Morning Oregonian., July 18, 1908, Page 8, Image 8

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THE MOH5TNG OKEGrOIAlV, SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1908.
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FORTLASrD. SATURDAY. JCLY 18. 1S08.
EDITORS ANB PRIJIABY LAWS.
The Oregonian can well understand
the perturbation and excitement of
the Washington editors over their
primary election law. It will not go
to the extreme of denouncing the so
called newspaper sections of the law
as "a literary and legal abortion, be
ing confusing, conflicting, contradict
ory, unintelligible and incapable of,
practical construction or enforce
ment," as the resolution offered by an
Indignant editor to the State Editor
ial Association declares; but it will
agree that "they dq no credit to the
lawmaking ability and intelligence
of the state," as the resolution fur
ther suggests. If The Oregonian un
derstands the situation correctly, the
trouble arises through opposing pro
visions of the law, which, in the first
instance, endeavors to prevent any
candidate for office from making any
arrangement for newspaper support
or commendation in any form for
pay, imposing severe penalties, and,
in the second instance, prescribes that
no newspaper shall print for pay any
article in behalf of any candidate or
opposed to any candidate except as a
"paid advertisement," duly labeled
as such.
It is obvious that no candidate for
office will be willing to take any
chances of violation of the law by
entering into any contract, however
Innocent, with a newspaper, since
It is clear that he thus invites pro
ceedings from his opponents or
others that might, and perhaps would,
prevent him from .assuming office if
he should be elected. It has been
argued that it was never the intention
of the Washington law to prevent a
candidate from publishing a news
paper advertisement in his own be
half, for if It had been, why does the
provision expressly permit a news
paper to print political advertise
ments for pay? That is all clear so
far as the newspapers are concerned,
but it Is on inhibition upon the candi
dates Just the same. So that, while
it may be lawful for the newspapers
to print political advertisements, it is
unlawful for candidates to procure
their publication. Anil- there you are.
What becomes of the candidate if the
law should be invoked against him?
Clearly no proper arrangement can
be made between the candidate and
newspapers while such coitllcting and
confusing provisions remain in the
primary law. Therefore, as The
Oregonian has already intimated, it
can well understand and deeply ap
preciate the astonishment and conster
nation of the Washington editors. t
But there are other aspects in
which the Washington primary law
would appear to be open to criticism.
It Is In its present form a standing
invitation to every Tom, Dick and
.Hurry in the state to become a can
didate for any office, high or low.
There are no limitations or restric
tions whatever or. any one, except
that there is a small filing fee for
each candidate's petition. Thus we
find that there are seven candidates
for Governor, since any ona who hap
pens to be a cili.en of the state may
declare that he is fit for that high
office. Some of these seven candi
dates undoubtedly are not fit, or at
least they do not offer themselves as
candidates in good faith. Thus it is,
too, with the campaign for Congress
in the Kastern Washington district.
There are seven candidates for the
Republican nomination, four from
Spokane alone. All this is ridiculous,
for It tends to lower the dignity of
the office and to mpke the campaign
an unseemly scramble by self-seekers
of every degree. The result, too,
i.-: to confuse and perplex the voter,
which, Indeed, is the purpose of sev
eral of the candidacies.
The Washington law also makes an
astonishing provision for a non
partisan judiciary. It provides that
nil candidates for judgeships shall go
on the ballot of each prty without
any party designation. In the cases
of Supreme Judges the successful
nominees alone are placed upon the
ballot without the party designation
and are again voted on at the gen
eral election. But the primary is in
effect Itself an election and makes un
necessary a second vote. The pur
pose of the primary is. or should be.
to nominate candidates for office, and
not to elect them. The Washington
law is, in this particular, almost as
absurd as the Otegon law, which at
tempts to prescribe and declares how
candidates for United Starts Senators
shall be elected. The primary cannot,
or should not, "elect" any one to any
thing, either judgeship or Senator.
It may occur to the Washington
lawmakers next year to provide some
way by which the disgraceful scenes
witnessed in the Secretary of State's
office last week may be avoided. The
first candidate to file his petition un
der the law is presumed to get his
name first on the ballot. Therefore,
a miscellaneous assortment of candi
dates, messenger boys, hirelings and
emissaries of various sorts and de
scriptions occupied the Secretary of
State's office for many hours prior
to the time of filing. Similar scenes
were enacted In the various counties
throughout the state. All this might
be avoided if It were to be provided
that the names of candidates should
be filed in alphabetical order. There
Is a difference of opinion In Oregon as
to whether the first name on the bal
lot has any advantage of any kind
over the second or any other name.
1 The Oregonian suggests to the
Washington editors that they take up
seriously the question of correcting
the primary law as a whole, so that
its many, deteqta may be. removed.
Let them send a committee to the
Legislature whose duty it shall be to
procure enactment of a harmonious
and efficient primary election code.
The editors, of course, will not think
it sufficient to present to the Legis
lature at Olympia the subject of their
own grievances only.
A PACIFIC TRAGEDY.
' Details of the last chapter of as
piflful a tale of human suffering,
death and misery as was ever told,
appear in a San Francisco dispatch
in yesterday's Oregonian, reporting
the arrival at the Bay City of nine
teen South Sea Islanders, the last of
a band of several hundred who were
kidnaped and sold into slavery
eighteen years ago. Untroubled by
the restraints of civilization and with
nature lavish in her gifts of all that
was needed to make life easy, these
sunny-tempered children of the trop
ics were "dreaming the happy hours
away" and living the simple life. In
all that the term applies, when the
Montserrat steamed into their peace
ful harbors with wonderful tales of
a land where all of the comforts and
luxuries of life were obtainable at
even less effort than in the South
Seas.
The responsibility for the crime
rests on Captain David Blackburn, of
the Montserrat, and the San Fran
cisco capitalist who financed the deal
by which he came into possession of
the steamer. Blackburn, who may
not inappropriately be termed a
19th century composite of Captain
KIdd, Sir Henry Morgan and Fran
cis Drake, together with his "hell
ship," the Montserrat, was swallowed
up in the big seas off Cape Flattery
fifteen years ago. Some of the San
Francisco parties to the crime are
still alive, and if, perchance, they
happened to be down around the
docks when the City of Para came In
Thursday with the nineteen wretched
survivors of the tragedy they had
caused, their thoughts must have
been of a nature that none would
envy. Under promise of light work,
good pay, and the return in a few
months to the homes from which
they were taken, nearly 800 of these
simple natives were lured on board
the Montserrat and carried away
from a land of peace and plenty and
a life of delightful Idleness to one of
misery, hardship and death.
Sold Into bondage to Central Amer
ican planters, families were separated
and ail of the agonies of the old
slave days in the southern part of
the United States were again In evi
dence. In some respects the crime
was even worse than those which
were committed by the slaveowners
of the old days, for the environment
and breeding of the South Sea peo
ple was such that they had never
learned to labor or to cringe before
a master. It Is easy to break the
spirit of one who has never been
toughened In the brutal school of
adversity, and a single year of servi
tude killed more than half of the
poor victims of the white man's
greed. Long before that year had
passed, the world, which, at the time
of the outrage, was vigorous In its
demand for the punishment of Black
burn and his associates, had ta'ken
up new tasks, and the poor blacks,
dying in exile, were forgotten except,
perhaps, by some mourning fathers,
mothers or sweethearts in the sunny
isles of the outh Pacific.
The British Government has taken
up the matter of sending these few
remaining survivors back to the land
of their birth, but in the return of
the pitifully small remnant of that
band of happy islanders who were
lured away to death and misery
eighteen years ago, there Is even
more tragedy and pathos than In the
death of their hundreds of compan
ions. It is not yet twenty years since
these islanders were inveigled away
to a life of- slavery, and it was but
fifteen years ago that the Montserrat
carried Blackburn and all of his crew
to the bottom of the ocean, but
among all of the crimes of the free
booters and pirates who have oper
ated in the Pacific in the past 300
years, none are blacker than that
whose concluding chapter is now
written.
WHERE DREDGING IS NEEDED.
Belated recognition of the value of
dredging on the Columbia bar has
been made by the Government
authorities, and Colonel Roessler has
recommended an appropriation suf
ficient to place the dredge Chinook at
work when she is repaired. Unfor
tunately for the port, the repairs
which are deemed necessary on the
dredge are so elaborate that it will
require fully a year to get the big craft
in shape for service at the river en
trance. The latest survey of the bar,
and the testimony of pilots and ship
masters who are continually crossing
it, show quite conclusively that there
remains as an obstacle to thirty-five
feet or forty feet of water but a
comparatively narrow "ridge." On
both sides of this ridge there is a
depth of from forty feet to fifty feet
of water. The ridge, or bar, this
season, has a greater depth of water
over it at low tide than has been
there for several seasons and its
width is less than it has ever been.
These physical conditions make it ex
ceptionally favorable for dredging,
for it would require but a small
amount of stirring of the hard-sand
on this ridge to enable the channel
to cut through the same depth that Is
now found on both sides of the bar.
Delays are always dangerous, and
while the completion of the Jetty will
ultimately result in a deep channel at
the mouth of the river, the conditions
for securing it with a limited amount
of dredging may never again be so
favorable as at this time. The Co
lumbia is still sending out to sea an
Immense volume of water, and the
advantages of this increased current
for scouring purposes on the ebb tide
will not be exhausted for at least two
months. It is .during these two
months that a dredge of some kind
should be placed in service on that
narrow ridge that divides deep water
inside and outside the bar. In the
old days, when ships of fifteen and
sixteen feet draft were delayed at the
river entrance. Captain Flavel would
take advantage of the annual freshet
and with a crude harrow would stir
up the sand on the bar to such an "ex
tent that the June freshet sweeping
seaward on the ebb tide would mater
ially improve the channel. .
If it is Impossible to get the
Chinook' into service at this time,
there is every reason to believe that
much benefit would result by. a re
turn to the old method of dragging
I a harrow, across the bar and loosen
lng the sand so that the ebb tide
could sweep It out to sea. So far as
can be learned, the only objection to
placing the Chvoo"k In service Is that
her boilers are weak and need re
pairing. These boilers worked all
right up to the time the Chinook was
withdrawn from service and it was
not on account of the boilers that she
was taken from her work. As it Is out
of the question to get new boilers
Installed In time to do anything with
the craft this season. It would seem
a wfse move to place her in service
under a reduced steam pressure. It
fs not an absolute necessity that a
bar dredge should be equipped with
boilers that would stand the same
test required for an ' ocean-going
passenger steamer, and if the craft
could be placed In commission and
worked under easy steam for a few
months this Summer, it is almost a
certainty that before the Winter
storms began raging we would have
a greater depth of water at the
mouth of the Columbia than ever be
fore. There Is not the slightest danger
of any accident In operating the
Chinook under a boiler pressure of
eighty pounds, and .if she could be
kept in service this Summer while
her new boilers were being prepared
for her, we would have a channel
over the bar suitable for all classes
of vessels fully a year before it can
be secured, unless something Is done
to aid the jetty and the rise of the
river cuts through the narrow ridge
which now stands In the way of a
bar channel thirty to forty feet deep
at low water.
CLAIRVOYANCE IN YAKIMA.
The Oregonian has made the pleas
ing discovery that there Is over in
Yakima a newspaper endowed with
so infallible a gift of prescience that
it knows exactly what Is going to
happen Jong before It has happened.
The paper's name is the Republic.
Like the comic opera king it has "never
yet made one mistake," but per
haps it "would like to for variety's
sake." "The contest for Senator in
Washington," says this astonishing
Journalistic seer, "not only is not
close, but there is nothing that looks
like a contest between Mr. Jones and
Mr. Ankeny." The occasion for this
remarkable revelation is a statement
in The Oregonlan's Seattle - corre
spondence that a "few months ago
the drift of sentiment in Washing
ton was strongly for Jones, but now
It looks more favorable to Ankeny."
To the ordinary reader that looks
like a sufficiently conservative view
of the situation. It happens also to
accord with the opinion of most im
partial observers of a most interest
ing and stubborn contest. But they
are all wrong, of course. There's no
conflict, no battle, no Issue, no strug
gle worth the name. It's all over but
issuing the certificate of election to
Jones. It Isn't worth while even to
count the votes, since the result has
thus been declared in advance. That's
the Yakima view. That there are
other counties in Washington which
may desire to have something to say
in September, and other opinions as
tc the Senatorship, perhaps, -is no
matter.
The Oregonian has no preference
to express as between Mr. Jones and
Mr. Ankeny. It has expressed none.
It hopes and expects to see the best
man win. But it thinks too highly of
Mr. Jones to permit him unnecessar
ily to be led by any of his bumptious
followers into an opinion that his
victory is already achieved when It
is not.
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MR. ROOSEVE!T
If Mr. Roosevelt wished he could
take to Africa ' with him . when he
goes an army of many thousands. It
would include hunters, cooks, scouts
and mechanics of various sorts, the
same classes indeed as were to be
found in Sherman's Army upon its
march through Georgia. This is the
report which is to be found in the
dispatches, and it Is probably cor
rect.
Mr. Roosevelt has, therefore, an
opportunity to place himself at the
head of a large and efficient volunteer
army which would follow him ;
whithersoever he might lead and
gladly pay its own expenses. Had
any man ever before such an oppor
tunity? What is to hinder him from
founding in Africa a great empire
and setting the house of Roosevelt
upon a throne which shall endure
through the ages of ages?
Some difficulties would be en
countered, but they could not be
serious. A little force, combined with
gentle diplomacy, would overcome
them all. Portugal holds a big slice
of Africa along the West Coast which
might be taken without much re
sistance. One charge of a corps of
rough riders would settle the busi
ness, for dismal old Portugal has no
army abroad, no navy and nothing
at home but Incessant revolution.
Were It not for the friendship of
England she would have lost her use
less head long ago, to say nothing of
her colonies. Then, north bf Portu
gal's slip there is the French colony
which crosses the continent under the
equator. France Is a poor hand at
colonizing and if she knew her own
welfare she would eagerly invite Mr.
Roosevelt to relieve her of this tract,
which is nothing but an expense and
worry. If she fails to see her oppor
tunity, he might march up the Niger
with his troops and open her eyes.
Before reinforcements could arrive
from Paris, the conquest would be
complete.
Next would come the German col
ony, which William, In his secret
heart, would love to get rid of, be
cause it incites violent speeches
against him in the Reichstag while
It costs bim no end of marks and
menschen. Not one poor penny has
it ever paid him, or ever will. Mr.
Roosevelt might make some slight
show of force to give William an ex
cuse for letting go, but not much
would be required. The Kaiser would
say "Good riddance to bad rubbish"
to his vanishing colony and laugh
with inward glee over his release
from trouble. As for the British col
onies In Africa, they will soon cut
loose from the old country and set
up for themselves. Of course, they
will then look around for a king and
if Mr. Roosevelt happens to be on
the spot, whom would lightning be
more apt to strike?
These suggestions are thrown out
merely as a piece of -good advice to
show Mr. Roosevelt how he max use
fully occupy the thousands who wish
to go with him and how he may im
prove the fortunes of himself and his
descendants. An empire including
Xtha whole of Africa, would make no
mean appanage to turn over to Ker-
mit when the time comes, and if it
should seem advisable to annex , our
precious Philippines for one of the
other boys we do not apprehend that
any serious objections would arise
except from the antl-lmperialists.
They might feel lonesome for a while
with nothing to grumble over.
Practically everything used on the
Panama canal in the way of food sup
piles and lumber can be purchased
at Pacific Coast points at lower prices
than on the Atlantic seaboard; ..but,
owing to the preference shown At
lantic Coast ports, the Pacific Coast
has been shut out of the business.
The matter is now being taken up
by the commercial bodies of Portland,
Seattle and San Francisco, and it is
believed that if a vigorous campaign
Is made against the unfair , practice,
much of the business can be brought
to the Pacific Northwest, where it
properly belongs. The matter of
transportation may be used as an ar
gument favoring the Atlantic ports,
but, with every port on the Pacific
crowded with idle tonnage, this
reason would not be accepted. The
very least that can be got out of the
controversy will be an expose of the
unfair discrimination practiced in
favor of the Atlantic ports, and once
this expose is made there will be a
chance for righting the wrong and
giving the Pacific Coast Its dues.
The life work of Judge John F.
Caples, for more than forty years
one of the leading prominent attor
neys of the state, is ended and with
his passing Portland loses a good cit
izen, an able lawyer,, an eloquent ora
tor and a politician who, throughout
his career, has held high place in
the councils of his party. Judge
Caples began the practice of law in
this city at a time when Portland
was Just emerging from the village
era, and in a very short time after he
located here he was enjoying a state
wide reputation. Through ail of the
changing years. In which Portland
has grown from a straggling village
to a great city, until his retirement
from active service a few years ago.
Judge Caples remained a prominent
figure In his profession and in poll
tics. His loss will be sincerely
mourned alike by the pioneers, with
whom he was so long associated,
and by the younger element who
were so fortunate as to enjoy his ac
quaintance. Some interesting figures on busi
ness mortalities for the first half of
1908 appear In Dun's Review. They
show an increase in the number of
failures from 5607 in the first half
of 1907, to 8709 for the first half of
1908, with liabilities $69,568,662 and
$124,374,833, respectively. The show
ing for Oregon, under the circum
stances, is remarkably good, espe
cially in comparison with some other
states. For the first half of 1907 the
failures in this state were 64 in num
ber, with liabilities of $544,617. For
the same period this year there were
115 failures, with $783,418 liabilities,
an increase of about 40 per cent in
amount. In Washington there were
136 failures, with liabilities of $941,
291, for the first Six months of 1907,
and for the same period this year
there were 227 failures, with $2,878,
2S9 liabilities, an increase of 800 per
cent.
In settling the estate of the late
Duke of Devonshire, it has developed
that, instead of being the possessor of
enormous wealth, he has left, In ad
dition to his settled estate, only a
beggarly $5,800,000. This sum. Ju
diciously expended among the poor
of London, would be sufficient to pre
vent a world of suffering, starvation
and death, but to be retained as
property of a great estate such as the
English nobility must , have, it is
comparatively insignificant. It is
noticeable in this ,case, however, as
In a'l others, whether the deceased
be prince or pauper, that none of the
estate was taken along to the next
world when the possessor departed
from this life.
John W. Kern, Vice-Presidential
candidate on the Democratic ticket,
professes to see in the anti-injunction
plank of his platform "a conserva
tive suggestion in line with the pro
cedure of the state courts In many
states." And it is with a "conserva
tive suggestion" that he desires to
capture the radical votes?. In what
particular does the Republican plank
lack the qualities of a "conservative
suggestion" ? "
An Astoria brewer Is manufactur
ing a popular drink called "near
beer," for consumption in dry coun
ties. It Is said to look like beer,
smell like beer and taste like beer,
and If you drink enough of It, you
will get full. Most of the country
press along the O. R. & N. has ac
knowledged receipt of sample cases
and - pronounced it good. That set
tles its status.
The Drain Normal School will
open up this Fall, says a newspaper
of that town, ' "notwithstanding the
adverse recommendation of the little
gang of crooked professional poli
ticians comprising the Board of Nor
mal Regents." There's brave talk, for
a fact. If Drain can show It doesn't
need the state, maybe the svate will
be glad to hang on.
Since Malheur went dry they are
having all kinds of dreams over there.
The latest "pipe" is a line to convey
oil to tidewater after they get the
oil.
A Japanese training-ship, with a lot
of naval cadets, has arrived in San
Francisco. The cadets would learn
more right now in Honolulu.
Where are the fellows who once or
twice said they wouldn't shave until
Bryan was elected, and are there now
any new ones?
Any doctor can tell you whether
you've got oxaluria, since . they all
know all about it, but how about the
cure?
As between Bryan and Parker,
Bryan only got some more votes
which didn't do him any good.
Possibly Mr. Bryan has overlooked
the fact that Walla Walla will vote
again next November.
The fellow who remarked that
this has been a short Summer was
only fooling
NEW LIFE FOR MOUNT HOOD I
A Warmlnc-Up Proms la Noted by
Goreranient Geologfcar Surveyor.
Springfield (Mass.) Republican.
- It has been asked more than once
of late whether Mount Hood is really
extinct. In the National Geographical
Magazine for July, A. H. Sylvester, of
the United States Geological Survey,
goes "further and raises the question,
"Is our noblest volcano awakening to
new life?"
It means much to Portland, which
lies but 50 miles to the west, and would
find things, in the event of an erup
tion, mighty Interesting, even if the
city itself was not actually endangered.
The author had long been interested
in this mountain, and took much pleas
ure in his assignment, in the Spring
of 1907. to the work of mapping the
Mount Hood special quadrangle. This
mountain, to summarize the latest re
sults of the survey, lies in north lati
tude 45:22:26.74, and west longitude
121:41:42.81. It is on the Coast
of the Cascade Range and about 20
miles south of the Columbia River.
Mr. Sylvester verified the height as
11.225 feet. Timber grows to an alti
tude of 6500 feet. In shape the moun
tain is an almost perfect volcanic
cone, rising about 7000 feet above' the
surrounding country, and visible far
out at sea. Its symmetry and isola
tion, therefore, give it a beauty such
as few mountains in this or any other
country can boast.
From its form and structure it seems
to have been built up entirely of lava
ejected from a single central crater,
and there Is no evidence that it was
ever much higher than It Is now.
Geologists believe that it became ex
tinct before reaching the -stage of
ejectment of the more basic basalts
which Shasta and Adams poured out in
more recent times, but Mr. Sylvester
calls attention to a large lava flow
about ten miles to the northeast of
the crater, which seems to be more re
cent. Except for this and a fissure
flow which dams Bull Run Lake, the
mountain has clearly not been in erup
tion for untold centuries.
But now for the suspicious facts. In
1882. Professor Russell, In a book on
American volcanoes, gave a picture of
a fumarole on the south slope, and ap
parently Just east of crater Rock.
Apparently since then It has disap
peared; later visitors do not mention
it. Ever since the mountain was
known steam has been escaping from
certain places, but chiefly from Crater
Rock, together with gas. generally
hydrogen ' sulphide. But In the last
three years things have been "warm
ing up," says the author; the fumarole
mentioned by Professor Russell has so
developed that it has cut the White
River Glacier in two, exposing its bed
for 150 feet. On Crater Rock Mr. Syl
vester found steam escaping from
numerous fissures, and in many places
the rock is too hot to touch with the
hand. On August 28, 1907, numerous
witnesses saw "a cloud of smoke, prob
ably dense steam, rising from Crater
Rock, high above the skyline of the
summit of the mountain." This per
sisted throughout the day, and at
night there was a glow "like a chim
ney burning out." Sudden floods the
next day were inexplicable except on
the theory that the glacier had melted
rapidly from volcanic heat.
As an Interesting coincidence it is
noted that at the same time there were
throes in the Bogaslof group off the
Alaska Coast. No further signs- have
been noted, and" it is very possible that
these faint activities mean merely a
last flicker of life in an expiring vol
cano. It is. at any rate, abundantly
interesting that Mount Hood, as Mr.
Sylvester says, "must be taken from
the list of extinct volcanoes and placed
at least among the doubtful." But
Oregon will probably not begin to
worry till something more decisive
happens.
HIS OLIVE BRANCH REJECTED
How Mr, Bryan's Effort to Propitiate
Mr. Hearst Failed.
New York Tribune.
A week ago Mr. William Jennings
Bryan hopefully offered'to Mr. William
Randolph Hearst one of the greenest
olive branches ever plucked in a polit
ical garden. He said editorially in his
"Commoner":
The Republican papers are quick to as
sume that Mr. Hearst will oppese the Dem
ocratic ticket. They ought to glvfc Mr.
Hearst credit for having made a fight for
certain well-defined reforms. and they
ought to give him credit for sincerity in
advocating those reforms.
Mr. Hearst could hardly be expected to
announce In advance of the other conven
tions what he thought ought to be done, but
it will be remembered that in 1904 he was
a candidate in the Democratic convention
after the adoption of the platform written
that year.
If the platform of 1904 was good enough
for Mr. Hearst to run on. may not the Dem
ocratic platform of -1908 be good enough for
Mr. Hearst to support ?
Could anything have been more con
fiding, propitiatory and winsome than
that? With just a pathetic trace of
wistfulness, too, as if modestly and
manfully to acknowledge that to woo
Is not always to win. It almost makes
us ashamed to reproduce the response
to Mr. Bryan's anxious appeal which
Mr. Hearst's American delivered in
these unfeeling words:
We have lost confidence In the Democratic
party, as millions of other Democrats have
done. We cannot see in this nomination any
hope.
We are bound to add, with regret, that
we have lost confidence also in William J.
Bryan, who. by well-manipulated boss-ship,
has compelled this nomination.
No reliance can be placed on the Demo
cratic platform or on Bryan's declarations.
The Democratic platform declares for one
set of principles at one election and for an
entirely different set at the next election,
while Bryan is apparently without perma
nent principle ' or sincere conviction, or
even honest attitude:
A note is a promise to pay. It is val
uable according to who makes It and who
indorses it. A platform is a promise to
perfbrm: and a platform made by the Dem
ocratic party and Indorsed by Mr. Bryan
Is not worth the paper it is written on.
The convention of the Independence
party has been appointed, we believe,
for the latter part of this month. There
will be two issues of The Commoner
before that fateful day. Will they still
hold out the rudely-rejected olive
branch? Or will the gleam of a dagger
feeling for the fifth rib be discernible
in or between the lines? Self-respect,
we should say, would .recommend the
dagger.
Vienna's Declining; Liquor Bill.
Vienna Correspondence of Pall Mall
Gazette.
Brewers and winegrowers are complain
ing of the falling off in the consumption
of their goods in Vienna, and partlcuarly
the brewers. From figures which have
Just been published It appears that the
Viennese drank 1.750,000 gallons less of
beer than in 1906 and 40,000 gallons less
of wine, and this in spite of the fact that
the population of the city increased by
some 40.000. "
Just about twice as much beer is drunk
as wine, there having been 27.860.000 gal
lons of beer consumed In the year,
against 13.458.000 gallons of wine. The
falling off In the quantity of beer con
sumed is relatively very much greater
than in the case of wine.
The decrease is due not so much to
growth in the temperance movement as
to depression In trade and consequent
reduction In spending capacity of the
working classes.
ttim . Tallc Instead of Bis; Stick.
Baltimore American.
It has been suggested that should Mr.
Bryan ever reach the White House, big
talk will be substituted for the Big
Stick.
ELECTIONS OF" VICE-PRESIDENTS I
Study Shovrlng How Latter Have Af
fected Party Sarersi Since 1H.18.
Brooklyn. N. Y.. Eagle (Dem.l
More tickets have fallen down on Vice
Presidential nominations than have been
strengthened by them. Some have been
strengthened by them, even when they
have not succeeded.
John C. Fremont in 1856 ran In New
York better than he would, had not W.
L. Dayton of New Jersey been the can
didate ' for Vice-President. James Bu
chanan, who was elected that year, was
stronger in the Southwest than he would
have been had John C. Breckinridge not
been on his ticket for Vice-President.
Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. was stronger
in New England than he would have been
had Hannibal Hamlin not been named
for the second place. Howell Cobb and
Joseph Lane, candidates for Vice-President,
were a distinct subtraction from the
strength of Douglas and Breckinridge,
who contested the Presidency with Lin
coln that year.
The re-nomlnation of Lincoln in 1864
was an insurance of success, no matter
who ran for Vice-President with him.
Andrew Johnson did not strengthen the
Lincoln ticket and Johnson's tragic ac
cession ' to the Presidency nearly ruined
and sorely strained Republican adminis
tration. The omission to re-nomlnate
Hamlin was a capital error.
The same year, the Democratic nom
ination of McClellan. as a war Democrat,
was weakened by his Joinder with George
H. Pendleton for the Vice-Presidency.
Pendleton was the abler man, but he was
a peace Democrat in a civil war time, and
that sorely hurt.
The next Presidential campaign, in 1S68.
coupled Grant and Colfax as Republicans,
and Seymour and Blair as Democrats.
Grant, of couree, was elected, but Colfax
neither strengthened the ticket nor the
administration.
In 1872 the Democrats were the Victims
of the mid-Summer madness of Greeley's
nomination, wltn whom B. Gratz Brown
of Missouri was absurdly Joined. That
year Grant, re-nominated, was really aid
ed by the naming of Henry Wilson for
Vice-President with him.
Thomas A. Hendricks. In 1876. was a
strength to S. J. Tilden. and W. A.
Wheeler was no weakness to R. B. Hayes.
in 1880 W. H. English of Indiana was
a weakness to General Hancock, and C.
A. Arthur, as candidate for Vice-Presi
dent, saved New York for Garfield.
In 1884 Hendricks, as a candidate for
Vice-President, really aided Cleveland as
the candidate for the first office, and John
A. Logan neither "saved" nor helped
Blaine, that year of Republican defeat.
in 188S. when Mr. Cleveland was de
feated. Mr. Thurman's nomination for
Vice-President neither hurt nor helped
tne ticket, rjut m the same year Levi P.
Morton was literally of material assist
ance to Benjamin Harrison, who was
elected over Cleveland.
When 1892 came. Mr. Cleveland's tri-
uphant re-election was not aided a whit
or a Olt by Adlal E. Stevenson's nomina
tion for the second place. Nor then was
Harrison's defeat by division or hostility
within his own party appreciably or at all
affected by Whitelaw Reid's nomination
with him.
Garrett A. Hobert aided William Mc
Klnley In the Middle States in his first
campaign In 1896. and Mr. Arthur Sewall
of Maine was neither of help nor hurt to
Mr. Bryan, whose first defeat occurred
that year. The resurrection of Mr. Ste
venson, to run with Mr. Bryan in 1900.
was unavailing. The nomination of
Roosevelt added strength to Mr. McKinley
that year and created or opened an epoch
in American politics.
In 1904 Mr. Roosevelt was so over
whelmingly elected that Mr. Fairbanks,
who became Vice-President, was carried
in by a flood he could in no degree In
crease or retard. The catastrophe to
Judge Parker, the Democratic nominee
that year, was chargable neither to him
nor to ex-Senator H. G. Davis of West
Virginia, who ran with him. It was due
to the drain on Roman Catholicism Taft
drew for Roosevelt in the Philippines and
to the draft for Roosevelt Hay drew on
the Jew votes by his protest against
cruelty to that race in Central Europe.
The foregoing should enable readers to
conclude whether the nominations for
Vice-President this year will materially
affect those for President, The Vice
Presidential nominees are James School
craft Sherman of Utica by the Republi
cans, and John Worth Kern of Indian
apolis by the Democrats.
From a solely ReDubllcan
both Taft and Sherman vitally need the
appeal to voters which Governor Huirhes'
re-nomlnatlon would - carry. Governor
riugnes might carry them to th ff
this state. Independents will hardly feel
tujjjiiis mem to tne rront here, un
less in company with Governor Hnoh
The running glance we have taken at
Vice-Presidential candidacies since 1866
shows that the traditions has been in
the main correct, whenever there has
oeen no "waiK-over" for any party
There will be no "walk-over" this year
as anyone, even so early as now, can
eaiuiy VUIlcluae.
WHO CONTROLS THE LABOR VOTE?
Nobody, for It Cannot Be Handled by
Any Political Boss.
Pendleton Tribune
One of the probable results of the
Presidential campaign will be the dis
closure that the so-called labor vote
cannot be handled by any man or or
ganization in the interest of any party
or candidate. -
To make the assumption that as one
laborer votes so do all laborers ally
themselves politically is un-American,
and implies a lack of independence not
at an nattering to their intelligence.
Legislation, political policies and ad-
...... .alien,,; iuuinoas aneci an oustness
men, and practically all men are work
ers, as much as they do those we com
monly call laborers.
There Is precisely as much reason
xor mercnants belonging to one politl
cal party and votlnr aa ona man
there Is that our so-called laborers
should drift In a body to the support
of one party or of another.
The individual members of a Ma
sonic lodge or of a Bantist rnnrrh or
ganization have the sanfe incentive for
an voting ior Taft or all for Bryan as
nave tne memDers of any labor organ
lzatlon.
Men do not ally themsplveat with
lltlcal parties in this or In any other
tuuniry aocoraing to their vocations.
Voters belong to. one party or th
uiner ior reasons that are formed
through the result of edumtlnn h.-.!.
lty or environment, and the differences
cannot otnerwise oe accounted for.
All this fine work on the rjart nt x-h
polttical organizations undertaking to
evolve an injunction plank that would
most favorably appeal to the "laboring
vote" has been the smallest kind of
petty politics the purpose being plain
to every observer of the careful Drosr-
ress and repeated legerdemain em
) ployed in Its formation.
The laboring men will be divided as
j other organizations are. and will vt
J their individual light dictates. They
ue swung.
Tart's Superior Qualifications.
8prlngfleld' (Mass.) Republican, Ind.
Dem.
Mr. Taft offers by far the superior
qualifications, but a certain period
must yet elapse before one can say
whether the question of personal quali
fications will be the decisive factor in
the minds of many progressive Inde
pendent voters, one can well afford to
await the developments of the next few
weeks with an open mind.
Water-Tank Fishing:.
Dr. H. A. Leininger and son left this
morning ior ino whlw tana up tne uor
vallis Sl Eastern, after some fish.
WORK OF NEWSPAPER WRITERS
Estimate That Provincial Reporters
Turm In 2S0O Words Dally.
Indianapolis Star.
The New York Times, in discussing the
assertion of the promoters of simplified
spelling that it Is a labor saver to writers,
makes the point that if this Is the case
it Is strange that newspaper writers do
not unanimously demand it. whereas not
one such writer Is In the list of advo
cates of the reform. The statement Is
then made that an editorial writer for a
newspaper writes on the average not
fewer than 1.000 words a day for at least
300 days in the year. If a newspaper
man is careful, says the Times, he can
work at this rate for thirty years or
more. At the estimate mentioned he
would put upon paper 9.000.000 words,
which would make ninety good-aised duo
decimo volumes, containing 100,000 words
each.
The Tlmes's estimate of the editorial
average 1.000 words dally Is low, but
the editorial writer has a far lower aver
age than the reporter, correspondent or
news writer. It is difficult to give a
general reportorial average because con
ditions vary. In Chicago or New York,
for example, the territory to be covered
calls for a large staff, with perhaps but
one or two stories from each man. In a
smaller city like Indianapolis, where each
reporter is likely to have several assign
ments, he turns In more "copy." and the
daily average here may be put at not
fewer than 2.500 words. For readers who
are not in the habit of measuring writing
In this way it may be said that this num
ber should occupy about two columns In
The Star. Many correspondents who
have attended the two Presidential con
ventions have produced daily much more
matter than this.
Of course, the great mass of this matter
is ephemeral and It would be of no
value If put into books, but the labor,
physical and intellectual, is Just as
great, often far greater than that of men
who are classed as authors and "liter
ary" persons because what they write is
put into bound volumes: frequently, too.
tne product has a literary quality that
the books lack. Many a newspaper
sketch shows high artistic skill and many
an editorial essay Is a literary gem. Ther
are written, however, for the moment
and are as soon forgotten, both by writer
and reader. But the fact remains that
the newspaper writer's product is vastly
greater than that of the writer of books,
and when it Is solemnly told as a fact
showing intense application that this or
that author of a best seller" produces
600 words a day, and that when his book
is done he is obliged to have weeks of
complete rest to restore his shattered sys
tem men it is that the newspaper writer
laughs.
NO CHEMICAL ANALYSIS POSSIBLE
Dr. Hampton Criticises Methods la the
Kunart Case.
PORTLAND, July 17. (To the Edi
tor.) Having read the editorial ac
count in The Morning Oregonian of the
death of Godfrey Kunart, of Castle
Rock, Wash., which states that a chem
ical analysis of the stomach has been
made with the result that no trace of
poison was found, I ask that you kindly
allow me space for the following: The
stomach was sent to Portland Monday,
the analysis was made and results re
ported some time Wednesday. If poison
In a solid form is found in a stomach
sent for chemical analysts, then the
tests can be applied directly to the
poison in Its original form, and the
analysis completed in a short time; but
where all alkaloidal and mineral pois
ons are to be tested for. as they should
have been in this case, the work would
have consumed a week or ten days of
time. .
As a chemist who has devoted many
years to the study of chemistry, I wish to
protest against such work being classed
as a chemical analysis.
Every safeguard possible should be
placed around human life, every criminal
made to feel that he must suffer the .
penalty for his crime, and above all, that
no life should be taken or character ruin
ed through Incompetent work.
L. VICTORIA HAMPTON.
"Marse Henry" Opening; Volley.
Louisville Courier-Journal, Dem.
Hurrah for Bryan and Kern; it is a
strong ticket. It la an honest, sound
and Democratic declaration of princi
ples. The party will accept both the
ticket and the platform with enthu
siasm, and the voters will ratify them
at the pollB in November. Hencefor
ward the word shall be "Faction to the
rear; united we stand."
The people have prevailed against a
great deal of maneuvering and not a
little money; they have prevailed over
the doubts and fears of many, the
prejudices of others; but prevail they
have, distinctly and absolutely. In
standing to Mr. Bryan, as the Whigs
should have stood to Mr. Clay, they
take the responsibilities into their own
hands, choosing their ticket as wise
women choose their husbands, to suit
themselves, saying to one another now,
and ready to say to the world and to
the bitter end, if that be the will of the
Lord as, please God, it shall not be
" 'Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all."
Better, yea, a thousand times better,
the old faith and the old flag, so that
if we must go down we shall go down
shouting. That Is the soul of Democ
racy, unterrlfied and undefiled. That
is the Bplrit which snatches brands
from the ashes and sets them blazing
upon the altar of truth. That is the
fellowship that binds men and wins
battles even with pebbles against mail
clad giants, though hell should belch
forth millionaires and Satan bar the
way.
Is Oregon a Republican Statef
McMinnville Reporter.
Oregon has been called a Republican
state and In times past It merited the
title, but It can hardly claim that distinc
tion when It gives a plurality vote for a'
Democratic United States Senator; when
it attempts to throw the upper branch of
Congress to principles diametrically op
posed to those of the Republican party;
to give over one-half the law-making
body to Bryanism and the doctrines that
Bryan's followers. Including Chamberlain,
stand for. No Republican can logically
vote that was- A Republican can and
may on occasion vote for men of other
parties in other matters where National
principles are not at stake, should neces
sity arise, but he is stretching a point
considerably when he calls himself what
he Is not, and votes against. Oregon is
not so far removed from Populism as it
might be.
Suppose.
John Kendrick Bangs In the Touth'i Com
panion. Suppose your mind a garden were.
All ready for the Spring.
And everything you planted there
Would soon be blossoming.
Suppose that evil thoughts were weeds
That rankly grew apace.
And every dream of selfish dseds
Should blossom in disgrace:
While every impulse to be kind.
To ease some other's woes.
Should bud. and blossom in your mind
A fair and fragrant rose.
8uppose that every Idle whim.
And every thought of scorn.
Should find its fruitage In a grim
And poison-laden thorn;
While every purpose to uplift
Tour soul from sordid ways
Should blossom in a snow-wnlte drift
Of tender illy sprays.
'Tis surely rwith no danger fraugHt
Puppoelng thinga like tnte-
And maybe here's a sead of thought
To newer forth la bliss.