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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 1907)
6 THE MO&NING OKEGONIAN. 3IOXDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1907. )t Orcguntan SUBSCRIPTION RATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. (By Mall.) Pally. Sunday Included, on year. . . . .$8 00 Pally. Sunday Included, six months.... 4-25 Dally. Sunday Included, three months.. 2.25 Dally, Sunday Included, one month 75 Pally, without Sunday, one year - 6 00 Pally, without Sunday, alz months.... 8.25 Dally, without Sunday, three months. . '1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month 00 Sunday, one year 2.50 Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday)... 150 Sunday and weekly, one year 8.50 BY CAR Kit R. Daily, Sunday Included, one year 9-00 Dally, Sunday Included, one month 75 HOW TO REMIT Send postofflce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress In full, including county and state. POSTAGE RATE8. Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postofflce as Second-Class Matter. 10 to 14 Pages 1 cent 1 to 28 Pages 2 cents HO to 44 Pages 3 cents 46 to 60 Pages cents Foreign postage, double rates. IMPORTANT The postal laws are strict. Newspapers on which postage la not fully prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EASTERN BUSTS ESS OFFICE. - The 6. C. Beck with Special Agency New York, rooms 4S-50 Tribune building. Chi cago, Tooms 510-512 Tribune building. KEPT ON BALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex; Foatofflee News Co.. 17S Dearborn street. St. Paul. Mian. N. St. Marie, Commercial Station. Colorado Springs, Colo. Bell. H. H. ' Denver Hamilton and Kendrlck. 900-012 Seventeenth street; Pratt Book Store. 1314 Fifteenth street; H. P. Hansen. S. Rice. Geo. Carson. Kansas City, Mo. Ricks ecker Cigar Co.. Klnth and Walnut; Yoma News Co. Minneapolis M. J. Cavanaugh. 50 Booth Third. Cleveland, O James Pus haw, 807 Su perior street. Washington, D. C. Ebbitt House, Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia, Pa. Ryan's Theater Ticket Office; P.enn News Co. New York City L. Jones A Co.. Astor House; Broadway Theater News stand; Ar thur Hotallng Wagons; Empire News Stand. Ogdcn D. L. Boyle: Lowe Bros., 114 Twenty-fifth street. Omaha Barkalow Bros.. Union Station; Mageath Stationery Co. ' lies Moines, la. Mose Jacobs. Sacramento, Cad. Sacramento News Co., 430 K street; Amos News Co. Salt Lake Moon Book Stationery Co. I Rosenfeld at Hansen; O. W. Jewett. P. O. corner. Eos Angeles B. E. Amos, manager ten Street wagons. Pasadena, Cal. Amoa News Co. fan Diego B. E. Amos. Long Beach, Cal. B. E. Amoa ban Jose, Cal. St. James Hotel News Bland. Dallas, Tex. Southwestern News Agent. Araarillo, Tex. Timmons & Pope. Son Iranclsoo Poster 4b Orear: Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; L. Parent; N. Wheatley; Falrmount Hotel News Stand; Amos News Co.; United News Agents. 14 H Eddy street; B. IS. Amos, man ager three wagons. Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnson, Fourteenth and Franklin streets; N. Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; B. E- Amos, manager flve wagons. Ooldneld, Nov. Louie Follln; C. E. Hunter. Eureka, Cal.-all-Chronlcle Agency; Eu reka News Co. PORTLAND, MONDAY DEO. 23, 1907. A JEWISH VIEW OF THE SABBATH. Dr. Isidor Singer, of New York, a celebrated Jewish scholar and publi cist, has been moved by the new ef forts for enforcement of Sunday clos ing laws to address his fellow-religionists on the origin of the Jewish Sab bath, transferred by the Christian world, as a sacred day, from the sev enth day of the week to the first. He urges his people to start "a new epoch In our history by shelving our Semitic superstitions once for all," and then presents this statement: Oar rabbis, from the most radical to the most conservative, know, and we educated Jewish laymen at the end of the first dec ade of the twentieth century should know, that the Sabbath, an Institution far older than the decalogue Itself, bad originally nothing to do with rest from labor, an over exertion unthinkable In those primitive times when Industry and commerce were yet in their Infant stage. The Hebrew sab bathon, like the Babylonian sabbatum, was an unlucky day. like the Fridays and thir teenth of our modern superstition, and the prohibition of any activity on the seventh day had as little to do with genuine religion as the nonsailing of many of our war ves sels on Fridays or the omission of the room number. 18 in several of our most progressiva hotels. But every custom and every doc trine of long standing has departed far from its original. The Christmas festival, in its main features, relates more to paganism, so-called, than to Christianity. The genesis of the Holy Trinity is traceable through ecclesias tical and personal disputes, through politics and speculative philosophy, back to Philo and Plato; and the pa ganlbm of old Rome, transformed more or lass, is still reflected through the Vatican. The Pope today is called, and calls himself, Pontifex Jlaxlmus, the old Roman high priest, bridge-builder, chief of the priests as sociated with the religious observ ances attending the construction and maintenance of the bridges over the Tiber at Rome. This was so impor tant . a public function . that It was bound up with the highest "offices of religion in the old city. One of these .bridges, the Pons Sublipius, was pe culiarly sacred. Julius Caesar was Pontifex Maximus, B. C. 46. The Eo- . man Catholic Church, claiming for .its own, under the Holy Roman Empire, the hereditaments of the old empire of the Caesars, adopted words, names and customs, transformed, or trans ferred, to new conditions. Protestant Ism, heir through the Roman Church of Christian symbols and doctrines, Tetalns much of the same. Religious usage everywhere Is sim- ' ply the growth of custom and of opin ion. The Jews, when the books of Genesis and Exodus took their final form, must have supposed some of them at least that the seventh day was sacred because of the idea which ' had gained prevalence among them that the Creator rested from his la bors on that day, an Idea probably borrowed from Babylonia, with other legends, as that of the creation and the flood. In Deuteronomy, a very different reason Is assigned for the ob servance of the Sabbath as a sacred day, namely, that the day was to be kept In commemoration of the deliv erance of the people out of. Egypt. The form in Deuteronomy is probably older than the statements as we have them In Genesis and Exodus these last belonging to the legends gathered by the exiles, and brought into their present textual forms by editors after the return - from the captivity. But Ving far behind all these were the riglnal seeds of the idea, which in cluded the notion of an unfortunate, unlucky or unpropitious day like the "dies lnfaustus" of the old Roman world on which It was not safe that any new work should be undertaken. "Doherty had been drinking heav ily all day," says the Lexington, Or., story of the latest saloon murder. As a result of his being permitted to drink all day, he murdered a man. And yet there are certain misguided advocates of Indiscriminate liquor traffic who assert that the saloon men themselves are not to blame for the spread of prohibition sentiment. THE SEPARATION LN FRANCE. The government of s France goes steadily forward with Its policy of forcing entire separation of church and state. By a vote of two to one on Saturday last the Chamber of Depu ties passed the bill for devolution of church property, for -handing over the estates to the departments and to the communes, and forbidding testament ary dispositions of property to ecclesi astical . or pious foundations. These measures are taken in pursuance of a policy towards the church the most Important perhaps in the whole his tory of France. It marks the dissolu tion of a pact which has existed, with only a short Interruption during the great Revolution, from the time or Clovis, the Frankish King (600 A. D.), to the present day. More than a thousand years ago the Western Church would have disappeared, but for the support of the Frankish Em- pi re. The peace between the Church and the Revolution that was arranged by Napoleon lasted one hundred years, but that concordat Is now completely dissolved. The new - policy began about six years ago, and has since been sustained by repeated elections which the government Interprets and is acting upon as the final Judgment of the French people. Religious es tablishments may be organized under general law, but the property of each must be kept in the hands of members of the laity, aa trustees, not in those of the priests. All creeds are authorized to form associations for public worship, but the associations can have N no support from the state, from the departments or from the communes. The law requires all buildings actually used for public worship and for dwellings In that con nection to be made over to the asso ciations, and property not so used may be appraised for their benefit, or must escheat to the departments or communes. The church has not been disposed thus far to avail Itself even of such advantages as It has had un der the law, and the legislative body is therefore adopting still more drastic measures. The grants paid by the state in the last year of the old regime, for sup port of the clergy, amounted to 87, 528,600 francs; those paid by the de? partments and communes to 7,550,042 francs. As transitory measures cer tain small pensions are allowed to ec clesiastics over 45 years of age; but most of the beneficiaries thus far have refused to accept them. . The policy is more unfavorable to every church establishment, in the matter of property, than that of other countries which, like our own, enforce separation of church and state; for the clergy with us are not forbidden to act as trustees of property belong ing to ecclesiastical associations. The object France is aiming at is to cut off or reduce the power of the hierarchy, acting under directions from . Rome, over affairs in France. It Is Intended to be the final dissolution of the bond between France and the Church of the Holy Roman Empire, begun by Clovis and confirmed and established by Charles Mart 61, Pepin and Charle magne. OREGON VERSUS NEW YORK. . New Tork is still blaming the rest of the country for the poor showing her banks were forced to make In re sponse to the Controller's recent call. The Oregonlan is charged by the New Tork Times with being "boastful" over the excellent showing made by the banks of this state. The Times assures us that "advertisement of such facts is an unconscious revelation of selfishness and weakness and Inability to grasp how such conditions should be met." The size of the Oregon re serves, as viewed by the Times, is the result of very poor banking methods. To show us where we made the mis take, the New Tork paper informs us that the attenuated condition of the reserves of the New Tork banks Is due to their sending to the interior In a period of seven weeks $106,911,000 more than was received from the in terior. "In the same seven weeks," continues the Times, "New York banks have gained from the Treasury $38,642,000, and from gold imports $70,548,900." In other words. New Tork has retained $2,279,000 of the hundred millions and more which have passed through its banks, sending the rest to the assistance of those who held a surplus of reserves, while New Tork has incurred a deficit In their service." The air of Injured innocence af fected by the Times, as well .as by other New York papers, would be pos itively humorous were It not such a sublime exhibition of matchless nerve. Did New Tork make the "interior" a present of.' that hundred millions, or was it a loan? Did the hundred mil lions really belong to the New Tork bankers or was It the property of the rude interior? The Times says it came from the United States Treasury and from abroad, and yet, before the gold began moving from Europe or from abroad. New Tork owed the in terior large sums of money, and at the first breath of the coming-storm began protesting against payment indeed, flatly refused to sepd money to the interior without a premium. The $70,000,000 mentioned as com ing from Europe included more than $2,000,000 for Portland, which was part payment for approximately $7,000,000 worth of wheat and flour which we sold to Europe wilhln the past six weeks. Probably the remain der1 belonged to the exporters South and West who have been shipping wheat and cotton abroad in immense quantities. As for the Treasury con tribution, it was dumped into Wall street for the purpose of helping New Tork pa$r Its debts to the country. The assumption that New York is the cus todian of funds -or the entire coun try, and that the interior must dis tribute its own funds in accordance with the wishes of New York is all wrong. The Oregonlan fully agrees with the Times that reserves in excess of forty per cent are detrimental to the profits of banking, and that the excess reserve could be used to better advantage by responsible borrowers. But the Times should remember that the situation from which we are now emerging Is an extraordinary one. It should remember that the turmoil of the gamblers' row In Wall street has frightened . timid .depositors all over the land, and it is the first duty of the banker to forego some of the profits which- result from what in or dinary times would be "good, bank ing," and fortify his institution against possible runs. Finally, the forty-four per cent reserves in Oregon belong to the Oregonians, and It Is extremely doubtful about the twenty-odd per cent reserves of the New York banks belonging to the New Yorkers, Most of it is funds which have been sent in from the interior and which in the future will not trouble the sore-abused New York financiers. PRIMITIVE MAN IN AMERICA. "Early Man in North America," a subject that has called forth a vast amount of speculation, receives fresh consideration in a treatise just pub lished by the Bureau of American Ethnology- It is a review of the infor mation, thus far obtainable, relating to skeletal remains suggesting or attrib uted to early man in North America. A multitude of writers have dealt with this subject, some of them at great length; but their information, collected at large and presented in de tail, has not hitherto been well digest ed or reduced to conclusions. Short's "North Americans of Antiquity," pub lished about tventy years ago, con tains almost all thit has been gath ered. ' Leading facts are presented in the later editions of Lyell's "Antiquity of Man." Not much new matter has been discovered since the publication of these books; and the present Smithsonian essay Is an attempt to gather the main discoveries and facts together, for presentation in concrete form. - It is admitted on all sides that the proofs of the high antiquity of maa, from his skeletal remains in America, or from Implements of human origin, are not so sure as in Europe and much less abundant. ' There is, as yet, no sure proof that man existed In America before the present geological period; while it is deemed certain that in the Eastern Hemisphere he was of much higher antiquity. Dates of geo logical periods are, pf course, uncer tain, but the latest glacial Invasion the time when the Ice sheets from the north came as .far south as the Ohio River apparently was considerably more than ten thousand years ago. But man certainly existed in Europe before the latest great Ice age. The remains of his handicraft in the gla cial gravels prove It beyond question. Skeletal remains support this conclu sion, but with less certainty; for even the solid parts of the human frame are very perishable, and can only be preserved under extremely unusual and exceptional conditions. "Identi fication of human bones as those of early man," says the author of the Smithsonian essay, "that is, as man of geological antiquity, demands indis putable stratigraphical evidence, some degree of fossilizatlon of the bones, and preservation of distinctions of sufficient extent for their identifica tion as human remains. ' A skeleton or skull not fossilized, or one whether fossilized or not, agreeing with a skel eton or a skull of recent or not very ancient man in the same locality, can not be accepted as geologically an cient, unless the geological evidence should be absolutely decisive." The great number of skeletons unearthed from American prehistoric mounds it is believed are not very ancient. Their date very certainly is since the last Ice age. The evidence bears witness against the geological antiquity of the remains and for their close affinity to or identity with those of the modern Indian. It is not proven, of course, that the human race In America was not of high ' antiquity; but it .is concluded that the remains of man have not yet been found In positions to afford proof ot the presence of geologically ancient man on this continent. His ancient "pueblos" are works probably of very moderate antiquity. No great length of time is necessary to account for them. NO NEED TO EXPLAIN. Dr. Moore, of La' Grande, has strange ideas of medical ethics. But he's only an osteopath, and doubtless that's the reason. He wants the State Board of Medical Examiners to con form strictly to the letter of the law and make a charge only for their ex penses in performing their public du ties. The members of the board have had different ideas. What's a foolish law between doctors? They have Im posed the usual legal charge against all applicants for examination before the board, and, after defraying the board's expenses, they have constitut ed the balance a little medical "jack pot" and have divided it up impar tially among themselves. On one oc casion, says Dr. Moore, when there had been a profitable bunch of osteo paths to be put through the machine, the board was able to declare a very handsome dividend, something like $50 for each member. That was worth while, even for a busy doctor. But this was an extraordinary op portunity. You can't catch and pluck an osteopath every day; and no doubt other distributions have been on a more modest - scale. Probably the doctors have got no more out of their little arrangement than they have earned; and they may be and doubt less are entirely right In their conten tion that their service Is worth fair remuneration and that that's all they are getting. No doubt, no doubt. But how much have they been get ting? Is, there any report with any state officer at Salem setting forth all the Interesting details on that subject? The medical examiners are state offi cers, too, or something like it, and the people are, we may suppose, entitled to know. Yet possibly it is none of the public's business. The doctors are, of course, proceeding under some well-known bylaw of their, justiy celebrated med ical code of ethics; and there may be no need to explain anything to any body except one another. . EDUCATION SADLY NEEDED. An enthusiastic ship-subsidy meet ing was held at Cleveland, O., Satur day, at which the prevailing senti ment, favored a campaign , of educa tion. The necessity for such a cam paign was made plain by a statement of Representative Green, of Massachu setts, who said that "there is a great sentiment against ship subsidy in the Central -Western States, simply N be cause the people of that district do not understand the question." With a much greater degree of truth Mr. Green could have included In the list of ' Ignorant some of the principal speakers at the meeting. There was Lewis Nixon, for example, who asserts that one of the causes of the present financial depression is the constant drain on our gold made by foreign shipowners. . "Do you know," said he to the assembled patriots, "that we pay foreign ships $300,000,000 a year half the value of our wheat crop for carrying our 'exports abroad?" Of course the Lake mariners in at tendance did not know that we paid the foreigners any such sum; nor is Mr. Nixon in possession of any such knowledge, for the simple reason that we do not pay the foreigners one-half that amount for carrying our freight abroad. We sell them over $1,500, 000,000 worth of products per year which they are forced to have, and they send their ships here for them. Enjoying the valuable privilege of buying ships where they are the cheapest, they can. not only carry home their own purchases at less cost than we can deliver them in trust built, over-protected ships, but they also "fetch and carry" for us. They are now carrying coal between Balti more and Pacific Coast ports for the American fleet at 50 per cent less than we can handle the business ourselves. We are saving a large sum. of money by securing the use of the cheap for eign ships. The campaign of education should also Include Representative Hum phrey, of Seattle, who at the meeting Insisted that "Japan has taught us a valuable lesson. From practically every standpoint Japan's great victory over Russia In the late war was due to ship subsidy Japan is gaining the mastery of the Pacific." It will per haps be news to Mr. Humphrey to learn that the greater part of Japan's naval ships were built In British and Scotch yards, and nearly all of their colliers and tenders were foreign-built ships, and "ship subsidy" had no more effect on the Nippon victory than It had on the San Francisco earthquake. As a kind of a "primer" in this edu cational campaign we would recom mend to Mr. Humphrey and his as sociates Lloyd's Register- and supple ments. All vessels built or bought by the various countries of the world are listed In this publication as soon as they are registered, or change flags. According to this official authority, since July 1, 1907, Japan registry has been given to twenty-two vessels with average tonnage in excess of 1000 tons net. Of these vessels, eight were built In British yards, five in Scotland, one each in - Germany, France, Norway and Holland, with one large steamship built In Japan. There were also built in .Japan during that period eight small steamers ranging in size from fifty-eight .tons to 762 tons register. Of the twenty-two vessels mentioned three were built this year for the Jap anese and the others were bought af ter they had been built for other own ers. Mr.-Humphrey Is correct In stat ing, that "Japan has taught us a val uable lesson." She has taught us that the proper method for acquiring a merchant marine is to .buy ships where they are the cheapest." Why should there -have been a panic? It was due to local causes in New Tork enormous Inflation of credits and bad investments. Stocks and bonds had been manufactured and money, put up on them without limit. The plungers, most of them, are still trying desperately to hold their ground. This causes continua tion or "tightness." But for the ex traordinary abuses of credit there could have been no trouble. Look at the report of the. Bureau of Statistics for November. It shows we are sell ing more abroad than we ever 'did, and are buying less than formerly. The surplus In our favor' was more than $5,000,000 in excess ot that of any month in our history; and there was a balance of trade for eleven months of the year amounting to $385,405,539. What, then, caused the panic? The gamblers at New York. The British bark Castor, which was reported off the mouth of the Colum bia over a month ago, arrived at Royal Roads yesterday, having been driven north by the succession of gales which have raged off the coast for the past six weeks. The case bears a striking similarity to Jhat of the Iverna, which last Winter was driven north, and, after three unsuccessful attempts to enter Puget Sound, was finally towed into Astoria. In both cases the hulls of the vessels were so foul, and the amount of ballast on board so small, that they were prac tically unmanageable and were prey for the winds. The delay and anxiety occasioned over these not infrequent incidents would seem of sufficient im portance to Justify owners in securing more ballast and cleaning the vessels' hulls more frequently. The North Pa cific In the Winter is not a very good place for unmanageable ships. Suppose they shoot and kill each other all off' down there at Goldfleld. That would be a sorry spectacle; but perhaps it is one of the necessary steps to be taken to bring Nevada to self-government and stop .the depend ence of the Inhabitants on the United States Army. A Mississippi judge, delivering him self to a reporter at Washington, says that In Mississippi a candidate for of fice never commits himself on the liquor question. He Just takes a Crlrik In private and never refers to It in public. If Great Britain deems It wise to send a fleet to the North Pacific we shall not take It as an unfriendly act. On the contrary, we shall be pleased over the prospect of an increased mar ket for foodstuffs. Let Oregon be excepted from the proposed Federal laws permitting rail roads to exchange their odd-numbered sections 'for even-numbered sections. We have never gained anything by land deals with the railroads. Bradley will hardly be able to make the brain storm defense work, not withstanding he has about as good .a case as many of those that have re ceived public attention in the past year or two. Cortelyou wanted to 'organize a stampede. He should have spent a few years on the range, where he could learn something of the psychol ogy of stampedes. In Montana a man named Spender has just married a Miss Money. But it's purely romantic, because they say she Is not an heiress. The fleet for the Pacific will be about four months on the way. - Cap tain Clark, with the' Oregon, did it In sixty-two days. The apple market is "off" badly In London. So many ordinary apples are competing with Oregon'B finest. GLEANINGS FROM STATE PRESS How They Began, but Where Will They - End f Condon Times. It Is comical to hear all the old timers in Condon tell how they made their first start in this country. Invariably they commenced herding sheep. S. B. Barker and Judge Dunn, who can write their checks for six figures, commenced that way. Frank Pliter also followed the bleating band, as did P.' H. Stevenson, George Blake, John Jackson and last, but not least, the Editor of the Times went through the mill at the same busi ness. We all speak as if we enjoyed the occupation immensely, but we have still to find the 'man who wants to go back; to the Job very bad. Beauties of Independence. Gresham Herald. The Orgonian has become Independent In politics, but it says it expects to have something to say about politics Just the same. This Is as It should be. No paper can serve the masses so well as when It is freed from all party lines. It is then in a position to handle political problems and candidates without gloves, if need be. The editor is not so apt to be prejudiced In his writings. The readers and cause generally are more liable to receive a square deal. These are the reasons why The Herald is an independent organ. A Mlstaket He's AH of Them. Condon Times. Earl C. Bronough, a prominent andj talented memcer or the Portland Bar, nas been appointed to fill Judge Frazer's place on the bench. In politics Mr. Bronough was a Democrat, is now an Independent, and registers as a Repub lican. From this record it may be said Mr. Bronough, so far as his politics are concerned is neither fish, flesh nor good red herring. Remedy for Swell-Heads. Corvallls Republican. If at any time you feel yourself becom ing uncomfortably Inflated,, the best remedy we ever heard of is to soak your head in buttermilk three times daily, rub goose greese back of your ears, then go off by yourself for six . hours and try to think of something you have really done to be proud of. . Good Thing; for fiage-Brosh Country. Canyon City Eagle. If Senator Fulton's 640-acre homestead law for Eastern Oregon should become a law the results would be very beneficial for Grant County. Many homestead fil ings would be made and much land that now brings in no revenue would be deeded and put on the tax roll. - Rise of Real Estate In Klamath. Bonanza Bulletin. This week we picked up a queer speci men taken from the bottom of a well that is some twenty feet deep, in the shape of a petrified toad-stool, thus prov ing the surface of the earth here at some time has been at least twenty feet lower than at the present time. Lucky Hurry t Unlucky Bulldog. Echo Register. Thusday morning the local passenger train ran over Harry Bartholomews pet bulldog and killed it. No doubt the O. R. & N. Co. will have another suit for damage. Lucky for Harry that it was his dog Instead of himself. More Thau a Suggestion, Perhaps. Aberdeen Bulletin. r The Oregonlan produces a cartoon representing the hands of a crooked banker with the "cuffs on'' and labels it "A pretty good way to restore confi dence." There is a suggestion of truth In that cartoon. Hembree. Tillamook Headlight. What do the women of Tillamook think of Governor Chamberlain turning Hem bree loose? Why, it is enough to make their blood boll. So Would Others. John Day News. Would T. T. Geer take the nomination for congressman? Would a duck take to water. SOMETHING DOING IN THE SPRING Important News About Southern Pa cific Land Grant But Which Spring! Grants Pass Courier. W. D. Fenton, who stands at the head of the legal department of the S. - P. in Oregon, informed a Courier representative that in his opinion the railroad was not going to lose any of its land obtained under the grant, which is so much talked about these days. But he volunteered the informa tion, that the road officials would pro ceed to have the land reappraised, us the records were all burnei in the San Francisco fire, and this work will be done In the Spring, as soon as the weather will permit the . surveyors to go out. This land, that is good for agricultural and mineral purposes, he thinks, and feels confidently, will be sold at reasonable figures to home seekers: But the land best suitod for timber, and which has timber on U and Is accessible, will be retainei by the railroad, as it Is going to need nil the timber it can secure for Us own con sumption,, and it would ba unwlre to dispose of the land suitable for this purpose and then have to turn around and buy other land. But he thinks that where there is timber land in out-oi-the-wav pla es and neir sawmills that the timber lands of this kind will likely be sold to the persons directly Interested. He goes to San Francisco shortly tiid this matter will then be taken up formally with the head offices, and he thinks with very good prospects of t.e.ng favorably acted upoa. The Portland Cement Outlook. Boston Transcript. Among the industries developing in this country faster than the publio is aware, is the manufacture of Portland cement. It is not Identified with any city or place of that name, but among the initiated indicates the character of the product. A scientino description of it is that It is a result "obtained by. calcining to in cipient vitrification an Intimate artificial admixture of two or more raw materials, and finally grinding the clinker." The National convention of cement manufac turers is being held In Chicago today. National conventions betoken at least widespread interest and are frequently of importance, even when - they are not held in Chicago, and both are true of the cement Industry. In three years the output has been more than doubled. The figures last year were over 51,000,000 bar rels. This is flve or six times as much as it was ten years ago and puts cement better than the eighth among the mineral products of the United States. Relatively it is not an expensive article. The cost Is largely In the manufacture. 'In this country mari and clay, limestone and clay and argillaceous limestone of dif ferent compositions are the raw ma terials. These are found in abundance in almost all parts of the country. The en largement of the business is indicative of the increasing extent that concrete, of which cement is the binding material, has entered Into building operations, and as the lumber supply grows rapidly less In quantity and higher in price the new material will very largely displace it, because practically Inexhaustible. , If houses can be built of It for J10CO, as Mr. Edison contends, it Is certain to be popular. . THE UNWRITTEN LAW FAILS. A Sensible Article Here, Well Worth Attention. Louisville Courier-Journal. . It is impossible for anyone who has human sympathies to contemplate with a feeling of satisfaction unmixed with re gret the spectacle of a woman entering upon a penitentiary sentence of 20 years for having killed a man who circulated scandalous stories about her. But since the written law does not provide for any infraction of the scriptural "vengeance is mine," the verdict of the jury in the case of Mrs. Ansollne, in Chicago, should be commended. The woman's defense was that she killed the man "in defense of her honor," after he had caused her husband to leave her. There was no attempt to prove any of the higher-priced varieties of criminal court insanity by the intro duction of witnesses known as "alien ists." The defense was simple, the law was plain, and the jury did an unpleas ant duty in obedience to a solemn oath to render a verdict in accordance with the law and facts. Chicago newspapers differ in their esti mates of the age of the defendant, and their opinions of her appearance. In one journal she is described as "a gray haired woman, perhaps 47, without a trace of her former beauty." Another says she Is probably 27 years old. A third credits her with no more than a scant two dozen years, and pictures her as having the face of a Madonna and the figure of Pallas Athene. This merely shows that little attention was paid to the case. Inaccuracy resulted from inat tention. The trial had every element of the dra matic, Including the presence of a baby in court, but the subtle influence of pub lic interest upon the Jury was not felt because the defendant was a humble per son, her victim was not widely known, and the yellow Journals did not make a drama of the trial. How easy It Is to convict a Mrs. Ansollne, and how impossi ble to convict a Mrs. Bradley or a Nan Patterson. Although we have preached true democracy since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, public opin ion is not democratic, and public opinion has its effect upon 12 men in a Jurybox when they face throughout a trial a courtroom packed with men and women who give every evidence of interest in a yellow Journal heroine. If criminal trials, especially "unwritten law cases," should be held in cleared courtrooms it would be less difficult to secure convictions. The written law should be credited with its triumphs, however petty, and the ju rors In the Ansollne case should be lauded for having done their duty. But what a travesty of justice we witness when a Jury in Washington exonerates a woman who crossed a continent and ktjled her paramour, and a. Jury in Chicago convicts a woman whose defense is that a man crossed an ocean to persecute her with slander, and that she killed him when he had succeeded in inducing her husband to leave her! . , IS THERE REALLY A SANTA CLAUS T Why, Honey, If You Doubt It, Read What Thin Man Says. John T. McCutcheon in Appleton's Magizlne. Why, land's sake, child, of course they is. I reckon I've saw him nigh onto a hundred times myself and he'll be here drecktly, too. He's jest a whoopln' down across them icebergs on his way here, licketty split, an', you betchy he'll be here on time. too. Never knowed him to fall yit, an' I reckon they ain't nobody's had more ex-per-lence in these matters than mo. No, course you ain't saw him your self, but you got a purr-r-ty fair idee how he looks, now hain't you? Sure! I knowed you had. Why, I ree-collect Jest as well's 'twas yestiddy the first time I see him. Let's see, what year was that? Um-m. Brother Jim was born in well, if I hain't clean forgotten. Well, well, well, 'pears like my mem'ry's kind o' fall In' me on little things like that' but when It comes to Santy Claus you betchy I don't forgit anything about him. I kin dee-scribe old Santy with my eyes shet. Tall? No. not exactly tall. Kind of a little squatty roly-pof feller, if I remember right, with the funniest little eyes you ever see. Reg'lar little weasel eyes, but so full o fun that they Jest plum brim over and spill out on his cheeks. Not what you'd call a real handsome man but, O, powerful good natured. Jest do anythin fer you if he takes a shine to you. If you're real good an' How? How do I know he's comln'? Well, well, well. Just listen to the child. How do I know! Why, bless ye, I know the signs as well as I know beans. You know how a new Noey's Ark smells, don't ye? Well, that's one of the signs. When ever you go down to the store and ketch a whiff o' new Noey's Ark, you c'n make up your mind that old Santy's powerful Imminent. And'another thing, too. Along in the late Fall when th' year's gettin' klnda old an' decrepld like, Jest hobblln' along to'rd December, you c'n Jest taste the Santy Claus feelln' In th' air. "You better begin gettin' ready," sez he, and off he goes, an' along comes a whole bunch of 'em, each gettin' more an' more ex-asperated. I tell ye the excitement is jest about near the bustin' point by the 24th of December. If Chris'mas had came two days later the strain would be too much. Old Nature would Jest throw up both hands an' call in th' doctor. But you see they flggered 'n this, so Chris' mas comes two days earlier than it would If it(come two days lator, an' so every body manages" to live through It safely. Talk about excitement! Why, the buzz o' children talkln' an' the thumpln' of little hearts on the night afore Chris-mas Is enough f plum drown'd out the sound o' sleighbells, to say nothln' o" th" crunch o' fur boots on the housetops. Cleveland Lose In Knickerbocker. Omaha Dispatch in New York Tribune Ex-President Grover Cleveland and Mrs. Cleveland both lost money in tha Knickerbocker Trust Company failure, which may have led them to sell their real estate property In Omaha. Dc-Jrts to this property have Just been placed on record in Omaha, and with the deeds came a letter from Mrs. Cleve land telling friends here of the loss sustained by both Mr. and Mrs. Cleve land. "I had considerable money in the Knickerbocker Trust Companv," w.-ote Mrs. Cleveland, "as had Mr. Cleveland also." The Clevelands at one time held con siderable .real estate in this city, but the deeds which went on record today, it is believed, closed out their entire holdings. Hughes aa President. t New York World. Chancellor Day will not lack converts If he Is determined to preach the gospel ot a Hughes nomination, but he Is lead ing the financial brethren Into grave doctrinal error. If they had Hughes at Washington there would be no land of milk and honey for Wall street. So far as Wall street's purposes are concerned, Hughes as President would be no better than Taft, My Prayer. New Tork Times. Long, long ago, when all was new. Life seemed so eweet, -so grand, so true. Alas! I lost this faith so dear! O. bring it back. Fair Christmas "Cheer! In youth my veins' ran warm with fire. And ' all earth thrilled with sweet desire, Pond love was mine they went astray O, bring It back. Dear Yuletlde Gay. When riper age had thrilled my breast With life's forebodings, lire's unrest. Hope lived and died and went from me O, bring It back. Sweet Christmas Glee. The years are shorter as I go Along the fields I used to sow: A fair content would ease my way O, give It me, Brave Christmas Car! ONE THING AND ANOTHER Vp In Old Malheur. Up here in the sagebrush we'ro feeling mighty fine. And we manage to be able to make the old pot boll; For we're getting good and ready to send along the line The ripping and the startling news that we haye struck the oil-. We have waited all these many long and dreary years, Just managing to get along with an occasional broil. For some they have been joyous, while many were in tears. But all had fixed their eyes upon the time we'd strike the oil. The grocer has been stingy and the butcher mighty tight. And it looked as If old Poverty would get us in his coil; But one bright ray of hope has enabled us to fight Just thinking of the happy time when we would strike the oil. We've lived upon the sheepmen and we've browsed upon the cows. And perhaps we'v never done it just according to old Hoyle. But one thing that sustained us in in numerable rows Was the thought that we would fix things when we had struck the oil. And now our time Is' coming and we're going to paint her red Just keep your eye upon us horny handed sons of toil; We'll never give a thought to days when we were but half fed. Once you hear the ripping, startling news that we have struck the oil. Just imagine you are an American homeward-bound on a ship in the South Atlantic, meeting that double column of warships. Would you have any yell left when the last had passed? And wouldn't you think the combination of color in the flag was just a little the greatest ever? "I don't believe Thanty Clauth ith a myth," said the little girl, "but any way his wife ith a raithlth." Translators of papyrus show that women ruled the households more than 2C00 years ago. There has been little change since. "Tom," remarked Mrs. Turkey, "will you hang up your stocking next Tues day night?" "I don't know, marm. I'm waiting on the old man to ax me." The Chicago woman who found a baby in a newspaper at the front door thinks the limit has been reached In supple ments. Buy your wife a new cook stove for Christmas and make her sorj whenever she goes near it. "The way of the transgressor is hard," but the way of his children is harder. " "Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house" That's a chestnutty way to begin it "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" For my purse bad nothing within it. "When out on the lawn there arose euch a clatter" I thought I was getting some money; "I got up to look out to see what was the matter" And found It exceedingly funny. The moon shone so bright It tne dark of tho night. The aspect -was cheerfully mocking; Old Santa'd been In without any din And found a big hole In my stor-itlng. And so I got left, as I 'most always rio--For things aren't Just what they seem. I cannot explain It, nor neither can you The occurrence was naught but a dream. W. J, C. Napoleon's Trees. H. Wharton in the London Times. About the year 1S50 Mr. John Tlnline, one of the early pioneers of New Zea land, sailed from England, and the ship requiring water, put Into St. Helena. Mr. Tlnline took several weeping willow slips from trees round Napoleon's grave and kept them alive during the voyage by sticking them Into potatoes. He plRnted them at Nelson, New Zealand, and there are some wonderfully fine trees growing there, I believe one or two of the original slips still existing. A few years later Mr. Tlnline and others took slips Into the Canterbury province, and in the course of years I have had myself wagonloads of stakes and branches from these trees for planting and protecting the river banks. They are now largely v.seA 'throughout New Zealand, and anything will grow and soon become a big tree from a small slip to a big post several fet long and up to a foot or more diam eter provided there is water. The pretty Avon River at Christchurch is planted with willows from this source: also the Yarra River at Melbourne. Victoria, in deed, I believe I am correct In saying that all the weeping willows throughout New Zealand came from this supply. Mr. Tlnline only passed away a short time ago at a ripe old age, having lived to see how successful his act of acclimatization had been unlike many other things since Introduced with very serious results. RooeveltNva. Bryan. New Orleans Picayune. This is the age of the people. They are learning their power and they may know enough to capture the Chicago conven tion next June as they did in 1S9S, when they gave Bryan a whirlwind nomination. There are many who still continue to believe that the nominees of the two great party conventions will be Bryan and Roosevelt. , Should a Republican capitalist candidate be nominated at Chi cago next June Bryan will be the Demo cratic nominee, and will be triumphantly elected by the entire radical or anti capitalistic population of the Union. A FEW SQUIBS. The first Senator to congraulste Jeff Davis on his speech was McEnery. of Louisville, who Is stone deaf. Baltimore Sun. "They say that he married her for her money." "And what did he do when she lost her wealth?" "He lost bis reason." Harvard Lampoon. "It aln' near as foolish," said Uncle Eben. "foh a boy to believe in Santa C'.aus as It is fob a growed-up man to sit down and trust to luck." Washington Star. "Jones always calls a spade a spade, doesn't he?" "Yes ever since he got kicked out of a poker game for calling one a dub, one night." Cleveland Leader. "I'm going to make a lot of money writ ing books, and then I'm going to farm." "Why not make a lot of money farming and then write books?" Louisville Courier Journal. Towne Tes. Mutley Is married. Didn't you know that? - Browne No; why.-he told me he wouldn't marry the best woman on earth. - Towne Well. Jie didn't. Philadelphia Press. , "Tou must have a good appetite." re marked the thin man, enviously. "What do you take for it? ' "In all my experience." replied the plump one, VI have found nothing more suitable than food." Philadelphia Public Ledger. The elevated railway guard bad resigned bis position as an usher at the church, "it mixed me all up." he said. "When I was showing peop' i Into the pews on Sunday morning I'd tell 'era to step lively, and onre or twice I started to take up a collection In the smoking csr." Chicago Tribune.