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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 1908)
THE MORNING OKJ'GONIAN. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 11)03. 10 PORTLAND. OlIKCOX. Kr.:.-r.l at Portland. Oregon. Postotfice M Im-.lpti.m lic-Invariably la Adrance. .By Mail.) Bally. Sunday ti.cJuU.Hl. oirrnVs.) ;:; Tou" U-!y, one ycur ;,, Hui. My. o.io caf v"1(",p ..!.. fc'U-y i.u AVe.kiy.ear Pil:v, Sunday included, one year...... ii, tuuav lnc,u.U-i. one month ..i.j. nu.i. pos,oftice money t SJuo- or personal cue.lt on P'- r nk slump ceia or currency IfallZ iaUcVs r..-k. Give poa.ceaa dr -S lo full. Inuludiae county and sutte. l .t ie H:it- lO to 14 papes. 1 tent .18 , , "V ' , tti,i :,.) to 44 pages. cents. io'tV p--. "'! postase Tfibuue'iuKiuus. dicaga. rooms 010-1- Tril-ii'-- bJi.'i.Hfi. If.KTl.AMI. rWUAVDMMUMM. OIK MISMANAGED NAVY. in tho current Issue of Pearson's -uViue, Hoary Keuterdahl. who crca't.d such a furor, a year ago by h " ntie-m of the poor contruct.o.i of our battleship llee-t. has a n t, r. -tin? article on the -Navy. In this artic o Mr. Reutcrdahl lays particu U s V on the efforts of President Poos-ve-lt to improve the etlieiency o. the Xavv. una also exposes the weak points in the pP.-s.-nt bureau system it was through tho absurd polio of the itnor.ua bureaucrats ot. he department at Washington that I ort I u d was deprived of a visit from the Let last Summer, it can cus, ly be un derstood what a monumental tastt 18 1,,-oro the men who sooner or later must institute the needed reform in the svstem. "The Secretary of the N-vv" avs Mr. Keuteruanl. is u-Tua'lv a politician, a civilian who knows no, l.ir.g of ships. The Assist unl Secretary has in most oases no knowledge of naval affairs i.h this admirable talent at the head of J". Navy, it is easy to understand why the reform in our naval policy is sadiy r'' This' bureau system, controlled by men who are ignorant of the work which thev are appointed to look al ter has been responsible lor the waste of millions. The details of some of those reckless expenditures, for which there was no return, are given in full l.v Mr. lleuterdahl. The Navy-yard which Senator Gallinger,. the noted ship-subsidy booster. secured for PorUinouth. N. H.. co.t $10.000 000 and but one battleship has ever been docked there. Last year the payroll at this yard was S7VO.O0O and the value of the work turned out $400. 000. Senator UalUnger also secured the building at Portsmouth of one of the three sailing ships authorized 1:1 l'.Q3 bv Congress. Tilu three vessels c.'ist jioO.OOo, and have never been used, for the simple reason that the sailing ship was obsolete in the Navy before these vessels were built. At the Key West sta on there was expended for labor last year $94,318 tn.i the value of the output was ? 7 62G. The payroll at the New Or lean naval station last year wa.-i $7S, 274 and the value of the product was $l04i?. Over $17,000,000 has been (spent on the Mare Island Navy-yard and touav it is useless for ships of deep draft. Mr. lleuterdahl also colls t.tleiuion to the repairs of useless v. s-s-ls and the building of new ones which are out of date before they are launched. Throughout the article Mr. Eeuterdahl makes frequent mention of the efforts of the President to se cure the much-needed reforms, no I ss than three messages on the sub ject having been sent to Congress. As this article is reinforced with facts on 1 figures, it will receive a con sideration that was not shown the writer's criticism on the ships when they were en route for'the Pacific. In tome respects, as has since been shown, that criticism was warranted, and this latest expose of the weak points in the Navy Department will hardly fail to excite much comment. I KUAN AND iCBUl'u.VN OKOWTH. November, the first of the Winter months, shows Portland building per mits of nearly $1,00 0,000. Construc tion work on cither residence or busi ness building in Winter in" Portland is of course a much It ss serious prob lem than It is in localities where ex tremely cold weather prevents such work from being carried on to ad vantage. Put even here it can be carried on so much more economically in the Spring. Summer nnd Autumn, that very little work except that of ::ti tir0'i lit nature is undertaken. It is the urgency which prompts this force .1 construction at a season when weather is generally unfavorable that ( tiers a striking evidence of the phe nomenal growth of Portland. The November permits broke ail records for a corresponding month, but there is every reason to believe that those for December, if the Peninsula im provements are int ljued, will not only exceed those of any other December in the history of the port. nt they will also exceed those of November. Including the new buildings for whi h contracts 'nave been let by the S.vii'ts t-n tin; Peninsula, the Decem ber permits are already $C00.0OO, with a number of t.ti-r bi-j projects to be announced before tiie end of the month. This Peninsula, project is jn examp.e of tho manner in which tiie eiiiiyinir districts are nil pacinif tribute to Portland, and sl-.oes the extent to which this city is J. pendent for her own prosperity 01 the prosperity of the adjacent territory. The tivlft plant Is of course to all intents and pur poses a I'ur'UnJ institution, and in due season will be brought into the city limits. Utit the same prosperous conditions that are noticeable at Portland and on the Peninsula are also In evit!. uce at a l.irire number of oth.r points. I.innton, a few miles below the city, has doubled her popu lation in the past two years an.l is now growing more rapidly than e-ver. With completion of the trolley line in a few weeks, Linnton will be as close to Portland as John, or a number of other suburbs. This suburban proivth which is so Ik nebcin! to Portland, Is not restricted by state lines, for across the Colum bia, only about twenty minutes' ride by the new North Pank Railroad, Vancouver is growing .more rapidly than ever before and the passenger traffic between the two cities is de veloping into enormous proportions. The same is true in degree of Oregon City and the entire region traversed bv "the Oregon electric lines. In every d rection out of Portland there are m attered a number of new- industries v ith pay rolls of varying size, and it i fioiu .theso industries that the trade of Portland draws heavily. In the city proper, the dinner-pail bri gade is larger than ever before, and is increasing in keeping with every thing else in the city. On every hand there are plenty of, prosperity signs to indicate that in all forms of in dustrial activity, Portland and the surrounding erritorv v-ili terminate the old year with ' record-breaking business. TRUNG TO JVSTII Y ?UROKK. The man who undertakes to justify the assassination of Attorney Fisher by Finca is unworthy of living room in a civilized community. The attempt to make it appear that Fisher or any body else persecuted Finch is a friv olous effort to frame up a defense which only a weak-minded jury would consider for an instant. Finch plead ed guiltv to three charges appearing in court while drunk, drawing checks on banks in which he had no money, and using the notarial seal of an other. He was certainly guilty, else he would not have consented to enter the pie-a. He deserved to be .dis barred. Fisher did merely his duty when he brought the disbarment pro ceedings. So far was Fisher from desiring to persecute Finch that he wrote to the supreme judges asking them to have mercy on Finch, to sus pend -him instead of disbarring him, and to give him a chance to reform. Finch had every reason to feel grate ful to Fisher for a kindness. It is not true, as friends of Finch have said. that tho newspapers "rubbed it in" when he was sus pended. Tht-y mentioned the fact as a matter of news, hut not with undue prominence or comment. But what the newspapers may have done af fords no excuse whatever for the kill ing of Fisher. The plain fact of the matter is that Finch had murder in hi3 heart, bought a revolver, nerved himself up with a few drinks of brandy and then in a most cowardly manner shot his victim in the back. If there -was ever a premeditated mur der, this was one. The buying of the revolver is proof enough of the pre meditation. The best that can be said for Finch is that he had crazed him self with liuuor, and, if that is a de fense, then we may as well repeal all laws against murder. riKK-MIIJv J'ltOBLEM. The Oregon Statu. Dairymen's Asso ciation will meet next week. Its members can tell where to iind pure milk. A good many of them, how-, ever, don't know where to find clean hands, clean pails, clean cans, clean methods and pure water. ,Milk is generally pure; the poison is in the water or the cans or on the hands of the milkmen. Dirty dairy men, along with the clean, indignant ly deny that the milk of their cows is impure. They are right. If cows could have clean dairyinen, their of fering would be just as Nature makes it. Occasionally an unhealthy or a tlis eascd cow may give milk for Portland" consumption; this case, however, is comparatively rare. It may be doubt ed that such a cow constitutes a real menace to human health; this is. a question in dispute among authorities. It depends, we imagine, on what the cow disease is. Put whatever the au thorities may say, "sick milk" is re pulsive and the human family is bet ter off without it. For the man who pells it there should be severe pun ishment. The real menace lies in dirty, fetid barns, noisome manure heaps, un clean recepcles and contaminated water. These unsatisfactory condi tions prevail more or less in every city's supply. If they were deadly or as unhealthy as they, are disgusting, far more persons would be dying or sick. It is no valid defense of these conditions, however, to meet pure mllk crusaders with such objections. Dairy conditions are unsatisfactory enough at best, and whatever the best, they can be improved. All along the milk route, from the udder to the family table, milk is besot with filth, smells and microbes. It will need long education of all hands along the route, to preerve Nature's purity and sweetness. J.lXlNli WITH (ItOKKIt. If Richard Croker's visit to New To had been for social purposes only, it would have been indelicate in Dr. Stephen S. Wise to condemn judges or anybody else for dining with him. A man may be socially eligible, as the world goes, who is mo ally cul pable to the last degree and Judges cannot fairly be held to a more rig orous rule in choosing their associates than other people, perhaps. A nice sense of propriety would hardly per mit an upright judge to relish the company of a man like Croker, but if he lacks that sense it is his own affair so long as his decisions arc not af fected. Put Richard Croker comes to New York not as a private individual, bent on seeing his old friends and enjoy ing their society. He comes as a me diator to heal the dissensions of the Democratic party and cement the power of Tammany Hall over the eiiy. The judges who dined with him thereby approved of his mission. They declared themselves his co partners in a conspiracy against pub lic decency. They put themselves on the side of corrupt politics, probably, as Dr. Wise said, because they felt obliged to honor their creator. It was an amazing spectacle, sad and de pressing. Still it lias a hopeful side. One- preacher at least was found to denounce it. TKK I'OKT OF TILLAMOOK. Tillamook will hold ail election next Monday to vote on the question of en larging the territory of the Port of Tillamook, which has been organized on similar lines to the Port of Port land. The district originally included in the Port of Tillamook was some what restricted, and, as adjoining dis tricts would participate in any of the benefits resulting from the work of the Port of Tillamook, an attempt will be made to include Hoquarton, Fairview and South Prairie precincts in the .district. Tillamook is going still further in her efforts to secure an adequate outlet by sea. The Whitney Lumber Company, one of the largest timber holders in the county, or even in the State of Oregon, has at consid erable expense collected a great vol ume of data regarding the present and prospective tratlic resources of the Tillamook region, and has asked the assistance of other interested persons in bringing the matter to the attention of Congress. To reinforce the work of the Port of Tillamook, Representative Hawley has been asked to introduce a bill in Congress authorizing the engineers' department to survey and bring forth a project for submission to the rivers and harbors committee. There Is tributary to the port of Tillamook an immense body of remarkably valua ble timber, which, win an improved harbor, can, to a considerable extent, seek a market to better advantage by sea than by land haul. There is. also a wonderfully rich agricultural coun try tributary to Tillamook, and all of it would be benefited by improvement of Tillamook Bay and entrance from the ocean. In widening! the scope of their organiy-ation, so as to take in. as much as possible of the territory that will be benefited by the improvement, the Tillamook people are not only lightening the burden on Tillamook proper but they are assuring them selves of needed support that will vastly increase the .opportunities for successful work. Had the Port of Portland, or an or ganization for similar purposes, been able to include in its original plans all of the territory that has been bene fited by the expenditures which the Port of Portland has made, we should today have a thirty-foot channel at dead low water to Astoria, and a. forty-foot channel over the bar. Til lamook Is starting on right lines, and if the people in the territory that will be benefited by the improvements planned will only do their part, the city on Hoquarton Slough may yet become a prominent seaport. WHAT FIU'JTGROWERS 3IVST KNOW. It is agreed among fruitgrowers that one of the greatest needs at the present time is better methods of packing fruit and preparing it for the market. Growers have been taught how to spray their" trees and keep the fruit free from pests; but a large por tion of the crop is placed upon the market in an unattractive condition, though free from disease. In every apple-producing district there should bo held local meetings for. the pur pose of giving Instruction in this im portant matter. Lectures from a plat form are but little more effective than pictures and descriptions in a pamphlet. What is needed is practical instruc tion in which the grower himself packs the boxes of apples under the supervision of an experienced in structor, who cm point out his er rors and show him how to correct them. It is easy to fill a box with apples. It is not easy to wrap the apples smoothly in paper. Neither is it easy to place them in rows in the boxes so that tho tiers will just fill the box crosswise, lengthwise, and from top to bottom. As every expert in apple-packing knows, the box should, bo filled so that when the cover is pressed down there will be the requisite amount of "bulge," and so that no apple in the box is -loose enough to rattle. Proper sorting, packing and brand ing of boxes are among the impor tant things the. average applegrower does not know and should know. "The best way to, learn is to do." The demonstration train which went through the Willamette Valley some weeks ago did good work in showing growers how to pack apples, yet merely standing by and watching an expert do the work is far from suffi cient. Teaching growers how to pack will take more time, and this can be best undertaken at local horticultural meetings, where the crowd is com paratively small and where personal instruction can be given. SANITARY t'ONl.ITJOXS OX FARMS. Of the thirteen questions formu lated for the use of the Commission on Country Life the eleventh, viz., "Are the sanitary conditions of farms in your ' neighborhood satisfactory?" is of prime if not paramount import ance. An idea very generally preva lent is that country life is without ex ception a life conducive to health. In telligent observation proves that whether this is true or not depends upon conditions and surroundings. In the single but all-important matter of water supply many farmhouses are so lamentably ill served as to consti tute a menace to tho health of the" traveler who chances to tarry in one of these overs night. Not infre quently the entire family is subjected, one after another, to typhoid fever, and only less frequently to diphtheria, from quaffing from the old oaken bucket, that, dripping with coolness and germs is drawn from the door yard or farmyard well. As explained some .weeks ago by Dr. Woods Hutchinson in an article published in the Saturday Evening Post, the man starting out to make a home on land for farming purposes proceds at once to. dig two holes the one shallow, the other deep; the first is used as a cesspool, the second sup plies the water for drinking and household purposes. Naturally the shallow excavation drains Into 'the deeper one, and under conditions that favor the pmseneo of typhoid germs in the cesspool these are conveyed to the well. What happens next has often been told in farmhouses where ideal condi tions for health were supposed to pre vail. One after another of the family has "come down with typhoid," igno rant of the source of the disease; doctors' bills and more than likely burial expenses have been added to the family burden; neighbors, coming in with kind intent to watch with the sick." have quaffed of water from the infected well, a:.d an epidemic of ty phoid has resulted. It is often a mys tery how the water came to be con taminated in the first place, but there is no longer a mystery about the bale ful effect, though the first cause is not discoverable. Sanitation as applied to farmhouses is indeed a serious problem. Not all of its features hinge about the water supply and the disposal of sewage, though these matters are of first im portance. Farmhouse' built upon the ground, with small, low-ceiled sleeping-rooms, and absolutely without provision for ventilation, are unfit to live in. yet they abound. Sallow faced children issue from tjiem, the shadow of discontent that was born upon their faces deepening into dis gust as the years go on. A glance at the .mothers explains all. lor what woman could, with contented mind and joyful anticipations, of life for herself and the unborn, bring children into hopelessly decadent, unhealthful, unattractive homes? . The need of rural uplifting is mani fest in the farmhouse Itself not in every farmhouse. It is true, but in a vast number of them. It extends rap idly to the dooryard and looks in quiringly into the well;, a few feet farther, on a little higher ground per haps, it peeps into an outhouse and retreats precipitately, holding the nose: stepping into the cellar or "roothouse," the Investigator is forced to retreat before an atmosphere laden with a musty odor, as of dampness and decaying vegetation; ori to the barnyard, if it be the Winter season In Oregon, and neither water nor land, but a malodorous quagmire in which cows stantl, half-knee deep, waiting to be milked, is encountered. Let do one euuuuse. however, tlmi. the.- unsanitary conditions pertain exclusively to farm life in Oregon or in the West. The old New England farms literally reek with them. They are common indeed in rural and sub rural life in many sections of the Mid dle States and the great Middle West. Improved sanitation in farming dis tricts everywhere is necessary if the drift from the country to the city is to be arrested. If the Commission suc ceeds in awakening the people of the rural districts to a realizing sense of their unsanitary surroundings and in suggesting some practical and availa ble means of correcting them it will have justified its appointment. The old saying. "The Lord helps those who help themselves." says the Outlook, is quite as true of farmers as of any other group of citizens. In details the farmer must work out his own salva tion. An intelligent, self-helpful class, ready and even anxious to learn as shown by the eagerness with which they flock to farmers' institutes " there is everj- reason to believe that the farmers throughout the country will do their full part in furnishing data to the Commission, whereby a comprehensive report of the condi tions that surround country life may be return'ed. We hear a great deal about a com mercial era, but it will be the fault of the farmer himself if in the era of growth and expansion upon which the Nation is now entering, the commer cial spirit outstrips, in the race for wealth and National distinction, the newly awakened spirit of agriculture. The State Horticultural Socity is a worthy organization and beyond doubt is doing a work that is of considerable commercial value to the state. Never theless, it would be a bad precedent for the Legislature to grant its re quest for an appropriation of $1000 a year for expenses. We have a State Horticultural" Commission which should do all the work in that line on behalf of the state. The State Agricultural College sends out lec turers for horticultural meetings when desired. If the state should ap propriate money to aid the Horticul tural Society, it would soon be asked to malo an appropriation for the Hopgrowers' Association, for the Woolgrowers' Association, for a Lum bermens' organization, for a Mining organization and for an unlimited number of other enterprises entirely "under private control. It is entirely proper for public money to be ex pended in tho legitimate advance ment of the industrial interests of the state, but the expenditures should be by public officials under oath ami bond to perform their duties faith fully. As the Emmanuel Movement grows it necessarily because of more or less distant kinship comes into contact with Christian Science. Some sort of conflict is inevitable. Followers of Mrs. Eddy's teachings are at variance with those who believe in Dr. Wor cester's theories. To the "outsider," lis tening to arguments from both sides, discussion has more than momentary interest. What Christian Scientists think of the Emmanuel Movement is pertinent. Alfred Furlow, the one man committee of the Christian Scien tists, has prepared such an opinion, it will be published by The Sunday Oregonian in three parts, the first to appear next Sunday. What he says is commended alike to Christian Sci entists and the general public. Mr. Farlow speaks for his church by au thority. If members of the Legislature have any spare time during tho preliminary contest over organization they might give- soma thought to the subject of effective banking legislation, so as to insure dishonest bankers speedy trial, prompt conviction and imprisonment commensurate with their offenses. No honest banker wiJI fear such a law and therefore will not oppose it. The banker 'who does fear it gives indis putable evidence that such a law is needed. It will be noted that the brave war rior niggers of Hayti have several notable names among them: Hippo lyte, whose original bearer. Queen of the Amazons, no doubt would feel highly honored did she know it; Alexis, whose legitimate possessor in Russia is likewise flattered; and Si mon, whose many famous wearers, here and elsewhere, will all feel grat illed. The man who left $500 in a wallet under his pillow when he went ashore at Port Townsend recently is a trav eling agent of a wholesale liquor house. His absent-mindedness may perhaps be explained by the possibil ity that he had during the night been sampling his own samples. The chronic weather growler is not to be daunted by the bright days that have ushered December in. Though the mercury has scarcely touched the freezing point in the most exposed places, the Yveather has been "too cold" for him. The attorney for Mr. Finch .calls the killing of Mr. Fisher an "unfortunate occurrence." Murder is always "un fortunate" for the victim, but the rec ords show that in far too many cases it is not very unfortunate for the murderer. . The Commission on Country Life will be able to epitomize its findings for the uplift in two necessities fit ness and education. The day Is pass ing when "anybody can be a farmer." A Vnan who arises occasionally at 5 says a view of Mount Hood at the be ginning of dawn reminds him of the Pyramids, although he has never seen them. The Country Life Commission could find additional facts about farm life in Oregon up among the folk of the Molalla or the Santlam or-. Deep Creek. , The quickness with which the peo ple of Hayti have put down their old government indicates that they don't even need the initiative and referen dum. Let a cold snap come and be wel come. There are pests on the trees of the man who does not spray that can be reached no other way. Edior Geer again has quit newspa per work. What! does he think Edi tor Hofer is getting too strong for Governor? Dairymen are getting so much for their milk nowadays that they don't have to be careful about what's in it. The Legislature might check the gun evil by prohibiting hip pockets. It seems that jail is a safer place for. xLuurdariii-s than the outside. REPUBLIC AX PARTY" SI "PREMACT From 17S to It Rule M ill Be 6S Y'ear Democratic 06 Years. C. R. Saunders in Boston Herald. Now that Taft has been elected, it Is interesting to note , that, during the 3 24 years terminating in 1913, which our Government will have existed un der the Constitution, the supreme ex ecutive power will have been placed for 6S years with the Republican party and its predecessors and for 55 years with the Democratic party and its pre decessors. At the close of John Adams' term In 1801, the Federalists, liberal construc tionists, had held the Presidency for 12 years. For' the ensuing 40 years the Anti-Federalists, or Democrats, strict constructionists, were in pos session of the Government, except for the four years from 1S23 to 3 S29. when John Quincy Adams was President. During the next 20 years, down to the Civil War, Hie Democratic party car ried three Presidential elections and the Whig party two. The greatest preponderance of Anti Federalists and Democratic rule was In ISf.l, at which time the Government had been for-48 years under such con trol and only 24 years under Federal 1st and Whig influence. The Republicans held the Presidency for 24 years following 1SC1. and by 18S3 jiad re-established the balance between liberal and strict construc tionists, each party having held con trol for 4S years. This balance was destroyed in favor of the Democrats by Cleveland's first election, restored by the election of Harrison, deflected again In favor of str.ict construction by Cleveland's second election, anil again re-established by McKlnley's first election. By McKTnley's second election the period in which the liberal constructionists were in power exceed ed that of the strict constructionists for the first time since the balance was destroyed in favor of the latter in 1S13. By the election of Roosevelt and Taff the period of liberal construction of the Constitution by the executive power -will exceed that of strict con struction of 12 years. During the r2 years succeeding G1 the Republican party will have been in executive pow er 44 years and the Domnerntlo party only eight years. Of tho last 13 Presi dential elections the Republicans have won eleven and the Democrats only two. The following table shows to the eye the varying struggle between these two schools of interpretation of tbo Constitution since tho establish ment of our present form of govern ment in 17N9. It also shows that, al though the first four Democratic Presi dents were re-elected, no Democratic President has been re-elected to suc ceed himself since Jackson, in 1S32. The figures represent the number of years 'that each administration held office: Fed- Antl erallst. Fe.l . Vhis. ci-Hlist Hep. Dem. WasIiinKton 8 Adnnis. John 4 J'-fferson S Mnilison s Monroe 8 Adams. John Quincy 4 J;l'-ksnn S Van Btiren 4 llnrrisim and Tyler 4 polk . 4 Tavlor and Fillmore 4 J'ier.e p.m-hanan I.ni.oln and Johnson...; S era nt S Haves 4 Garrlold nnd Arthur 4 Cleveland 4 Harrison. Benjamin 4 Cleveland 4 4 U-Kinley and Itooitevelt S Hoosevelt 4 .. Taft 4 Totals CS 50 J.tW.V 1)S MHMOIKS. A OooU Man Vluilientnl a Sonrch Init Invest iutlnn. Mr. Dooley in the American Magazine. "Well, llinnissy, th' huprtesion I got fr'm this here little heart-to-heart was that nie frind Jawn D. was quite a jolly, rollickin' old soul. I plunged fr'm thence into his autybiography an" imnvedjedly plunged out again. I cannot tell ye all iv this dashin' story iv adventure. I class it among th' sr-rent fightin' romances iv lithrachoor. How he was beset be rivals, how he pierced wan with a rebate, how he broke th' law over another's head, how he leaped through a loophole in a Supreme Court decision an' was safe f'r a time; th' great peril lie was in fr'm f'rgettin' th' combination to his safe; how .he was threeache rously sthruck down be Kenesaw M. Landls; how honest Peter Grosscup com along and lifted th' fine and carried him iiome an' nursed him back to life. I'll not tell ye about it. Ye must read It f'r ye'erself. An' if it's not too much to ask, read it f'r me too. "There's wan tiling sure fr'm what I sec, an' that is that Jawn D. hasn't anny idee that he iver done wrong to anny wan. I like that about him. It shows lie's a human being. Says he: 'Settin' here, on a rainy day, th' thought comes over 1110 that I shud put down th' ad vintures that have befell me, Jawn D. Rockyfcllar, a cadet iv a noble .Ohio house, goin' over th' ivints iv a long life an' describln' episodes that have made hlsthry in th' kerosene ile busi ness. It is well that I shud utter me narrative in the quite iv a counting house rather thin in th' brawl iv a coort, with a lawyer waggln' bis finger undher mo nose. So to begin at th' beginning. I will skip 40 years an' say that I have been wrongly blamed. " 'Not be meself, but be others not so well informed. If I had been a bad man wud 1 be surrounded as I am today be lile an' devoted pardntrs? Manny de plorable acts have no doubt been done be overz-alous subordinates. I cannot excuse these here zealots. All I cud do was to take thim out Iv th' way iv temptation an' give some wan else a chance. I made thim me pardners an' now mnnny iv thim are on such terms with United States Sirtitors that they en n hand thim a little something with out blushing. It has been a great pleas ure to me to save theso nien an,' make thim what they are. They have graj ated fr'm crime, but I am glad to say that th' last time I visited th' old col lege down In Broadway I saw th" grads mixin' in on th- best iv terms with a splendid growin' kindergarten.' " Mr. Tal't'a Progress! vcim-m. Providence Jorunal. There is a Cleve-landliko quarfty in the fPi-esident-elect's reputed attitude. In deed, it seems reasonable to think that he will prove to be a President of the Cleveland rather than the Roosevelt type. And if he shows the stubborn resistance in the face of opposition that the last D8mocratic Executive displayed, he may wake up some morning to find himself as popular as Mr. Roosevelt has ever been. Already he. may count ujton public sym pathy and applause In his fight with 'Uncle Joe." The Illinois Representative is not popular, though a certain charitable view has always been taken of his fail ings because of the picturesque element interwoven with them. Nor has the coun try any liking for the reactionary cronies he has gathered about hisi. That is why, whatever the result of the first skirmish may be, a final victory for the progres sives under President Taft may be an ticipated. Value of a Chinese Alliance. Sacramento Union. Aside from the great commercial advan tages that would undeniably result to tho United States from a closer union with China, there are more fundamental rea sons for a better acquaintance with this great Eastern neighbor. The age of na tional and racial isolation is nearer ma turity. To win now the heart and confi dence of the yellow and diffident by the Yellow Sea may be worth more to Uncle Sam than all tho treaties with European nations his statesmen can write, and more than all the ships and guns his me chanics can build. "EMPIRE BUILDER" JUSTLY APPLIES TO JAMES J. HILL Comment on the OpenlnK of tho North Paper ot the country Mr. 1I1H Place and for Future Time. New York Commercial and Financial Chronicle. Mall advices bring full accounts of the noteworthy banquet given by the Port land (Or.) Commercial Club the early part of the present month to celebrate the opening of the Spokane. Fortland Sc Seattle Railway, and to express appre ciation of the action of James J. Hill in building the road. Great enthusiasm was manifested at the banquet, which was attended by the higher officials of both the Northern Pacific nnd the Great Northern companies. There was one in cident connected with this dinner and jollification meeting, for such it was, which deserves to be put on record. Mr. Hill was the honored guest of the occa sion and when he got up to deliver his address, a most remarkable and signifi cant demonstration occurred. In order to show the esteem in which he is held, and as an expression of the gratitude which the people of Portland feel In having been furnished with this unsur passed rail outlet, a surprise had been prepared for him. As he rose to his feet the hall was plunged in momentary darkness; then in front of him the folds of an American flag which had bee;i used as drapery, fell apart and Mr. Hill beheld, in blazing letters, the expres sion. "James J. Hill Empire Builder." Never was there a truer expression than this, and never was recognition of ser vices thus rendered more clearly de served. We think we are entirely within tho mark when wo say that the. Pacific Northwest owes more to Mr. Hill than It does to any human being who ever lived. It is to the transportation services furnished as the result of his marvelo:i3 energy and foresight that the phenom enal growth and development of that part of .the country must, in great measure, be ascribed. But it is not for the. purpose of discuss ing Mr. llill part in the expansion and development of the Pacific Northwest that wo make mention here of the inci dent referred to. It is rather, to con trast the altitude of the public .when, in the first flush of enthusiasm, after ob taining the much-desired railroad con nection, and its attitude a littln later, after It has had enjoyment of the much sought facilities and forgets that it was ever without them. We dimly recti 11 the similar enthusiasm manifested in tiie twin cities Minneapolis and St. Paul wiien Mr. Hill completed the extension of the Great Northern Railway to the Pacific Coast. The inhabitants of the two cities were overjoyed at getting a second lino to the Coast, the Northern Pacific having been their first line; tin y could not find words strong enough to express their admiration and gratitude. One would have imagined that the whole subsequent life of the man who, by his acts, had excited such elation, would be interpreted in the light of this early work that the communities along . the lines of the new system would never har bor a thought that in tho operation of his roatls ho would be capable of doing anything to retard the growth and wel fare of these communities, hut would al ways be animated by a desire to promote them. Instead of that, only a relatively few years had elapsed when it see f ed as if tho various communities served by the lines of the system looked upon him a: a public enemy instead of a public bene factor, anel as if he were now engaged in the task of destroying what he hud iwe- EM.MVMEL .10VBMKVI"S I.AMiKU Inileslrabilily to Have It a Branch of Church Work. New York Commercial Advertiser. It is idle to shut our eyes to the fact that a large number of those who come to Dr. Worce.ster's Wednesday night meet ings think there is more afoot than a euro of souls. The lame arrive, anel those elis turbed with real and definite ailments. The eick man, 'through all tin; iig's. has 'always been ready to try anything, and is responsive to intimations that a "won der" may be worked in his beiialf. Dr. Worcester must be aware that the atten tion he has attracted is not so much duo to his moelest claims as to tho belief that he and his co-workers are performing miracle--. Thus the Emmanuel move ment will be under temptation to sliele away into quackery into religious quae-k-ery, the worst of all quackeries. Ho doubtless means to avoid such a result, but where there is exceptional care to prevent misconce-plion he may iluscover that he is merely fostering in a new form tho degrading medicine man theory of religion. Things being as they are, it is doubtful whether it is desirable to have Eniinan uelism erected into a recognized branch of church work. The; church does not deem it is nneier spe-cial call to emphasize, tho truths of chemistry. Why should it plunge into the exploitation of the unex act and cloudy science that deals with the relations of the conscious and sub conscious intelligence? Practitioners of the new school will not all be as re strained as Dr. Worcester. In all proba bility they will be led on. by their z -al anel Ignorance to imply that they have found a way to set aside the laws of na ture, and that under their treatment the physical ills that are the result of defi nite and, in most cases," know n causes are removable by stimulating religious emo tions. Such methods can do little for science, and so far as the-y are practiced will tend to lower the religious Ideal. When the Cowboy Pony Cough. De-troit Free Press. "Hart O. Berg, t lie Wrights' manager, was talking at Le Mans about the' Wrights' skill," said a returned tourist. "Hart tolei me how Wiibur Wright got rather impatient with the aerial pilots he was teaching to run bis machine. "One afternoon, according to Hart, a French count, U.e most promising of tho learners, had 1: slipup and fell. No harm was done anil the count excused himself on account of the high wind anel so forth. Wright smiled sarcastic ally as he overhauled the damaged ma chine. Hart said it was just like a tenderfoot he once saw in Texas. "This tenderfoot thought h" could ride, and in front of a lot" of cowboys mounted a pony. The pony threw him. A cowboy, helping, him up, said: " 'Hello! What threw you'." "'What threw me? Why, she bucked something fearful. Didn't you see her buck?' cried the tenderfoot. " 'Buck?' said the cowboy, 'Rats ! She only coughed.' " Child's Hoop Tics lu Electric Plant. Hartford (Conn.) Dispatch. The municipal electric plant of South Norwalk. Conn., has been put out of commission by a child's hoop. The hoem lodged between two wires of the service on one of the remote stretches anel connected the commercial with the arc current. It burn.d out some of the machinery at the plant he-sides crippling the entire service for tho night. . Hank Hoad h, the I -'.. ,'ln".-'"' lu Pacific Northwest M-uti.uent ov viously built up. The whole machinery of the state government was turned against him, and other states along the route acted as if they too felt they nee.ljtl protection against his designing schemes, instead of welcoming him with one-i arms, as they had before. We know, of course, that all this did not indicate a change of heart on the part of tne people, themselves, who we are sure still regard him as their stanch fi ienil. but was simply the work of political adventurei .i, who hoped in that way to gain cheap notoriety for themselves. The fact re mains, however, that ho ami his roads have been treated differently than 00 foro, and It Is certainly noteworthy that the great beely of the public should have tolerateel sue-h a course, even 011 tho part eif tho politicians. As far as the inhabitants of Portland are concerned, they have good reason for rejoicing. The Spokane.-Portland & Seattle Hallway provides a water-grada line along the north bank of the Colum bia River and fixes tho future of Port land as a seaport city such as no other event could. When entirely completed, the line will extend all the way from Spokane tet Portland, and comprise over Hit) miles. The piece of road just opened extends from Portland to Pasco. Wash.. 2H0 miles, where connee-tion is nnuln with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Hereto fore. Portland has had to rely enlirc'y on the line of the Oregon Kailioad .V Navigation Company along the;' south bank of the Columbia Kiver. President Howard Elliott is quoted in The Ore gonian as saying that ill building and equipment there is not a better road m the United States, or, for Hint mailer, in the whole world. The line will be callable of handling all traffic for years to come and will bring passengers into Spokane within 10 or 12 hours after they leave Portland. It is being built jointly by the Northern Pacific nnd the etreit Northern Railway e-onipanies, and. as in dicating what a tremendous expeiitlil uro of money it iu olves. we may note that up to June ;:o, Jtn.s. the Great Northern t'ompnny had a.hanec'l no less than ?J1. S27.fc'l towards its construction, and tho Northern Pacific, up to the same time, had advanced J-tl.fiH.KH.i. In other words, already close to fifty million dollars has been spe-nt upon the undertaking. The Portland papers say that tlu North Bank road, as the new line Is callorl, marks one 'nf the most notable achievements in railroad construction in tho western llaif of the United States. They also deelare with one accord that il was Mr. .Hill's trained experience that suggested the feasibility of sueti a road, and that it was his Inelomitable energy that carrietl the enterprise through, for in the course of only a few mouths nieiret the whole lino from e-nd to cud will be completed anel ready for operation. Cer tainly nt one exct pt a man of the heroic mental molel and large horizon of Mr. Hill would have thought of spending ?.U, Ootl.OiiO In that way. Tbo designation, "Empire Builder" certainly very fittingly applies to him. An.l the same may be said of ail those engageei In large under takings for the development e.f the coun try's resources anil to promote e-iviliza-lion and progress. J. P. Morgan, Ed ward H. 1 larriman. James J. Hill and others that might be mentioned are all "Empire Builders. e If this fact Is no recognised while these men reintiln alive, it most assuredly will be after they ara elead. HAPS I .M'l.M'.TIli SPMI.I.IYR. EngliNh Evpcrls Decide tit 'I men More Hcnsonalile'' Form to Children. London Dispatch to New York Times. The object of the newly-formed English Simplified Spelling Society, which w is opened the other day in Lon don under I he Presidency of Professor Skoal of Cambridge University, was outlined by the president: "Phonetic spelling Is certain to e-oine. in America, where a simplified spell ing board is working on the same lines as ourselves, and it would be tllsgrace ful for Kiiglaiul to be left behind." said Professor Skeat. "The present move ment." he continued. "Is really a revi val e.f one promoted by the philologi cal Society of l.oneioii, :; years ago, w hie-il failed for two reasons; First, that English was not so much studied then as now. and. second, tiiat the re formers went a little too fast. The 1 -jf-e: t of the society Is not at all revo lutionary. If is simply to bring back English spelling to a re-asonable con dition. Anglo-Saxon. I. alia anel every other European language had a pho netic basis. "W'o propose to beiu by setting right wortls wi.ieh we know for every r-asnii to he wrong. The word 'debt' is a good instanee. The 'b' ot-nirs in the word because selie.lars in the Btth cen tury hail a mistaken ueuion that It wa.-i elerived from the I.c tin. whereas it eame from the French. In the time of Chaucer the word was spelled -dette," and was pronounced as two syllables. In Elizabeth's day whe-n the final 'e was eiropped the elouble 't' hoi-umo of no service, an.l tin- word should right ly have assumed the form -dot." Again the letlers 'ea' are only rightly pro nouuctl in three words in the English laniicnaire break, great and steak. In I other words where they occur, as In head, the a' is re-eiunelanL. "One; result of the moveme-nt will be to relie ve the awful burden on school chiblren, who now have te learn to spell by sight Instead of by ear. In the end we hope to reach the stage of pho netic, spelling. The Idea commonly held that: phonetic spelling would de stroy the history of the language Is, as experts know, a mistaken 0110." White Lend f'otrt for Negro Boy. ' Baltimore News. "Joe" I'e.-breeh. aged eight years, of Youngstown, Ohio. turned "Willie" Lewi's, a negro boy. while with the aiel of a can of while lead and a brush. Face, arms and body were treat.:.!. "I warned tiie boys to paint me whit"" "Willie" tolel bis mother. "It hurts, but I want it to stay on. T want to le while, lik" the rest of the boys." Willi the aid of gasoline the paint, along with patches 01 skin, was removed. Kceoiii.ncr.d-. Nesroen for tfrican Trip. Washington U- ''.I Dispatch. Senator Daniel, of Virginia, made a call of courtesy upon the President anil wished him pleasure and success in bis African hunting trip. With a wink, the Virginia Senator said to the President: "I hope vo u will take our colored brethren with you. where they can re juvenate themselves in their native land." ( nut Ion in Tiny. Oil in State Journal. "Uncle Joe" Cannon apnears to he fair ly confident e.f g 'i 1 inr ov r the line, hul ho probahlv won't risk any forward passes at this stage of the same.