: Each work demands strong hearts, strong hands. Till day Is done. Sing not that violet-veined skin. That cheek's pale roses. The lily of that form wherein Her soul reposes: Forth to the fight, true man, true knight; The clash of arms Shall more prevail than whispered tale To win her charms. The warrior for the True, the Right, Fights in Lore's name: The love that lures thee from that fight Lures thee to shame: The love which lifts the heart, yet leaves The spirit free, That love, or none. Is fit for one Man-shaped, like thee. ... Aubrey De Vere NOTE AND COMMENT. Nevertheless, Mr. Bryan knows jusv how he'd a done It. The full coal-scuttle also Involves prob lems of toll and trouble. Anyhow. Mr. Lord is getting an un usual lot of got-next-to-pure-readlng-mat-ter-top-o'-collum advertising- Possibly the President and Hon. John Mitchell may be prevailed upon to unite forces in tackling the servant-girl prob lem. President Hill can be dead sure of full and appreciative accounts of his merger testimony In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 1 We suppose the President will be justi fied in referring to late Pennsylvania un pleasantness in his Thanksgiving proc lamation. The Taxpayers League has called an extra session of the Legislature, but. through some oversight, hss neglected to name the date. Possibly the Portland team would have come out of It a little better If Third Baseman Harris had landed in jail earlier in the season. Tacoma papers proudly declare that one "Captain Kidd. now in this port, .says Tacoma ha3 the finest harbor in the .world." Captain Kldd'n famous ancestor was also a mighty jollier. In the course of a talk the other day President Eliot gave Harvard freshmen this advice: "There Is one rule to bear In mind whether in company or alona don't think about yourself. Many a fel low popular in college turns Out to be a man whose energies arc concentrated wholly on self-advancement. Give up thdsc thoughts of self. You no longer belong to yourself: you belong to a so ciety and must live up to Its traditions." J. F. C. Talbott and William Tyler Page are respectively Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress In the Second Maryland District. One fea ture of the contest makes It unique among all the 3S6 Congressional cam paigns. Twenty years ago Mr. Page was a page in the House of Representatives of which Mr. Talbott was a member. The district Is a close one. Mr. Talbott Is a veteran politician, having repre sented the district in the 16th, 4Sth and 53d Congresses. One of the most Interesting passengers among those brought to New York by the American liner St. Paul on her latest trip from Southampton was Miss Graco Nallor, 16 years old and a full-blooded Indian. After the battle of Wounded Knee, which was fought in South Da kota io years ago, a soldier found a baby girl on the battlefield and took her to Captain Nillor. Mrs. Nallor adopted her, educated her, took her abroad and now Miss Grace Is a Washington favorite. Captain and Mrs. Nallor accompanied their adopted daughter from Europe. The late Lord Chanes Russell of Kilt owen had a wonderful memory for faces. On one occasion he visited a theater In Manchester and between acts went be hind the scenes to see an old friend. While they were chatting an actor passed and Lord Charles said to his friend: "I remember that man. He was the orig inal Father Tom In the 'Colleen Bawn.' I saw him in that character the 7iiht the play was produced 20 years ago." Though Russell had not seen the actor In all that time he remembered him at once. Frank J. Gould's mother-in-law, Mrs. Edward Kelly, Is called "the youngest looking grandmother in America." She does not look a day over 20 and with her perfect figure, heivy dark hair and plnk-and-whlte complexion Is the envy of all her female friends. This Is her own ex planation: "I never worry. I never fret I never argue. I never talk scandal. I ne'ver go without nine hours' sleep. I take care of my complexion. My hair Is brushed for 10 minutes a day. I don't flit from tea to reception and from ap pointments with dressmakers to tiresome dinners with the rush and bustle of a Wall-street man." Nature His Hired Man. Chicago News. It was In the far South. "How's times?" asked the tourist "Pretty tolerable, stranger," responded the old man. who was sitting on a stump. "I had some trees to cut down, but tho cyclone leveled them and saved me the trouble." "That was good." "Yes; and then the lightning set fire to the brush pile and saved me the trouble of burning it." "Remarkable! 'But what are you doing now?" "Waiting for an earthquake1 to como clong and shake the potatoes out of the ground." Something Doinpr Every Day. Detroit Free Press. On Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays the foreign correspondents have the Brit ish ministry tottering. On Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays the French ministry Is tottering. On Sundays the situation . In Austro-Hungary is becom ing critical. A Wntchful Nurse. The Interne. Doctor Aha! Glad tq see you doing bet ter. So you slept well last night, did you! Patient Who slept? ' Doctor Here's the record: "Slept, slept, slept" Patient Pi'haw! That was the nurse. PLEASANTRIES OF PARAGRAPIIERS "Ye-. "Wllklns has struck ray dirt." "Eh! Mlnlns?" "No. he wrote a problem play." Cleveland Plain Dealer. Patience I would never squeeze my feet out of shape. Patrice-Oh. yes. you would, if you were in my shoes. Tonkcrs statesman. "She bvs she believes In evolution." "On wha't grounds?" "Well, she married a dude, and he has turned Into a real sensible hus band." Philadelphia Bulletin. Judge You do not seem to realize the enormity of the chance against you. Prisoner No, I ain't got my lawyer's bill yet. but I'm expectln the eharge'H be enormous, all right. Philadelphia Record. Inducement- Life Insurance Agent Why, Just look at that list. I've insured I!l men In the last six months and IT of them are serious ly 111 at the present moment! Chicago Daily News. "What luxury is It," asked the teacher, "that everybody wants to buy during tho months that have an R In thMr names?" "Coal." answered the little Wise boy. from the foot of the class. Baltimore American. Clerk I'm sorry, sir. but I cannot sell you morphine. Homely Customer Why, do I look like a man who would kill himself? Clerk I don't know, but If I looked like you I should be tempted. Detroit Free Press. "There's no doubt that colored men often make good soldiers." "Course dey does," answered Mr. Erastus Pinklcy. "You put a cullud man along of a puccssion an he3 gwlne to foller It to dc finish, no matter whut de danger "is. "Washington Star. "See here." remarked the guest to the new waiter, "there doesn't seem to be any soup on this menu card." "Oh, no, sir," replied the waiter, nervously, "I didn't spill it at this table It was the one on the other side of the room." Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.