THE- MORNING OEEGONIAN, MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1906.
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SOME SOIL OF GOODNESS.
In New York there is a contest that
excitew unusual interest. At this dis
tance it can be treated only as matter
of news. The Oregonian's news col
umns are full of it, and the reader can
Interpret the phases for himself. But
the position of the State of New York
In our affairs, the power of the state,
are so great that the course it may take
at any time, in our political affairs,
must concern the whole country. Hence,
to understand what New York, is doing
iti always a vital matter,
Seldom, perhaps never, has any local
content ki the-Stte of New -York awak
jenfafso " much interesF as the present
one either within the state or without
It. The reason is that it makes an te
eue, and consequently a party division,
never heretofore known. The Hearst
campaign is strictly an appeal to one
class against another. It is an appeal
to those who have little property or
no property, to the "disinherited
clawes," as they call -t-hemse-tyesr
against those who possess some prop
erty,, more or less, and who do busi
ness above that lowest grade which has
no competition and fears none. Not all
wageworkere; but most of them, are on
Hearst's side in. this contest; not all
who own property and do business that
1 above- the lowest, grade, are on the
. othcrslde, but 'most of them. Party
Allegiance holds some Democrats of
property and business to Hearst; the
appeal ho makes to those who feel that
hero is a chance to upset everything,
taken some Republicans we think will
take many over to him.
This, simply stated, te the nature of
the New York contest. We are inter
ested in It here as spectators, but not
merely as spectators; because the re
ult, whatever it may be, will have ef
f e-t throughout the United States. It
matters not that Hearst, a plutocrat by
inheritance, poses against plutocracy.
Ho Is out for sensation; he strives for
recognition; he has a great inheritance,
derived from custom and protected by
law, which he uses In Kays as objec
tionable as any of those upon which
he makes assault. When we come to
clean up and clea'r out the plutocrats of
this country, the overgrown fortunes,
the rich by Inheritance, Hearst will go
with the rest. On one eide of it his con
test Is a farce. On another it may cul
minate in a tragedy. When in this
country men's heads are cut off be
cause men are rich, and their estates
received from ancestors are confiscated,
will Mr. Hearst's head be eafe on his
shoulders, and will his ancestral estate
bo secure? Not unless his luck should
belie history and experience. ; Yet we
shall do well to be rid of our grasping,
Krdid and unscrupulous plutocrats,
.:Sfiv exist -riot "only; in New YotRV but'
Jnfest every cue of our states. and
Oregon, too. The support of Hearst by
such people here also they support him
is not the first time men have sharp
ened knives against themselves, against
the muniments of their property,
egainst descent of property even over
grown estates from ancestors; against
the usages and laws that protect them
In what not only was not earned by
themselves, but was unrighteously
earned but unjustly acquired by rob
ber ancestors from whom they received
it. When once we get a-gofyig we shall
clear up all these things. Time has its
revenges, and the unscrupulous rich
very commonly are pioneers in their
own undoing. Through personal, polit
ical, social .and financial ambitions they
attack the foundations on which their
own pretensions stand. They are en
gulfed In the result; and it Is very
well. The Hearst millions are no bet
ter, no more immune, than others. We
think there is much probability that
Hearst will be elected. It may be a
way towards "cleaning out" "the un
scrupulous rich, of whom he is one.
For "he who of greatest works is fin
isher oft "does them by the weakest
(or worst) of ministers." If wealthy de
pravity could always be in agreement
there, would be a hard time of it" for
the .bulk of mankind. '- Probably - the
test thing that could happen would be
the election of Hearst; on the principle
that there is always some soul of good
ness in things evil.
The question "Where did he get it?"
is not new In the field of ethics, either
in its form or its meaning. Long before
the Christian era the Greeks manifest
ed their appreciation of the importance
of -this inquiry as a test of morals. In
a famous tragedy one of the players,
who represented a covetous man, ex
claimed: "If a man is rich, who asks if
he is good? The Question Is, how much
we have; not from whence or by what
means we have.it." At hearing these
sentiments voiced from the stage, the
Athenians gave way to demonstrations
of displeasure, showing that, in their
ideas of virtue, the question "Where
did he get it?" was highly important
and that ill-gotten wealth carried a
taint to the owner. Comparison of our
own standards of morals with those
maintained by a people twenty centu
ries behind us in the great scheme of
evolution is worth while merely as a
means of marking progress. How much,
advance have we made?
' CHURCH AND STATE IN i'RASCE.. .
It is not doubted that a crisis ap
proaches the Roman Catholic Church
in its relations with the state in France,
and probably in Spain. The London
Times attributes it to "the inability of
the present Pope, however pure his mo
tives and lofty his character, to under
stand contemporary religious prob
lems." The Times adds: "Indeed his
whole-souled piety and transparent sin
cerity add to the hopelessness of the
situation." The criticism is that "Pius
X is impervious alike to argument and
to personal considerations? he acts on
fixed and absolute principles, which
were formulated -in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries." The National
Review (London) says: "This revival
of medieval pretensions has gradually
brought Rome into acute conflict with
intellectual Catholicism in France and
Italy, and threatens to exasperate the
faithful in Spain, while it must ulti
mately complicate the position of Brit
ish Catholics." The question forced in
France is separation of church and
state, carrying with, it prohibition of
clerical control over church property;
against which Pius X has issued his de
cree. Yet the separation bill was car
ried through both houses by great ma
jorities, and has since been approved
or affirmed by an overwhelming vote
of the electorate of the country. What
ever may be the result, for the present
there is an impasse between the Vatican
and France. ..The French clergy are in
a most embarrassing position-; for "they
are forbidden by the Pope from form
ing associations cultueiles, and they
cannot parley with the government, as
there is nothing to parley about, owing
to the non poesumus of the Vatican."
The new law will come Into operation
December 12. Consequences will be
awaited . with '.highest interest, in all
countries. The Oregonian's purpose is
simply to present an Interesting .fea
ture of great current news.
THERE IS YET. COAX.
The two main nerves of war, accord
ing to Milton's great sonnet on Vane,
are iron and gold. But coal must be
added, in our time. And not only as one
of the main nerves of war, but of indus
try and commerce, which have reached
their present development through it.
In one sense, and a very large one, coal
is king.
We may not suppose that the earth
has coal enough to last man forever,
but there is yet undiscovered coal.
Who can guess Lwhat coal may yet be
uncovered in Africa, Australia, Alaska;
indeed in any or all parts of America,
and of the whole world? It has long
been supposed that the extent of the
coal deposits in the British Islands was
fully known.- But a striking discovery
is now announced; namely, of coal
fields, in the south of England, of vast
extent and. lying at great depths, yet
avaTISfiro for working. An eminent
English geologist is reported as saying
that there has been no more important
event in England since the Norman
conquest than this discovery of a new
supply of fuel. The early exhaustion
of Great Britain's coal supply has been
solemnly predicted by the highest au
thorities. Such an event would be. an
unexampled calamity. It would mean
the end of the accumulation of wealth
and a rapid descent toward poverty.
This immense find is a happy relief
from dreadful apprehension. Its com
mercial importance is simply incalcula
ble. And bommeree is the basis of Eng
land's prosperity in all other respects.
Commenting on this announcement,
the Washington (D. C.) Post says:
The Dover coal revelation Is of great in
terest to all the world in many ways. To our
steel operators and our people generally it
should be peculiarly interest!, for it in
evitably suggests toe thought fffat since this
vast field of coal has lain in that little
country, its existence unsuspected, for many
centuries, is it not highly probable that in
this vast country and in Canada, which Is
quite as vast, there are undiscovered de
posits of both coal and iron, and that they
are not unllltely to be brought to light long
before the steel combine's ore beds shall
liave been worked out? Compared with
Kngland, America Is extremely young. And
the hunt for coal and iron in England had
been going on for centuries before it began
here. The English geologists were ten times
more sure that all of the great deposits of
these minerals in their country had been
found than any of our people Imagine they
are that the hunt is up in North America,
IN BEHALF OF THE MIDDLEMAN.
Prejudice has prevailed many years
in this state, as probably in other
states, against produce-buyers, who
reap a profit from handling the prod
ucts of farmers. There has been a
widespread feeling that the buyer js a
""middleman,." ' who levies toll which
must be paid by the grower or the con
sumer. Without stopping to inquire
thoroughly whether this middleman
renders service commensurate with the
money he receives, the broad conclusion
is reached that he is an unnecessary
factor in the handling of produce and
that all his profits are pure loss to the
grower or consumer. How to eliminate
the middleman is a problem that has
enlisted the thought of the most pro
gressive leaders of industry, but the
solution is yet unseen. The unanimous
judgment is that the middleman makes
too much lives off the labor of the
farmer and never misses an opportu
nity to press down his foot when he
gets it on the farmer's neck.
The hopbuyer is one of these oppress
ors, the apple-shipper another, and the
prune-packer another. Every bale of
hops, every box of apples and every
pound of prunes pays toll to the buyer
and packer. And what does the grower
get in return for the toll he pays?
Let us be just and give the middle
man his due. He renders a service that
is of value to the producer in more
ways than one. The buyer is a con
stant seeker for new markets. He pays
the telegraph bills incurred in offering
produce to distant markets. He con
ducts the" correspondence, sends cam
ples and employs agents to demon
strate to the possible buyer in the East
the merit of Oregon hops, apples or
prunes. He takes the responsibility of
delivering the goods and takes the
chances of loss. He guarantees the
quality.
And it is right here that the middle
man has rendered hia most valuable
service to the grower. Having guaran
teed the quality to the Eastern buyer,
he stands guard here in Oregon to see
that the grower brings his produce up
to the required standard. This is a
service many of the growers could not
and others would not perforin lot them
selves. If there were no buyer "here to
inspect the hops. and. reject the. poor
ones, how much less careful the grow
ers would be in picking, curing and bal
ing the hops? If the shipper were not
standing by to scrutinize every box of
apples, how soon would we notice small,
scabby, scaly and wormy apples get
ting, into the middle of a box? If the
prune-packer were an unknown factor
In the sale of that fruit. Oregon prunes
would still be sold in cotton bags in
stead of attractive boxes and the bags
would be filled with every class of fruit
from under-dried to burnt.
,The buyer who rejects hops, apples
or prunes on account of alleged inferior
quality, is denounced as a villain. Quite
likely he is in some instances. Yet, if
Oregon apples, prunes and hops have
won a reputation to be proud of, the
larger measure of credit belongs to the
shipper rather than the grower. The
apple-buyer-who first set a high stand
ard of excellence, to which fruit must
attain to be acceptable, did most to win
a place in the world's markets for Hood
River apples. The packer who first put
Oregon prunes in boxes gained for that
fruit a recognition it could not have
secured in bags.
Let us condemn and denounce the
middleman when he deserves it, but
give him credit lor the important part
he performs in'- making a market and
securing good prices for our products.
NEW TAX LAW IN OREGON.
The Oregon Tax Commission .wisely,
recommended that no change be made
in the time of paying taxes or in re
bates and penalties. The present sys
tem is working well, as every one
knows, and there should be no tamper
ing with it. New tax laws are needed
for the purpose of placing a share of
the burden of government upon prop
erty that now escapes, but this does not
necessitate a change in the time of pay
ment. The rebate system, by which
a property-owner receives a 3 per cent
rebate for prompt payment, applies
alike to all and induces people to pay
promptly and willingly. Persons who
would otherwise put off payment until
the last day and then find themselves
short of the required' amount of money
now make their payments early in. or
der to get the discount. The county
has a comparatively small delinquent
list, and the burden is. lightened for
those who payr .
The recommendation that County
Treasurers, instead of Sheriffs, should
collect the taxes, is also based upon
good reason. The Treasurer is ' the
proper person to receive public funds.
The ordinary duties of a Sheriff- are in
no way relf.ted to the handling, of
funds; while a Treasurer is selected for
his fitness as a custodian of money.
Under the present system the Treasur
ers have very little work to do, and in
many counties the salary is so low that
the incumbents find it necessary to en
gage in other work in order to make a
living. By relieving the Sheriff's office
of this w-Ork the Treasurer would "be
given enough work to keep him fairly
busy through a large part of the year,
and his compensation could be fixed ac
cordingly. IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.
The Congo is a great lacustrine river.
broken at intervals by rapids fatal to
navigation; yet the stretches of naviga
ble water are so long that "portages"
are deemed practicable; . and during
more than a year'past a large force has
been employed In grading a railway be
tween some of the navigable reaches of
the upper river, preparatory jto indus
trial and commercial development of a
great region in the interior of Africa.
AH interruptions to the navigation of
the Congo, one of the world's greatest
rivers, are thus to be overcome, in suc
cession. The work is in the Congo Free
State, under the nominal sovereignty of
Belgium, whose weakness is protected
by the good will of greater nations.
Railway materials are to be carried up
the Congo, and as the portages are cov
ered the route of commerce is to be
extended. European engineers are di
recting the undertaking, and assistance
is obtained from native labor.
In a survey of this new enterprise,
whose design is to open the heart of
Africa, the New York Sun tells us that:
"The total length of steam transporta
tion along the Congo when the last mile
of rails is laid will be 2144 miles, of
which 1548 miles will be by water and
596 miles by land; and the end of this
long route will be in touch with the
great mining region of Katanga,-which
is said to be as rich as Rhodesia in
gold, while the prospects of copper pro
duction are perhaps unsurpassed in any
other part of the world. The import
ance of extending transportation to
this regioSa is stimulating the efforts
of the Congo government. It remains
to be seen whether the Congo rail and
water route will reach this southeast
corner of the state before the branch of
the Cape-to-Cairo Railway arrives at
the same destination." Sure it is, bow
ever, that exploitation of the dark con
tinent will shortly add new resources of
vast extent to the commerce of the
world.
THE RUSSIAN STRUGGLE.
Some two weeks ago The Oregonian
commented on Mr. Edward A. Steiner's
contribution describing, 4n a recent is
sue of the Outlook, a somewhat hurried
trip "Into Russia and Out of-I-t." A sec
ond article by the same contributor has
since appeared in that publication, and
it is by far the more interesting, for it
deals with the actual state of affairs
in that rapidly disintegrating empire.
It is needless to say that the present
situation, as seen by a foreign traveler,
would appear as hopeless as it is terri
ble, and, indeed, to the Russians them
selves, it is fully as terrible, though not
so hopeless. Otherwise they might have
given up the struggle for human rights
long before this, but, instead, we find
thetn daily renewing their herculean
struggle with increased determination
to win a final victory over the com
bined power of the hierarchy and mon
archy. Of such final victory the world
has no doubt whatever, and, though it
deprecates the violence, and excesses
throughout that unhappy land, it does
not forget that there is scarcely a peo
ple but what had to fight for its free
dom; and in some cases the victories
were but temporary and the wprk had
to be done .over to make freedom tri
umphant. Mr. Steiner appears more influenced
by sentiment than by logic when he
says: "I must confess that my love for
them (the- Russian people) has almost
turned to hate; for the brutality prac
ticed by peasants and nobles, by sol
diers and even by priests, passes my
comprehension." The truth of the mat
ter is that the brutality had its origin
in the imperial government, of which
the priesthood and some of the nobles
form an inseparable part. Against this
brutality the Russian people have final
ly risen. If, in their vengeance against
the governing brigands of the Holy
Russian Empire, some excesses are
committed,, they are due chiefly. If not
entirely, to. , the. murderous gangs,
known as the "Black Hundreds," and
the so-called "Union of the Russian
People," whom trie-government has or
ganized to terrorize the people.
The sacrifices the people have already
made, the blood of martyred men and
women, will not be appeased by any
sham reforms, the nature and actual
value of which are so well known to
the victimized people in the land of the
Czars. It must be no less than a full
and square recognition of the inalien
able right of man, if peace and indus
try are ever to be restored in the Rus
sian Empire. And come it will, even if
it should require the heads of the en
tire royal family. Including those of the
chief managers and supporters of the
present government.
Portland needs a new water pipe
from Bull Run, to cost $2,500,000. and a
new bridge at- Madison street, to cost
$500,000. These improvements should be
made within the next five years, and
w.ill add $3,000,000 to the bonded debt of
the city, though the new water debt
jvill be sustained by the earnings of the
water department. - A movement has
started to bond the city for $2,000,000
for parks, driveways and two river
bridges, and there is another proposal
to create a harbor improvement dis
trict, including Portland, for deepening
the Columbia bar a work that would
require $2,500,000 to finish the south
Jetty and between $300,000 and-$500,000
for dredging. Then, too, Portland property-owners
will spend several million
dollars for streets, sidewalks and sew
ers in the next few years. The cost of
improving a city comes high and it will
be necessary to cull out some of the
luxuries from the actual necessities. And
the need of a new fireboat, to cost $100,000,
should be added.
An effort is making at one point
or another . on the Great Lakes to
compel reduction of the water-flow
through the Chicago drainage , canal,
on the claim that, the reduction
of the Jake levels will be the con
sequence of continuation of the present
flow. This is to be considered at a con
vention to be held at Buffalo, Novem
ber 8. Chicago answers that the claim
or complaint is absurd, since the flow
through the drainage canal bears no
appreciable proportion to the whole
volume of the lakes or to their out
flow. Probably true; yet there are
those who Would give Chicago trouble
if they could. It is human nature.
From Canada objections come also;
but Chicago answers that Lake Michi
gan, from which the water is drawn
for the drainage canal, is wholly within
the United States.
The Dalles Optimist has a long arti
cle, addressed to the Legislature, enti
tied "Defeat Bourne." The Oregonian
thinks it cannot be done, should not be
done if it could be done, and ought not
to be attempted. Fairness In politics,
loyalty to the primary law, and respect
for the intent and will of the people
expressed through .. the ballot-box,
doubtless will be conclusive with the
Legislature jrand though that body
has the constitutional power to over
rule the argument for fairness in poli
tics, loyalty to the 'primary law and
respect for the intent and will of the
people, it certainly is no compliment to
it to suppose or suggest that it will
do so. . '
Hearst now, denounces Hughes as "a
corporation attorney, unworthy of the
support of the people." But Hearst's
New York paper said, at the close of
the insurance investigations: "No one
will question the excellence of the work
done by the counsel for the people, Mr.
Charles E. Hughes. He has done per
haps everything that could be done
during the time at his disposal."
Reports are that the political cam
paign in Washington is dull, and yet
it is admitted that the Anti-Saloon
League Is taking an important part. A
glance at the "wet and dry" map of
Oregon 'should convince the Washing
ton politicians that the antis have a
way of making a campaign Interesting.
At Coos Bay the canners have used
up their supply of tin cans and a big
run of silverslde salmon Is "going' to
waste." On the Columbia River, can
ners would consider that a woeful
waste, indeed; that's the reason so few
salmon reach the hatcheries.
Oregon hopgrowers are somewhat like
the Arkansas farmer, who did not need
to shingle his roof in fair weather and
could not shingle it during a rain. The
growers can't sell when the price of
hops is going down and won't sell when
the price is going up.
A crowd of young people who will
form a disorganized mob and demolish
the home of a newly married couple
"just for fun" need something done to
them that will change their ideas of
amusement.
A railway surgeon says that the out
break of feeling against corporation's
is an "epidemic of hysteria," Well
wouldn't being held up and robbed
every day in the year give anybody
hysterics?
Somehow or other those laws enacted
by the people have a way of standing
the test of the courts. Four local op
tion suits have failed to knock out the
liquor law.
Palma is said to have left In the
Cuban treasury $13,000,000. No wonder
he was adjudged incapable of running
a Latin-Amerlcan-mulatto republic.
Oregon bank deposits increased more
than $16,500,000 in the past year. But
Oregon wants none of those Chicago or
Philadelphia, bank escapades.
Hearst is at least putting some good
money into circulation, and to that ex
tent his candidacy will be a benefit to
the country.
Physicians are said not to desire
"phthisis" reformed. The more myi
terious the name the more visits at
$2.50 per.
Heney has a new Job in San Fran
cisco, and many anxious patriots in
Oregon "don't care if he never comes
back."
Every man who has a corporation
thinks he has a good corporation. So
thinks Rockefeller; so does Hearst.
Uncle Sam's bluejackets are fighting
yellow fever. That takes more nerve
than fighting Cubans.
Half a dozen deaths from football al
ready. Who said new rules were a fail
ure?
AGAINST THE LAND THIEVES.
Commendation of Mr. Rsosevelt'i Re
form Crusade.
Springfield fMass.) Republican.
If anybody Is puzzled over the appar
ently well-sustained popularity of Presi
dent Roosevelt he may find some ex
planation possibly in the way the Presi
dent reveals himself as through the steps
about to be taken to prevent a- further
diversion of public coal and mineral lands
to private possession regardless or tneir
value. This will be in the nature of an
executive suspension of the operations of
the Federal land laws, but the President
hag been learning something of the wrong
and injustice resulting, and doubtless con
siders that an emergency exists as a
consequence of recent revelations which
will warrant him in taking such a course.
And that people generally will approve
is hardly to be questioned.
Not only will the President proclaim
the withdrawal of public coal lands from
further entry, we are told in Washington
reports, but steps are to be taken to re
cover large areas of coal lands which
have already been patented to corpora
tions and private interests through al
leged fraud and evasion of the land laws.
It is said that in the Rocky Mountain
states there are 100,000 square miles of
coal lands, two-thirds of which have been
patented to private parties, the other
third still remaining in the hands of the
Government. But It is beginning to ap
pear that much of the lands obtained by
corporations was acquired through eva
sion of the laws. Interstate Commerce
Commissioner Prouty has been making
an investigation of the doings of certain
railroads and railroad officials in that
region, and his report will be the basis
of suits to recover lands now in private
possession. It has been made apparent
that Union Pacific officials and the com
pany Itself employed dummies to enter
upon and obtain Government coal lands
and that the power of the road over
rates was used to make these mines valu
able and destroy the value of others. . The
relations of the Denver & Rio Grande and
Santa Fe Railroads and of the Colorado
Fuel & Iron Company to this looting of
the public domain will not bear close in
vestigation, it Is asserted. New scandals
affecting the administration of the public
land laws are likely to be developed ex
ceeding in gravity those which have been
revealed in the prosecutions of the In
terior Department under Secretary Hitch
cock. The American people are becoming very
much alive to the aggressions of corpo
rate privilege. They are also waking up
to the iniquity of permitting limited and
invaluable stores of nature to pass -into
private hands regardless of their value or
the conditions upon which they are to be
exploited for private profit. There are
said to be those among the older states
men at Washington who shake their
heads over the President's intended course
regarding the public lands, and say it
suggests and helps a policy of public
ownership. But the President better un
derstands the temper of the peuplo and
is more keen to appreciate the injustice
involved. Radical action of the sort he
contemplates is better than revolution.
Japanese Railways.
From the Railway Age.
Now that the Japanese government has
undertaken to nationalize 17 private rail
ways, having a total of 2S87 miles of lines.
at a cost of 421,500,000 yen ($210,000,000). or
about $73,000 per mile, the latest annual
report of Ichlji Yamanouchi, director of
the Imperial Bureau of the Railways of
Japan, for the fiscal year ended March 31
1905, becomes of the highest historical and
comparative value.
The total mileage open for traffic In 1905
was 4693, divided as follows: Government
railways. 1461 miles; private railways, 3232
miles. This showed an -increase of nearly
198 miles over 1004.
Calculating the Japanese yen at 50 cents
(commercially 49.8 cents), the cost of con
struction of the mileage was:
Cost. Per rfille
Government- railways.. 7S.061.64H $52,054
Prfvate railways. 1S0,502,452 ,37.2S4
Total $196,554,101 $11,882
It will be perceived that" the ' Japanese
government now pays almost double the
original cost- of constructing the private
railways, and there is no suggestion of
graft or excessive valuation In the trans
action. The price paid was 20 times the
average of the net earnings from opera
tions for 1902, 1903 and 1904. divided by the
cost of construction and multiplied by the
paid up capital.
Origin of "Watered Stock."
Buffalo Times.
We hear a great deal about "wa
tered stock" these days, reference be
ing had to the injection of false values
Into the stocks of corporations. The
late Daniel Drew gave us this phrase,
and it grew out of the fact that when
he sold a yoke of oxen he weighed
them to the buyer Immediately after
they had drank copious quantities of
water. After the old drover got to
be a magnate of Wall street this prac
tice of his gave addition to our finan
cial nomenclature.
It Is related that the late Commodore
Vanderbilt was the first to practice the
watering of corporation stock, and
for his alleged reason that It was the
only way to keep the New York Cen
tral Railroad as then chartered out of
perpetual bankruptcy. A great many
purchasers of the "watered stock'
were flooded out, but the "water"
kept the corporation afloat.
Since then the watering of stock ha
been freely practiced. At the present
time, according to a statement made
by Senator La Follette. of Wisconsin,
there is $7,000,000,000 of water In the
railroad stocks of the United States.
A Woman's Toneue Never Slips.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
"Did you ever see a woman who stut
tered?" "No; low I come to think of It, I never
did."
"They are very rare," said the physi
cian. "I think it safe to say that the av
erage person passes through life without
ever meeting a stuttering woman.
"There are two. reasons for this. First,
woman naturally I don't know why is
less liable to the disease of stammering
than man. Second, if she develops this
disease, she sets out with the determina
tion to cure herself, and she succeeds:
whereas, careless man, rather than take
the trouble of a cure, will go stammering
on to the end."
Rlsht Kind of Nneleus.
Central Point Herald.
Once upon a time there was an editor
who went out on the prairie and started
a newspaper, and in a short time they
built a town around him. It would
seem that Central Point people have
been doing that very same thing as re
gards the Herald.
Antnmn Luxury In the East.
Washington (D. C.) Star.
Life seems a -whole lot sweeter
When election day draws near.
It Is neater an' comoleter
Leastways, that's how things appear,
Kearly every kind o blessln'
You could wish for comes in reach
When the candidate's addressin'
Us constituents in a soeech.
The apples, soriy bluaMn',
Seem to smile an' welcome him;
An' the breeze comes up a-rushln",
So's to shake 'em off the limb.
An' when he starts a-sayln'
How he likes us, every one.
It is Jes' like music Dlayin.
. An we're sorry when it's done.
You kin talk 'bout oysters growin",
Pluroo an' fine in the bay:
And about the reedbirds showln'
Greater sweetness every day.
An tbe other Joys that beckon
To contentment in the Fall;
But the candidate, I reckon.
Is the one that beats them-alL
FAKKHVRST'S "GOODNESS TRUST."
Newspaper " Money-Quest, Balaaced by
Fiona Pulpit Pretense.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst said
in his sermon of yesterday morning, which
the Eagle prints in full today, that it is
not the function of the press to be a
world regenerator. He added:
"The press is as definitely and as con
spicuously a money-making scheme as is
brokerage or manufacture, and you can
register it as an eternal principle that no
man ever does a great thing while com
puting its cash value or while standing
with his fingers in the till, with one ear
to the ground, the other ear open to the
cries of stockholders screaming for divi
dends. . . . The fact that there is an.
institution specifically ordained by God for
the redemption of the Individual, the re
construction of society and the raising
from the dead the rotting body of munici
pal and state politics, and then that insti
tution is the church of Jesus Christ,
should load with a burden of keenly-felt
opportunity and responsibility the heart's
of our clergy, first of all, and of our Chris
tian laity"
Now, the Tu Quoque argument is in
effective. It might be argued that servil
ity to wealthy contributors affects a num
ber of clergymen as great in proportion to
the whole number, as the percentage of
editors who are servants of Mammon. But
that is hardly worth while.
The effort of Dr. Parkhurst to establish
or to re-establish a Goodness Trust with
the Presbyterian Church as the holding
company is so old in principle as Arch
bishop Laud, so old as the massacre of
9t Bartholomew, so old as the Egyptian
priesthood. The world has hardly Been an
age in which orthodox teachers of good
ness did not claim a monopoly for their
wares, and enforce that monopoly by
rather barbarous methods whenever they
had the power.
The worthy Puritans of Salem stoned
Quakers and cut oft the ears of Baptists
to make good their Goodness Trust. But
in the development of the United States
the idea of Roer Williams has prevailed.
This idea aims at making us all (even the
editors) workers together with God for
the betterment of mankind, each in his
own way developing and distributing his
own brand of goodness on lines suggested
by his own God-given conscience.
The Eagle has a suspicion that the Neo
Puritanic Goodness Trust is a Parkhurst
ian anachronism.
CONNUBIAI TEAMWORK.
Keeping: the Man at Work.
Oregon City Knterprlse.
If a man knows that his wife expects
him to succeed, that she expects him to
stand at his post and do his duty, no mat
ter how hard it is, and that she will think
him a coward if he gives up his Job be
cause the work was unpleasant or there
were difficulties in his way, it is easy to
foretell what the future of that man will
be.
Noble Women.
Sheridan New Sun.
The women of this town have labored
earnestly and long In an endeavor to
maintain truth and sobriety in the home,
teaching their sons and daughters that
these are cardinal virtues, and are to bo
prized far greater than rubies. They have
recognized the fact that home life is the
foundation of all life; and that municipal,
state and National existence is pure only
as the home life is pure,. The women of
this city have been the silent force, the
undercurrent, that .has been working so
effectively through the years, the result
of which has meant the ushering in of
social conditions that are extremely
wholesome.
Joys and Sorrows.
Astorian.
A good . husband makes .a good wife.
Some- men can neither do without wives
nor with them; they-are wretched alone
in what is called single blessedness, and
--ey- make their homes miserable when
they get married: they are like Tompkins'
dog, which could not bear to be loose and
howled when he was - tied up. Hnppy
bachelors are- happy husbands, and a hap
py husband is the happiest of men. A
well-matched couple carry a joyful life
between them, as the two spies carried the
cluster of Eschoi. They multiply their
joys by sharing them, and lessen their
troubles by dividing them. This is a line
arithmetic. The wagon of care- rolls light
ly along as they pull together, and when
it drags a little heavily, or there's a hitch
anywhere, they love each other all, the
more, and so lighten the labor.
Sir Thomas I.lptoni Wife or CupT
Chicago Evening Post.
"If it were true that I am over here
looking for an American wife, Chicago
would be the place for me to come, but
at present I am In the business of lift
ing cups, and I think one worry at a
time quite enough."
Sir Thomas Lipton delivered himself
of this diplomatic speech in regard to
reports that that -his visit this time
was made with possible matrimonial
intent.
"But when you have built your new
yacht and taken the cup back across
the water again, will you return for an
American wife?" Sir Thomas was
asked.
"That's a very good thing to think
of," he replied.
A Kippered Snlutntion.
From a Letter in the Spectator.
A worthy French Protestant pastor was
guest at a Scottish manse. One morning
kippered -herring were served at break
fast. The French pastor asked the meaning
of "kipper." His host replied that it
meant "to preserve." On taking his leave
next day, the French pastor, wringing his
host's hand, said: "May the Lord kipper
you, my good friend."
Her Experience.
. Chicago Daily News.
The pretty widow had finally Induced
the bachelor to propose.
"Darling," he said, "I fear that I am
not worthy of you."
"Oh, don't let a little thing like that
worry you," she replied. "You'll get over
it in a few weeks after we are married."
PERHAPS HE DOESN'T
From the Pittsburg BiBpatch.
No word has been received from the Peary Arctic expedition, which sailed
In search of the North Pole 15 months ago. The expedition we expected to
return in the Spring of this year. News Item. ,
V
OPIMONS IX OREGON COlTJiTRTt
Land .W aste on the Farnu
Woodburn Independent.
Fortunately, new blood and new Uleas j
are demonstrating to the 640-acre men.
that it is more profitable to let others
take care of the united portion of their
big tracts. It Is a shame that so much
good laad Is lying idle In this valley,
principally because rich farmers, about
on the retired list, do not like the kiea
of being crowded. ' Probably others, if
tney were so siiuait-u. "uu m m i,..
but that is not assisting in tne progress
of the country.
Never an Old Story.
Baker Democrat. -
Not the man who owns the lan (
number of acres, and who thereby 1'
the largest number of his fellow b
from owning any land at .all. but
man who puts whatever land he owm
the best possible use, Is wormy ot
homage of his fellows. The farmer w
by the use of Intense cultivation, irrig
tion and "brains." draws an income
$5000 a year from ten acres of ground I
and there are such farmers is wor-
20 times as much to a community an 1 '
who gets a bare living off of 100 acre
The country will, by and by. It is hope.
abandon the false standard which make 1
the mere possession of many acr
token of superiority, and award the-
to the man who gets the most out. fi,
Progress of Crook Couaty.
Crook County Journal.
. According to careful estimates made by
Labor Commissioner O. P. Hoff. the
population of Oregon for 1906 Is estimated
at 504,649. AssuriUng that the commis
sioner's figures are approximately correct.
Crook county has nearly doubled In popu
lation since the census of lSvO. The cen
sus of that year showed a population
of 3964. The census for 1905 showed 4713.
Population basea on school children for
1904 was 5045. Population based on schoo-.
census for 1906 was 8440. Popufation baseci
on school enrollment for 1SH was 6594.
Population bacd on school attendance
for 1906 was 7201. Taking an average of
census, enrollment and attendance for
1906 gives Crook county a population o
7412. Not a bad showing.
River Deepening a Katlonal Work.
Albany Herald.
There is no Indication that" the peo
ple of Oregon will consent to be taxed
for an appropriation toward Columbia
River improvement .' in the matter of
Jetties, dredging. Celiio canal or other
wise. The Herald has always taken the
ground that Columbia River improvement
is of first' importance in the state's neetfc,
but Washington and Idaho have as much,
interest In the great river, generally
viewed as Oregon. It .is not to .be
seriously considered that the three states
will get together to help Columbia River
improvement projects. The United Statea
Government should do' the work, and
must do it if It is done. Hence, the need
of direct appeal to headquarters and the
shaping of every influence possible toward
the accomplishment of those good com
mercial purposes in connection with navi
gation of the Columbia.
Flowers of Speech.
From the Pall Mall Gazette.
L a., ruui.aLi.iii iiii.u.iuis no vn,.. ,iu
churchmen for having so long been
tent to "take the crumbs from the
senters' table lying down."
lrt a lecture on Oliver Cromwell occurs
the statement that his little -finger
more heavily on . the people than
King's loins had ever lain." g
A correspondent of a religious Journal, I
criticising a gross misstatement, insists I
on the necessity of "promptly nailing all I
similar lies to the mast." "
A session or two ago an Irish Liberal
was reported to have said in the House
of Commons that by "letting In the thin
end of the wedge of Land Nationalism
the government were laying on all siri
seeds of disease which would in the T
ture bring down -the whole edifice ab. i
their heads." -''. T
How They Were Lost.
- New York Sun.
The .Venus of Milo explained.
"I twisted 'cm off trying to fasten the
three middle buttons in the back," she
announced. -
From this It was easily inferred than
she had no husband.
Hence These Compliments.
Washington Post.
Vice-President Fairbanks has warmly
Indorsed Governor Cummins in an Iowa
speech. Governor Cummins, It will be re-,
membered, is the man who greased the
rails ahead of the- Shaw Presidential spe-
cial.
The Poor Fellow I .',,''
- The Sketch.
Gentleman (who has been asked for q
trifle "ter buy bread, guvnor") For a
beggar, you look very respectable with
glasses on. ... . . .
Tramp Ah, sir, I've ruined my eyesight
lookin fer a Job.
Not it Kentuekinn.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
A Missourian named Henry Clay tooK
two drinks of whisky and -dropped dead.
Which teaches us how futile it is ta
hitch a weakling to a great man's name.
A Frlirhtful Preillonment.'
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Mr. Hearst has incorporated himself sa
thoroughly that he often can't tell which
is himself and which is a. New Jersey
charter.
Hughes Not An Officeholder.
Pittsburg Dispatch. .
Charles E. Hughes is the only Republi
can to be nominated for Governor by the
Republican party in New York, since Its
organization fiO years ago, who had not
previously held public oflice.
The Unreformed Poet,
Mexican Herahi. . ' '
"Mother, may I go learn to spell?
"Yes, my darling Julia;
Be sure you loarn the Btandarda well.
Don't let the reformers fulla"
CARE TO COME BACK