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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1909)
PORTLAND, OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postofflce a Eecond-Oaas Matter. subscription Kates Invariably In Ad ran Co. Br MalL) SI , un5r Included, one year IS 00 r!lny' iun3" Included. six months 4 25 one year igg Punday. one year i BO Sunday and weekly, one year. .'. '. '. '. '. 8.40 By Carrier.) El!iv una"'r Included, on year B OO M-- 6und,y neuil. on month." .75 order" 'S RlS Sena poutofnce money Sou? wIP" rder or personal check oa ?! t ih b"-.k - stmP. coin or currency Ores? l ?,m nd"? G,v P"oftice ad ores in full. Including county and slate. to 50V".M Rates 10 to 14 pages. 1 ent: 18 coub?. "ratSJ"- CDt"- F"" Poatag wUh'tl?.t?,am'"'" Otnr The 8. C. Bock an tJIp '' A"'nc-New York, rooms 4S- Trifrb.u"b'uUbiVn;:"- chic'- "0m i - i. . . v.uugf, vue mo 11 1 n .no PORTLAND. TUESDAY. APRIL 20, 1909. THE ACRIClLTllUt COLLEGES. The statement that the agricultural colleges are doing a more valuable educational work than any other schools In the United States would, to niany persons, read Like a perversion of the truth. It will be agreed with of course, or denied, according to our Ideals of what a valuable education is. If we are convinced that learning Latin, Greek and rhetoric is the best preparation for life, we shall not be hie to admire the agricultural colleges vtry ardently, for their efforts lie in another direction. To make lawyers, doctors, ministers, is not their busi ness. Thsir aim is to bridge the ihasm between the achievements of modern science and modern industry The chasm was terribly wide and deep at one time, but it is growing narrower very day and shallower. Through the agricultural colleges science reaches out a helping hand to the farmer the housewife, the artisan. It dignifies In. dustry by.ailying it with knowledge and glorifies toil by making it creative and fruitful. In the Independent for April 15 E P Powell sketches briefly the work these wonderful schools are doing. "What strikes one most vividly In his article Is the fact that no agricultural college tries to "elevate" any individual away from productive industry. They all strive hard to uplift, but the man and his calling are elevated at the same time. Their call is not from the farm to the city, but in the contrary direction. They have made farming a learned profession. They have brought evolu tion with Its cosmic laws Into the cow stable, the wheat field and the orchard. Do the usual species of corn, wheat or cattle fail to meet the needs of a certain soil or climate? The agricul Xural college of that region attacks the problem of evolving a new and better adapted species. In Connecticut, for example, the faculty has produced, by heredity and selection, a variety of yellow dent corn which yields 133 bushels to the acre under ordinary cul ture. At Cornell they have attacked the problem of a better timothy. In Virginia, they are evolving an apple which shall bloom late enough to es cape the frosts of Spring. At Cor vallis they are on the quest, among other things, of a breed of corn that will mature well in our cool Summers. Two great Innovations in education are to be accredited to the agricultural colleges. The first is their short Win ter, courses, which are open to the farmer, his wife and his big bovs. When the corn is garnered and the Kali quilting is over, then the kindly college swings wide its doors to Joslah and Samantha and invites them to a feast of reason. Nor is the Invitation ignored. They flock in by the thou sand. The men study dairying, graft ing, breeding; the women delve into the lore of cooking, patterns and liter ature. Nothing like this was ever seen in the world before. Education is being made truly democratic. The people are at last entering upon their inheritance. The dreams of the poets are coming true and It Is the agricultural colleges that have begun the transformation. Their second great innovation con sists in putting the college on wheels nd Bending it wherever there are peo ple to be instructed. Perhaps the Iowa professors began this amazingly beneficent work with their corn train, but now all the agricultural colleges are doing it. Everybody remembers how the Oregon farmers' families flocked to hear Dr. Withycombe and his colleagues on the train which Pres ident Kerr sent out, not long ago. Its course was like the progress of some monarch through his dominions, only Instead of royal decorations these benefactors scattered the potent germs of knowledge. The college on wheels has a great future. Again, the agricultural colleges are bringing the rural schools into vital relations with the life of the people. We can all remember when these schools were but dull imitations of city grammar schools, purposeless, stupid inefficient. If they had any aim at all It was to make every farmer's son a clerk and every girl a shorthand writer. The wave of wholesome in fluence from the agricultural colleges has changed all that, or is changing it. Now the trend of the rural schools is toward the farm, not away from it. Country people have begun to learn the power and true dignity of their most enviable position in the world. They are learning how to make their lives beautiful through the imperial gifts of science. Not less than any other agricultural bollege in the country, ours, at Cor vallis, is taking a hand In this work of educating democracy to do Its tasks profitably and wholesomely. What it ha, already done is beyond computa tion, what it'promises to do will make the whole state richer, more intelli gent, healthier and happier. Its proj ects for the common good are numer ous and. wise. And yet there is a plan on foot to cut off Its slender resources. A referendum of thn sncini onnnn.i tlon for the Agricultural College would cripple Dr. Kerr's broad educational campaign for years. It would put off to the remote future benefits whiclv the state might enjoy at once and which it sadly needs. To this abuse of the referendum the people of the state should give no encouragement. The master of the State Grange has pru dently warned his great organization against it. Not a taxpayer, not a iiiou who lives by labor, should coun tenance it, for it is a blow at the wel fare of the entire community.- . The tarpon is said to be the king of game fishes and from the stories that u-e told and the photos that have been Ti. - o ' locraoeo, in res rnontni.. 2.25 1,1 ? 8un1' included, one month 7S yiZ 1 ' lhoul Sunday, on year e.00 without Sunday, aix months 3.25 r!! y' without Sunday, three month... 1.75 taken of the high leaper of the waters, tarpon fishing must be great sport. But the tarpon is not a food fish, and the only advantage in booking him Is to experience the thrill of the fight which he puts up to save his life. Out here in Oregon we have no tarpon, but we have the royal Chinook, and if any tarpon fisherman is ever fortunate enough to hook such a forty-three-pounder as was caught by-W. F. Bachus at Oregon City Sunday, tarpon fishing will lose its charm. The royal Chinook will not only execute many of the acrobatic stunts for which the tar pon is famous, but he will add a few new ones. Best of all, when one of these royal flsh is finally landed he yields up salmon steaks that are the epicure's delight. POLITICAL SAINTS AND SINNERS.- One set of citizens hold a public con ference of 600 invited delegates in Portland and nominate Simon for Mayor. . Another set hold a secret con ference of half a dozen self-appointed patriots, dub the others a machine, aver that they themselves are the only friends of the people and of the direct primary law, and "hand out" their nomination to one and then another, until Rushlight is the recipient of their favor. Now here we have repeated the world-old story of self-gathered men holding themselves saints and decrying others outside their circle as sinners. The earth is wrinkled with the sham of political machines, parading them selves as the only true friends of men and of passing creeds, and themselves using the very methods, yet worse, of the rivals they profess to abhor. Is It not presumption speaking mildly for a half dozen or more Bourne-McCusker patriots to proclaim the Republican assembly, or confer ence, or convention, whichever one wishes to call it, an assault on the di rect primary law, when the McCus ker faction follows the very procedure the primary law was designed to pre vent a procedure which its leaders will not admit, lest the admission brand false both their charges against their rivals and their own professions of political sincerity? The Simon assembly was a public) gathering of several hundred Repub licans, to which 600 were Invited. The McCusker-Rushlight "conference" .was a private meeting of men bent on ex citing the public against their rivals by a campaign of self-asserted political virtue. Just who the men are is not revealed, nor where they met, nor what they said. All that they give out to know is that they are posing as the only politicians complying with the di rect primary law. The direct primary law was enacted for the purpose of abolishing secret conferences in politics. Conventions had always been public enough; the inner ring that met in the back room and ruled the nominations did the evil. It is charged, of course, that such a ring ruled the assembly that nominat ed Simon. But how are they who make this charge in position to defend their own ring and assert their loyalty to the direct primary law? Yet that la Just iwhat they have the effrontery to do. There was no secret dealing in the Simon assembly to equal that of the other faction, yet the other makes loud claims of superior political virtue. They used the very same method in picking out one and another, and then Rushlight, as their rivals used In pick ing out Simon with this important difference: . They worked in an inner circle, while the Simon men held an open assembly. It is a trick as old as the hills to pre tend friendship for the people and loy alty to some popular notion, in order to win votes But they who play the trick long enough are always trapped in their own snares. - They can't fool all the people all the time. DR. M'LODGHLDTS HOUSE. It seems like something of a pity that the old dwelling-house of- Dr. Mc Loughlin, at Oregon City, should be In danger of demolition, with no man to stay the hand of the destroyer. Amer icans are not particularly noteworthy for antiquarian sentiment. Our monu ments of the past, famous and other, go to ruin without causing us much grief, and we see precious relics put to vile uses when a little effort and less money would redeem them. Some time the people, of Oregon, If this house is razed, will wish they had saved it. Oregon City apparently 'will do nothing. Wrhat will the pioneers do? Dr. McLoughlln held out a help ing hand to some of them in the mo ment of their dire distress.. Not a few owed their lives to his disinterested humanity. The children of those whom he served so nobly are not without worldly gear. Many of them could in dividually advance the money to save Dr. McLoughlin's house, and never miss it. It were a worthy deed for the son of some pioneer who faced starvation at The Dalles in 1844 and who partook of the good man's timely bounty. As time passes, Dr. . Mclaughlin's memory will take on an aspect more and more romantic. The - historians and poets of Oregon will not fall to make much of his eccentricities and of the. genuine nobility of his character. Not without statesmanlike qualities and a born executive of high rank, he fills a place in our early history which is unique. Nobody else in this part of the world was quite like him, and It derogates from nobody's merit to say that few of his contemporaries had half his ability or a tenth' part of "his culture. When his time of trouble came the state authorities did not treat him well. The story of the difficulties between the venerable magnate and the Protestant missionaries does not reflect much glory upon the latter. But all those things are of the past, and it Is not well to think about them too much.-; The purchase and restoration , of his old dwelling-house would show '. 'better than. almost anything else that ' we Thave repented .'of some . not " very praiseworthy, transactions and, win do better in the" future If" occasion offers. 1 . . . . -COSTLY LESSON LEARNED Substantial Increase in property values. and building construction will certainly, follow .compIeUon-of 'the big Brooklyn, sewer,, in .the .section .south of Division" street: , The expenditure of $250,000 in construction of the big tube can only in this way be Justified or " liquidated". Naturally following construction of the, great sewer and to make the first expenditure effective, will be the opening of laterals at a cost approximately equal to that al ready assessed. Realizing the importance of all this, and to make the improvement of streets of permanent . character and value,.'the owners of Dronertv In that 1 section of the city are moving, almost THE MORNING street construction and nlacl TCt ft MTV derground utilities that will give them a sense of security that has been en tirely wanting In street building in Portland in past years. The regular and long accepted method of street improvement was first to build the sur face, whether of asphalt, Belgian block or macadam: src trier, Hoo-in the process of opening lateral sewers. taj ing water ana gas mains, and pipes, and finally electric wire conduits. In calculable inconvenience, much an noyance and largely increased expense have, of course, followed this stupid, haphazard, wasteful manner of street construction. Some .of these things, owing to the Improvement in public utility ways and means, could not be avoided, but In most cases the simplest principles of economy in construction as applied to these improvements would have obviated all of the accru ing aggravations, inconveniences and added expenses. The Brooklyn case shows that people have learned by ex perience. It usually requires experience to teach these costly lessons, and one lesson In this line, as shown by dis rupted streets in almost every section of the city, at all seasons of the year chiefly, It would seem, in the Winter season Is rarely sufficient. ADMXRAL EVANS AND THE BRANDY. Every man should stick to his call ing or, on being retired from its ac tivities, he should, for the sake of his own dignity and that of the calling in which he earned honor and compe tence, refrain from giving to the public incidents and-experiences which, un der the stress of circumstance, fitted without flaw into the general scheme of his endeavors Taut which, detached, are belittling. Thus, Admiral Evans, when stunned by a blow while his ship was in action, may have said to the attending physician, after quaffing a glass of fine French brandy (his first tipple in that period) that he "felt more like a gentleman than he had felt for five years," without detraction from his dignity or' danger of' setting a bad example. But when he repeats the speech before an audience com posed largely of young men, with whom his name carries great Influence, he makes a mistake. It is not too much to say that, of all that the Ad miral said in his recent lecture in San Francisco, on the Spanish-American War, this flippant declaration, which could only be Interpreted as, at least, a quasi indorsement of brandy drink ing, was the one that stood out the most prominently in the minds of three-fourths of the men among his departing audience. All of which goes ta show that a man makes a mistake when, in his old age, he essays a role for which his training and life work have unfitted him. THE CONSUMER'S PROBLEM. It has been a great many years since the American people became firm be lievers in the theory that high prices for farm products meant general pros perity throughout the country. In de gree this theory may still be regarded as worthy of attention, but it can no longer be accepted as strictly sound at all times. Our populatidn and the means by which our people gain a live lihood are constantly changing, and there Is a greater Increase In the num ber of consumers of farm products than there has been in the num ber of producers. As a result, high prices for farm products can no longer be viewed with the same degree of equanimity as in the old days when the army of consumers was smaller and their earning power was greater. This change, involving as it does the -welfare of several million consumers, as -well as that of a smaller number of producers, is not seriously considered by the American Society of Equity, the Chicago wheat speculators or oven the tariff tinkers at Washington. When the American Society of Equity first came into prominence in Its advocacy of dollar wheat, the cereal was selling arouid 75 cents per bushel, and to some scientific farmers at least it was paying a profit at that figure. The preliminary statements of the pro moters of the society informed the public that $1 was a fair price for wheat, and that, in order that the con sumers would be treated fairly. It should be sold at that figure. Today cash wheat is selling in all of the large markets of the Middle West at from $1.30 to $1.40 cents per bushel; and no protests, have been raised by the Soci ety of Equity, nor will any be raised. This advance of about 30 cents per bushel over the price prevailing last Fall, when the bulk of the crop was moving, must all be paid by the con sumer. As approximately 1,250,000 bushels of wheat are consumed in the United States every day, this means that the advance is costing the con Burners about $375,000 per day' over and above the highly remunerative price of $1 per bushel. Even, at present extravagant figures it is questionable about the available supply being sufficient to meet the de mands, and it is doubtful if removal of the tariff would much change matters, as there seems to be a shortage of sup plies throughout the world. Present prices will have a tendency to increase the supply next season, and lower prices may follow. Cheap wheat and by that is meant 50-cent wheat at tide water may never again be in evidence in this country, but present prices can stand a heavy reduction and still leave the grower a good profit. A big crop will not only assure the laborer cheaper tiread, but it will give the rail roads more business in moving it to market, and they in turn will increase the demand for abor on their trains, in the shops and in the coal mines. Viewed from almost any standpoint, the short crop, with Its high prices, does much more harm than good, and a big crop or a fair crop at fair prices will benefit all classes without seriously injuring any. ECONOMY IS THREATENED. The Senate leaders have announced that. If the new tariff bill shall fail to yield sufficient revenue, the expenses of the Government will be cut to fit its income. This Is indeed shocking, and can hardly be true. By adopting such a course, so diametrically opposed to anything it has ever done before, the Government is establishing a precedent that may lead to serious results for that vast army of chair-warmers and faddists whose names clutter up the payrolls. Worst of all, if this threat shall be actually carried out, it will be in effect adoption of a suggestion made by Mr. Harrlman in an interview given out when he returned to New York a few days ago. This ardent collector of railroads was frank and outspoken in OREGONIAN, TUESDAY, his disapproval of the wastefulness of the Government. Using the language of his own call ing, Mr. Harrlman insisted that the proper way to stop a Treasury deficit was to get the operation of the Gov ernment down on a "cost-per-ton-per-mile" basis. The famous railroader was not discussing the subject as a theory. He had been practicing the art of making the income fit the ex penses so assiduously that his balance sheets long have shown an actual in crease in net. earnings In months when there was an enormous shrinkage in gross earnings as compared with the same months In previous years. The way to economize is to economize, and neither political influence nor personal favoritism will keep an incompetent or unnecessary man in the employ of a railroad company, or any other indus trial enterorise. wri growing deficit demands rigid economy. xhj economy, wnich may be forced on us, should not be confined to reduc ing the number of Idle officers-holders and incompetents now on the payroll. There is a wonderful field for economy in other directions. The Merchant Marine League of Cleveland, in a re cent plea for a ship subsidy, in men tioning the Panama Canal work, said: "The dredges, engines, boilers, locomo tives, rails, tools, equipment and sup plies of every character are purchased In this country, although the cost is usually more than that at which these same things could be purchased in Europe." If the cost of these things is "usually more," as of course it is, we should buy them where they can be bought the cheapest. The Government re cently purchased a fleet of steamships, paying for some of them a figure that was more than double the price at which more modern vessels of equal tonnage and speed could be secured in foreign yards. Perhaps, if the busi ness of running the Government were turned over to some practical business man, and If he were not hampered by the politicians, we could save so much money that the tariff could be reduced much more liberally than is now in tended. For . all that, announcement that the Senate actually suggested that a policy of economy would be inaug urated can hardly fall to startle the business world, which had long ago given up hopes of any such sensible method of checking the growing deficit. Thirteen carloads of wheat were re ceived in Chicago yesterday and ten carloads were received in Portland. As Secretary Wilson only gave Portland 9,000,000 bushels on which to draw from stocks in farmers' hands, and credited farmers in Chicago territory with 134,000,000 bushels, it would seem that our farmers are selling more free ly, if the word "free"' could be made applicable to the present movement of "driblets" that are coming from the bottom of the bins. Secretary Wilson's farmers are probably holding that wheat, worth $1.35 to $1.40 per bushel, to deliver to Mr. Patten and swamp him in July. On yesterday's July and cash quotations they would only lose about 25 cents per bushel by the oper ation. Des Moines students were stricken blind Sunday by something they ate and a New Yorker took a drink of water and acquired a great case of aphasia and agraphia which mean loss of memory and power of speech. As this happens at the opening of the bock beer and bockwurst season, any advice would be superfluous. According to Admiral Evans, Ad miral Sampson was merely Inspired by a more or less laudable desire to get rid of Hobson when he sent him on that Merrimac excursion. He sank the Merrimac, all right, but the Ad miral was mistaken when he thought Hobson would or could also sink. It will make Rudyard Kipling home sick, after a score of years, to read that a Portland man caught a forty-three-pound salmon Saturday in the same waters where- the story-teller once had the experience he so graph ically describes by beginning: "I have lived!" Those Judicial candidates whose names were near the top of the ballot led the rest. The average voter found it easier to mark 14 names as they occurred than to work his brain to the extent of making selections. Chicago Tribune. They are learning a few things in Illinois, too, about the primary law. Mayor Reyburn is willing enough to have that bell leave Philadelphia, but doesn't want an undignified exhibition made of the sacred relic. All right; but we hope they will not fall to send the crack along. If Mr. Patten has an ambition to repeal the old laws of Supply and De mand, he can make his greatest hit by continuing to advance the price of wheat and by steadily reducing the price of flour. It would perhaps be Impertinent to inquire, but there is a growing curi osity in this benighted land to know whether, when the Sultan of Turkey abdicates, the harem also abdicates? John Burroughs suggests shooting the scribes to insure Mr. Roosevelt's privacy. But does Mr. Roosevelt de sire privacy? The matter should be referred to Kermlt. Tom McCusker fears Simon's elec tion would enslave the city. If Tom's visions could bo put into moving pic ture films, the royalties would make him rich. ' Now that Joan of Arc is canonized, it is to be hoped that no one will ever again ask whether the Maid of Or leans was divinely inspired. The ques tion is settled. This matter of local bridge loca tions is a great deal like the tariff to the country generally. Nobody wants to suffer a personal loss. Dr. Hampton says the water is pure enough, and Dr. Matson says it is not pure. When experts disagree, boll the water, and don't worry. All that can be said In favor of tho lynching of four white men in Okla homa yesterday is that it is a welcome change In complexion. Of course Mr. Wills as Mayor would be just as anxious to suppress gam bling as is Councilman Wilis. . Admiral Evans says Hobson was the easiest to spare at Santiago for a dan gerous mission. He is yet. ATOLL 1DOD. BIG WORK OP JUVENILE COURT 1 Review of Judge Guntenbelns Service to the Community, and a Wlae hint. PORTLAND, April 19. (To the Editor.) Before the retirement of Circuit Judge Gantenbein as Juvenile Court Judge for Multnomah County, I think it but right to call the attention of the readers of The OrCCOn 1 n n tn thA lnr mitmho.. n . 1 1 j that have been cared for during his incum- iraiicy, wnien dates from December 18, 1907. The numbers are as follows: . Boys. Girls. Total. Number of children brought Into court by Brought In for second and subsequent offenses, lit 10 us rf ,h ,w S39' 249 1188 or these there were de linquent ., 768 111 869 Dependents 167 152 I19 1188 The ages of these children were as follows: 10 years and under s- 11 to 13 years -55 14 and 15 years a-7 18 years JJ 17 years 11S8 It has been the privilege 'of the under signed to study and visit- many of the Juvenile courts in different states, and in no case has he found as many cases die posed of with as little notoriety as In our own Juvenile Court under Judge Ganten bein. It is well known to most persons conversant with the care of dependent and delinquent children that notoriety is not a good thing for such work, and for the benefit of tlioee who have been unfortu nate enough to be brought before a Juve nile court, it la but right to shield them and give them an opportunity of doing better. It is the wish of this Institution to co-operate with the Juvenile Court, and in fact it is absolutely necessary that there should be co-operation, as the work of the court and that of the Boys' and Glrla' Aid Society is almost identical both are striving to reform delinquent children and to save dependents. I be lieve I am voicing the opinion of every Institution for the care of children In the city when I say that we regret to have Judge Gantenbein -surrender this charge, and our regrets would be much greater did we not know that he would be suc ceeded by Judge Earl C. Bronaugh, who is so well known to us that we have great faith in his Judgment. Ao seen above, a large number of chil dren are brought before the Juvenile Court, and there are quite a percentage of these children whose cases could be as well settled outside of any tribunal, and another percentage of this number could have been restrained had it not been for the negligence or over-indulgence of par ents. In my attendance on the court I have noted that the Judge was very quick to detect these things and showed excel lent common sense In disposing of such, cases. The Juvenile courts are organized for the protection and reformation of chil dren, and not for the purpose of vindic tive punishment, and It would be well for many to bear this In mind before bringing cases before the court. W. T. GARDNER, Superintendent Boys' and Girls' Aid So ciety. PARIS WOMEN DEFY MILL1VERS Refuse AtinoltiTr-ly to Accept the Spring Styles In Headeenr. A startling - report has come from Paris to the effect that the women of that city have refused to accept the styles in Spring hats. This Is amaz ing. It is nearly preposterous. It Is simply beyond the bounds of the pos sible that any woman or women would thus openly defy the edicts of the French milliners who make the fash ions. No such cataclysm has occurred in Paris since 1793. But to accept the Incredible as true at once places the Parisian woman on a pedestal higher than any yet occu pied by her sex. She must be a won derful creature. She must possess will, independence, good Judgment, taste, courage. Of course, we have known other women to possess all these qual ities, except when in the presence of milliners and dressmakers. It has re mained for the fair Parislennes to scorn the mandates of a fashion be cause it made them ugly and ridicu lous. Feminine accomplishments can go no further. The superbest achieve ments of mere man cannot compare with it. Storming cannon, charging rifle pits, assaulting breastworks, are as nothing to open defiance of the fashlonmakers. Cemetery Fashions Changing. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. "Instead of a forest of shafts and obe lisks," says tho Syracuse Post-Standard, "the cemetery of the next generation will be designed by the landscape architect as a place of unified and sacred beauty. There will be nothing to advertise the name and family of the departed; at most a prostrate etone at the head of the grave will Identify the remains and mark where they lie." Efforts will be directed in the future to make burying grounds bear a closer resemblance to beautiful parks, with stately trees and winding roads. There is no doubt that the American, in his anxiety to preserve the memory of his dead, has sometimes gone to extremes in the way of monuments that have trans formed cemeteries Into expositions of the stonecutter's art. It would probably as tonish the Post-Standard to learn that in the face of this movement toward higher things In cemetery landscape some sug gestion has been made here to crowd Na ture out of our beautiful parks and turn them over to the mercy of the plaster-of-parls artisan. Cheapness of Human Life. New Orleans Picayune. Human life is dirt cheap in this coun try, and much of this cheapness is due to the fact that the laws and regulations, which would giro a reasonable amount of protection if they were strictly enforced, are not only not enforced by the authori ties, but are constantly disregarded by citizens. The doctrine that every man is his brother's keeper has little force with the American people. It is every man for himself in such matters. The light In which the American people shine out grandly Is in the giving of charity. None Is too poor to give his mite of relief. But the American people love their Indi vidual liberty, and however serious may be its evils In other directions, this de sire for personal freedom, which Is really lawlessness, will, while it continues, ef fectually prevent them from coming un der any practical socialistic or commun istic control. Walks 1SOO Miles In DO Days. Chicago Dispatch. T. R. Deckrow. of the Signal Corp. of the Army, has walked from Sault Ste Marie to Mobile. Ala. 1800 miles in 90 days, under orders, he Bays, and has worn out eight pairs of shoes on the Journey. Tho War Department at Wash ington, D. C. eays no orders were given to Deckrow to make the trip. Two Cots for a 4O0-Pound Patient. In Philadelphia. John Slater, weight over 400 pounds, was thrown out of a ve hicle during a runaway and fell on "Bert" Johnson. Johnson was not much hurt, but Slater was sent to the hospital for re pairs, where It was necessary to brace to gether two cots to make them strong enough to hold him. Msrriage Proposal at Slant. Camden. N. J., Dispatch William T. Hill, aged 67 years, of New ton, N. J., proposed marriage to Mrs Margaret Fields, aged SO years, in the street, and was accepted at once. "It Just occurred to me," said Hill, "that we ought to get married, and I asked her as soon as I saw her. LOWER RATES FOR I'PPER BERTHS Pullman Company Reported as Having; Decided on This Reform. Washington Star. The news has gone out that the Pull man Car Company is preparing to make a general reduction in rates put ting Into effect the differential be tween upper and lower berths long de sired by the traveling public. It Is stated that the new tariff law will not go Into effect before the first of June. If in truth the Pullman Car Com pany has at last heeded popular de mand for a difference between upper and lower berths in point of price. It has only recognlxed an economio truth that should have been established in the sleeping-car service years ago. There la no possible question that the upper berth Is a second-class accom modation. It corresponds to the in side stateroom on a steamship, or to the small interior room in a hotel, for both of which lower rates are charged than for first-class accommodations. A. hotel guest asked to pay as much tor a second-rate room as for a first rate room would indignantly protest and would probably change his hotel The traveling public, however, has no alternative and no appeal. It must pay the rate the company demands or sit up all night. Efforts have frequently been made to secure Federal legislation on this point but without success. The Interstate Commerce Commission has been unable. If willing, to compel the sleeping-car companies to bring their tariff down to a. reasonable basis, the public com plaint against them being not merely of a lack of discrimination between first and second-class accommodations but of general exorbitance. Compari sons between services rendered on a sleeping-car and in a hotel show the former to be extravagantly excessive. The company has always maintained in defense of the rates that its patronage is necessarily limited, a plea that the traveling public has been disposed to resist on the ground that if the rates were reasonable more business could be done. TAFT SITTING FOR OIL PORTRAIT Sorolla, Spain's Greatest Painter, Do ing; a Llfe-Sise Picture. Washington Special to New York "World To Joaquin Sorolla. Spain's greatest painter since Velasquez, has fallen the distinction of making the first por trait of William II. Taft since his elec tion to the Presidency. The painting, which will be life-size, will be a gift to the President's brother, Charles P. Taft, of Cincinnati. Mr. sorolla has pos-d Mr. Taft in the great East Room, facing the large window which overlooks the south garden. The composition represents the President in morning attire, seated in the Executive chair. Apparently about to speak. Mr. Taft gestures slightly with his right hand, while In his left hand he holds an official paper. A flood of April sunshine envelops the sitter and the most vital expression animates his face. The President Is pictured In his most earnest mood, yet th6 artist Indicates the good humor which is part and parcel of the Presi dential make-up. According to Mr. Sorolla, who Is fascinated with the pictorial possibil ities of the President, Mr. Taft is a most amiable and patient sitter. Mr. Sorolla arrived in Washington last Wednesday at 1 o'clock and at 3 he was busy in the East Room with the preliminary details of the first sitting. The President sits from 3 to 5 o'clock. The progress Is satisfactory, and Mr. Sorolla hopes to complete the sittings tomorrow. Mr. Sorolla numbers among his sit ters practically all the crowned heads of Europe, the portraits of King Al fonso and his consort, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, being among his not able canvases. Forty as the Votins; Are for Women. "Vogue. One of the objections to woman's suf frage has been that it destroys the home. The woman who goes to the polls neglects her young brood I am now referring to those who are mar ried. The unmarried woman loses her maidenly charm and rc3erve, and young girls will be too apt to be swayed here and there by emotions or some consideration. Very well. Let all wo men vote at 40 years of age, and not before. Here is a solution. The ma tron of 40 would have children quite well started toward adolescenoe. The unmarried lady of 40 would find a metier, In case she had not one, and at that age, there would be less chance of her marrying than at 20, and she should certainly at this time of life know her own mind. New German Salutation. London Globe. A curious society has Just been formed at Darmstadt, in Hesse. Its object is to promote the substitution of the military salute for the present mode of salutation among civilians. Instead of the present method of raising one's hat, the Hessians or at least a certain proportion of them would like to see the general adoption of the German military salute, consisting of bringing the hand extended, with fin gers close together, to the edge of one's hat. The only reason given for this strange predilection is that the new salu tation would be identical with- that used In the time of Armintus. His Pocket Picked at Wife's Grave. Cincinnati. O., Dispatch. Adolph Young reported to the police that while he was watching the body of his wife being lowered Into a grave, a pickpocket -robbed him of his pocketbook containing $150 in bills. Among the mourners who went to the grave were several whom Young did not know. He remembers having been Jostled slightly during the lowering of the body, but he paid no attention to It at the time. On his return home he . discovered that his pockets had been picked. His Mermaid Bride. Chicago News. When I wa but a novice in the bold sea faring line I lost my heart completely to a mermaid young and frail. Her scales were woven rainbows when she flirted In the brine With her dorsal Bn cut bias and thin and her graceful and fanllke tall. Oh, she was fair, my mermaid rare. My willowy, billowy ocean belle. With her teeth of pearl and the coral curl Of her lips that I loved so well. Til nevef torget that courtship -wet Ol my beautiful, briny bride to be; Bh was young and sweet, though she had no feet. And she was the one mermaid for me! Btlll. after we were married I didn't Ilk bor way. She Hopped about the malndeck like a homesick; kangaroo. Or else in chasing porpoises she passed her playful days She was bound to sleep in the ocean deep and salty and wet and blue. Oh. she was fair, my mermaid rare. My willowy, billowy ocean sprite. But It seemed a fault to love water salt In a pickle I was, all right. My only gain were rheumatic pains From that shivery, qulvery. augulsh he, But for my chills I took quinine pills And she never had cold feet, yoli see! On. the colds I eaught and the woe they brought in that brief honeymoon No tongue can tell! If an . awful sell that ever such things are! Bhe was never exactly happy and she left me trettv innn 1 T Lovew 0 w a rou,l1 bell-buoy beyond Ob, she was fair, my mermaid rare. My willowy, billowy ocean dear: I miss her still with a chilly thrill. Though some of her ways were queer Can I ever forget the tresses wet Of that serpentine, saline bride of met On Fridays say. . I fast all day Cor I think of her when a fish I seel Life's Sunny Side The Rev. Anna Shaw was discussing playfully her -ontention raised at Mrs. Clarence Mackay's house that man. n' yoman- was too emotional to vote. "Why." said the learned lady, "take all these extraordinary Jury stories. They show the most Intense emotion alism. And yet they have nothing to do with women. "For instance, there's the story of the tin can murder. The Jury re mained out 34 hours. Then.it filed back into the courtroom, very stale and ill humored. " 'Gentlemen, what is your verdict"" said the Judge. '"Wall. said the foreman. '11 on us is for hangin'. Jedge, yer honor; but the 12th man sticks out for acquittal and there ain't no arguin' with him.' He's a low down, no 'count rooster anyways, and so we've decided to make our verdict unanimous by hangin' 'em both.' " Rochester Herald. Little Miss Caroline, aged 6' or there abouts, was to be flower girl at a wedding. In planning her costume it was decided that she should wear pink socks which end about half way to the knee. Miss Caroline has always worn socks instead of regular long stockings in the Summer time, so It surprised the bride, about a week be fore the wedding, to find her small at tendant wearing stockings and looking uncomfortable in them. "Why are you wearing stockings. Caroline?" she asked. ..."Im BavlnK my legs for the wed ding, was Caroline's reply. And at the wedding, to Caroline's peat Joy. the exposed parts of her legs showed not a scratch. New York Sun. . The late Lord Sackville. as ail the world knows, became persona non grata to the Government while he was ambassador to Washington through ex pressing an opinion on the political sit uation. "It was through a mean trick that Lord Sackville was led Into this ex pression of opinion." said a London correspondent the other day. "Once in describing the trick to me, he com Pa.. mse,f to a country clergyman. This clergyman." he explained,, "was waited on one Sunday morning by a young man. s " 'Will you kindly ask the congre gations prayers this morning.' said ( '2UI' man. "'or poor William femltn ? "?Vi1U1Kly'' Baid lhe clrsyman. And at the proper moment in the service he besought all those present ;?-.,?.ray earnesy for the unfortunate William Smith in the great trouble ana peril that encompassed him. "That request, he was pleased to note, made a deep impression on the congregation. "After the service, meeting the young man who had asked for the interces sion in Smith's behalf, the clergyman said: "'What is the matter with your friend? Do you think it would do any BTOOd if I were to call on him?' " 'I'm afraid not,' was the sorrowful reply. "'Is it as bad as that?' said the clergyman. 'What is the trohule. then?' " 'Bill.' said the other. Ms going to be married." " New York Times. Speed Limit for Oeean Liners. New York Herald. On the Mauretania was the Honor able Charles A. Parsons, who Invented the type of engines which have made the speed of the fleet liner possible, and whose firm built these particular engines. Mr. Parsons said that the speed limit for big merchant vessels had been reached in the Mauretania and the Lu si tan la. "It might be possible to build a ship with engines giving her a speed of 30 knots," said Mr. Parsons, "but under present conditions such a vessel would not pay. In the construction of swift ships, when speed Is aimed at. one must of necessity build deep, and tho deeper you go the fewer the harbors that such craft can enter. Deeper ships than the Lusltania and the Mauretania could not be accommodated in the har bors of Liverpool and New York. "This question of harbor limitations is one of the chief stumbling blocks In the way of construction of larger and faster ships. In my opinion the Mauretania and the Lusltania repre sent what will be the limit of speed for passenger ships for many years to come. Hertzian Wares In Telegraphy. About 17 years ago Thomas A. Edison startled the world by carrying on tele graphic communication between a moving train and stations along the railroad without any wire connection therewith. The system employed was to mount a board covered with tinfoil edgewise on the car roof. The tinfoil formed part of a local telegraph cir cuit, which Inductively affected the telegraph wires that paralleled the track, and in this way the messages were made to "leap" from the train to the telegraph lines. The recent ex periments on a well-known railroad where messages were exchanged be tween an operator on a fast-moving train and operators in Toledo, Elkhart and Chicago were of a different char acter. The Hertzian waves were used, which transmitted the messages direct ly to the receiving stations, and not to the telegraph wires along the track. Income Tax and Internal Improvements Indianapolis News. With a population of 44.OCO.O00 the Brit ish Inheritance tax yields a revenue of some t?0.000,on0. So, with a population about twice as large It will readily be seen that an inheritance tax in this coun try would afford no inconsiderable in crease in the possibilities for river and harbor improvements, public buildings and the like. It were well for ambitious Congressmen to bear this In mind. The Cow and the Can. Baltimore American. In ten years the United States has ex ported $16,000,000 worth of condensed milk, which proves that the cow and the can are important factors In the commercial prosperity of this great land. At the Aoto Show. Detroit Free Press. He talked about transmission and magnetof In a way That made you think he owned a car and drove it every day; He kept the salesman busy showing him the new devices. And was not Interested when they quoted him their prices; But after all his posing and the fine way he had talked. When It was time for going home I noticed that he walked. He could spot the latest models, their ad vantages he knew, Hs hoped some day to find a car that wouldn't skid or slew; He spoke of carburetors In a most convinc ing way Till a crowd had gathered round hint tc hear what he had to say; But when It came to buying, it was there he always balked. And when It came to going home I noticed that he walked. Human nature is a study and the auto show's a school. The human trait of showing off is one that's bound to rule; We want the world to view us as we some day hope to be, And not the way we really are. That's human I'll agree. In other things as motorcars, the man who loudest talks. May soar tn speech but when it comes to going home he walks. 1