THE 3IOEX1XG 0BEG0XIAX, WEDXESDAT, JtJXE 21, 1905.
Entered at the Fostofnce at Portland. Or.,
as second-class matter.
SUBSCRIPTION KATES.
INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
(By Mail or Express.)
Daily and Sunday, per yer -Jf-Jj
Dally and Sunday, six months......... 5.00
Daily and Sunday, three months....... 2-6-
Dally and Sunday, per month .85
Dally -without Sunday, per year 7.60
Dally without Sunday, six months....- 8.80
Dally without Sunday, three months... 1.83
Dally -without Sunday, per month .5
Sunday, per year 2.00
Sunday, six months. ................... 1.00
Sunday, three months -0
BY CARRIER.
Dally without-Sunday, per weelc ...... .15
Dally, per week. Sunday Included .20
THE WEEKLY OREGONIAN.
(Issued Every Thursday.)
Weekly, per year 1.50
Weekly, six months................... .75
Weekly, three months................. .50
HOW TO REMIT Send postol flee ' money
order, express order or personal check on
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EASTERN BUSINESS OmCE.
The S. C. Beckrrfta Special Acency New
1'ork; rooms 43-50 Tribune building. Chl
caco, rooms 510512 Tribune bulldinc.
KEPT ON SALE.
Chicago Auditorium Annex. Postofflce
News Co.. 178 Dearborn street.
Dallas, Tex. Glob News Depot, 260 Main
street.
San Antonio, Tex. Louis Book and Clear
Co, 521 East Houston street.
Denver Julius Black, Hamilton tc Kend
rick, 900-912 Seventeenth street; Harry 13.
Ott, 1563 Broadway; Pratt Book Store, 1214
Fifteenth otreet.
Colorado Springs, Colo. Howard H. Belt
Des Moines, lav-Moses Jacobs, SOS Fifth
street.
Doluth, I&. a. Blackburn. 215 West Su
perior street.
Goldfleld, Nct. C Malone.
Kansas City, Mo. Rlcksecker Cigar Co.,
Ninth and Walnut.
Los Angeles Harry Drapkln; B. E. Amos,
514 West Seventh street.
Minneapolis it. J. Ravanaucn. 50 South
Third; L. Regelsburger. 217 First avenue
South.
Cleveland, O. James Pushaw, 307 Superior
street.
New York City L. Jones & Co.. Astor
House.
Oakland. Cal. W. H. Johnston, Four
teenth and Franklin streets.
Ogden-F. R. Godard and Meyers tc Har
top, D. L. Boyle.
Omaha Barkalow Bros., 1612 Farnam;
Magcath Stationery Co.. 1308 Farnam: Mc
Laughlin Bros.. 246 South 14th; McLaughlin
& Holtz. 1515 Farnam.
Sacramento, Cal. Sacramento New Co..
429 K street.
Salt Lake Salt Lake News Co.. 77 West
Second street South; Frank Hutchison.
Yellowstone Park, WyoCanyon Hotel,
Lake Hotel. Yellowstone Park Assn.
Long; Beach B. E. Amos.
6an Francisco J. K. Cooper & Co., 746
Market street; Goldsmith Bros.. 236 Sutter;
L. E. Lee. Palace Hotel News Stand; F. W.
Pitts, 1006 Market: Frank Scott. SO Ellis; N.
Wheatley Movable News Stand, corner Mar
ket and Kearney streets: Hotel St. Francis
News Stand: Fo6ter & Orear, Ferry News
Stand.
Sr. Loul, Mo. E. T. Jett Book & News
Company. 806 Olive street.
Wartilngton, D. O. P. D. Morrison, 2182
Pennsylvania avenue.
PORTLAND, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1905.
RESTORING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE.
The Equitable Life Assurance Soci
ety has sent throughout the United
States facsimile copies of the letter "by
Grover Cleveland accepting the trustee
ship of the Ryan (Hyde) stock. Its un
doubted purpose is to advertise In the
fullest maimer possible the prominent
relation of so widely trusted a citizen
as Mr. Cleveland to the society, and to
guarantee the absolute good faith of the
plan to afford the policy-holders a dom
inant voice in the organization. Chair
man Paul Morton, of the executive
board, also makes public his purpose to
submit again all the affairs of the socl
ety to the most exacting scrutiny at
the hands of expert accountants and
financiers, so that the proposed reor
ganlzation may begin at the bottom
and may include the entire structure.
All this is good. Mr. "Cleveland is to
be no dummy trustee. Chairman Mor
ton proposes that the trutjh, and the
whole truth, shall be known. All the
facts about the mismanagement of the
society are presumably in possession of
the public. The scheme of reorganiza
tion is sufficiently clear. But the pre
rise status of the company's Invest
ments, and its relations to its policy
holders on the one hand, and the tinan
cial world on the other, ought to be
candidly and accurately described. No
doubt it will be. information of that
k!nd will throw a light on all Insurance,
what the public needs and is now
bound to have is a thorough education
in how the insurance business should
be conducted. It knows quite enough
about how it should not be conducted.
If the managers of the Equitable, or of
any other company or society, imagine
that they can restore the public conll
cence by any half-way measures, or
by any system that does not make the
TKl!cy-holder or his assigns the sole
beneficiary of the Insurance he pays for.
they will in time realize their error,
The Oregonian has no desire to add
tT the embarrassment of the Equitable
or any other life insurance concern by
continued discussion of their troubles.
olnce at this time it has confidence that
they are on the mend. But it appears
proper once more to point out the prom
inent abuses of the present system in
the great societies. The United States
Investor, a reputable and well-informed
journal, recapitulates the counts in
the Indictment against the Equitable
in the !foJowJng strong statement:
The deterred dlvWettd system was eo gross
ly unfair to pollcy-hoMere that It created a
turplus which led to extravagance and po
v'allon; that exorbitant salaries and efrramts-p'-ns
were paid, thus inordinately inereariag
the coet of insurance: that large sums were
carried in favored banks, uninvested, caus
ing a Von? In earning power af the poitcy-ho'.-'crs'
funds; that the ofiVcers and others
hating st!lar Interests were conducting the
tutlneas as If It were a private eeaeern.
reaping profit therefrom to which they were
nt entitled, hence detrimental to the inter
ests of the policy-bolder; that these men
wee deceiving the other director, whose high
fading In the community was being used to
a. J Jn the mulcting of the pellcy-helders.
The deferred dividend syrtem was
vigorously condemned by the Frick
committee, which advocated the method
of distributing the surplus annually.
The Oregonian does not now say that
the Frlck committee and the Investor
are right in this recommendation, be
cause it understands perfectly that Its
adoption means a complete change in
the whole Insurance edlfloe; but that
seme method must be devised to give
the policy-holder control of the surplus
Is certain. Many Important and per
fectly sound companies, it should be
added, now and always have distrib
uted their surplus annually. It is un
questionably a correct and honest
method: but whether it is the only cor
rect and honest method we do not as
sume to say.
Insurance may be too cheap. "We
have a complete illustration of the utter
fallacy of hard-pan methods In the un-
happy plight of several of the great
fraternal organizations. There Is a sig
nificant and dangerous similarity be
tween their methods and the system of
certain get-rich-quick schemes. They
-were all right so long as new Investors
flocked in, and there was very little to
pay out But when obligations began
to mature and multiply, then came the
the trouble. Co-operative life Insurance
is sound, no 'doubt, in principle; but it,
too, must adjust itself to certain fixed
conditions. Until it does the various
orders will reach a stage in their his
tory when the outgo exceeds the In
come, which Is bound to be fatal in
time to any business.
GOVERNOR DOUGLAS HARD JOB.
"William L. Douglas, a noted manu
facturer of shoes, thought to vary the
programme of life as he had long fol
lowed it by becoming Governor of Mas
sachusetts. Circumstances favored his
desire, and he was nominated, and.
though the candidate of the party that
has been discredited at the polls in the
Old Bay State for more than a genera
tion, he was elected, and six months
ago entered upon the duties of that of
fice. It was given out through the cam
paign that Mr. Douglas was not a poli
tician; neither, it was said, was he a
statesman, as measured by accredited
standards. He was a manufacturer,
and a successful one. He had been a
worklngmaji, and a faithful one. He
was an advocate and employer of la
bor, and he went in by means of the
great labor vote disgruntled at the
time because several long-drawn-out
strikes were in progress in the state.
So it was that Manufacturer Doug
las became Governor Douglas, and
soon thereafter his troubles began. A
conscientious, capable man. he found
the burdens of the executive office of
the great State of Massachusetts hard
to bear. In attempting to discbarge his
official duties Impartially, and with
clean hands, he has, in the brief space
of six months, made enemies of the
prominent men of his own party, and
they have so harassed him that he has
called "enough." He declares that he
is not a candidate for re-election (Mas
sachusetts enjoys the pastime' of choos
ing a Governor once a year), and adds
that he regrets that he ran before.
Let no one think that Governor Doug
las Is afraid of the politicians. He Is
simply tired of them. He has had
enough of them and of their dark and
sinuous ways. For this reason, though
his administration has pleased the
masses, he has In advance declined re
nomination. There is reason to believe.
however. In his desire to retire he wil
be overborne by popular clamor and he
will be Induced to try another year of
such worries as fall to the lot of a
Democratic executive who declines to
make purely partisan appointments,
and who. having brought his conscience
to the task, has vetoed bills for grafts
and spoils that his own party leaders
supported.
NATIONAL GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION.
The peculiarity of the National Good
Roads Convention is that our visitors
come, not to learn, but to teach. Other
associations and societies we invite and
welcome, with a view to showing them
the advantages Oregon otters shall we
not say over any and every other abiding-place?
but the good roads people
come to show us how to Improve and
make more available what we have.
Two ways arc open to them. First,
they can. and will, show us by actual,
visible demonstration, how to make a
road which shall be worthy of its name
the year round. All can sec. mark and
icarn mis. men iney win snow us
what are the necessary elements of co6t,
the actual essentials of roadmaking and
how to get and to apply them. Quite as
essential lessons for us to learn are.
who shall decide what roads shall be
built, and maintain them when con
structed? And also, who shall pay for
the roads, and by what means?
All can admit that. In Western Ore
gon particularly, we have few roads
worthy of the name. With one or two
short exceptional pieces adjoining the
towns, and mere continuations of the
city streets Into the country, our best
roads are strips of the adjoining field?,
fenced In. and more or less leveled and
kept bare of vegetation by the passage
of wagon and carriage, horseman and
rooiman. During tne last few years
various enterprising counties have pro
vlded what they call "roadmaking ma
chines." To set them to work the farm
er's plow Is called In to break up the
surface, and then the machine, with
its four or six horses, scrapes the loos
ened soil and dirt towards the center of
the track. This done, brute force ami
wheels do the rest, and you have an
"improved" Western Oregon road
Where a gravel pit or a stone quarry Is
reasonably accessible the farmers' wag
ons follow the plow and scraper and
pile a succession of heaps along the
central ridge. This everybody with any
regard for horse or vehicle leaves se
verely alone till the next Winter. Then,
the tracks on either side of the center
having become streaks of mud, varied
with "chuckholes," hub deep, unfortu
nate travelers are compelled to take tp
the central stope heaps, and gradually
smooth them down. The result is a
highly improved road, announced by
the real estate agents as great attrac
tions to the adjoining farms. In many
other parts of our state different prob
lems are faced. Rock and stone take
the place of mud, and the traveler's
bones pay in shaking for the solidity of
the track. Therefore, practically, we
have to be. taught what "good roads"
are.
We are only now Teaching a condi
tion of mind In which we are ready to
be taught many of us are even now
not In that class not even In the pri
mary class of the good-roads school.
Why? Because we have hardly emerged
from the pioneer stage, when a rain
tight house to live in. a barn reason
ably piled full of loose hay, and a stock
of groceries laid in before the Winter
rains set in, were preparations enough
for the Winter. A horseback ride for
the mail once a week, and a weary
wagon drive over the muddy track to
town, were all the communications
needed with the outside world. This
was old Oregon. New men. new man
ners. School keeps nowadays, even in
the country schools, for seven or eight
months in the year. Farm products
must go to the creamery or to the gro
cery store or railroad depot, twice or
thrice a week. The rural mall deliv
ery brings the daily paper, and daily
letters. Independent telephones draw
neighbors and friends together, and
families four or Ave miles -apart muse
visit and hold converse. Churches must
be open on Sunday, and a few days'
rain must not so roar the roads as to
keep congregations at home. Books
must be read and exchanged. Grange
meetings and. farmers institutes at
tended. Why not? There is no savage
blizzard or raging torrent, with danger
to life and health, to face; only the
apology for a road, with its delays and
discomforts.
Certainly there are roads and, road.
Let us hear and learn all we can about
the various grades of roads, and now to
make them, and what each kind costs.
Then, when we have gone home and
thought the matter out, and talked to
the neighbors, and are ready to go to
doing things then is the time to be
first reasonable, then bold. Roads must
be had. and of that sort which will be
within our means to construct. There
Is not much amiss with the laws. Ore
gon is not behind many of her sister
states In the legal machinery provided.
The work can be done. Now, this week.
Is the time to learn how. "We thank
our visitors of the association for .com
ing, and promise them attentive audi
BLOW AT OUR FLOUR TRADE.
The Hongkong Telegraph of May 5
prints lull details of the organization
of a company which will erect a flour
mill with a capacity of 2009 barrels per
day at Hongkong. Among the names
of incorporators appears those of a
number of the financial heavyweights
of'the Orient, and the list is headed
by Mr. Rennle, for the past eighteen
years in the service of the Portland
Flouring Mills, of this city. The Tele
graph, in its account of the project,
says that wheat for the mill will be
secured wherever possible In British
territory, and in Manchuria. A 2000
barrel flour mill will hardly be suffi
cient to supply the demands of China
and the rest of the Oriental flour trade.
but it will prove an opening wedge
which may be enlarged with disastrous
results for the Pacific Coast flour trade.
This trade with the FaV East for the
fiscal year ending June 30. 1904,
amounted to approximately 3.000.000
barrels of flour, and the totals this
season. In spite of the disastrous war.
will not fall far shqrt of that amount.
Prior to the declaration of war, tne
trade was growing so rapidly that It
was only a question of a very short
time until It would have reached pro
portions that would have required all
the wheat grown in this country to sat
isfy the demands of our mills. As the
price paid by the mills has always been
much higher than that which was paid
by the grain shippers who were de
pendent on Europe for a market, the
development of this Oriental trade has
been "of highest Importance to me
gralngrowers of the Pacific Coast, and
In turn to all Interests dependent on
the grain crop.
Under existing conditions, with the
ports of China open to our merchants,
and without any obstructive or retal
iatory tariff to Interfere with our com
mercial operations. Pacific Coast mill
ers are In a position to retain a large
portion of this flour trade which they
have been so long building up. With
the natural growth of the business, they
might even be able to meet the com
petition of this Chinese mill, and per
haps Increase their operations, at least
until opening of the Manchurlan wheat
fields supplies the Chinese with cheaper
wheat than is obtainable on this side
of the Pacific. But the Chinese are on
the point of breaking off existing com
mercial relations, and laying on our
products a trade embargo which will
most effectually shut us out of that
rich field. Suppose that the Chinese na
tion, which has been insulted and hu
miliated by our treatment of Its cit
izens, decides to adopt our own re
strictive policy against the admission
of wheat and flour what then?
We shut out foreign wheat by impo
sition of an ad valorem duty of 25
per cent. The men behind the new
flour mill enterprise are In close touch
with the Chinese, and have undoubt
edly convinced them that the enter
prise should be protected by a duty
sufficiently high to make it practically
impossible for Pacific Coast millers to
continue in the field. As previously
stated, a 2000-barrel mill will be In
sufficient to handl the business that
has already been -worked up by Amer
ican enterprise, but the matter of In
creasing the number of mills and en
larging the capacity, if the experiment
proves successful, will not be at all dif
ficult. This matter presents a phase In
the threatened Chinese retaliation that
comes directly home to the Pacific
Coast farmers and millers.
Our flour sales to the Orient this sea
son have averaged over 51,609.009 per
month, since the opening of the sea
son July 1. 1904. We could, perhaps.
have sold this flour or the wheat which
produced It In other markets, Nbut our
past experience has demonstrated that
the Oriental flour trade has been the
direct means of Increasing the value of
every bushel of wheat grown on the
Pacific Coast. This industry, which In
degree Is fully as Important as the vast
cotton Industry of the South. Is In great
Jeopardy at this time, and the situation
is sufficiently grave to demand an ear
nest appeal from all lines of trade for
some modification of the Chinese ex
elusion act, which will at least admit
of the Chinamen having fair treatment
when they have a right, under existing
laws, to enter this country.
LIVE PIGEON SHOOTING.
British sportsmen are noted as advo
cates oi clean sport xney are op
posed to the spirit of commercialism
that has become a ruling feature of
American athletics; but they have not.
heretofore, been as regardful of the
quarry in shooting tournaments as they
should have been, and as, in the mat
ter of live pigeon shooting, they prom
ise to be hereafter.
The Hurllngham Club, one of the
most famous sporting organizations In
England, has taken the Initiative In
this matter, and on the basis of cruelty
to the trapped birds has decided to
abolish live-bird target practice or
shooting contests. "Like Hurllngham
like England." and in this respect It
may be hoped that American sportsmen
will follow Hurllngham's lead.
For some years protests have gone
up against live-bird target shooting in
this country. A few years ago there
was a contest between the "crack
shots" of several leading sportsmen's
clubs at Kansas City. All over th
country the fine scores that were made
were telegraphed after the tournament
was over. A newspaper man, himself a
sportsman, visited the scene and was
sickened at the sight pf dozens of crip
pled birds, bleeding, suffering, thirsty.
panting and perfectly helpless, that
formed the aftermath of an exciting
and highly enjoyable occasion. A pro
test followed the published tale of this
suffering, and as a result legislation
was secured In a number of states
against live-bird shooting- contests.
Nothing could be more unsportsman
like than shooting a bird that rises
from a trap directly In range of the
sportsman's gun. The man behind the
gun in this case shoots not to kill, but
merely to bring down his game. He
has no use for It. does not want it.
does not even take the trouble to see
what becomes of it. Killed or crippled.
It is all the same to him. He has
brought down his bird, and in any
contest of this kind "bird" is a name of
multitude.
The Minneapolis banker whose state
land certificates are questioned on the
ground that they were fraudulently ob
tained very properly raised the question
why the State of Oregon permits men
to hold commissions as notaries public
and yet looks with suspicion upon all
papers bearing their seals. If the no
tary has committed a crime, or has
been party to a fraud of any kind, his
commission should be revoked without
delay. If he has not been guilty of
wrongdoing, there should be no general
assertion of fraud In papers he has exe
cuted. This is not a matter in which
the individual alone Is interested. As
notary public he Is an officer of the
state and his official acts are entitled to
due credlL If the state continues to as
sert Its confidence In him by permitting
him to hold a commission, it is a party
to his fraudulent transactions. The
fact of the matter is that the laws re
lating to the appointment of notaries
public have been altogether too loose.
Almost any person who Is willing to
pay a fee of $2.50 may secure a com
mission as notary public. Some means
should be devised by which Irresponsi
ble and dishonest men may be prevent
ed from securing such appointments.
The accident on the Western Mary
land railroad Saturday, by which twen
ty-five lives were lost, again demon
strates that the fast trains-are safer
to ride on than the slow ones. In this
latest disaster, the passenger train
which collided with a freight was trav
eling at a speed of only thirty miles
per hour, or less than half of the
scheduled time of many of the express
trains of the country. The disaster was
due to a misunderstanding of orders,
and would have been Impossible on
the double-track roads where the record-breaking
flyers are now scorching.
As usual in a head-end collision, the
englnemen were killed, and the man
responelble for the tragedy paid the
penalty with his life. The cost of this
wreck will reach a sum that would
have built a great many miles of dou
ble track, or Installed the block sys
tem over still more miles.
The close proximity of British Co
lumbia to the boundary line results in
great similarity in the customs, man
ners and actions of the people living
near the boundary line. Irrespective of
which government they serve. Under
such circumstances. It is not surprising
that our neighbors on the north should
have a timber land scandal all their
own. Some of the Ministers of the
crown worked through Parliament a
scheme by which a London company
secured a lease on 120,000 acres of
highly valuable timber land on Quat
slno Sound, while a grant secured by
a locar company by similar methods
was cut down from 60.000 acres to 48,000
acres. The "roar of the small com
pany was so loud that an investigation
Is already under way. and promises to
result In the impeachment of some of
His Britannic Majesty's subjects.
A feature of the new penalty for wlfe-
beaters that has not received the men
tion that It deserves Is that it releases
the culprit upon whom It is Inflicted "to
the support of the family of which he is
the head." as the Belllngham Herald
expresses It. This Is clearly an Im
provement upon the old process of
sending the wlfebeater to Jail and
thereby depriving his family of his
earnings while he enjoyed the season
of Idleness which his sentence Imposed.
Perhaps beaten wives will be more
ready to testify to the cruelties Inflicted
upon them by brutal husbands when
they come to understand that the ap
plication of penalty, upon conviction,
will not rob the family "of which he is
the head" of support while he Is de
tained in Idleness among congenial
companions.
Appeal Is made for contributions to
the Oregon Humane Society. It merits
all the aid it will receive, and more, too.
For a third of a century It has done
very effective work in teaching kind
ness to the brute creation. While re
sults cannot be easily measured. The
Oregonian. In common with all observ
ant citizens, knows that through the
constant teaching of the society, mainly
In the public schools, abuse of animals
has been reduced to a minimum. In
respect to treatment of dumb creatures,
Portland is a model community. It Is
to be hoped that this condition may be
maintained, but remember that a little
money is needed. Let It be promptly
and cheerfully given.
The Modern Woodmen of America, a
fraternal order, having 70J,000 mem
bers, recently increased Its per capita
assessments from 25 to 75 per cent at
the various ages. The Royal Arcanum,
with 300,000 members, finds It necessary
to.ralse larget revenue In order to meet
the steadily Increasing death rate. The
United Workmen has found necessary
a readjustment of Its schedules. One
problem of the fraternal orders Is to
make their life insurance attractive to
young men. The usual plan Is to make
a graduated assessment, increasing as
age Increases. This Is rather hard on
the older members, but it is perhaps
the only way to make their insurance
sound.
A love letter of the great Lord Nelson
was recently sold at public auction in
London for 5355. It was not In any way
a remarkable document just one of
the ordinary kind, vealy and common
place: but it bore the signature of the
great Admiral, and the date May 4,
1805. The folly of writing such letters
is only equaled by the folly of keeping
them, and both are outdone by the In
famy of making them public.
President Roosevelt will set a fine ex
ample If he discharges his chauffeur
who drove ht3 automobile faster than
the limit fixed by the ordinances of
Washington, D. C. If under the law
the President was also guilty, he should
be made to pay the penalty. And be is
Just the kind of & man who would take
his medicine and apologize, besides.
In keeping with a blundering policy,'
it looks now as if Russia is making
her biggest mistake in not offering to
declare an armistice when her entire
Manchurlan army is in Jeopardy. The
Czar has transcendent genius for doing
the wrong thing.
There Is the right ring to Paul Mor
ton's first act as head of the Equitable.
He demands exact figures on how the
company stands. These obtained, he
will have a working basis for any re
form the directors deem aavUable.
0REG0N0Z0NE
Heel per .for Magazine Poetry.
When your mind Is alla blank
And there's nothing In the tank
Where your thoughts are thoujht to be.
Just sit. down and write some Thymes
Dealing with the ancient times
In the lands beyond the sea.
Bring in .something, if you can.
Of the Muses. Venus. Pan.
Or of other ancient fakes;
Saw It up in lines like these.
Set It out and let it freeze'
In symmetric stanza:cake3.
Two pair of triplets and two single
babies, the latter weighing 20 and 21
pounds, were the product of a single day's
storkwork In Long Island City last week.
Long Island City is a near neighbor of
Oyster Bay.
Luther Bur banks seems to be
Just now the only active grafter.
In the land from sea to sea.
That Lincoln Steffens Isn't after.
Governor Folk, of Missouri, is going
to make a speech at the reunion of vet
erans In Dodge City, Kan.. In August.
If these Dodge City veterans retain their
picturesque habits and habiliments, like
wise their pocket companions, the mild,
young Governor of Missouri is likely to
find his auditors less amenable to the
conventions of civilization than even the
St. Louis boodlers. ' Twenty years ago.
when these present veterans were the
ruling Jactor In town life. Dodge City
was undoubtedly the toughest town In
America. If a man got off a train there
In the early SO's wearing store clothes,
the chances were 10 to 1 that he would
by dancing a Jig In the nearest saloon
in two minutes, with bullets popping about
his feet to add agility to his toes; and
If he made the serious error of wearing
a plug hat Into Dodge, the crown of
that chapeau would be perforated with
portholes like the walls of a blockhouse
before the tend-rfoot could walk past
PIzen Pete's faro shack. These little
matters of Kansas history are recalled
merely to put Governor Folk upon his
guard and to suggest to him that If he
attempts to talk to the Dodge City vet
erans In his store clothes' he would better
wear chain armor underneath.
The Chicago Evening Post seems to Have
stirred up a hornet's nest when It
quoted the late Colonel CoHille. of the
First Minnesota, as having said, when
ordered by General Hancock to hold the
peach orchard at Gettysburg and break
the backbone of Pickett's charge: "The
First Minnesota Is short of ammunition.
but lt will hold Its position even if It
has to load with trousers buttons." An
old soldiers jvho declares that lie heard
the gallant Colville tell the story many
times, writes to the Post that the Colonel
said "pant buttons." The present writer
never heard the Colonel reminisce, but
he will bet his Sunday breeches that
Colonel Colville never said "pant." Tin
aouoteory ne said either "pants or
"breeches," most probably the latter.
Soldiers in action never 'stop to revise
their remarks before utterance; they carry-
no mental blue pencils in their equip
mcnt; they go oft half-cocked when they
have anything to say. and they say it in
the most natural manner known to the
average man. As a rule, anyhow, these
historic sayings of Generals and Admirals
arc manufactured by press agents after
the event, or. at any rate, they are put
Into the proper shape for posterity by the
men behind the pens. It Is very likely.
however, that Colonel Colville sent word
to General Honcock that he would hold
Ms position if he had to load with
breeches buttons, for Colville was a fight
er: he received seven wounds in that one
engagement, and 13 all told during the
Civil War.
Davenport Cartoons. SI.
"Say." said a Washington street car
conductor to his motorman. when the car
stopped at Fifth street yesterday, "did
you notice that there cartoonist who was
on the car on the last trip out to the
Fair?"
"Sure." replied the motorman; -"that's
Homer Davenport."
"That's the man." the conductor said;
"he rides out with us every day. Well,
he had & big sheet of paper with him.
and he made a cartoon of me on the trip
out; had roe down pat. and In the corner
of the picture he wrote, 'Fare, please.'
He handed It to me when he got off, and
I stuck It under the rear seat; didn't want
to spoil it by folding it up. When we
turned that curve at Sixteenth street the
wind blew It away."
"Too bad." said the motorman.
"Yes. It was: why, I wouldn't have lost
that cartoon for a dollar."
-
A Bid Tor the Last Word.
Dear Ozone: Won't you clve u the last
werd on 'he wlfe-beatln? situation and end
th discission a to whether a man who
beats fels wife in Oregon should have hl owu
measly back bruised with the . cat-o'-n Ins
talls or be- presented with a house and lot
as a reward of merit? There seem to be
opinions1 on both sides. We pause tor your
reply. CITIZENS COMMITTEE
We cannot guarantee that ours will be
the last word, but If we were running the
solar system It would be. Here Is just a
part of what we think:
Any male beast who mistreats any
woman by using the fist argument should
be compelled to take a large and liberal
dose of his own medicine, as the new law
In Oregon prescribes. No matter whether
he beats his own wife or the wife of
somebody else, or a maiden lady, or a
little girl, or a Sioux squaw, or a pipe
smoking Igorrote belle If he whips a
woman he puts himself beyond the pate
of human sympathy and deserves no croc
odile tears. A male biped who mistreats
a woman deserves the best beating that
he can get at the hands of the whip
wielder. The state should establish a
gymnasium tor the physical education of
husky youngsters who show a special ap
titude for plying the lash, to the end that
their services may be used when the law
demands. These young men should be
graduated A. B. Able Beaters and
whenever a two-legged wart on the sur
face of humanity whips his wife he should
be whipped by a regular graduate. The
Job should be done not brutally, but artis
tically, with neatness and dispatch. And
the whlpping.post law should be amended
to include a clause providing for the
teaching of proper ideas of humanitarian
Ism to those ' persons who toss bouquets
at the vile wretch who through his own
baseness becomes a subject for the lash.
It is the duty of society to protect the
weak, even If society has to thrash the
strong. To all of which we hereby set
our hand and seal.
Done at the City of Portland, County of
Multnomah. State of Oregon, this 20th
day of June, in the year of Our Lord 1908
and of the Independence of the United
States the One Hundred and Twenty
I ninth. XOBCRTU5 LOVE.
VLADIVOSTOK, GIBRALTAR OP THE EAST
Rasa la's Stepytag-Off Place la Her Dream of Pacific Coast Empire.
Sacramento Union. i
Since the fall of Mukden, Vladivostok
has been necessarily the Japanese point
of final objective. The new Russian city
of Harbin, and the ancient Manchurlan
City of Kirin. north of Mukden, are way
stations in the war's movement to Vladi
vostok. Before the fall of Mukden. Har
bin was the key on the north to Russian
supply, both for Port Arthur as the ter
minus of tho Manchurlan branch of the
trans-Siberian Railroad, and for Vladivo
stok as the terminus of the main line.
With the fall of Port Arthur followed by
that of Mukden and the movement of the
Japanese to the north verging towards
the east flank of Russian defense, the
possible capture of Harbin Is of Import
ance only as It bears on the ultimate
Vladivostok attack. The main line of the
trans-Siberian Railroad anywhere between
Harbin and "Vladivostok Is of as much
Importance, while Vladivostok Is held
against Russia as Harbin Itself, since to
hold it Is to cut off Vladivostok and with
it the Pacific Coast of Russia from the
source of supply for war materials and
men. Except through Japanese defeat,
which has not been Indicated by events
thU3 far. or by Russian consent to peace,
which has seemed equally Improbable.
the whole trend of the war indicates
that Vladivostok is the point at which It
will be decided. Since It is in undisputed
Russian territory, the key of the Russian
coast of the Pacific as well as the point
of connection betwten European Russia
and Its future on the Pacific, the ability
of the Japanese to capture and hold it
would enable them to dictate terms Rus
sia would never accept otherwise. Prob
ably this would Involve Russian surrender
of all Manchuria south of the main line
of the trans-Siberian Railroad.
In accounts of his explorations in
modern Siberia, published last year.
Senator BeveriJge called VlaJlvostok
the "Gibraltar of the East." His obser
vations were made in 1901, and since
that year the same term has been re
peatedly used to describe Port Arthur,
so that the strength of Russian de
fenses, considered Impregnable at Vlad
ivostok, are discredited by the result
at Port Arthur. The town !Ies chiefly
In a valley sloping down to the har
bor from a range of hills which as they
extend to enclose the harbor, have been
heavily fortified during the period of
Pacific Coast development, toward
which Russia began to look as far back
as 1861, when A'ladivostok was first
laid off. The harbor itself, which Rus
sians call the "Golden Horn," opens
into what they call In Russian geogra
phies taught In the schools of Vladi
vostok the "Gulf of Peter the Great."
It is part of the sea of Japan, and. it
has another name In Japanese. Since
ground was broken at Vladivostok, In
May. 1S91. for the western division of
the trans-Siberian Railroad. Russia has
been making a systematic attempt at
colonization, on the success of which,
us far as It has succeeded, much may
depend during the present year after
Vladivostok Is actually invested.
This attempt was to make the town
sometning more than a port for ship
ment Into interior Siberia by giving it
a supporting territory populated by
Russlans. as the country back of Port
land and San Francisco is by Ameri
cans, Vladivostok itself Increased in
population from a little over 7000 In
1870 to 38,000 at the beginning of the
war with Japan. Most of this popula
tion has come since the beginning of
the trans-Siberian Railroad, and had
not "Russia deflected Its branch line
south to Port Arthur It would have
been more than doubled. Since the com-
WHY WEAVER JECLARED WAR
Boston Herald. i
Mayor John Weaver, who is doing such
good work In Philadelphia. Is an Eng
lishman who ran away from home and
became a seaman when a boy. Land
ing In Philadelphia when 15 years old,
he has lived there ever since. His first
work wa3 as an errand boy for John
Wunamakor; then he became office boy
for a firm of lawyers. While In this
service he learned stenography. By
assiduous labor and self-sacrifice, he
studied law and was admitted to the
bar In 1891. and in a few years made
the reputation of one of the best trial
lawyers in Philadelphia. He once de
clined an election to the common coun
cil on the ground that he would not
permit a political ward leader to dic
tate his course as a Councilman. He
was chosen District Attorney by the Re
publican machine, and signalized his
term by the prosecution of some Repub
lican repeaters. Then he was elected
Mayor us an honest figurehead for the
machine gang. His office-holding has
not been happy, it Is said, until he made
up his mind to fight. He is a deeply
rellglous man, and things came to a
pass when he. could no longer serve the
gang. It Is said that he. with his wife
and little son. spent the whole night
In prayer before he vetoed the new gas
lease. His own statement to a corre
spondent of the Toledo Sun of the motive
of his action is in these words:
"When I entered the fight I made the
statement that I could not 11'e with ray
honor under a cloud; that I would not
endure the pressure of any Influences
to compel ' me to sacrifice my Judgment
of right, and that on this cause I would
battle for life or death. I meant that
literally. It was no mere sacrifice of
political ambition, for I have none. T
could not look my wife In the face or
stand before my son as his model, nor
could I traverse the streets of my own
city with the shame In my heart that
I had betrayed my secret trust. That
Is why I declared war."
His law partner, Frederick S. Drake,
has said that, on the day following the
decision to fight. Weaver said to him,
as they were journeying together to
the city: "Drake, I can no more than
die for my honor and for my sacred
trust. I am going to fight."
"Where the Millionaires Live.
Butte News.
People interested in millionaires and
their haunts, speculative artists of the
still hunt for the man with the money,
will be interested in a compilation, of
statistics recently made up showing
where mllllnnalres live. North America
has 5C44 millionaires, of which 14 live
In Canada and 3 In Mexico. America
leads all continents and the United
States leads all nations, for this gives
Uncle Sam's domain 50J7. South
Am-jrlca Is forced to worry along on a.
measly crop of 24 millionaires. This
Includes Central America as well. Big
Africa. Including Abyssinia and Moroc
co, ha3 but eight millionaires, while woe
to the small nations of Holland. Greece,
Switzerland, Bulgaria, Roumanla, Mon
tenegro and Servla. They have no more
millionaires than the proverbial "'rab
bit. Europe has 4091. which is probably
4090 today, with the death of another
RothschllJ. Of this. England has 2500,
Germany S04, France 6SS and Russia
49. The balance tapers to Turkey and
Sweden, who each have a lone lorn mil
lionaire. Asia and Australasia has 921.
of which Inala has 900, China 11 and
Australia 5.
Wanted.
" Life-.
To
th weary, careworn traveler, on tne
"up-grade" known as Life,
Looms the philanthropic signboard with its
remedies for strife;
There are Vim and Vorce and Health Flakes;
thcra are Husb and Crush and Zest
But the ona we're really waltins tor ts a
brain food known u Swt.
pletion of the line, and for several
years before. Russian Immigrants have
been crowded as rapidly as possible
Into the lands of the Usuri valley back
of Vladivostok, and It is estimated tnat
this territory now has a population of
between 100.000 and 150,000. chiefly
Russian, although land was granted
also to some 15,000 Coreans. In two
years before the beginning of the war
about 25,000 Russians were settled thus
on farms back of Vladivostok, and as
in building the town itself, .so .In its
attempts to colonize the country, Rus
sia followed as far as possible the
American example on tho Pacific Coast.
"There is nothing Asiatic about the
aspect of this Pacific capital," an Eng
lish visitor writes. "Indeed, it is rather
trans-Atlantic than European. Seated on
a deeply emoayed and apparently land
locked harbor, along the shores of which
It straggles for more than three miles,
climbing the barren sides of denuded
hills, it shows lofty buildings with bold
fronts, the government house, the glitter
ing domes of a Greek cathedral, a Lu
theran church, the government adminis
trative offices, the admiralty, the arse
nal, the cadet school, the naval club and
the grand and solid terminus of the trans
Siberian railroad, rising out of an irreg
ularity which Is not picturesque."
While this Is a modern description, the
Russian government has gone on build
ing the town since it was written, equip
ping It with electric railroads and lights,
flour mills, sawmills and factories and
industrial schools, all of a pattern more
modern if anything than those of St.
Petersburg itself. Its waterworks had
been completed and It had two shipyards
before the beginning of the war. Be
fore the Japanese navy, which threw a
number of shells over the town last year,
interrupted Russian communications by
sea. a Russian line of steamers had been
chartered to ply to Seattle. Communica
tion with the Pacific Coast on the Amer
ican aide was so close 'that in Central
Siberia Senator Beverldge found the same
reaping and mowing machinery at work
he had scon In Indiana before leaylng
home. In the new Russian towns, built
along t..c railroad, with Vladivostok as
their supply point, he found In the res
taurants "bread made from American
flour. American sugar-cured ham and
American fruits from the Pacific Coast,
with American salmon from the Colum
bia, canned meats from the Central West
and American condensed milk from Illi
nois for sale In the newly established
Russian grocery stores."
This suggests the extent of what will
depend" on Vladivostok if it is once in
vested by Japan. Not only at Vladivo
stok and at Harbin, but In the new rail
road towns It had begun building along
Its great railroad. Russia was planning a
Pacific Coast empire, laid out largely on
the plan of the American West, with im
migration fostered by land grants and
by a Russian plan of governmental
"booming which brought Harbin irom
nothing at all to an Important city before
It had time- to take its place in the geog
raphies. All this would not end with the
fall of Vladivostok, but if such an event
were imaginable as part of Japanese tri
umph complete cnougfi to make Vladivo
stok a Japanese possession, Russian de
velopment would be forced from the
shores of the sea of Japan to that of
the sea of Okhotsk, to which a branch
railroad running north by northwest, 475
miles from Vladivostok, leads. The' final
surrender of Vladivostok by Russia is
not imaginable as a possibility of the war.
however. It captured by Japan. Its occu
pancy until the treaty of peace would
serve to enforce Japanese demands in
Corea and Manchuria.
THE C0ST0F GAS.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
It is well known that consumers of gas
In England pay only about one-half the
sum charged for it In the United States.
This Is a great advantage to the English
people, and equivalent to an addition to
their Incomes. The increased use of gas
Is also a labor-saving operation and tends
to purify the air of large cities. High gas
Is no more advisable than high postage,
and no more profitable, except as It aids
the Illegitimate business of watering
stock. How the gas business is managed
in England may be seen by the directors'
report of the South Metropolitan Gas
Company, of London, one of the largest
corporations in that city. The extent of
Its business is shown by Its report that
last year It supplied customers with
12,636.000.000 cubic feet of gas, used 1.165.
000 tons of coal, and earned $2,230,000
dividends on Its stock. Its capitalization
in stock and bonds Is 540.000,000.
The company charges consumers a frac
tion less than 49 cents for 1000 cubic feet,
and reduced the price 6 cents compared
with the rate in 1903. Both with the
public and its workmen the company con
ducts certain co-operative features. Cus
tomers share in the company's prosperity
by a reduction from time to time in the
cost of gas.
Japs Read Practical Books.
Omaha Bee.
The Japanese are serious-minded peo
ple, as their literary habits show. They
take life seriously and devote their time
to the reading of what would be called In
America solid books. The recent report
of the librarian of the imperial library
at Tokio shows that there is little de
mand for light literature In that capital,
for flctfon-of any' sort, contrary to the
experience of most of the popular libra
ries In England, France and America.
The Japanese mind runs to science, math
ematics, medicine, language, and to what
may be termed the graver forms of lit
erature. More than 40 per cent of the
works taken out of the imperial library
are of this character. The Japanese are
very fond of history. In the making of
which they are extensively engaged at
present In the Eastern war. Engineer
ing, military and naval science receive
much attention. The Interest In these
subjects has been greatly stimulated by
the war. The Japanese are men of though't
as well as of action, and well deserve the
designation of "Yankees of the East."
Works of the Imagination do not appeal
to them. They seem to be devoted to
practical studies, and it may be an omi
nous sign that they delight in the study
of the science of warfare.
"Uncle Joe's 3Ianners.
Roswell Field, In Chicago Evening Post.
Nobody who knows Uncle Joe Cannon is
going to believe that absurd story from
Portland which has Uncle Joe fishing out
Ice from a water pitcher and bedewing
his fevered brow In the conviction that
he had struck a finger bowl. Uncle Joe
Is no slouch when it comes to etiquette.
In Chicago he frequently patronizes the
tearooms, and he knows as well as any
body that a finger bowl is a small glass
basin of water with red cinnamon drops
or peppermint candy stuck In little pa
per boxes on the saucer. We do not say
that Uncle Joe did not use the water
pitcher for the purposes claimed, but we
contend that he did It deliberately and re
buklngly. thereby showing his disapprov
al of the committee of arrangements
who did not take into account the neces
sities of statesmen on a hot June day.
We are growing very weary of hearing
the great thought of the country-vilified
Just because it happens to come
from Illinois.
"WIfebeaters and Scolding Wives.
Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.
Oregon has established the whipping
post for wlfebeaters and the Muskogee
Democrat thinks they should now add the
ducking-stool for scolding wives. Might
run 'em in conjunction.