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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1904)
THE MOftNItfG OKEGONIA, WEDNESDAY, IVfAECH 2, 1904. Entered .at the PostofSce at Portland. Ore con, as .second-class" matter. ' . ' "REVISED subscription "Urates. , By mall (postage prepaid In advance) Xailr. with Sunday, per month J0.55 Dally. Sunday excepted, per year......... 7-50 Dally, with Sunday, per year fl- .Sunday, per year........... 2.00 The Weekly, .per year , Hj The Weekly, 3 months --- .50 Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday excepted. 15c Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday Included. J0c POSTAGE BATES. United States. Canada and Mexico 10 to 14-pace paper...... lc 16 to 80-page paper..... T,c 82 to 44-page paper -....ac foreign rates double. Hie Oregonlan does not buy poems or etorles from Individuals, and cannot under take to return any manuscript sent to It without solicitation. No stamps should bo inclosed for this purpose. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICES. ! (The S. C. Beckw'ftl Special Agency) ! "New York: Rpoms 43-49. Tribune Building, j Chicago: Booms 510-512, Tribune Building. KEPT ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex; Postofflee News Co., 217 Dearborn street. Denver Julius Black, Hamilton & Hend ricle. 000-912. Seventeenth St.; Louthan & Jackson, Fifteenth ' and Lawrence. Kansas City Rlcksecker Cigar Co.. Ninth and Walnut. v Eos Angeles B. F. Gardner, 259 South Bprlng; Oliver & Haines, 205 South Spring, and Harry Brapkln. Minneapolis M. J. Kavanaugh, 50 South Third; L. BegeUbuger, 317 First Avenue South. New York City L. Jonas & Co., Astor House. Ogden W. C. Alden. Postofflee Cigar Store: F. K. Godard; W. G. Kind. 114 25 tn St.; a H. Myers. Omaha Barkalow Bros,. 1012 Farnam; McLaughlin Bros.. 210 South 14th; Megeath Stationery Co.. 1308 Farnam. Salt Eake Salt Lake News Co.. 77 West Second South St. St. Louis World's Fair News Co. . Sao Francisco J. K. Cooper Co.. 740 Mar ket, near Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear. Ferry News Stand: Goldsmith Bros., 230 Sutter; L. E. Lee. Palace Hotel News Stand; F. W. Pitts, 1008 Market; Frank Scott, 80 Ellis; N. Wheatley, S3 Stevenson. Washington, D. C Ed Brlnkman. Fourth and Pacific Ave., N. W.; Ebbltt House News Stand. . YESTERDAY S WEATHER Maximum tem perature, 43 degrees; minimum temperature, 34 degrees. Precipitation. .35 of an Inch. TODAY'S WEATHER Partly cloudy with light showers; westerly winds. 3POKTXAND, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 1904 DOWN HILL VERSUS UrillLL. Lack of return cargoes and the at tendant necessity for steamers crossing the Pacific practically in ballast in or der to reach an outward cargo must be pronounced the most serious handicap Under which' trans-Pacific business out of Pacific Coast ports has hitherto la bored. For years the prevalent theory has been that in this respect the trans Pacific steamship traffic was unlike that of any other route of importance in the world. This belief is not substantiated by some important facts that are com ing to light In the East since the inaug uration of the rate war between the Eastern roads. As has frequently been mentioned, an enormous amount of business that for merly found its way to the high seas through the port, Of New Tork has been diverted to the Southern ports, notably to Galveston and New Orleans. The New Tork roads, being cut out of the land haul of this traffic, were inclined to blame the steamship lines for permit ting the vessels sailing to the Southern ports to get away with the "ousiness. Now come the steamship .men and state that the import business has not kept uace with the increased number of steamers on the route sailing between New York and Europe, and as a result return cargoes for all of the vessels are an impossibility, so that outward rates must be sufficiently high to cover the expense of ballast trips Inward for some of the steamers. A reason advanced for this compara tive decrease in the incoming freight is that as the United States continues to expand in manufacturing lines there is a corresponding decrease In the amount of manufactured goods needed from abroad. On the surface it might appear that the steamships which have been co-operating with roads leading to the Gulf and to "New Orleans would suffer the same disadvantage, and un doubtedly they are handicapped to a certain extent by their inability to se- - cure full cargoes. Being on even terms so far as a mu tual disadvantage would place them, their gain in business over the lines plying to New York is undoubtedly due to their location at the foot of a down hill grade. For years there has been a steadily increasing drift of heavy traffic toward the lines which encounter the least natural resistance and where the bulk of the freight reaches tide water by a water-level grade there is an advantage that Is of much import ance when a large volume of traffic Is involved. Railroads that are bucking the downhill hauL afforded by the Co lumbia River have an uphill job in more senses than one. GROWTH OF LUMBER TRADE. More lumber was cut in the City of Portland last year than in any other city on earth, and, despite a temporary dullness -in the market, the new year has started off with a volume of busi ness that promises to leave last year's record " far in the rear. Water ship ments alone in February, the shortest month in the year, exceeded those of any previous month in the history of the port. Simultaneously with these statements of February's record-break ing shipments comes the news that Eastern capital will build in this city the largest sawmill on the Pacific Coast. The phenomenal growth of the lumber trade In this port began less than ten years ago, and the export trade of any consequence Is of only about six years' standing, and yet In that short period it has reached proportions which were considered far beyond our reach at that time. The magnitude of the trade at the present time is small, however, in com parison with what we may expect In the future, and for many years Port land and Oregon will stand in the front rank in the production of lumber. The development of our great timber re sources has been much slower than those of Washington, but this slowness has been merely a husbanding of re sources which are now more valuable than ever. Portland mills not only have an immense area of Oregon tim ber on which to draw for supplies of raw material, but they 'are also in close proximity to and the natural outlet for immense bodies of the best timber in the State of Washington. The pres ence of these greater reserves in this territory than are tributary to Puget Sound milling ports Is due to the neg lect of the Columbia Rlrer territory so long as supplies were so plentiful and easy of access on Puget Sound. Now that the days of the .hand logger are practically over, and much of the tlm oer must'4be hauled to the water by rail, there is increasing activity - in the districts which "have remained un touched. It is easily apparent that in point of supply Portland and Oregon are well equipped for doing an unlimited amount of business, and from now on the only factor to be considered is the demand. That the demand is growing faster than ever before is a self-evident fact that cannot be dispelled by a temporary period of depression like that which is now being experienced along the Pacific Coast The present generation has wit nessed the fall from its highest pinnacle of "commercial greatness of the lumber manufacturing business of Minnesota; Michigan and Wisconsin to proportions so small as to be inconsequential in comparison with Its former greatness. The generation now coming on will see practically the extinction of the indus try in those states. It is not so very long ago that the Southern hemisphere, an enormous consumer of lumber, de pended almost exclusively on lumber from "the deer-haunted forests of Maine." Today the Maine shipbuilders are "stepping" masts of Oregon pine'In the best craft which are now leaving their shipyards, and their export lum ber trade is falling away just as the trade of the .Middle West is increasing. Meanwhile the world's consumption of lumber Is increasing and the best of this demand will seek supplies where they are the most plentiful. No other place in the world has superior induce ments to offer over those of the Pacific Northwest, and in this trade Portland and Oregon are specially well equipped. Portland shipped an average of 500,000 feet of lumber per day during Febru ary. Five years hence this amount will look as insignificant as now appear the February shipments of five years ago. As a wealth producer the lumber busi ness of the state ten years hence will outclass all others. SALARIES OF AMERICAN TUBLIC SERVANTS. Senator Gallingers bill introduced yesterday increasing the salaries of. the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House, members of the Cabinet, Senators and members of the House will probably become a law, If for no other reason , than that Congress Is not likely to vote down any measure that Increases the annual salary of members of the House and Senate by $3000. It Is said that the United States pays its leading statesmen smaller salaries than any other great nation and has fewer great executive officers. The salary of the President is $50,000, exclusive of the expenses of the White House, which the Nation pays. The salary of 'the? Vice President Is $8000 a year, without house hold expenses, and that is the salary of each member of the "Cabinet! The Eng lish Cabinet of nineteen statesmen, in cluding the Premier, has a payroll of nearly $400,000, while the nine members of our Cabinet represent a payroll of but $72,000. The salary of the Lord Chancellor of England Is $50,000 a. year. and his chief duty is to preside over the sessions of the House of Lords. The nineteen English Cabinet Minis ters get from $10,000 to $25,000 a year. The English Premier as such has no salary, but takes another office arid the salary attached', usually the Foreign Secretaryship or the office of the Chan cellor of the Exchequer. Sometimes he takes a sinecure office and its salary, as that of the Lord Privy Seal,' whose du ties are nominal. The members of the British House of Parliament receive np, salary. No poor man can afford to be come a member of the British Parlia ment; that Is, a man of small Income solely derived from his personal labor cannot afford to become a member of Parliament. There are a few working men In Parliament, but the labor unions contribute to their support, and the time has been when some members of the Irish home rule party, who sacri ficed their business to the cause of Ire land by service in Parliament, were supported by the fund of the Land League collected in Ireland and Amer ica. The American method Is better; we mean to pay our public servants good, living wages; we do not want a poor man kept out of Congress unless he is sent there as the hired representative of a faction. The effect of the English method is to exclude poor men from Parliament unless they are practically the paid representatives of some patron or patrons or the salaried tool of some faction. Disraeli, when he first went to Parliament, had his expenses paid by the rich wife of an intimate political friend. Her money helped her husband to Parliament, and then she helped to elect Disraeli to please her husband, and then when her husband died she married Disraeli to please herself, and he married her from a deep sense pf gratitude for her generosity In using her money to help him up in the world. ABUSE OF ATHLETICS." Athletics, properly directed and kept within bounds athletics engaged In for the promotion of health and physical development instead of the distinction which physical prowess is supposed to bring to an individual or a college Is not open to adverse criticism. Pursued in this way, it is wisely held that ath letics promotes mental as well as phys ical vigor and is distinctly a part of education. It is the tendency to overdo In athletics that has aroused the grave concern of parents and the protest from time to time of college, professors against the time and energy that is given to football and rowing. It Is with athletics as with smoking. No young man ever smokes too much according to his own estimate, and no young man who becomes an enthusiast In college games ever. In his own opin ion, overtaxes his strength in athletics. Yet no man can walk the streets with his eyes open and not see the baleful effects of too much smoking in the ner-; vous movements, pale faces and arrest ed physical development of many young men and boys whom he meets, while the record of physical breakdown and death due to overexertion in athletics does not lack verification in college communities and even In the business world. It is recalled in this connection that a New York lawyer died not long since from the effects of overexertion In bowling game In which he had made a high score on the previous night. More recently a well-known billiard player of St. Louis died from the effects of "too much golf." The records of Thanksgiving football contain each year proof that overexertion on these occasions shortens the college career and not Infrequently ends the lives of a number of young athletes who went into the game' full of the determination to win .at all hazards. Sometimes the Thanksgiving dinner is blamed for the collapse of members of the opposing teams, who were feasted after the game. A number.-of-the Mich igan University, team-were pick after a' combined excess at'Ic-otbanand-Kast last year, and in defending: jathletlcs a professor of the University: of Chicago placed the blame .for this entirely upon the dinner. This, if it proves anything, proves too much. .The drunkard who incautiously took a lighted candle in his hand and fell a victim to spontaneous combustion would probably, if be could have found voice, blamed the candle; a man who ate., heartily of roast pork, fresh doughnuts and hot mince pie and finished up on a baked apple, declared between his subsequent groanlngs and retchings that he would never eat a baked apple again, but he probably did not convince the doctor who came to his relief with an emetic that the apple Was the first cause of the revolt of his pa tient's stomach. In like manner -the - statement .that came from. Michigan.! that at least 9 per oent of the .best-trained athletes there were Incapacitated by sickness when they should have been at .their best, all-owing to a dinner of which they partook, Is at least suggestive of a first cause. Th schoolboys of former years were accredited with being able to di gest anything they could masticate and swallow. But those were the dayu when boys did chores for their board, chopped wood on-'Saturdays and took supplementary athletics in coasting and skating with the girls on such evenings as they could spare from their wrest lings with Euclid and Thucydides. . NO FEAR OF A GENERAL WAR, Military critics in Europe agree in be lieving that the present struggle in Manchuria, and Corea will 'be. left to settle Its own fate. Without interference by other powers, and this belief springs from the knowledge that no power can assist Russia without rpuslnglnto ac tivity the Anglo-Japanese alliance, which pledges England to fight the mo ment Japan has to face more than one power in the East. The British navy alone is strong enough to preyent any reinforcement of Russia from her allies reaching her by sea. So lopg as Eng land has complete control of the Suez route to Asia, Russia's allies could send nothing to the seat of war save by the" Siberian Railroad, which Is barely ade quate today to meet Russia's own needs In military transportation. This situa tion forbids on the ground of military common sense that either Germany or France: should '-revive "the" triple alliance of Russia, France and Germany; which was , so. successful in 1895 In- forcing Japan to surrender her conquest of lower Manchuria from China. The KBritlsh navy forbids the Continental powers of Europe from Interference for Russia's benefit in the Russo-Japanese struggle, -just as it did intervention in England's war. for the conquest of the Boers. In 1895 Great Britain gave Japan no support when the three Western pow ers Intervened under Russian leader ship; but today, under the Anglo-Japan ese alliance, Japan is able to fight Rus sia alone, without fear of the .old .com- Dination against ner. xnese iacts jus tify the assertion of -Russia that Japan would . not .have made war had she not been encouraged to do so by England. It is reported that England will not In tervene so long as the struggle Is 11m ited to a conflict between Russia and Japan; that she will not Intervene even if the Japanese should be so badly beaten that Russia's arms would threaten to dominate npt only Man churia, but Corea. The utmost that Japanese expect is the use of the Anglo Japanese alliance to protect them from attack in Russia's behalf" by France and Germany; It is' predicted that England would not. fight to maintain the entity of the Chinese-Empire in case Russjan; military success should threaten its disruption. England is-so nonsentimental In her statesmanship that 'she would be content to maintain her present sphere of Influence in the Yangtse Valley. It Is believedby thefrlen'ds of Russia that Japan has become the cat's paw for Great Britain? that Great Britain today is inciting -Bulgaria to attack Turkey so that when Russia is seriously entangled In the Far East and the Turkish troops are concentrated in the Balkan Peninsula, England will occupy the Persian Gulf littoral and obtain the conquest of Thibet Of course, Great Britain is selfish In her designs, but not more so than Russia was when, believing' England's difficulty of the Boer War was Russia's opportunity, she planted herself in Manchuria, opened friendly negotiations with Thibet, sent emissaries to Cabul, obtained prepon derating influence in Persip. and thus became dominant throughout Asia. It Is clear that .England and the .other powers of Europe are as coldblooded, in their attitude toward Japan and Russia In the present struggle as they were in 1854-56, "when Russia was al war with Turkey and her .allies, Engjand and France. Neither England nor France cared a button then for the Turk, but they sided with him because they held that In fighting his battle they were really fighting their own: So today Great Britain limits her sympathies for Japan to warning all the spectators of the .fight against .intervention and shouting; "Go it, Jap: go it, Beari" IRRECONCILABLE HOME RULERS. The Balfour Ministry and the Irish Nationalists, are at variance again. The Irish party recently voted against the government on Mr. Morley's free-trade motion. The government declined to pledge itself to establish a Catholic university for teaching functions on a scale that would place it on a level w(ith, Trinity College, but even Jf such a pledge had been given, Mr. "John Red mond said It would not have sufficed to gain the support of the Irish National ists; that no government whether Unionist or Liberal, could expect the aid of his party so long as it denied the demand of. Ireland for home rule. Mr. Balfour cannot afford to, accept this condition of the home- rule party. The Wyndham" land-purchase bill, which was passed at the last session of Parliament, is not fulfilling, the. expec tations of. its promoters. Many Irish landlords are declining to sell and many others . are holding back for better terms. After' the next general elections the Liberals and Tories are likely tobe more evenly balanced, m strength, and In a "new Parliament the Irish party expects to be in a. hetter position to exact terms from whichever party con trols the government But In our judg ment the Irish home rule party will have nothing but Its fun for its pains. The Tories will never grant home rule, and while the Liberals, may grant it to purchase the support of the Irish .group, the Tory House of Lords will, throw, out the home rule bill, just as they did when Gladstone forced it through Par liament A man like Gladstone would have force of character enough to proceed to extreme measures after repeated rejec tion of the will -of the.Commona-by the House jof Lords, but no probable leader of the' Liberal party 'ot' to'day would have the moral courage to undertake what Gladstone would have dared. Home Rule for Ireland was burled when Gladstone retired from office, and ,it will not rise In resurrection until a man . of Gladstone's extraordinary brain and ex ceptional conscience leads the House of Commons. The process of eliminating the unfit by means of alcohol,, self-administered, Is slow. Unfortunately, it is also pain ful to others besides the immediate In strument of the process. While it Is not necessary to offer proof In substantia tion of these statements, the example recently reported from Colfax, Wash., Is strikingly in point. Here is a great huydng fellow of 26 years, who mani festly never should have been born. In jail for having beaten Into Insensibility a man who interfered when the 'unflt," duly primed with the eliminating force. was "beating or otherwise abusing his mother and sister. He had just been released from the city Jail, where he had been, incarcerated thirty days for stealing money from a -minister, and. after extorting 50 cents from his sister and a-like sum from other relatives, he filled -up with whisky and committed the misdemeanor and crime that landed him again In jail. Examples of this kind make the humanitarian long not for prohibition, since sneaks and pol troons of this type will get whisky if they have to distil it themselves from rotten potatoes, but for a beverage that will work out the behest of evolution less slowly and with equal certainty. No doubt this creature was sinned against by his more or less remote an cestorsa suggestion that indicates that the elimination of the "unfit" by tneir own mischievous devices and. de praved appetites Is all too slow for the purposes of an enlightened age. -Nature should be assisted in this laborious and tedious process by means that are within the reach of medical science if not of legislation. The trouble arises In permitting the palpably and notori ously "unfit" to become parents. Captain England, of the British bark Thistle, has certainly been guilty of a very serious breach of maritime eti quette. Coming up off the Columbia Bar last Saturday afternoon, and not wishing to spoil a good passage by beating around outside waiting for a pilot or towboat, this bold, bad son of the sea cracked on full sail and raced in over the bar to safe anchorage in side. The serious nature, of this depart, ure from the timeMionored custom of the Astoria pilot service can be under stood by the statement that the pilot schooner signaled him to -"stand off. ' Even this was not the worst feature of the impatient captain's performance, fpr later advices bring the news that he not only declined to wait until the pilots were ready to bring him in, but he actually came In through a channel which the pilots do not use. While this Individual escapade might be over looked, it is fearful to contemplate what It may lead lo Supposing, for example, that the master of" the Dix had been'as familiar with the bar as was Captain England, and that last week, when the bar was smooth at high water half an hour after daylight, he had awakened from his morning nap and taken his ship to sea while the overworked pilots still lingered with Morpheus. This In deed would have been an offense so grievous that It could not well be over looked. The precedent established by Capfaln England is a serious matter. The Government transport Buford got away for San Francisco yesterday with about 500,000 feet of lumber, equivalent to about one small schooner load. At the Bay City she will take aboard sev eral hundred soldiers for Manila. It is not clear why the soldiers could not have embarked from this port, thus saving the expense of the return trip to San Francisco The Buford received as quick dispatch here as she could have received anywhere on the Pacific Coast, and the price at which the lumber was secured was lower than that offered elsewhere. At the same time the cost of transportation of this lumber from Portland to San Francisco will amount to more than $10 per thousand, while the commercial rate is about $3 per thousand. Portland would probably have derived very little benefit, evn had the troops been sent from here, but what the Government gains by sending the vessel to Portland for a few thou sand feet of lumber and then returning her to San Francisco for the greater part of her cargo is quite indistinct and is a transaction that would not occur in commercial business. J The paper profits of the Chicago wheat speculators are vanishing like mist before the sunshine. The May. op tion has declined over 11 cents per bushel In the past five days, and July- has followed It fairly closely. The coun try newspapers who protested so strongly because the Portland market failed to, follow the Chicago market In Its skyrockety flight will now have fur ther cause for wonder this time be cause the local market did not show a decline of 11 cents per bushel. Mean while the statistical position of wheat is strong in this country, and if supplies continue to decrease, the decline may be arrested and prices advance irre spectlve of the foreign market, which just at present Is showing more, of a disposition to follow, the American de clines than the advances. A Mohammedani of distinction, Mo hammed Barakatullah, comments' on the fact that thirty years ago the Ot toman Empire had a powerful navy and Constantinople was the center of the Orient Then Japan hid no navy and Tokio no celebrity. Today Japan has a fine Jiavy and' is a formidable military power, while -the Turkish navy is rot ting at the wharves of the BOsphorus, and Bulgaria, a mere province. Is ready to challenge the Sultan to battle. This Is all true", but Turkey is hardly more decadent as a military and naval power than Spain, which In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a first-class military power; The suicideof Colonel Charles KahIor representative of the Manufacturers' Association of which T). M. Parry Is the head, comes as a surprise to all who knew the man. A cheerful, affable man of affairs, there was not the slightest reason to suppose that he was tired of life or dissatisfied with what' it had brought him. His death by -his own hand is one of the mysteries that are Inexplicable. " The expfected has happened t In the election of Hon. Charles Dick o'f Akron, to the vacancy in the United States ..Senate.caused by the. death of,. Senator Hanna. His election can-naraiy.Desam .'toy have happened.. It was a foregone ".concIuslonfrpm.theitIme that it, became apparent there would ,be a -vacancy to SAD CASE 0FMR. HOAR. 1. Benedick His Prototype New York Times. It would be Interesting to know, if.lt were possible, what value Senator Hoar attaches to bis own opinions. It Is only too plain that he cannot get other people to attach much value to them, for the simple reason that he so often destroys one with another, or follows the ex pression of an opinion by action utterly inconsistent. When Mr.. Hoar put In his resolution o inquiry as to the Panama business, every" opponent of the course pf the Ad ministration in this matter recognized that the inquiry was distinctly "leading." It Implied what the reply would be. and the Implication was extremely se vere upon the President. No one, unless It may have been "Mr. Hoar himself, doubted that It he should afterward vote against the treaty which secured what had been wrongfully taken, his course would be amply justified by an honest and correct answer to his questions. That he was providing such justification for himself in advance was the general and inevitable inference; But he has made up his mind to vote for the treaty, and his resolution, with his other previous utterances, becomes awkward for him. He now seeks justi fication, not for following the logical line of the inquiry, but for going contrary to It. Naturally he is embarrassed, and is driven to explain 'that he did not mean what he plainly said In the. beginning. He had precisely the same experience In the treaty of Paris which closed the Spanish War. He had parted company with his party, and he found it necessary to his peace of mind fo get back. He made all sorts of explanations In that case, as he Is making them in the current case. He would better be frank as Bene dick: "Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career' of his humor? When I said I .would die a bachelor I did not think I should live till I was married." Calls It Cruel Treatment. New York Commercial Advertiser. It was very heartless of Senator Foraker on Monday when Senator Hoar was exe cuting with the facile grace of life-long practice his right-about-face on the Pan ama question, to embarrass the movement by citations from the Massachusetts Sen ator's speech of a few months ago. Mr. Hoar has been through this performance many times, but never before has he been nagged and annoyed by a member of his own party while engaged in it What he did in the Panama case he did in the Philippine controversy. He started out in both instances in flat antagonism to his own party and its' President His conduct filled the Democrats" with unbounded de light, and they fell in behind him with whoops of joy, the "antls" doing the same. v ell, when he got the procession start ed and the momentum toward disaster had become irresistible. Senator Hoar slid down a side street kept very quiet, and let the poor creatures he had deluded go unimpeded Into the pit he had digged for them. When he got up In the Senate on Monday with his child-like and bland face and manner to explain that he had never been In any other position than that of hearty support of the treaty and unbound ed devotion to the President It did not lie in the mouth of a Republican Senator to contradict him. A Democratic Senator, If one had succeeded in getting out of the pit, mignt nave done so, for he had a grievance, but every Republican Senator .should have recognized the valuable party service Mr. Loar had performed and sat quiet and grateful and happy. Other Re publican leaders content themselves with leading their own party. Mr. Hoar not only seeks to lead the opposite party, but does It and lands it invariably "in a hole." Why hamper this. useful work by calling attention unnecessarily to the way in which it Is done? The Deadly Parallel. New ' York Evening Post It would-be unkind to dwell upon the lamentable figure cut by Senator Hoar. Senator Foraker only began to exhibit the deadly parallel between the Massa chusetts Senator's Panama speech of De cember 17 and that of February 2. The whole constitutes a moral eclipse visible all over the United States. Mr. Hoar's supreme illustration of the duty of "staying in the party," shows him stay ing at the cost of making himself uni versally ridiculous as ridiculous as Jef ferson Davis said he should have been had he attempted to fight for disunion in the Union. In this connection, an other disappearance has to be noted. It Is that of our amusing friend, M. Bunau Varilla. He resigns as Minister of Pan tuna, and Is shortly to withdraw to Paris there, of course, to press with great vigor his libel suit against the Evening Post We shall all miss him. Who will furnish us with eloquent and gushing Ineptitudes after he is gone? "Almost killed by falsehood and calumny," he de clares himself; but. as we have shown, It Is the official records, as read out by Senator Carmack In the Senate on Mon day. which the delightful Bunau-Varllla has most reason to be angry about. Yet we are glad he was In the Panama game. Without him it would not have worn so complete, a. Jonathan Wild air. Russia and the Alabama Claim. Chicago Chronicle. For the benefit of those who have been perverting the fats of history in an at tempt to disprove the long-existing friend ship of Russia for the United States and the services that the Muscovite govern ment has rendered this country at vari ous times, it may be stated, both as matter of information and interest that Russia was directly responsible for the settlement of the Alabama claims. Nearly six years after the close of the Civil War the -claims of the American Government against Great Britain for the destruction and capture of merchant ships by the English-built Confederate warship Alabama not only remained unsettled but without nrospect of settlement The quio bllng policy of the British government had severely tried the patience ot tne Amen can people, and popular Indignation was aroused to a pitch that threatened serious consequences, when, at the end of the Franco-Prussian war, the London a o reign OfHce was alarmed by the receipt of note from the Russian Prime Minister that the clause in the treaty of Parjs limiting Russia's nower in the Black Sea was aoro gated. It was for this that the Crimean War had been fought and by destroying the only clause in the treaty of -peace that . . tiii l 1 1 T..9ln.'nnntl11n Vjreat XiriUUU ViUUCU J.uama, yiiu.u.auj Invited another conflict Thus" placed between a hostile Russia on one side and a hostile America on the other. Great Britain took immediate ac tion to placate American sentiment commission was appointed to decide the Alabama question, which, as all know. resulted In the award that upheld the principle for which America was -contend Ing, however unsatisfactory It may have been In the matter of dollars and cents The eagerness of Great Britain to repair the long-standing injustice was. shown by the fact that the British commission was named and on its way to Washington be fore the fact was known at the American Legation In London, according to a his torian of that period. It may be argued that Russia simply seized an opportune moment to remove obnoxious treaty restrictions, out ner ac tion nevertheless was of inestimable serv Ice to the United States In maintaining their just claims against Great Britain and possibly in averting another war be tween the two nat!on.s- Von, Sternberg as a Jollier. Indlananolis News. . In an address at Philadelphia Baron von Sternberg, the German Ambassador,- gav this country the credit of preventing th dismemberment of China during the'Boxer troubles. Every time . the German Am bassador rises-to speak -he adds to his . laurels as a jollier. ALCOHOL NOT A BLESSING. San Francisco Bulletin. Total abstainers have been shocked and. perhaps, rather troubled by an argument put forth by Dr. Woods Hutchinson, sec retary of the State Board of Health of Oregon in defense of the Demon Rum. Dr. Hutchinson argues that alcohol, being an eliminator of the unfit tends to im prove the average quality of the race by killing off the Inferior members. After a time, he asserts, through continued use of alcohol by a race, free reaction ceases, an equilibrium Is obtained and the race becomes relatively sober. The rest of the argument in Dr. Hutchinson's lan guage. Is: "The nations of Southern Europe, the Greeks, the Spaniards and the Italians, for example, through the continued consump tion of alcohol, have gradually attained a level of comparative sobriety. Today those races which are in the van of progress and are dominant factors in the world's work the American, the English, including the Irish and Scotch, and the North German are those in whom drunkennes is most rampant. , Those races which are contributing little to the advance, the modern Greeks, the South Italians and the Spaniards, are practically sober, while those which are" absolutely stagnant the Arabs, the Hin doos and the Chinese are entirely so. Alcoholism is an index of racial Insta bility, and its chief action Is that of elimi natoc of the unfit" This Is an ingenious and plausible so phistry, the fallacy of which, however, ap pears upon its. ace. In the first place. the argument conceaes that alcohol is bad for the individual, however beneficial It may be to the race. It destroys the con sumer, who Is thereby proved to be unfit and according to Dr. Hutchinson Im proves the race by pruning It of all the weaklings. The abstainers survive. Thus, by a strange paradox Dr. Hutchinson's argument comes to this, that the use of alcohol, by killing off the users of it, tends to evolve a raco of total, abstainers who are, by virtue of their abstaining, fitter for surviving in the struggle for existence than are races addicted to intoxicants. . So far the Woman's Christian Temperance Association could go hand in hand with Dr. Hutchinson, were it not for the fact that the elimination of the unflttest by alcohol is not a short, direct process, but a complicated operation, extending through generations, passing down a curse from fathers to sons, and bringing suffering collaterally on wives and other Innocent persons. Not only alcohol, but also small pox, cholera, every 111 to which mankind Is heir, are eliminators of the unfit ac cording to the Darwinian theory. Must we then cease ministering to diseased bod ies lest we hamper the operation of the law of the survival of the fittest? Instead of permitting the weaklings to bo killed off by alcohol or diseases, is it not a wiser policy to take the weaklings In hand, shelter them from destructive forces. build them up, morally, mentally ana physically, and render them fit to sur vive In the struggle of existence? A new born infant, left to sustain itself, would soon perish; but the mother nourishes it until it is strong and capable. According to Dr. Hutchinson's theory, it would be well to expose Infants on the -doorsteps so that they might be quickly eliminated; but by the elimination of the unfit the race would be bettered. - But It is when he attempts to make his second point that Dr. Hutchinson exhibits the weakness of his argument for his two propositions are inconsistent and con tradlct each other. According to his ar gument alcohol strengthens the race by eliminating the drunkards. Hence a race which, through continued consumption of alcohol, has gradually attained a level of comparative sobriety that is, a state-of relative perfection should be superior to a race which Is in the state of transition from drunkenness to sobriety. How, then. does It happen that the Greeks,- the Span lards and the Italians, the Arabs, the Hindoos and the Chinese, who, according to Dr. Hutchinson, have attained this level of sobriety, are not in the van of progress. but are behind the nxtlons In which drunK; enness Is most rampant? Supposedly all the unfit In Greece.. Spain, Italy, Arabia, India and China have been eliminated by the use of alcohol. Why then are not the peoples of those countries dominant on the earth? Dr. Hutchinson reasons In a circle. He first maintains that alcohol Is an agent for good, because it removes the unfit; and then proves the beneficent character of alcohol by asserting that the nations from which all the drunkards have been eliminated by the use of alcohol are back ward and inferior because they are prac tically sober. But he might reply, the reason ot th Inferiority of the nations of Southern Eu rope is not that they do not drlnK, out that they do not get drunK; in otner words, they use enough alcohol to increase their unfitness, but not enough to elimi nate their unfit This, also, is reasoning In a circle, for, according to Dr. Hutchin son argument, these nations, having used alcohol for centuries, must long ago have been purged of their alcohol-users; and yet It IS notorious that a great aeai or alcohol is consumed In Southern Europe. The backwardness of the Greeks, the Spaniards, the Italians, the Arabs, the Hindoos and the Chinese Is not rightly attributable either to the use or the dis use of alcohol, but to many causes, nor Is the forwardness of the Americans-, Eng lish and North Germans due to their drinking. I Drastic Measures Necessary. Albany Democrat Down at Coqullle the girls have had all their leap-year proposals refused, and are irate. They have asked the City Council to pass an ordinance making It a mis demeanor punishable by fine and Impris onment for a man In that city to refuse a DroDOsal made to him during this year. The young wqmen have decided to drape their clubroom In mourning until at least one proposal is accepted. Service Pensions. New York Sun. Weary Willie What's your Idee on pen sions? Dusty -Rhodes Well, I think every man who hasn'.t worked for 20 years orter have one. Roll Call in Corea.. I Milwaukee Sentinel. Slowly died the last red sunbeam; slowly came ' the hush of night. Where the moon-illumined .stronghold of the bearded. Muscovite Broke the landscape's rolling contour In a fair Corean vale; Many a warrior's, heart was heavy, .many a k warrior's cheek was pale. For the bloody fight was o'er, . Silenced was the cannon's roar. All was quiet' as a form without a soul; And before the call of taps. Several uncommissioned chaps - Volunteered half-heartedly to call the roll. talajor Hltthedopesky. present; Major FourflusnorrsKy, nere; Brave old Spikethegunsky. absent; -Bugler Blowsky standing near. . Punkeroft is here, and Sniffsky, ; Up spake Quartermaster Blffsky: .' "Can't lose me, boys, never fearl" ' ',. Present, too. were Bobtallstralghtsky. Acesupaky, Blufferoff, Cushion caromsky. Plngpongsky, Vladimir Onelungeroff; Butterlnsky. Maltesecatsky, Lageroft and Antifatsky, Ivan Caseyatthebatsky, And. the selfish Fee tin tr off. Kpt to mention many more with appellations much the same, .. Who retorted, "Here and "Present" .when the time to answer came. Slowly spread the crimson sunrise, and . the birdies In the trees Jtf San? a song that sounded bully to the Musco vite main squeeze. ' "Br my beardskyl" muttered he, ' ' Twas a glorious vlctoreel " V . - - " Valiant Stfk'etheguneky had'.tc'gcV poorysbul; Bat the'onlyother chap; ' '-yy-.- V : -Was. the uncommissioned' yap j. jf Who succumbed to'-Jof!? :'wiec be. called; ' the rolll"" . V ", NOTE. AND . COMMENT. Aha, Paha! Last Saturday, while In Rltsvllle. we no ticed one of Paha's young- men in a Jewelry store. Reins a little bit interested, we stopped to see why he was there. He was very red "in the face, and reminded us of a schoolboy - in his first love, as he edged along, the show case to a tray of rings. We have been looking for the lucky maiden, but have not discovered her yet. Paha Hub. It was a blear-eyed lion that made, his entrance yesterday. February 29 did not pass without ajetter from M. S. Griswold. ' Stock In the Sacramento Valley can sympathise with Steel Common. . , The rockDlle unconstitutional? Nothing of thjgklnd. Pleasant recreation agrees with any constitution. The following advertisement appeared recently in The Oregonian: " WANTED A "boy to sell oysters that can ride a bicycle. Luther Burbank has grown a variety of rhubarb that tastes like strawberries. Now It's up to him to grow strawberries that taste like rhubarb. The Japanese ships, we are told; did not remain off Port Arthur long-enough for the gunners in the fort to get their range. How very unkind of the Japanese officers! Most everything in Chicago University having been opened with Standard Oil money, it is reasonable to suppose that Rockefeller will pay President Harpera appendicitis expenses. Japanese who took part In the unsuc cessful attempt to block the channel at Port-Arthur have shaved their heads' as a token of disgrace. None of the Merrlmac's men thought of shaving his head. Luther Burbank Is reported to have succeeded In producing a potato of a deli cate red color and of delicious flavor: Burbank, ot thy new plan beware. Lest thou produce a spud too fair; A tuber far too bright and good In human nature's daily food. The University of Chicago Is trying to get a corner on the world's supply of dloon, according to a dispatch in the Kansas City Star. The Star explains that dioon is a fern-like plant which grows near Jalapa. Mexico, and nowhere else in the world. It Js an "exceedingly rare genus of cycads." What in the world' are we to do for our cycads if the supply 13 cornered by Chicago? The South Bend Journal gives a very exciting picture of a Finnish bath. It ap pears that the boys of the Nasel Valley settlements crowd Into a hut filled with steam and then wallop one another with sticks to promote circulation. Having a bath of this kind would be a little too ex citing for the ordinary American; and it is entirely probable that the hut would be demolished and several of the bathers badly done Up In the free fight that would almost certainly ensue. Two serious-looking gentlemen sat near me In a car bound for the Capital recently, and their conversation was devoted to the war in the Orient says a writer In the Washington Post Russia's chances lobked very slim to them. The difficulties of safeguarding the railway appeared insur mountable." "There are 1O0O miles of it," said one gentleman, "that run through a perfectly uninhabited country." "That's so" agreed the ptherv "r "And the worst, of it is," went pnjthe first speaker, '.'that .all the people In that country are unfriendly." He wasn't from-Ireland either. He was a United States Senator from a Far West ern State. St Petersburg, March 1. (By Orosky to Stockholm thence by carrier, pigeon.) The Czar Is anxious to go to the front. He wants a change from home cooking, he says. The Czarina is heartbroken. Moscow, March L (By samovar to Lon don, thence by 'ansom cab.) Russians are greatly incensed at the failure of the Japanese to give trading stamps with each shell. Mandalay, March L (By hodcarrier to Washington.) There Is little excitement here over the reported attack of the Jap anese on Port Arthur. A prominent dacolt asked yesterday, "Who is Arthur?" Timbuctoo, March 1. (By cassowary to Lake Tchad, thence by automobile.) Local politicians sneer at the "yellow peril." What they want Is a blacker out look. Port Arthur, March 1. (By submerged battleship.) St Petersburg and Tokio ad vices indicate that there was a battle of some kind In this vicinity a few days ago. Alexieff, on being shown the dispatches; admitted that there had been a fight but assured the Asphyxiated Pres3 that the Russians were not In it , - ' Seattle, March L By Queen Anne cable car.) The Oriental war does not .retard Seattle's progress. A new chicken coop la being erected in Sou.th Seattle: WEX. J. OUT OF THE GINGERi'JAR.- "r " "To me. Wagner is a religion." "TesT" "Tea that Is to say, what X can't understand I take on trust." Brooklyn Life. Maude I wonder It It Is really so that Agnes Is engaged? Anne Well, I shan't believe It till 1 see It denied In the papers. Judge. At the Bursar's Office 0T (paying his term bill) Please, sir, mamma wanted me to ask If ' you give green trading stamps?" Harvard Lampoon. . Gilbert I went to the lunatic asylum yes terday. Noyes And they let you come away? Perhaps the- places were all taken? Boston Transcript , "Tut tnt my boy! You must not beat that little dog so. Has he bitten your' "No, 'e ain't. But 'e's been an.' swallered my far din!" Punch. . "Do you think Blank Is going to be good timber for this campaign?" "Not exactly. .He's what I'd call a political stlck.'DeJ trolt Free Press. Angry Father Look here, young, man. It takes yon longer and longer to. say ; good night to my daughter. The Young Man Well, elr, the nights. are longer than they were. Smart Set " "And his last end Is worse than his first'.' quoted, the Sunday-school teacher. "What does this refer to, children?" ' "A hornet" promptly answered the freckled boy,, who had just Joined the class.' Judge. -' Scholar Professor, your mnemonlcsystem. Is wondeVfuIr and I am sure that anyone, after mastering the rules, can learn to re member anything. But I am handicapped by one difficulty. Professor What is It? Scholar' t can't remember the rules. Town and Country. . "Hush! Lucy," said Mrs. Lush man, who was calling upon Mrs. Popley. "Don't make so much noise." "Why?" demanded her little daughter. "Because .you'll wakeMrs. Pop ley's baby." "Gracious! does thi-.tjytave to sleep till he's sober, too?" Staiwtatf ,aa2 Times. r. -i- ; a. newly-married Atchison woz9aa.jM(le a pie for dinner "I am afrald.yii .krida said that I left .something outiwi.jtat it Is not very good." "The husbaii It and. ;sald: "There Is. ,nothlng"yjic4 cleave out that would, maker a. p!itMi it his; It's something you'v gutjSwM fionuGIobeV ' Y " " -