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I'OKTI.ANO. WEDNESDAY. JINK 27, 1906.
HAN(.K.H IX POLITICAL METHODS.
In Oregon the political party conven
tion la a thing of the past unless the
primary law for nomination of candi
dates should be repealed, which is not
likely to be done. The people of Oregon
feel that the convention system left too
little power In their own hands; so they
resolved to do away with it. Indeed it
often left no power at all In the hands
of the people; for the power was in
those of the managing politicians, who
made control of parties and therefore
of conventions their own peculiar trade
from year to year, and often for their
lifetime. As the convention system It
self was an advance of the democratic
principle over the old caucus of self
appointed managers that preceded it, so
the nominating primary is an advance
in the same direction over the conven
tion system. Whatever else may be
said against the nominating primary, it
puts out of business an oligarchy of
professional managers even though the
people in making direct nominations
may not always do their work wisely
it well.
In colonial times In our country nomi
nations for office were made by a. "gen
try" lhat Is, by groups of men who.
owing to their character, their wealth
and their social position, commanded
the confidence of their fellow-citizens.
This, however, was nothing less than
an aristocracy, or oligarchy, or both.
But It had character behind It. Their
leadership was accepted without ques
tion; and nominations made by a co
terie or clique of these 'leading citi
zens"' were ratified, or accepted by the
electors, who. In the mass, seemed not
to suppose they could have much to say
about the proceeding or method. In
part this was due to the fact that the
suffrage, as compared with the usage of
the present time, was very much re
stricted. But as the democratic spirit
grew the people would no longer acqui
esce in self-appointed chiefs. Party
members of the Legislature. In their
representative capacity, began to be
recognized as the proper persons to
make nominations for the state offices,
and party members of Congress to nom
inate the National candidates. For
local and county offices party nomina
tions were usually made by announce
ment of candidates and' general consent
of the party members, and the elector
almost always voted for the candidate
who stood in the name of his party.
Party opinion -was the bond.
In the states, then, the legislative
caucus arose to nominate the party's
candidates for state officials, including
the Presidential Electors, and the Con
gressional caucus arose to nominate the
party candidates for the Presidency and
Vice-Presidency. The party's members
of Congress were supposed to have su
perior information upon all main ques
tions entering into the politics of the
time; so their leadership was followed
with little disoent. Jefferson, the father
of the modern Democratic party, was
nominated in this way for the Presi
dency a proceeding that would be con
sidered the height of "boss" and "ring"
rule now. But the legislative and Con
gressional caucus for naming party
candidates continued many years tha
people acquiescing, with little dissent,
in the work of a self-perpetuating ma
chine. There were no facilities of travel
then; the party representatives were
already assembled In the Legislature or
In Congress, and it was admitted that
they would know better than others
who were best qualified for the offices
and what candidates would command
most votes. Men yet living rememben
these condition very well.
At last, however, with growth of fa
cilities for travel and far communica
tion of Intelligence through press and
mails and finally through the telegraph,
men began to grow Testive under the
system, and the people to demand par
ticipation for themselves in the selec
tion of candidates. It was urged
against the caucus that the makers of
the Constitution were very careful' to
provide that Congress should not' elect
the President; yet a party majority of.
Congressmen were doing so, and fre
quently In a secret caucus. Dissent ap
peared as early as 1814, in a memorial
which declared: "The members of the
two houses meet In caucus and there
ballot for President and Vice-President.
Their recommendation then comes be
fore the Legislatures of the states; so
the chief magistrate of the Nation owes
his office principally to aristocratic in
trigue, cabal and management." Tet
the system still continued many years
after the protest against it began.
In opposition to this method the con
vention system grew up though but
slowly. The origin of any important
i hange is always remote and obscure.
Down to 1S32 there was a period of
transition from the caucus to the con
vention: and it Is notable that the anti
Masoritc convention of 1S30 was the first
delegate National convention and the
first to arrange for a convention in
r-'hich representation should be based
on the representation of the respective
states in Congress. Hitherto the pow
erful politicians in the more powerful
states had had. things much their own
way. What a convention did that rep
resented only a passing phase of our
political life was quickly taken up by
the main parties; and Jackson, soon to
be all-powerful, gave It his sanction.
The Whigs followed only a little later,
and the convention system was estab
lished But the convention system soon fell
into the hands of professional politi
cians, and was scarcely an Improve
ment on the other. Through the refine
ments and corruptions of political man
agement men whom the people wouldn't
elect to any important offlce got con
trol of party conventions and named
the candidates. Against this abuse the
direct primary law Is a protest, and
many believe it a remedy. It has not
yet been tried far enough to determine
whether, in curing old evils, it will in
troduce new ones. But Oregon has re
solved to make the trial, and in making
it has gone beyond the limit attempted
in any other state. A series of experi
ments, which will require several years
for determination, will tell us what we
are to get by the change. The law cer
tainly will not now or soon be repealed;
may never be. It is questionable even
whether the ' Legislature will venture
soon to make any changes in ft..
SCANDALS AT ELECTIONS.
Twelve hundred ballots were cast in
Xiultnomah County at the last election
by voters who had not registered.. One
hundred and seventy-six-ere cast in
Sellwood precinct alone. fr?-onten-tion
over prohibition in that suburb
opened up the available avenues of
fraud, for the loose and Ineffective pro
visions of the election law, by which an
unregistered voter may cast his ballot
upon affidavit, are easy to avoid. It is
not to be supposed that all these 1200
voters in Multnomah County, or 176
voters at Sellwood. were Inspired by
dishonest or corrupt purposes, but
some, perhaps many, of them were.
Few of the. 176 were entitled to vote at
Sellwood. Most of them should have
been excluded. But they presented affi
davits signed by six freeholders, all in
correct form, and the judges had ap
parently no alternative but to accept
these votes, although, of course, they
knew they must have known there
was something wrong.
The plain lesson from the experience
at Sellwood, and throughout county and
state. Is that failure or refusal to regis
ter by many voters is In itself an In
centive to criminal violation of the law.
If there is an exciting contest in any
preoinct or any towii or city within the
state, it is easy to pick up a gang of
"floaters" anywhere, run them Into the
precinct or town and swear in their
votes. The voter who does r.ot think
enough of the right of suffrage to reg
ister should not be entitled to vote at
an election. Nearly all who fail to get
their names on the registry roll fail
through indifference or neglect. There
are few who are able to advance any
other reason. It might be possible to
provide some efficient way in which an
elector who was necessarily absent from
his home or sick during the entire
period for registration might be per
mitted tO' swear In and vote on proper
representation to the judges; but it is
to be doubted whether It is wise to
make any exceptions whatever. Regis
tration should be an absolute condition
precedent to the right to vote. If It
shall not be made a condition, we shall
find that the scandals at future elec
tions grow graver and more extensive
as the years roll on.
VNEQCAI. DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR.
More than one million immigrants
have reached the United States from
foreign countries within the past year,
and from every part of the United
States except along the Atlantic sea
board there Is reported a scarcity of la
bor. The annual grain harvest is now
well under way in Texas, Oklahoma,
Southern Kansas and other portions of
the wheat belt, and from those dis
tricts comes complaint that the boom In
railroad building in the Far West is de
pleting the Middle West and Southwest
of its usual supply of labor. Railroads
interested in construction of new lines
In the West declare that, while they are
bringing thousands of men to the Pa
cific Coast free of charge, at least four
out of five abandon on arrival the work
for which they were supplied free fare
across the continent. The natural sup
position Is that this labor, which fails
to show up for the job for which It was
engaged, has drifted Into farm work or
into the logging camps and sawmills.
This is in a measure disproved by the
fact that the cry for more help Is Just
as pronounced In those industries as it
is among the railroad contractors.
It is, of course, embarrassing to the
men who have large sums of money tied
up in railroad contracts to be unable to
secure a sufficient number of men to
handle their work to advantage; but
the scarcity demonstrates beyond all
question the remarkable prosperity of
the country, particularly In the great
West and Southwest. But, while the
great West i sending up its cry for
more laborers, starvation, suffering and
enforced idleness in the congested man
ufacturing districts of the East seem
to be about as pronounced as ever. All
efforts of our philanthropists and stu
dents of political economy seem fruit
less In making a satisfactory distribu
tion of that great flotfdo'Knisrration
which sweeps in through Ellis Island.
These newcomers swarm into the tene
ment districts of the East Side in New
York and make the already overcrowd
ed dwellers huddle up a little closer to
gether and struggle a little harder for
a bare living. Some of them, on failure
to secure even the most precarious kind
of a foothold, move over into the adja
cent states lying along the coast.
Down through the manufacturing dis
tricts of Massachusetts and Connecticut
the recent arrivals have so far out
rivalled the Yankees for thrift that the
latter have been virtually forced out of
many of the vocations which they and
their ancestors have followed for hun
dreds of years. This improper distribu
tion of the immigrants who are reach
ing our shores in such numbers results
in an economic waste that it Is difficult
to compute in dollars and cents. All
through the West is a huge unsatisfied
demand for labor, which is as necessary
to capital as the latter is to labor. The
absence of a sufficient supply prevents
the contractor, logger and millowner
from reaping the , fullest rewards to
which he is entitled on his investment.
In the East the presence of that labor
surplus which should be in the West
only serves to intensify the struggle for
existence of the man who was there
first.
In view of the fact that so much of
the present prosperity in the Pacific
Northwest is due to the unparalleled
activity in railroad building, lumbering
and good crops and high prices, the
railroads which are bringing laborers
to the Coast free of cost can hardly
charge all of the abscondng laborers'
fare up to profit and loss, simply be
cause the men broke their contracts
and sought other employment than rail
road building. All other industries into
which labor drifts, after it is brought
to the Coast free of charge, pay great
tribute to the railroads, and in this
manner will the roads recoup for free
rides. Some time, in some way, a sys
tem may be devised whereby there can
be a shifting of labor from congested
localities where it is not in demand to
others where it is needed. Adjustment
of this nature would not only rapidly
Increase the wealth of the country, but
It would alleviate a world of suffering
now experienced in the overcrowded
cities of the East.
BROADWAY'S LATEST SENSATION.
In the telegraphic account of New
York's latest, most sensational and
highly theatrical murder, one must read
between the lines to learn of a phase of
life among the idle rich that is seldom
set forth by self-respecting publica
tions, i Their lapses from rectitude fur
nish food for such infamous papers as
Town Topics and endless gossip for
scandal-mongers. Paris accepts this
sort of conduct without adverse com
ment, but on this side of the Atlantic
there has not yet been coined a good
translation of the word "roue," though
New York now rivals the capital of
France in flagrant vice; New York has
so much more money to spend in that
direction.
.The murder :. of Stanford White re
veals In nauseating nakedness a licen
tious littles world centered in the the
ater and cafe district of America's chief
city, commonly called Broadway. Harry
Thaw's victim was a distinguished
architect, the son of a noted man of
letters, member of several learned soci
eties and of all the clubs worth belong
ing to. When his son, returning from
college, visits him, they dine, not in
the father's home, but in a "fashion
able" restaurant, and then spend the
evening at a roof garden in which the
elder White Is part owner.
If there is a family home, the reports
fail' to mention it. The mother seems
to have a residence in a suburb, while
the father lived in apartments within
the structure devoted to light amuse
ments. "Ma'mselle Champagne," the
title of the musical extravaganza pre
sented Monday night, shows the atmos
phere In which Mr. White chose to live.
High ideals cannot be expected in an
environment of libertines, chorus girls
and sons of the idle rich, of. whom
young Thaw is a type.
This murderer hadn't the remotest
excuse for his crime. Didn't he know
what sort of a woman he was marry
ing? When he gave her his name and
his protection, didn't he take her record,
whatever it was, also? After her mar
riage she was doubtless faithful. She
did not even speak to White. It is evi
dent that he brooded over the thought
that another man could claim priority.
He had no occupation except seeking
low pleasures, no work to do, no high
purpose in life, and he fed fat the
hatred he bore the man who may have
debauched a girl not then Thaw's wife.
There was a fatal flaw in his title deed.
It was a deliberate, cowardly murder.
In Red Gulch under similar circum
stances the man who felt a grievance
would have given the seducer a chance
to defend himself; but, any way you
take It. you will find far less deviltry on
the range and around the mines than
exists in "Broadway." Evelyn Nesbit,
at 16, would be safer among Wyoming
cowboys than with the gang of married
and single libertines of New York, ac
tive and eager in' search of prey. .
This tragedy is not going to check the
pursuit and enjoyment of illicit pleas
ures. It will be a seven days' sensa
tion, followed by a trial in which
Thaw's money will probably save him
from death by electricity. No law can
be framed adequately to punish men
guilty of what is charged by Thaw
against White. Belasco may employ
the facts divulged as the plot of a new
problem play, made in America, not Im
ported and adapted from the French.
Bill. DING CANAL BV CONTRACT.
The action of Congress in limiting the
purchase of supplies for the Panama
Canal to American markets does not
place that great work beyond reach of
the cheapest bidder. The law under
which canal work will proceed author
izes the Government to let out by con
tract any portion or all of the work.
Panama is foreign territory, so far as
any of our tariff laws are concerned,
except that the republic is bound by
treaty not to impose duties on materi
als or equipment necessary in construc
tion of the canal. The joint resolution
which undertook to limit competition
for supplies needed to goods of Amer
ican manufacture provided only for
purchases made by the Government.
Purchases by contractors who might be
intrusted with the work of building the
canal can accordingly be made in mar
kets where they can be secured to the
best advantage.
To people most familiar with the dila
tory manner in which all Government
work !s conducted. It has always been
matter of regret that the building of
the big ditch was not let out by con
tract at the start. The advocates of
the contract system have been steadily
increasing in numbers, and the trouble,
delay and expense that have been so
prominent in canal work, so far as it
has progressed, have only intensified
the demand tha t the Work be handled
by contract. There is such a vast
amount of money involved in the un
dertaking, and so many millions will be
spent for Iron, steel, "edges, rolling
stock, lumber, cement and tools, that
the saving will in the aggregate reach
Immense proportions if the work is
done by contractors, who, of course,
can purchase their supplies and equip
ment much cheaper than would be pos
sible for the Government under the
joint resolution just passed.
It is believed that the contract plan
will appeal strongly to the President,
as by its adoption he would be relieved
from a very peculiar duty imposed on
him by the resolution, which has placed
In his hands the power to determine
whether the bids submitted are "ex
tortionate and unreasonable," or other
wise. As the only method the President
would have for determining whether
or not the bids were -unreasonable
would be by comparing the. prices with
those submitted by foreign bidders, lie
would, of course, be forced to call on
the foreigners to submit bids. As the
pressure to secure this attempted em
bargo against foreign bidders has all
come from the special Interests which
pretend to be unable to meet the com
petition of the foreigners without Gov
ernment tariff interference, the Presi
dent, will be between two fires.
The high-tariff interests will, of
course, Insist on total exclusion of for
eign goods from the competition, while
the American people not interested in
the further protection of these infant
industries will also insist on the appli
cation of the only legitimate test for de
termining what is not extortionate .and
unreasonable. . The joint resolution
places in the- hands of the President
sufficient power to nullify its pernicious
intentions, but the original hill, which
made permissible the carrying on of
the work by the contract system, offers
a simpler method of escape, both from
the rapacity of the trusts and from the
possible indignation' of the people,
should foreign goods be excluded. From
the standpoint of economy, as well as
of expediency, the work on the canal
should be carried on by the contract
system, with the contractors fully ad
vised that they can base their figures
on the lowest prices that can be se
cured In any of the world's markets.
Mark Anthony Young and Henry
Jonas, alleged American citizens, are
under arrest in London for attempting
to sell large hlocks of mining stock to
the subjects of King Edward. The min
ing company which they were exploit
ing was said to have paid 1S5 per cent
dividends, which were so alluring to the
Britishers that they were about to in
vest J2.500.000 in the mine. Mark An
thony 'and his companion. also supplied
documentary evidence that the mine
had paid In nine years net profits of
$27,500,000. It is, of course, eminently
proper to deprive such sharks of their
liberty, but it might also be well .to In
vite the attention of insanity experts to
the victims who were ready to bite at
such a bait. Colonel Sellers, with his
"eye-water" scheme, presented some
thing plausible and attractive in com
parison with a mining enterprise which
pays 185 per cent profit, and is obliged
to go foreign for capital.
Roosevelt is disrupting the Repub
lican party, say those would-be leaders
who never had force of character
enough to disrupt anything. Well, If
the Republican party can be disrupted
by the enforcement of law for rich and
poor alike, it ought to be disrupted.
When a poor man must serve his term
in prison for stealing ten dollars and
the trust magnate go entirely unpun
ished though he steal millions, some
thing needs disrupting. Roosevelt pur
poses to establish an era of equality, in
which all men shall stand upon the
same footing hefore the law, and it the
plutocrats do not like it they can get
out of the party. The party that nomi
nated and elected Roosevelt is made up
chiefly of honest men, not of plutocrats,
and when the party has been disrupted
and all the anti-Roosevelt men have
gone over to the Democracy, there will
be enough Republicans left to elect a
Republican President.
The Minneapolis Journal, in a New
York special, prints an interview with a
New York banker, in which he states
that Portland must remain a secondary
port to Puget Sound and San Fran
cisco. This alleged New York banker
apparently came through as a Cook
tourist and confined his examination
of Portland to Ed Lyons' lunch counter
at the Union Depot. He says, "I do
not know that any one point on the
Sound has any great advantage over
any other point," and confesses that
he has never visited any of the British
Columbia ports. Expert testimony from
an individual of this kind Is valuable
only as showing the propensity some
men have for airing their own Ignor
ance. Had this "banker" met a man
from Seattle he would have received
positive knowledge as to the superiority
of some Puget Sound ports over others.
Of course, padded shipping statistics,
padded hank clearings and the. freneral
use of forced drafts of hot air, may
serve a purpose In deceiving the in
nocent stranger whose knowledge of
true conditions in certain boom towns
on a great "inland sea" is limited. But
when the matter is placed before Uncle
Sam, and his experts audit the accounts
in a strictly business manner, and bal
ances are "settled in cash," there are
other ports on the Pacific Coast which
are entitled to a hearing. tThls ac
counts for the elevation of Portland's
Postofftce to the rank of first-class of
fices, no other city on the Pacific Coast
north of San Francisco handling a
sufficient amount of business to secure
the honor. This is a case where the
figures, like the Yankee's camera,
"kain't lie."
The School Board, of course, can have
no purpose to reinstate Professor Mil
ner. The scandal of the domestic brawl
that led to his retirement is too fresh
in the public mind to 'be ignored or
suppressed. It is not the business of
the? board to cleanse or endeavor to
cleanse the Milner dirty linen by rein
stating him. It is the board's business
to give Woodlawn a school principal
whom all respect, including the chil
dren, and a teaching corps that works
heartily and enthusiastically with him.
No doubt the School Board understands
fully its duty and responsibility and
will act accordingly.
I
The Dalles Optimist Is out. It has
thirty-six columns in six pages, saluta
tory and other editorial and good local
news. A Bennett Is editor and R. G.
Davenport Is his partner. In this first
issue the town of Rabbitville is moved
from the Irrigon country into Wasco
County and the Rabbitville letters will
be the feature of the new paper. Now
is the time to subscribe. Cut rates at
the city drug store, wich has just layed
In a noo stock of pink bedbug killer and
etsetterys to noomerus too mention.
The way of the transgressor is hard,
and the wages of sin Is death. The in
exorable law of life spares neither the
degenerate scions of first families; nor
the eminent debauchees who bear a
great name and follow an honored pro
fession. If the Shrievalty contest shall turn
out to be a tie, we shall be obliged to
conclude that the great and intelligent
electorate wanted both Mr. Stevens and
Mr. .Word for Sheriff. But possibly not
at the same time.
"Busting" precedents is a family
trait. So at least the gTand chamber
lain of the German court found, when
it came to placing Mrs. Longworth at
dinner.
As we understand it, the manufac
turers have no objections to pure food
as such if the public will eat it. The
public will have to get used to it some
how. No automobile ever runs fast. It
merely seems to the prejudiced footman
to be going fast. The owner proves it
whenever he gets in the Police Court.
.
June has again broken the record for
matrimony; but it never would have
done it "if the thermometer had behaved
throughout like it did last Sunday.
Harry Thaw was lined up at the po
lice station "just like a common crim
inal." Why not? That's what he is.
OX PERCH 300 FEET IX AIR. ,
Fearless Hob on Top of Derrick Thrills
N a BIfr Crowd,
New York World.
The attention of all Park Row was
directedl to a me n who was standing
on top of the mast of a steel derrick
being placed in position on the Park
Row section of the Tribune building.
He stood there 300 feet above the
ground with nothing around him but
atmosphere. Although his perch was
only IS inches square, he reached
down to attach the guy rope as fear
lessly as if he had been standing in
the center of Broadway.
The mast of the derrick is 30 feet
long; with a steel boom 75 feet in
length. Both are in four sections, and
were moved from the new addition of
the building to what was the tenth
floor of the old structure, on which
there is also going to be an addition.
The derrick weighs eight tons.
Among the men employed on the
work is Gus Johnson, an expert rigger.
When the sections of the mast had
been bolted together and raised. In the
air by means of a "jimmy" winch John
son was sent aloft. He climbed nimbly
up the side and when he reached the
top he crawled to the aerial perch.' It
was shortly before be gained the top
that the crowds noticed htm. The win
dows of the surrounding . buildings
were also filled with the tenants.
Johnson looked at them and smiled,
while the young women who were in
the windows gasped. A World pho
tographer, who was on the 20th floor,
of the Tract Society building, asked
Johnson to pose for his picture, which
he did. A few minutes later, while
Johnson was kneeling on his airy perch
putting in position a huge three-sheave
hlork, the big mast shook like a reed,
but the man clung on. When this hap
pened the crowds in the street stood
spellbound, expecting every moment to
see the man hurled to toe street, but
Johnson only looked down and smiled
and went on with his work as if noth
ing had happened.
OCR ECONOMIC DESPOTS.
Cna Tbey Be Controlled by National
Legislation f
London Speaker.
But here comes up the crucial problem
which in a dozen different instances pre
sents itself In the great American de
mocracy. Can Congress make 'effective
laws to control those groups of railroad,
financial and industrial capitalists who
have admittedly become the economic
and, when they choose, the political
despots of the Nation, or, having made
such laws, can they secure their efficient,
regular and pure administration by the
executive and the judicature? It is here
in the main a question of inspection.
But inspection is the touchstone of ef
ficiency in modern government, and this
case puts It to its severest test. For
while occasional 'inspection will serve for
many purposes, the conditions of the
meat trade involve a continuity of at
tention, a skill and a rigor which are
difficult to get in Germany and England,
and which it is safe to say never have
been got in the public service of the
United States in any class of lower grade
officials. It remains to see how the Gov
ernment of the. United States, with the
difficulties imposed on her by the limita
tions of the Federal power, will rise to
the occasion. Meanwhile it would be well
for us to check the somewhat Pharisaic
tone of our comparisons, and to do a
little more Investigation on our own ac
count into the conditions of the slaugh
tering and sale of cattle in this country,
BO as to get a satisfactory .answer to
certain pertinent questions bearing on
the contrast between the Uarge number
of animals rejected as unfit for food in
the metropolis and the quite negligible
number rejected in most districts of the
country. These questions distinctly sug
gest that thousands of diseased carcasses
are sold for human food in British
markets. Had we not better look to this,
not assuming that all diseases, like bad
weather, come to us from America?
Kxplolt of a. Younjc Nimrod. .
Prosscr, Wash., Record.
Thirteen-year-old. Leo, son of Charles
Nessly, Is the admired hero of all the
other kids this week. Wednesday the
boy was down the river with a 22 rifle
after squirrels, sage rats and anything
else that might show Itself. While on
the other side of the river about two
miles below town the lad saw a squirrel
at a distance that seemed to be perched
on a low sagebrush, and yet seemed to
be acting rather queer. However, Leo
drew a bead on the squirrel and shot it.
He ran over to pick it up and almost
grasped a gigantic rattlesnake by the
neck. His snakeship had evidently just
caught the squirrel at the time the boy
fired and there was surprise all around.
A few shots from the rifle settled the
snake and Leo came dragging It home.
The snake was an unusually big one,
measuring fully five feet in length, and
with a circumference in its broadtst
part of a good nine inches. Some of the
bullets plowed off some of the rattles,
but there was a big string of them left.
Young Soldiers.
Watertown. N. Y., Times.
The Springfield Republican boasts that
the youngest soldier in the Union Army
of the Civil War has been discovered in
Springfield. He is a veteran who at 13
years of age was driving the artillery
horses at Gettysburg in the hottest place
in the second day. His name is Gilbert
Van Zandt, and he is now a vigorous
man of 55. He enlisted as a drummer
bov in the Seventy-ninth Ohio Regiment
August 6. lSi2. being then 10 years 7
months and 1 days oia. we nau sup
uosed that D. S. Miller, of this city,
who enlisted at 13 years of age, was as
young as any of them, but here is he
record of a drummer boy who was three
years younger.
Dean of the Old Folks Corps.
Brownsville Times.
Hon. F. X. Matthieu. of old Champoeg,
the last survivor of that band of famous
men who stood on the right side of the
line drawn by the toe of the boot of
Joe Meeks in 1S43. and decided to stay
with the union, thereby making It pos
sible for the grand Oregon of today, is
Drobably the most popular and honored
pioneer attending the Linn County Pio-J
neers' picnic. Mr. Mattnieu is a years
old but still retains his vitality to a
wonderful degree. Brownsville feels hon
ored by his presence here.
When tbe Wits Were Napplntr.
Myrtle Point Enterprise.
City Recorder Rose was the victim of
a seif-inflicted joke during a session of
his court the other day. He was hearing
a disturbance of the peace case that grew
out of a poker game, when one of the
participants gave as a reason for getting
mad that he had three eights beaten by
three jacks. The court forgot its dig
nity for a moment. "Pshaw," exclaimed
Judge Rose, "that's nothing to get mad
at, I've had eights beaten by jacks many
a time and didn't lose my temper." Then
the courtroom roared.
Business Is Business.
Life.
Inquiring Friend (to editor of a very
popular magazine for ladies) But why in
the world did you advise your readers to
build such commonplace looking houses?
Editor Why, don't you see. after a suf
ficient number of them are built It gives
me a fine opportunity to etart a crusade
against the bad taete of American do
mestic architecture.
One Good Deed Remembered.
Somerville Journal.
One thing can be said for the insurance
companies under the old extravagant
management. They gave away good
blotters.
MARRIED THE. MAX SHE SAVED,
Joyful Anniversary of Painter's Fall
from a Scaffold.
New York Sun.
Exactly one year ago yesterday Charles
Lustig, a painter, of 1.V7 Christopher
street, Brownsville, fell from a scaffold
while at work on a house in Brooklyn.
He not only fell from the scaffold, but
he fell in love.
When the rope broke it let him down
feet foremost and face to the wall. As
he shot past the second-story window he
managed to grab the sill and hang there
for an Instant. Just inside the window
sat Annie Potter, a pretty seamstress, of
120 Boerum street, Brooklyn. She gave a
scream as Lustlg dropped by the window,
but when she saw he had hold of the sill
she jumped to his rescue, entirely heed
less of the green paint that was dripping
from above In showers and ruining her
new Spring dress. She grabbed the
painter by the collar and with a mighty
heave helped him climb through the win
dow to safety.
Lustig was too much unnerved at first
to notice anything. But after a bit he
was attracted by the soft brown eyes that
looked at him so compassionately. Then
he noticed the new dress spoiled by the
green paint.
"I'll buy you . a new dress." said
Charles, gratefully.
"Nein, nein," replied Annie. "My mother
told me never to take things from strange
men."
"But I won't be strange." said Lustig.
"You saved my life, and a new dress is a
small price to pay."
Finally Annie consented, and Lustig
got the dress. But first he had to call
many times to see what kind would be
most acceptable. After It was bought he
went to see how It fitted, and then ho
kept going anyway.
The ciple decided that there would be
no way of celebrating the anniversary of
their meeting so appropriate as to get
married. So receritty they started out to
look for some one to tie the knot. Annie
read the papers discriminatingly. She
knew Just where to go, and the couple
went to the Essex-Market Court and
asked Sergeant Post where they could
find the "Duke," who married so many
people and gave them maltese cats and
gold wedding rings.
"You mean 'Joe' Levy, the 'Duke of
Essex Street.' " said the sergeant, and
he piloted them across to the "Duke's"
office.
The "Duke" met the couple with his
marrying smile.
"I'm sorry, but T am all out f both
cats and rings." said he.- "The best I
can do for you today Is to give you a
baby carriage."
Annie blushed and quoted part of a
current expression.
"AM right." said the "Duke." "you can
get the baby carriage later."
Then he got down to business and made
out the triplicate papers. The two signed
the contract, and the "Duke" said very
solemnly:
"I pronounce you man and wife."
The couple stood hand In hand, too
happy to speak.
"Kiss her." said the "Duke."
Lustlg blushed and looked awkwardly at
the reporters, but marie no move to obey.
"Kiss her." thundered Levy: "it is the
law." and very hesitatingly and shyly the
couple kissed ea:h other. Then Annie at
down and looked happy, while Charles
dug Into his pockets for the fee.
Opinions of a "Mere Man."
Letter to New York Sun.
T met my friend the other day looking
Intently at an exhibition of feminine lay
figures In a fashionable shop window.
"Ah." I said to him, "thinking of taking
a wife, and looking out for new gowns,
are you?"
"No," he replied, "matrimony is too
rich for my blood. I can't afford it.
Look at those lay figures. I believe I'll
buy one of them. They will be Just as
useful so far as being a helpmeet goes,
and they're cheaper. Just look at the
crowds of women In this street and In
those shops. They are rivaling the poor
sandwich men. Kvery one of them is a
walking advertisement. Why. nine-tenths
of the whole lot have no use- for a man
except to pay bills. They don't want to
have any duties or bear any responsibili
ties. What they prefer is to be wrapped
in lavender and cloth of gold, placed in
niches to be looked at and admired.
"Or. if they do have any aim in life,
it is to shop, visit the dressmaker, attend
matinees, stop at the Double Blank Hotel
or spend an evening over bridge. No, I'm
going to buy a lay figure. For variety I
can eet one of these new gowns every
month for my model. It stays at home.
It doesn't drink or gamble. It looks
pretty and it never chatters."
Will some one of your correspondents,
skilled in the eternal feminine, tell me
how to answer my bachelor friend? He
needs direction and encouragement.
Hall Cnlne May Move.
London Chronicle.
The nondelivery of the letter inscribed
"Hall Caine, Esq.. Isle of Man," as In
sufficiently addressed, seems to suggest
a slight lack of Manx enterprise at the
postoffice, for Mr. Hall Caine Is a local
legislator as, well as a novelist. Two
ardent schoolboys once addressed a let
ter to "Victor Hugo, The Ocean." and it
found the great man In one of the Chan
nel Islands. Hall Caine, who no doubt
believes that there are etill as good fish
In the ocean asi any that of old came out
of it, should go forthwith to Guernsey.
In tbe New Stnte.
Carmen, Ok.. Headlight.
In last week's issue of this paper the
statement was made that from our in
formation we believed that the present
Mrs. Kiehle. the wire of Jonas, was a
lady of education and refinement. Since
that publication we had a personal inter
view with that female person and have
revised our opinion. She struck us very
forcibly fwith the butt end of a buggy
whip) as being more athletic than refined.
Whatever else may be said of her, we can
truthfully say that she is a good tighter.
UNCLE SAM : IT'S A GOOD PATCH AND AN INDUSTRIOUS
GARDENER
.lEEN'S ANCESTOR A WAITER,
Eaa's Great Grandfather Was a Pole la
1'bajt Occupation.
' Kansas City Times.
Good fortune has ever gone hand in
hand with Ena', the Queen of Spain, the
gieat-grand-daughter of a Polish waiter.
Her father and mother, the Battenbergs.
were, in common parlance, as poor as
church mice, and it was only by close
economy that they were enabled to live
on the $30,000 which Queen Victoria In
Fisted upon as a parliamentary grant.
Victoria added to the young couple's in
come by making Prince Henry Governor
of the Isle of Wight, then Governor of
Carisbrook Castle. But had not the fairy
god-mother appeared. Ena would have
brought no dot to Alfonso.
The good fairy was ex-Empress Eu
genie. There were sentimental and national
reasons why Eugenie should help out the
fortunes of the young Princess. The sen
timental reason was that her beloved and
only son, the Prince Imperial, was In love
with the Princess Beatrice, mother of
Ena, but the assagai of a Zulu ended that
romance. The national reason was that
Eugenie. Countess of Montijo, is a Span
iard, and so remembering also the kind
ness of Victoria to herself and her refu
gee husband. Napoleon III in the be
trothal of Kna and Alfonso (the daughter
of the Princess whom she would have
liked for a daughter-in-law and the be
trothal of the King of the nation that
she always loved the best), she saw the
opportunity of paying a double debt. The
ex-Empress Eugenie has made her god
daughter. Bna of Battenberg. her heiress,
has already endowed her with a comfort
able fortune, and when the will of the
relict of Napoleon HI is read, it will be
found that she has made the great-granddaughter
of the Polish waiter the richest
Princess in Europe.
- Prince Arthur's Package of Scraps.
Kansas City Star.
Frince Arthur of Connaught. the hand
somest member of the royal family, has
returned to London full of anecdotes from
his "garter mission" to Japan and his
tour through Canada. King Edward has
had several long talks with the young
Prince, and at luncheon the other day Ed
ward laughed very heartily over Prince.
Arthur's description of one Japanese cus
tom. At the big dinners he attended In
Japan the courses ran into two figures,
and as the guests were leaving each found
a small parcel awaiting him in the outer
rooms. Prince Arthur took his parcel
home himself instead of handing it over
to his equerry, thinking it was a special
present. On reaching home he opened it
to find that it contained the food very
much messed up that he could not eat at
dinner. Prince Arthur was surprised to
find that the King was well acquainted
with this branch of Japanese etiquette.
WadsYvort h's Defiance.
Washington Correspondence of New York
Herald.
The feeling in the House is very much
like what it was in the Senate in the day
of Andrew Jackson. The members dare
not revolt against the President because
they fear, it would cost them their re
election. But they are most bitter In
their allusions to the direct way , in which
the President has been applying the lash.
Scarcely a man could be found in the
House today who would defend the Presi
dent. More than 100 members called at
the rooms of the committee on agriculture
looking for Mr. Wadsworth to congratu
late him on his defiance of the President.
Senator Benson W asn't That Green.
Washington (D. C.) Cor. New York World.
Judge Benson, the new Senator from
Kansas, was eworn in about five minutes
before the airship came over the Capitol,
to the great detriment of business in that
staid and august body.
Senator Long, Benson's colleague from
Kansas, was hustling out to tee the won
der. He stopped at Benson's detk.
"Judge." he said, "don't you want to
go out and see the airship?"
"Now, see here. Long." Benson replied.
"I'm a Rube and I'm from Kansas, and
this is my first day here, but I'll be
durncd if I'll bite at anything like that."
This Church Is After "Tainted" Money.
Springfield, Mass., Republican.
Another Baptist church is willing to
take Mr. Rockefeller's tainted money. It
is the Judson Memorial on Washington
Square, .Manhattan a great Institutional
church, of which Dr. Edward Judson, son
of the famous missionary, Adoniram Jud
son. is pastor. The Standard oil magnate
offers $40.0m) toward paying for the church
debt, provided Dr. Judson will raise $50.0f)
more. And It is intended to beg that
sum by October 1, which will be the
2"th anniversary of the doctor's ministry
in New York City, which began with the
Berean church In ISM.
Dairymaid With Title 3O0 Years Old.
London Post.
A hereditary' dairymaid. with a title 3V
years old. was a prisoner in the London
Bow-street police court. Catherine Burry,
an aged woman, who has a refreshment
stand in St. James's Park, was summoned
for selling milk from which 10 per cent of
the fats had been abstracted.
"My family has sold milk in the park
for three centuries, and this is the first
complaint of any kind against us," said
she, indignantly.
No one could contradict her. but she was
fined J2.00 and had to pay $3.12 costs.
In-orrote Weds In Chicago.
Chicago Journal.
Clerk Salmonson, of the marriage li
cense department, has had many strange
customers in his time; but until today he
never had issued a marriage license io
a dog-eating Igorrote. Ugaey, a valiant
head-hunter of the Province of Banton,
applied for permission to take unto him
self a wife. Fanacan, who has seen 20
rice harvests. The marriage ceremony
was performed this afternoon by an oblig
ing Justice of the Peace. Several clergY
men had refueled to officiate.
From the St. Paul rioneer-Press.