g , - THE MORNING OREGOXIAX. TUESD ATyOYEMBEIi 17. 1908. .
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rORTUCVD. UPPAT. KOV- '
PROMISES AND PLEDGES.
Sometimes persons make promises
that they must break. Sometimes they
give pledges that must be retracted or
broken. It Is so In all the relations of
life Haste In making 1 promise, want
of knowledge of all the. conditions and
circumstances, discovery of facts not
known before or not sufficiently con
sidered, may make withdrawal or can
cellation of a promise the-wisest thing
and most necessary thing. . .
In matters of sentiment this Is uni
versal. A woman decides, on careful
consideration, to retract her promise
of marriage. Sh. has given the sub
ject fuller consideration. She has
learned things she did not know be
fore. Is she to be held to her prom
ise and made to endure Ms conse
quences? ...
Sentiment also predominates In
politics. A man gives a pledge of
iupport to another. He may find I he
i,as made a mUtake. The citizen with
draws his promise or pledge of sup
port to the candidate for the office.
On reflection he decides that he can
not vote for him. Who has a right to
try to compel him? What compulsion
Is there? The elector has an un
doubted right to change his mind. So
has the member of the Legislature.
Of course either Is liable to denunci
ation for doing It. But the right to
do it exists, and It is indefeasible. A
man may promise, under condlUons
that exist, or apparently exist, when
he makes the promise, to vote for an
other for an office. But the conditions
change and he refuses so to vote. Then
who Is to decide as to the change of
conditions? Each man has that light
for himself. They say that many thou
sands of men of Oregon, and more,
who registered as Republicans, and
thus were under pledge to vote
for Taft. finally voted for Bryan.
It is an undoubted fact. Sup
pcrters or Bryan boast of It. Then
on what ground can they pretend that
members of the Legislature, who are
unier only a conditional or Implied
pledge to vote for Chamberlain for the
Senate, are bound, or can be bound,
l.-revocably. by it?
The Legislature Is to elect. The
power is in the Legislature. It is for
the elector, whether at the polling
place In his ward or precinct, or in his
seat in the Legislature, to decide how
he ! to vote. If he has made prom
ises, in either case, he may be em
barrassed by them or may not; he may
be criticised, howsoever he may act,
and doubtless will be. But the right
to decide is his own; the responsibil
ity is his own. It will be said, of
course, that there Is a difference be
cause the member of the Legislature
acts in representative capacity. Very
well; then in the present case he
should cast his vote for Senator for
some representative of the party who
has Just carried the state by 25,000
majority. Ho will not represent the
state unless he shall do so.
I A sentimental promise, made by
man or woman, under mistaken con
ditions. Is voidable always. Even after
consequences of serious character
have ensued the divorce courts release
the parties from the contract. In poll
tics there are no hard and fast mar
riages. Men change their political
views and purposes as often as they
like. It has been the chief delight
of the managers of the Democratic
campaign In Oregon to assert this and
boast of It. They have told us that
thousands, registered as Republicans,
and men who always had been Repub
licans, had changed . to Bryan. One
would think those who have been mak
ing this boast would not be greatly
shocked. If members of the Legisla
ture, who are no more than indirectly
pledged to Chamberlain, at most,
Khould now see nt to vote for some
Republican for the Senate.
THE ARGENTINE'S IVFTJEME.
The Chicago wheat market yester
day showed the distress signal, and
closed nearly a cent lower than on
Saturday. In an ordinary market, a
loss of a cent means considerable, but
.when the .decline leaves the price still
well 'above the dollar mark. It is
.clear, that there is not very much
weakness In the cereal. The Argen
tine crop, one of those coming events
htoh.casi their shadows before. -seems
t.i be the controlling factor in the
market at the present time. . With
ITtsejit high prices in all of the world's
markets, every favorable weather re
Vert from the Southern Hemisphere la
verked te the limit in this country, in
an effort to depress prices here. Per
haps the most bearish feature of the
weekly statistics which appeared yes
'.terday was the American visible, which
siiowed an Increase of 1.124.000 bush
t C.' compared with a decrease of more
than. 1.500.000 bushels -on a corre
sponding date a year ago.
At its present figure of BO. 500.000
bushels, the American visible Is now
S. 000.000 bushels greater than at a
eorespondlng date last year, and Is
greater than at any previous date since
J 900. Quantities on passage for the
week ending Saturday were also J. 000,
000 bushels greater than for the same
week last year. The only bullish
feature In connection with the statis
tics was in world's shipments, which
were SOO.OOO bushels smaller than for
the preceding week, and more than
1.200,000 bushels smaller than for the
same date a year ano. But, while the
wheat market has its occasional spells
of weakness- It has thus far shown
surprising rallying strength, and each
period of dullness has been followed
by strength that always carried the
price to higher figures than those from
which it started downward. It Is now
quite generally admitted that the com
ing Argentine crop will not under the
most favorable circumstances exceed
that which has been coming on the
market for the past ten months. The
figures on that crop are placed at 147.
009.000 bushels, and the fact that it
has been nearly all assimilated by the
foreign markets at abnormally high
prices, wnne tne Lmrea otmra
shlpping'freely from an average crop,
is a very high tribute to the Inherent
strength of the situation.
With the prospective dimensions of
the Argentine crop determined, or at
least agreed on by those in best posi
tion to estimate it, with harvest In a
portion of that country less than thirty
days distant, and with wheat still sell
ing well above a dollar per bushel, it
would seem that there are present all
of the elements necessary for a sensa
tional market, should anything happen
to the Argentine crop before it is ready
i for shipment. Meanwnue mo
J the American crop has been sold at
the beet average prices wmi
vailed for years, and a favorable sea
son for Fall plowing has enabled the
American farmers to get in a good
acreage with which to supply the de
mand which can never be entirely
filled by the Argentine crop.
PRESAGES OF CHANGE.
From the newspapers of Georgia we
learn that Taft carried twenty-six of
the 146 counties of that state. Bryan's
plurality over Taft In the whole state
was (In round numbers) 32,000. He
had 74,000 votes, Taft 42,000. In 1904
Parker had 88,000 votes. Roosevelt
26.000. Thus the Democrats lost 14,
000. and the Republicans gained
17,000. The negro vote cut no figure.
It was practically eliminated.
Yet the whites took little interest In
the election. The total vote cast for
all candidates was 1S3.721. Georgia,
however, has a white population of at
least 1,600,000, which should have
thrown twice as many votes. But
Interest in the election was absent, or
was shown only In the vote for Taft.
On the side of Bryan the voting was
listless and Democratic merely from
habit.
The change of spirit is shown in re
marks by the Atlanta Constitution.
That Journal has not changed its poll
tics; It is still Democratic, and it sup
ported Bryan. But It says that on
November S "the Southern states be
gan the writing of their political inde
pendence." It means there is to be
more than one party in the South.
"What the South needs," says the
Constitution, "is a few doubtful states;
then it will be In a position to demand
and get something." If It is to con
tinue solidly Democratic, "It should do
so upon the merits of what the oppos
ing parties have to offer, and not be
cause of ancestral dictation."
But It must be understood that such
change of attitude or spirit in the
South will be dependent on acceptance
or recognition by the North of negro
disfranchisement In states of the South
where the negro population is large.
The whites intend to rule, and will
not accept dictation from the North on
the subject of the negro. On this
point we quote a further remark from
the Constitution: "At home we shall
continue to control our own affairs
and, by. white primary system, elimi
nate from interference all the negro
vote that may survive disfranchise
ment." It seems that while some few
negroes still vote in the elections, none
are permitted to vote at the primaries.
Evervthing, thus. Is kept in the hands
of the whites; hence the statement that
there "remains naught of the once
feared substance of social equality and
negro domination, or efforts toward
them, but a phantom bogie that lacks
sufficient form and force to scare a
child."
The course of things In Missouri is
another significant fact. That great
state was believed to be sure for
Bryan. Most Republicans conceded it.
To the surprise of everybody it cast
its vote for Taft. Bryan received In
Missouri In 1900, 351,922 votes; in
1908 only 345,607. Tet the popula
tion of Missouri haa much increased
and Taft got this year 347.425 votes,
against 314,092 for McKinley, eight
years ago.
Signs certainly point to change In
the South, at last. In a majority of
the states of that great section there
will, henceforward, be contests be
tween the two great parties of the
country.
THE COJCHODITV-BATB PROBLEM.
The advance In commodity rates,
which It is reported the railroads will
put into effect In a short time, is said
to exempt some of the interior points
which In the past have been unable to
secure any better rate than the
through rate plus the local back from
the Coast points. This, If true, will be
highly injurious to the Jobbing trade
of Portland, but it will not be unex
pected. The advance in rates, if un
reasonable, can probably be success
fully resisted before the Interstate
Commerce Commission, but the matter
of giving the interior points a prefer
ential rate is not so easily disposed of.
It is this last-mentioned feature of
the problem that is supplying consid
erable food for thought for a few
prominent Jobbers who have built up a
fine trade with the interior cities and
towns.
So long as the railroads secured a
stiff rate on the local haul back to the
Interior from Portland, they were will
ing to haul freight in some Instances
directly past the consuming centers in
the interior; but the portage road,
which does not have to pay either div
idends, interest or even operating ex
penses, together with the river steam
ers connecting therewith, has cut rates
on the "back haul" to such an extent
that it Is not improbable that the rail
roads may find it more profitable to
stop the freight at some new distrib
uting centers 200 to 400 miles east of
Portland and other Coast ports. If
the proposed advance in rates Is up
held by the Interstate Commerce Cora
mlsison as reasonable, the situation
will offer an excellent opportunity for
demonstrating the value of water com
petition. The Coast Jobbing centers will still
be In a position to secure a large per
centage of their commodities by
steamer, but under a preferential rate
given the interior cities It is extremely
doubtful whether or no$ we could ship
very far Inland, even with a boat line
supported by popular subscriptions
and a portage road maintained by
state aid. The future of the Jobbing
business of the Coast ports hinges
largely on the rallruads. If they de
sire to avail themselves of the Inter
state commerce ruling of no Jurisdic
tion over rates made to meet water
competition, they can do so: but if
there is more money per ton per mile
for them to drop the freight formerly
distributed from Portland at some in
terior point, they will not haul it to
Portland and back.
There are, of course, a number of
commodities originating close to the
Atlantic seaboard which can be
brought to Portland by water and
shipped a long distance inland before
they will encounter any difficulty In
the way of preferential rates which
might be made by the railroads. The
latter will hardly make any rates
which are unremunerativa, and In
mnv commodities a long water and
short rail haul ought to be enough
cheaper than a long all-rail haul to
enable Coast Jobbers to retain their
hold on most of the territory in which
they have done business in the past.
The situation is interesting and it Is
fraught with great possibilities, for on
the outcome depends the extent of the
"zone" In which the jobbers of the Pa
cific Coast can distribute goods
brought to Portland by either rail or
steamer.
The change. If it Is made, will not be
effective tintll next year, and by that
time there may be a re-establishment
of the cordial relations which existed
between the railroads and the people
when the late C. H. Lewis and other
pioneer jobbers of the port were build
ing up a magnificent business with the
hearty co-operation of the railroads.
MORE DELAY.
Very likely neither Ruef nor the
cohort of grafters to which he belongs
were parties to an active conspiracy
to kill Mr. Heney; still there is no
delay In taking advantage of what
they must In their secret hearts look
upon as a providential event. Ruefs
lawyers have punctually moved for a
change of venue on the ground that
their lovely client cannot now be
tried fairly in San Francisco. This Is
of course precisely the move they
would have made had Haas been
suborned to commit' murder as so
many others have been to commit
perjury. These lawyers know per
fectly well that Rief can get as fair
a trial in San Francisco as he can
anywhere. Slimy with Infamy as he
Is, any jury must be disgusted with
his presence, and to weigh the evi
dence in his defense fairly would de
mand almost superhuman impartiality.
No man was ever handled in court
with more long-suffering patience than
Ruef has been, and no man ever de
served consideration less. His trial
is a disgrace to California and a scan
dal to the Nation.
In moving for a change of venue
Ruefs lawyers seek delay and noth
ing else. They are afraid to face a
Jury with the facts in his case be
cause they know that upon the facts
he would be instantly convicted.
Therefore they resort to the Infamous
tricks of their trade to pervert the
court procedure and paralyze the arm
of Justice. Whatever Ruefs guilt may
be the moral guilt of his lawyers rivals
It. Whatever his offense against the
law may be their offense against so
ciety Is fully as heinous.
TSI AN.
Tsri Hsl An, Dowager Empress of
China, whose death is Just announced,
was one of the most interesting and
able women of modern times. The
story of her rise from slavery to be
ruler of a great empire is probably
false, though If it were true it would
not be unparalleled. Catharine I of
Russia was the daughter of a serf and
was reared as a foundling. She was
introduced to the path of ambition by
being chosen for his mistress by one
of Peter the Great's commanders.
Afterward she found favor in the eyes
of Peter himself and so charmed him
that he ended by marrying her and
making her his successor. Thus. If
Tsi An had begun her career as a
slave history would furnish a prece
dent for her astonishing fortunes, but
she did not. She was the daughter of
a Manchurian noble, and having ap
peared at court in her girlhood accord
ing to the social custom In China, she
was chosen by the Emperor Hsien
Feng as his fifth wife. This placed her
at first far from the head of affairs In
the royal family, but her extraordinary
ability and her singular .charm so
wrought upon the Emperor's heart
that he soon promoted her to the sec
ond place.
The custom of having several wives
at the same time is not at all strange
in America, though we do not as a
rule acknowledge more than one of
them, but the promotion of an In
ferior wife seems completely foreign
to our ideas. Some would even deem
it Immoral. So much do Chinese prac
tices differ from our own. Had Tsl An
been barred from social eminence by
he- inferior marriage rank history
would have been the poorer by one of
the most remarkable careers ever re
corded. In the seventh year of her
married life her husband died, leav
ing her the mother of a 5-year-old son,
Tung Chih. The chief wife, who was
childless, adopted little Tung Chih,
who thus became heir to the throne
and the two principal widows of Hslen
Chung became his Joint guardians and
regents of the realm. This happened
a long time ago, back in 1861, when
Tsi An was a very young woman. She
could not have been much more than
22 years old. Nobody seems to know
her precise age. Even Catharine Carl,
a great crony of Tsl An, who painted
four pictures of her, avoids any exact
statement of how old she was.
Tung Chih was but a phantom mon
arch. At the age of 20 he perished
with more or less mystery about his
dying bed. Among the great gifts of Tsi
An appears to have been a consum
mate art In securing the convenient
death of anybody who' stood in her
way. All through the fifteen years of
poor Tung Chlh's reign she and her
colleague ruled as regents In perfect
harmony. No discord could arise be
cause the colleague was absorbed in
literary pursuits at which she was
an adept, while Tsl An devoted herself
to the more masculine pursuit of
reigning: At Tung Chih's death the
two women adopted another infant,
Tsi An's nephew Kwang Hsu, and an
other long regency began which only
terminated in 1889, when they de
livered up to him the reins of power.
Kwang Hsu was not a very vigorous
personage. He is described as a meek
creature. Oriental in his manners and
tastes. The astonishing thing about
him is the fact that he had progressive
Ideas. He realised that China was far
behind the rest of the world in civili
zation and her terrible defeat by the
Japanese In 1894 encouraged him to
initiate extensive reforms. One can
imagine what a howl this excited in
China, the most reactionary country
in the world. Kwang Hsu wished to
Introduce modern science, build rail
roads, and establish schools as the
Japanese had done. With shrieks of
rage the mossbacks turned to Tsi An,
who was In semi-retirement at the
time, and she graciously inclined her
ear to their petitions. Returning to
the palace she skilfully shoved the
flaccid Kwang Hsu off the throne and
seated herself In his place. The Chi
nese described the coup d'etat in their
polite way by saying that Tsl An had
yielded to the importunities of her
nephew and consented to favor him
with her matronly counsel. She con
tinued to favor him with it up to the
day of his death, which occurred at
about the same time as her own,
nobody knows Just when, for the Chi
nese keep their own counsel about
such events.
It was in 1898 that the aged Dow
ager resumed the regency nd Kwang
Hsu subsided Into his appropriate place
of a shadowy appendage. Under her
master hand the projected reforms
were blighted and China was urged
back into the old ways as far as pos
sible. It speaks wonders for Tsi An's
ability that with all the resurgent
foraes which must be bubbling and
seething within the monstrous realm,
she was able for more than ten years
to control and In a measure suppress
them. Now at her death they seem
bursting forth everywhere. Tsi An
was not only a great monarch, com
parable to the most gifted of all the
ages, but she was also an exceedingly
attractive woman with many accom
plishments and subtle charms of per
son and manner. Apart from her way
ward Inclination toward murder, she
had no vices, being a shining contrary
to Catharine of Russia In this par
ticular. She abhorred opium-smoking,
loved literature and cultivated the
arts. Tsi An could paint a flower to
perfection in the best Chinese man
ner. The beautiful big letters in
which they delight she could draw so
artistically on huge sheets of paper
with a paint brush that connoisseurs
went into raptures over them, and
poetry she could recite by the page.
In fact, the dowager herself knew how
to build the lofty rhyme. Some of
her sonnets are much relished by ce
lestial savants and litterateurs, while
her mastery of the intricate and diffi
cult Chinese prose appears to have
been wide and accurate. Tsl An be-.
longs among the marvelous half
dozen women of whom Elizabeth Tu
dor, Lucretia Borgia and Mary de
Medici are examples. Wonderfully
gifted, without moral sense, cruel and
inexorable, some of them have black
ened the pages of history with use
less crimes, while others have potently
contributed to the progress of man
kind. The always possible accident In au
tomoblling occurred, with deadly ef
fect, at Spokane Sunday, when a
chauffeur, ignorant of the road he was
covering, threw an automobile over a
precipitous cliff bordering the Spo
kane River. Of the seven occupants
of the vehicle, one a young woman
suffered injuries that resulted In death
In a few hours. A similar accident
occurred in San Jose the same day by
which six persons were more or less
seriously injured. There is no more
reason for accidents of this kind with
an automobile than with. a carriage
drawn by horses. If the same care
were exercised by a driver, who was
as well skilled in the control of the
automobile as is exercised by the man
who drives horses, the one vehicle
could be kept in the road as well as
the other. From acefdents like those
above noted one would suppose that
the automobile was not a dirigible ma
chine, but that once on the road it was
not subject to control. The trouble
nine times out of ten comes from
reckless and Ignorant driving.
Men can kill buffalo, but when It
comes to rounding up and shipping
them from the range, that is quite an
other matter. After strenuous - effort
for two months the Pablo herd, num
bering 250, was got to the shipping
point at Ravalli, Mont., when, break
ing into a stampede so well remem
bered by pioneers who crossed the
great plains half a century and more
ago, the entire band escaped and is
now enjoying the wild hospitality of
the Flathead reservation. The ani
mals belong to the Canadian govern
ment, but when or how the owners are
going to transfer their property to the
Manitoba or Ontario Range does not
yet appear. Buffaloes scorn to be
treated as cattle, but if given plenty
of room they will take care of them
selves as in the old -days when the
great plateau was all their own.
Edna Clark, the young girl who
disappeared from her home In Ala
meda, October 27, has been located
in Chicago. She has written to her
mother giving as a chief reason for
her flight from home that It was Irk
some and grew to be unbearable, "to
tell her mother everything she did."
Her mother might have been inju
dicious In requiring this, but Judging
from the life-long misery that often
comes from lack of maternal super
vision over wilful, self-sufficient young
girls, the fault was one that leans to
virtue's side. The utter selfishness of
a nature that first scouts maternal
counsel and then drops out of the
home life leaving the mother a prey
to anxiety is easily assessed In this
case. There is only one punishment
that can cover this offense. If this
girl Is ever a mother it will no doubt
be made plain to her.
There is no possibility of discussing
politics on a prinicple or assumption
that ignores party obligations. Noth
ing can be done in politics except
through party. The man who aban
dons one party always acts through
another. As no man can serve two
masters, so no man can act with two
political parties, at the same time.
Bryan is begged to become a reviv
alist. But not for revival of the
Democratic party. That party may be
revived, but it will be accomplished
If at all on the principles that Cleve
land boroved from Hamilton, not on
the loose slubber inherited from Jef
ferson. An Albany editor has gone on his
first -vacation in 2 8 years. That's a
very good record; but consider the
case of -the' late Tsl An, who held
down her Job as Empress for forty
seven years without a day off.
The Supreme Court of the United
States has held that there can be no
such thing as a traveling boundary
between Oregon and Washington.
That seems sensible.
Bryan Is urged to turn evangelist and
convert Taft. Then the story of the
fall of man and of the redemption
would be established, against all doubt
and question.
Anyway, 3-year-old Emperor Pu Tl
Is not likely to say anything to the
newspapers that will precipitate inter
national complications.
Free trade is always for the man In
the next district or in the next state.
Protection always for ourselves. The
tariff is a local question.
"If by any chance," says a Bryan
journal, "we should fail in 1912, we
hereby give notice that we shall fight
'em In 1916."
Ruef now wants a change of venue
because "he cannot get Justice in San
Francisco." Wrell, he hasn't got it so
far.
So cheap a fraud! Their man's
name for Senator was not even on the
primary ballot,
THIS IS A FINE PIECE
It Relates to President RooeeveK's E
aay om Taft 'a KrHRlom, and It Will
AnnH Yon.
Brooklyn Eagle.
A convenient and most necessary
man out West wrote a sincerely or
strategically ignorant letter to Presi
dent Roosevelt, about Mr. Taft's "re
ligion." He also rung In remarks
about the religion of Mr. Taft's wife
and children, remarks which were so
ignorant as in themselves to be sus
picious. We do not say that no such
man exists. Inquiry shows he does.
Mr. Roosevelt is too much of an artist
to write to a man who has no ex
istence. But the man's real or ap
parent ignorance is so great that we do
not believe it can be natural. It must
have been Invented, probably with his
consent. fc
He started by inquiring whether Mr.
Taft was an Unitarian, or an agnostic
or an infidel. He feared Mr. Tatt
was an infidel, and in case Mr. Taft
was either an Unitarian or an agnostic
he regetted that Mr. Taft was not a
Christian. A finer opening for Mr.
Roosevelt could not have been manu
factured. The willingness of the
hitherto unknown to be made a sound
ing board for Mr. Roosevelt's rever
berations or a target for Mr. Roose
velt's missiles, could not have been ex
aggerated, and would not have been
believed, had it not been shown when
Mr. Roosevelt Jumps all over the lot,
he Is picturesque. He is pictur
esque today. He dogmatically an
nounces that Mr. Taft is neither an
infidel whatever that is nor an ag
nostic wnatever that is. He then
roundly declares that Mr. Taft Is both
an Unitarian and a Christian, Just as
John Adams and John Quincy Adams
and (informally) Abraham Lincoln
were, and Just as Edward Everett
Hale, the Chaplain of the United States
Senate, is! s
Then skillfully saying that Mrs.
Taft and the Taft children are Prot
estant Episcopal folk, as their moth
er's parents were, and neither Uni
tarians nor Catholics, Mr. Roosevelt
wants to know what If they were?
and what If Mr. Taft himself were?
Whose business is it? The Constitu
tion of the United States not only pre
scribes no religious tests, but abso
lutely forbids any from being made.
Mr. Roosevelt, in a general way, shows
that he has put men of all sorts of
spiritual or historical beliefs in his
Cabinet and has found all of them' to
be effective and unsectarian public
servants, Mr. Bonaparte, a Catholic,
and Oscar Straus, by birth a Jew and
by religion a Hebrew, berng no ex
ception Mr. Roosevelt might have added
that he himself, as a Lutheran, Is no
exception either.
And then the President discourses,
by and large, on the whole question,
in a roustabout, roundabout and emi
nently wholesome way, obtruding a
largeness and luminosity ot view which
all manly men feel and very few "can
didates" overtly and robustly avow,
for fear of Injury to their chances
by those only entitled to be called men
because they are unfeathered bipeds,
and allowed to vote.
All that Mr. Roosevelt advances on
this head is true. Some of it will be
regarded as exuberant. A little of it
will be recognized as evading the fact
that parties have taken the religious
predilections or prejudices of voters
here and there tentatively and timidly
into account. The instances would not
have aided Mr. Roosevelt's generali
zations and characteristically he threw
them out of che window. And at the
end it is disclosed that the text of the
letter was submitted to Cardinal Gib
bons, solely to see If the historical
trend of It was right! There Is an
art about that equal to the manufac
ture or discovery of Mr. Roosevelt's
correspondent or to the inoculation of
Mr. Roosevelt's correspondent with ex
actly the Jackasslcal apprehensions on
which Mr. Roosevelt wished publicly
and prodigiously to jump.
Wisdom aside, necessity aside, judi
cial tone aside, the letter is as in
spiring and refreshing as a mountain
breeze in the face. The descendants
of the man to whom the letter Is ad
dressed will live to be thankful that
their ancestor drew from Mr. Roose
velt an eminenee he could neither have
created nor inherited but only, so to
say, was able to provoke.
Around the World for S600.
New York Sun.
Major George P. Ahern, who has re
cently returned to Manila from a trip
around the world and across Siberia on
the Transslberian railway, published the
details of his trip in the Manila Times,
and says that the actual cost of the
trip Is less than elOO. '
This was his itinerary and its cost:
Route Miles. Hours. Fares.
To Kobe 2.115 217 X 60.00
Tsurga . HO 7 3.01
Vladivostok 408 40 18.50
Moscow B.L'fil 2K2 1So.:15
Warsaw , M 17 00
Berlin .J.. SfiO 1'J 17.50
Dresden . . . 100 3 212
Prague ISO 3',4 S.50
Vienna ISO 5-75
Munich 20 . 10 7.13
Strasburg 240 7 5.S0
Pans UTO 7 70
London 200 7 10. i
New York 8,200 154 100.00
Washington 200 5.50
New Orleans 1.000 3
Ban Francisco 2.500 9 85.00
Manila (via transport) 8,600 720 30.00
Totals ....23,97 1,62a SS84.59
68 days.
Official Vote of the States.
PORTLAND, Nov. 15. (To the Edi
tor.) Would you give the results of
Colorado and Kentucky and Oregon for
President. Give majorities as near of
ficial as possible.
Colorado has voted for Bryan, by
exactly what pluraliity is not yet as
certainable. So has Kentucky. No
newspaper of any state, so far as The
Oregonlan bas seen and its exchange
list covers every state in the Union
has given the official popular vote for
its state. The official vote for Oregon
has not yet been ascertained.
Voted For First-degree Murder.
GRESHAM. Or., Nov. 15. (To the
Editor.) In your issue today in regard
to the La Rose murder case, your arti
cle says that John Barton, J. M. Bor
roughs and myself were voting for ac
quittal. From the first to the forty
ninth ballot we voted for a verdict of
murder In the first degree.
E. P. SMITH.
Pneumonia Follows Elect I on-Swim.
Wilmington (Del.) Dispatch.
John Truitt. a hotel clerk, at New
castle, Del., wagered a swim in the Dela
ware River against $10 that a certain
nominee for the Legislature would not
be elected, lost it and took the plunge in
scanty attire. He now suffers from
pneumonia.
Feast Off a 56-Pound Honey-Hive.
Philadelphia Record.
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Creamer, of Ro
senhayn. Pa., celebrated the 20th anni
versary of their wedding by opening a
50-pound htve of honey and eervinsr their
guests with milk and honey.
lew York MUHoairee too Bust Ae
aulrlnK Wealth to Enjoy It.
Mrs. C. N. Williamson, In London
Chronicle.
When I was in America the other
j T . , thai th most misun
derstood creature in the world, by the
old world, is tne Amencon iiuiiiiii--.
The fact is that nobody can possibly
understand him himself less than any
others perhaps which makes things
very awkward for him. Other million
aires of other countries are much easier
to understand. They are good or they
are bad; sometimes very good, or very
bad. They can Da nuiiuira uu. ma
tures are the exception, whereas they
are the rule in America. I am not at
all scrry for the American millionaires
wives and daughters, or other female
belongings, for they have glorious times
In life, and the world Is their oyster.
But it is not the millionaire's oyster, and
if it were, it would be too indigestible
tor him to eat That is why I am
sorry for him. He has so little for his
money. He Is always working to get
the oyster, and when it is got, work
ing to open it for other peope.
It struck mo in comparing other mil
lionaires with the American million
aires that the others almost all tried
to enjoy themselves when they had
made their money or inherited it from
some one else But the American mil
lionaires have never finished making
their money, so entirely that they can
sit down and be comfortable. They
start trusts, and are always exciting
themselves by squeezing other trusts
or else by having their own squeezed.
This is hard on their nerves, and though
they are used to it, and hardly notice
the effect at. the time, it spoils their
digestion. Eventually they arrive at
living mostly on "crackers" and milk.
If they are -old cheir one pleasure is
in collecting beautiful things, but as
they never have more than ten minutes
at a time to admire their treasures,
they can't find much satisfaction even
in such an expensive fad, which, after
all, is only another development of the
tiresome mania for getting getting.
TURWIXO ALL WASTE INTO MONEY
Source of Increasing Profit In Amer
ican Commercial Industries.
Wall-Street Journal
"Allowing nothing to go to waste
that can be turnel Into money." Is the
spirit of the commercialism that now
rules industrial America. It is tho in
,.i..tiA. ihftt 1 ctimustine scientific
research, mechanical invention and
money-hungry human endeavor in ev
ery field. "We market every part of
the hog except the squeal," said the
late P. D. Armour to a visitor he was
showing about his pork-packing es
tablishment, and that, be it noted, was
before the day of the phonograph. Mr.
Armour was an early starter.
A distinct impetus was given the
utilization of material long allowed to
go to waste, by enforcement of laws
for the protection of communities
against nuisances. It was the force
of public opinion that first compelled
the pork packers to invent processes
for the conversion of the intolerable
refuse of their great abattoirs Into
fertilizers and the many other by-products
now yielding fat profits, and to
create a market foi' them.
The same is true of the great oil re
fineries of the Standard and other com
panies in the petroleum industries. By
products, numbering several hundred In
all, are the largest profit-makers of
the Standard. The premier refining
company of the world owes a very con
siderable percentage of its enormous
wealth to the refusal of the keen
smelling public to dwell without pro
test in the noxious atmosphere pf the
old-time refinery.
Having discovered the money there
is in by-products, the genius ana cap
ital of man has been for years and Is
still enlisted in a struggle to extract
the ultimate dollar from every de
tailed resource of the animal, vege
table and mineral kingdoms from air,
water, substance. There Is seemingly
no limit to the development of the Idea,
That Is one of the features" in which
America leads.
The "Stoughton Bottle."
Bostun Globe.
Stoughton, not stoatin, bottle is
proper. The adage "standing like a
stoughton bottle" can be tracked back
to early 19th century days. Dr.
Stoughton in those times got out a
bitters that becam3 famous. The com
pound was originally sold In ordinary
straight green (probably black) bot
tles, duly labeled and the Stoughton
bitters bottle became a bar fixture,
always standing at the end of the bar.
The contents of tho bottle seem to have
been gin-steeped tansy to give the un
blended whisky of those times a tang.
The adage rose from the noticeable
position of the bottle on the bar.
The Stoughton bottle, however, took
another form. Dr. Stoughton had a
quick discernment cf the merits of ad
vertising. The Presidential campaign
of 1840 was on wi'.h Its "log cabin and
hard cider" slogan. The glassblowers
were requisitioned for imitation log
cabins, and the Stoughton bitters in ltd
log cabin home held Its own for a
score of years afterward.
The Stoughton bottle may be con
sidered as a square, corrugaetd glass
bottle in the shape of a log cabin.
- Circus Rider in Plaster Cast.
Baltimore News.
Incased In a plaster cast which covers
all of her body except the neck and
head, Minnie Fisher, a circus rider, who
was injured in September by being
thrown from her horse against a fence,
left Ogdensburg, N. Y., for her home in
Alabama. Nearly every bone in her
body was broken at the time of the ac
cident. It will be three months before
the plaster can be removed.
A Southern Republican Party.
Charleston News and Courier.
Republicans in ihe North will never
construct a party in the South by pur
chase. Southern men worth having
are, fortunately, not for sale. At least
the founders of a party must have
hearts and souls; they must not be
mere time servers, even if a horde of
selfish office-seekers follow later.
Walls, Floor and Roof, One Piece.
Indianopolis News.
The only temple in the world of which
the walls, floor and roof are of a single
piece' is at Oak Park, Chicago. It is
built of reinforced concrete on the
Edi3tm plan of continuous material
with no seams. The temple belongs to
the Unity Congregation, Universalist.
Declares Typewritten Sheet Dangerous.
Boston Herald.
A libel suit brought in the Brooklyn.
N. Y., courts Is based on the claim of
the plaintiff that the dictation of a
slanderous letter to a stenographer,
whose duty it was to reproduce it as
a typewritten sheet, was equivalent to
publishing the letter, and therefore a
violation of the law.
Starves on (54,000 Annual Income.
North American.
Joseph Letter, of Chicago, 111., sued
for a bill of $416, has a good defense.
Owing to losses In the wheat corner
and other deals, his income has been
reduced to a beggarly J54.000 a year.
Three Highwaymen, Guns and 80 Cents
Kansas City Times.
Three highwaymen, each armed with
a revolver, held up R. K. Pooley, of To
peka, Kan., and got 80 cents.
Roosevelt as Editor.
New York Evening Mail.
If the "Outlook" reprints poetry, it
win nrnhnhlv run Bryant's "Ode to a
Frazzled Gentian" pretty soon.
Twe-Cent Rate to England Certain to
Increase Communications.
London Times.
Past experiences show that when-,
ever postage charges are reduced there
follows an enormous Increase 1n the
number of communications sent by
post. It wu so in the case of most
of the colonies, and there is no reason
to doubt that the same result will fol
low In the case of the United Suites.
The postoffice au:corltie, In fact, are
looking forward to a substantial
growth in bulk of the American malls,
and are making arrangements for the
necessary additions to the staff of the
foreign malls department.
The growth of our American corre
spondence has been very marked dur
ing the last ten years. In the report
of the Postmaster-General for 18SS it
was stated that during the previous
12 months we sent to the United States
287,000 pounds' weight of letters and
postcards, and 2.700,000 pounds of cir
culars, book packets and newspapers.
We received from the United States
258,000 pounds of letters and postcards
and 1,636,000 poun-ls of other commu
nications. From the report for 1908,
just published, it appears that the fig
ures are: Sent to the United States,
473,000 and S.285.000 pounds respective
ly; from the United States, 603,000
pounds and 2.419,i00 pounds. Thus it
will be seen that the letters and post
cards have increased in bulk during
the last ten years by about 80 per cent,
and that other communication have
increased by about 60 per cent. It is
rather curious to note also that,whlle
ten years ago the English, malls were
far more bulky than those which came
from America, the reverse is now the
case. The penny post may be relied
upon to produce even more striking
increases in the official figures during
the next ten years.
Tuberculosis and the Telephone.
Current Literature.
' The panic recently created on tke
subject of the assumed danger lurk
ing In the transmitter of the telephone
is not precisely new. It is but the de
velopment of a fear which has caused
misgiving for some years, as is pointed
out by the British Medical Journal. On
the supposition, it says, that various
germs of disease probably collect la
the receiver and transmitter of the In
strument, at any rate in public tele
phono stations, F,ome medical alarmists
have thrown out suggestions that an
tiseptics, both In a dry state and in
solution, should be applied for the safety
of the telephone user. The recent dic
tum goes one step further. Inasmuch
as it is now an established fact that
tubercle bacilli, the casual micro-organisms
of consumption, have been
found alive and in robust condition
in the instrument. It is quite natural,
in view of such a find, that a feeling
of alarm might seize hold of the more
nervous.
Democracy and Pumpkin Pies,
St Louis Post-Dispatch.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson con
tinues his revelations concerning the
effect of politics upon crops. "The
average weight of pumpkins under Mr.
Cleveand," he said, "was 21 pounds and
4 ounces, and their mean capacity was
eight pies. This was the lowest mean
touched by pumpkins between 1860 and
1908. In the period from 1860 to 1885
the average pumpkin weighed 32
pounds and produced 12 pics. In the
period from 1896 to 1908 the mean in
creased to 37 pounds and 6 ounces, and
the capacity of the pumpkins was 15
pies."
The Secretary also said that Repub
lican pumpkins were much sweeter
than Democratic pumpkins, and that no
one ever asked a second piece of pie
under a Democratic President.
Thieves Get S180 In Old Almanacs.
Newark (N. J. ) Despatch.
Thieves found In the house of Michael
Clark, of Camden, N. J., 1S0 tucked
away between the covers of old al
manacs. BITS OF PLEASANTRY.
HE HADN'T CAUGHT ON -Skipper (to
new deckhand, who had neve been to sea
before) Let go that for'ard rope.
Deckhand makes no sign.
Skipper Let go that rope. I sy.
Deckhand Is still motionless.
Skipper (purple with rage) Why don't
you let go that for'ard rope, ye swabr
Deckhand (In aggrieved tone) Who's
touchln' yer rope? I ain't. London News.
.
OYSTER SOCIETY It is but seldom, ons
imagines, that a good Joke is made abonc
an oyster. Edmund Yates, however, in his
"Recollections and Experiences," relates
one. "I was walking with him one evening
from the club." writes Yates, "and passing
a fish shop in New street, he noticed two
different tubs of oysters, one marked 'is &
dozen,' and the other 'Is 3d a dozen." 'How
they must hate each other!' said Thack
eray." London Chronicle.
e
SCOTCH THRIFT They sat each at an
extreme end of the horsehair sofa. They had;
been coortln' now for something like two
years, but the wide gap between bed al
ways been respectfully preserved.
"A penny for your thochts. Sandy," mar
mured Maggie, after a silence of an hour
and a half.
"Weel," replied Sandy, slowly, with sur
prising boldness, "tae tell ye the truth, I
was Jlst thinkln' how line It wad be if ys
were tae gle me a wee bit klssle."
"I've nae objection," simpered Maggie,
slithering over, and kissed him plumply on
the tip of his left ear.
Then she 'slithered back.
Sandy relapsed into a brown study once
more and the clocked ticked 27 minutes.
"An" what are ye thinkln' about noo
anither, eh?" '
"Nae, nae. lassie: It's malr serious, noo."
"Is it. laddie?" asked Maggie, softly. Her
heart was going plt-a-pat with expectation.
"An' what micht it be?"
"I was jlst thinkln'." answered Sandy,
"that It was aboot time ye were paying me
that penny!" Answers.
A NARROW ESCAPK The disputes
which old "Square" Bemls was called upon
to settle were many and various. He asked
no fee. "All I remiire Is that you'll abide
by what I say, or you needn't ever come to
me again," he told his Bushby clients.
"You've helped me out a good many
times. Square," said Ephrlam Gregg, on
one occasion, "and I look to ye to do It
now. BUI Henderson's colt broke loose and
got Into my garden yesterday, and between
what he's tore up and what he's et. 1
should say 'twould take about Si to cover.
Can you get It out of BUI. think?"
"Square" Bemls shook his heaa.
"Bill's been here before you." he said,
gravely, "and I've been- with him to look
over the colt. I've advised him not to prose
cute unless you tried to. The damages
his colt has sustained from your blackberry
vines would come to considerably more
than $4, Ephralm, but if you insist on- "
"I'm not Insisting." broke In Ephralm.
"On the whole, Square, some of them
squash vines might not have come to much
anyway. So we'll Jest let the whole thing
go. Youth's Companion.
InsworthwOlobserved.ol-ith shrd cmfw shr
PARSIMONIOUS "Never mind." tsay the
lawyers tothe malefactor of great wealth,
after the jury has found him guilty and
the Judge has pronounced sentence upon
him in scathing words. "Never mind, we
can take an appeal In this case, and If ll
goes against us In the Court ot Appeals,
we can get a writ of error and a habeas
corpus and a mandamus and an Injunction
and so on, until "
"Excuse me, gentlemen," says the male
factor of great wealth. "I have concluded
to pay my line and serve my sentence, l
figure that your fees woul be a sreai deal
more than my time and money to pay th
penalty are worth."
"Stingy!"-hiss the lawyers, filing out and
thinking bitter thoughts about the econom
ical traits that have enabled their client to
build u bis fortune. Chicago Evening
i'oat.