THE MORXIXG OREGOXIAX, ' FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1908. lO - I-OBTLAND, OREGON. Entsred at Portland. Orecon. Postoffloe as econd-Claae Matter. erabecrlptlaa Rates Invariably tQ Advance. (Br MalL Dallr. Sunday Included, out year 8 0J Laily. Sunday included, si montha.... 4.-3 Tkailv Bnnriif (nplndMl IhfM mOCthl. laijy. Sunday Included, ona month .i5 Ial!y without Sunday, ona year - 6 00 Dally, without Sunday, alx months..... 3.25 ally. without Sunday, three montha.. 1.73 Dally, without Sunday, one month. . .60 Weekly, one year I SO Sunday, one year..... 2.50 Sunday aaaT Weekly, one year. (By Carrier.) Dafly. Sunday Included, one year...... 9 00 Dally. Sunday Included, one month.... . How te Remit Send poetofflce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postoffl.ee ad dress in mil, inciuains; county ana state. Postage Bates 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent: 19 io .a paces, ? cents; u to fl pases, a csau- so to ou pages, e centa. foreign post ace double ratea Eastern Buidorsa Office The a. C. Beck' with Special Agency New York, rooms 48 C0 Tribune bui.dlng. chicafo, rooms 610-613 riDjot DUlMling. rOKTLA.NI. FRIDAY, SEPT. IS. 1SOS. MERELY A PHOTOGRAPH. . The modern man Is a civilized be ing:. He may live under conditions widely variant. He may live as a "citified" person, where they force the search of the heads of your children with the fine-tooth comb before they can enter the schools, or as a pioneer In the wilds, where no city or village ordinances or other vermin of clvili zation trouble, and you go out and kill your deer or catch your fish for breakfast, and make a kitchen-midden in your back-yard. One may live in the city where they require pavements and the owner is forced to tear up the old pavements which are perfectly good forced to tear them up because the paving; company wants a Job and levies on property which it thinks so valuable that it can be compelled to pay; while mud-holes everywhere in and around the city, are left undis turbed because the grafters know they mustn't go too far. They can't make much money out of cheap, yet sufficient pavements; so they insist ou tearing up, and paving, over and over again, the streets that already are sufficiently paved, and with slight re pairs would last another ten or twenty years. So of your plumbing and your lighting. The city directs everything, in the name of the pu'jllc health, but chiefly in the interest of grafters, in search of jobs. You may live In the country and be free, or measurably free, from all this; but if you insist on living in the city or towns, or village, you must make the drainage of your house conform to regulations that will pay a profit to the grafters, who have the business so "arranged" that the work will cost you two or three or four prices, and who have such combinations with the dealers that you can't even buy a "T" or a "washer" for your water pipes, but you must pay four profits to multi tudinous Intermediates to have them put in. Tou pay enormous prices for the Improvement of your streets and for "smooth-surface" pavements, that the automoblllst may speed over them, while you are in fear of your life as you dodge him; yet you have no auto mobile, and. because you maintain the street and pay your debts, can't afford to keep one. Perhaps you have a house or two, which you let to tenants. Tou put the house in first-class condition, and let it as you suppose, to civilized beings. But the people, most likely, never lived in a decent house. They wreck It. destroy the glass, locks and faucets, let the water from the pipes, mingled with their own slops, run over and through the ceilings and down the walls, and make a nuisance In the back yard. Then the Inspector for the city physician will come and tell you that you are responsible for the filth of your tenants. Tou would have been rid of them gladly, long ago, but they defy you. The law protects them in their tenancy; you can't force them out till after a long and tedious and costly process and when finally you do get rid of them they are away behind In their rent, which of course you will never get, and the house Is in such condition that you must spend a great deal of money on it before anybody, even of the class who left It, will enter it again. Such Is the "civilization" of the city. But these hogs are specially coddled and protected by the ordin ances of the city and the laws of the state. And so are the grafters, who work the paving and plumbing and lighting and other contracts. Ail of which explains why it will not pay to build dwellings for rent in the town or city, and why the country, where decent people may, to an extent, have their own way, is a good place to live. Thirty thousand people, who live in suburbs of Portland, in their own homes object to annexation to the city, for these and similar reasons. They are unwilling to be held up. 04MkI ADVERTISEMENT FOR PORTLAND In securing a drydock Job at a fig ure approximately $14,000 lower than the best bid submitted on Puget Sound, the Port of Portland drydock has given this city some world-wide advertising that cannot fail to be beneficial to the port. The coming of the steamer Beechley to Portland for repairs after an unsuccessful attempt to have the work done at a reasonable figure on Puget Sound is a valuable Indorsement of the new policy of the Port of Port land regarding drydock fees, and will enable the port to win back some of the prestige lost In an effort to earn large dividends when the dock was first completed. The drydock was built more for the purpose of attract ing shipping to the port than in the belief that there would be a large profit in its operation. Prior to its construction a great many shipowners either refused to send or were very much averse to sending their vessels here. Their pref erence for ports provided with drydock facilities was in some cases notice able in demands for increased freight rates, while underwriters demanded higher insurance rates than were quoted at ports where there were fa cilities for repairing damaged vessels. The drydock has removed many of the objections that were made to the port, but at no time since its construction has it received the patronage that its location warranted. That this was due to unreasonably high rates was shown by the sending of the dredge Chinook to San Francisco for docking, and by the loss of the business of other owners who had given the dock a trial. The old policy of high rates was detrimental to the interests of the port, not only because it prevented shipping from coming here to dock, but the 'fixed charges" against the dock were running on whether it was earning anything or whether it was idle. The Beechley is the first large vessel to come here since the new rate schedule was placed in effect, but the terms are so satisfactory that in the future the dock will probably be in use nearly all of the time. TI.S A PERVERSE WORLD. They say the cost of living con stantly Increases. No doubt it does, with great numbers; in many or most cases it is because the style and man ner of living are more costly. All who can afford it and many who can't live in better, higher and more costly style than aforetime. They have many things now they didn't have, and bet ter things. Of course the cost is higher. But passing this by, if the cost of living, the cost of staple articles of food and clothing, are greater, who is to blame? Who makes the exaction? Who gets the money? The farmer doesn't think it out of the way to get best prices he can for his wheat, po tatoes, eggs, poultry and apples. He feels indeed that he doesn't get enough. Workers in the cities can't get cheap produce without oppression of the workers in the country; and the farmer, paying the wages he must pay, usually has little or nothing left. On the whole Mr. Bryan, with all his fine oratory, will not be able to satisfy everybody on this subject. High wages and cheap living never will go together in this perverse world. A CHECK TO "EARLY MATURITY" The Oregonian would suggest as sup plementary reading for high school students a sketch found in Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston's "Dukes borough Tales," published in 1871, en titled "The Early Maturity" of Mr. Thomas Watts. The swift transition from "Tommy Watts" to "Mr. Thomas Watts," beginning with his ardent love for his schoolteacher, a young woman twice his age. and the sudden revulsion caused by the vigorous application to his anat omy of the maternal slipper upon the discovery of his state of mind by his mother, might convey a salutary lesson to High School boys who in their own estimation have sud denly become men. It would also support the opinion of bedeviled Chi cago educators that certain recalci trant "frats" of that city "ought to be spanked." Maternal exhaustion from the exer cise imposed by the vigorous applica tion of the strap was fast approach ing, so runs Colonel Johnston's story, when Tommy declared that his mother would kill him If he didn't stop. "That," she answered between breaths, "is what I aims to do if I can't git it all all, every spang passel of it outen you." Tommy, breathless, de clared "It was all gone." "Is you a man, or is you a boy?" asked the panting but still determined mother. "Boy, boy, mammy," cried Tom. "Let me up, mammy, and I'll be a boy as long as I live." The efficacy of this treatment in checking too early maturity as evinced by defying control during school days cannot be doubted. The trouble is that parents neglect to apply it at the right time and in the right place. POPl'LAR ORATORS. The campaign news thus far, is mostly Bryan news. Every day The Oregonian prints extended reports of the movements a-nd campaign speeches of Bryan and his suppbrters. It Is supplied mainly by the Associated Press, which always is strictly non partisan, and handles the news of parties and the news of party activi ties as it may come along. In the Republican campaign there has been little doing thus far; nothing in fact. But activity is promised from the be ginning of next week. In his former campaigns and espe cially in 1896, Mr. Bryan was active from the very beginning. He traveled in all directions, through many states, and addressed great crowds every where. In free coinage of silver he had a most "taking" appeal, and his unusual talent for stump speaking en abled him to make the most of it. On the Republican side the campaign was almost silent till about September 20. Then it began with great vigor. In 1896, as now, The Oregonian was loaded with reports of the Democratic campaign long before the Republican campaign began. Whether an effort so vigorous will be made on the Republican side this year may be doubted; but activity in one party begets the like in another, and the Bryan forces may now by their activity be awakening a latent energy in their opponents that could not otherwise be roused. Bryan is an excellent popular stumper; Taft is not. The popular orator pleases the miscellaneous audi ence, yet Bryan never says anything of importance. He does his work as an actor. And in oratory, "action is eloquence, and the eyes of the multi tude more learned than their ears. Probably the greatest popular speaker our country ever knew was Henry Clay. His charm was unequalled. It captivated all who heard him; and the matter of his speeches was better than Bryan's. But he failed, though often nominated, to reach the Presidency. Those who heard hjm were not con vinced. It may be that the times have so changed, and that severity of thinking has been lost with change of the times, that Bryan now may accom plish what Clay never could. But hitherto the "vox et praeterea nihil" has not sufficed to convince the people of the United States, or to prevail with them. Taft makes good and sound speeches, but he Is not an ora tor. All the better, however. Is he for that: for never yet was a popular orator who was a man of judgment in affairs. Greatest of thinkers and statesmen who have spoken English was Burke; but he was no orator at all. His orations are immortal in print, but he never could hold or please an audience. The thinker never is a popular speaker and the popular speaker never can be depended on as a practical man of action. Whether Taft will gain strength by going out on the speaking tours he proposes may be doubted. He will talk sense, but will not deliver it in the manner of a spell-binder. He will not carry the average audience into realms of imaginative delight, where the real facts of life appear in an In verted order. It Is not his gift to make audiences drunk with ecstacy, and to make them think they see the things that are not. Nor was It the gift of Abraham Lincoln. His speeches were plain and quiet, yet direct utterances. Merely as an orator he was no match for Douglas. Thus far, our people have not been greatly moved, certainly they have not been controlled by campaign oratory. As Clay and Douglas were unequalled in their time, so was Blaine. And so is Bryan. Following the analogies, we should suppose Bryan would not prevail. He has not prevailed hitherto. But we do not say the times have not changed, and that he may not find success now. Oratory, however, mere oratory, the trick and skill and gift of speaking in public for electrification of audiences, has not hitherto prevailed in the United States. AN IMPOTENT EFFORT. Few persons would dissent from the opinion that such performances as the digging up of the new pavement at Twelfth and Alder streets indicate a serious defect of some kind in the plan of the city government. There may be men so wedded to their idols that they believe our present plan of government to be perfect in spite of the fact that it permits such outrages as this upon the taxpayers, -but such blinded worshipers of precedent cannot be numerous. Granting that a defect is indicated, what is it? Whatever it may be it is something which encour ages lack of forethought in those who administer the city's, affairs. The man who ordered the Twelfth-street pave ment to be torn up might just as well have put the fire hydrant in place be fore the hard surface was laid down. Why did he not do so? Because the system of "checks and balances" under which we live makes nobody definitely responsible for indifference and neg lect; it gives no stimulus to fore thought; it falls to co-ordinate the work of the city. Each official plans for himself without reference to what anybody is doing. The Water Depart ment and Fire Department say notice was not given, in time to enable the work to be done' in. advance of the paving. In these cases and they are of con stant occurrence there is no respon sibility anywhere, because there is no superintending authority . over all the city's affairs. Tet such authority, compelling co-ordination and co-operation, would be entirely practicable and easy. In fact, however, no proper correspondence now exists between various branches of the city govern ment. Every man in charge of a de partment "goes it on his own hook." There is no superior with adequate authority to call him to book and stimulate his industry. Under our system Indolence is encouraged, thrift less hand-to-mouth methods thrive, and capable energy is virtually for bidden to be exercised. The effect of the famous "checks and balances" is to extirpate capacity from every de partment of the city government and replace it by shifty timeserving. There is nobody to plan the business of the city and therefore it Is not planned. It goes on in a helter-skelter, htippy-go-lucky manner, piling up wreck, ruin and waste. The lawyers rejoice because it makes fees for them. The officials rejoice because there is no body to chide their incapacity and the taxpayers mourn because their money is wasted. And the lawyer influence, that makes money out of these conditions, appears to be ascendant In the new charter committee, fighting for the "checks and balances" that make strife and expense and Impotence In the city's affairs. Better let the charter remain as it is, till this Influence can be eliminated from the effort to amend it. The lawyers are all working for future litigation. MR. HILL'S BIRTHDAY. James J. Hill has lived out the three score and ten years which is supposed to be the usual allotment of time afforded mortals, and with the seventieth milestone passed. Is appar ently still full of vigor and energy. The banquet tendered him Wednesday by his old employes, many of whom had spent most of their lives in his serv ice, was a notable affair, and the ride from St. Paul to Minnetonka behind the pioneer engine William Crooks must have awakened strange memories in the minds of the guests. The in tervening years since that pioneer en gine first ran over the rails of the Great Northern have witnessed the transformation of the great Northwest and the Far West from undeveloped wilderness and plain into one of the greatest wealth-producing regions on earth. In that comparatively brief period Jim" Hill, the humble freight clerk on the St. Paul docks, has become one of the most commanding figures In the industrial and financial world. With tireless energy which seemed to thrive and develop under the stress of adversity, Mr. Hill, without any kind of subsidy or Government aid, grad ually pushed his railroad across the continent, and where his surveyors drove their grade stakes in virgin soil and hewed their way through virgin forests, fine cities and towns, farms and orchards, now line the track from the Great Lakes to the Pacific. All of this has' been accomplished within the lifetime of one man still hale and hearty, and to a great extent by the efforts of this one man who early in life learned to Breast the blows of circumstance And grasp the skirts of happy chance. This is an age of wonders and the world Is moving so rapidly that the comparatively obscure railroad man of yesterday may be in the king row to day. There may be greater railroad builders and greater railroad finan ciers than James J. Hill, but this coun try has not yet produced his equal as a man who, almost entirely by his in dividual efforts, was able to finance, build and operate a transcontinental railroad. Much criticism has been showered on Mr. Hill as well as on Mr. Harriman. his chief competitor In the railroad world, but the fact remains that he is easily the most commanding figure in railroading in the Pacific Northwest, and so long as ha lives the world will listen with the deepest in terest to anything he has to say on railroad or industrial matters. James J. Hill, with his railroads, made history in the great West and Northwest, and the thousands of peo ple who have earned innumerable mil lions in money through the develop ment of the West by his lines will all hope that the seventieth milestone, which he passed on Wednesday, is a j long distance this side of the final sta- Hon. In the lottery of life the world does not draw many such prizes as James J. Hill in one generation, and there is accordingly a universal desire that when we are favored with one he should be spared for as many years as possible. The wisdom of protecting a fool from the effects of his own folly has always been questioned by some peo ple, but the humane side of the case has always appealed with sufficient strength to win at least sympathy for the victim. That Is the reason why the gambler, and not the victim, and the saloon-keeper and not the drunk ard, come m for public condemnation But the most hardened gambler that ever ran a brace game, or the most degraded saloon man that ever plied a drunk with liquor, Is in many respects an honorable citizen In comparison with the Shylocks who prey off the small-salaried men and cash their warrants at such exorbitant discount that the families of the foolish wage- earners are forced to suffer. Port land "has had many flagrant cases of this pernicious form of graft, and something should be done to prevent these "brokers" from robbing their clients in the shameless manner in which they have been carrying on their games in the past. The steamer Lusltanla, which ar rived at New Tork last week brought a thousand steerage passen gers, the largest number arriving on a single steamer since the panic of a year ago. This incident would seem to have quite an Important bearing on the Industrial situation, for it is the first intimation received that the turn of the tide in immigration had set in One thousand immigrants on a single steamer would not be a large number when the movement was on at full swing, as It was a year ago, but when It is noted after the movement has been to the eastward for months, it serves as a kind of an industrial bar ometer. Indicating .that the foreigners believe that the skies are again clear ing in this country. The demand for alien labor will not soon get back to its former proportions, but business is reviving so rapidly that a few thou sand of the better class of emigrants will be welcomed. There was a pronounced slump in the New Tork Btock market yester day and Wall street will probably re gard it as evidence of unfavorable business conditions elsewhere. As usual, Wall street will be wrong. There has been a decline in stocks be cause Wall street, aXter a protracted period of manipulation, ran prices on a number of securities up to heights that are not warranted at this time. The law of gravitation is noticeable in stocks as well as elsewhere, and if the Wall-street contingent would learn that the prices which appear on the ticker are not always the actual value of stocks, there would be less occa sion for these hysterical changes which not only affect the business of stock gamblers, but to a certain extent have an unsettling effect on legitimate trade. Brother Bryan, It seems, is Increas ing his claims as an heir and legatee. Not only Is he "next of kin" to Roose velt, but is to attend a banquet Oc tober 7, at Dixon, 111., where he will claim to be the heir of Abraham Lin coln. He Is In no wise dismayed by his failure to get in as a legatee on the Bennett estate at New Haven, to the amount of $50,000. Mr. Bryan comes out especially strong as an heir and legatee. Lewis S. Chanler, Democratic can didate for Governor of New Tork, Is immensely wealthy, a plutocrat of the first rank, but doesn't believe in "Sunday-school methods" in legisla tion or government, and is a bidder for the votes of all who are fighting the reforms that Governor Hughes has pushed during his term. Chanler's backers expect the solid support of the "sporty element" and may get it. And yet he might not be elected. Just fancy how that New Tork Democratic platform would have made the empyrean ring with shrieks of dis gust and roars of denunciation if the Republican convention had turned down Governor Hughes. But now the Democrats view with alarm and de plore with sadness unspeakable the "faHure of the Hughes administration to carry out its reform promises." Some thirty Washington newspaper editors, according to Judge Balllnger, are united in a great philanthropic scheme to raise a Republican cam paign fund for disbursement In neigh boring states. This statement was to be found in the news columns yester day, but it is here repeated to give it the widest publicity. Mr. Taft won't go to Chicago to he exhibited Jointly with Mr. Bryan. Mr. Taft has somewhere acquired the old fashioned notion that a Presidential candidate should not regard himself as a circus. Bryan is pleased over the news from Maine, which he knows he can not carry, and Taft over the news from New Tork, which he thinks Hughes can carry. Now what do you think of that? The Washington State Historical Society will endeavor to preserve the Indian geographical names. A glos sary showing the pronunciation would help. Mr. Bryan may extend his speak ing tour to the Pacific Coast. Hardly necessary. Hasn't Hon. Milt Miller got Oregon tied up in a neat package all ready to deliver? Forty or fifty thousand dollars for admissions to the State Fair this week should put the Board on the sunny side of Money Row. Now two of Ruef s lawyers have been indicted. Ruef, too, has been a great many tmes indicted. But that's about all. The amazing feature of that Pitts burg story Is that a Pittsburg million aire gave away a lot of money to his own family. Flying through the air isn't yet en tirely safe. Jim Hill is 70. He "goes like sixty.' MRS. EDDY . BLAZED OWN TRAIL Had No Prfdemior la Christina Sci ence, Says Mr. Codwerth. "PORTLAND. Sept. 16. (To the" Ed itor.) Your issue of the 13th contains a short article, the sub-heading of which is "French Wizard Who Blazed Trail for Mrs. Eddy Is Dead." The history of the Christian Science movement and of its leader plainly shows that she alone had to blaze the trail for herself, relying solely upon the guidance of the Scriptures and the teaching and demonstration of Jesus the Christ In giving this Science to the world.. Faith healers have appeared from time to time, wrought miracles, and disappeared, together with their works. Christian Science, however, founded as it is on an exact and demonstrable principle, has nothing in common with such ephemeral phenomena of human belief, but gives to its beneficiaries, not only the physical healing which they seek, but also a working knowl edge of its principle, which they can In turn apply for themselves and others in the healing of sickness, sin and all discordant human conditions. The deduction that the refusal to take fees for healing Is a proof of sin cerity, is not well taken. This matter of compensation ha been fairly and broadly dealt with by Rev. Arthur Reeves Vosburgh. C. S. B., in the Sep tember number of the Midwestern Mag azine, from which the following ' is quoted: "Mrs. Eddy has been rendering a su preme service to humanity In estab lishing and enforcing the recognition that, in Jesus' words, 'the laborer is worthy of his hire,' as an essential of Christian teaching. No one can or will question but that All service, all effort, by which any man serves his fellow men, should be duly recompensed. And In a general way it is recognized that the higher the order of service, the greater should be the recompense. But at the point of the highest service of all, the ministration of noble thoughts and Ideals, the world has a long, black record of . letting its choicest lights spend their years in unrequited toll, and the recognition of the worth of what the philosopher, the artist, the poet, the prophet, has wrought, is given by the generations that follow. Mrs. Eddy has believed in her teachings and in her work; and she has consistently insisted that a respectable price should be paid for her books, and for the serv ices of Christian Scientists. In all this she has been establishing the precedent and inculcating the doctrine which, honestly applied, will make It impos sible for the world's benefactors to be allowed to face poverty and neglect. And so, by her success, she has brought nearer the day when to every one who serves, from the lowest to the loftiest order of service, from the one who digs ditches because the world needs ditches, to the one who brings pome great message of Joy and beauty, to each one his fellow mf.n shall render the recompense of a generous wage, not grudgingly nor of necessity, but as a Joyous human privilege." LUTHER P. CUDWORTH, Christian Science Committee on Pub lication for the State of Oregon. EDITOR GEER'S BUSY DAY. Can't Aimer Certain Inquiries Which We Hope He Didn't Himself Write. Pendleton Tribune. The editor of the Tribune is in re ceipt of a personal letter from a man In New Tork making some inquiries concerning political conditions in Ore gon, which this writer at once recog nizes as presenting a difficult front and rear. Aiso a. puzzling middle. The Inquirer is evidently a man of some activity In New Tork politics, and Is dabbling to some extent In na tional matters as they affect the pend ing campaign. His principal question is couched in these words: As I do not know very much concerning the public men of Oregon, I would like you to inform me whether or not the following men have been or are good public servants, or are members of the corrupt machine of Oregon: William P. Lord. Zenaa F. Moody. Senator Bourne, Joseph Simon, Charles H. Carey, Oeorge W. McBrlde, George A. Steel. Ralph E. Williams and the candidates for Governor In 1903 and 1907. If this were not our busy day the answer to this inquiry would be taken up at once and given that considera tion Its importance unquestionably de serves, but the press of business makes It necessary to let it lie on the table until it comes up In its regular order. It Is generally understood that a di rect primary law smashes all political machines which may have been creat ed and fostered by the majority party in the state which adopts It, and ex perience shows that It IS at once super seded by a similar machine In the in terest of the minority party. There is no political machine in Ore gon now except that controlled by Gov ernor Chamberlain, a non-partisan Brvan Democrat, who places country above party at such times as he is in the field asking for Republican votes. There is no other political machine in Oregon at present, the. Republicans working without organization, leaders, plans or special hopes. As to the distinguished gentlemen named by our New Tork correspond ent, the Tribune 'is not competent to decide the momentous Inquiry pro pounded. The names constitute such a heterogeneous aggregation of diverse and conflicting political emotions In the bosom of this writer, and their puonc careers in retrospective present to the mind's eye, as well as that of the memory, such a kaleidoscopic pano rama of whirling schemes, plans, slates, ambitions, defeats and massacres that, unless pressed, this writer would pre fer to pass it up. If these few lines should coma be fore the eyes of any man in Oregon wno happens to possess definite infor mation as to the past political status of the men whose names are included in the foregoing list, especially as to the candidates for Governor in 1903 and in 1907." the columns of the Tri bune are indefinitely elastic as a means of presenting the facts to a hitherto puzzled and uninformed public. HARRIMAN PLANS A SCHOOL. May Edoente Poor Bora at County Estate. Middletown (N. T.) Dispatch to New Tork Tribune. E. H. Harriman, the - railroad king. who has a 20,000-acre estate on which he is building a costly house, at Arden, Orange County, is contemplating estab lishing a school for poor boys on the estate. It Is stated on good authority that he will at first educate 100 boys. giving them a trade and academic course of study, and that if this school Is successful he will build and endow a large Instlutlon for the free educa tion of boys. Mr. Harriman has con' suited the school authorities, and while his plans are not matured, it Is expect ed that he will make a definite an nouncement of them when he returns from the West in a short time. One Auto Experience Enough for Him. Camden (N. J.) Dispatch. Samuel Griner. a farmer near Ewing, N. J., having been knocked off a load of hay by an automobile, refused to be hauled to the hospital in another auto, saying one experience with motor cars was sufficient. Leper Usher Works in Theater. Washington (D. C.) Dispatch. John Mouton, a leper, who' escaped from the leper home at Iberville parish. Louisiana, was found selling tickets in a nickel theater in New Orleans PORTLAND COMMERCIAL UNION. Supports Suga-estion That All Public Trade Organisations Be Merited. PORTLAND, Sept. 17. (To the Ed itor.) Mr. Muller's suggestion in last Sunday's Oregonian of a consolidated Board of Trade absorbing all commer cial bodies, strikes me favorably. Just now there are as many public associatior.a as there are churches. Competition may be the life of trade but it is death to a municipality. It Is only by united action that progress can be made. The business man who identifies himself with all the present public bodies invites disaster to his time and purse. A city is like a big business it thrives better with one board of directors than by a conglom eration of doctors and boosters. Now, the members of one board look askance at those of another, and It Is where a measure is initiated and not the merit of the propositions which often deter mines its fate. 'Way down East, in the Nutmeg State, there existed a small town con sisting principally of one etreet, which had an East End, a West End and a central section called "The Flat." Riv alry grew so keen that, although all were living on Main street, the resi dents of the East End would not visit the Flat or the West End, and the West End inhabitants would not trade or even affiliate with the other two sec tions. Three separate postoffices were established, one in each section, as no one would cross the dividing line for letters. Churches, families and gov ernment were split asunder by the con tention. Finally, the better sense of the community asserted Itself, and di viding lines were wiped out. Now this town is one of the most prosperous in New England. Let us stand for a Portland commer cial union, in which all trade, trans portation, maritime and social features can be embodied under one general management. Annexation, consolida tion, is the order of the day. Senti ment may say "keep on as of old." But progress says "combine." H. B. KING. THE SECOND CHOICE PROVISION Does Not Work Well In the WaslilaB ton Primary Law. Spokane Spokesman-Review. While the incomplete returns from Tuesday's primary election are some what unsatisfactory as a basis for an alyzing the workings of the new nomi nating system, there is every Indica tion that the unique second-choice fea ture of the new law has failed to ac complish the purpose for which it was intended. The purpose which this provision was intended to accomplish was to guard against the nomination of a candidate representing evil political influences by a small minority of electors when running against a num ber of rival candidates representing in fluences which are honorable. As it has actually worked out In practice the law appears not to have accom plished this result. Returns from many counties when analyzed Indicate, that a great many Indifferent voters, or voters having a definite first choice, but indifferent as to their second choice, gave their sec ond - choice votes to the candidate whose name appeared last on the list of those for the office in question. In almost every Instance the successful candidate for offices for which both a first and a second choice vote were re quired have been those whose names appeared last on the ballot. In al most every case the second-choice vote of the candidate whose name appeared last on the official ballot was all out of proportion to the flist-choice vote given to that candidate. In this re spect the law has resulted in the nom ination of the candidates whose names appeared, through design or through accident, last on the official ballot. Mr. Roosevelt's Hat and Shoes. Oyster Bay (L. I.) Dispatch. Congressman W. W. Cocks, of West bury, L. I., who represents the Presi dent's own Congressional district, drove over here to return to the President a hat he had taken by mistake on his previous visit to Sagamore Hill. Mr. Roosevelt wears a black slouch hat. Mr. Cocks, who is a great admirer of the President, affects a head piece of the same description. After last week's conference, in which all the leaders of Nassau County took part, Mr. Cocks, In his hurry to get away, picked up the first hat he came across. He says he did not find out his mistake until later when he happened to look Inside the hat he had taken away and found the Initials "T. R." Hitching up, he drove from his home to Sagamore Hill. "Here's your hat," said Mr. Cocks, carefully handing it to the President. "I hope you filled It capably," said Mr. Roosevelt. "It fitted perfectly," returned the Congressman politely. "But I hardly think it would-be so easy to fill your shoes." Sunday Under Charles I. Kansas City Journal. Sunday may have been an easy day in the reign of Charles I. though there were stringent regulations as to the Sabbath in the seventeenth century. It was illegal to take a walk in England's thoroughfares, but, judging by the emptiness of London on a Sunday In this early twentieth cen tury, it is a custom that still clings. The cause is different, that's all; now every body leaves London on Saturday if he possibly can, for the Sabbath over there is the sad day of the week, though no better kept than when the -Puritans fought with cavaliers. "I never saw such a dreadful day as Sunday In London." ex claimed a young Western man just re turned from his first visit there. "Why, it's worse than a Boston Sunday!" Whereupon his listener promptly called him down, and then made him eat his words at a favorite club not a thousand miles from Beacon Hill. It la Gratifying, Certainly. Colfax (Wash.) Gazette. Portland, Oregon, is to be congratu lated. It is said that the largest grain fleet ever assembled on the Columbia River for September loading is now receiving cargo there. The largest grain dock in the world is nearlng com pletion, and the largest packing-house plant west of the Rocky Mountains Is well under way. The amount of rail way mileage now under construction or definitely planned for early con struction in the state Is the largest In the history of Portland. All of which is gratifying to note. Date of First Klsbenev Massacre. PORTLAND, Sept. 17. (To the Ed itor.) Regarding the Inquiry In yes terday's Oregonian as to the date of the first Kishenev massacre, I beg to say that it commenced about 5 o'clock on Sunday. April 19, 1903, and con tinued on Monday, the 20th, till 5 o'clock, when an order was received from St. Petersburg ordering the po lice to stop the excesses, which was done. N. MOSESSOHN. Csar Planning- a Foreign Trip. Chicago Record-Herald. The Petit Parisien of Paris says the Czar will make a European tour short ly. He will meet King Edward in the Isle of Wight and subsequently Em peror Franz Josef at Darmstadt, thence going to Naples. Tomatoes S17 Per Ton la New Jersey. Philadelphia Dispatch. Around woodstown, N. J., the price of tomatoes is $17 a ton, and a higher figure is expected. W. J. BRYAN, THE CIRCUS STAR Astonishing; Characterisations From Hla Old Friend Hearat. From Mr. Hearst's Atlanta Speech. I have come to regard Mr. Bryan as a trickster, a trimmer, a traitor. Do you think that Mr. Bryan is a statesman advocating permanent poli cies based on eternal truth and justice? I say he is a very ragpicker of poli tics, who, with his little forked stick of self-interest, picks up this policy here and that policy there, without re gard to their source or their use or their ultimate disposition, without re gard to their fitness or even their cleanliness, and slaps them Into the basket on his back he calls his plat form. He is a political shoplifter who takes feloniously and surreptitiously the pol icies that belong to others and then rushes frantically forth shouting stop thief after some unconscious wayfarer who has not stolen anything. I said in Indiana that Mr. Bryan was the fearless prestidigitator of modern politics, who makes his principle! dis appear and changes his policies In full view of the audience a showman at a county fair executing a shell game with his political fingers. But Mr. Bryan is more than a show man he is the whole show. He is the astonishing ventriloquist who throws his voice there and an other voice there, and another voice there, and all the time Is sitting In a different place with a different natural voice and a different natural character. He has no mustache with which to de ceive, but he deceives you nevertheless. He Is the marvelous contortionist who bends forward and backward with equal convenience, and walks upon his feet or upon his hands with equal facility. He is the astonishing juggler who keeps the whole of the surprising col lection of conflicting principles in the air at the same time, but balances Bel mont, the union labor breaker, in ona hand, and Gompers, the union labor leader, In the other. He is the human ostrich, who swal lows his own words In regard to bosses and who is able to retain upon hla stomach even the Taggarts and the Roger Sullivans of politics. He is the world-renowned loose skin man, who can reverse himself in his own integument, so that you cannot tell whether he is coming or going. Boy's Dream Discloses Lost Ring. Bedford (Ind.) Dispatch to Indianapolis News. , Mrs. Frank Bridnell recently lost a gold ring valued very hljrhly on ac count of its being a keepsake of a dead relative, and all efforts to find it failed, although it was positively known to have been lost In the yard. John Trueblood, the 7-year-old son of E. E. Trueblood, a neighbor, while vis iting in Campbellsburg. south of here,1 with his mother, dreamed of seeing the ring in the grass In the Bridnell yard, and the dream so Impressed his mind that on his arrival home he told Mrs. Bridnell his dream. She laughed at the child's earnest face, and went with him to please him. They found the ring Imbedded in the grass just as the child had dreamed It was, al though the spot had been raked over several times in searching for it. Honey-Roys In Father's Footsteps. Salina (Kan.) Journal. A couple of boys down at Fort Scott were arrested recently, charged with making and attempting to Bell a manu-; factured article which they called; honey. In court It was learned that the1 older boy hod escaped from the reform" school, and that his brother should be. In that Institution also. But the un usual feature of the case Is that when the Judge before whom the lads were taken questioned them concerning their life, parents, etc., the boys gave the occupation of their father as a "graft er." That is. he was a "grafter" when he was alive. He was dead now, and the mother had married again. They, couldn't get along with the stepfather, and so "took to the road," and decided also to be "grafters," as their father had been. Oklahoma's lp-to-Date Matrimony. Baltimore News. In Beggs. Okla.. a minister marrying a negro couple, asked the woman: "Do you take this man for better or for worse?" She explained: "No, judge, I wants him jest as he Is. If he gits any better he'll die, and if he gits any wuss I'll kill him myself." Canada Smoke Dims Boston's Glory. Chicago Dispatch. Smoke from the great forest fires In Canada, many miles away, was so dense, one day recently, in Boston that the sun was almost obscured. IN THE MAGAZINE SECTION OF THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT TO IMPROVE FARMERS ' LIVES Personnel of President Roose velt's commission and the complex problems they will undertake to solve. GRAND OLD MEN OF EDUCATION Eliot of Harvard and Angell of Michigan, who have been univer sity presidents longer than any other living men, and other famed educators. SHORTY McC ABE AND THE STRAY A Primrose Park episode in volving a boy and two parents who found each other out. HARRY A. GARFIELD, NETv PRESIDENT OF WILLIAMS Murdered President's svn soon to be the head of his fathers and his own alma mater. "THE RICH WILL SUFFER FROM EXPOSURE" says the Hotel Clerk, who makes a few remarks concerning Ameri cans who are overburdened with wealth. JULIA WARD HOWE AT 89 Author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" tells how it was inspired 58 years ago. ORDER EARLY FROM YOUR NEWSDEALER