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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1904)
THE MORMIKG OBEGOKL&J?, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1904. Entered at the Postofflco at Portland. Or., as second-class matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. By mall (postage prepaid In advance) Dally, with Sunday, per month $ .85 Dally, with Sunday excepted, per year.. 7.50 Dally, with Sunday, per .year 9-00 Sunday, per year, 2.00 The Weekly, per year 150 The Weekly. 3 months 50 Dally per week, delivered, Sunday ex cepted r .15 Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday In cluded . .20 POSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada and Mexico 10 to 14-page paper..... .lc 16 to 30-page paper 2c 22 to 44-page paper. ...................... Sc Foreign rates, double. EASTERN BUSINESS OF5TCE. The S. C. Beck with Special Acency New Xork: rooms 43-50. Tribune building-. Chi cago; rooms 510-512 Tribune building. The Oregonlan does not buy poems or sto ries from Individuals and cannot undertake to return any manuscript sent to It without solicitation. No stamps should be Inclosed for this purpose. KEPT ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex: Postofflce Ih'evrt Co.. 173 Dearborn street. Denver Julius Black. Hamilton & Kend rtck. 906-812 Seventeenth sL. and Erueautt. 33ros.. C05 16th st j-jKansas City. Mo. Rlcksecker Clear Co 2Klnth and Walnut. Eos Angeles -B. F. Gardner. 259 South Spring, and Harry D rap kin. . Oakland. Cal. W. H. Johnston. Four teenth and Franklin st. i Minneapolis iL J. Kavanaugh. 50 South Third: I. Begelsburger. 217 First avenue ' . New York City I. Jones & Co.. Astor House. yKhcdeo F. 7L Godard end Myers and. Har- Omaha Barkalow Bros.. 1C12 Fgrnam: felajreath Stationery Co. 1308 Farnam. Salt Eake Salt Iako News Co.. 77 West Second South street. J3aa Francisco J. K. Cooper Co.. 746 Mar ket street: Foster & Orear. Ferry News Stand; Goldsmith Bros.. 238 Sutter: I. E. ,Ic, Palace Hotel News Stand; F. W. Pitts. ipOS Market; Frank Scott. SO Ellis; N. ,'Wbeatlcy. 83 Stevenson: Hotel St. Francis Sews Stand. Washington. D. C. Ebbltt House News (Stand. PORTLAND, MONDAY, DEC. 5, 1904. RETAIL AND WHOLESALE. There are greater culprits. But they (probably) are not involved in the petty land frauds discovered in the trials be fore the Court of the United States at Portland. It is a theory that principals stand behind the small actors In this local drama of fraud, but The Oregonlan doubtB It. It is a theory that the prin cipals will be discovered and unmasked by these prosecutions. The Oregonlan doesn't think so. Its reason is that these frauds are comparatively small matters. They are nothing- at all bagatelles In compari son with the great operations of land grabbers, who work covertly under forms of law, and who expect to be held harmless, yet who, in a moral sense, are as much more culpable than these miserable defendants as a land eteal of millions of acres, highly val uable, is a greater robbery than the steal of a few trifling quarter-sections on mountain tops, here and there. The laws of the United States, and the practice of various gangs under color of the laws, showed these miser able defendants and culprits ,howthey might get land that could be turned into more valuable "lieu land." They are caught in the trap. But the greater offenders are Immune. Therefore when it is said that the prosecution is "after bigger game," it is not to be believed. At least It Is not probable. These people were running a little game of their own, Invited to it by the operation of laws enacted through the Influence of syndicates, that substituted through this method lands of no value in the tops of the mountains, perpendicular places,, gla ciers and rocks, bald peaks "where bit ing cold would never let grass grow," lor millions of acres of the most valuable timber and agricultural lands on the lower places and valleys; and they even carried off their scrip from these moun tains and rocks and deserts to distant states, placing it where they cou'd find land In Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Florida. For all this there can be no penalty. Here is theft, on im mense scale, through favor of law. Theorists and cranks got hold of ths Idea of the relation of forests to pre cipitation and water supply, which doesn't prevail west of the Bocky Mountains, where precipitation depends on ocean and wind currents and trend of mountain ranges; and they easily were led to play into the hands of scrip pers and land-grabbers, till millions of acres, worth nothing, have been ex changed for other millions worth incal culable sums. This has been effected Jn part through our sclollstlc scientist. Look out for him whatever may be his specialty. He Is devoted to bookish theoric; he has a little superficial learn ing which he hasn't half digested; he imagines that observations on physical conditions which will apply In one part of the world will apply infallibly in all others. He knows nothing abount var iant conditions that so profoundly mod ify everything, here and there. So he has played this forestry reserve notion into the hands of the land-grabbers. It has become a greater abuse than iie offense of the original land grants. The law therefore set up an exam ple for imitation by these miserable defendants, who, although they must be punished, are no more culpable, mor ally, than the rest; but less, indeed, as an enormous swindle is more outra geous than a petty one. It reminds one of a passage in one of Scott's novels, perhaps "The Heart of Midlothian," Where a crime is described as "a favor ite of the law, being indeed one of the law's own creating." It is not likely, as The Oregonlan sup poses, that there are .principals and greater culprits behind these, in the present transactions. The greater are wholesale swindlers, and didn't need to .stoop to these petty transactions and become dealers In land frauds, at the retail peanut stand. The laws and the Interpretation thereof have taken them out of the petty larceny class and given them a better thing. Among the many interesting theories advanced to account for the presence in this country of that original Ameri can, the Indian, is one which credits him with coming across the Pacific In a storm that was so severe that he was forever separated from his dark skinned people of jthe Far East. Color has frequently been given this theory by the rescue of Japanese and Chinese by vessels which had picked them up more than half way across the Pacific. The latest corroboration of this theory is found in the arrival at Port Town send yesterday of two Japanese who were picked up by the schooner W. Fj. Garms several hundred miles off the Japan coast. Theso men were the survivors of a crew of ten on a fifteen ton schooner. "With a larger and better craft and a superior knowledge of the sea to that possessed by their ances tors, and still unable to get back to their native land, it is easy to under stand how the old sampan sailors of hundreds of years ago might have been carried to our shores, and remained here, to rear a new race, in keeping with the environment. AT PRESENT INSOLUBLE. There is no doubt that the greater part of the white people of the South are resolved that the negro in their states shall have no kind of political recognition. So resolved are they on this subject that many of them, per haps a majority, would cut the negro population out of the basis of repre sentation, to get rid of the pressure for negro suffrage, under the' fifteenth and fourteenth amendments, if they saw they could get rid of it that. way. But It is extremely difficult to effect any change of the Constitution. In this case it would be opposed bitterly in some, if not most, of our Northern States, on the ground that abrogation of the fifteenth amendment would be tantamount to abandonment of the negro population by the General Gov ernment to the unfriendliness of the whites, in the states where the blades are numerous. But that wo'uidn't be a good reason, for in those states the blacks are practically disfranchised now; and it has been due mainly to their push into politics that the whites have shown unfriendly disposition to wards them. Repeal of the fifteenth amendment would leave the question of suffrage wholly to the states, where it was lodged at first. It would not disfranchise the negro In any state. North or South, whose Legislature was willing to let him vote. And yet it doesn't "seem to be a practicable thing so great are the difficulties of changing the Consti tution, and so great would be the con tentions between parties and within parties on the proposal. The fourteenth and fifteenth amend ments are at variance. The fourteenth contemplates the possibility of disfran chisement of the blacks by the states, and provides that the penalty of it shall be reduction of representation. The fif teenth declares there shall be no dis franchisement "on account of race, col or or previous condition of servitude." Now, If the penalty of the former is to be enforced, the mandate of :the latter is to be practically abandoned. The sit uation Is one that Involves no end of theory and fine-spun debate. That is the reason why it seems practically in soluble. The Republican party in its National Convention last June commit ted itself to enforcement of the four teenth amendment not perceiving that this was -equivalent to virtual aban donment of the fifteenth which never theless remains. fixed In. -the-Constitu tion and probably cannot be cut out of it. "THEN ICE! KEEP OFFj;'. "I can skate right along on the edge of the state's prison, and still keep out," said a man in St. Louis. He did for awhile. ' His name was Theodore Sfegnerl the proprietor of a get-rich -quick concern of St Louis.- The boast was "the. cause of his undoing. The saying. made a woman whom he trusted "suspicious. She decided that a man who could skate so skillfully would bear watching, espe cially since Stegner had some of her money in his business. Being employed In his office, she became his nemesis. She copied letters and secured evidence by which the reckless skater was brought to bay. He was convicted in the United States Court on the charge of using the mails to defraud. Lettson Balllet, who "operated" In Eastern Ore gon, was another. Multitudes are skating on thin ice; till presently they wish they hadn't. Here are these defendants in the land trials. Here are contractors for public works, under fire or brought to book. And persons without number skating close to the perilous - edge of social immorality. The male flirt and the female flirt, married or single, are among these skaters on thin Ice. No telling when they may drop through. Some don't, indeed but some do. And you can't tell who may, or when. Everybody knows where the thin ice is; or certainly very few who don't. There are innocent girls and boys who sometimes are entrapped, and it is pit iful; but that usually Is the conse quence of Irresponsible parentage. But the real offenders all know when they are on thin ice; and they have no right to complain, still less to be surprised, when they plump in. The real enjoyment In skating is on good solid Ice. Much of It everywhere. Then, governed by the Icy precepts of respect, you will not fall into the sugared game pursued by the Nan Pattersons, the S. A. D. Puters and the Emma. Watsons. WAR'S INGREDIENTS. "What a strange mixture is modern war cannot be better understood from a hundred treatises than from the un usual descriptive story published in The Oregonlan yesterday. Mr. Barry, the adventurous .correspondent whose graphic pen thus made conditions around Port Arthur clear to the reader In Oregon, has done more to bring home the mingled toll and dash, horror and glory, brutality and humanity of war than columns of dispatches could do. Modern siege work is a matter for the engineer, and demands no less skill than a great r Industrial undertaking. "When it Is realized that eighteen miles of trenches, varying in depth from six to eighteen feet, had to be constructed in one place to gain a distance of four miles, It will be understood that con siderable skill is required to select the shortest route and to avoid the innu merable natural obstacles that present themselves. The skill of the engineer must be supplemented by Industry and perseverance on the part of the men engaged in the exhausting and inglo rious work of constructing trenches in a shot-swept country. Here is none of the pomp of war; just hard labor. On the side of the defense it is the same the skill of the engineer and the deter mination of the men are required in the same degree. Added to this mathematical precision and dogged laborlousness is the deep courage required by the ordeal of the modern long-range guns, high explo slves and electrically controlled mines. To advance In the face of a deadly fire from an enemy that cannot be seen Is a task that would have broken the ranks of the olden soldiers accus tomed to come to grips with men armed like themselves. All this the modern soldier must face, and then,- as if fate were playing a game of surprises, he is suddenly called upon for a hand-to hand struggle In which physical power is pitted against physical power. As the story In yesterday's paper related, Japanese and Russians have clinched within the forts that one would enter and the other would not abandon. Foes have been found dead In each other's clutches, teeth fastened in throat, as men fought before brain turned stones and clubs into weapons. War Is indeed a strange mixture of the modern and the primeval, of science and untutored brutality. The wonder grows that from such a hell's broth the great alchemist can distill the limpid virtues of valor and patriotism. FREE EXCHANGE WITH OUR ISLANDS. From talk current at "Washington It seems probable that the tariff may not be considered in the forthcoming mes sage of the President. Naturally the Philippine tariff will be part of the whole subject, Consideration of which cannot long be delayed, since It is forced through so many circumstances and from so many quarters. If the present Congress- does not take it up the next one certainly will. The report of the Secretary of" "War deals with the Philippine tariff we cannot suppose without approval of the President. Secretary Taft recommends "a, sub stantial reduction" upon Philippine products imported into the United .States. There should, indeed, be. free exchange. If we have any justification at all for our sovereignty over the Phil ippines, it must rest on the broad prin ciple of good to them certainly as the first thing. We are not to hold and to exploit them for our own advantage which would be Wrong in Itself and ultimately hurtful to us. For, In the long run, such policy would turn to our disadvantage. Surely there has been too much experience with depend encies and colonies through many cen turies to permit us to commit an error here. "I urge," says Secretary Taft, "that a bill be adopted by Congress allowing the admission, duty free. of all prod ucts of the Philippine Islands, manufac tured or otherwise, except tobacco and sugar"; and he urges further that du ties on these, articles be reduced to 25 per-cent of the rates now Imposed' upon the Importations from foreign coun tries. Secretary Taft undoubtedly thinks that these commodities of the Philippines should come in free of duty also; but he believes it necessary to throw this sop to Cerebus. In support of his suggestion he argues thus: The market for both tobacco and sugar li so great In the United States, and the im portations from foreign countries needed to supply that market with both sugar and tobacco, even under the heavy existing du ties, are so heavy, that the comparatively small production of the Philippine Islands, both In sugar and tobacco, will not materi ally affect the price of either commodity; and yet the access to the market will great ly benefit the tobacco and sugar planters of the Philippines. But It is said that the opportunity to reach the market will greatly stimulate the cultivation of tobacco and sugar. There are limitations which will ren der the 'extension of both the tobacco and sugar Industry In the islands gradual and slow. One Is the scarcity of labor In the sugar and tobacco districts, of which there is great complaint on the part of the sugar growers and of the tobacco-reisers, and the Chinese immigration laws, which apply as well In tho Islands as to the United States, make certain that the labor supply will not Increase rapidly. The methods of raising and making sugar and tobacco In the Philip pine Islands are primitive, and they can not be changed except, by an Investment of much capital. Transportation Is slow, and in the death of the draft cattle has become in many places impossible. All these cir cumstances prevent the possibility of- dump ing upon the American market a supply of either sugar or tobacco, which will affect the profits either of the tobacco farmer or manufacturer, or the wages of the clgar makcr. The argument therefore is that the Philippines may be aided by the favor thus granted, without noticeably affect ing the sugar and tobacco industry of the United States. It is true, doubtless-; and yet it is a sorry thing that such a plea is necessary for the Philippines, when the products of our other insular possessions or dependencies are permit ted to come in free. There will be no justice till the Philippines, Hawaii and Porto Rico are all on the same basis of free exchange with the United States. OVERPRODUCTION OF LUMBER. A Seattle special in yesterday's Ore gonlan reports a very firm market for logs and great demoralization in lum ber and shingles. It is stated that a number of the mills have already closed down, and others will soon join them to await improvement in the situation. The fact that logs are firmly held in the face of a demoralized lumber mar ket would indicate that the loggers had at least realized the folly of selling their output at ruinous prices In order to force a business that was not war ranted by the law of supply and de mand. This situation In a measure confirms statements of the railroads that are fighting against a reduction of lumber freight rates. The railroads have contended that an overproduction of lumber for which there is at present insufficient demand is responsible for the unsatisfactory condition of the lum ber business in the Pacific Northwest. In their anxiety to do business a large number of lumber manufacturers have enlarged their plants or established new ones, and the output has been steadily Increasing until it has reached propor tions in excess Of the demand. Busi ness can sometimes be hastened by cut ting prices below the actual value of the article offered for sale. Transac tions of this character have no place in legitimate business, however, and in the end prove detrimental -to trade. The "Washington lumbermen appear to be caught between two immovable forces. The loggers with the raw ma terial to sell will not make a further reduction in prices, and the railroads with freighting facilities to sell take the same view of the matter. This places tho lumberman In a position where he must either continue opera tions at a loss or shut down. The pres ent condition also suggests that per haps the railroads have the same right to refuse a "forty-cent rate" that the logger has to refuse to sell his stock for anything less than the price at which he is now holding It The logger, the lumber manufacturer and the railroad company are three -factors directly concerned' in placing lumber products in the hands of the consumer. Their interests are largely mutual, inasmuch as, when any one of the three parties refuses to work on a harmonious basis with the others, the business either ceases or must be con ducted in an unsatisfactory and un profitable manner. Conceding that the loggers are men of average Intelligence and sound financial ability, we must admit that it becomes a certainty that they are refusing to cut rates on logs simply bpcause it is unprofitable for them to do otherwise. For the same reason the railroad company refuses to grant a forty-cent rate, knowing,, when they refuse, that the volume of busi ness will be curtailed by their refusal. This is a self-evident demonstration of the fact that the railroads would prefer not to haul lumber at all rather than to be compelled to haul it at h. forty cent rate. ( Perhaps In the end the Northwest as a whole will be gainer by this "stand pat" attitude of the railroads and the loggers. Our forests have been chewed up at an alarming rate for many years, and, If the assertions of the lumbermen are true, little or no profit has resulted from the - sacrifice. Cheap logs and cheap freight rates mean cheap lumber and the cheapness of any article is a great factor in increasing its consump tion. This feature as applied to the lumber trade would be satisfactory if there was a margin of profit remain ing, but if we waste our forest wealth without receiving profitable remunera tion for the labor and capital involved in taking It from the forest to the con sumer, no benefits of any nature will be gained. If the finest timber on earth cannot now be marketed at a price that will repay the logger, the lumber man and the transportation companies for han dling It it may be well to 'pause for a brief period, until the demand revives, and the business can be conducted at a profit Time Is evidently becoming more valuable In the "Vaderland." The Ger man Finance Minister has Just report ed that there was a decrease of 6.000.000 bottles of champagne and 8,000,000 cigars In the amount consumed during the first six months of the current fis cal year. It is impossible to deduce from these figures that the prohibition ist has been getting his work in, for the distilleries must have worked over time, as they Increased their contribu tion to the 'license fund by $2,500,000. Time, however, is a great element in the consumption of champagne and cigars. It is not only used in large quantities in blowing wreaths of smoke above the bubbling glasses, but Is also required the next morning to reduce the "champagne head' to its proper size. The German appetite, from a quantita tive standpoint, has not changed much, but it has shifted from champagne and cigars to something that will go down faster, thrill more quickly and leave the head at normal proportions in the morning. There is one country only Great Britain that makes a larger proportion of its foreign purchases from the Uni ted States than Mexico does; only one that sells us a larger proportion of its own merchandise. Mexico's impor tance . In our foreign trade is great, therefore; and It is steadily increasing. Likewise the Investments of our people in Mexico. The progress of Mexico In all leading lines of development is very rapid. The country has over twelve millions of people, and every variety of climate and of material resources. Its cities are growing fast especially the City of Mexico. Noting the pros perity of that great country and its present conditions as compared with that of fifty years ago, one cannot reas onably set limits to Its future great ness. It Is a country six times as large as Italy, with natural resources as great In proportion to size. Mexico must have time, but it is destined to be a great country. If we are going to have a great Navy, we must pay for it It costs money to build ships, and it costs money to maintain them. Secretary Morton in his report says so frankly. He says also that the cost will continue to In crease, but he apparently relies on the general acceptance, of the policy of a greater Navy to secure needed appro priations. The Navy of the United States is now third in the world in ton nage, and is believed by many to be second in fighting efficiency. Singular ly enough, there is no great protest anywhere against a larger Navy, as there is against a great standing army, so that we are In a fair way to get all tho ships we need, apd to be prepared for emergencies. "We can, or think we can, raise a mighty army at a mo ment's notice; but we could, not get together a navy. "Coxey's Army" started out from Oregon a few years ago, with its rag ged hosts, for "Washington. Now Coxey has failed In Ohio for 527S.OOO. And yet you will be told that there are "no chances left," and that "the poor man hain't got no show In this country." There must be some chance left for one and another In a country where the leader of the Coxey Army can do so well and get eo much credit that he can fail In a few years for $276,000. Let every tramp and every member of the ragged regiment take courage. Everybody must be sorry that Henry "Watterson has gone to Europe, for he will be unhappy there. He will find a lot of militarists and snobs, and people who are different from the general air and type of freedom that prevail In Kentucky. Your real anti-imperlal-1st, your Ervlng "Wlnslowa, your Ed ward Atkinsons, your Carl Schurzes, your George Boutwells, admire Europe but don't go there. Probably they would be arrested for sedition. But Henry Watterson Is a man of judg ment, and Is Immune. The steady advance in poultry leada to some astonishing figures. The farmers' hens now produce one and two-thirds billions of dozens of eggs, and at the high average price of the year the hens during their busy season lay enough eggs In a single month to pay the year's Interest on the National debt. From the annual report of Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson. From all of which we conclude that it will be wise to turn over the Na tional debt to the hens. The Southeastern combine has laid out a highly satisfactory programme for Its guidance In the Washington Legislature. It purposes to act as a unit in promotion of all Important measures. It rather looks as if there would be "something doing" in Olym pla next month. The Philadelphia Press is another Eastern newspaper to view with alarm the purpose of the Governor of Oregon to withhold a certificate of election from a Republican elector and give It to a Democrat The Press" has Its date3 mixed. This is not 1876. In Kentucky the plurality for Parker was but 11,519. The Democratic vote was 213,634; the Republican 202,115, Kentucky Is to be hereafter a close and contested state, and-as likely perhaps . to be Republican as .Missouri. There are 176 members In the Mis souri Legislature. On joint ballot the Republican majority Is ten. 'TIs not wide as a church door nor so deep as a well; but 'tis enough.'twill serve. .NOTE AND COMMENT. The Penniless Poet. ' Would I were the furs that cling Around the neck of Mabel: Costly furs that flap and ewtng As conscious they are cable. Then might I brush her glowing checks ' O. would that I -were Table But 'tis a sterner reason speaks I'm worth much less than cable. E. R. Germans last year drank 6.000.000 bot tles of champagne less than the number for the preceding six months. This will hit tne chemical manufacturers a hard blow. The King of Slam's Immediate, famllv circle consists of 450 persons. How Santa Claus must dread such an array of stock ings! Gobbling up a three-pound sirloin steak proved too much for a Chicago tailor, who was found choked to death on a chunk of the meat, four Inches long and two inches wide. It's a wise man that can gauge accurately the capacity of hl3 own mouth. Professor Shryock: of th Illinois StAt Normal, declares Riley's verses to be unfit for use in schools. "When the frost Is on the Pumpkin" la llkelv to ten;h thn pupils "pleblan English," the professor says. Dear professor. Let us be na- triclan by all means. A woman who Is confined in the Min nesota state insane asylum has won tho prize In a puzzlo-solvlng contest insti tuted by a Boston magazine. This Is one of the few instances In which a per son has been quite insane at the begin ning of a puzzle contest "Bo watchful of the candy eaten by children, in some of which lies the first push toward the brink of destruction. Much of the candy mado nowadays con tains alcoholic drops," says the president of the W. C T. U. One can't be too care ful in these days. Alcohol is found In all sorts of things, even In some cocktails. The Secretary of Agriculture says In his report that the hens of the country lay eggs enough in a month to pay the Interest on the National debt for a year. We know now what Is the matter with the egg market The Secretary's report has given the hen an exalted Idea of her own worth and valuo, and she has quit laying and struck for higher wages. In the December Critic there is some account of three distinguished Parisian caricaturists. We learn that "Sem," the caricaturist of Society, usually carries a drawing pad on which to make his sketches, but when he finds himself with out paper he thinks nothing of jotting down his ideas on his cuffs or on the tablecloth, if he happens to be in a res taurant at the time. Then he produces a knife, cuts out the part of the cloth that contains his sketch and walks off. Fine for the birdies. Senator Dubois, of Idaho, was prac ticing onco In Boise City, and, becoming too vehement one day. was fined $50 for contempt of court, says the Argonaut The next day, according to a custom fol lowed in tho Idaho courts, the Judge called upon Mr. Dubois to occupy ' the bench for him during the transaction of some comparatively unimportant busi ness. After the Judge's departure from the courtroom, and before anything else could come up, Mr. Dubois exhibited an instance of that remarkable presenco of mind, for which ho has ever been noted. Tho future Senator said to the clerk of the court: "Turning to tho records of this court for yesterday, Mr. Clerk, you wilj observe recorded a fine of $50 against one Frederick T. Dubois. Tou will kindly make a noto to the effect that such a fine has been. remitted by order of the court" WEX. J. The Fall River Strike. Springfield Republican. One reason why the Fall River strikers have been able to hold out so long Is that large numbers of them promptly left the city either to get work In other New England mills or to sojourn at former homes in Canada. This has made it easier for tho other strikers to live on. such strike benefits as were forthcoming. Soma of the manufacturers are beginning to fear that when tho strike Is broken and tho mills are all opened there will not be enough help at hand to man them. It Is calculated that 15,000 of tho old operatives, or about half of tho whole number, have left the city some 10,000 gottlng work In other mills and 5000 returning to Canada. The Canadians will come back readily, but some 000 of thoso who have gone to other New England mills will, it Is ex pected, remain there. One great ad van tage Fall River has had in the cotton manufacture has been Its large supply of skilled and reliable labor. The prolonged strike will doubtless prove to have im paired this advantage somewhat but tho damage can bo repaired in the course of time. Would-Bo Militarism, Indeed. Chicago Tribune. The army of Germany on a peace foot ing is 605,000 strong. This Is a good sized army for a population of 57,000,000, but the relchstag has been asked to in crease It to 621.000. If the United States. with Its population of 81.000,000, kept as many men under arms as Germany does there would indeed do occasion for re marks about "militarism." This country, with its large population, its extensive area on this continent and its insular possessions, has an army of 60,183, in' eluding officers and privates. That force Is hardly largo enough to perform the task of "subverting the liberties of the country," which some persons have af fected to believe it might undertake. A National Insult. New York Globe. General Kuropatkln's only comment on his new automobile is reported to be: "I have the advantage of General Shafter." Now, what does ho mean by that? Eng land may be willing to overelook the fish ing-boats episode, but America should not permit this slur on Shafter to pas3 un punished. Besides, what Kuropatkln says isn't true. An autoraomie may be raster, but a cot-bed Is Infinitely more com fortable. Revenge Indeed! Somervllle (Mass.) Journal. A SomervlllQ girl Is mad because when sho broke off her engagement last week, and asked to have everything returned, tho young man sent back with her letters a lock of hair two shades darker than the one sho had given him. He Started From Portland. St Louis Globe-Democrat A few years ago General Coxey was at the head of an army claiming to be out of work and .penniless, and now ho has failed with liabilities amounting to J2S7. 000. This is a land of opportunity, even for the Coxeys. The Frost on the Pumpkin. Herlngton (Kan.) Sun. The big pumpkin sent to the World's Fair by LItts, of Abilene, did not win the prize. The blue ribbon was carried off by a miserable Colorado product reared on Irrigation water stolen from Kansas. GREAT SOLDIERS OF MODERN TIMES EOBERT EDMUND LEE (By Arrangement With the Chicago Tribune.) " ; I can anticipate no greater calamity for my country than a dissolution of the Union. . . Still, a union that can only be main tained by swords and bayonets, and In which etrlfe and civil war are to take the place of crouieny love and kindness, has no charm for me. ... If the Union is dissolved and the Government disrupted, I shall retire to my native state and share the miseries of my people, and eave. In defense, will draw my sword on none. Robert E. Lee, In a letter to his eon, CusUs, in 1S61. SINCE Napoleon was overthrown at Waterloo thero has been no warap- proachhig in length, numbers of men en gaged, and deadllness. the American Civil War. That war, in Its early stages, was fousht by raw recruits, and, on the side of the North at least by Incompetent Generals. A few months of struggle made of those recruits as fine soldiers as the world ever saw. Natural selection gave to both sides great .commanders. Pre-eminent among the commanders on the side of the North stands Grant. Equally pre-eminent among those of tho South stands Lee. General Lee was a unique combination of the saintly knight and" the great Captain of Chevalier Bay ard and the Duke of Marlborough. Forty years after the war the memory of his lovable nature, his spotless character, and his military genius is a heritage almost equally precious to North and to South. Robert Edmund Lee, third son of "Light Horse Harry Lee," tho brilliant cavalry leader of the American Revolu tion, was born in Westmoreland County, Va. He graduated from West Point In 1829, ranking second in his class. During the four years he was at West Point his deportment was such that he never re ceived a demerit mark or a word of re proof. When tho Mexican War began Lee was appointed chief engineer of tho Army under General Scott. The daring spirit Lee always concealed beneath a mild exterior was shown on one occasion when, while on a scouting expedition, he got so near tho enemy he had to lay con cealed all night under a fallen tree on which a half-dozen Mexican soldiers at different times sat down to rest He was brevetted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel for gallantry and meritorious conduct at Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cher ubusco and Cbapultepec, and won from General Scott the enthusiastic declara tion that he was "the greatest military genius In America." From 1852 to 1855 he was superintendent of West Point In 1859 he commanded tho force which sup pressed the insurrection started by John Brown at Harper's Ferry. Lee opposed secession. On tho outbreak of war, ho was offered, through the in fluence of his friend, General Scott, tho command, of the Union Armies. But Lee believed his highest duty was to his state, and when "Virginia seceded he went with her. General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate troops op posing McClellan In the peninsular cam paign, was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862. Tho next day Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was 55, nine years older than were Wellington and Napoleon when they fought their last battle. A handsome man, long years of study had made him look tho scholar rather than the warrior. Lee had about 64,000 men. McClellan had 105,000. McClellan had Just repulsed an attack which Johnston, Leo s prede cessor, had made upon him at Fair Oaks. Instead of attacking Lee at once, Mc Clellan dallied while the Confederate army grew to be 85,000 strong. Leo then assailed McClellan at Gaino's Mill and would have crushed him had not Fltz John Porter stood his ground against enormous odds. McClellan made a skill ful retreat to a strong position on Mal vern Hill. Lee rather recklessly assault ed" him here, and was beaten off with heavy loss. In the so-called Seven Days' battle McClellan's loss was 15,849 and Lee's 20,135. It was In effect a Con federate victory. Deo now turned about outgeneraled Popo as he had outgen SOUTHERN OPINION. White Estimate of the Negro in the South. New Orleans Times (Dem.). The speech of Representative Charles Littlefield, of Maine, at Springfield, O., combatting tho views of General J. War ren Kcifer, who is going to Congress with tho avowed object of cutting down the South's representation In that body, adds nothing to tho sum of human wisdom on that subject, but is grateful because of tho kindly sentiment toward the South which underlies the speech. ... But when it came to offering a solution of tho negro question Mr. Littlefield reverted to the old and much-worn theory that edu cation was tho solvent This solution will not appeal to those men In the South who are familiar with tho subject "but it at least offers an escape for tho man who Is vainly looking for an outlet Wo of tha South know that education, so far as it has progressed, has increased, not di minished the evil. It avails nothing to close one's eyes to tho ugly fact that the gulf separating tho negro from hla white neighbor is in creasing with every generation, and that tho average young "buck." with a smat tering of learning Is held In detestation almost universally. He Is worthless al ready, and Is becoming more and more a nuisance with each succeeding day. The hostility between the races is Increasing on both sides, and education affords no solution whatever for the unfortunate condition of affairs which is confronting the South. The main cause of the hostility felt for tho negro In tho South now that he has been shut out of politics Is his utter un reliability and his shlftlessness. Even head of a family in the South will inform Mr. Littlefield tlyit no dependence what ever Is to be placed on any contract which a negro of either sex enters into, and that tho contract will bo surely broken If the negro sees any chance of inflicting serious Injury by the breach. Tho faithfulness of tho negro, which en deared him to the past generation, has entirely disappeared, except among the older negroes, who still have some regard for their obligations and refuse to throw up employment merely because they know that their services have for the mo ment become necessary. The indications are that tho mutual distrust between tho races will Increase with time, and that education will Increase, but not diminish, that distrust. Education Is certainly not tho cure for the trouble. Why Ve All Love the Bell. Chicago Tribune. The Liberty Bell, having finished lt3 engagement in St. Louis, has gone back to Philadelphia. It is the one great American traveler that never bores any body by clamoring about its travels. Outdone by St. Louis. Washington Post f A Maryland, octegenarlan Is boasting of having voted his 71st time at the late election. That's nothing. Men In St. Louis and Denver vote that often at every election. eraled McClellan, and routed" him at the second battle of Bull Run. In September Lee Invaded Maryland. McClellan, having found a copy of his plans, encountered him at Antletam Creek. Lee had about 40.000 , men. McClellan, through bad generalship, brought only 60,000 of his S7.000 men Into action. The battle was a drawn one, but the results were favorable to the Union, for Lee had to retire from Maryland. The losses were: Confed erate, 11,172; Union, 12.410. McClellan was superseded by Burnside. who, in November attacked Leo at Fredericks burg. Burnsido was completely out maneuvered. He had 113.000 men to Lee's 78,000, but he was given a crush ing defeat. The Union loss -was 12.5o men, the flower of the army. The Con federate loss was 5377. Early in 1863 Hooker, who had succeeded Burnside. concentrated a fine army of 130,000 men near Chancellorsville. Lee, had but 60,000 men with which to, oppose him, but a flanking movement, led .by "Stonewall" Jackson, who was killed in the action, threw the Union Army into confusion, and enabled Leo to win a decisive vlvtory. Lee lost 12,463 men; Hooker. 17,287. Emboldened by the victories of Fred ericksburg and Chancelorsville, Leo in vaded Pennsylvania. In George G. Meade the Army of the Potomac at last had a General who was a strategist as well as a fighter. On July 1, Meade with 93,500 men and Leo with 70,000, came unexpectedly together at Gettys burg. In a terrific three-days' battle, of which Pickett's bloody and disas trous charge was the most striking In cident, Lee suffered a loss of 20,451 men and was compelled to retreat to ward Virginia. The Federals lost 23, 002, but gained the victory. Leo had now to cope with a mora formidable antagonist than he had ever before encountered. In the Spring of 1864 Grant, the hero of VIcksburg, took charge of the operations of the Army of the Potomac. Grant had 122, 000 men. Lee could muster but 62,000. Yet It was long doubtful whether Lee's strategy, which never shone so bril liantly as now, or Grant's skillful dis positions and dogged pertinacity, would triumph. Grant had the advan tage of numbers. Lee had the advan tage of position and of being on the defensive. At a critical moment in the battle of tho Wilderness Lee, who, like Washington, was sometimes an eager warrior, was seen by a brigade of hl3 Texas troops spurring toward tho point where the fighting was hot test "Go back, General Lee! Go back!" shouted the Texans, while a Sergeant boldly seized tho bridle of the General's horse. Leo reluctantly yielded, and tho Texan3 resumed their forward movement. The murderous engagements of tho Wilderness, Spott sylvanla Courthouse and Cold Harbor followed in quick succession. Between May 4 and Juno 12 Grant lost 55,000 men. Finding he could not "pound" Lee into submission, Grant bogan the siege of Petersburg. His position be coming at last Untenable, Lee attempt ed in April, 1865, to retreat to some point in tho Virginia Mountains. Grant was Immediately in swift pursuit. Deeming further resistance futile, Lee. on April 9. surrendered his 2S.00O ragged veterans on tho generous terms pro posed by General Grant In February, 1865, Leo had been ap pointed Commander-In-Chiof of - tho Confederate Armies, but the capitula tion at Appomattox Courthouse ended his military career. His fortune hav ing been, swept away by tho war, ho retired to a modest home in tho coun try. In August 1865, ho becamo presi dent of Washington College at Lexing ton, Va. One evening, five years later, as he stood at tho teatable in his Lex ington home to say grace, he was stricken with apoplexy, and a few da-ys later was dead. Ho lies burled at Lex ington in the bosom of the state which ho loved so well, and for which he Joy fully sacrificed all but glory and honor. .THE WASTE OF WAR. The Enormous Amount of Provisions That Go to Waste. Chicago News. During tho Boer War enormous stocks of provision, enough for another six months of fighting, were accumulated by the British commissariat A large pro portion of this food went to waste. Not very long ago the shores of Natal, near Durbln, were fringed for miles with con demned bacon. Since then British tax payers have had a second shock. Moro than 1,500,000 tins of preserved meat havo been condemned since the war and sold to various sugar cane companies, who had tho tins broken open and planted a3 manure over the sugar fields, one com pany alone taking 250,000 cans. Cartage of these vast quantities alono must have been a huge undertaking, as the weight amounted to thousands of tons. It; Is stated that one sugar com pany kept Its furnaces going for a long time with tho wood of which the cases were made. A small army of Indian coolies was employed in "planting" tho tins all over tho sugar field. Of course. thl3 could not bo dono without the na tives In the vicinity knowing something about It. Thero aro reports that num bers of natives have been living on -tills stuff for months. "As to the value." comments an Eng lish writer, "at a very modest estimate the stores taken for fertilizing purposes by one company alone mu3t have cost not less than 52.500,000. And when wo consider the vast quantities of similar foodstuffs that were burned or taken out to sea and cast away we get some idea of the enormous miscalculation on tho part of government officials that occurred In this department alone." In the Political Menagerie- Chicago Tribune. The elephant looked with some curiosity at the animal on tho other aide of thepar tltion. 'What are they trying to do to" you, my friend?" asked the elephant. The other animal was a forlorn-looking creature whose long ears had been folded back and tied down. Its body had been painted white, a yellow mane fastened to its neck, and somebody seemd to be en gaged in making a long flowing addition to Its tall. It gave one wild, swift kick with both feet, and somebody went flying . out through tho rear window, carrying the sash along. "The blamed fools are trying to reor ganize me!" brayed the enraged animal. Opinion of a Southern Optimist. New Orleans Picayune. That these Southern States of ours will become the seat of a grand material de velopment and a splendid civilization which will give thorn a political and ma terial power like unto that which the South enjoyed in the first 50 years of the republic's existence will be but a mere shadow of greatness Is sure. But It must be borne In mind that wealth and power come not by supine indolence and waiting, but by seizing every opportunity and utilizing every resource to the utmost. Then only will the South realize the hign est grandeur of its destiny. An Illogical Birthplace. Omaha Bee. It Is certainly a reflection upon the tra ditions of New Bedford that the socloty to rehabilitate American shipping should " have to be organized in Ohio.