ft THE MOKSJLNlx UKIStf OJNJLAA". JfKXDAX, BJBPTJBMBEB 29, 19Q5.
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PORTLAND, FRIDAY. SsBPTIWIMBR 29.
UYrRNS POOR SETTLERS.
TJk? Oregon Is not "persecuting"
Senator Heyburn. of Idaho. a. some of
Mc frfewds declare. It is simply telling
the trwck ajbotil hte continued and per
KtstKMit iwlsrenresnutloit of the real
srttwufcm in Idaho. The Oregon la n
take It that the people of Idaho want
tftte facts known at Washington and
4eeiere about their forest reserves.
If Hyfcra doesn't. They have nothing
to gain ay bUcoter, buncombe or big
Ww-wowtem. whidt are all synonyms
for Herbamtem; tbey have everything
to gain In the preservation of their
tbwber aad and in the defeat of the
acaeiar. of tlx timber sharks, whose
WMwuncrade ndr the guise of "poor
saettlers" bas o aroused the vociferous
vramoatbtes of Senator Heyburn. No
cwpaer In Idaho cares enough about
Lfef pubMc Interest to expose the sham
and fraud of the Heytourn plea for the
or settler"; sa The Oregonlan does it,
Poor settler, forsooth! The Orego
nlan today contains a lift of "poor settler-
wbo have been trying to grab
tfee timber lands in the Shoshone re
serve. Thy are about the poorest set
tlers that ever perjured themselves in
any camm. There are about ISO of
tnem who have erected squatters cab
ins -aitkln the limits of the Shoshone
-withdrawal, and not one of them ever
bad the slightest purpose of cultivat
tec the land, building a home, or
doing aught but fleece the United
States out of 169 acres of line timber.
Possible exceptions are three persons
named Herdman. Uhlman and Klau?
mho live in their cabins part of the
time, but even these scarcely pretend
to be there to cultivate the soil. The
remaining 177 are fraudulent entrymen
They win be deprived of their lands.
They should be.
These are the "poor settlers" Senator
Heyburn is trying to protect. They live
all aver the Northwest everywhere but
in the Shoshone reserve and are en
gaged in all sorts of occupations. They
are attorneys, bankers, merchants, and
railroad men. from the general man
ager down everything but bona fide
bujidors of homes in the virgin forest.
. Just road the list. Your tears, too, will
flow -with Heyburn's when you run
across the familiar names of the?e out
raged and helpless "poor settlers."
MR. TAFT RETURNS.
Secretary Taft and his party have re
turned from their tour in the Orient.
They have Inspected the Philippines,
hobnobbed with the Mikado and drunk
toa -with Tsl An. If the twenty-three
Representatives and seven Senators
tvh went along do not know a great
deal more than they did when they left
beme, it is not Mr. Taft's fault. He per
scvercs In the somewhat antiquated no
tion that a Congressman possesses al
most human capacity for acquiring
knowledge, and that there is such a
thing as getting evidence enough to
gether to change the mind of a stand
patter, and possibly he is right. It Is
tvell to be hopeful, at any rate.
If it is actually true, as some have as
serted, that nothing under heayen will
ohange a. standpatter's- opinions, then
the trip to the Orient has been wasted.
for Mr. Taft's primary purpose was to
convince his personally conducted
party of Congressmen that some low
ering of the Dlngleylte barriers be
tween us and our dearly loved Filipino
wards is practical and necessary. The
Congressmen may have been Instructed
by their journey, but they were not -all
chered. Senator Patterson, of Colo
rado. comes home with the gloomiest
views He Is positively depressing. The
Philippines, he thinks, are a smoldering
volcano. JMr. Toft, on the other hand,
is full of hope He found Manila grow
ing into an American town with k com
plete outfit of schools, saloons, bacilli,
and, presumably, grafters. He dimly
suggests that the Congressmen's Intel
lects may have been affected by the
agricultural conditions which he pre
rented touching upon the tariff, and he
round the Filipino government moving
toward efficiency and economy.
It is pleasant to learn from him that
the vexed questions arising from the
friars land titles are on the way to a
settlement. The government has ac
quired the land and the price is to be
arbitrated. The next step will be to di
vide the tracts in small holdings among
the people. 31r. Taft's- very hopeful
views about the Chinese boycott are the
only ones he expresses which seem
based upon an Insufficient knowledge of
the facts in the case. Ho thinks the
boycott -will presently die away of It
self on account of the Chinese need for
American goods. Other observers fear.
that It Is rather a profound national
movement, and that certain nations.
particular' Germany, will use It to our.
permanent injury in the Chinese mar
kets. Time will tell -who Is right about
It. In any case, no good American will
dissent froni Mr. Patterson's opinion
that the manhood and civilization of
the Pacific Coast are of more import-"
ance than Chinese commerce, and this.
one gathers from his reported remarks.
is also the opinion of Mr. Taft.
VOX POPDLI, VOX BEL
If in any mind there remained a
doubt of the reality of the fraud b
charged against certain men who have
acquired title In ope way and another
to large tracts of public land, and if
anybody still questioned the Justice of
the prosecutions which the Government
has maintained against those men, all
such doubt must now end and the ques
tions have been forever answered. To
say that the recent convictions nave
vindicated the Government would not
be quite accurate, for honest offlclals
seeking to protect the National domain
from plunder need no vindication, even
though the ingeniously labyrinthine.
trails of crime should sometimes mis
lead them. But In this case they were
not misled. The outcome of the trials
has settled that polnL It has also dis
posed of the tale that the indictments
were a persecution of the defendants
from political or personal malice. The
crimes were real, and in prosecuting the
defendants the officers of the Govern
ment were simply doing their duty as"
they had sworn. So much can no
longer be denied.
It is a fine thing to know once and
for all that Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Heney
and their subordinates have been acting
from honest motives and not from mal
ice. It is also fine to see wrongdoers
brought to justice: and If those were
the only results of the trials they would
be adequate. The time and money of
the Government would have been well
spent. But the Justification of Mr.
Hitchcock's motives and the punish
ment of the actual criminals are not the
only, nor are they the most Important,
results of the land-fraud prosecutiona
To study these casea as they deserve
one must look at them not as isolated
events originating and ending upon the
Pacific Coast, but as part of a great
ethical drama as wide as the Nation
In its action; growing out of the circum
stances of our civilization, and by Its
tragic catastrophe profoundly modify
ing our future history.
That contempt of the individual for
the rights and welfare of the public
whose practical outcome is graft, to use
the word we have coined for it. has
two causes, neither of them In Itself
to be regretted. The conditions of life
in America during almost the whole of
our history have forced the individual
man to depend upon himself rather
than upon the organized forces of so
ciety for his livelihood and happiness.
Contrast today what a man gets from
the public In the way of comfort and
pleasure in such a city as Paris and In
New York. In Paris It is not speaking
extravagantly to say that the great
aim of the municipality Is to make life
easy and enjoyable to Its citizens. In
New York the beginnings of such a
purpose cannot, of course, be ignored.
but It is not yet pronounced. "What a
man gets in that city he still gets for
himself in almost every Instance. The
organized municipality is scarcely
aware of his existence. If it has any
purpose, which is doubtful. It Is cer
tainly not the happiness and comfort
of the individual who resides there.
But if in New York City the individual
is still a discreet and unorganized so
cial unit, .moving in his own orbit
without much reference to the weal or
woe of his fellows, what Is he In our
thickly settled rural districts? What
real sense of the civic entity as a
beneficent whole exists among the
farmers of Iowa or Nebraska, and what
has the civic entity, or the Nation, ever
done to create such a sense? It has
done something. It affords a rather
vague protection to their lives and
more effective protection to their prop
erty. It occasionally presents them
with a public building for a postofilce.
Beyond that, the only real and vital
relation between the citizen and the
Nation, even in our most populous
states, is that of the taxpayer to the
taxgatherer, while upon the frontier the
individual is left absolutely to himself.
Organized society does nothing for him
either to help or hinder. The condi
tions of frontier life do little or noth
ing to develop social consciousness
and obligation; they do everything to
develop the individual consciousness
and pow'ers.
It must be remembered also that
every part of this Nation has been
within very recent times a frontier, and
we shall then begin to understand why
it is that In America our sense of the
rights of the individual Is so enormous
ly overdeveloped, while our sense of the
public as an entity having rights and
subject to wrongs Is only nascent. As
population becomes denser government
draws nearer to the Individual and
takes more and more of the aspects of
personality. It begins to protect, to ed
ucate, to care for his health, to provide
for his happiness, and in proportion as
it does these things the sense of obli
gation toward It develops in the citizen.
The prime achievement of President
Roosevelt and the one that assures him
a place in history among the greatest
of men is his transformation of the pop
ular Ideal of the Government from the
"taxgatherer to the friend and protector
of the common man. Nobody loves the
taxgatherer and nobody can believe it
much of a sin to cheat him; but to rob
the Government when it has come to
be the. people's friend Is a Very different
thing. And it is precisely because Mr.
Roosevelt has wrought this transforma
tion in the very nature of our concept
of government that we all sympathize
with him in his victorious campaign
against graft. We were never able to
perceive the iniquity of graft until we
came to see that It Is an injury to our
best friend.
One may discern without much effort
another reason why Americans have
not in former years been very sensitive
to thefts of public property. The fact
that to steal from the public Is to steal
from every man In the country Is the
least of all reasons for condemning
graft, but It is the most patent and per
haps the most effective upon the pub
He mind. Nevertheless, the amount
stolen from any one person Is infini
tesimal In many cases, and when nearly
every man has, or thinks he has, prop
erty to waste, as the case has always
been In America, it is difficult to make
him care much about the penny or two
that goes to the grafters. Out of our
abundance we could replace the thefts
with much less trouble than we could
punish the thieves. Thus we may ac
count in part for our indifference to
graft in past decades.
But we note of late years an extra
ordinary development everywhere in
America of what we call the civic con
sciousness. The Individual Is demand
ing from the Government, on the one
hand, what he never before thought of
demanding, and he is proffering In re
turn a loyal zeal for the rights of the
public which Is new In our history. It
is no longer felt by America as a slight
or venial act to steal from the Govern
menL Add to this new and higher pa
triotism the land hunger which is one
of the most astonishing phenomena of
the twentieth century, so far, and the
knowledge that the .great public do
main is almost gone, and one Is no
longer at a loss to understand why the
Government ha3 been encouraged to
prosecute the gigantic thefts of the
homes of the people with relentless and
Inexorable determination. The outcome
of the cases is a victory of true pa
triotism over the forces which have
been working to disintegrate the Na
tion. It is not the first such victory,
but it has been won against greater
odds than any before. It does not mark
the turning of the tide; it indicates that
'the tide is sweeping now with a power
that nothing can reslsL The Nation
has spoken, and its voice is for righteousness.
UOXV TO ELECT A SENATOR.
The Washington Post fiercely ar
raigns the direct primary system of
nominations because the poor man has
no ohance. The late primary In Vir
ginia cost the successful candidate for
Senator upward of 511.000. The winning
candidate for Governor paid out $9000.
It was all warranted by law. "The pri
mary," says the Post, "makes neces
sary a headquarters, clerks, stationery,
postage, advertising, railroad Journeys,
and other proper expenses. How would
Dan Voorhees ever have got to the Sen
ate under such conditions? How would
Wade Hampton ever have got there?"
To be sure. How would they? Also
how did they get there? And suppose
they hadn't? What of It? We have
long been led to believe that It Is just
a little more expensive than $&0M or
$11,000 for many Senators most .of
them, perhaps to procure an election.
Headquarters, postage, stationery, rail
road journeys, clerks and other things
are necessary In the campaign of any
Senator before a Legislature: and still
more things are usual and even indis
pensable. If they were not, we may be
quite sure that some seats in the United
States Senate, which are now occupied
by neither Hamptons, Voorheeses nor
others like them, would have somebody
In them besides Clark of Montana. De
pew of New York, Allee of Delaware
and Penrose of Pennsylvania. Argu
ment In favor of the present system of
electing Senators on the ground of
economy Is something really new and
startling.
Yet we are obliged to acknowledge
that the direct primary In Orogon is an
experiment so far as It pertains to
Senators, an untried experiment with a
problematical outcome. No one knows
how it will work. No one knows
whether the Legislature will pay the
slightest attention to any candidate for
Senator successful In the primary- No
one knows how far the primary pledges
will be regarded as binding on legislat
ors. No one knows whether failure or
refusal to make any pledge will mili
tate against any candidate for the Leg
islature. Everybody knows that we
have much to learn yet about the di
rect primary, but no one, candidate or
otherwise, has objected to the innova
tion because he fears that it will be
more expensive than the old system.
SOME AVOIDABLE HANDICAPS.
The British steamship Oceano. after
being ensnared 1n the meshes of Gov
ernment red tape and stranded through
the blunders of somebody, has at last
reached the drydock In this city. Ac
tual physical Injuries to the vessel are
light, but the delay Is expensive for the
owners, and the underwriters must foot
the repair bill. The accident, coming
at the beginnig of what promises to be
an active season, is anything but a good
advertisement for the port According
to reports from the lower river, there
was no one to blame for the disaster to
the Oceano. The steamer apparently
took the bit In her teeth, as It were, and
left the channel to pile up on the spit.
There Is a tradition that away back In
the dim and misty past the Board of
Pilot Commissioners Investigated such
accidents as that which delayed the
Oceano and fixed the blame for them,
but nothing of this nature occurs now.
The quarantine station has been estab
Hshed for more than five years, and
during that period scores of big steam
ships have been piloted up and down
the channel leading to and from It.
The Oceano was drawing less than
fifteen feet of water, a draft so light
In comparison with some of the ships
that have made the trip In safety that
the performance Is certainly not a high
tribute to the skill of the pilot. After
cruising over the grounds for five
years, it would seem that a little better
knowledge of the channels might be
one of the qualifications demanded of a
pilot. One of the excuses appearing In
the newspaper .accounts of the trouble
is that a buoy was missing. This, to a
degree. Is an extenuating circumstance.
but If a fifteen-foot ship cannot be kept
In the channel by men who have been
using It for years without the aid of
buoys, it might be well to establish
compulsory pilotage and depend alto
gether on .buoys. More buoys and less
pilots might, after all, prove an advan
tage. In the old days of the Flavel re
gime on the bar, sufficiently clear eye
sight to discern the smoke of the tug
boat which was leading the way was
about the only qualification Insisted on
for a bar pilot, but the demands of
present-day commerce require some
thing better.
If the overworked Board of Pilot
Commissioners should decide to lnves
tlgote the grounding of the Oceano.
they might also make some inquiry
Into the present whereabouts of the
state pilot-boat. With a number of
sailing vessels and steamers due, and
the weather not at all conducive to the
peace of mind of mariners approaching
the Columbia for the first time, it might
be supposed that the pilot schooner,
rested after her Summer of idleness,
was out . on the station guarding the
shipping. Unfortunately, the "schooner
Is laid up for repairs In this city, it
having been discovered simultaneously
with the appearance of the Fall fleet of
ships that her masts were rotten and
must be replaced. It might ie supposed
that the overworked and underpaid
custodians of the state's property and
superintendents of the state's pilots
would have discovered these rotten
masts in the Summer-time, when there
was very little for the pilot-boat to do'
out on the cruising grounds. Such a
discovery however, Mould have been a
direct violation of precedent, and would
have made It necessary for the pilots to
proceed to their station much earlier
than will now be possible.
The hard-and-fast rules of the Gov
ernment compel shipping to waste an
undue amount of time In getting
through quarantine, and, as we are
several thousand miles away from the
seat of power, the evil is not easily
remedied. There Is a Pilot Commission,
however, here on the scene, which has
power to facilitate the handling of
shipping at the mouth of the river by
holding the pilots to a strict account
ability for delays and disaster. Per
haps. If some of the business men who
suffer by this faulty service were placed
on the Pilot Commission, there would
be an improvement.
Baron Komura has started from New
York westward to his home In the Far
East, not only without misgivings con
cerning the reception that will be given
him by his countrymen, but. as stated
by Baron Kaneko, one of his party, in
anticipation of a cordial welcome when
he reaches Yokohama. If the Japanese'
government is not strong enough to
protect its peace commissioner from
the fury of the mob element, it is pitia
bly weak. As to the higher element In
Japan the men of prudence and fore
thought, who lead the more intelligent
masses they have quietly acquiesced In
the work of the peace commissioners
from the first, and. If not satisfied, have
curbed their disappointment and main
tained the discreet silence which Is
characteristic of the more cultivated
men of Japan. There is a noisy element
there as elsewhere, and this element
broke out riotously when the peace
terms with Russia were made known.
It Is believed that this spasm of wrath
has spent Itself, and that the envoys
will be received at Toklo with the dig
nity and cordiality befitting their work
and Its Importance.
President William Ralney Harocr. of
the University of Chicago, has made a
brave fight against the insidious disease
by which he was attacked some months
ago, and apparently a losing one. Can
cer, which, next to leprosy. Is the de
spair of medical science and the relent
less foe of human life when Its germs
once find lodgment In the human-body.
Is about to triumph over surgical skill
In his case, as It has done In so many
others, with the result that a brave and
useiui me is entering the valley of the
shadow. Dr. Harper's resignation In
the face of the Inevitable Is as sublime
as his courage In fighting the disease
that is soon to triumph over him. Those
who are close to him In the domestic
and social relations of , life have gath
ered at his home to await the end. while
the educational world awaits in sorrow
and sadness the going out of a bright
light from Its firmament.
A Chicago dispatch announces that a
number of large New York corporations
will remove to Chicago in order that
their employes may escape the contam
ination of Wall-street gambling. It Is
not clear that the gambling germ In
these employes will be killed by Chicago
air so long as the Windy City remains
the headquarters of the "bucket-shoo"
gambling of the United States. High
linance as applied to stocks and bonds
may be a little slow In Chicago, as com
pared with New York, but the Chlcairo
wheat pit offers greater opportunity for
quick action for gamblers than was
ever possible In Wall street. Many em
ployers of labor have promoted the
cause of temperance by refusing to em
ploy a man who drank to excess. The
same method of reform would undoubt
edly work to advantage If applied to
men addicted to gambling.
Hall Caine has publicly announced
that he would not give up being a nov
elist to become either a millionaire or a
President. This might be taken as a
confession of Mr. Caine's knowledge of
his own limitations. The novelist
reaches his pedestal In the hall of fame
by the exercise of a most vivid Imag
ination. It would be Impossible for the
millionaire to rake In dollars, or the
President to secure votes, by such an
agency. Novelists, millionaires and
Presidents have but little In common,
and the author of "The Deemster,
"The Christian" and others Is In no Im
mediate danger of being called on to
leave his post as a writer of lugubrious
novels to become a financier or a poli
tician.
Royalty must come up with its taxes
in imperial Germany. The Crown
Prince has an estate In the Oels dls
trlct which he Inherited from his grand
father. Upon this the assessors of the
district levied taxes to the amount of
$1250. The Crown Prin6e claimed ex
emption under the statute that exempts
the crown from taxation. The Superior
Court of .Prussia has. however, decided
the case against the Prince, and he will
be required to pay like any burgher in
the land. Frederick William Is thus
early learning lessons in equal rights
that will no doubt Drove valuable be
fore he closes his life as Emperor of
Germany.
The Shepherds' Bulletin, of recent
date, contains a review of the wool
situation that is encouraging to wool
growers In the great West. It estl
mates the wool clip of the current year
at 300,000,000 pounds, and the consump
tion of wool in manufactures at 550
000,000 pounds per annum. The strength
of the situation with reference to do
mestic wools is therefore clearly appar
ent, and the outlook Is sufficiently en
couraglng to sustain sheenowners ii
their determination not to be run off
the range by the shotguns of lawless
cattlemen.
Securities having a value of $360,000
were, stolen from a Wall-street ofilce
Wednesday. Dispatches conveying the
news state that the transfer of the se
curities has been stopped and a detect
ive employed to trace them. These de
tails will prevent the public from iumn
lng at the conclusion that the crime
was committed by the life Insurance
crowd. It will be noted by the devel
opments now coming to light that thev
neve,r purloined anything that was not
Immediately negotiable and worth its
face value.
Mr. Harriman might as well come up
here Monday and talk It over with 2r.
Hill. Why don't Peace Plenipotentiary
rank Baker arrange it?
We suppose that Senator Heyburn
will be surprised that he said It In the
cold, gray gloom qf the morning after.
Senator Heyburn at least admits that
somebody lied.
One more day, and then Portland
Day.
High-water mark 100,000.
0REG0N0Z0NE '
Impressions of Lcs Angeles.
LOS ANGELES. CaL, Sept. 24. The
first thing you see when you get off the
train at the Southern Pacific depot in
Los Angeles Is the Methusalch of the
palm tree family. It stands Just outside
the station, where you board the street
car. This tree is surrounded by a small
plot of grass and an Iron fence. It Is
old and has to be protected. It looks as
If the snows of centuries have descended
upon it; but theyMell me that this city
never permits snow to fall, as that would
Interfere with Its reputation as a snow
less, frostless climate. Consequently It
may be dust Instead of snow that whitens
the head and whiskers of this aged palm
tree. Yes, truly, a palm has whiskers.
Usually the whiskers are of a muddy
gray, ' denoting age. Now and then In
Los Angeles you will find a palm tree
that has been shaved. Somebody has
Informed me that this sort of tree merely
has tho appearance of having been
shaved, but It Is really of another spe
cies than the bearded palm. I cannot
ay as to that; I am not up on palmistry.
My Intention was to study this venerable
palm, as It was the first I had seen of
the sort in Southern California. I ap
proached It to read the tin placard tack
ed to Its trunk. The fact that It bore
a placard and that it looked so ancient
proved that It had a history. When I
read the first word of the Inscription I
turned todly away. The word was
Washington." No doubt this is one oj
the many trees under which George
Washington took command of the army.
have been shown a dozen of them in
the vicinity of Cambridge, Mass., but It
Is going to be a difficult matter to make
me believe that Washington took com
mand of the army In Los Angeles. There
Is a statue near by that looks like Chris,
tophcr Columbus from a distance, but I
am determined not to approach it. These
people will have a hard time convincing
the underrigned that Columbus discovered
America by setting foot on Hatjta. Catallna
Island. Instead of San Salvador. I am
from Oregon by way of Missouri.
Los Angeles, they tell me. Is painted
green In the winter time. Just now It
looks thirsty. The town needs a drink
of Oregon mist for its summer beverage.
Some drops of rain fell the other day for
the first time In four months, and the
people stood out In tho streets with their
heads back and their mouths open to
catch the drops. But Los Angeles prop
ones to have all the water It needs, both
winter and summer. The city has voted
bonds to pipe the Owens river up In Inyo
County, acrow the desert 210 miles to
town. It Is going to cost only J23.O0O.O0O.
The Los Angeles Times remarked this
morning that the Owens river project and J
the Panama canal both will be finished at I
about the same time, five years hence.
The Times seems to claim both the Owens
and the Panama projects as Los Angeles
enterprises. Los Angeles airships Just
now are experlmcnClng In the upper
strata, the common belief being that the
secret intention of the aeronauts is to
sail to the moon and arrange for that
luminous body to remain stationary over
the city as a Los Angoles searchlight.
Some people up In Inyo County are ob
jecting to the appropriation of the Owens
river, and it may be that other parts of
the world wilt protest against this con
templated monopolization of the moon.
There are more religions in Los Angeles
than one can find anywhere else on earth.
They are all here, from the most ancient
to the one that was promulgated at 5:15
p. m. today. There are Pagans, -Sun-
worshiper?, Christians. Holy Rollers and
holy terrors here. It appears that when
ever any othodor preacher decides to be
come unorthodox he comes to Los An
geles and Is received with open arms and
open purses. Then he keeps open house
and has large audiences. But the ortho
dox brethren are here still, preaching In
stone palaces, adobe missions and
theaters. On the front of a large tent at
one of the outlying beeches Is a sigh that
sounds somewhat startling. It reads:
"Jesus Is coming. Services Here Tonight."
On the map Is a place called Morocco,
located betweon Los Angeles and the
ocean. One naturally expects to find the
place built up with quaint Moorish pal
aces. Today I took a trolley ride through
Morocco Just to study Moorish archi
tecture. It was an observation car. The
spieler here he is called a guide mega
phoned the points of Interest along the
route. At one point there was a little
box house, about nine feet square, with a
real estate advertisement on It. All
around stretched vast fields of beans.
Beans to the right of us. beans to the left
of us! Just as we reached this little
shack the guide shouted: "Now we are
going Into Moroccol" Immediately there
after he called out: "Now we are going
out of Morocco!" That was Morocco. It
reminded men of a place called Hatfield,
In Western Kansas, which was adver
tised to the extent of full pages In city
dally papers during the Kansas boom
days. Being In that vicinity, one day I de
termined to drive across the prairie and
visit Hatfield. I calculated that I should
reach the city by noon, and there wero
visions of a good dinner at the leading
hotel. After traveling until 2 p. m.. with
no Indication of the presence of a metro
polis, I stopped at a lonely windmill
one of those affairs with a two-story
box house built up around It and In
quired the direction to Hatfield. A man
stuck his head out of the upper window
and replied: "Thl3 Is Hatfield," That
man was John H. Whltson, now a well
known novelist. Ho was running a week
Iy paper at Hatfield, his office and real
dence being In the windmill.
Los Angeles needs no eulogies. Never
theless, a man who cams here recently
from the East and settled down Is said
to have written back to a friend:
"I ought tb be happy, but I am not. I
shall have to die some time, and I'm
afraid I shall be disappointed: In heaven.'
ROBERTUS LOVE.
The Burton Trial.
Discussing the new 'trial of Senator
Burton, which wlll.be held in St. Louis
In October, the Topeka (Kan.) Journal
says "there Is undoubtedly consider
able sympathy felt for Burton in Wash
Inrton. Washington Is a hot-bed of
grafting. Burton Is by no means the only
United States Senator who is guilty of
wrongdoing, as has been shown, but lie Is
the first one who was caught. Other
grafters would like to see Burton ge Ires
so as to lessen the chances of their being
found out and punished. There has been
considerable talk, too, among Burton s
friends, that Burton was stagled out by
the administration for puntehaaeat, while
other hijeh icrafters were not tuockee:
but that Is Is not true is shown by 'the
conviction of at least one other UsUea
States Senator since, and the prompt dis
missal from the service sf numerous high
officials who have ben guilty of trans&c
tlons that appear queetk)B&Me. Burton
was simply the first Senator to. feel the
hand of justice under President Rooee
velt's programme to do away with graft.
tag."
THREE NORTHWEST CITIES, j
Spokane Spokesman-Review.
Portland people are naturally elated by
the decision of the Northern Pacific and
the Great Northern to build andoperale
jointly a new railroad Into that city from
Kennewick. on the Northern Pacific, down
the. north bank of the Columbia River.
This practically makes Portland a three-
rallrbad town, where It had been a one,
."Or. while the Northern Pacific haa a lint
from Tacoma down to Portland, the haul
by that roundabout way, over the Cas
cade range, was so long and expensive
that the Northern Pacific has not been
a troublesome competitor of the Harriman
system. In 'Oregon.
Naturally, too. there Is some concern in
the Puget. Sound cities of Seattle and Ta
coma over this bold stroke by the Hill
lines. Seattle In recent years had rather
taken the load over Portland In popula
tion and commercial-supremacy. This new
turn of events puts Portland again In the
running and-may be the means of giving
that city such an impetus as will leave
Seattle to the rear. It Is not clear how
Tacoma, with only one railroad, the
Northern Pacific, and sitting between two
.powerful rivals on the north and south,
can hope to recover the long gap
which already separates It from Seat
tle' and Portland. Tacoma, however,
bas resources and attractions which as
sure Its continued growth and pros
perity. It will, of course, cost the Northern
Pacific more to haul .a ton of wheat over
the Cascade Mountains to Tacoma than
to haul It down the Columbia River to
Portland, and if that company does 'not
find a way to carry the burden to the
easier destination It will. Indeed, be de
serving of Tacoma's gratitude.
In any event, a lively race between
Seattle and Portland may be anticipated
for the next four or five years. Seattle
spirit is not the kind that throws up
the sponge because its rival has a little
better of the present round. The proba
bilities are that the progressive men who
have done so much to build that fine city
In .the wilderness will set their jaws a
little harder and go at the contest with
renewed determination.
Benny on the Catfish.
Chicago Tribune.
The catfish Is a slippery, gooey kind
of fish, that inhabits all kinds of water,
but prefers dirty water. It looks llko
a large head with a body and tall stuck
on to It. Catfish frequently attain the
size of a good, big schoolboy, and are
quite Irritable and ferocious. They have
sharp jiggers on their sides and else
where with which they can Jab you
like everything. When you auddenly
pull a small catfish with a large head
and a yellow undersldo out of the water
and flop It on the bank It sometimes
makes a noise llko "glugj which Is cat
fish for swearing. Once there was a man
who lived on the Mississippi River. A
large catfish had broken all his lines
and swallowed all his hooks. He made
a big iron hook, fastened it to the end
of a long leather strap, tooc a porter
house steak for bait, and caught the cat
fish. It weighed 2H? pounds. He told
another man about It, and tho other
man told father. If It had. weighed 215
pounds . he would have said so. The
works of creation are wonderful. Lot
us always be honest and courageous.
and obey our parents and teachers, and
wo will grow up to. be useful.
BENNY.
Bryan Strongest Man In His Party.
Louisville Herald.
How could Colonel Bryan' be otherwise
than he thus pathetically describes, him
self? Forty-five. In the full possession of
physical strength and activity, ready.
three years hence, to encounter another
defeat for the Presidency? Grover Cleve
land, out of three Presidential candidacies.
drew two victories., but he has no follow
ing today in the masses of the Democratic
party. Mr. Bryan, twice defeated, is to
day the strongest man In his party. He
can never again poll as large a popular
or receive as large an electoral vote as he
did. either In ISS or 1900. but he can get
what remains of the Irreclaimable South,
and say, when It is over, that he "also
ran." Bryan threatens to be "the Van
Buren of 'his party.
Trade Advantages.
Baltimore American. .
A shoemaker la a whole-aouled man
and generally well heeled.
A baker can always raise the dough.
A butcher can usually contrive to make
both ends meat.
A hatter Is sure to be a block ahead of
all other men.
A huckster has no trouble with the pq-
llce In making a good living out of green
goods. -
A baby-carriage manufacturer never
falls to push his business.
A hairdresser, as a rule, does a thriv
ing business in combination locks.
A newspaper roan rarely falls to get his
paper on the street.
An electrician Is always posted -on cur
rent topics.
Sullivan and Fat.
Collier's Weekly.
"Nobody loves a fat man anyway,"
observed the Hon. John L. Sullivan when
the sheriff closed his fifty-fourth saloon.
Mr. Sullivan threw too much emphasis
on what was only one among the causes
of his declining popularity. The disap
pearance of comely outlines In bis body
weighed less with the tickle public than
the loss of his ability to plant his fist
Upon a fellow-belng's Jaw with such mo
mentum that the aforesaid man and
brother would Instantaneously cease to
feel or think.
The Wicked Prosper.
Chicago Inter Ocean.
And-so the soldier Is denied, the aid to
sobriety which- the canteen offered him.
and Is thrown into the vile resorts cre
ated, by the denial of that aid. That is. the
evil done by notably good man and women.
By their success in suppressing the can
teen these good men and women have
laid snares for the feet of the weak and
caused the wicked to prosper, That Is
the plain, unvarnished truth, as stated by
General Grant.
Too General Practice.
Pittsburg Gazette.
President Roosevelt's character as a
temperate man could not be successfully
as tailed,, even though it were known that
h accepted presents of wine, beer and
whisky. The incident affords excellent
opportunity for a. condemnatory word of
the tee general practice of Jumping to
conclusions aoout ones cnaracter Because
of one, or even two er three Isolated acts.
His Sasporter.
Philadelphia Press.
She Here a an. Interesting, story - of a
man who begged to be sent to jail In
islaee of his wife. . .
He Aha! And yet you always declare
that mea are never seu-sacrlflclnr.
Sne Well, this man's wife happened to
be a washwoman, and if she went to. jail
he'd have to work.
The Difficulty.
Washington Post.
Most of us might be more Interested In
this scrap between the Swedes and Nor
wegtens Kirs ceuld tell them apart.
WHAT IS ORIGIN OF LIFEf
American Medicine.
For nearly two months the newspapers
of the country have been printing sensa- :
tional articles with regard to the supposed
discovery of the beginnings of life, as
made by one of the assistants In science ?
at Cambridge, England, during June. The
announcement that the action of radium
on a sterile culture medium produced ap
pearances as of life came at a very fa
vorable time to be well exploited. With
regard to appearances of life, the medical
profession perhaps has been deceived of-
tener than any other class of serious sci
entific students. For years cancer inves
tigation In many countries has apparently
pointed to the fact that certain parasites
connected etlologically with the new
growth existed within the cells, at least,
of the luxuriantly growing tissues. These
parasitic appearances have been described
by many observers, and have been pic
tured m many ways. Photographic re
productions of them have been given time
and again, and faithful artists have cop
led them in minutest details. For nearly
two decades there has been a discussion
as to what these appearances mean, and
those most Interested in them have not
hesitated to proclaim them Independent
living beings. In the last few years there
has come a revulsion of feeling, and now
practically all the authorities In pathology
are agreed that these appearances are
only signs of degeneration within the
cells, or artefacts caused by the staining
and other methods of preparation for
study. Under these circumstances it
Sould not be surprising for medical scien
sts, at least, to be especially skeptical
In accepting appearances under the mi
croscope a3 any evidence of the existence
of life, unless there were other proofs for
this supposition. With regard to the sup
posed, germs of life, or radlobes, as their
discoverer called them, claiming not ab
solutely to consider them as living, and
yet begging the question by the very des
ignation which he employed, there will
have to be very careful Investigation be
fore even the possibility of their repre
senting life can be entertained.
As to the beginning of life. If there
really arc any such things, in the present
stage of our evolution It seems probable
that they would be smaller than those
which have been under Mr. 'Burke's ob
servation in England. There are some
micro-organisms definitely recognized that
are no larger than the appearances de
scribed by the English scientist, while tho
cause of foot-and-mouth disease, as In
vestigated by Loefflcr some eight years
ago. is probably so small that It Is quite
beyond the range of any microscopic pow
ers that the German Investigator could
obtain, though as his Investigation was
carried on under tho authority of tho
German government, and therefore with
the best possible microscopes . available.
It would seem that there could be no
doubt about the accuracy of his observation-
It would naturally be expected that
any so-called beginning of life would" bo
much smaller than any definite organism
known to exist. The organism of the
foot-and-mouth disease, however, though
Invisible, can be grown very readily, and
though It passes through a Pasteur filter.
It can produce infection even when it has
been diluted many times In successive cul
ture mediums. This Is one crux of the
present sensational announcement; an
other is to be found in the fact that so
far in the experience of medical practi
tioners, radiations such as come from ra
dium, far from encouraging life In any
way. have shown a distinct tendency to
Inhibit It.
That radium inhibits life has been true
not only of micro-organisms In culture
mediums, but also of such rapidly grow
ing cells as those of malignant growths
In the human body. The physical agent
with which physicians have had most to
do and that most nearly resembles radium
In Its effects Is the roentgen ray, and thar
has always been destructive and not con
structive In Its effect. It was the an
nouncement not many months since of Its
destructive action on germinal particles .
even in human beings, that threatened to
wreck its popularity as a therapeutic
agent. Its effect on tnc lire ot spermato
zoa was found to be extremely unfavor
able, to the extent even of rendering ster
ile those who were not careful In tho
manipulation of roentgen-ray tubes. This
same phenomenon has been noted In all
departments of biology. The larvae of In
sects failed to undergo their usual meta
morphosis Into winged creatures after
having been exposed to the roentgen rays
for some time. Ita effect on seeds is al
ways to delay growth and eventually to
kill the germ of life in them if only they
are exposed to Its action long enough.
It would be Indeed surprising, men, it a
similar agent should prove to be a pro
ducer of life where there was none before.
Analogies are not arguments, but still
th. true s hmlncancc ot a scienunc ODser-
vatlon can often be best understood by
means of analogy.
English Girl Gardeners.
(New York Press.)
Rnther an odd occupation for a young
irnmnn. as we would vlow It through
American spectacles, but the girl gardener
In England Is making sucn rapia smaea
that, so far as-numbers go, she Is going
rapidly ahead of the pettlcoated bee cul
tnHnt In this country, who Is the most--'
numerous class In bucolic vocations. "Miss
tvp. lobblnir srardener. terms. i. a. u.
or by contract," Is the form of a business
announcement sent out dj- nunareas i
girls of excellent and well-to-do families
In England, and they are ready to produce
credentials proving their competney from
such Institutions as Swanley Horticultural
College, Studeley Castle or the School of
the Royal Botanic Society In London. The
education In horticulture and floriculture
in these institutions is thorough and prac
tical, but by no means Inexpensive. The
two years' course In Swanley costs $400 a
year, and at Studeley the price is higher
than in the majority of the most fashion
able seminaries either in the United Klng
,iatt or in the United States $1100 yearly.
The Royal Botanic Society, which receives
a Government stipend, cnarges oniy tne
nominal fee of 5100 for the first year, JT5
for the second and $30 for the third. The
graduates from any of the three can. give
spades to the male gardener when It
comes to artistic flower bedding.
Misunderstanding.
Columbus Dispatch.
"Why are you here?" asked the parson,
who was visiting the jail, addressing one
of the boarders.
"Because of a misunderstanding, ex
plained the ex-bookkeeper. "The boss
sald'it was time to begin taking stock, and
after I had taken about a cartload he had
me arrested."
A 'Night in Italy.
Owen Meredith. ,
Sweet are the -rosy memories of tha lips
That flrt klsd our, albeit they Xls n
BweetCPthe sight of sunset-saillng ships,.
Although they leave us on a lonely shore;
Sweet are- familiar sonss. though Music dips
Her hollow shell in Thought's forlornest
wells:
And sweet, though sad. the sound of. mid
nlcht bells
"When the open casement with the sight-raia
drips-
Midnight, and love, tad youth; and Italy!
Love la the land where love most lovely
seems!
Eand of my love, though I be far from thee.
Lend, for love's sake, the light of thymcon
bean. The spirit of thr crpreas-sTOves,.and all
Thy dark-eyed beauty for a little while
To. my desire. Tet once more let her smile
rail o'er me; o'er jne let her long hair fall.'
Std it la, that we can not ever keep .
That hour to sweeten life's last toll; but
Youth
Grap9 all. and leaves us; aad when we would
weep,
"We dare act let our tears Sow, !eat la. truth.
They fall upon our work which maatTbe'. doa.
Aad so we bind up our torn hearts', from
breaking: 1"'
Our eyea from weeping and our brows from
aching;
Aad follow the loag pathway all aloat.