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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1905)
1 THE STOESIXG QREGONIAX, TUESDAY, JANTJAKY 17,. 1905. Entered at tbe Postofflc at Portland, Or., a Mcond-cl&s matter. KEXISTD SUBSCRIPTION KATES. Br mail (postage prepaid In advance) Daily, -with Sunday, per month X -S3 Sail', with Sunday excepted, per year... 1.60 Daily, with Sunday, per rear............. 8.00 Sunday, per rear.............. IW The 'Weekly, per year 1-SO The "Weekly. 2 months oo Dally, per week, delivered, Sunday ex cepted . .15 Daily, per week, delivered. Sunday In cluded .20 rOSTAOE SATES. United Eta tea, Canada and Mexico , 10 to 14-pago paper.. - lc 10 to 20-pace paper........................ .Sc 22 to -44-page paper. Be Foreign rates; double. EASTERK BUSINESS OFFICE. The S. C. Eeckvrith Special Agency New York: Room 43-80, Tribune building. Chi cago: Booms 510-512 Tribune building. The Orearaalaa dot not buy poemi or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to return any manuscript tent to it without solicitation. 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C Ebbltt House News Btand. flPOXTIiAND. TUESDAY, JAN. 17, 1005. REVISION' IB NECESSARY. The Oregonian. stands with those who .think tariff revision proper, desira ble, and even necessary. It takes this (posRion. from two motives. First, It Relieves that the inequalities of the present tariff, developed through eco nomic changes, should be corrected. 'Second, It believes it essential, and even necessary, to the future welfare of the Republican party that it pay attention to the criticism of the tariff and of its inequalities that is rife throughout the country, and to show a disposition to meet that criticism upon a fair basis. No tariff schedule can be permanent. The reason Is that the subject Is one of infinite complexity. It changes as conditions If industry change, as mar kets vary, as relations between labor and capital undergo modification, as public opinion shifts from one point of. view to another. There is now a very large, influential public sentiment that demands revision of the tariff. If the demand be rejected, this body of opin ion will seek and press to enforce it by Any means that can be laid hold of. The natural result of It will be to bring the radical free-traders Into control of the movement for tariff reform. Then we shall have another state of things similar to that brought about under Cleveland's second administration. The theorists will lead, but In order to get their scheme through Congress they will be compelled to yield to the greed of special Interests: and we shall have worse Inequalities than now. The tariff cannot be revised rationally on these principles or through those forces. It can be revised rationally only by those who believe In and are devoted to rea sonable protection. Therefore the work of revision should be undertaken now. There Is an ex treme theory of protection and an ex treme theory of free trade. The one would put up the bars against all for eign commodities, the other would let in all foreign commodities free. -Here, as in almost all cases, the middle course is the rational one, and it Is the course our country will, in the main, pursue. It may go violently, now and then, to one extreme or to the other, "with loss to capital and labor, even the extent of National calamity and this has been our history. But there Is a reasonable middle ground. Many of our people be lieve that at this time the pendulum has swung too far toward the extreme of protection. The steel trust and the paper trust and many other combina tions are believed to have too much ad vantage. Hence revision is called for, but not free trade. On a question like this there is noth ing in an appeal to a party to "stand pat " The tariff Is one of those sub jects In which there is no fixed princl pie It Is matter merely of Judgment and adjustment, varying with all changing conditions of industry, pro duction, markets and opinion. It is The Orcgonlan's opinion that the Re publican party, acting through its rep resentatlves in Congress, must revise the tariff or suffer a fall. How soon no one can say, but in these times of rapid movement it might come sooner than those -who feel themselves intrenched in place and power imagine. The Judg ment of President Roosevelt on this, as on most other subjects. Is sound. No one ever has seen more clearly than he that a party can't "stand pat" against a large public sentiment for tariff re form, or anything else, for a length of time. The Republican party must make concessions here, or It will get another rude Jolt, like that of 1E92. It must be so. In the dealings of a party on any subject wherein the element of opinion, based on conflicting yet con stantly changing conditions in the eco nomic -world, Js the main factor. There is the exhortation to "stand pat," but there is in it, noth ing constructive, nothing but ob stinacy, which never yet had any per manent winning, in any conflict of poli tics, interests or opinions. Does any bodj imagine that the present tariff. with its higgledy-piggledy "schedules. Is permanent? The special beneficiary of it who thinks so. will find his mistake; and so will the political party that supports him. Progress of Texas is astonishing, and enthusiastic Texans say their state will yet be the most populous state of the Union. It Is now fifth in popu lation. If the rate of increase contin ues. It wil pass Ohio before 1920, Illi nois before 1950. Pennsylvania bj 1949 and New Tork by 1950. The area of Texas is nearly one-third larger than that of all four of the states named. "If it were as densely settled as New- York now Is, It would contain 41,000,000 souls: and when it becomes as densely populated as England or Germany Is, it will contain 95,000.000." Texas now has more railroad mileage than any other state. It is a surprise, too, to find that the exports from Galveston are now greater than those from Bos ton. Baltimore or Philadelphia. New York and New Orleans are the only cities which ship more outward-bound .goods than Galveston. It Is confidently predicted that "Galveston -will exceed New Orleans in a very short time, and become the second exporting: city of America.' But prediction on such lines Is easy, when there is enthusiasm be hind it. In this as In other like cases. fulfillment will be more tedious. CHAIRMAN BUBTOX. The chairmanship of tbe House com mittee on rivers and harbors in Con gress carries vast responsibilities and great Influence. No such chairman can discharge his duties acceptably to tbe whole Nation unless he has most exact knowledge of all important rivers and harbors and combines with that knowledge an unfailing determination to defeat all Improper demands for public money, and award all deserting projects with the largest possible ap propriations. That is to say, he must be Intelligent, honest and courageous. All these high attributes belong, It may be readily believed. In the fullest de gree, to Mr. Burton, the present effi cient hetfd of the House committee on rivers and harbors. Mr. Burton has 'complete information about the Columbia River and the mighty territory it drains. He has ex amined in person the Columbia River entrance and the site of the proposed Celilo canal. He understands perfectly the value of each improvement to the commerce and Industries of. a wide ter ritory. He has more than once expressed himself as favorable to the opening of the Columbia River, and has manifest ed an active and friendly interest in the several plans to bring about that de sirable end. If there is any disposition in the Pacific Northwest to regard Mr. Burton as an obstacle to our progress, it ought to be dissipated at once. His purpose, all may be sure. Is to do everything for the Columbia that he feels he can reasonably do. An emer gency confronts him now, -wherein he sees that the amount to be appropri ated by the river and harborr bill is comparatltvely little, and he Is reduc ing all the items to the smallest possi ble minimum. (He apparently thinks that in these circumstances the Celilo canal can -wait. But it should not wait, and It cannot be required to wait except by disre gard, indeed byvdear violation, of a spe cific promise made by the United States Government to the people of Oregon. "What is Important now Is to Impress Mr. Burton anew with (1) the acute de sire of all people of the Pacific Northwest that the Columbia River be opened for its full navigable length; and (2) the common opinion here that the good faith of the Government Is in volved; and (3) the inseparable nature of the projects for Improvement of the Columbia entrance and construction of the canal. The Oregon Legislature has adopted a joint resolution defining the attitude of the Pacific Northwest as to river im provement. Washington and Idaho will doubtless do the same. It may be hoped that various commercial bodies of Portland will take immediate action designed to show Congress and all con cerned where we stand. Effort has been made to place Portland in a false light In this most vital matter by hav ing it appear" that the city is willing to give up the canal In the interest of the bar. It is not necessary that it should make any choice, and it is mischievous and foolish to have it' said or believed that it is willing to sacrifice Eastern Oregon and all the Inland Empire for the supposed benefit of Portland. THE SITUATION IN FRANCE. News of the resignation of M. Combes and the other members of the French Ministry must have been expected by all wh6 have watched the progress of public affairs in the French Republic It marks the reflux of the last wave which was represented by the bill for the separation of church and state. It cannot be believed to show a perma nent defeat of that majority of the Chamber of Deputies which has, after many deviations and questionings, sup ported M. Combes in that policy which in August, 1903, he defined as that of "clear thought against blind faith. In this path he has steadily advanced since the religious associations law of 1900, which demanded the registration and authorization by the state of all religious establishments. Even as late as March, 1903, Premier Combes sup ported In the Chamber the continuation of the Concordat, defining the limit of Interference by the Papacy In the French church on the one hand and the financial support by the French state to the clergy on the other. But his po sition he defined to be dependent .on the abstention from politics on the part of the clergy and their loyal support of the conditions of the Concordat Since that time there has been a com bination of the most Incongruous ele ments into the opposition to the Combes Ministry. In the 1902 election the results were that 360 Ministerialists were returned against an opposition numbering 281 of all colors and shades of opinion. Advantage has been taken of the measures set on foot by the Min ister of War, General Andre, to ascer tain, by private reports, the political opinions and tendencies of the superior officers of the army. It has been com mon knowledge that a mass of these of ficers held royalist or Napoleonic views and hopes, and had not finally and heartily, although nominally, accepted the republic. And in the event of any uprising by either of the reactionary parties, It might have proved of the utmost importance that only republican commanding officers should be placed in control. Doubtless there was ground for the general outcry against esplon age, repugnant to all classes of the nation in these days. So General An dre. a strong Minister, was. forced out and the ranks of the Ministry broken. The proposed reopening of the Dreyfus case has also been used to enlist all the "anti-Semites" in the Chamber la the opposition. The imposition of an in come tax, which was to follow at an early day. served also to detach mem bers from the government majority. If it be true that M. Combes will sug. gest to President Loubet the summon ing of M. Rouvler. the present Minister of Finance, to form the new Ministry. and that M. Delcasse, the much-trust ed Minister of Foreign Affairs, is to resume office, continuity of relations of the French Republic with other na tions will not suffer. M. Combes has had a longer tenure of office than most of his predecessors. hHisname will always be connected with the freeing of the educational system of France from the hands of the church, and with the successful cham pioning of arbitration with other na tions, of -which the treaties with Eng land and Italy. are the most striking examples. In the political history of France for. the past ' three years the teacher, the schoolmaster, the advocate of free thought, has met two great op ponents, the Roman Catholic Church and the professional soldier. These somewhat incongruous allies have at last succeeded. If not In unhorsing him. yet In forcing him to dismount. The further progress o'f this three-cornered duel will be watched from many sides with varying interest. AN ORIENT WESTERNER. The sun. it is true, rises In the East. but James Hamilton Lewis, like young Lochinvar, comes out of the West, and James Hamilton Lewis rises with greater eclat than ever the sun may hope for. Jim Ham, to adopt the en dearing diminutive, last rose to maky a few remarks on the occasion of Bos ton's great Jackson-day banquet, where Massachusetts' Democrats of all stripes except, of course, the peniten tiary kind gathered to eat. drink and dwell together, for soever brief a space, in unity. Governor Douglas was there. Mayor Pat Collins was there. General Miles was there. Martin W. Littleton was there, and Jim Ham -was there. It is something to outshine such a com pany as this, and Jim Ham outshone it In a manner calculated to make the great heart of the West beat with pride. Let the East continue to have first call on the sun; the West has a more effulgent luminary. It was no- mean collection of stars that Jim Ham out-scintillated, for one guest, at least, "had his hair parted In the middle and wore a PrinceAlbert coat, buttoned tight," while Governor Douglas was moved to remark that he never knew there was such a really swell set of fellows in the Democratic party. Yet in that great and brilliant gathering, Jim Ham, the rosy-whis kered Aurora of the West If such a term be not too great a strain upon the Imagination made the other lights so dark by comparison with his hirsute and sartorial .splendor . that General Miles came wearing a" "plain derby hat." Well did General Miles realize that no plume, however flowing and glowing, could match Nature's gift to Jim Ham. And In oratory the pride of the West was equally successful. In a speech full of sound sense Jim Ham told his hearers some wholesome truths. He coruscatingly besought them to "make the Constitution fit the Institutions." with the Idea of getting after the cor porations, and declared very properly that the Democratic Presidential nomi nation should not be "contracted out to Wall-street sycophants and dishon ored degenerates." After telling the admiring banqueters that "Roosevelt Republicanism" was really discovered by Jackson, who shot it Into the people with his New Orleans cannon, Jlrrb nam went Into temporary eclipse. That the period of obscuration will be brief must be the hope of the West. VTJLls ASK FOR STATE AID. The Boys' and Girls' Aid Society and the Florence Crlttenton Refuge Home will make strong appeal to the Legisla ture for an appropriation to carry on the work in which they are respectively engaged. The former announces, through it6 superintendent, W. T. Gard ner, that to maintain the society in its present state of efficiency an appropri ation of ?4000 a year Is Indispensable. There is every reason to believe In deed the open records of the society plainly show that the affairs of this organization are very carefully admin istered. The work It has done, is doing and desires to continue to do, is a pro tection to the community and to the individual. It cannot, under the ex isting order of things, in which Irre sponsible parentage bears so heavy a hand, be dispensed with, either from the standpoint of political economy or common humanity. The presentment made by Mr. Gardner will be, as It should be, closely scanned by the Leg islature, and such assistance as the necessities of the case are found to demand will doubtless be given. Of the Refuge Home it may be said, from the showing made by Its compe tent and careful secretary, that Its af fairs have, afier much scandal and waste of material resources, been placed upon an economical basis, and that practical philanthropy dominates the entire management of the institu tion. The work undertaken, owing largely to the extreme youth and neg lected lives of many of the inmates makes strong appeal to charity of the type that is made up of patience and kindness, and without which self-help in such cases is impossible. The needs of such an institution are always pressing. In this instance the most ur gent need seems to be the very material one of a building which, will answer something more than the bare require ment of a poor shelter. The work, for the past two years has been carried on under many difficulties on a state ap propriation of $2000 a year. It is a charitable work in special sense, albeit the task to which It has set Itself Is little more than a forlorn hope. THE COTTON MU.I. STRIKE. The condition of the Fall River cot ton mills strikers is distressing in ttye extreme. The present week Is the twenty-sixth of the strike, and destitution prevails in the homes of hundreds of the Idle operatives. The bitter stress of a New England Winter is upon them. Cold and hunger abide with them, and there is no promise of relief from these conditions for many months to come. A strike was ordered on the plea that labor was not receiving- a living wage. That was more than six months ago, and the loss in wages has aggregated hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the end is not in sight. The situation Is one that makes strong appeal to hu manity; but humanity is powerless to provide a remedy. A stubborn busi ness proposition Is Involved In the struggle. Manufacturers assert that they cannot afford to pay the wages which the operatives demand: operat ives declare that they cannot live upon less than the Increase they urge. Trades unions are behind the latter, exhorting them to stand fast; Southern mills are keeping up the supply of tex tiles, so that no scarcity of products exists. The contention of the strikers seems to be hopeless; its features are those of extreme hardship and of un told suffering in the homes of labor. And worse than all, perhaps, because more lasting, is the bitterness of spirit engendered between labor and capital. Conclusions formed from the frag mentary dispatches that have hitherto been the public's sole Information con-, cernlng Port Arthur are likely to need revision when the full story of the siege from within Is told. Reporting the first visit of the newspaper men to the captured city, the Associated Press cor respondent says that no less than 31,000 effective' men remained in the fortress, and that there was no grinding- scarcity of food, although not, much ammuni tion remained. Furthermore, the Rus sian soldiers are represented as indig nant that the surrender was made, and as .believing General Krondratenko to have been the real hero of the siege. The most striking feature of this dis patch Is the statement concerning the number of effective Russian soldiers, since it varies so greatly from former reports. 12,000 having been the number previously given. Until a full account of he siege Is sent out, the world will not know whether another shared the glory of the defense with Stoessel or the General so highly commended by NogI is entitled to the entire credit. "It Is a local bill" is the assertion often heard In the Legislature when a bill Is under consideration having for Its purpose the changing of judicial districts, or the creation of new Judge ships. With such an understanding, bills of that sort are left entirely to the Senators or Representatives from the district directly affected. But such measures .are not local bills. The Judges are' state officers and are paid from the State Treasury. Whether the number or Judges should be Increased is therefore more than a local question; though, of course, the members from the district directly concerned are best able to determine the need of the proposed change.- Bills-affecting municipalities or counties are local bills, but those affecting judicial districts are not. The Kentucky feud broke Into the .telegraph news again yteday. W. Rorick and Henry Holcomb. leaders of the respective branches of thefeud, met and killed, each other and a num ber of others were wounded. WhSle these feuds are generally and perhaps nsniiuiiy aeprecaiea, mere are mitt gating circumstances. The man whose vicious passions and murderous in stincts cause him to engage In this kind of manslaughter can never be a valued member of society. Living, ha is accordingly of no use in the worlt. and there Is a slight economic gain by his departure, for even a Kentucky feudist "turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away." Senator Crolsan, of Marion County, wants the Legislature to enact a law providing that the attorneys in an ac- tlon shall have the right to address the' jury at least two hours on a side Since It Is scarcely probable that this meas ure was. proposed by jurymen. It must be that the attorneys up In the Third Judicial District feel that they have been cut short ln.their arguments by a Judge who thinks he knowfe how long it should take a lawyer to present his case. Perhaps Senator Crolsan would better go a little slow. He may be. drawn on the jury himself some day, and then he will find that not all law yers can make themselves Interesting for two hours at a stretch. It may be hoped the Legislature, fol lowing Governor Chamberlain's sug gestion, will pass an act to make fu ture censuses of Oregon, taken by the state every tenth year, more efficient than such censuses heretofore have been. Heretofore the state' census has been taken by the County Assessors, but, since no definite provision has been made or the Avork. It has been done In a slipshod manner. A new act should be passed, drawn so as to give the work wider scope and range. Ac curate statistical Information is of high value In many ways. The change should be made in time for the work of this census year of 1903. Thomas H. Carter will re-enter the Senate from Montana. He was turned out a few years ago, when the state wont Democratic on the silver craze. Mr. Carter is a man of intellectual ac tivity and a "good fighter." He did Oregon great Injury once by talking a river 'and harbor bill to death, but. out of no malevolence towards Oregon. He was contending Tor arid-land legisla tion for his state, and, unable to get it. he took his opportunity to talk against time, on the last day of the session, for the purpose of blocking all other legislation. When the contemplation of national affairs, both internal and external, can afford the Russian patriot so little pleasure, it -must be unusually cheering for him to learn that the crop of Win ter cereals Is this year considerably higher than the average and that the crop of Spring cereals Is also above the average. A report just published by the Russian Statistical Bureau shows that the present Winter crop ex ceeds by 14 per cent the average for the last five years. It is odd to come across a name with such associations as Caesarea in the commerce-chasing Consular reports, es pecially to read that It Is the headquar ters of a lively trade in counterfeit an tiques and HIttlte and cuneiform In scriptions. If there Is one form of forg ery baser than all others. It must be the manufacture of bogus inscriptions. Think of the Industrious scholar labor iously translating a historical record of no more value than Pickwick's in scribed stone. It will be observed with interest that a leading reason why the Supreme Court of the United States gave" Sena tor Burton, of Kansas, a new trial, was that the money Improperly paid to him wa9 paid In Washington City, and not in St. Louis, where the trial occurred. "Therefore." the decision says, "the court in Missouri had no jurisdiction to trj the offenses set forth." Speaker Mills expresses the hope that this session of the Legislature will go down in historvas one of the best ever held. If the Legislature should grant any considerable portion of the new appropriations asked for, and then cut off the revenue received under the cor poration tax law, it would certainly go down in history, but Caucus Senatorial nominee Niedring haus. of Missouri, took money for cam paign purposes from the St. Louis brewers, and told the Legislature it was his own money. Now they may not. after all, send Mr. NIerdlnghaus to Washington. The troubles of. our Senators some of them have a very early beginning and no ending. Senator Brownell will at least be able to look dignified as chairman of the committee on privileges and elections. Patriotism may be the last refuge of a scoundrel in "Gessler Rousseau's" case. NOTE AND COMMENT. The fashion In photographs is now to have one's teeth showing. Bet a dollar the dentists started, this fad. They tell of an East Side woman who is so energetic that when she's sweeping the carpet the air gets so full of dust that her husband has 'to chew each breath before it will go Into his lungs. "Champagne was always obtainable." says a dispatch from Port Arthur. But who could drink champagne at a mule meat dinner? Henry Watterson exclaims, "Strange are the whimsies of fortune." Not a bit stranger than Sir Henri's. The Jacksonville Sentinel begs its read ers to remember that It is the biggest paper of its size In Oregon. A youngster at the Boys' and Girls' Aid Society has run away ever so many times for no reason In the world except that wherever he may be he always wants to go somewhere else. The kid has the true vagabondVspirlt. Travel ia nottravel If undertaken for-the purpose of reaching some fixed and unchangeable destination. There may be halting-places on the road side, but your true traveler bothers not at all over his journey's end. For him there is no end; wherever he may be, he wants to be somewhere else. Just like the runaway kid. "Give to him the road beneath and the sky above him," and he is as merry as a grig at least, so poets innumerable have declared. Sometimes we think the cows would all go dry if they saw the mixtures that are labeled milk punches. Have you ever seen that untidy sort of girl who, when she wears a sweater, looks as if she had put on her clothes In the wrong order and had the Innermost garment outermost? Emerson Hough has a story in the Sat urday Evening Post In which he says that every man's memory holds a pic ture of a girl In white, with a blue sash. We should like to take a census and find out if pink fluffy-looking stuff with rib bonswasn't in some of the pictures Port Arthur disappears from the .port paragraph. . There could be no better way for a young physician to acquire the power of listening to a lot of twaddle with an air of sympathetic intorest than to work a few weeks as a bartender. Probably everybody has a horrible rec ollection of having taken castor oil at one time or another, and remembers the various devices employed to smuggle the frightful stuff past the zone of taste. Per haps the strangest plan of all is one re vealed by an inquest In Chicago, where a young man killed his betrothed by giv ing her carbolic acid in mistake for the castor oil prescribed. The young man put two spoonfuls of what he thought was castor oil into a glass of beer! - . Some papers have been having fun with the answers given by a candidate for a teachers' certificate in Augusta, Ga. The woman gave the birthplace of Columbus as Boston and the date of the discovery of America as November 20, 1SG0, but her answer to the question. "What was the cause of the Revolutionary War?" al though a little goneral in terms, teems to us to be pretty accurate in essentials. "The revolutionary .war," ran the answer, "was caused by America wanting to en Joy freedom." Oregon editors greet fraternally Messrs. Pappagcorgian and Sakelylarios, editors of the Greek daily just begun In Boston. Even In Boston, however, we believe that newspaper men will address the latest struggle as Papp and Sak. Snow has a new name in "Victoria. The Colonist refers to it a3 frappe aqua. Only once In her life Is a woman's weight considered of sufficient impor tance to get into the papers, and that's when she's born. A man can get his in again at a later stage by turning pugilist. A man by the name of Badger, -who lives in Brlmson. Mo., has named his son for the town. How would you like to be called Brlmson Badger? In Arkansas a woman who wears a stuffed bird In her hat Is liable to a fine of from 25 to J50. It Is difficult to under stand why stuffed birds should be pro tected more than any other sort of dead bird. The honest American citizen doesn't stand in slippery places. He falls down The Atchison Globe tells the following story of a citizen who should be an up builder of Oregon: Ralph Martin, who went to Coburjr, Or., two years ago to he a. bookkeeper for a lumber milling com pa nr. has been made night super- intenaent ot the mill. Ralph Martin waa for merly a Globe carrier, and when he sold out his route he worked -up a war between the boys who wanted to buy him out. and finally rented a room down town and sold it off to the highest bldoer. getting a dollar a "sub.1 At that time a "aub" waa worth 85 cent. It is one of life's little oddities that when a baby arrives the father very often gives his friends cigars as a sort of celebration, but no one ever heard of the mother giving her friends candy or ice cream sodas. Nobody died In the last ditch at Port Arthur. It was different at Panama. How exciting a news story appears when you hear the boy shouting It in the street, and how tame after you've bought the paper. - WEX. J. Engaged. Puck. Engaged! Who would ever have thought It! It happened no audden. you tee. I wonder, when could h have bought It And how did he know t would fit ma? And how did he dare to embrace me. And call me his "darling." and Bess! He can't have the nerve, now, to face me! I'm sure that I didn't say "yea." Last night, why, I hadn't a notion That that was the reason he came Tho' he waa. vowed the girl, ail 'devotion. And we had lots of fun with- his name. And to think that llama, she suspected. And sat up so late, in undress. To whisper that "no one objected!" I'm sure that I didn't say "yes. Twaa right in the midst of the weather He acted so funny and queer: I was scared Just we two 'there together And prayed some one else would appear. And first thing I knew. Ilka a, ninny I waa tight in his arms, nothing less! And be waa all shining and grlnny I'm sure that I never said "yes!.' It's a beauty, a regular beauty! And set with such exquisite taste! I suppose I auppose 'tis my duty To send and return it in haste. ' I can't give it up it's worth double The ones worn by Helen and Jess. And I can't give htm up. more's the trouble! ijut lm sure i never eaia -yes." STRANGE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD- THE AUSTRALIANS By arrangement with the Chicago Tribune. THERE are few people on the earth that rank lower In the scale of hu manity than the natives the "black fellows" as the colonists call them of Australia. The black fellows differ In many respects from all the other races ot mankind. They aret muscular, about the height ot Europeans, and well propor tioned. This is a complete list of their physical attractions. Their faces are almost as black as those of negroes. Large parts ot their bodice are covered with hair, and they take special pride In their long, matted mustaches and beards. Their eyes are retreating and their lower Jaws protruding. They decorate them selves by cutting long gashes In their skins and filling -them with clay, so that ghastly 6 cam remain. The hideousness of the black fellow- is complete when he has finished his toilet by sticking a large bone through the septum of his nose and putting on the few articles of native dress which partially protect him from the cold but serve indifferently the purposes of moaesty. His character Is ugly as his person. He Is a born liar and thief, he is treacherous, capricious and greedy, and he Is perhaps the most wantonly cruel of numan, beings. ine Australians were formerly can nibals, and the white settlers of their continent suspect that they still eat human flesh when there 1? a scarcity of other kinds of food. One tribe Is said to mix the flesh of children and dogs and devour tbe mixture eagerly. They are also accused of habitually baiting their ashhooks with the fat of boys. Whether the Australians eat human beings or not. It Is certain that they devour almost every other flying, walking or creeping tning. The Bugong moth is roasted and consumed by them In large quantities. They are fond of tadpoles, snakesTTich and turtles and they have a peculiar way oi catchingthe latter. The remora or sucking fish has a sucker on the back of Its head by which it sticks with great tenacity to any object it comes in con tact with. The Australian fisherman fastens the remora to the end of his line, casts It Into the water as an American fisherman would a baited hook, and, when It has firmly attached itself to a turtle, draws both remora and turtle Into his boat. Kangaroo meat is also a fav orite food. When the Australian has plenty of food he is indolent and a glut ton. When his stomach Is emDtv he fishes and hunts with the most Derse- verlng energy. The Australians have but rude ideas concerning medicine and surgery. One of their methods of curing sickness is to suck the place from which pain seems to come. If the case Is bad they tie one end of a string around the patient'? neck or forehead and rub his lips with the other end until the blood comes. The cause of the disorder is supposed to come out with the blood. Nowhere Is the condition of women worse than among this barbarous people. Marriage by force, which no doubt onc6 prevailed all over the earth, still flour ishes here In full vigor. When a man wants a wife he does not ask the woman who has caught his fancy to marry him, nor does he seek her parents' consent to the match. He lays in wait for her at night or in tho wood, beats her into in sensibility with his club, and drags her off to his lair like a savage animal. It sometimes happen?, because of a scare Ity of women, that several men cannot get wives within their own tribe. An ex pedition Is then got up to steal women from 6ome neighboring tribe. The women stolen seldom make any resistance after being knocked senseless the first time. but enter Into the spirit of the rough game and show as much anxiety to get away with their new masters as the lat ter do to have them to. The men work their wives like oxen and kick, club and spear them upon the slightest provoca tion. Probably not an adult female could be found whose head and body are not covered with frightful scars. The Australians' religion is a vague be lief in evil spirits who are to be propiti LOSS OF LIFE BY FIRE. Total for 1904 in the United States Is 6672. Fireproof Magazine. So remote do most of us regard tho life-hazard of fire that the following statistical excerpts and comparisons will come as a surprise. The. calcula tions themselves are based upon In rance year books, vital statistics and the 12th Federal census. They are taken from the last general statistical period of 12 months covering life loss by this cause throughout the entire country. During the last census year, deaths resulting from fire reached tho unprecedented total of 6672. Or over 500 lives sacrificed each and every months to the destroying element. The proportion of life loss averages, dur ing the period, about evenly, a little under 9 per 100,000, but showing an increase from 6.5 in 1890 to that of S.8 in 1900 per 100.000 of population. The figures for the following states and cities respectively are: Illinois, 315; Chicago. 136 of the total. Indiana. 173; Indianapolis. 14 of the total. Jfowa. 91 reported. Michigan. 161; Detroit, 23 of the total. Minnesota. 100; Minneapolis. 14 of the total. St. Louis, 72. New Jersey, 1SR- New York State, 561; Greater New York. 342. Ohio, 289; Cleveland. 39; Cincinnati. 20. Pennsylvania. 641; Scranton, 24; Wllkesbarre. 15: Alleghany. 20; Phil adelphia, 142; Pittsburg. 49. Virginia. 271. Wisconsin. 123; Milwaukee. 25. Some striking comparisons are af forded by the following illustrative ratios: One thousand more persons lost their lives through fire than the wholo number of those drowned: the figures stand: Burned, Are, etc., 6772; drowned. 5387. Railroad accidents killed 6930. Fire. 6772. Rheumatism claimed 3067 victims fire. 6772. Scarlet fever sacrificed 6333" lives fire 6772. Smallpox of which we hear so much, and which arouses theinfensest administrative agitation satisfied Its death claim with 34 S4 fire 6772. Don Quixote. Austin Dobson In the Cornhill Magazine. Advents we greet of great and small. Much we extol that may not live. Tet to the new-born type we give Ko care at all! Thl3 year, three centuries past, by age Mere maimed than by Lepanto's fight. This year Cervantes gave to light His matchless page. Whence first outrode th immortal Pair The half-crazed Hero and his hind To make sad laughter for mankind; And whence they fare Throughout all Fiction still, where chance Allies Life's dullnwa with its dreams Allies what U with what but seems Factf and Romance O Knight of -Are and Squire of earth! O changing give-and-take between The aim too high, the aim too mean. I hall your birth. Three centuries past, in sunburned Spain. And hang, on Time's Pantheon wall. My votive tablet to recall ated or guarded against. Since the Eng lish appeared among them tljey have be lieved that after death the" are changed into white men. "Fall down black fellow. Jump up -white fellow" is the chief article in their creed. A native who was hanged at Melbourne died congratulating himself that he would "jump up white fellow and have lots of sixpences." The Australians have several interest ing weapons., the most effective being the "waddy" and the "boomerang." The "waddy," a heavy club made In various shapes, is the black fellow's lnecparable companion, and Is wielded andv.burled by him with astonishing skill, force and ve locity. In the field he uses it to kill game or his enemy. Ia the house he knocks down and not infrequently brains his wife and children with IL When two na tives quarrel they settle their dispute In the presence of the other members ot .the community by mauling each other over the head until one of them falls senseless or dead. The various uses to which the waddy Is put lias caused an especially truck skull to be the most admired and valued possession an Australian can have, and he thinks himself Insulted if told his skull is thin. The Australians also have spears and bows and arrows. The most remarkable and famous of their weapons, however. Is the boomerang, a flattened, curved piece of extremely hard wood, which whirls through the air with great force and rapidity, and after striking its mark, re bounds and falls almost at the thrower's feet. A skillful thrower can scnt a boom erang around a corner and back- The boomerang is almost as, constantly the companion of the native as is his waddy, and he usually carries a light, oblong shield to protect himself from the boom erangs of others. The Australian Is so quarrelsome that he usually has one or more feuds on his hands, and vendettas between famfllea and tribes are frequent, but there are no contests that rise to the dignity of wars. The natives have not enough persistence, foresignt and capacity for organization to carry on a war. Their conflict consists principally of isolated duels and murders. When a man Is killed his slayer cuts open his loins, takes out his kidneys and smears the fat from them over his face. He Imagines that hi this way he gets the dead man's strength and courage. For one tribe to start a Arc where another tribe can see its smoke Is a challenge to fight. Many white settlers were massa cred before they learned of this custom. The black fellow is full of tricks. The colonists have learned not to trust to appearances when he approaches seem ingly unarmed. They have found that lie may have the point of his spear fastened between his great and first toes, and pos sibly by means of It is trailing a half dozen weapons in the grass behind him; and besides the weapons Ife is trailing he may have several more hidden still far ther back In the grass which he xan. get on short notice. The Australians are divided into many wandering tribes, none of which has any semblance ot organized government. The man who can hit the hardest with the waddy and throw the boomerang with most deadly effect Is the head man of the community as well as of the family, and he Is deposed as soon as some better fighter contests his title. They have, however, an indefinite notion of the right of private property In land as well as In personal effects. It Is estimated that when the first white settlers invaded the continent of Austra lia It had a population of 150,000. The natives have been ruthlessly shot down by the stockmen. They have been poi soned by the thousand. It Is asserted, by white men and women of whom they begged food.- They have been "dispersed" by the native police, demoralized by vile rum and carried off by diseases acquired through contact with civilization. Only about 40,000 of the black fellows now re main, and it seems but a matter of a short time Until they -will bo a defunct race. S. O. D. NOTICED EVERYWHERE. Lancaster (Pa.) Examiner. That great and good type of Western jour nalism. The Portland Oregonian, cornea to band this morning In the form of an extra num ber, giving a history of its town and state, the progress and prosperity of last year and the why and wherefore of the coming Lewis and Clarke Exposition. Not only do we send a New Tear's greeting to our great contem poraryTjaut trust Its celebration of an early pioneer beginning will be as complete as tbe paper itself which now exploits the show is as perfect aa the machinery and brain of man cab make it at presenS N Milwaukee (Wis.) Journal. The Oregonian, Portland's leading newspa per, has -issued a handsome annual number of S3 pages, embracing an illustrated section covering every feature of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, to be held In that-city from Juna 1 to October 15 of the present year. The Exposition will be opened entirely free from debt, the total appropriation to date being S1.51O.0OO. The paper Is filled with informa tion from start to finish, makes an Interesting souvenir and is especially valuable to anyone contemplating a visit to the Exposition. How First London Minister Sailed. Success Magazine. When cur first Foreign Minister ar ranged to go to London he was requested by the captain of the sailing vessel In New York harbor to go aboard Imme diately. Hastily buying a sack of flour, three hams and a hag of potatoes, he hurried on board ship to arrange with some sailor to cook his meals, not know ing but that they m!ght,sa!l at any hour. Five week3 passed before the boat left the harbor. After six weeks at sea the traveler at length beheld the outlines of the coast of old England. Mark Twain's Tribute. Harper's Weekly. Mark Twain has had these touching lines cut in the modest block of marble which marks the resting place of his wife in the cemetery at Elmira, Jf. Y.: "Warm summer sun. Shine kindly here. Warm southern wind. Blow softly here. Green sod above. Lie light, lie light. Good night, dear heart. Good night, good night." Happiness Not In War. New York Press. The great Japanese Field Marshal, the Marquis Oyama, once said: "My Idea of happiness is to dispose of everything I possess that belongs to the practice ot arms and go far Into the country wltb big boxes of books to read for the rest of my days; books that tell of happiness and progress and not of the terrible deeds of war. And I would gather about me my best old friends and little chil dren. Then, in the sunny days, all would be happiness." Don't Worry About Portland. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. A New York paper remarks: "Portland, Or., will next take a hand in the pre carious Exposition game of chance. St. Louis Is nursing its injuries." St. Louis Is delighted with its Fair experience and doing more business than ever before in it history- ThcTe was one painful fea ture connected with the Exposition, and that was parting with It A