lu THE 3IORXING OKEGONIAN, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1907. SUBSCRIPTION BATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. (By Mall.) Daily, Sunday Included. . on year $8.00 Jally, Sunday Included, six months. 4.25 Ijally. Sunday Included, three months.. S.25 Pally, Sunday Included, ong month ?S T'ally. wltliout Sunday, one year 6.00 lially, without Sunday, six months.... 3. 25 Dally, without Sunday, three month.. 1.75 Pally, without Sunday, one month 00 Funday, one year 8.50 Veekly, one year (issued Thursday).. 1.50 Sunday and Weekly, one year ... 3.50 BY CARRIER. Daily, Sunday included, one year 9.00 laily, Sunday Included, one month ?5 HOW TO REMIT Send postofllce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postoffice ad dress in full, including; county and state. POSTAGE KATES. 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Wheatley; Fairmount Hotel News Stand; Amos News Co.; United News Agents. 11 H Kddy street. Oakland, Cal W. H. Johnson, Fourteenth and Franklin streets; N. Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; Hale News Co. (.oldlield, Nov. Louie Follln; C. E. Hunter. ' Kurrka, Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency; Eu reka News Co. PORTLAND, SATURDAY. OCT. 8. 1907. THE COURTS AND LEGISLATION. The Hon. Walter Clark, Chief Jus tice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, endeavors to prove In the current number of the Independent that the Federal Judges ought to be elected by the people and not appoint ed by the President. He would apply this rule to all the judges, both those of the lower courts and the Justices of the Supreme Bench. The reasons which Mr. Cl-rk offers for his opinion will appear strange to most people, reared as v,-e have been to look upon Federal judges as a superior order of beings who can make no mistakes and do no wrong. He clearly indicates a conviction that the authority which has been gradually grasped by the Federal judges is transforming our National Government Into a close oli garchy; and since. In his opinion, the appointment of the judges is often dic tated by the corporations, the tendency of the oligarchy is to subject us to a group of a narrow and conscienceless plutocrats. Judge Clark reasons that the Fed eral courts have made themselves the supreme and irresponsible rulers of the country by assuming t'.ie right to veto acts of Congress. This veto power is disguised under various names and exercised with divers palli ations in form and language; but it is a real thing and it is probably the most Important single fact in our Governmental system. Everybody will recall that the United States Senate debated the rate bill not in the slight est degree upon its merits, but solely upon the question whether the Su preme Court would approve of it or not. Mr. La Kollette was the only Senator who touched upon the rights and wrongs which the bill was de signed to remedy. All the others, Spooner, Bailey, Long, Fulton, dis cussed simply and solely what ought to be done to meet the wishes of the courts. Is this not a strange phenom enon? Is it not somewhat incongru ous to see one co-ordinate department of the Government assuming this ser vile attitude toward another which by the Constitution is its equal, but not its superior? The Constitution con tains no hint whatever that the courts Khali be the exclusive interpreters f our fundamental law. That power is equally distributed among all ttuve departments of the Government. It belongs to Congress as much as to the Supreme Court and to the President as much as to either of the others, The Supreme Court has no more con stitutional right to annul a law of Con gress than Congress has to annul a decision of the court. So thinks Judge Clark. He argues that it never was the in tentlon of the constitution-makers to confer political power upon the courts: but the authority to annul, or veto, laws Is political power of the highest order. It makes the courts our supreme legislative bodies. And the singular anomaly of it is that they are not only beyond the choice of the people and above all possibility of be lug held responsible, hut they are practically exempt from effective crit iclsm. To utter or publlE'.i what is intended to Influence a court while a case is pending brings upon one pun ishment for contempt. But it is in deciding cases that the courts really iiact new laws and repeal old ones. Hence this legislation, which is more important than any other, goes on al most In secret. Certainly it is en tlrely exempt from public discussion. By this half clandestine process of lawmaking. Judge Clark points out, the Constitution has been entirely transformed; and it has been done so quietly, so inconspicuously, that very few people know anything about it. He makes the perfectly true remark that the Supreme Court has so altered the meaning of the Constitution, with out changing its outward form, that the men who made it could not rec ognize their handiwork. Yet there are those who pretend that the courts are the only safe guardians of the Constitution. In the constitutional convention the proposal to confer upon the Federal courts the power to annul laws of Congress came up four separate times. Each time it was debated, fully con sidered and voted down by a decisive majority. Not more than three states ever favored the proposal. It Is a rule of law everywhere accepted that when the interpretation of a law is in dispute the intention of the lawmak ers is decisive upon the matter if it can be ascertained. There is no trou ble whatever in ascertaining what the intention of the constitution-makers was In regard to the annulment of Congressional acts by the Federal courts. They expressed their Inten tion clearly and unmistakably four separate times. Each time they de nied the power to the courts. And yet the courts, which pose as the only trustworthy conservators of the Con stitution, have usurped this authority and exercise It so frequently and con temptuously that they have made the legislative department of the Govern ment nothing more than their sub missive vassal. So thinks Judge Clark. But the usurpation is now so strong ly Intrenched in custom, he believes. that It can only be remedied by a con stitutional amendment. He proposes an amendment which would make the judges elective and confer their office for a term of years only, instead of for life, rs it now stands. As to the wisdom of such an amendment people will differ according to their tempera ments and prejudices. As to its prac ticability there can be but one opinion. It is useless to think of amending the Federal Constitution. It cannot be done. If for every desired step for ward In government we must wait till the Constitution Is amended, we may as well make up our minds to live witHout progress. The only sensible and practical method is to adopt Pres ident Roosevelt's pragmatic theory that the Constitution means what the National life requires it to mean. To squeeze an elective Federal Judiciary out of It may be a task which .pre sents some difficulties, but we are con fident it can be done. If the post roads clause does not suffice, sorely it can be managed under the general welfare provision. MEN AND WOMEN. We are disposed to agree with one of our correspondents, whose letters are printed today in another column, that a Jury of women would be less amenable to the wanton wiles of Way mires and their lawyers than men are. Not that women understand the little arts of their sex better than men do, but they are differently affected by them. For example, it was reported that when the Mayor appeared in court Mrs. Waymire "cast a withering glance at him." Now that glance was, of course, carefully studied, and it -tfas emitted with a perfectly definite in tention to produce a certain effect upon judge, reporters and spectators. Had these individuals been women in stead of men, one can assert with un qualified confidence that the wither ing glance would have failed of its ob ject. They would have read Its pur pose instantly and steeled their hearts against it. The men read it equally well, but their poor, silly hearts were butter beneath its beams. We believe it Is agreed by lawyers that a Jury of men is by nature unfit to render exact justice to a handsome woman, whether she be plaintiff or defendant. Dickens set forth a great truth for all time in his caustic de scription of the proceedings in Bardell and Pickwick. Sergeant Buzfuz did exactly what every lawyer does when he can make capital of a woman's sexuality before a Jury. His specious appeals to "chivalry" and that sort of thing are repeated in court every day in the year, except possibly Sundays, and they are almost invariably ef fective. It is safe to wager that the women of Portland, the good women, appreci ate the bitterness of the Mayor's situ ation far better than the men do, and weigh the circumstances with a nicer sense of justice. The vilest creature on earth, and the most dangerous, is a woman who abuses the power of her womanhood to betray a man to his ruin. No words can express her infamy, for she has turned the most sacred of all things to the lowest purposes of evil. CAPITALIZATION AND PRICES. "It is a popular superstition that a corporation capitalized at more than its actual value must charge prices higher than would be charged if cap italized at its actual value." This quo tation is from the New York Evening Post. The able writer goes on to say that scores of states have based legis lation on the superstition, and he de votes a column of really powerful ar gumentation to show how false It is. We have no wish to try to prove that overcapitalized corporations must charge higher prices than those which are Justly capitalized; but we do main tain that the higher their capitaliza tion is the more they must charge to earn dividends upon it; and we think this is the common view. If they do not care to make dividends for their stockholders, of course there is no necessary relation between capitaliza tion and prices. But, while dividends cut no figure in the speculations of doctrinaires, they are rather Important to the owners of corpoorate stocks, and the desire for them exerts a not altogether negligible pressure upon of ficers and directors. Thus in practice there is a very definite relation be tween capitalization and prices. Here, as almost everywhere else, the cut-and-dried conclusions of economic theorists look very pretty on paper, but apply only partially to the living facts. The Federal Courts always rule that corporations are entitled to a fair profit on their Invested capital; and they compute the invested capital from the amount of stock which has been issued. Hence in the decisions of the courts the rule prevails that capital ization determines prices. Whether the rule Is Just or not is another mat ter entirely. We think that in general It is not Just; but it is the rule all the same. The only fair way to determine prices is by the cost of producing the arctile proffered, whether it is trans portation, sugar, kerosene or life in surance. Capitalization, dividends, fair returns upon capital invested, and all such questions, are entirely ex traneous to the issue; but as things go in this imperfect world the cost of production has very little to do with prices' and irrelevant factors almost everything. WILLAMETTE VALLEY TRANSPORTA TION. "Announcement that the Oregon Electric line will extend its road from the present terminus at Salem to Eu gene will be most graciously received, not only at Portland and Eugene, but all along the route. The Oregon Electric seems to be one of those cor porations which does not confine its building to paper, but actually invests in steel, ties, roadbed and equipment. We have been somewhat "shy" on roads of this class In Oregon, and, for that reason, the work of the Oregon Electric will be doubly valuable to the state. The building of this line to Eu gene will largely aid to solve the trans portation problem for the Willamette Valley. It will supply all of the inter mediate territory between Portland and Eugene with quick and frequent transit at lower rates than now pre vail, and It will also offer an oppor tunity for the fruit, hop and lumber men of the Valley to get their prod ucts on the market with much greater facility than ever before. Operated as an independent enter prise, this line can turn over at Port land the immense traffic originating in the Willamette Valley to the road which offers the best Inducements to the shippers. If it remains clear of entangling alliances with any one of the big roads leading across the conti nent, its business will be sought by-all. and every shipper along the line will profit by the competition thus created. The business of the Willamette Valley is increasing so rapidly that there is no question about the success of the road, and, as soon as it is completed to Eugene, there will undoubtedly be feeders built out across the country traversed by the main line. It a not at all improbable that the Immense traffic of Central Oregon may yet find relief by means of a Willam ette Valley electric line. There is plenty of power at various places throughout the state, and the line could undoubtedly haul wheat out of Central Oregon at a much lower freight rate than is now demanded by the men who are carrying it out with traction engines. The same natural conditions which cause heavy grades through the mountains into Central Oregon also create water power for operation of the roads. It is the ad vantage of rapid transit and good serv ice between Portland and the Valley cities and towns that will first appeal to the people, but In due season still greater benefits will result from the in creased development of the country now neglected for want of transporta tion facilities. With a line to Eugene right through a territory which produces traffic at every mile traversed, it will not be long before it Is extended south as well as east. Southern Oregon is be coming famous as a fruit country, and the density of the population increases at a rapid rate as fruit orchards begin bearing. An excellent illustration of the development that follows construc tion of an electric road can be seen along the Oregon Water Power Com pany's line to Estacada. This vhas changed a scantily settled and poorly developed country into an almost un broken line of small farms and gar dens. It has afforded city workers an opportunity to get out into the country and enjoy the pleasures of a little gar den and orchard of their own, and it has enabled the small farmer along the route to get his products to mar ket at small cost and with quick serv ice. What has been accomplished along this older line will now be in evidence along the route of the Oregon Electric, although the country traversed is al ready somewhat better developed than was the region opened up by the Ore gon .Water Power line. Mr. Harriman is apparently still waiting for cheaper money with which to build railroads, but there is a possibility that, if he waits too long, he may find more 'en terprising men of the Oregon Electric type in possession of the field. It Is a matter of no consequence to the peo ple of Oregon who builds the railroads so long as they are built and operated to serve their patrons. SMALLER FARMS.. MORE FARMERS. There will hardly be any widespread sorrow over the new ruling of the In terior Department which compels the farmers who lease Indian lands to dwell on them. It will have the effect of reducing the acreage held by the wheat kings and of increasing the number of small farmers, an advan tage too obvious to require explana tion. As stated in a Pendleton dis patch in yesterday's Oregonian, "the Importance of this ruling may be re alized when it Is understood ihat there are men living in the City of Pendle ton who are farming as high as 3000 acres upon which there is not a single house. It will mean the cutting up of the big holdings into smaller holdings and the invasion of the reservation by a more humble class of growers and the crowding out of the big wheat kings." The present season has offered an excellent illustration of the advan tages of farming on a small scale as compared with what is generally known as "bonanza farming." Prac tically all of the damage suffered by the wet weather in the interior wheat fields was on the big farms, where the scarcity of labor made it impossi ble properly to handle the crop when it was ready. In nearly every case the small wheatgrower who was farming about 160 acres and could work it without much help succeeded in es caping Injury. It will be .a great many years before diversified farming will supplant wheatgrowing in many localities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, but a limitation on the size of the wheat fields will be of great benefit to the country. In the case of Uma tilla County it will result in a large Increase in the population, something which has not beet noticeable for a long time. In fact, there are some townships In the county where the steadily Increasing absorption of small farms by the great wheatgrowers has resulted in decrease in population at a time when all other portions of the Northwest outside of the wheat dis tricts were showing substantial gains. In the Willamette Valley, which thirty years ago was producing nearly all of the wheat grown In Oregon, di versified farming has reached a stage where not infrequently ten families are found on a single quarter section that was once devoted to wheatgrow ing, and each of the ten farmers Is making more money out of his small farm than the former wheatgrower made out of the entire quarter section when it was devoted to wheatgrowing. What the Pacific Northwest needs is more permanent residents to take the place of that wandering army which drifts in at harvest time and drifts out again when harvest is over. The ruling of the department will work a hardship only on the big wheat kings, most of whom have done well enough out of the industry to live quite com fortably on 160 acres for the remain der, of their lives. A young boy, beaten and driven out Into the night, which he spent shiver ing under a pile of lumber rather than brave the wrath of his inhuman father by returning to the shelter that he called "home," is truly an object of pity. One cannot help wondering where the mother was when a case of this kind is reported, and, if present, what she was doing while the beating of the boy was going on. The mater nal instinct should rise to meet an emergency of this kind with any weapon that comes handy, from a rolling-pin or iron poker to the broom stick. Force is the only argument that can be used successfully against a bully or that will put to rout a coward who uses his strength brutally against a child. The time to use it is when the emergency occurs. Blood-letting has fallen into disuse In therapeutics, but there is no doubt of the efficacy of nosebleeding when brought on to bring a bully to a realizing sense of the fact that there are some things that he cannot do, even in his own house, with impunity. President Roosevelt in his speech be fore the Deep Waterways Convention at Memphis yesterday disclosed his in timate knowledge of the possibilities of the great river of the West when he said that "the removal of obstructions in the Columbia and its chief tribu taries would open to navigation and Inexpensive freight transportation fully 2000 miles of channel." This is a greater mileage than Is covered by all of the rail lines controlled by the Harriman interests in Oregon, Wash ington and Idaho, and with the great awakening in interest in the subject we are almost certain to experience but little difficulty in securing the necessary appropriations for placing these channels in condition to handle the traffic which is already taxing the capacity of the railroads and Is In creasing more rapidly than ever be fore. It is something new to receive from so far from home such encour aging tributes to our great system -of undeveloped waterways. "Trade, like water, finds its own levels and follows along the highways of least resistance," said Secretary Straus In a speech before the National Convention of Cotton Manufacturers held in Washington yesterday. And then, to make the illustration clearer, the well-informed chief of the Depart ment of Commerce and Labor threw cold shivers down the back of the worshipers of the sacred tariff by tell ing them if they built tariff walls too high in this country they would en courage the building of higher walls on the other side. To overcome the obstacle's now encountered by the trade he recommended revision of the tariff. If these distressing admis sions that there is something wrong with our tariff system continue to come from men so high in authority, the next session of Congress will be almost certain to disclose the very common clay of which our long-worshiped Idol is constructed. President Clark, of the Mount Hood Railroad, is much chagrined over what he terms the premature announcement of the plans of his company to build a line from Portland to Denver. He bases his objection to the publication of the news on the grounds that it will interfere with securing right-of-way and other privileges. The pro jected route of the road is through a country which is so badly in need of a railroad that it seems hardly possible that there would be any attempt to hold up the road for unreasonable sums for right of way. If there should be such attempts at extortion, the road has recourse in the courts, and in condemnation proceedings for such a purpose there would be small likelihood of any one securing an award that would be unfair to the rail road. Government is under no need or ob ligation to worry about "keeping its word" with criminals. It may be expedient for it to keep its prom ises of immunity to those who "squeal," but it is not bound to do so. The main reason for keeping them al ways will be the inducement it will afford to others to "turn state's evi dence." It is a prerogative of the state to use one of the parties to a crime to detect and convict another; and where immunity has been prom ised it is well, as a rule, to keep the covenant. But the state is not bound to keep It. We have every confidence in the Mayor of Portland, whoever , he may be. So, and the same, as to Mayor Lane. "Sed nemo," etc. "No one i3 wise at all hours." There is great poetry, of which the following is a passage, to wit: But should she confident. As sitting queen adored on beauty's throne. Descend with all her winning charms begirt. To enamour, as the aone of Venus once Wrought that effect on Jova so fables tell Even so, the Mayor of Portland must be up to the emergency. We believe he was. Merely a coincidence, still the en gagement of Gladys Vanderbilt to Count Szechenyi is contemporaneous with the announcement of Irrevocable separation of Madame Anna Gould from her French husband. If the Government Is in earnest about wanting to keep the little brown men from sneaking in from British Columbia, why doesn't it put up a barbed-wire fence at the boundary line and,, hire a bulldog? One unreported cause for decrease In Union Pacific earnings in July is lack of cars to haul the freight that was offered. Not the least congratulatory feature of Oregon county and local fairs this year is that every one has more than paid expenses. Fortunately all this talk about changing the name of Bull Run doesn't affect the quality of the water. Up there at the Mayor's office was it a put-up job. or a futile dalliance? Or was It both? " Harriman is off the Chicago & Al ton board. We congratulate the Alton. HIRDER OF EX-SHERIFF BROWX. 1 His) Only Safe May. Walla Walla Statesman. It might not be a bad scheme for Sena tor Borah to employ Attorney Darrow to precede him every time he enters his front gate. Ob the Level of Ruasla. Eugene Guard. If this lawlessness is not curbed and some method found of silencing loud mouthed demagogues and yellow news papers, our country will in time degen erate to the level of Russia. Ia Brown But One of Many Baker City Democrat. Is it possible that every man who has been active in ferreting out evidence against the Western Federation of Miners Is mafked for death? Ex-Sheriff Harvey Brown had been active in the Steve Adams case as a detective in the employ of the Pinkertons. Is it for that reason that a deadly bomb was employed to get him out of the way? Life of No Man Mny Be Safe. Tacoma Ledger. If what the murdered man said just be fore death is true, the life of no man who is active in the prosecution of members of the Western Federation Is safe. It is an awful charge, which ail law-abiding and patriotic citizens hope is not true, yet there is the plain ante-mortem statement: If the guilty should be caught and the statement of the ex-Sheriff confirmed in the trial, the question of whether Harry Orcharfl told the truth, which has never been answered, might then be answered. HelRa of Terror Imminent. Eugene Register. If anyone in the Federation of Miners is responsible for this dastardly act, and if the perpetrators are caught, they should be made such an example of as will put an everlasting quietus on such an organization or any other of similar nature, making it forever, in the future a hissing and a byword among the upright citizenship of the country. If this Nation does not rise to the occasion and stop the redhanded flehdishness of an archy that - prevails in the country, it will pay a penalty,- the price of which will be the blood of innocents and a reign of terror. A New and Fearful Terror. East Oregonian. What man who speaks his sentiments on these questions is safe from the bomb or the bullet? Who can escape if pro fessional murderers set their plans to "get him," as it is believed has been done in the case of Frank Steunenberg and Harvey K. Brown? The dynamiter may be at your elbow in the guise of some respectable agent, solicitor or business man. He may be spying upon your acts from day to day, in the guise of a sick man, "here for his health"; he may be within sound of your voice, when you are discussing these questions, in the guise of a traveler passing through the city you don't know where they are, what they are doing, whom they , are spying upon. No Palliation for Tula Crime. Pendleton Tribune. Cowardly in the extreme, it was at the same time a fit method to accomplish the murder of a man whose only fault was the performance of his duty in the en forcement of the law behind which the people stand as the representatives of the Government as, indeed, the Government itself. The unspeakable outrage com mitted in this manner is all the more das tardly for the reason that in the United States, of all countries in the world, any citizen can come as nearly having his own way about his every movement as any man or woman should ever have vouch safed to him or her. There Is no op pression, nor anything that savors of It, anywhere. But Suppose It Be Truet Tacoma News. Perhaps the Sheriff was wrong in his dying conclusions. It is difficult to be lieve that the Federation is involved in tills murder. It is Incredible that they could plot this crime -or sanction it, or even have knowledge of It. ir tne motive for this murder had its inception in the Steunenberg or Adams eases, where is the carnival of assassination to end? Brown was one of the least of those concerned in the late Haywood prosecution. Is the Governor of Idaho marked for death? Is Senator Borah? County Attorney Haw ley? Mayor Haines of -Boise? Are all the witnesses for the state? Some of these men live in expectation of the assassin's bomb or bullet or knife. The Governor finds it prudent, we are told, to be con stantly prepared for death. Where Will It All Endf Olympia Recorder. That such another fiend in human form as Harry Orchard exists almost exceeds belief. But this bomb outrage proves It true, whether he is a tool of the miners or not. That there is such a connection be tween this and the forerunning murders Is a belief strongly supported, by the asso. ciate circumstances. If this is the work of the miners, whether by organized di rection or individual initiative, the ques tion arises, where will it all end? Who else is marked for death? Where next the red hand fall? Many other prominent men have incurred the enmity of the min ers in the Colorado troubles and the Idaho prosecutions, as officials, prosecu tors and witnesses; are they threatened with a like fate? Revenge and intimida tion appear to be the motives. Women for Jurors. PORTLAND, Or., Oct. 4. (To the Edi tor.) After reading The Oregonlan's ed itorial "Salacious Harpies" the thought came how would a jury of women do to try this modern Delilah? They would not prove as wax before her "smiles, tears and wiles, as men jurors do. CLARA H. CARPENTER. PORTLAND, Or., Oct. 4. (To tne Eai tor.) I wish to thank The Oregonian for the great satisfaction given me by Its ed itorial headed "Salacious Harpies," in The Oregonian of this date. To a man who has in many years of travel seen the financial and social ruin wrought by these earrion birds of society whom you so Justly condemn, your handling of the subject cannot fail to appeal and win his admiration and approval. O. L. MAYHOOD. Marry or Get No Property. Atlanta Disptach in New York Times. Because his son "refused to wed and have heirs," Jasper Smith, an eccentric capitalist, of Atlanta, has sued the son and recovered valuable property deeded to the latter four years ago. "I have given my son." said the capi talist on the stand in the trial, "four years in which to marry and have heirs, and he has not done so. I was anxious for Thurmond to marry, as I wanted grand children, but he refused to do so, and I want my property back." The Jury, without leaving the box, gave the property to the father. A year ago Mr. Smith declined to pay for a portrait of himself on the ground that the artist, without consulting him. had painted in a necktie, a thing that during his long life he had never worn. The artist sued, but Mr. Smith proved he had never worn a necktie and won. Kills 02 Copperhead Snakes. Pittsburg Dispatch. Charles Jones, a .fisherman, of Darling ton, Harford County, Maryland, has killed 92 copperhead snakes near his home this Summer. BREVITY ALL RIGHT I" ITS PLACE. But There Are Other Considerations In Composing: Good English. New York Times. Thomas R. Lounsbury. Professor of English Literature in Yale, in the cur rent Harper's Magazine, comes to the rescue of such apparent redundancies as "have got and "widow woman.'" and in dicts successfully those who make a fetich ol conciseness. Brevity is fre quently bald and jejeune. the professor says, and compression may partake of the nature of pemmican. quite unfit for regular consumption. There are uncon scious pleonasms, too, to which the most fastidious trimmers of speech have be come Inured. "Luke" originally meant "tepid, but the modern word is "luke warm"; while "there were many per sons present" may be, but seldom is. compressed into "many persons were present." No Englishman would say "I go not to Europe this Summer," yet his Anglo-Saxon forbears employed no other than this curt form of expression. Gymnasts of literary power there be whose thoughts stand forth in scant and sublime attire. But Professor Louns bury is right, of course, in the contention that it is "exactly the same with the clothing of our Ideas as with the clothing of our persons," which would make the costume of a gymnast unfit for a Fifth avenue promenade. Much that, strictly speaking, is superfluous in our outer garb makes for comfort and decorum. Compare the weak effect on the Roman mob in "Julius Caesar" of the stoic brevity of Brutus with Mark Antony's graceful and powerful oration. The ques tion of fullness or conciseness of style is one, at bottom, of what Herbert Spencer calls "economy of attention" of attention more readily fastened, sometimes, by a redundant salutation than by proceeding at once to talk business. "Lift up your head, O ye" gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors" possesses majesty and strength which conciseness would utterly destroy. GOOD NEWS ABOUT IT. S. NAVY. Our Shlpa and Guns Superior to Any Others In the World. Chicago Journal. While the air Is full of charges that the Navy is not fit to take the long voyage around the Horn into Pacific waters and we are told that our battleships are un equal to a possible contest with the Jap anese vessels, it is gratifying to read in the eighteenth annual issue of Jane's "Fighting Ships of 1S07," Just published in England, that "both in ships with high-power guns or impervious to vital injury at long range the United States fleet is superior to any other navy in the world." This English authority does not dismiss the American Naval force contemptuous ly. On the contrary, it says that our Navy is "an extremely good second" among the world's sea-fighting arms. While our two American Dreaanaughts are only contracted for and it must be several years before they are in commis sion, we have a Navy that is remarkable for effectiveness, in contrast with mere bigness. On top of this reassuring news come the tidings from Sandy Hook that the United States possesses an explosive far superior to the Japanese shimose, which did more than anything else to enable. Japan to whip Russia. Since then the secret of shimose's composition has be come known to all the great powers, and hence shimose can never acain :be the great factor it was in the recent war. But nobody outside of the Government knows what the new American explosive is. It is called dunnite, after its inven tor. Major Dunn, of the Army ordnance corps, and is said to have such force that heavy armor plate was B.i.vered into thousands of fragments by Its terrific im pact. Governor HaRhes In a New Llarht. Kansas City Star. Who says Governor Hughes is too austere? Who says he has no senso of humor? Who says he is unsympa thetic and stern and all that sort of thing? Well, to the back seat with all of them! It is reported that the Gov ernor, in a speech delivered at the Cen tral New York Fair the other day, "tickled" a crowd of 25,000, which crowd cheered him and hailed him as "the next President." But the real line on Mr. Hughes is not found in the achieve ment of "tickling" the crowd. He was watching a Japanese acrobat perform. "That is a girl. Governor," said Colonel Threadwell. v "I know. Colonel," responded the Governor, quietly. "I can tell them in any language. . "Her name is Okimo," someone vol unteered. "I knew it was O. K.," said the Gov ernor, "but I did not know her last name." Now, where Is the man who could have risen to the occasion more deftly than that? Chauncey Depew could not have done better in his most "halcyon" days. Isn't there a warmth in that kind of humor to Are the heart of the "common people"? For the first time, Charles Evans Hughes looks formida ble as a Presidential possibility. Hodcarrler'a Extensive Wardrobe. North American. James Wellman, hodcarrier, owns: Fifteen business suits, latest style and finest materials. One suit of evening clothes. One dinner suit. Several ultra-fashionable Fall and Win ter overcoats. Two fine walking sticks. Wellman was arrested for stealing $SS0 of the funds of the Church of God and the Saints of Christ, in Pittsburg. This Is the widely-known feetwashlng sect. The hodcarrier was one of the most ardent feet-washers in tne congregation. He brought his wonderful wardrobe to Phila delphia with him. Magistrate Scott turned Wellman over to Detective Robinson, of Pittsburg, who took him back to that city. A DAY LTKJS THIS. The other day when rain poured down I sure believed the world would drown. It rained so hard, it rained so long. The streets were streams of sticky mud, The Willamette a leaden flood. Umbrella-roofed we all did scud. A sad dispairful, swearing throng. The men looked glum, the women scowled. The horses floundered, drivers growled, All in the pouring, soaking rain. The smoke hung low above the street. The newsboys tramped with sodden feet. And every man I chanced to meet Declared 'twould ne'er be fine again. Today there's not a single cloud Upon the heavens; the mountains proud Lift skyward all their snowy peaks. The horses toss their heads and prance. The men shake hands, the children dance. The pretty girls at every glance Scatter the smiles they've saved for weeks. I like to ride to Council Crest And stroll and loaf and dream end rest Upon a blessed day like this. I like to see a pretty gown Inwoven with the green and brown Of frosted leaves; and see the town Warm with the sun's last, lingering kiss. I love to see the gardens gay With rose and dahlia on a day Like this, so clear, so calm, so bright. I love to see the 'happy throng Chatting and idling all along The street. Their voices like a song ' Of many parts, sing on till night. Oh, would that every day might bo A day like this. as bright and free From gloom, with such a happy crown. It might, if girls would smile together And men watch them and not the weather. So smile on. girls, no matter whrther 'Tis rain or sun the sky sends down. C. H. CHAPMAN. T IS but natural to assume that sine musicians must pay money for their education, they should not be expected to perform in public without remunerc tion. They generally take good care of themselves in this respect. Why? Because of the dreadful examfnv of Caterina Gabrielll, once a great Italia prima donna. Site was the daughter of a cook, and" possessed great beauty of per son and voice, the latter being a fine, lyric soprano of two and one-half octaves. Money came In shoals to Gabrielll who spent it as fast as she made it. And sue was capricious. Once, the Viceroy of Sicilv asked Ga brielll to sing for him and when she re fused he sentenced her to 12 days in Jail. Here she gave daily concerts, of course without charg-e. paid the debts of her fellow prisoners, and distributed monev among the indigent. This continued until her sentence expired and when she was liberated she was received with shouts of approval from the ponulace. For Years she was a popular Idol. Then vmith. beauty and voice left her. At SO years of age, when she was a haggard old woman she died penniless at Bologna. Whenever you see a musician who de clines to work gratis, heedless of the fact that he may be a teacher making his $10,000 or $20,000 a year, don't blame him if he declines to work for nothing. He's thinking of Gabrielll. It is related that Ravelli. the tenor, had a mortal hatred of Minnie Hauk, because she once choked off his high B-flat by a too-comphrensive embrace. To add torture to injury. Ravelli's ex pression of wrath being mistaken by the audience as a great burst of enthusiasm he was loudly applauded amid cries of "encore." Another tenor, Brignoli, when he did not receive from the audience what he considered a proper amount of applause, usually declined to sing the re maining numbers, pretending that he had suddenly been stricken with a sore throat. Nicholas C. Zan, a baritone well known in this city, is now earning a high salary singing in vaudeville for Keith's circuit in big Eastern cities. Miss Anna Hold began her New York season in "The Parisian Model" last Monday night, with new songs as well as new dresses and scenery. Otis Harlan is in the company this year. The Ernest Gamhle Concert party began its premier this season at Hartford. Conn., with approaching appearances at Boston, Wellesley College, Trenton, X. J. and Philadelphia, two concerts being given at the latter place. The artists expect to visit this portion of the Pacific Coast about the end of next February. Mr. Gamble is one of our most artistic Amer ican concert singers, his voice being a rare basso cantante. The late Edvard Grieg might have lived longer had he not been so attached to his home, near Bergen, a picturesquely situated villa commanding a splendid view of the island-studded fiord. The climate of that part of Norway, though mild, is excessively humid, and this was bad for a man like Grieg, who had only one lung, and was a victim of frequent astmatic attacks and other troubles. Ho knew this quite well, and made up his mind soma time ago to abandon Troldhaugen if he could find a purchaser who would pay for that villa what it was worth. Shortly before his death such a purchaser ap peared. The famous firm of Peters, In Leipsic. which prints all his music, bought the villa, and on the following day made a present of it to Grieg, at the same time begging him to accept the privilege of living in any part of the world he chose, entirely at the firm's expense. It was a generous offer, but it came too late. Lovers of Wagner's music will be glad to hear that Frauleln Morena. who is to be one of Conreid's singers at the Met ropolitan the coming season, is herself again. Idolized in Munich, she had to retire from the stage a few years ago be cause of a damaged voice. After a long rest, she reappeared several months ago, but the reports led one to fear tuat sho had been premature. At the recent Wag ner Festival at the Prlnzregenten theater, however, she appeared as Elizabeth In "Tannhauser," and, says the Allgemeine Zeitung, her voice sounded more beauti ful and fresher than ever, not a trace be ing perceptible of her indisposition. New York is not the only city in which opera houses are multiylping. St. Peters burg will soon have three. The cuy has been growing so fast thrft the Imperial Opera long ago ceased to have room for all who wanted seats. A few years ago Prince Zeretelll opened a second opera house, but this, too, was so remarkably successful that it no longer accomodates all who are eager to hear operatic music especially those whose means are lim ited. Consequently, arrangements are be ing mode for a People's Opera-House. which will hold 4000 spectators, who will pay popular prices. Several Russian cap italists have provided the funds, and a number of young artists will t perate in an attempt to produce the master works in a worthy manner. The reper tory is to include two operas that will be new to St. Petersburgers Wagner's "Fly ing Dutchman" and Goldmark's "Queen of Sheba." The Italian publisher Sonzogno paid $5000 for a prize libretto by Fausto Sal vatori. and asked Mascagnl to set it to music, in the hope of securing another "Cavallerla Rusticana." Mascagnl ac cepted it, although he admitted at once that he was not particularly, interested. He has now definitely declined the task. When Salvatorl asked on what ground, Mascagnl replied: "I cannot set to music a system of philosophy." The plain truth Is that Mascagnl has for years been so unsuccessful with ail of his operas and his recent tour In this country, where he ran into debt, that he is not going to take any chances with a doubtful lib retto. Miss Matilda de Lerma, the singer who is to be the star in the next grand opera . season, has been In Mexico with her mother in strict Incognita. At Laredo, on the Mexican border, her baggage was Inspected, and the officials wanted her to pay duty on her Jewels and furs. She stated that she was an opera singer in Mexico for only a few weeks, and that the duty was unjust. The offi cial did not give much credit to her claim, because opera singers seldom travel alone. The matter seemed difficult to solve, when Miss de Lerma started to sing some high notes, going up as far as A sharp, and every one present in the station ap-plaude- her. The officials were convinced in this way that Miss de Lerma is a singer. ... A chorus singer's life In "opera" Morning rehearsals lasts until noon, when there is a half hour or less for lunch, and back the warblers go again for either a matinee or the regular af ternoon rehearsal. At 6 o'clock they are turned loose a few minutes for suriper and then it is back again for the even ing performance. This programme holds throughout the season. The "Knight for a Day" company, for Instance, has been running In Chicago all Summer, but re hearsals go on every morning just the same.