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C Boclrtvith Special Agency New CTork: Room 43-50 Tribune building. Chl cero: Boom 510-512 Tribune building. The Orecoalaa does not buy poems or lories from indlrlduala and cannot under take to return any manuscript sent to It Without solicitation. No stamps should be "inclosed for this, purpose. KEPT ON SAX.E. GMcaeo Auditorium Annex: Postotnce Kews Co., 178 Dearborn street. Dallas, Tex. Globe News Depot. 2S0 Main utreet. Dearer Julius Slack, Hamilton & Kend rlck. 906-912 Seventeenth street, and. Frue Cq2 Bros., 005 Sixteenth street. Dec Moines, la. Mooes Jacobs. S03 Filth street. . Geldfleld, Tiev. C Malone. Tfrtn, City, ilo- RSckaccfcer Clear Co., Sftnth and Walnut. Xjo Angeles 1 lorry Drapkln; B. E. Amos, &U West Seventh street. Minneapolis M. J. Ka.Tans.uch, 60 South trhlrd; I Resrelaburuer. 217 First avenue South. New 1'ork City I Jonee A Co.. Astor toe. ' Oakland, CaL W. H. Johnston. Four iteenth and Franklin streets. Ogdea ST. R. Qodsxd and Meyers & Har row: D. X. Boyle. Omaha Barkalow Brofc. 1112 Farnhara: DUegeath Stationery Co., 130S Farnham. SHcXausMIu Bros-. 246 8. 14th. Phoenix, Arix The Berry hill News Co. Sacramento, CaL Sacramento News Co., fc29 El straeC Salt lake Salt Dake 2ewi C.. 77 West Second street South. feinta Barbara. CaX 8. Smith. San Diego, CaL J. Dlllard. Son ITraBcSsco J. K. Cooper A Co.. 740 Market treet; Foster Ss Crear. Ferry News Btaad; Ooldsmlth Bros., 230 Sutter: D. E. 9C Palace Hotel News Stand; F. W. Pitts. IOCS Market; Frank ' Scott, 80 Ellis; N. Wheatley. 3 Sterenson; Hotel St Francis News Stand. St. Louis, Mo, E. T. Jett Book & News Company, 800 Olive street. Washington, d. c. Kbblt Hous News Stand. PORTLAND, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15. NO DANGER OF RACK SUICIDE. The National Congress of Mothers listened to an address by President Roosevelt Monday upon a question with which his name has been associated, more or less Intelligently, for the past two or three years "race suicide, The President did not confine himself to this question, however, but merely made it one of the features of a very able, straightforward and earnest ad dress upon the family as the basis of the Nation's safety and the bulwark of Its defense. Every one ought to read what the President had to say upon this com posite subject. Few will dissent from the main points presented. That the prosperity, the happiness, the very ex istence, in the long run, of the Nation depends upon the purity, the self-denial, the wise ordering and the intelli gent devotion of the masses of the peo ple to family life is a statement the truth of which it is not necessary to BUDDOrt by argument. But that what the President terms "the average American home" is under menace of distraction, disruption or extinction there Is happily no reason to fear. Hhat the race is threatened by declma jtion -through "race suicide" or from any other cause, the children that still throng the homes of the "plain people' end literally swarm the public schools disprove. Indeed, the lact that there ere more ohlldren born in almost any community than can readily find place in its industries or (In the -urban com munities) in the schools, is a fact ap parent to the most casual observer. It is manifest, therefore, that the evil to which the President refers la not widespread. It exists, however, to a certain degree, among a certain -class In every community. There are frlvo Jous women and mercenary men every ;where Both of these types represent selfishness in an inordinate degree. They shirk parental duties and respon sSbUities lor reasons ingrained in their natures. "Who shall say that the world 1b not the gainer rather than the loser thereby? Again, there are people in every com munity who decide the question as to whether they shall or shall not become parents upon the basis of conscience and of expediency, not for themselves alone, but for posterity. All women should be strong enough to bear healthy children, perhaps; but all are not strong enough. All men should be Btrong of body and of sturdy mental fiber, energetic, capable and devoted to the highest duties of life, but all are aot no. We may with reason deplore these things, but we cannot consist ently deplore the fact that children In large numbers are not born to weak mothers and thriftless or dissipated fathers. It is better for the home, bet ier for the community, better for the Nation, better for the race, when per sons not properly equipped by Nature fier the grave responsibilities of parent ugc take counsel of each other and of wisdom and decide not to become par enta. Moat persons can recall instances "Within their own observation wherein nhvelcally weak women have died young, leaving a large number of deli cate chidlren to the pitiful fate of growing up without a mother's care. No one will undertake to -say that a case of this kind represents wisdom, or even reasonably good judgment, not to cay humanity. The gentle mother of Alice and Phoebe Cary was an exam ple of this t ype. Of delicate mold both physically and spiritually; loving, en ergetic, devoted to her family, she was the mother of nine children bora In the space of seventeen years, and died be tore she was forty. Of her children none lived to old age, and most of them died in early life. "My mother's work," tjaid Phoebe in later years, "was never done. The mother of nine children, with no other help than that of their little hands, I shall always feel that she was taxed far beyond her strength and died before her time." The mother of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, a woman, of ; rare mental sifts, and. though the prod uct of generations of high Ideals and right living, of frail body, went early to her grave after having brought a number of children into the -world in rapid succession. Her death teas a dis tinct loss to her husband, her children and to the world, and would doubtless have been postponed many years' had fewer children been bora to her. The world suffers a double loss in such cases that of the mother and her chil dren, most of whom from lack of vital ity die early. These examples are cited to show that this matter of the birth rate of c peo ple cannot be decided arbitrarily. Neither can that of divorce. Individual judgment, specific conditions, must rule in such cases. As for the Test, the fact that no city in all the broad, land Is able to keep the seating capacity of Its schoolhouses up to the demand may serve to allay any serious fears that may be entertained of race suicide or from any other cause. In the meantime, the American home, maintained by manly, energetic men, kept "by womanly, energetic women. and peopled In accordance with the conscience and good judgment of these by happy, well-governed children, will continue to be the American Ideal of greatness, of permanence and of strength. It is its own eulogy. It Is not merely a factor In our National life; it is its basis the sure rock upon which it is founded. There will always be men who fail In the first duty of life the support of the home; men whose wives drudge in petty ways to add to the insufficient family Income and whose daughters go out to work when they should remain and be maintained at home to assist their mothers. And there will always be selfish, ease-loving women who shirk motherhood because of Its pains and cares. But the great heart o'f the Nation beats right upon the question of home and family terms which presuppose father and mother and children the father at work out side, the mother within; the children In school and early taught to be helpful, the whole constituting the Nation's life and hope. This Is a condition. All else is theory. HOW CLASS LEGISLATION' SUCCEEDS Representative Charles L Roth, of "Whatcom, a prominent member of sev eral "Washington Legislatures, com plains of the vast amount of class leg islation before the Legislature which adjourned last week. He is quoted by a Seattle paper as follows: Plumbers, hankers, emhalmera, wagon-mak ers, insurance agents, doctors, druggists, op ticians, firemen, loggers, grocers and repre sentatives of other private Interests have been before this Legislature asking for spe cial consideration. Fortunately many of the bills were defeated, others were not. Mr. Roth has the reputation of being an honest, fair-minded lawmaker, and as such he naturally saw much legisla tion pushed through by methods which were not at all creditable to the men responsible for it. "While complaining about the various "classes" before the Legislature seeking the enactment of laws for their own selfish interests, Mr. Roth unwittingly discloses the reason why such legislation reaches .the stat ute-books. "Concerning the Railway Commission bill," said Mr. Roth. "I voted for it, not because I believed in it, but because I believed it was up to the Republican party to pass a Rail road Commission bill." This was a con fession that Mr. Roth did not believe in the commission bill, and a large number of others who, for political and other reasons, voted for it regarded It in the same light as Mr. Roth viewed it. These men refused to back up their Judgment on the merits of the bill by working to kill It, but for an alleged political expediency and to secure votes for other selfish bills it was passed. "When such Important legislation can be rushed through to final passage by men who vote for a bill, "not because they believe in it," but strictly from party reasons, why should there be any complaint over "plumbers, bank ers, embalmers," etc., coming: before the Legislature and endeavoring to work their own selfish measures through to the statute-books? The great trouble with the last "Washington legislature, and few if any previous Legislatures in either Oregon or Wash lngton have been exempt from the same trouble, was the irresistible aesire to pay off local political debts at the ex pense of the state. There might be lit tle or no merits in the Spokane or some other embalmers' bill, but the em balmers may have been active workers at the polls, and to oblige them some of the home delegation fathered the bill and forced It through. The Whatcom or King County statesmen might have fought the bill had they been in a more Independent position; but, as they need ed votes to pass their own bills for re lief of some canner or logger, they made no fight. The result was the em balmers' bill went through because its sponsors could deliver votes for some other perhaps equally pernicious or uncalled-for piece of class legislation. These specimens of purely selfish leg islation not infrequently get safely through a Legislature by the aid o votes which are cast under most violent protest in order to save the life of some really meritorious measure. The Rail road Commission bill was a good illus tration of this phase of freak legisla tion. Aiding the men who voted for the bill for political reasons, and not because they had faith in the measure were a -number of others who were forced to vote for it under threat that several very Important bills would be held up until the commission bill passed. So long as men will place party expediency above public good there will be plenty of "plumbers, bankers, embalmers" and all other classes of people with selfish Interests to be served ready and willing to take advantage of every opportunity to have legalized their particular species of graft. SIDEWALKS CAN BE BETTERED There are many old, dilapidated wooden sidewalks within the "cement district" that Invite injury to .pedestrl ans and forewarn the city of possible damage suits. Upon the property abut ting upon many of these, -notices order ing owners to place the sidewalks in proper condition (which means to lay cement walks) were posted months ago, and when worn out by wind and weather reposted, only to be again ob literal ed or reduced to pulp. There is, for example, a stretch of half a block on Weldler street between Sixth street and Grand avenue that is a veritable pitfall for the "unwary. Indeed, the wary in broad daylight wisely takes to the open street when he comes to It. The authority of the City Engineer's office is weakened by carelessness of this kind. It should be understood that a notice to repair a sidewalk means that the sidewalk must be repaired by the owner within a reasonable time or the city will do the work and charge It up against the property. Otherwise large number of the notices posted represent an abortive attempt to exer cise municipal authority, a waste of time in posting-, and of money in print ing them. Nq partiality should be Bhown. Sidewalks that are good enough should be allowed to remain unques tioned (which is not -always done), and those that are dilapidated should be re built after due "notice, regardless of the ownership of the abutting property. It is up to the City Engineer to see that this Is done, and thus carry out his part In the programme of a. clean city, a safe city and a city beautiful. FLAX. The world moves. The "Harriman railroad Interests" have sent an emis sary to Salem to tell the people that the best of flax" can be grown in Ore gon; that it can be manufactured Into twine and linen more cheaply than In any other part of this country; that there is an ample local market for far more than one factory can produce, and that "the Harriman people are in terested In this enterprise because they are Interested in every acre of land on both sides of their road." When will it come about that Oregon people, know ing every fact herein stated, having had It demonstrated for years past by actual experience, will have confidence enough in each other to do such work themselves, instead of waiting for the 'Harriman interests" or some other outside Hercules to help them out of the rut? After all, the sum asked for Is only 200,000, and this Is supposed to be enough to build and equip a linen mill in Salem and fine scutching mills in that part of the Willamette Valley. For such a eum as this is It neces sary to wait for Mr. Harriman'e help? His part, by the way, so far appears limited to getting a Salem committee started at soliciting subscriptions to stock among local people. What else is asked from Hercules? To find a man to put at the bead of the enterprise who knows the business. How will he set about finding a manager, is it sup posed? Probably by Just the same measures' that any three Salem people could take for themselves. The flax industry, with its attendant manufactures, has enriched Belfast and the North of Ireland more than the great iron and shipbuilding yards. The whole neighborhood Is one great flax farm. In the North of France one sees fields white with bleaching linen strips, and farmhouses owned by pros perous families, grown rich from flax. Two factors test the value of the flax, the length and the luster or brilliancy of the fiber. North of Ireland flax, with an average length of seventeen to eighteen inches, matches the Oregon flax with twenty-four. In luster there is no comparison. The Oregon flax is in appearance nearly as pure silk to a mixed fabric Yet. because the experl mental works at Salem, after strug gung wiui inadequate capital, and a crippling fire, shut down, the flax busi ness, as to both growing and manufac ture, shuts down also, until until Mr. Harriman, -of all people, can come to the rescue And his man goes to the local people the" first thing to get his start. Unasked advice Is seldom taken. Still it may be suggested that unless some of the Sajem people interested have business or personal connections in the flax industry either in the North of Ireland or in the North of France, through whom the necessary inquiries could be made, the United States has a Department of State. A request to Washington will bring promptly the consular reports from both these dls tricts. How little are these reports read and heededl Some of our bright est men fill these positions and spend their very best work in their reports on the Industries of their district. It WDUl&mot take much time and trouble write to the United States Consul at Belfast, or to the Consul at Rouen, and ask them to make inquiries and suggest names of likely capitalists or man agers. Or some of the Portland mer chants and commission-houses might interest themselves in the same direc tion. The will bejng there, the way is not hard to find. But the point of this whole matter is this: When Oregon has resources crying for development, and demonstrably profitable when de veloped, it is up to Orcgonlans to try. and to keep on trying, to help them selves, and wait neither for Mr. Harri man nor any other outsider to begin. Help of this sort has to be paid for, and is very likely to come high. HLSTOBT OUTDONE. While the fame of Napoleon lends an adventitious effect and interest to any campaign, battle or other military op eration In which he took part, it is probable that future readers of history will deem the battle of Mukden and the harried retreat of the Russian soldiers of even greater dramatic attraction and horror than the disastrous retreat from Moscow. Hitherto the retreat of Na poleon's dwindling battalions through the frozen country from Moscow to Vilna has been the criterion of war's horrors. Nearly half a million men as sembled under the French eagles when the Nlemen was crossed; a few thou sands elunk back like tramps into Vilna. The others had died of wounds, exhaustion, starvation and exposure. Kuropatkln's forces atMukden ap pear to have been about 350,000 strong. Japanese advices Indicate that In killed wounded and prisoners the Russian loss reaches the enormous total of 153, 000, and the tale has not yet been told What the Japanese, loss has been there is no means of telling. The figures given In one dispatch, 30,000, are evi dently an underestimate. But the fleeing Russians, struggling northwards under the rifle and shrapnel fire of the enemy, are not yet out of the woods. If the retreat is carried on to Harbin under the pursuit of the Japanese, the scenes that marked Napoleon's bloody trail from Moscow may easily-be repeated, although the extreme rigors of the Winter appear to be at an end. Kuro patkin's line of retreat is not through a friendless and provislonless country. but it is possible that the Japanese may harass him more than the Cossacks did Napoleon. Evejt it remnant of the Russian army succeeds In escaping, the battle of Mukden will rank as the greatest of modern times, from the number of men engaged the enormous number of-cas ualties, and the power of the guns em ployed. At Leipsic, where Napoleon opposed 160.000 men to the 540,000 of the aHles. he left 15,000 dead, 23,000 wounded and -""15.000 prisoners as the result of three days fighting. In the same "time the allies lost 50,000 men. It , will 'be- seen that Mukden, far exceeds Leipsic In the carnage wrought, and that the story of this Russian defeat will form one of the broadest purple patches on the page of history. Mars has been pretty busy of late keeping tab on the movemenTs of the Russians and the Japs. In fact the strife in the Orient has been more strenuous than any that ever warmed the blood of warriors. But the old war god is about to have his attention called to the usual Spring revolution in Vene zuela. Wars may come and wars may go, but the fighting blood of the Vene zuelans never cools. This time it Is -a proposed overthrow of the Castro reign, and, in pursuance thereof, .the insur rectionists are said to have secured a steamer and loaded it with arms for the enemy, and soon the guns and hades will both be "poppln " down where the Orinoco flows, On account of the greater importance of the Far Eastern scrap. Mars might overlook the "two-bit" af fair In South America, but that would be hardly fair, as the latter is a regu lar entertainer, while the Russian and the Jap may not fight again for a hun dred years. The question. What is to be done Indeed what can be done with old tin cans? would be a burning one at this Juncture but for the non-combustible nature of the cumbrous, unsightly things. There is a factory no farther away than San Francisco where, by various processes, this ubiquitous nuisance is returned to commerce In the shape of various articles useful and ornamental. But, alas, that is too far away to offer or even suggest relief to this can-encumbered public Driven to desperation, scavengers with the con nivance of householders deposit them In the gulches, cart them out to the suburbs, or pile them temporarily out of sight in any old place. But this does not conduce to civic improvement nor really dispose of the cans. It simply 'dumps" them. From what quarter Is relief to come? However strong a position Tie Pas3 may be as compared with the open plains in the immediate vicinity of Mukden, it is unlikely that Kiiropatkin, weakened by the loss of so many men, such vast quantities of stores and so many guns, will be able to hold it long against the Japanese. Harbin is al most 300 miles to the northward, the railroad running for the first hundred miles or so from Tie Pass through a valley between mountain ranges. Near- ing Harbin, the country becomes more open and the line traverses extensive plains. The Japanese are probably too exhausted to press Xuropatkin hotly should he succeed in entrenching him self at Tie Pass, and will probably pur sue their former tactics of making haste slowly. New York's latest "horror" is but a variation upon the story of the Slocum and of the Iroquois Theater. Helpless tenement-dwellers are burned to death because the fire escapes are blocked, contrary to all ordinances. Disregard of law is the basic cause of such catas trophes, but each horrible event merely provokes a fleeting spasm of virtue. It Is not possible to believe that the wafers of New York harbor are sailed by steamers as ill equipped as was the Slocum, nor Is it possible to believe that there are no theaters there in which the same defiance of regulations prevails as In the Iroquois. The Endico tt, Washington, farmer who undertook to chastise his son of 21 years for a serious moral, social and domestic offense running away with the young wife of his elder brother began his parental discipline rather late in life to insure success. As might have been expected, the elder man. was easily vanquished by the younger, and the Sheriff was compelled to take a hand and quell the family disturbance. The rod in this Instance was spared too long, since clearly the boy was spoiled. Motor-boats are likely to bring as much travel to waterways as the auto mobile Is doing on the .roads. One of the probabilities of the future Is the use of China's rivers and thousand-vear-o'd canals by hundreds of fast and handy motor-boats, which an American Con sul reports as becoming Increasingly popular with the Chinese Russia declares she will not consider peace. And yet she wllL She said the same thing for a time after the fall of Sebastopol; and yet In a short time she offered terms of peace. . She is hurt now far more than she was by the fall of Sebastopol; and shortly, after rea sonable bluster, she will make peace, as she did then. No virtue like necessity. Russians are retiring to the north, perhaps in quest of a cooler climate for the Summer. After "luring" the Japs to Mukden, they found that Gen era Is January and February had not cooled the Winter temperature Maybe the Russians can "lure" the Japs 'to Moscow by next Winter. A new primary law disposed of the Simon machine but set up another ma chine. The direct primary law has given the present machine a jab which Is regarded in some quarters as mortal. Must the next machine be disposed of with still another primary law? President Castro, of Venezuela, Is now getting after the French Cable Company. Perhaps he -is anxious to see if France will bite, as the small boy pokes his finger into the lion's cage. "Properly done, gambling is not dissipation," says Professor Kirby, of the Catholic Unlveraity of America. Of course. Skillfully done, gambling- is an accumulation rather than a dissipation. Tammany says Editor Hearst has joined the New York Republican ma chine to make trouble In the next city election. Troublevwill be a mild nam for It Russia's notion that the longest purse wins in the war Is rapidly fad Ing away. Itfakes men to win battles, The result of the long agitation for closed draws is that the bridge-tenders have been officially told to be good. Striking employes of the New York subway were successful in gaining a reduction of wages. This Is the day' ordained by- law for cessation of salmon fishing on the Co lumbla. Why? Perhaps the Czar wants peace forced NOTE ANT) COMMENT. Rojestrensky is in the deuce of a fix.. Forwards lie .the Japs; backwards lie the deadly English fishing smacks. As a result of President Roosevelt's speech before the National Congress of Mothers we may expect a bcok-boosting campaign, similar to that which followed the President's mention ot The Simple Life." 'UNLEAVENED BREAD" Endorsed by President Roosevelt; WE NEED THE DOUGH. Judge Grant's Great Work: "HAVE YOU SEEN SELMA ?' Held Up by the President as a Norrible Example. ' DEE-LIGHTFUL ! Secretary Taft is to take a few score Senators and Representatives to the Phil ippines this Summer, and as a result we shall probably have some Manila Kipling writing a revised "Padgett, M. P." A party to a local suit says of an attor ney that he haa no reputation as a lawyer, "but is known as a dreamer. poet and philosopher." If that isn't com plimentary, we'd like to know what Is. All the way from Philadelphia to Pom- eroy in Washington a man 3uts pursued his wife and the man who supplanted him in her affections. The husband com plains that the other man is able to exert a peculiar attraction upon the wo man during the months of January, Feb ruary and March. Perhaps the woman turns to another during those wintry months because hubby is subject to cold feet. In the. Sphere, a London weekly paper. we notice that a court In Scotland upheld the will of a sheriff, who was said by some of his disgruntled family to be In sane on the grounds that be kept a record of the fines ha imposed upon his cats for improprieties, wore "emotional waistcoats," and provided that he be buried in a wicker coffin to facilitate his response to the Last Trump. Out hero the sheriff would have been tarred and feathered as a Holy Roller or a -Holy Terror. Professor Tufts Is trying to discover By means ot a 'series of questions addressed to the students of Chicago University whether tho "honor system" may bo in troduced or if official supervision is still necessary. One of the questions, the application of which Is not clear, is: "Is It wrong to tell a credulousglrl harmless but outlandish and untrue stories?" Pro feasor Tufts, we fear, is asking fool ques tions. Has he never been young? Does he forget the yarns he spun in his In ventive youth, when a sweetly credulous girl hung upon his Hpa7 Does he think that Othello didn't add a few cubits to tho height of the Anthropophagi; a few extra dangers to the imminent deadly breech? What, wo would ask, is the use of finding a credulous girl if one gives her no food for her credulity? Even in Chicago, even under the moat pious honor system, the young men will continue to whisper fairy stories into tho greedy cars of the wily credulous girls. Vaudeville is a deadly thing. In Chicago recently a man shot himself oh hearing an illustrated song. In Kansas City a "comic English recitative," sent a man into con vulsions, and the Journal alleges that an. other man laughed himself into hysterics when a "blackface comedian" got off this "How do they get the water in the watermelons? No yes? He, he. Why. because they plant them in the Spring. In tho Spring did you get that? In the ha, ha, ha." It's getting so that persons subject to hysterical attacks can't stand the strain, and must content themselves with performances in which the slapstick supplies tho refined comedy. Now it is Chicago that offers an in stance of aMly cop struggling desperately with a female "spirit." The world is so full ot shams that It seems hard to in terfere with a young woman who is posing as tho soul of Mrs. Juggins' departed hus band, or as the spirit of Socrates come to give Mrs. Snlggln3 a tip to buy Gold- brick Preferred. One of the instructors at Wellesley Col lege writes an indignant letter to the New York Times, denying that he forbade his pupils to oome into the classroom in gym nasium suits. As the treacher says, his whole concern is with the correctness of their spoken English, and not with the suitability of their attire. This Is a- very sensible view to take, and if the girls persist in attending their English classes wearing bloomers there Is no reason to think that their advance in learning will be impeded. Presumably the pupils are in such a hurry to reach the gym after .the class that they save time by putting on their bloomers beforehand, and It they think It all right, how is a mere man teacher going to make objection. Mrs. George Gould was almost mobbed "by an eager crowd of women at a recent play in iew York. Scores pressed around to see Mrs. Gould leaving the theater. She wore "a black Jetted net frock, made with a high girdle and suspenders, with white lace ruffled guimpe, elbow sleeves, long white gloves and a black Jet tur ban." Suspenders! Woman, woman, you might have left poor man his one distinctive article of dress; his one ewe lamb of clothing, so to speak; his suspenders, angllce, -braces WEX. J. Who Was Discoverer of Hudson? Harper's Magazine. No Dutch or Enzlish man can affirm the discovery of the Hudson River. Verrazzano must have distanced Hud son's archives by nearly a hundred years. However, the Dutch and Eng llsh liaison in the matter Is close. Hud son is appropriated by Dutch minds and has a Holland tradition round him He came in a Dutch yacht called the Half-Moon In 1609. His sailors were Hollanders and Englishmen; ha renre aented a Dutch East India Company on its way to find the much-eought-for northeast passage to India. He ex plored the Hudson, going as far as the little town that bears his name, and ne nimsen nas oeen transmitted to dqs terity with such blended and mixed tra ditions as to constitute him well-nigh halfbreed In people's minds. The names of tho river are varied. It has been called Manhattan, tho North River, the Great River, the Maurltas, and in tne year mio core jegaiiy ror some length of time the name Riviere Van den Vorst Morltias. More Race Prejudice. Life. Two Italians lately over fronr the land of sunny skies and high-art were at work In a trench. They did not seem to be able to handle the pick properly. The con tractor called two Irishmen to teach the "dagoes" how to work. After the lesson was over Pat was heard to say to his comrade. In a voice of scorn: "Molke. an Is It the Iolkeso them they make Popes out o r' POET PLEADS FOR ROOM "Give Se Sack My Str& Ckamfeer," Cries Robertas Love, of Pike Comity. THE RHTME OF THE WHXAMETTB. Alas I mice eyes not yet, satret Have seen the lovely Willamette! tSeaj! Whafs thatT Where did youet your rhymlnt at? d have you know that our Willamette . Was made to rhyme with well, with d-a 1J1) Ah. fain- mine eyes to glimpse and greet The wide and willowy Willamette! (Rats! Now that' A case of eyes a blind as bat! Tou ought to take that rhyme and ram It Ten feet below tne deep Willamette I) yearn to sail with BMlo and Betty 1 Upon the dimpled Willamette I I (Oh! You're slaw! That's worse than ever bett;r go And leam to sonnetlze or psalm it ' According to the swift Willamette!) Ah, me! I fear I'd meet calamity . "Upon the treacheroc Willamette! (Bayl Go 'way! . Go hack to raking clover hay! Tou're built for that no need to sham It Here "where we know the true WW am t Us!) And yet and yet and yet and yet Twa "Salem on the Willamette" In my geography, away Back thero when I was raking hay. And to the old red schoolhousa went To leara about this continent. Now name the capitals of states?" We wrote them out upon our slate. And spoke them thus the names of streams Still linger like delightful dreamt: "Maine Augusta cn the Kencebeck! New York Albany on the Hudson! Kansas Topeka on the Kansas! Oregon Salem oa the Willamette!" The Willamette! the Willamette! Alas! it Is with sad regret I give this idol up. Oh. d n It! I cannot call this creek Willamette! ROBEB.TCS LOVE. It' a pointed argument that a "star" ought to have at least five good points. Chicago Dally Review. ST. LOUIS, Mo., March 8. (To the Editor.) A special 'dispatch from St. Louis, appearing in The Oregonian ot March 3, does me a great Injustice. It states that I advertised the furniture ot my four-room flat for rent or sale, "owner moving: to better town," that town being Portland. Your correspondent misquoted) my advertisement. My flat has five rooms. not merely four, and I feel that I am entitled to the full glory of the five. Why. should I be thus curtailed bf a quintette and cut down to a mere quar tette? If this base and baseless fabri cation continues ta go the rounds of the press I shall find myself "reduced to a triolet, or a dust, or possibly only a unit, of rooms. Then the world will behold the sad spectacle of myself and family living In one room and offering it for sale. Who knows but that ulti mately the story will place me in a ball bedroom at light housekeeping, do ing the cooking on the gas Jet and using-the outside of the window ledge for a refrigerator? Or perhaps I may even find myself snaring the back base ment with the assistant janitor, and warming my poetic feet at the laundry stove. I insist that X be set right in this matter. My flat has- five rooms, all adult size except the fifth, and is lo cated at the top of the street, next to pure country air. ' It is a five-room flat, hot and cold water especially cold gas grates, bath and other mod ern Inconveniences. Give a fellow-journalist full credit for his achievements. After many years of effort here, in N6w York, in Boston and even in Wichita. I finally have attained to the full dignity and the superior glory of a five-room flat. Who is thero so base that he willingly. knowingly and with malice prepense will seek to rob me of this distinction? Who steals my purse- may have it. and welcome there's nothing in it; but ho that filches from me my good room tho fifth room wherein I write odes to nightingales, sonnets to soaps. checks to gas companies and prose masterpieces for the want ad column he who rapes this harmless necessary room from my happy household, who with ruthless hand razes my poets corner from its foundations and flings SPIRIT OF NORTHWEST PRESS. Penalty of Voting for Jayne Bill. Bandon Recorder. TCVum m pomnare the vote of Coos and Curry Counties on local option and TwVM-MMnn. last June and November, with the votes of Senator Coke and Rep resentatives Hermann ana Burns in tne Legislature, we find that Coos and Curry were misrepresented. Wife Toils While Husband Snoozes. Toledo Leader. a rvtmnllfe wnman crets lit) in the morning, puts on her husband's trous ers, builds the fires, muKs tne cows ana rinp? the chores all before the old man wakes from his slumber. There would not bo so many broken-down nusDanas, who believe that marriage Is a failure, .if more wives would follow the Corval- lls woman's example. Jealousy at Heppner. Heppner Gazette. The lone Proclaimer" runs a glaring headline each week with the startling announcement that "lone Is the best city In Morrow County." While the Pro claimer is loyal to lone, nothing can ever be gained by misrepresentation. Every stranger who comes to Morrow County win soon find out that the statement of the Proclaimer is not true. Tho only way that a newspaper can build up the town and country is to tell only the plain, truth. Politicians Slick as Grease. Tillamook Headlight. What a fuss a few ot the politicians are kicking up about the expense the nor mal schools are to the state. It was the politicians who grafted these schools on the taxpayers, anyway, and now they are playing to the galleries to get the graft off. Some of tho politicians are slick as grease when they see public sentiment flop first one way and then another. Two normal schools, one in Eastern and the other in Western Oregon, are sufficient for all purposes. Reduce them by the popular vote of the people. Senator Fulton's Troubles. Toledo Leader. The Grand Army Post of Hillsboro has jumped on Senator Fulton with all its feet, through the medium of a resolution, for turning down a comrade who has been postmaster of that place and. was an applicant for reappointment. The vet eran. It Is reported, was backed 'by a largo petition of tho most influential pa trons of tho office, whil9 the "pull" ot the gentleman recommended by Senator Fulton seems to be more or less a secret. Senator Fulton hasn't been indicted, but he certainly has troubles ot his own. Editor Bob Smith in Tilt Again. Grant's Pass Herald. It is amusing to watch the antics of the Republican leaders. Senator Kuykendall. who wants to be Governor, and who, with Speaker Mills, put through tho normal school appropriations, i3 hysterically ursrfmr tho people to usg the Initiative and give the Normals one year more ot life.- Senator Haines, or vvasmngton, who is also longing to be Governor, wants Its violated fragments to the five winds, who scales down my possibilities in the sale or rent market 20 per cent, is fit for treasons; 1 will have none of him; I wllInot entor him upon my list of friends, though he be graced with pol ished manners and five senses. Why Bhould he thus heedlessly set foot upon a worm? In this Instance the worm -turns; It is a centipede, with hundreds of poetic feet kicking in all directions. My special abhorrence is tho four room flat, and my special delight 13 the five-room flat. Never yet have I de scended to the indignity of the four roomr. What poet ever poetized In a four-room flat? Wherein is there room for him to write? Parlor, bedroom, kitchen, dining-room yes; but the dei, the studio,' tho study, tho bard's bou doir -no! One might compose quatrains in a four-room flat; but how can a poet make a living vout of foyr-liners? One might manufacture parodies on the Rubaiyat in a four-room flat; but what's the use? He can become neither a Homer nor an Omar if ho turns out nothing but quatrains and Rubaiyaf. Songsters must have room a room in which to soar. When the poet's joye. in a fine frenzy rolling, beholds naught but upaolstered chairs, and extension tables, and brass beds, and kltfhen clutter, what inspirations may be ex pected of him? He might earn some thing by composing- verses for th ad vertisements of a time-payment fprni- f turo house, but that is commercializ ing art and therefore criminal. The fifth room is as necessary in a poet's flat as the fifth wheel wn a wagon, as the fifth point on a s ir, to which poets sometimes hitch their wagons when Pegasus refuses i pull the cart. This particular fifth room of z ino is peculiarly adapted to a poet's p rpose, and I trust that I shall be able to sell it, or rent it, to a poet with readf cash; , none other need apply. The nam is. six feet wide and 16 feot long jist the shape for the proper manufacture of' long poems. Tho occupant caij pasts his poetic sheets together at tip ends and roll them up as a scroll, and un- rpll them to tho extent of IS feel with- out creasing when he desires to read them to his friends; or if he finds that poetry does not pay In this room, he can use the apartment for raising dachshunds in It Is just tho right shape. Avaunt, foul fiend who robbed me of my fifth room! There is another slight mis-state- ment in your special dispatch which must not go uncorrected. Your cor respondent calls me "the poet laureate of Pike County, Missouri." Now that 13 positively cruel. I left Pike County 17 years ago. the year of the big bliz zard and 14 years before the appear ance of the Big Stick. Since then dy nasties have crumbled, the heathen have raged and the people . imagined vain things; but never a vainer thing have they imagined than that I am "the poet laureate of Pike County." For IT years I have sought to live down that imputation.. I have changed my name, and my clothes, and let my beard eTrow at times; but over and always this an cient ghost of my early youth arises to haunt me when I "move to better towns," Is not a poet who has roamed and roved for 17 years entitled to a Btate distinction, or at the least a sec tion of a state? If I cannot b' the "Missouri poet," let ma be tho "North east Missouri poet," or the "Swamp Section poet." Grant me that small .crumb nf advancement In these 17 long" and toilsome years. Or you might call me the "Rhode Island poet," if you will. That is the smallest state in the Un'.on, even smaller than Plk County but it Is a state. I once lived in Rhode Island two days. - Now I am coming to Oregon, and I desire to submit a proposition to your people. If the position of Oregon poet laureate Is not already filled, I want it. I promise to write beautiful odes to tho saffron salmon, canned or uncanned; to the snow-capped peaks, gleaming in the altltudlnous Oregon ozone; and to your own lovely Willamette whldh I understand rhymes with "damn it" in stead of with "you bet," a3 I had be lieved until I met a man from Portland the other day. Thanking you for making these few chosen corrections, I am, yours, In blocks of five rooms, ROBERT US LOVE. 1372 Union Boulevard, St. Louis, Mo. the legislators to meet, without pay and knock xut tho normal appropriations. He evidently believes all members ride on Southern Pacific passes. How virtu ous these gentlemen become when the people are aroused? Bovine Happiness. Burns News. F. G. Blume, of Emigrant Creek, came in from his mountain home Tuesday. Mr. Blume tells us that he has quit feeding his stock, as the balmy weather and the sight of the hills with their grassy tus socks all uncovered are things to turn the bovine stomach away from prosy hay. Better Marry the Glri Next Door. Eatacada News. How unsatisfactory the mail order method Is. A man near here who got his wife through the matrimonial news paper route is now asking the courts to grant him a divorce. It serves the poor man right. He should have patronized the homo market and he would have known what he was getting. Never send away for anything when you can get the same article at home, andthere is less possibility of getting cheated. Killed by Her Riding Pony, Heppner Times, March 9. Little Myrl, the 11-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fuller, of Rhea Creek, was kicked to death Sunday by a horse she was riding. It appears that the girl had gone with the family to spend Sunday with .the fam ily of Silas A. Wright, and it was on the re turn home that the accident occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller went In a hack, while Myrl and her 16-year-old brother went horseback, the girl riding- a very gentle pony. On the return home one of Mr. Wrfght's little girls accompanied the Fuller chil dren, riding behind Myrl, when the pony shied and jumped to the side of the road. This caused the saddle to turn, throwing both girls from the horse. Just at this time the brother caught the girl's horse by the bridle, but the frightened animal turned from the boy, jerking loose and started to run, dragging and kicking the child. The Wright girl was uninjured save a shaking up. The brother "picked hi3 sister up and carried her to the creek near by and washed the blood from her face and ' at once went for his father to. help take her home. Dr. Kistner was called from Hepp ner.jrbut the child was dead when he ar rived, never regaining consciousness. She was kipked only on the head, no bruises being found elsewhere. To Supplement Our Civilization. Andrew D, White In Century. As a result of observation and reflet, tlon during a long life touching public men and measures in wide variety, I would deelre for my country three thing above all others, to supplement American, civilization; from Great Britain her ad ministration of criminal Justice; from Germany her theater; and from any or every- European country save Russfa,, Spain and Turkey, its-governs-) est ef cities. , r