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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1906)
THE 210KXIXG- OKJEGOSIAX, FIEDAT. FEBRUARY- 9, 1SHXS. Xxrterea at tha Peatofftee at Portias. Or., a Second-Cla.Bi Matter. SUBSCRIPTION KATES. ET INVARIABLE IN ADVANCE. "CI (Br Mail or -Express.) BAILY, SUNDAY INCLUDBD. Twelve saeatka. ?'$2 Six meBtfes... Three wentha z One awBU.rg, ? Delivered fey carrier, per year ? Delivered "fey carrier, per raenth " time, per week - -W Su&day, one year J "Weekly, one year (Ueued Tburaday) . . . l.j0 Sunday and "Weekly, one year HOW TO REMIT Sena poetefflce mosey order, express order sr perses&l check en your l&csal bank. Stamp, eels or currency are at the sender risk. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICE. The 8. C. Beckwitfe Speotel Agwwy New Tark, roama 43-60, Tribune building. Chi cago, roams 51 0-5 12 Trlbaae building. KEPX ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex, Peetofflce News Co., 378 Dearborn street. St. Mlaa. N. St. Marie, Commercial ' tatlea. . Dearer Hamilton & Kesdrick, M;ftl Sevwteenth street; Pratt Book Store, 121 Fifteenth street: I. 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Ferry News Stand. , Washington, D. C Ebbltt House, Pennsyl vanla avenue. - PORTLAND, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, THE RAILROAD RATE BILL. Though the House-of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly for the rall xoad Tate and regulation bill, the real strength of the bill in the House is not fo great as the vote would indicate. There is, however, practically no op position; not because the bill is believed io be just the right thing, but because the; .people of the United States are known to be positively 4n favor of some effective measure of rate regulation in interstate railway traffic; and as a be ginning must be made somewhere, here is the place and now is the time to be gin. Passage of this measure through the House is therefore -the beginning of a new era in dealing with the great cor porations of the country; not merely the transportation, but other industrial systems that flourish through inter state commerce. The objection that it is a departure which tend further to increase and exaltation of the power of the National Government once ould have been potent. Few care for it now. Since the .power of financial and in dustrial effort nas been undergoing enormous- concentration and has reached colossal proportions, never be fore witnessed, objection to concentra tion of power In the hands of the Gov ernment, as the only way of meeting it, no longer has much force, and cer tainly produces no alarm. The Bast is not favorable to this rate bill. The few votes cast against It came wholly from Representatives of districts in Eastern States. Had there been possibility of contest, there would bave been more; but the strength of the West and South in support of the bill rendered all opposition futile, and einoe it was known this was the condi tion, nearly all opposition to it disap pearedor rather failed to appear. The cause of this difference between the East and the West Is apparent. The East supplied the money for the rail roads and holds the bonds. The West and South want equity In the manage ment of lhe traffic. They want only fair" rates and no discrimination. The Hepburn measure lj not revolu tionary. It does not mean confiscation of railroad property. Its Intent is to siop discrimination in rates between persons and places, to cut out the abuses of private car lines and to give the Interstate Commerce Commission the power, to substitute a reasonable rate for one found, after Investigation, to be unreasonable. It is not the Intent at all to bring the railroads into poli tics, nor can the measure have this ef fect -.The' 'Commission will not be a body of politicians. They are to be ex perts in the -business for which they are appointed, and to have nothing what ever to do with -politics. To the forcefulness of the President of the United States it is due that this measure has 'been carried through the House. He has urged it as a thing necessary to satisfy the people and lead to the justice which they demand. The question now is whether the Senate will emasculate It. That body, notoriously, is under control of forces - that call themselves "conservative." Such forces always are allied with capitalistic power. The Senate dreads innovation. It is lhe check, which it was intended to be, upon the -progressive movement of democracy still powerful, but obso lescent; for progressive democracy, not radical - nor extreme, feels that it is "Entitled to have its own legitlmateivay. It has its way far more freely in Great Britain than in the United States; for tiie House of Lords has far less power thaa sour Senate. Our House of Repre sentatives is "the government" in far iess degree than the House of Commons is the" government of the United King dom. -Upon any!'measure the general influence of the' Administration at Washington can-have force and effect upon the Senate only in the proportion that the subject under -consideration jnay have the support of the people. An earnest and general demand by the people of the whole -country will have influence and effect even upon the Sen Ate. Herein lies the only ohance for passing the bill for railway regulation through that body. For the Senate, largely under the influence of capital Jsm and plutocracy, will be little In clined to enact it in any effective form. The sanitary situation at Eugene is distressing, not to say alarming. Ty phoid has assumed the proportions of an epidemic, the average being three cases a day and the total number of esses being nearly 1W. There are also a number of cases of diphtheria and scarlet, fever, and smallpox-still lingers an the classic town, loath te go. Measles ire also quite jprevalent, so that at present .the university towa has about all that it can handle in the way of contagious diseases. It passes compre hension that -the health authorities hare permitted this state of things to prevail An Eugene. The water supply of the town has long been a menace to the health of the people, and should have been looked into and corrected before the present acute conditions resulted. There is absolutely no excuse for such conditions in any enlightened commu nityleast of all in a college town. The very idea of a town of BOW Inhabitants, more or lew, being forced to drink boiled water for months together, as the only safeguard against fever geraw! Could anything be more absurd? THE GROUNDS OF OPPOSITION Among the seven in the House who voted against the railroad rate bill was Representative McCallr "of the Cam-j bridge district, Massachusetts. He Is a ; roan of strong ability and Independent character, little Inclined to favor new things. It is worth, while to note the grounds of his opposition to the Hep-, burn "bill. He was vehement, in his de nunciation. of the principle o whjch 1$ is founded, namely, that government should interfere at all In the railroad business, beyond the abolition of re- 'bates and discriminations. But the present bill goes beyond this, and gives us what Mr. McCali denominates "polit ical ratemaking." By this term he iheans extreme legislation" which Rep resentatives are willing to approve for the sake, of making themselves "solldj with their constituents for the Jiext elections. This scheme, says Mr. McCall, "sprang up In a night." It has been forced by the President, , he intimates, when there was no valid demand for it; forgetting that nothing of the kind could be carried unless the Representa tives knew the -people wanted it. Roosevelt, said McCall, had taken the idea from Bryan, and was making it his own. McCall spoke of the fraternal solicitude with which Mr. Bryan, On starting on his world tour, commended the political ratemaking measure to Mr. .Roosevelt's tender care and ex pressed his emphatic approbation of .Mr. Roosevelt's course. Mr. Bryan 'migh.t have brought an action for Infringe ment, suggested Mr. McCall, for the ratemaking seheme Is a decisive step toward his cherished plan of state own ership. Speaking of the enormous dif ficulty of the work proposed to be done and the vast responsibility to be imposed- on the commissioners who would be called on to make the railroad rates of the country, Mr. McCall said: Germany save a ctrittnjr example of the evils of government rate-makinc where rates were twice as filgb as ours. la France, also, the same condition prevails. In England great, latitude la allowed the roads and rates are less than in Germany and France Tou propose to confer on a mere human agency a practical task that would be superhuman. "VVe are to have a commission made up of prodigies and paid splendid salaries. The President, at Austin. Tex., issi April, before the two housee cf the Texas Legislature, gave his notion, and a lofty one it was, of the character of the men who should constitute the commission. They should not bo swayed by any Influence whatever social, political or any others to show improper favoritism to the railroads, and, "on the other hand. If the rate is unjustly attacked, no matter If that attack has behind It the feeling or preju dice of 89 per cent of the people, tbey will Ftand up against that attack." This is a noble, ideal, but wher; are these paragons to be found? Even tar higher officer, than commlsrioners are rot always found to be un responsive to public sentiment. A good point was made by the Mas sachusetts man when he referred to the difficulty the President had experienced in getting the right men to serve on the Panama Canal Commission. He had this to say on what he called the pres ent tendency to transform law and clamor into law: There is a prescription that will almost ln.falllbly work In forcing through such legis lation. Flercly denounce some 1Vall-street magnate by name and then add some lurid Reclamation abcut insurance, and you could Auccessfully rob any buslners in the 'country but farming, and. If farmers ' were not so numerous, they, too, would not escape. The people do not end us here to enact every popular noise Into law. (Laughter.) At tho rate we are now going. It will not be long before wc regulate everything and everybody from Washington. Tou cannot govern the whole universe from a single point and have a shred of liberty survive. But nothing ever was or ever will be accomplished without popular noise and clamor. We are not to try to regulate everything and everybody from Wash ington: but here is an abuse so grejit as to be beyond the jpowcr of correc tion by any force less than that concen trated at Washington. This ,5s at once the excuse and this the justification of the railroad regulation bill! MK. LOGAN, FinLANTHROFIST. Some time in the distant future, when there is slackening in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, and we pause long enough, to take a deep breath and en joy some of the things the dollar has purchased, there are quite a few of us here in Oregon who ought to get to gether and, down where the ocean washes the beaches at Elk Creek or Seaside, erect a monument to the mem ory of H. F. L. Logan, who died in England last month. Every seaside visitor who has enjoyed Ahe wild beau ties of the Elk Creek region and every citizen of Seaside will feel sincere re gret over the death Otiibe-'energctic but unfortunate Englishman who cast his lot in that region about twenty yeaf! ago. Mr. Logan was one of those rare individuals with whom -money possesses a value far beyond the per cent of In terest it -could earn on an Investment. The comfortable fortune which he brought with him to Clatsop County, had it been placed out at interest or in Government bonds, would have permit ted blm to live a life of ease. But Mr. Logan was not of a sordid nature, and cared little or nothing for the financial returns from his Investment. On ar rival he was struck with' the great nat ural beauty of the Elk Creek and Sea side beaches. Mature had done so much at these places that it seemed a pity that facilities for reaching and enjoy ing them bad not been provided. It was -this view of the matter that In duced Mr. Logan to build the first passable road between Seaside and Elk Creek and to 'construct a hotel at Elk Creek. Being- more than a score of years In advance of the times, both ventures were, of course, financial fail ures. At Seaside nothing had fceen done to Improve the place since the death of Ben Holladay until Mr. Logan ap peared.. Millions of feet of line timber were standing in the immediate vicinity,- but if a man desired to build a Summer cottage be was obliged to send to Portland or Astoria for the lumber. Quite naturally, none but the wealthy could todulfe in a Sussmer cottage, so Mr. Logan built a sawmill and supplied lumber at a price that was reasonable for the people but unprofitable for Mr. Logan. The Elk Creek read and hotel and the sawmill were only a few -of Mr. Login's eterjK-iw. SoacMe -was rre. neeojg and short on money, until Liogaa caase, aad. as leg shis money lasted he did everything in power to equalise the situation. Hardiieadcd fettstoocs men said Mr. Logan was a fool to "blow la" his moey in such ventures. Perhaps he was deficient In financial acumen, but his Investments provided, for thou sands of boach visitors facilities which might still be xniaejag- had we depended on a better ftnancier and a less publlc selrited man to provide then. In the final accounting on another shore Mr. Logan's investments ought to yield bet ter returns than those of a good many millionaires who kept their mosey in safe Investments until death and the failed to iake it with them. MARVELOUS COMXBKCLVL TIXOP 5EXT. The question as to why American capital is not put into deep-water ship ping in competition with, that of the foreigner, who is satisfied with a .3 per cent return on bis Investnaent, Ss ef fectually answered by the eloquent fig ures printed In another column showing "the volume of internal commerce for 1M5. These remarkable figures also dis prove all theories to the effect that American capital te overlooking any op portunity for legitimate investment that will yield satisfactory returns. Taken In the aggregate, tbey also make dwarf in magnitude the figures for the entire world's deep-water commerce. For example, the fleets of the world. In 1504 carried a total of K.ew.W tons of coali England, Germany, France and all of the great nations or tse eartn, with their far-off military and naval posts, -with their big fleets of merchant vessels demanding great coaling sta tions on all of the seven seas, handled with their deep-water shipping In a single year 65.&00.OW ton, while In the single year of 105 there moved out of the anthracite coal regions of the United States by rail a total of M10,OW tons of coal. Exclusive of the coal traffic, all fleets of the world combined handled on the ocean, in 1905, 135,000,OtK) tons of freight. This, with the coal traffic mentioned., made up the world's ocean business for a. year, and yet domestic shipments from the various ports on the Great Lakes last year reached the enormous total of 67,345,620 tons, an amount greater than one-third of all of the world's seagoing traffic for a year. The markets of Chicago. Kansas City, Oma ha, St, Louie, St. Joseph and St. Paul in 1905 handled S.S07.S1G head of cattle. 721,951 calves, 17, 690 ,243 bogs, 10,515,677 sheep and 465,564 horses and mules, and the same markets- received 762,624,710 bushels of grain during the year. There was a correspondingly large movement In other commodities which the United States produces in such wholesale quantities. Steel and Iron products broke all pre vious records, both in output and in sales, while copper and other minerals were also produced In greater quantity than ever before. Despite the diminish ing supply of timber in the Middle Northwest, the lumber outputAcas the greatest on record, with prices materi ally higher than for the previous year. These figure, which are almost stag gering In their immensity, reflect a traffic which is just the skeleton frame work on which our commercial great ness is bullded. An army of workers, greater in numerical proportions than any that the world ever saw, lined up for warlike purposes, was employed. In the mining and transportation of that 61,000,W9 tons of coaL Another army of still greater proportions produced and bandied that record-breaking Lake traffic, and as "the farmer feeds us all," more millions of people found employ ment in growing and marketing the grain, livestock and other commodities. There were no idle dollars In all of these immense transactions. The pros perity of the railroads Induced new or ders for steel and other equipment, and these orders gave employment to more men, who In turn bad more money to spend for the necessities and luxuries of Ufa Whatever we produced last year for which there was an insufficient de mand at home. Europe stood in readi ness to buy at high figures, and not the least of the contributing factors to the high prices at home, was the ab normally low ocean freight rates. These rates were due not to an expensive subsidized merchant marine, but to the fierce competition of the fleets of coun tries which, having no internal com merce of consequence to develop, were forced, to follow the sea. N No other country on earth nas ever made such a showing with Its internal commerce as that which Is presented by the Bureau of Statistics of the De partment of Commerce and Labor for 1905. The Impetus now enjoyed by all lines of industry offers a fairly satis factory guarantee that even the fine record of 1903 will be eclipsed this year, and, with so many of our great Indus tries Tnfr vt nr' th matlmnm of H o- rvolopment, our internal commerce Is susceptible of still greater expansion. We may some day be forced back to the ocean to find employment for our Idle capital, but we will not go there so long as such vastly greater returns are obtainable in Industrial exploitation on shore. XEW METHODS IX AGRICULTURE. Members of the faculty of the Oregon State Agricultural College will tour the Rogue River "Valley during the present month, lecturing at various points for the benefit of farmers and. stockmen. The importance of thce meetings and of the lectures given upon various top ics of interest to farmers cannot be overestimated. .We Are living in a world of industrial change, and in no department Is this more apparent .than imtliat of agriculture. Old methods of larmlng have llterallypesed away, and where they have,jot the worse for the farmers. r This first of all industries has been prone to follow lines set for It by the necessities that waited upon primitive conditions to tread year after year the same furrows, plowing and sowing them with constantly dwindling crops. Wheat was the staple product in Ore gon for so long that 4t vm difficult to make fanners realise that .they could grow any other crop. There was a good reaeon for this In the old conditions. First of all. it was impossible to ship periokable products by stow methods of transportation to our far-distant mar kets. Wheat was the only product that wfcald bear lhe strain of the long voy age and find at the end ready market. Isolation brooded. over the great Pacific Northwest and its farmers accepted the situation and raised wheat until it came to be second nature to plow and sow and reap and thresh and gather this cereal into haras. H4t Is hard to break, and this habit had become in grained lt.o the very nature of Oroge farmers. Heaee they were sot quick to repod the 'overture offered -by a widening market aad quick transpor tation for diversified agriculture. Within recent years, however, this habit has yielded to pcrteistent and In telligent testructioa in the better way and many Oregon farmers have learned the secret of making farming pay by having something to sell every month In the year. That others may learn this lesson and profit by It is the object of these farmers' meetings the basic pur pose, indeed, of the State Agricultural College. The Grange supplies, and in years past supplied, almost exclusively, the social features of rural llfel It went beyond that and essayed to Instruct farmers In their -interests as to prices, the time to sell, methods of transporta tion, etc.? but it remained for a later day to give Instruction based - Upon careful experiment In regard to widen ing the scope of agriculture to meet the demands of a broader market. Hens cannot always be depended upon to do their duty, as the scarcity of fresh eggs at. Thanksgiving and Christmas time, usually attests. But they have come to the help of the weak against the mighty In the Chicago mar ket, where, through their unwonted productiveness in January, egg dealers are facing loss of $1,606,60 on the cold-storage product. Eggs that deal ers put Into storage last Bummer at 17 and 20 cents a dozen are selling slowly at 11 cents', the fresh stock being in good supply. It is interesting to note fin this connection that, thougn the weather Is balmy and the Winter throughout has been an open one In the Willamette Valley, eggs still sell In this city at about holiday prices. The short age is no doubt in bens, since no amouRt of persuasion induces Oregon farmers to add to their poultry stock sufficiently to supply the local demand. The Philippines as a field for Indus- trial exploitation seem to be attracting much attention ust at this time. A New Tork syndicate is negotiating with the Government for the construction of a thousand miles of railroad through the islands. All of this will undoubt edly reflect credit and glory on the Na tion that pulled the Islands out of the swamp of neglect Into which the Span ish had thrust and held them. There Is, however, much nearer home a field for Industrial endeavor which will turn out greater results for the expenditure than can ever be secured from the Phil ippines. The development of Alaska by railroads will bring immens returns to private enterprise as well as to the Government, which baa repeatedly been asked to aid in constructing lines from the sescoast to the interior of that great treasure-house. Pilotage laws have pretty hard sled ding over in our neighboring state, and, whenever a case gets into the court, the state law is knocked out with neatness and dispatch. The latest Instance is the release, a few days ago. of Captain Ames, a master mariner who was pilot ing steamships under a United States license. He was arrested at the in-6tance-of the State Board of Pilot Com missioners, and filed a demurrer chal lenging the validity of the state law. The court sustained the demurrer, and Captain Ames was discharged, and is still piloting ships without a state li cense. Anything that tends to hamper or restrict competition in any line af fecting the lnterestjof shipping is promptly squelched c- Paget Sound, even though legal technicalities may suffer some slight abrasions in the pro cess. The town which most persons call St. Johns, and which calls Itself St. Johns, should be called St. John; for James John was the original settler there, and bo was known as "Old Jimmy John." So everybody called him. He was a recluse and hermit, and so they often, or usually, called him "Saint." There arc Saints John, but no Saint Johns The latter term is impossible. After a while the public schools win take hold of It and bring history and literature to support of the Idea, and everybody will bo ashamed to say "Saint Johns." E. T. Johnson, who has constituted himself . by his own flat the mouthpiece of the great Methodist Episcopal Church, brought a communication to The Oregonlan yesterday In reply to comment on a former communication printed that morning. He was told that It would, of course, be printed; but he then became so offensive In his demeanor and personal In his remarks that he Was told to take his letter and go. This statement Is made merely to explain why Johnson was denied a fur ther hearing. George Edward Adams, the Seattle Assay Office thief, is very particular about the quality and cut of bis cloth ing. He has lately given an order for an up-to-date suit to be delivered to him in his prison cell. What a shock the striped garb and baggy fit furnished by the state to men of the Adams ilk in Walla Walla will give this gold-dust criminal! Too bad that tender sensi bilities should be o wrung. Crocuses are fh bloom down along the Columbia. Hose shoots are several Inches long. Spring beauties are blos soming in the woods. Farmers are plowing. Birds are singing. And mean time the unhappy East has a tempera ture varying from 4 to 25 degrees below zero. Are we worthy of our blessings? Ex-Profeseor W. M. Wolfe, who has turned on the Mormon Church and Is trying to rend It, seems to be a. bad lot. He owns up to frequent intoxication, and the misdeeds of the church never worried him until he got Into trouble himself. They have taken the sheep's clothing off of Wolfe. The Baltimore National Woman's -Suffrage Convention is raising a large fund to carry on the suffrage campaign In Oregon. And yet there are people who say women have no aptitude for politics. Having at last recovered his breath, ex-Chief Engineer Wallace Is the latest to join the ranks of those who want to make out that Secretary Tart 4s not the heavy-weight of this Administra tion. M. Taigny says he does not know what Castro waats. Perhaps not; but we know what Castro needs and what he te likely to get. Senator Depew says he Is feeling youager thaa ever; but-he. has for sosse ttee been old enough te kitow better. Cartas .Cox says Captain CouatM was prudent. That's eorrect. THE SILVER LINING. Harry Murphy, the staff cartoonist, laid a poem on our desk last night and asked iw to print It. In view of the fact that we used to knew Mr. Murphy before he was rich and more or less famous as a cartoonist wc overlooked the fact that the desk had been cleaned up only a week or so before, and gave the verses a readhtg. The reading would have been aaore successful, or to put It more bluntly. k painful to us personally. If we had followed our usual custom and asked the author to step out into the corridor until the worst was over, as the appendix ex perts say. As It was Harry looked over our shoulder throughout the operation and kept us from communing with our selves in our usual auccint style. All this is preliminary. We told Harry as gently as possible that we thought the child of his brain was too weak to stand the knife, and that, while a whole! lot f cutting was prompted by our diag nosis, we would much prefer to administer the usual treatment for incurables and advise his brain to -practice race suicide in the future. Then Harry got mad and Insisted on knowing why wewould not publish his poem. He said ha had seen worse poems over our own- signature, among other unkind things, and threat ened to quit making pictures for the pa per if we turned him down. That settled It with us. for. as we have hitherto remarked, we admire Mr. Mur phyas a cartoonist. He wanted, us to tell him why It wasn't a good poem If we wouldn't print It and rather than do such a thing before a friend's face, wo shook hands with him and" accepted his stuff Just to get rid of him. Now that he is not with us we do not mind writ ing a brief criticism. It will help tho reader to bear up, since we can't avoid publishing the poem, and it may soften the wrath that we know la our juat por tion. Here Is tho poem; we leave the label on It Just as It came to us: Reform. A microbe in this town Is ranging up and down. The bug they call reform Has taken us by storm. One cannot get away From its contagious sway." In curbing vice and crime, We occupy our time; The day of graft Is done The devil's on the run. We've got a zealous Mayor Whose one especial care Is guarding young and fair From sin polluted air Of glided den and snare Quite right, we all declare. With strife the Council's torn From eve to dewy morn They argue and contend About the way to end The reign of vice and sin And kick out satan's kin. . The preachers thund'rous voice Makes sanctity rejoice. The churches so they say Have gone into this fray And there propose to stay For ever and a day. In club, In car. in street Reform Is all we meet. Although we hate to blame We hang our heads In shame To see the awful sin Our neighbors wallow In. Reform does not begin Like charity at home. To locate wrong we roam. Reform does not apply. Unto the pronoun 'T. Some say that change you can't With law, or shriek, or rant;' The nature God gave man. But sure these perrons can Not understand, for they Proceed to Jeer, and say These insects so unblest- That they would like a rest JFYom efforts to reclaim This town from horrid shame. But we the goodly know Where souls of knockers go. So onward to the fight Hurrah, for us and rigut. 9 Now, In our own raind we are satis fied that the main trouble with Mr. Murphy's poetry Is in its lower ex tremities. It is club-footed and Its legs are too short. Nor are they exact meters. A Murphy poem Is all right from Its chin up, that is. .generally speaking, but its mode of locomotion Is wobbly. Its progress reminds us of one of these legless cripples we see shuffling down the street with the talis of .s sack coat dragging like a ball gown. It clearly belongs to what Mark Twain would call the daschund schooL Probably he meant the deck hand school. We do not know who gave Harry his poet's license, but we suspect that some other fellow personated him dur ing the examination. The last regular ly Issued license of this kind was Is sued to Walt Whitman and the Master Poets Association now admits that the examining board of that remote day was a wee bit too lax. If It were within our power we would not discriminate between Mr. Murphy and Captain Cousins in the matter of licenses. If we had had time and Mr. Mur phy had not criticised our own efforts at wooing the muse, we could have stretched the legs of bis poem.and im proved It a great deal. This is our excuse for letting it go as it looks. As to the subject matter or his verse and Its general treatment there Is not a great deal to criticise. Dr. Broughcr and Harry and ourselves have a gen tlemen's agreement on that question. It might disturb Dr. Brougher to know that Harry once 'spelled Brougher with a lower-case "b," but we (not Dr. Brougher and I) took the liberty of correcting what was obviously a. mere clerical error. Other errors which we did not correct are snore unpardonable. Mr. Murphy, for example, makes the vulgar error of using the words "mi crobe"" and "bug"' 'interchangeably. No poet, except possibly, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who acorns science, would do that the expression "contagious sway" la also decidedly out of place In speaking of bugs. Nor do we ap prove of the slur cast upon Mayor Lane In the following stanxa. The Mayor is protecting the. homely girls, too, at least those whom nature has not nude self-protecting, aad we do not have that sort ofgirte in Port land. This may be Mr. Murphy's ex cuse; that all Portland girls are fair. If so his poetic license ssay be a pro tection. And In conclusion we wish to say for ourselves, personally, that, we do believe in beginning reform"- at home. We. at least, have never dined at Richards. Friends. Chicago Record-Herald. An English, schoolboy recently, wrote the following , osoay on "Frieadahlp": "A friend te'eae who xaowa all about you ad likes yau all the sane." If there is anything Bwre to be said ea the subject we can't iaaagise what it may be. MARVELOUS STORY EaonaotM Iatersal Activity of the Urn ted We Are' Our Own The aggregate volume of internal com merce during the year 1905 was undoubt edly the largest -.for any corresponding twelvemonth period In the history of the country, according to reports received by the Department of Commerce and Labor through its Bureau of Statistics. The greatly increased activities in the Iron, steel and copper Industries were partic ularly worthy of note, having caused Iron production, according to reliable commer cial sources, to advance 40 per cent, and copper nearly 15 per cent, over similar production in 2S0L As a. natural conse quence, fuel consumption was strongly augmented, so that the production and movement of both coal and coke were heavily Increased. Other movements of Important staples, such as the receipts and shipments of grain and live stock, also presented. In the ag grejjatet heavy gains, while lumber pro duction and shipments in practically all sections of the country, including the Southern and Gulf States, the Mississippi and Wisconsin valleys,, and the Pacific Slope, were far in excess of what they were in 1SOL At the markets of Chicago. Kansas City. Omaha. St. Louis, St. Joseph and St. Paul livestock receipts during tho year 1305 aggregated 38,201.261 head, a number over Vfx million head greater than that for the like period In 1904. and more than three million head heavier than that for W06. The 1305 movement was divided Into S.8CT.S16 cattle. 72151 calves. 17.CSO.243 hogs, 10.515,677 sheep and 465.569 horses and mules. As compared with the 1904 figures, gains were made in the arrivals of all five of the classes of animals spec ified, the gain In hog receipts amounting to over a million head. During 1205 receipts of grain at 12 import ant primary markets aggregated 762.624,710 bushels, in contrast with 6S0.961.23S bushels in 1S04. The current year's arrivals wore divided Into 240.742.4SO bushels ot wheat, 223,867,360 bushels of corn. 207.824,201 bush els of oats, Se.07.914 bushels of barley, and 10423,755 bushels of rye. As compared wim uie lav amvais. gains were maae m the receipts of all the cereals, except rye. Of the interior market grain receipts dur ing 1906, Chlca-o received 260,675.633 bush els; Minneapolis; 137.4S3.240 bushels; Kan sas City. eSJSSSJXQ bushels; St. Louis. 60. 703,413 bushels; Duluth. 51,786,764 bushels; Milwaukee, 37,749.100 bushels: Omaha. 34, 523,500 bushels: Peoria. 29,067,420 bushels; Toledo, 24.400.100 bushels; Louisville. 22, 608,700 bushels; Cincinnati, 20,253,218. bush els, and Detroit. 14.975,332 bushels. Total flour arrivals at these markets during December aggregated 1.610.0S2 barrels, as against 1.540,632 barrels in December. 1904. while the arrivals for the year, which amounted to 21.324.45S barrels In 1S05, to taled 20,580.237 barrels in 1S04. Grain exports from the United States during December, according to prelim inary returns, which Include about 97 per cent of the entire movement, amounted to 33,467,834 bushels, as compared with the corresponding movement in 1904 of 10,382, 163 bushels. Of the 1905 movement. 20,573. 1S2 bushels were shipped by way ot the Atlantic ports. 8.015,313 bushels' by way of FALL BACK ON TERRORISM, Busslan Workmen Disband Council. Smuggling Arms to Finland. ST. PETERSBURG, Feb. 8. Realizing the futility of open agitation at present among the workmen and in order to avoid the fate of its three predecessors, the Workmen's Council has formally dis banded and has published an announce ment that It will not resume Its deliber ations until tho forces of reaction have ceased their activity. The revolutionary leaders have now concentrated their en ergies In preparing for an- uprising in the Spring and onsets of terrorism.' The revelations of the Novoo Vremya regarding the smuggling of arms Into Finland from Sweden have redoubled the vigilance of the guards on the Russo Flnnlsh frontier, and they were rewarded yesterday by the capture of two wagons loaded with rifles, which were on their way to St. Petersburg. Considerable shipments of dynamite have recently been seized by the police, who are now In such close touch with the conspirators that the latter frequent ly are forced to abandon bombs. A peas ant yesterday fished out three bombs from the Neva and a party of children, while coasting at Nishnl-Novgorod. found a box filled with bombs, which exploded, killing one child and mortally wounding another. CAPTAIN FERSEN -PROMOTED Descendant of Famous Swede Will Command Vladivostok. ST. PETERSBURG. Feb. S.-Captain Baron Fersen. ex-Russian naval attache at Washington and lately commander of the Fourteenth Naval Equipage at St. Petersburg, has been appointed Com mandant of the Port at Vladivostok, to succeed Admiral Greve, who has been relived since the recent mutiny at Vladi vostok. Captain Fersens success in re storing discipline in the mutinous naval equipage is responsible for his selection for the difficult task at Vladivostok. Baron Fersen is a descendant of Count Fersen, the Swedish attache at the French Court, the faithful friend of Marie Antoinette, who drove the coach In which the King and Queen attempted to escape. After the execution of Marie Antoinette, the Count escaped to Brussels, and lived there for many years. He was killed by the populace at Stockholm, and his fam ily went to Russia. Baron Fersen was commander of the protected cruiser Izumrud. and blew up the cruiser near Vladivostok after the battle of the Sea of Japan. KILLING OFF 3IAHOMMEDANS Wholesale Slaughter by Armenians in Caucasus Villages. CONSTANTINOPLE. Feb. 9. (Spe cial.) The Grand Vizier has. received advices that Armenian bands have burned 27 Mussulman villages in' the Caucasus and are now besieging seven others. All of the inhabitants of the destroyed villages, It Is .reportel, were massacred. .'Big Capture -of Rebels. RIGA. Livonia, Feb. 8. A punitive expedition has captured a large band of revolutionists on the Dahlen estate, in the vicinity of Riga. Fifteen of them have been court-martialed and shot. The others were flogged with knouts. This expedition also captured several hundred rifles. 4 Sentence on WohU-Bc Assassin. .MOSCOW, Feb. S. Poltavataky, the youth who. on June 15, 1905, attempted to assassinate General Trepoff, was to day condemned to five years imprison ment without loss of civil rights. Moscow Has Become Peaceful. 3IOSCOW, Feb. 8. The regulations for Increased security which have been In force since the outbreak of the re cent revolt will be raised February 12. Two Police Chiefs 3Iurdered. ST. PETERSBURG. Feb. 3. The Chiefs of Police at Pensa and Kutais were murdered today. OF OUR COMMERCE States for 1905 Breaks All Record. lest Customers. - - : M the Gulf ports. 3.701.416 bushels by way of Pacific ports, and 1.175,978 ' bushels by way of northern border, lake and- other border' ports. Durinjt the calendar year 1S05, 174,036596 bushels of grain were ex ported from various United States "ports, and of this quantity 102.994.5S2 bushels were credited to Atlantic ports. 37.S05.6S3 bushels to Gulf ports, 14.S72J35 bushels to Pacific ports, and 18,863996 bushels to northern border, lake and other 'border ports. The similar total outbound move ment In 1904 aggregated 69,012,892 bushels. Both the Atlantic and Gulf ports made heavy gains In the exportation of cereals during the year. If compared with like movements In 1904. although the Increase at the Atlantic ports, both from an actual and a rela'tlve standpoint, greatly exceed ed that of the Gulf ports, Total corn ex ports, which werj 110.999,263" bushels in 1903, as -against 45,290,627: bushels In 1904. were the greatest factors in tho accom plishment of this improved condition, al though the Increase In foreign shipment of oats has been remarkable, the move ment advancing from 1.193,338 bushels In 1904 to 23,641.968 bushels In 1905. Flour ex ports for December, which amounted to 1,871.918 barrels In 1905. were over a million barrels In' excess of a similar movement In 1904. while for the entire year like withdrawals, which aggregated 11.231,937 barrels, fell slightly below similar move ments in 1904. Of the 1905 movement. 6,213, 641 barrels left the country by way of Atlantic ports. 1,101,585 barrels5 by way of Gulf ports, 3,536, -wi barrels by way of Pa cific ports, and 430.230 barrels by way of northern border, lake and other border ports. The domestic shipments from various ports on tne Great Lakes during 1903 reached the remarkably" large total of 67; 345,620 tons, undoubtedly representing the greatest traffic movements for any calen dar year in the history of lake' naviga- tion. While the increase of 16 million tons over the 1904 shipments may be partially accounted for by the Interruption of navi gation in the latter year, owing to the strike of steamship employes durinar May and June; no such cause can bo attrib uted to the gain nine million tons oyer the 1903 outbound movements or the in crease of nearly 12 million tons over those of 1S02. Of the different commodiiies shipped during the year, ore and minerals aggregated 3S.0S6.210 tons; coal. 14,665,375 tons, unclassified freight, 5.201.251 tons; grain and flaxseed. 3,856.183 tons; lumber and logs, 4.263,905 tons; and flour, 1,27,09G tons. The heaviest gain occurred in ship ments ot ore-and minerals, which, during 1904. amounted to but 23,813,411 tons. December's shipments ot anthracite coal from the Eastern producing regions amounted to 5.395,113 tons, as compared with the corresponding movement In 1904 Of 5,063,144 tons, and in 1903 Of 4.259,748 tons. The heaviest movement during any one month ot 1905 occurred In May. when 6,005,153 tons were shipped. During the 12 months of tho year just closed anthra cite coal shipments amounted to 6M10.2QL tons, as against 57.498,462 tons in 1904 and 59,362,830 tons in 1903. The 1905 movement was the largest for any one year in the history of anthracite mining. LA FOLLETTE AGAINST PASSES Bill Imposing Severe Penalties on Railroad Officials. WASHINGTON, Feb. 8. Senator La. Follette today introduced a bill pro hibiting Federal officials from asking Lfor or accepting railroad or other passes and prohibiting railroads from granting them. It imposes penalties for violations of "the "law. " " ' The bill forbids all persons and corpora tions giving free passes or grants to any political committee- or its employes; to any candidate for an office under tho Constitution or laws of the United States or to any holder of such an office. The bill forbids passes, franks or privileges being Issued for "the traveling accommo dation or transportation of any person or property or the transmission of any message or communication." The punishment for violations of the bill Is "Imprisonment at hard labor not more than five years, nor less than one year, or by flne not exceeding J500Q nor less than $100." Agents and officers of companies within the purview of the bill are to be privileged j from testifying in relation to anything it prohibits, and no person so testifying, is to be liable to punishment for any offense concerning which ho was required to tes tify. "Free pass," as used in the bill, is de fined as "any form of ticket or mileage entitling the holder to travel over any part of the line or lines of any railroad, issued to the holder as a gift in consid eration of any service performed or to be performed by such holder or any other person, except where such ticket or mile age is used by such holder in the perform ance of his duties as an employe of the railroad Issuing the same." Railway mall service men, while in the performance of their duty, are to be ex empt from the provisions- of the bill. Fleet Working Out War Game. WASHINGTON. Feb. S. The battleship division Of the Atlantic fleet with a tender has sailed from Culebra for Trinidad. It is explained at the Navy Department that this movement has nothing to do with the Venezuelan situation, although the Venezuelan coast is only a few miles distant from Trinidad. It is said that the ships are simply working out part of a, war game in the exceptionally favorable waters of the Gulf of Paria. Where Funston Did Not Swim. From Manila Letter of Editor .Howe, of Atchison, Kan. We crossed the Bagbag River, which -Fred Funston didn't swim. The Bagbag looks a good deal like Independence Creek at the place where' you cross It on the Doniphan road. Two privates in the Kansas- regiment really swam the river, under fire but Funston received the credit. Afterward the Incident, as applying to Funston, was taken out of the Kansas .school readers. I do not know whether Funston claimed the credit of swimming the river or not; possibly he denied 11 all the time, and he was made a hero in spite of his screams. Tou may remember that Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for Vice-President as the hero of." San Juan- hill, although he distinctly stated In his book on the war that he was 'riot In the action on the' hill. But when' the Americans start in to praise or 'abuse' a man, they overdo it. - This Is Timely. Washington. letter- This story was told in the Senate cloak rooms apropos of the speech of-Senator Patterson, supposed to be a Democrat, In which he eulogized all of President Roosevelt's policies: A local census enumerator visited the Senator's homo in Denver, and was re ceived by the negro butler. After the usual questions, he asked: "What is'the Senator's politlcsT "Fo de Lawd's sake, mister, I dunno," answered the darky. "De Senator "ain't done been home since breakfast time.'' . . Sunshine 'After RaiBu-qfn"' Jamea "Whitcoinl) Riley. "Whatever tha weather may be,". jays h "Whatever the weather may be, It's the songs yt sing an' the smiles, ye wear That's a-making the sun shine everywhere." t