8 THE MORNING OREGONIAN, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1907. SUBSCRIPTION BATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. (By Mall.) Pally, Sunday included, on, year ss.no Pally, Sunday Included, six months.... Pally, Sunday Included, three months.. 2.25 Pally, Sunday Included, one month To Paily, without Sunday, one year -. 800 Tnllv. with Jilt Kunriav. six months.... 3.25 Paily, without Sunday, three montha. . 175 ( i'ajiy, WKHUUl ounuay, uuv ... . Sunday, one year )i Weekly, one year (lMued Thursday)... 1.80 Sunday and weekly, one year 8.50 BY CARRIER. Pallr, Sunday Included, one year 9 00 Pally. Sunday Included, one month 75 HOW TO REMIT Send postottlce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postoftlce ad . dress In full Including county and state. POSTAGE BATES. Entered at Portland. Oregon, Postottlce as Second-Class Matter. io to M Pages ;...l cent 16 to 28 Pages .2 cents SO to 44 Pages 8 cents to GO Pages cents Foreign postage, double rates. IMPORTANT The postal laws are strict. Newspapers on which postage Is not fully prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICE. The S. C. Beck with Special Agency N ew York, rooms 48-50 Tribune building. Chi cago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building. KEPT ON SALE. , ' Chicago Auditorium Annex; Poetofflca News Co., 178 Pearborn street. St. Paul, Minn. N. St. Maria, Commercial ' etatlon. Colorado Springs, Colo. Bell, H. H- Denver Hamilton and Kendrlck. 908-911 Seventeenth street; Pratt Book Store, 1214 Fifteenth street; H. P. Hansen, & Rice. Geo. Carson. Kansas City, Mo. Rtcksecker Cigar Co., Ninth and Walnut; Yoma News Co. Minneapolis M. J. Cavanaugb, 50 South "Third. Cleveland, O. James Fushaw, 80T Su perior street. Washington, D. C. Kbbltt Bouse, Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia., Pa Ryan's Theater Ticket Office; Penn News Co. New York City L. Jones ss Co., Astor House; Broadway Theater News Stand; Ar thur Hotallng Wagons; Empire News Stand. Ogden D. L. Boyle; Lowe Bros., 114 Twenty-fifth street. Omaha Barkalow Bros., Union Station; Mageath Stationery Co. Pes Moines, la. Mose Jacobs. Sacramento, Cel. Sacramento New Co., 430 K street; Amos News Co. Salt Lake Moon Book & Stationery Co.; Rosenfeld & Hansen; O. W. Jewett, P. O. 1 corner. Los Angeles B. E. Amos, manager ten street wagons. Pasadena, CaL Amos News Co. s San IMego B. E. Amos. Long Beach, Col. B. E. Amos ( San Jose, Cal. St. James Hotel News Stand. Pallas, Tex. Southwestern News Agent. Amarlllo, Tex. Tlmmons & Pope. San Francisco Foster . As Orear; ' Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; L. Parent; N. Wheatley; Farmount Hotsl News Stand; Amos News Co.; United News Agents, 14 H Eddy street; B. B. Amos, man ager three wagona Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnson, Fourteenth and Franklin streets; N. Wheatley; Oakland ,News Stand; B. E. Amos, manager five wagons. iinldfleld, Kev. Louie Follln; C- B. Hunter. Eureka, Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency; Eu reka News Co. PORTLAND, SATURDAY, DEC. tU 1807. i . HOW HARD IT IS TO CLIMB! Cardinal Newman In his great book, "The Grammar of Assent," argues I that the chief proof of the existence of . God la derived from development of the moral conscience In man. It is the greatest of all proofs. It includes ' proof from will or purpose, lying he hind which is the motive of all things . in the universe. In our politics and social life it is ' the same. Man is guided by bis con sciousness and by his conscience. But they are feeble lights. It is only through long experience and many ef forts and failures that conscience be gins to cast a clear light. It is so dim that it leads whole peoples at one time or another into the ditch. They wish to do right,' but they see through a glass darkly. Their fiercest - efforts are struggles in this darkness. There has been no political, social or economic system that has not had these struggles. To every people whatever has been or has appeared to be profitable has seemed to be right. Admit that conscience was the guide. But It was not a true conscience. It 1 was darkened by Interest, by environ ment. Can the people be depended on In these cases? No. Only the seers; only those few who have the higher moral view; only those for whom con science is the clearer guide. For this conscience moral intelligence may be another name. It is not always granted to the In tellects that rank highest. Cicero was among those who thought labor only St for slaves. Matthew Hale was a believer in witchcraft and Joined, in the persecution of witches; Jefferson Davis was thexhead of a republic founded on slavery. William J. Bryan could not see the immoral side (of course he could not see the error on the economic side) of the effort to de base the money standard of the coun try. ; In Byron's poetry an energetic and splendid passage ends with, "What ever fields be sought or lands Jbe trod, man's conscience is the oracle of God." This brings usback to Car ' dinal Newman's argument. It is true, in the ultimate; but It becomes true only after vast wanderings in error - and much chastening. Of course the : people must decide. But what a deal . of tribulation they must pass through before their moral and intellectual and spiritual vision is purged, bo they ; can decide rightly! We read Just now, in a popular newspaper before ' -us, that it rests with the people, under our system of general suffrage, to have what they want just such a system of finance and banking and Industry as they want. But what If they don't know what they want, can't tell what they want, are in mistake' as to meth ods of reaching what they want, and surely will commit blunder on blunder in reaching what they suppose they - want, and then find it at last not what they want ? Who among us knows Just how to cure the evils of our present financial system? We have the sys- , em as it Is; no theory is precisely applicable to it; what is suitable to one country is not suitable to an other; and yet a general principle that must not be divorced from moral in telllgence, and should be guided by it, ' rules over alL One thing, however1, In -finance is settled by the consensus , of the world the gold standard of f money. It hB taken many centuries - of hard experience to settle even this. ; But the banking system of every coun try must depend very largely on that country's special conditions. Ger many cannot have England's; France cannot have that of England or Ger many; Italy can have none of them. Tet a general principle runs through the. whole that is applicable every where. We are a people among whom every one tries to utter and to enforce his opinion, but nobody has all knowl edge, and they who have most, have, as always heretofore in human history, t the least credit. We have tb.ere.fore only to grope and blunder along, and gain more knowledge in the hard school of experience. It is"seldom the people can decide what they want,' for it is seldom they know; They will find out, after a while, of course. But it's a hard road to travel. And then their experience, so hardly gained, will become part of the common stock of knowledge, to be applied to new spec ulations. Win' OUR SHIT PING IS SCANT. It Is not doubted that American shipping could be established, to an extent, by large and steady subsidies. Our country makes but a poor figure on the high seas, and Is not likely to make a better till many conditions change. But at present, and for years to come, subsidies would be a most wasteful way. Economic conditions axe so much against us, at present. In the matter of this industry, that subsidies, if we began to use them, would really become the main reli ance. Such subsidies as other coun tries pay would be too limited to af ford any real help for our purpose. The Treasury would be compelled to carry a mighty burden. There are many reasons why our country Is not building and sailing ships, In proportion to Its other vast Industries. We can neither build them so cheaply nor- sail them7 so cheaply; and under pretense of furthering a building Industry that is Impossible under present conditions, our people are prohibited from buying and sav ing ships under the American , flag. Subsidies from the Treasury to cover the difference of cost and operation would run into immense sums and be come a vast NationaJ scandal. The "rake-offs" would soon be Immense. In the days of wooden ships we had advantages In our matchless forests. Labor cost generally, was lower, be cause there were not so man chan nels as now into which labor could be turned. It was easier, too, therefore, to obtain men for service at sea. The iron and steel ships gave great advan tage to foreign builders; and Lloyd's discrimination against wooden vessels operated to drive from the seas ships Jn the construction of which we once had the advantage, . Over and above all, the railroad era opened a vast and rich continent to enterprise and devel opment, by which capital and labor could make greater gains. This era continues; It has not yet half exhaust ed or appropriated the possibilities and opportunities offered by this great continent. Our people can yet find more prosperity on the land than on the sea. Hence they have not pushed the building and sailing of ships upon the seas. And since our capital and labor In our country find more profit in devel-, opment of the resources of the Ameri can continent than in maritime under takings; and since other nations can build and sail ships more cheaply than we can, and are able to carry our products more cheaply than we could, why not let them do these things and content ourselves for the present, and till conditions change, with the great er profits we are deriving from our continental development? Our peo ple, depend ' upon It, will take to the sea as soon as sea traffic will pay them. - No doubt we could, with subsidies, build and sail some ships and many, perhaps. If we should tax o-ir other Industries for support of this special one. They grow .oranges, too, and even bananas, in the Botanical Gar dens at Washington, under protection of glass and supply of artificial heat; but nobody thinks it a sound economic proposition, or looks to extension of It for a national supply of tropical fruits. MORE SLAUGHTER. It is interesting to note the connec tion between a certain class of saloons and such crimes of violence as the' murder of Policeman Gittlngs. Before Bradley rushed out to Bhoot his victim he had been drinking In a saloon. Blodgett, the murderer of Alice Min- thorn, had also been drinking on the morning when he killed the poor woman jn her bed. The Supreme Court holds out some hope to Blodgett that his drunken rage may . perhaps be interpreted by the law as insanity. Of course If he was insane because he was on a spree, so was Bradley. From this point of view Bradley was very foolish to flee. Had he been wiser he would have remained and stood his trial, pleading that he was insane when he shot Gittlngs. The chances are that he would have been acquitted either in the lower court or upon ap peal, and then be could have walked the earth in the pride of his manhood free and fearless, whereas he must now lie In hiding. At least he must hide for a time, until our extraordi nary sleuths grow tired of searching for him. What the connection may be. If there is any, between the marvelous tenderness of the courts for savage murderers and the increasing fre quency of crime it would be difficult to say. The notorious, fact is that a man who shoots another really incurs but little danger of punishment. If he can show a history of drunkenness, passionate 'violence and general "cus sedness," particularly If he can prove that he had drunk himself Into a spe cies of dementia in preparation for his deed, he will find It comparatively easy to make good a plea of insanity. Per sons like Blodgett and Bradley know this very -vweU and act accordingly. They almost Invariably go on a spree before seeking their victims, and sel dom shoot except in a fit of that sort of "insanity" which strong drink pro duces. The only case where the plea of insanity does not seem available is that of a' respectable man who has shot some scoundrel in self-defense. Such" a man; under our present system of justice, runs a great risk of being hanged. By setting free a man like Blodgett of course the safety of human life in the State of Oregon is appreciably di minished; but no such reflection as this ever troubles the courts. ' It is the particular life of the criminal which seems to them so extremely important, Bradley shot Policeman Gittlngs so .soon after Blodgett's escape from the gallows became known that the mind Involuntarily connects the two events. Very likely this unavoidable inference is wrong; but can there be any doubt whatever that the notorious leniency of the courts creates an atmosphere admirably suited to the growth of crime? Can there be any doubt that their so-called humanity is in truth the cruelest inhumanity to innocent men, and especially to women and children? Suppose there were some connection between the reprieve of Blodgett and i the access of murderous courage which inspired Bradley to hoot .Git tings. Suppose this depraved young man said to himself on that morning, "I see that Blodgett is to beat the rope after all. Why cannot I get drunk and kill my enemies the same as he shot Alice Minthorn?" Would not the triumph of technical law over justice be purchased at fearful cost In such a case? Very likely Bradley never reasoned the matter out In precisely that way, but Is it not certain that he and others like him feel the logic of the situation instinctively? The cost of this triumph of technicality and sentimentality Is not confined to the loss of grown men like Policemen Git tlngs. Their families must not be for gotten in making up the miserable reckoning. Gittlngs leaves a wife and three small children, with an unborn babe soon to come Into the world. They are left homeless and without means of livelihood. If they are saved from dire suffering it must be by char ity. The essential fact In the case is that Blodgett committed an atrocious mur der. His whole life), as well as his confession, proves him to be of the worthless, vicious, criminal class. He committed the murder, unquestion ably. The jury found him guilty. Why shouldn't he hang? It would seem that no allusion by the District Attorney to the vicious lives of others of his class ought to be the reason why the law in his case should not be executed. WHERE ANYBODY MAKFS LAWS. Judge Cleland's decision In the Port land bond cases, we may assume. Is likely to be upheld by the State Su preme Court. In any event, various Important 'Public projects are suspend ed. We are not to have now the new $3,000,000 water system extension, nor the $1,000,000 park and boulevard scheme, nor the new $450,000 Madi son-street bridge, nor the $600,000 free public docks, nor the additional $276,000 flreboat. .We ... need these things, or -some of -them, no doubt. though we .ought to be able to worry along for a while longer without doubling our available water supply, or adding to our already more or less attractive parks, or even without a complete chain of free. docks; and per haps the present Madison-street bridge will stand up a while longer. Per haps, too, we shall be lucky and there will be no occasion for the. services of any flreboat. If these questions shall be submitted again to the public, it may be hoped that it will all be in correct legal form, under the initiative. It may be done, if we are diligent, and our legislative doctors can agree en what is correct procedure through the initiative., The people in .Oregon have undertaken to make their, own laws, so that every body in Oregon is a legislator. Judge Cleland's decision is a warning to all City Councils and all other such bod ies, high or low, not to "monkey"' with the sovereign people In the act and process of discharging that solemn function. Probably the courts, too, will soon be told to keep hands off. What are our laws in Oregon going to be after a while, when the TTRens and Wagnons and all other such statesmen get through with them? GAMBLING IN FUTURES. Representative Scott, chairman of the House committee on agriculture, has introduced a bill to prevent deal ing in grain futures. It is drafted on the same lines as the cotton future bill, Introduced in the Senate by Culberson of Texas, and is intended to break up the practice of gambling in futures. The object sought Is meritorious, but will be difficult to attain, for reasons which the language of the bill Itself makes plain. It proposes to reach and break up dealing In, futures by prohib iting telegraph and telephone compa nies from transmitting messages ''re lating to Contracts for future delivery, when it Is not intended that the arti cle contracted for shall be actually de livered or received." The limitations of the-bill are likely to be disclosed when an attempt is made to prove that the article contracted for is not in tended to be delivered or received. The Chicago Board of Trade and every other prominent grain exchange in the country handles an immense volume of business for legitimate gralnbuyers and sellers, millers and warehousemen, and, aside from the few cash sales that are made, it is all handled by exactly the same system as is employed in handling the buying and selling of futures for men who are gamblers pure and simple, and have no intention of receiving or delivering any wheat. There is not the slight est vestige of illegitimacy In the Dur chase on a margin by a miller of 100, 000 bushels of wheat for delivery six months hence. He can make all ar rangements for grinding that wheat at delivery time, with the full assurance that it will be available, or in lieu thereof the -seller will be obliged to make good any loss. If, in the mean time, flour orders which had been re lied on are canceled, the miller can transfer this "certificate of demand" for 100,000 bushels of wheat to some other buyer who may need the wheat at that time. ' These are perfectly legitimate busi ness transactions, the "margin" being a deposit to bind the bargain. The most serious problem that will con front those who attempt to enforce the law, in case the bill is passed, will be in making a distinction between the business that Is legitimate and that which is not. Grain exchanges. If properly conducted, perform a very useful function in gathering ami dis tributing information of Importance and value to the trade and in facili tating the buying and selling of the crop. It may be questionable whether these legitimate functions can be sup pressed in order that the misuse of the exchange's market quotations can be prevented. Gambling In futures should be suppressed, but legitimate business should not be interfered with. MAKING HIS WAT IN THE WORLD. There Is the right kind of stuff in the young man who decides that the world owes him a living providing he gets out and rustles for it. Such a youngster may prefer to qualify him self for a profession and make his plans In pursuance of that object, but if thwarted by lack or through loss of money, he does not disdain to engage in the next best thing that offers. An example of this determination to do something and do it at oncosts cited In the case of a young student, late of Portland, who, because his money was tied up in a broken bank, was unable to pursue his medical studies, but without loss of time enlisted In the United States Marine Corps. - Success to- George Waldemar Pel- man, aged 22. He may not realize his early ambition and become a physician of renown, but he will not be a sniv eller at the heels of circumstance, nor waste time and opportunity in, girding at fate. There will be a place for him in the world for the simple reason that he) will make one. Dr. F. E. Moore, of Baker City, the osteopath member of the State Board or Medical Examiners, complains that the board forms a "jackpot" of the fees and makes an equal distribution. That expression "jackpot" Is evidently a local term understood in Eastern Oregon, but down here in the western part of the state we don't know what it means. That it is of nautical ori gin might be surmised from the use of the word jack, but the remainder of the expression indicates that it was created irf the kitchen. The use of the word by a doctor might give the impression that it is peculiar to the practice of medicine, but all the Fort land doctors who have been asked say they know nothing of such a term. For Information, the question might be referred to the lawyers,- particular ly of Eastern Oregon. Can Bennett, Johns, Fee or White tell us what a jackpot is? The tomb of the Bernadottes has closed upon the venerable body of one of the most beloved of the royal house of Sweden, King Oscar IX A man of peace, of culture, of devotion to his country and to his people's Interests, the late King stood for royalty in its most exalted sense, and, dying, left a nation In tears. The weather on the day of the funeral was keen with, the bitter cold of the far Northland, yet thousands of Sweden's hardy sons and weeping daughters stood with heads reverently bared or bowed for hours on the streets of Stockholm waiting to catch a last glimpse of the casket that held the body of their late King. Loy alty and devotion thus symbolized are doubly expressive when a man is mourned as well as a King a friend as well as a ruler. ; The turbine engine is still winning laurels for unprecedented speed on the water. The British torpedo-boat de stroyer Tartar on her trial trip at Southampton a few days ago broke all kinds of records by steaming for six hours at an average speed of thirty nine miles per hour, which is several miles per hour faster than the aver age speed of any transcontinental train In the United States. During por tion' of her official trial the little craft was' speeded up to more than forty three miles per hour. The success of the new engine was so pronounced In the case of the Tartar that It will un doubtedly take "the place of the valve engines in most of the new vessels built for very high speed. After careful charting, official infor mation comes that Uncle Sam has 2600 islands in the Philippines instead of 1200 ,as supposed when we acquired them nine years ago. This news re calls a real estate transaction In a suburb of Tacoma Involving exchange of a lot for a ' Jersey cow. Recount ing the "swap" to a friend, the new owner of the cow said: "The man I traded with couldn't read nor write; so when I made out the deed I rang in two lots on him and he won't know the difference till he comes to pay the taxes.". . It Is authoritatively stated that next Tiif.srlnv at n nMlal mAatlno. Fcouncll, a fender will be selected for the streetcars operating in this city. If a "fender that fends" is chosen and its adoption by the streetcar compa nies Is made obligatory in the shortest possible space of time, the result will be the bestowal upon the people of this city of a Christmas gift of inesti mable value and of unquestionable humanity and good will. The steamship Cambrian Is helpless In mid-Atlantic with a broken shaft. She will be towed to port by a vessel that picked her up soon after the acci dent happened. The fact that this news is in possession of those who have .friends on the -overdue ship Is one. of the greatest triumphs of wire less telegraphy. Many a "ship which never returned" In the old days would have been saved had Marconi lived a half century earlier. Is there a bicycle in Portland that has a lamp or a bell? Is there a po liceman who pays the slightest atten tion to the reckless manner In which many bicyclists, mostly messenger boys, ride through the streets, striking down citizens, such as the venerable Jacob Kamm, who happen to get in their way? Isn't It about time some thing was done to make these boys have some slight regard for the lives and limbs of others? The hilarious Joy with which Japan is prepared to greet the American squadron is characteristic of the hon orable Nippon nation. The congratu lations that are becoming so warm that the insulation on the trans-Pacific cables is endangered should be received by the American Government in the spirit In which they are sent. We should put our faith In Japan and at the same time keep our powder dry. Perhaps the people of Tillamook County will Instruct their next repre sentatives in the State Legislature to work for the repeal or amendment of the parole law. They do not seem to be satisfied with the way it Is working, particularly in the Hembree case. No; The Oregonlan Isn't worrying over the fact that Mr. Roosevelt will not remain continuously in the Presi dential office till MaAch 4, 1913. If will be sufficient if he resumes the of fice at that date for another term. The Western Federation miners say they mean no violence, but they want those soldiers withdrawn from Gold field. Why? They are not hurting anybody, especially anybody . who ' is not hurting anybody else. Japan wants the American fleet to make a visit there. If Admiral Evans goes, he ought to go, extend the glad hand and remember the Maine. At the next election, perhaps, Port land won't vote millions with the same eagerness that was manifest last June. John Sharp Williams is doing his best to make the vocation of Tom Sharkey and Joe Gans respectable.. As years roll by; Oregon may learn how to make leeal laws under the Ini tiative. . , PICTURES REAL EASTERN OREGON Bishop Seaddlngr Say a Tills State la Strategic Field for the Church. NEW YORK, Dec. 14. (To the Edi tor.) The average Easterner geta, his conception of Oregon from Wild West shows, and for the" past three months I have been on a campaign of educa tion trying to correct the impressions. The new Bishop for Eastern Oregon Is a remarkably capable man, was brought up on the Pacific Coast, and will be a great acquisition to Oregon.' Ignorance on the part of some Eastern, people concerning conditions in distant places of his diocese has given an op portunity to some New York writers to give startling headlines to stories which give false impressions of Ore gon. I have a letter in this morning's New York Tribune which I wish re printed in The Oregonian as soon as possible? CHARLES SCADDING. Bishop of Oregon. The letter referred to follows: To the Editor of The Tribune. Sir: Having just seen a copy of your Issue of Sunday. December 8, containing an article on "A Bishop With No Fixed Abode," I desire to correct a false Impression which some paragraphs may convey. You present a very spectacular picture of Mr. Paddock, the new bishop of Eastern Oregon, but it is imaginary, and based on Ignorance of the conditions of which the new bishop is to become a part. Eastern Oregon is not like the wildest wilds of Wyoming. It Is neither populated by foreign Immigrants, who form the "tenement prob lem" of our great cities, nor by cowboys who carry bowle knives In their teeth and six-shooters In their hip pockets. It is rap idly settling- with sturdy, stalwart Ameri can citizens, who have the courage to leave the East and Middle West and come to a state which has the greatest undeveloped resources In the Union. The rollicking, drinking, shoot-on-slght cowboy exists only in Bowery melodrama. Bis place has been taken very largely by the college graduate who now works & ranch on sclentlfio principles. The new bishop will not be required "to dress like a cowboy," but will need his eve ning clothes and most immaculate linen in his wardrobe, for he will find the men as well dressed and the women as well gowned as most of the men and women with whom he is accustomed to associate. The bishop will find a far lower average of vice and sin and crime in his new diocese than In New York. Oregon stands third among the states for the small number of Illiterate persons in proportion to tne population, while New York ranks forty-third. Twenty thousand homeeeekers came into Oregon during the last few months, for the most part a fine class of young people at tracted by the equable and salubrious cli mate, the fertile soil and the fact that the profit this year on Oregon apples was $800 an acre, on cherries $500 an acre and on prunes $200 an acre, and by many similar facts. The problem for the bishops and clergy of Oregon today is not that which is supposed to belong to a "wild and woolly West." but the problem of trying to make the Chris tian religion and good citizenship keep pace with the remarkable commercial develop ments. I believe Oregon Is today the strat egic field for the church and Chat now Is the psychological moment to advance.- Earn Meeker Visits Consrresa. Washington (D. C) Herald. Ezra Meeker, the man who made the trip, from Oregon to Washington, D. C, in a prairie schooner, was a visitor on the floor of the House, and, owing to the fact that he closely resembles the popular conception of Santa Claus, In the matter of hair and beard, he attracted much attention. Many of the members did not know who he was, and Jim Watson, the whip of the House, .undertook to find out for a visitor. .. "Say, Pete," he remarked, to "Uncle" Peter Hepburn, one of the old-timers in the House, "la that old man back there a one-time colleague of yours?" "KTnt- that i know of." reDlied the man from Iowa, who declined to admit that he served in the House with John Adams, as was insinuated by the man from Indiana. Colliding: Antoa Can't KUI Him. New York World. The experience . of being hit by a speeding . auto has grown tame and monotonous to Horace Dowd, a farmer of Richfield, N. J. Five times within the last year Dowd has been struck, but each time has escaped unscathed, save for wreckage of clothing and humiliation of Spirit. ' . He was crossing tne .raierson iura pike on his way to church recently when his trained eye noted the rapid approach of a formidable high-power car. "Not this time," chirped Dowd" with a knowing wink as he Jumped back. He did not see a second car. Its blunt nose struck Dowd in the back and tossed him headlong over a fence. But there was the earns old monotonous finish. Not a bone broken nor a Joint sprained. The Reason la -Sound. -N Harney County News. Those who have watched the trend of political action- In Oregon for the twelve 'years past will recognize the justice and force of The Oregonian's recent announcement of its determina tion to stand aloof and renounce alle giance to the Republican cause in this state until the party membership can get together and exhibit some regard for party principle and party loyalty. The men who clothe themselves with the party label only to betray It at the most Important times cannot expect men of ability and self-respect to waste their energies in maintaining ma chinery for such uses. The Oregonian is right. Until we have a united party there is no sense in fighting for it. It Takes Longest. New York Evening Mall. A' Yale sophomore says it takes longer to learn the conjugation of a Greek verb than it does for any other one thing- In life. Our experience is that it takes an eternity to learn how to keep a bowling score and then we're not sure of it, when the Btrlkes are bunched. Row Is Julia on Splitting; Woodt Fossil Journal. Miss Julia Chapman won a set of silver knives, forks and spoons in a board-sawing contest given toy a medicine show In Steiwer Hall Wednesday evening. She went through her board before any of her competitors 'had got well started. Horrible Thought! Baker City Herald. Borne of the Republicans who seek to attend the National Convention as dele gates will probably change their minds when the thought presents itself that there will be no passes this year. - The Presents of Yesteryear. New York Sun. Again we try as we tried before To give each person a thing to prise. Again we plan as we planned of yore For sweet remembrance of friendship's ties. Our purses then were of goodly size. We gave and took with a heart of cheer; But times have altered; who may sur mise Where are the presents of yesteryear? That thingumbob that we never wore Safe wrapped in the bureau drawer it lies. If passed to Kate It will fix her score. And Mabel's gift to Biisa flies; Its use would certainly stump the wise. But on it goes with never a fear. The list grows shorter; who may sur mise - Where are the presents of yesteryear? Fresh as the day that It left the store The Joneses' gift to the Browns ap plies; We send the stud from the folks nex door To gladden our aunt's far distant eyes. The r.eed of Grace to the heavens cries, Jess fills- the gap and our list Is clear. May never they meet beneath the skies! Where are the presents of yesteryear? Kris Kringle, ride In your merry guise To scatter our tokens far and near. And do not blab should the question rise: Woex are tixa xtreseata at jraabacxMt, MORE PLAK9 FOR MIL ROOSEVELT. What He la to JOo After Retirement as President. Washington Special, December 13. What to Mo with our ex-Presidents will not trouble the American people as far as Theodore Roosevelt is concerned,- at least for a number of years. The President has a number of plans that will occupy his time when he re tires from office. One of these he made known to the German Ambassador to the United States, Baron Speck von Sternberg, in a recent talk. The Pres ident and the Baron are close friends and comrades, and . the conversation was entirely Informal. "When I am through here," Mr. Roosevelt said, "I am going to Ger many for the express purpose of meet ing your Emperor. I have long ad mired him and I want to know him per sonally." The Incident occurred at a White House luncheon about a week ago, and in making the remark the President gave to Von Sternberg the first out spoken hint of the plan that has been running through his head ever since he definitely decided to retire at the end of his present term. Standing upon his - Irrevocable de cision not to be a candidate for re nomination, Mr. Roosevelt will retire from office a year from next March, and thereafter, for a time at least, will be free to follow his natural bent. These are the plans he has under con sideration: A history of his administration to be written. A big game hunt in Africa and India to be indulged in. A tour of the world, with incidental visits to the rulers of the great states. It may be said with the utmost cer tainty that the President will not be a candidate for election to the Senate to succeed Thomas C. Piatt. That the tour of the world offers great attraction to the President is well known to his friends. On the question of the big game hunt, his imagination has been aroused. Mr. Roosevelt has recently -almost drained the Congressional Library of books dealing with big game hunting In Alas ka, as well as other parts of the world. ASHLAXD GOES DRY. Now Ashland -Will Try to Make Jack son County Go the Same Way. Medford Daily Tribune. Ashland has voted for prohibition and will be dry for the next year. This is a matter that concerns Ash land only, and no one outside of Ash land cares. But Ashland, not content with regulating its own affairs, will try and regulate those' of all other county communities. Having voted herself dry, Ashland will try to vote lackson County dry. It is an unfortunate feature of Ore gon's local option law that it is so one sided that any district can go "wet," and yet if the county goes dry, the dis trict must also go dry, irrespective of its vote and wishes. There are many reasons why Ash land should vote for prohibition. It is a school town and not a' business town, and has no. ambition to be. Perhaps no sthonger argument could be used than that put forth in the circulars is sued by the Prohibitionists, which state: "What advantages oes Ashland of fer? We may as well be absolutely candid. Ashland Is not a commercial city; she has no large factories no ex tensive mines. The railroad has a good payroll, but no prospect of its employ ing a largely Increased force. Ashland does not appeal to the laborer, but the homeseeker and the fruitgrower." Making; Cheap Gaa From Straw. Winnipeg (Manitoba) dispatch in New York Times. The process recently Invented and patented by J. Russel Couts, of Cleve land, O., for turning ordinary wheat and oat straw Into Illuminating and fuel gas threatens to revolutionize the Can adian Northwest, and already several plants are under construction. Experts say the process is as cheap as that used in getting gas from coal and oil, but by the new patent waste material is made use of Instead of coal costing some $5 or $8 a ton. Every ton of straw yields over 15,000 feet of gas, while the best Pennsylvania coal, cost ing here at the present time from $11 to $12 a ton, yields but 10,000 feet'of gas a ton. The quality of the gas produced equals the best coal gas, and can be delivered at less than half the cost. In Western Canada each year thousands of tons of straw are burned for the purpose of getting it out of the way, so the cost of material for the gas producing plants being built by the company will be comparatively noth ing in addition tp the price of hauling. Sellin' a Sheep. Scottish American. Two Highland farmers met on their way to church. "Man," said Donald, "I was wonderin' what you "will be askin' for yon bit sheep over at your steadin'?" ' "Man," replied Dougal, "I was think in' I wad be wantln' 60 shullin's for that sheep." "I will tak' It at that," said Donald; "but, och, man, Dougal, I am awful sur prised at you doin' business on the Sawbath." "Business!" exclaimed Dougal. "Man, sellin' a sheep like that for 50 shullin's is not business at all; it's Just charity!" Doubtful About His Cun .Philadelphia Ledger. A short time ago an old negro was up before a judge in Dawson City, charged with some trivial offense. "Haven't you a lawyer, old man?" inquired the Judge. "No, sah." "Can't you get one?" "No, sah." "Don't you want me to appoint one to defend you?" "No, sah. I jes' tho't I'd leab de case to de lgn'ance ob de co't." Good TbJng-j posh It Along:. Corvallis Times. A new design In postal cards has struck town, and it promises to bankrupt the place. It is a reproduction of a cartoon that appeared in the Portland Sunday Oregonian, touching the Northwest foot ball championship. The work was done by W. G. Emery of Vancouver, and Is, of course, good. The cards go at 10 cents eacfa, or three for 25 cents, and are going like hot cakes. Telephone Courtship Brings Wedding. Baltimore News. Lee Graff and Miss Sara H. Robeson, unknown by sight to each other, courted for weeks over a 300-mile telephone wire between ,Temple, Pa., and Pittsburg. They finally met and a wedding followed. Great Britain's Drunks and Gamblers. New York Press.' John Burns, member of Parliament and leader of the Labor party In 'England, says the cost of drinking and gambling, directly or indirectly, in Great Britain is $1,070,000,000 a year. "Magnetic" Love. v Providence Journal 'The experiences of some "magnetic" candidates in the past make the ques tion of the magnetism of Governor Hughes one chiefly for academic dis cussion, . One Kind of Finance. 1 Eugene Guard. Some men are so much afraid to turn loose their money that they have quit -paying; .their debts. Boors ysr" DMIRERS and critics a!ike of " J Henry James, the American nov- elist who prefers to live in Eng land, are astonished to read his an nouncement Just issued that he is to re write his early novels so as to bring them into harmony with what he calls hi "later manner." Mr. James is 64 years old. and has written about 23 books in the 3 years of his literary activity. It is natural that Mr. James wishes now to clothe In more mature style his earlier stories, and to blot out and otherwise alter many phrases of those early days, just as Fitzgerald afterward spent rime in pol ishing his "Rubalyat," only to find many people whose favorable opinion he craved preferred the first edition to the third. Mr. James' enemies, and there are a few, complain that his present literary style is so involved and obscure that , in reading his newer novels, they do not "know where they are at." Persons owning early editions of "Roderick Hud son," or "Daisy Miller" should preserve these as curiosities. Mr. James retorts that the public demands a uniform and definite edition of his books. The Scrib ners are about to publish the first of the rewritten series "Roderick Hudson," and it Is noteworthy that this story was first published about 32 years ago, after it serially appeared In the Atlantic Month ly. Do you remember the old saying that has passed into a proverb: "Don't tam per with a classic?" e Francis Thompson, the English poet whose death is announced, had a tragic life story almost equaling for bitterness that of Chatterton. His father was a well-to-do physician in Manchester, and designed his son for the same profession, but the youth rebelled, misunderstandings arose, and he left home to be a waif on the streets, selling matches, and running messages to add to his means of liveli hood. Among others of his poems, he had written with some verses an essay on the relations of the soul to the body, and had submitted the manuscript to the editor of the Catholic magazine, Merrie England. But the papers were pigeon holed, while the poet slowly starved. Later the verses were discovered to pos sess sterling merit and were published, and payment was forwarded to tho au thor at the address he had given, "Francis Thompson, P. O. Charing Cross." But he was nowhere to be found. Now comes the peculiar part of the story. Yielding to despair, Thompson had gone to a dark corner in Covent Garden Market, and he tells what follows: "I was about to take poison when I saw one whom I recognized as Chatterton forbidding me to drink it, and memory told me that a letter which would save me was waiting. So I lived." Thompson latterly suffered partial mental eclipse. Here Is his "Vision of the Eternal": I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds; Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds From the hid battlements of eternity; Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then Round the half-glimptfed turrets slowly wab again; But not ere him who summoneth I first have seen, enwound With . glooming robes purpureal, cypress crowned ; His name I know, and what his trumpet salth. e General E. P. Alexander's "Military Memoirs of a Confederate: A Critica! Narrative," is a striking study of the Civil War, from the viewpoint of what tha author calls "an unprejudiced Southern participator." e Myrtle Reed's "The Love Affairs of Literary Men" contains romances ot Swift and his Stella and Venessa, Pope and Lady Montagu, Samuel John son and his widow, and the sentimental experiences of Keats. Sterne, Cowper and our own Edgar Allen Poe. - In the new and revised editlfm of William -Dean Howell's "Venetian Life-," he says in his preface that the book is what he first meant It to-be, "a picture of Venice in the last days of the Aus trian rule." Hp also remarks that he Is sorry that so many readers miscall his book "Days," instead of "Life." . In the two sumptuous volumes, "The White Houee," Esther Singleton lias artistically grouped the social life, relics and traditions of that storied building from the days of John and Abigail Smith Adams to those of Presi dent Roosevelt. Elizabeth Luther Cary's "The Art of William Blake: His Water Colors. Painted Books and Sketch Book." Is finely illustrated, there being many re productions from the drawings In the well-known Blake "Manuscript Book." which was sold for about $2.60 to Ro settl when he was a lad, by a British Museum attendant. The fourth volume of Timothy Cole's "Old Spanish Masters," with engrav ings by him, is monumental. The pic ture is first photographed upon the block, and Mr. Cole has done his en graving work in each Instance in the presence of the original, being fortu nate to catch those subtleties which escape the photograph. Besides repre sentations of Velasquez, the book con tains' reproductions of Morales, El Greco, Zurburan, Cano, Robera, Murillo and Goya Charlotte Eaton was once a member of the little Summer colony at Point Pleasant, N. J., where one of the guests at that time was Robert Louis Stevenson, and she tells this story of her experiences In the current number of the Crafteman: One afternoon, in the midst of an Intellectual tak, some body suddenly said, -Egg-nog!"a bev erage of which Stevenson was very fond, and all entered with delight into the preparation for the decoction; one brought eggs, another the sugar-bowl, while our host. Mr. Sanborn, went down to the cellar for the wherewithal to add the final touches. Unhappily, at this point, I coughed. It was the year of the influenza plague and the epidemic had posseeslon of me. "What! a cold?" asked Stevenson. "Influenza yeB," I answered. "You will not mind, then," Bald he, kindly, "if I ask you to keep a respect ful distance. I always take a coid if any one in the same room has one." "How near, within safety, can I eit?" I asked, feeling myself martyrized on the spot. "Just as far away as possible," said he. "I am only now recovered from a bad cold caught from a waiter who served me at a hotel I am peculiarly susceptible, you know," he urged. I hovered upon the threshold reluct antly, yet rather than Imperil that frail and Joyoue life by even the shadow of a breath I resolved that I would do better. "I will go out on the lawn," said I, "If you will make amends." "I'll send the egg-nog out to you when it's ready." , "Oh, not that," and I repeated my re quest with emphasis. "If you will make amends" "Speak, and it shall be granted you," said he, laughing. "An autograph," and I flew to my room for my birthday book. I then went out and sat under an old apple-tree on the lawn, where the voices and sounds of merry-making floated out to me, together with the perfume of the roses that twined about the windows. ' They brought me a glass of egg-nog out under the gloom of the apple tree. L,hated the stuff but his hands had made It, so I held it to my Hps and .drank a silent toast.