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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1908)
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NOV. 14. 1W- T1IE INC.OMFAH.ABU; BTNCO GAME. The Oregonlan supported the pri mary law and rrgrd its- adoption, bat It had no Idea the law won Id be per verted, mo aa to make-rr the instru rnent of the nomination of the candi dates of one party, name of the other. But though The Oregonlan was an advocate of the primary law. It never was an advocate of the "statement" feature that haa been foisted Into It. From the time when this was pressed B the badlng or controlling feature of the act. The Oregonlan haa de nounced arid opposed it. It has sanctioned and approved the Idea of popular vote on Senator, prior to the election, because this might be a means of obtaining the judgment of the different parties as to candidates. The method, properly employed, is suggestive or advisory, but never can be given legal force or bearing. It is no more than a petition by the people, or by a portion of them. Put a method that could only be petitionary, or at most advisory, and as such strictly -within constitutional limits, is now exalted above usage and law, and above the Constitution Itself. :its purpose is nullification and super eedure of the constitutional method and Intent, and It is openly declared that such Is the design or object of It. Passing the legality and validity by, are we to get stronger men for the Senate by this" method? It has given us Bourne. Cake was next In the succession; but though the Republicans have 25.000 majority in the state, they wouldn't have him at all: and immense numbers of them voted to pass the question up to the Legislature. In the hope and expecta tion that some Republican fit for the position might be elected. Chamber lain wasn't wanted at all. The vote for Chamberlain In June was 52.000, for Bryan In November. 11,00 0. It means that 14.000 voters who didn't want Chamberlain voted for him. nevertheless to express their disapproval of "the game." Nobody believes that Chamberlain is stronger In Oregon for the Senate than Bryan for the Presidency. But people hate fraud and Juggle In politics;, they reject unconstitutional methods; they detest contrivances that bring unflttest and weakest men to the front. They abominate false registration, which partisans employ for nomination of men In the primary, with Intent to vote against them In the election. The people of Oregon will not be led by the Bournes and the ITRena and the Cakes, to be delivered to the Chamberlains and to the Bryan mi nority. If these are the ultimate, no body will want a Republican party. "We shall take the Democratic party straight not filtered through Bourne and UTten and Statement One. There Isn't a soul In Oregon who doesn't know that the people of Ore gon never have declared Chamberlain their choice for Senator. But they didn't want and wouldn't have Cake foisted on the Republican ticket by Democratic votes, under false registra tion; and moreover, they wished to express their righteous Indignation at the Bourne-U'Ren scheme and to. em phasize their rejection of It. Now the last phase. The claim is that every member of the Legislature, whether he accepted Statement One or not, will be forced by the law of the state and by his oath of office to vote for Chamberlain; for there la a stat ute, adopted by popular vote last June the new method of making laws that "Instructs" every member of the Legislature to vote for the candidate for the Senate who has received the highest popular vote. This now Is offered as the paramount law. It has been ordained by the people; it has all the sacredness and force, under our system, of constitutional enact ment; no member of the Legislature is at liberty to disregard it. Even if he has declined or refused to pledge him self to the "statement." he Is obliged to rake the oath to obey this law, as other laws, of the state; he must take the oath or he cannot take his seat in the legislative body: If he takes the oath and does not keep it." he will be guilty of perjury. This, it is urged, will drive every member of the Legis kiture to vote for Chamberlain. None can refuse. For this very purpose "to compel obedience to the will of the people" this Initiative statute was formulated and put through. It was the Intention to force any and all who might refuse to accept Statement One, nevertheless to vote in the Legislature for the man who might receive tha highest number of votes in the general election. So now, it is proclaimed, every man is tied up, and Chamberlain is to receive every vote of the ninety members of the Legislative Assembly! On the one hand those who ac cepted the statement, before the elec tion, must keep the pledge or they will be liars; on the other, those who refused to take It also must vote for Chambcrtain. or they will not only be violators of the law. but perjurers also. It seems to be pretty well tied up; it is " ...v,- 1111 ' ' ' ' " ft m . - iriif iftl'TIi what they call "a cinch" Just the same as any other bunco game. Certainly. If the "pledge" taken be fore the election la binding, the com mand of the law to those who didn't take the pledge Is equally coercive or more so. The object of these whole proceedings of course was to "make it unanimous." to compel "obedience to the mandate of the people." and one bunch of the members of the Legisla ture will be "liars." while the other bunch will be "perjurers." if the pro gramme should not be carried out. Tet there to a simple, lawful and constitutional way by which both consequences might be avoided. Some think It would be Just as well for the Legislature to brush all this rubbish aside and proceed to the election of Senator in the manner directed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. . HKMY AND HIS WORK. That Heney has done, on the whole, a good and great work. The Oregonlan fullv believes. That in some of his methods he was not Judicious and wise, it concedes. Tet It remains that Heney has done a great work. One principle of human nature he has antagonized, which has rendered his work unpopular. He haa used certain malefactors for conviction of others. Now it is a common thought that this is wrong. It is said that Heney has pushed certain men to ex tremity, "who were no, worse than those whose acts and crimes he has con doned. Therefore it is argued that, since all can't be punished, none should be. The Oregonlan does not agree with this reasoning or with its conclusion. Heney. we have thought, has not al ways done his work Judiciously, but society has a right to use all possible means for conviction and punishment of those who rob and oppress It. It has a right to grant Immunity to some, for their testimony against others, and to get at the proof against those who are robbing it, how it can. Heney, then, has simply been a pub lip servant, pursuing public thieves. The resistance he has met. even from those who should want public thieves punished, is amazing. The general ground of the opposition Is expressed In the Inquiry. "Why should this man be let off and that man punished?" Because legal testimony must be had or nobody will be punished, and the Iniquity will go on forever; and be sides, society must always use, as it has a right to use, the lesser crim inals for conviction of the greater, so as to break up the system. . Whether anybody has. liked Heney or not is nothing to the purpose. He has been breaking up rings of thieves In California and in Oregon,'and has done some mighty good work. The personality of Heney Is no more than an Incidental factor. He has put a stop to a mighty deal of wrong-doing. Only by Indefatigable pursuit of the principals In it could this be done. Their satellites have been likely to murder him. at any time. No man could stand in his place without tak ing that risk. In the case of Heney. during years past, many have thought of It. I VF-STIGAnXO Jt lMiK ROOT. The predicament of a court of Justice, when it is suspected of wrong. Is much like that of Caesar'a wife. It was not enough for her to be able to prove her innocence; she ought not to have .been suspected. Perhaps the poor woman was divorced in spite of being completely blameless. The tongues of malicious gossips wrought her ruin though she was all the time an angel of purity. Still Caesar thought it suf-. flclent ground for putting her away that her good name had been smirched. As soon as the publlo begins seriously to believe that the courts are not impeccable their usefulness is Impaired. Speaking of the contem plated appointment of Secretary Root to the Supreme bench it has been re marked that he ought not to take the place because It will be impossible to convince the public that he would be a fair Judge. This Is unfortunate, per haps, for Mr. Root, but who could dispute the wisdom of the remark? When the public believes that a Judge Is biased it is all the same, so far as confidence in his decisions is con cerned, as If he actually were blasod; and when confidence is broken down we are a long way on the road to revolution. Hence It would seem to be the plain duty of a Judge who has been accused of conduct unbecoming his position either to clear his skirts completely or, for the good of the country, to leave the bench. This is evidently the opin ion of Judge Mtlo A. Root, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Washington, who has been involved in certain rumors of official miscon duct. With the truth or falsity of these rumors The Oregonlan does not concern itself. The point that inter ests us is that Judge Root has deemed It his duty to demand an Investigation. If the rumors are true, he urges, the bench is no place for him. If they are false -he thinks he deserves a vindi cation. This is well, very well; but how. much better would it have been had occasion for the rumors never arisen. The odor of scandal which seems to surround the Supreme Court of Washington would excite misgiv ings even if nothing of the same sort existed elsewhere. The slightest im pairment of the honor of one court tends to propagate itself and cast the semblance of taint upon all. But it Is not alone in Olympia that rumors float and suspicion slinks about the sacred purlieus of Justice. Lawyers have been saying for years that the decisions of the Supreme Court of Colorado are so biased as to be virtually worthless. That tribunal has meddled disastrously In politics. It has lent Itself to questionable tricks. The highest courts of California nave acted strangely, to say the least of it. In the Ruef difficulties. Either with or without grounds people all over the country are saying that the California Judges are the creatures of the corpor ation ring which Ruef has served and which Is seeking to see him safely through his trials. When Folk had finally convicted the St. Louis grafters in the lower courts, the Supreme Court of Missouri set them free with what seemed to many to be indecent haste. When Chicago was in trouble with its street railway companies In the old Terkes days, Judge Grosscup sustained the corporations against the city so uniformly and many of his rulings looked so biased that much comment was excited. To be sure the Federal Supreme Court overruled him In the end. but the mischief was done. The seed of suspicion was sown, and Judge Qrosscup's late decision In the Stand ard Oil case, with his harsh comment upon Judge Landis, has not helped to cure the harm. , So we see that the Washington trou- 1 bles are of more than local import. They are perhaps symptomatic of a widespread and Increasing National disorder and the question of how the investigation into Judge Root's alleged transgressions may best be conducted is of great importance. A committee of the state bar association has been appointed for the purpose, but Mr. J. W. Robinson, a Washington lawyer, thinks a legislative committee would be better. Mr. Robinson points out in an open letter to Chief Justice Hadley that no bar committee can be expected to in vestigate Judge Root's conduct fully and fairly because every lawyer must sooner or later plead before the court where he sits. Mr. Robinson there fore thinks that an investigation by the bar must necessarily be an affair of whitewash. Perhaps he Is right. It seems reasonable to expect that the economic Interest of the lawyers and their clients will prevail over their sense of public duty. It does in rou tine court work and it might in an investigation such as Judge Root re quests. The state constitution-makes the Legislature the tribunal for trying the Supreme Court Judges through Impeachment. Legislative wisdom and Impartiality have not been conspicuous in recent years either in Washington or its sister states, and there is grave danger that an investigation by a legis lative committee looking toward im peachment would degenerate into a farce where pull and politics would triumph over Justice: and yet It Is likely that more could be expected from the Legislature than from the bar association, simply because it Is Independent of the court, while the lawyers are not. It Is Interesting to speculate what the result would be, were judges more frequently confronted with impeach ment proceedings than they now are. Would reverence for the courts be in creased or diminished? At first thought one answers "diminished," but it is not certain that such would be the outcome. Public knowledge that legis lative action on the case of suspected Judges had been prompt, and wculd again be prompt, would perhaps rather tend to Inspire confidence in the courts. After all It Is suspicion that does the mischief and impeachment proceedings would certainly allay sus picion and sheck calumnious rumors. THT5 HYSTERICA!. PROHIBITIONIST. The American Anti-Saloon League, which has been the most effective agency yet organized for combating the evils of the liquor traffic, has de cided in the future to ignore the Pro hibitionists. Trickery on the part of their lay! allies is charged for the de feat in many places where victory should have been won. The wisdom of the Anti-Saloon League in seeking a divorce from an organization which has talked more and accomplished less in the way of lessening or removing the evil it was fighting than any other organization In existence will be com mended by all who are sufficiently broad-minded to take an unbiased view of the liquor problem. In order to understand why the Pro hibition" party, with half a century of effort to its credit, remains practically stationary, it is only necessary to read some of the wild statements which it puts forth with the apparent expectation that the public will place credence in them. For example, we find In the circular issued from head quarters the remarkable statement that "there Is no longer a Republican organization, but a great whisky party, into, which the frightened leaders of the drink curse are at- last rushing pell-mell in the vain hope of stemming the tide already setting against them." Any Individual or party that would stand sponsor for such an extrava gant and untruthful statement can never hope to attain success that comes only through winning the con fidence of the people. Hampered and burdened with narrow-minded bigots, who thus attempt to smite the only friendly hand that has ever been ex tended their cause by a political party, is it any wonder that the sensible, sin cere reformers in the cause object to their presence in the anti-liquor forces? "President Taft is the Incarnation of the liquor traffic," says this pre-election announcement of the Prohibition forces, but it falls to state wherein the Democratic candidate or the Dem ocratic party has ever shown any fa vors to the Prohibition party. Some one should get out an injunction to prevent the Prohibition party from de stroying what is left of its stunted self. SOVRCE OF AIX WEALTH. Dollar wheat, 60-cent corn and 50 centoats, together with all other ag ricultural products selling at corre spondingly high figures, have placed this country in a wonderfully pros perous condition. This situation Is in a general way apparent to all, but it is the stranger who is most forcibly Impressed by It. There Is so much of this prosperity in evidence throughout the farming districts of the West that it becomes in a manner commonplace, and it Is only when our attention is called to it by a foreigner that we be gin to appreciate what it all means. The London Pall Mall Gazette, in its Issue of October 28, printed a very In teresting interview with Major W. Bridges Webb, one of the largest grain merchants in the world, who had just returned to London after a visit to Portland and other business centers in the United States, tn response to the question as to the Impressions he re ceived in the West, Major yt'ebb said: I was Immrnsely struck by t ha pros perity of the Western farmer. Grain and fruit have made him rich. Ther ar of course mines also. The whole -West is highly prosperous and the Western farmer Is. In my opinion, the power or the United Btates.. t , In his interview Major Webb touched on the recent panic in this country and on the recovery now un der way, expressing the opinion that "the trade of the country must follow on the great prosperity of the Wrest." It is difficult for the human mind to grasp the huge proportions of the gilt edge collateral which the "West" Is now turning into money that in a golden stream is rushing into all avenues of trade and industry. Slsice this crop first began moving to the consuming centers the prices have shown but lit tle change, "dollar wheat" being in evidence almost continuously. Based on yesterday's prices, the wheat, corn and oats crops alone of the United States have a marketable cash value of more than 2, 750.000. 000. These are figures before which the wonderful aggregations of capital massed for in dustrial purposes seem small and in significant. And yet they represent less than one-half of the value of the products of our American farms for 1908. Not in the most prosperous times which this country has ever known has there been a year when good crops and high prices, appearing simultane ously, have combined to place at the command of the American farmers such a vast amount of capital as is now coming back to them in payment for the crops. This money will not be stored on the farm, but it win And its way into circulation. It will be used for purchasing new barns, resi dences, fences, automobiles, pianos and other luxuries and necessities, the manufacture and sale of which will bring prosperity to a long train of other industries. In the face of such astounding figures of material wealth, it is not difficult to understand the rapidity with which this country re covered from the financial paralysis which for a few weeks worked such havoc throughout our entire commer cial and industrial system. The distinguished Briton, TTajor Webb. Is right; the Western farmer is "the power of the United States," and the trade of the country must follow this prosperity which springs from the soil and accordingly cannot be eliminated or more than temporarily interrupted. Ten days have passed since the news of Taft's election sent stock prices up with a rush, andr while there have been occasional declines, due to profit taking, the inherent strength of the market was such that yesterday new rwnrHa n-ere scored in some Of the in- ! dustrials, and the entire list displayed remarkable strength. The most sat isfactory feature of the situation is the fact that an unusual!,- large share of the business is in investment buying. It is estimated that the value of se curities changing hands during the week following election, for exclusive ly investment purposes, was more than il50,000,000. This money has all been off the market since the trouble of a year ago, the uncertainty of the polit ical outlook making its presence felt before business had a chance to steady Itself after the panic. Present prices on some of the securities are high, but with a realization of the present hopes for the future they may seem cheap six months hence. The International Sailing-Ship Own ers' Union held a meeting in London a few days ago to discuss the reduc tion of grain freights out of Pacific Coast ports. It was decided to retain the old rate of 27s 6d, and as a result the tramp steamers will continue to handle a large amount of the grain surplus that is to go foreign. Mean while idle sail tonnage bearing the union brand Is lying at anchor at every prominent port on the Pacific Coast, waiting in vain for cargoes that will not be obtainable at union rates. The only sailing-ship owners who can show a profit under union rules are the Frenchmen, who sail around the world in ballast, and collect sufficient bounty from the Government to pay all ex penses. Some of the members of the Union Republican Club, of Portland, are said to be for Chamberlain for Senator. Very well; lot us have no Republican party in Oregon. We shall have none, on their principles, anyway. When men can't maintain, a party principle In the election of Senator, it is useless to try to maintain a party. Let us have no Republican party in Oregon. A nerveless, invertebrate thing, with no principles, is no party at all. With the Democratic party let us all act hereafter, and save the trouble of party division. Count on The Orego nlan as an agent of this general har mony. Since Bryan's defeat there Is tran quillity in the Philippine Islands; and the American soldier is having an easier time. Had Bryan been elected every malcontent in the islands would have imagined he saw an opportunity; Just as the great Civil .War in the United States was prolonged a year or more, at immense cost of life, because the Confederates believed the anti war and reactionary forces of the North would compel abandonment of the war. A effort Is being made to get the dredge Chinook for work on the Co lumbia bar. The excuse for the with drawal of the craft was that her boil ers were unfit for service. As the craft was doing excellent work in deepening the channel when she was retired, it might be a good plan again to place her in service. Working un-deJ- a low steam pressure, the present boilers might be serviceable for a period sufficient to accomplish much good. According to the famous Kentucky Klick, the "plastic minds of the ris ing generation" which behold their fathers at the Courthouse registering a lie on the. party registration books, may not abhor lying and deceit as old rules used to teach young minds to do. Well, something is the matter, surely. But one fine day lika these. Just a little while later, will cause the peo ple to dress in their fine clothes and send them to the hill-tops to see the snow mountains. Only a few now care for the snow peaks. "If you don't like the Statement-One law," cry its advocates, "obey it until you repeal It." But It doesn't occur to them that they should obey the Consti tution of the United States until they repeal that. Now that the Anti-Saloon Leaguers have made the Prohibitionists useless In Portland, some of the dry citizens ought to move to Curry County, where Chafin failed to get a single vote for President Of course Jt was gratifying to Mr. Bryan to carry his own precinct; but if he really wants to show what his neighbors think of him, let him run for Road Supervisor. The women that Mayor Lane drove off Fourth street have gone to other streets, but the railroad can't. Now is the time 'for the Mayor to distin guish himself. Has it been effectually proved that the harder a candidate for the Presi dency stumps the country, the more certainly the country will stump him? The people of Oregon need a Repub lican United States Senator and they know it. Surely they ought to have what they need. The Mayor of Vancouver, B. C, who ejected a warlike Councilman fro si the city hall, showed 'em his muscle, too. This fine weather is not uncommon there is no more work now to be done than usual: it only seems so. That fellow in Lake County who cast the lone vote for a Prohibition President knows who he is. The election being well over, nobody has anything to do but work, look happy and be prosperous. 1908. " the: people rile."' Bnt Shall Those, Who Luck 40,000 of Belna- the People of OrfROB, Rnler The Dallas Optimist. The country at large answered Mr. Ri-mn-a nnarlea as to the rule Of the neonle in no uncertain terms last week, and the rule of the people will not be disturbed for another four years. And here in Oregon the answer was in louder terms than in almost any other state, perhaps the loudest of all. Over two to one of the voters of Ore gon decided that the people, and not Bryan, should rule. a Tit ,bt ionic at our Dredicament! Last April we allowed the Democrats by the basest methods to defeat Sena tor Fulton, for the nomination, name Cake, whom nobody wanted save those who wished to slaughter him to beat Fulton and then in June choose Chamberlain! And 'now a good many are shouting that Chamberlain was the choice of the voters of the state, and that if he is not elected at the coming session of the Legislature, "the people" will be heard from in no uncertain terms. But remember this: by "the people" we always mean the majority, as In the case of the People vs. Bryan. But in the Oregon case "the people" are simply a howling mob of Democrats. They are not "the people." They only imagine they are because they out witted the voters last April, and again in June. To say that the Republican voters, two-thirds of the people of Oregon, wanted Chamberlain is a base calumny on the intelligence of every Repub lican in the state. He was "elected" through the puerile persistency of the Cakes and the dishonesty of the. Dem ocrats. If ' Chamberlain is turned down by the Republicans of the Legislature, the voice of this vast majority listened to and a Republican elected to the Senate, then there will be a terrific howl, which some wlll say comes from "the people." But it will not. It will only come from the Bryanized Dem ocracy, and they lack 40,000 of being "the people" in Oregon. TRUEST DEMOCRACY ON EARTH. Thus Doe. an Admiring Briton Desig nate the Government of Englnn.1. PORTLAND. Nov. ll.-To the Editor) -The celebration of the b.nhday of M ward VII of England. King of Great : Brit ain and Ireland and of the British Do minions beyond the Sea. Emperor of In dia, by the British residents o Oregon and their American cousins last Monday evening was an excellent exhibition of both natlon'al and international right feel ing and of the existing good relationship between the old mother country and her oldest daughter-nation in North America. Some Americans are apt to view mon archy In any form as being of an auto cratic end egotistic spirit of government. This is not the case in Grea.t Britain s form of government today. The King reigns, but he does not rule. He wears the crown of Britain and the imperial robes of the British empire as being the representative head of the nation and of the empire. The term of royalty as used in Great. Britain signifies, in dimen sion of size and quality, a distinct dif ference from what is ordinary. Great Britain as the first civilized and Christian discoverer and the first English-speaking settler of America, the greatest naval power in the world, as well as the largest mercantile, financial and commercial en terpriser on earth, Is truly a royal na tion The British empire, containing over one-fifth of the surface and over one-fifth of the population of the world, is truly a royal empire. ... , . The King is royal because he Is loyal to his people s wishes. They, as units of a royal nation and of a royal empire, are truly royalists because they are loyal to their nation and to their representative head. . This view of the British nation and of its King and units is one of the truest democracy on earth. -When the King uses the plural "we," it means the dem ocratic "we" of the people, and not the autocratic "we" of the Czar' of Russia. It Is the "vox popull, vox Dei." the voice of the people, the voice of God. The King Is called in England the de fender of the faith of the English church of Christianity, because Christianity is part of the law of England. He is equally, through his being the representative head of the empire, the defender of the many religious faiths of the people of that world-wide empire, tn that his govern ment affords protection and full liberty to every form of faith, whether it be Christianity, Moslem, Brahmin, Buddhist, Pursee or paganism hi any form. The King has well represented his peo ple's ardent desire for peace on earth, and so has earned the noble and enviable title of the peacemaker throughout Europe and America. He is the only monarch on any earthly throne who "has ever been called the Prince of Peace. Such is the general view of Great Brit ain and her King which America and the world of civilized humanity should take. BRITOX. "The Thlnklea South." Harper's Weekly. It Is a list of states where the voters don't think. Grouped lonely as above, the Bryan vote looks bad. Spread out on the map. It looks still more sectional and worse. It made Bryan's nomination pos sible. Without assurance of the eight score votes of the states that don't think, even Bryan must have seen that Bryan was impossible. The South must manage somehow to demonstrate that It cannot be delivered wholesale to any adventurer who gets the Democratic nomination. It need not be Republican, but it must be rational. Old Wine tn New Bottle. Harper's Weekly. A fool and his money are soon dis covered. The proof of the pudding is in the way you feel about an hour after wards. Too much cooking spoils the balance sheet. Where there's smoke there Is not always a fire policy. A little widow is a dangerous thing. An Englishman is a Frenchman's poison. The Editor Contribute. Harvard Lampoon. How dear to my heart are the old jokes, the old Jokes! I sit and read them with infinite bliss: I chuckle with mirth when a candidate hands me A wonderful, witty two-liner like thlst -What's a. college Ice? Radcltrte girl, I suppose!" Facetious, now, isn't it? Here is another. That nearly killed Noah when uttered by hem. But, gracious! the candidates bring it round often; . The fact that it's ancient's no drawback to them: "How was the dog show? Oh, a bowling success!" Last week a bright freshman brought round to this office (I give you my word that this story is ,ru"l) . j The following new and amazing conundrum. Which I think Is wonderful. Reader, don't you ? "Is the Crimesown read? No, it'a yellow!" How dear to my heart are the old jokes, the old jokes! And oh! how they comfort the candidate chaps. They'll kill me with laughtei I'm sink ing already; And when I'm dead they'll b sorry, Dtrhapa! GUILTY OF VANDALISM, SOT ARSON Halloween Featlvltle of Riotous TJnl veralty of Vahlnrton Student. UXIVERSITr STATION". Seattle, Wash, Nov. 12. (To the Editor.) The six-decker leading story of The Ore gonlan of Monday, November 2. pur porting to describe the Halloween ac tivities of the students of the Univer sity of Washington, headed. "Students Burn Kane in Effigy. Revolt at the University of Washington, Burn Furni ture in Big Bonfire," eTc, etc., has just now been brought to my attention. Jus tice to tho sttuation prompts mo to ask of you sufficient space to correct some misstatements contained therein. E'irst, President Kane was not burned In effigy, nor was' anyone else; second ly, there was no revolt at Washington; third, there was no furniture (desk or otherwise) burned on a big bonfire (or in any other manner); fourth, no facul ty members "against whom tlie stu dents apparently held pet aversions," were singled out for attack, nor were any other faculty members attacked; fifth, no "warnings" were directed against the faculty to "keep their hands off of student social affairs"; (these warnings were confined to mat ters of the wearing of beards and in dulging in bowling-alley "dissipation." and homo entertainment): sixth, as far as is known to the University author ities, no detective service was ever thought of, as the leaders of the pranks have been known to the faculty since the morning of the perpetration; sev enth, no request has at any time been made by upper-classmen to have the "faculty restore order to a disorgan ized student body," as the student body at Washington has never been better organized nor in better spirit. So much for denials.' Now as to statement of facts. I have in my desk the written statement of a majority of the "marauders," containing their signed apology and their promise to make good, all monetary damage. (The faculty Is yet dealing with those who have as yet neglected to sign up.) The damages have been assessed at $10. $4 of which is .for a damaged manuscript which will have to be rewritten. As it was raining on the Sunday morning In question, I personally took charge of reinstating the furniture that had been removed the night before, and hence consider that I am qualified to state what was really done. A bonfire, in fact two of them, had bten built on .the athletic field , about midnight, and a tug-of-war and "moonlight football" game were scheduled. The promoters of the games did not arrive as per schedule, and the students went roam ing for their Halloween pranks. The idea was suggested of moving the 'his tory building" (a 20x40 shack 10 feet high), around on the front lawn, biit the students had not reckoned with some steam pipes that had just been connected up. They, therefore, proceed ed to carry out the chairs and desks and other effects and stacked them in front of the building. The portable blackboard, tacked to the wall, was re moved, and other minor depredations committed, which I am in no way try ing to excuse. They also removed en old flat-top desk from the 'office of the head chemist, from another shack, but exercised all carej possible to remove all glassware and- other effects from the desk and place them out of harm's way. The billposters were, as some one has called them, "an inane piank" at best, but not one word on them in real ity reflected one word of personal feel ing toward any member of the faculty. Hence, it would seem that The Ore gontan's story has done the University of Washington and its students a con siderable injustice which, late as it is, should be as far as possible repaired. The students who participated in the affair were, many of them, upper-classmen, and among them are leading stu dents of tho University in all that ordi narily makes for its best interests. Many of them' are sons of the best families of the state, and hardly de serve the severe reprobation given them by these reports. I would not be misunderstood as apologizing for or condoning any vandalism because of its inception on a college campus, but branding mischief, reprehensible as it often may be, as' "riot and arson" is not helping out the 'situation. HERBERT T. CONDON. Secretary Faculty, University of Wash ington. GAINES SPOKE AGAINST SLAVERY Recollections of a Speech Made at Oak land, Or., in 1855. SALEM, Or., Nov. 9. (To the Editor.) I have read with interest your editorial in The Oregon ian of today, under the cap tion of "The Slavery Question in Oregon." Reference is frequently made to the arti cle of Hon. T. W. Davenport- in the Quar terly of the Oregon Historical Society. There appear to bo some points in the history of the events of that question that were not fully developed; or at least so it seems to me. I might say here that my people were formerly Virginians and Whigs. They had freed their slaves when they moved North and West. In 1865 I lived with my parents near Oakland Or., and was 16 years of age; had Just read the life of Isaac T. Hopper, and was a reader of the New York Tribune, and, therefore, well rooted in my anti-slavery beliefs. Some time in the Summer of 1855, General Jo seph Lane and Colonel John P. Gaines, the candidates for Congrees from Oregon, addressed the citizens near Oakland in a joint discussion of the political issues pending at that time. The meeting was held about one mile below where the present town of Oakland Is located, In an oak grove, and the slavery issue formed a conspicuous part of the addresses. Colonel Gaines was the first speaker and, to my mind, made much the best speech. Several of his statements and stories are well remembered to this day. Upon the slavery question, he stated Jhat he was from a slave state and was well acquaint ed with the good and evil of the institu tion, and" that he wanted none of it here fcn Orejron; he could and preferred to do his own work or have it done by free labor. His speech surely indicated that he was anti-slavery for Oregon, at least. W. H. BYARS. Exit the Publican. Providence Journal. ; The Journal voters' directory again this year reveals the interesting fact that neither the Republican nor the Democratic party his nominated for either branch of the City Council a man who makes his living from the liquor business. Is there any other city of 200,003 population in the United States where neither party has nomi nated a brewer, saloon-keeper, or bar1 tender for public office? For several years at least this has been true In this city. The Modern Knight. Ned 'Cherry in Baltimore Star. In days of yore men rode to war In panoply of steel: Today we ride or woe betide No matter how we feel. It's 90 miles or more. We have three days to score. When we get through We're black and blue And satisfied but sore; But naught we' care save we get there. And do the stunt for fair. 'We look askance at the ambulance. Inviting sweet repose. We shake our head and plunge anead. For there our leader goes: For we must ride, and ride, No matter what betide. Till our strenuous chief (4ives us relief We'll keep right by his side. So what care we for these days three M'e'11 do! We'll dare!. or die! Genernt DlMoon to Accept the Choice of Taft In Phllonophle Spirit. Charleston (S. C.) Evening Post. William H. Taft is. perhaps, a Mc Klnleyized Roosevelt or a Rooseveltian McKlnley, as you may choose. He has the enterprise of Roosevelt and the mode of McKlnley. Possibly the com posite may be an ideal President. It it undoubtedly because of the blend of radicalism and conservatism he scorns to present that Mr. Taft has been able to triumph over Mr. Bryan. A Conscienceless Nation. Florida Times-Union. The Democrats made an appeal to the conscience of the American people and found the American people did not have any conscience. Business Prejudice tar Tuft. Knoxville Sentinel. The election's result we attribute to the unjust and unreasoning prejudice the business men and capitalists of the country, especially of the East, have against Mr. Bryan. Bryan Republic' - Ornament. Memphis (Tenn.) News-Scimitar. The result may mean that Mr. Bryan shall never adorn official station. It cannot, however, prevent him from be ing in his role as a private citizen the Republic's greatest ornament. "A Man of Stability Wilmington (Del.) News. The people can be depended upon- to stand for their own interests. They have made it manifest that they real ized that more was to be secured through the election of a man of sta bility, and possessed of a fair and Ju dicial mind, than there was to be se cured by the election of a man who shifts his views with the wind and who lacks the most vital element requisite in a statesman. Southerner Voted for Taft. Little Rock (Ark.) Gazette. You could go into any Southern city and find men of the old Southern stock, men born of Democratic parents and reared amid Democratic associa tions, the fathers of many such men having" been Confederate soldiers, who would not hesitate to tell you that they intended to vote for Taft. Why? Because these men are In business, and they believe their business will pros per better under Taft than under Bryan. Where T Columbia (S. C.) State. In viewing the scattering returns that show Republican strength In al most every quarter, we must ask whether the people wish to rule? Where is the revolt by the labor vote? Where were the unemployed hosts? Where the myriad victims of panic? Where the revolters against bossism? Where the opponents of the trusts? Where those that rebel against the ownership of the Government by a few great corporations? Prophesied Taft' Election. Chattanooga News. It has been our belief for a month that Mr. Taft would be elected. At no time since the campaign opened with Bryan and Taft on the stump have we believed that it was posssible for Mr. Bryan to win. The country is slowly recovering from the panic of last Fill. This recovery has been accomplished under Republican Administration, and whether there Is anything in it or not, the people had reached the conclusion that it would bo best to not change policies. No Vindication of RnoaeveU. Lexington (Ky.) Herald. The unprejudiced observer who is not concerned for Mr. Roosevelt's repu tation or his place In history will see little in the present situation that can be regarded as an approval of the Roosevelt ideas. In the East, where Judge Taft was regarded as more con servative than Mr. Roosevelt, as "a safer man" from the standpoint of the trust magnate, he has gained over the Roosevelt vote of four years ago. In the West, where there has been dis trust as to his liberal pretensions, he has sustained serious losses. Will .Not Rock the Boat. Louisville (Ky.) Times. By temperament Mr. Taft Is one averse to the practice of rocking the boat. He Is not by nature or by prac- tice an agitator. The people evident- ' ly were in a mood to say, "Let us alone." They felt that under Mr. Taft the country would be little disturbed by drastic' policies or important leg islation. They wanted a rest. Mr. Roosevelt was the source of that feel ing. Mr. Bryan's promise of sound re forms they construed as a pledge that might prolong the disturbances of the Roosevelt Administration. And so for a rest they chose Taft. The Shallow Nebrasknn. Nashville Banner. There were developed in the long and arduous pre-election campaign no deep-seated and compelling reasons to justify a calm and unbiased conviction that the major public sentiment of the country was prepared to reverse Itself In Mr. Bryan's favor. On tho other hand, the campaign, as conducted by the Nebraskan, while studiously avoid ing some of his formerly declared rad ical policies, and measurably catering in some respects to the conservative element In his party, was nevertheless In the main an appeal to radical senti ment and a rather shallow discussion of matters from an expediency point of. view. Democracy's Four lasuea. Dallas (Tex.) News. On four issues the Democrats stood for policies that should have appealed strongly to the good sense of the peo ple. They stood for economy as against extravagance in . public expenditures; for tariff reform as against a stand-pattery that moved tho Republican candidate to content him self with declaring for "a higher duty on pottery"; for a change of adminis tration from the party in power, which had been in power quite long enough; for a public service above that sort of reproach which has fallen upon the Senate of the Nation because of the close and secret connection of its mem- ' bers to the "interests." Whether all these issues have been emphasized as strongly as they should have been is a question that can now be considered without affecting the party's chance to win. As the New sees it, they certainly have not. Now There Will Be Trouble. Daliy Astorian. Within the next 30 days the Morn ing Astorian proposes to put it up to Republican Astoria, squarely and ..V honestly, to take back the govern-, f ment of this city into the hands of the dominant party, or hoid its peace and take its medicine In such doses aa the "boss" shall prescribe it. And we warn Republicans, here and now, that thero will be no palatable medicines nor minor doses, if they fail to acquire, with their 500 majority, the complete control of the situation. The rule of the "boss" falls before this demand, and this is the demand we are making in the name of the Republicans of this city. f