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S cents: 44 to 60 pages. 4 centa Foreign postage double ratVs. Eastern Business Office The S. C. Beck with Special ArencyNew l'ork. rooms 48 50 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building". PORTLAND. WFDNESDAT, JUNE 16, 1900. PAST AND PRESENT The progress of Oregon' has' leen' low, but it hag been sure. . We all could wish it had been faster. But It Is becoming- quicker now. There was a long night. None understands or knows it so well as those who have witnessed it from the early time. Latterly the State of "Washington, part of early Oregon, ht.s made more rapid progress than the primitive mother. Yet what is progress? Definition of the word must yield to the successive changes of advancing time. The remarkable sea basin of West ern Washington, the great estuary of Puget Sound, was of slight Importance in the early time. . Agriculture, cattle, grazing, were all in all. The valleys of Western Oregon from the Columbia River to the Siskiyou Mountain fur nished these opportunities. The poor grazing and the poor agricultural pos sibilities of the Puget Sound country left that region, in the days of the pioneers, far behind. All the lands, or nearly all, in the Puget Sound basin that possessed fertility were covered with heavy growths of timber. The labor and expense of bringing these lands Into cultivation w. -j and is im mense. The valleys of Western Ore gon, south of the Columbia River, be tween the Cascade and Coast ranges of mountains, had large areas of open plains. In them the settlement nat--uraUy "began.:..-....; . -But after a. while it was long years . . ... - ... " 1 ..v-e J the Idea of transcontinental rall - roads got into "action. " Fifst. Tor Cali fornia; and San Francisco was the center of everything for the Pacific Coast. Later, for the Oregon country; and connection in the north from the east with the open ocean, fcy the easiest way for shipping, carried the thoughts of men to Puget Sound. The transcontinental railroads on Northern 1 routes, sought that connection with the open ocean. Conditions of pioneer life were super seded by the new movement; and the Bf eater energy, that formerly had been exerted upon the Una of pioneer effort whose basis was agriculture and cat tle shifted gradually to the North; where commerce was the leading idea. Railroads were rushed across the country, on northern lines. Our con nection in Oregon and at Portland with California was earlier, but it left us in subordinate position. It was at a later time that we got the Oregon Short Line and the direct connection with Eastern cities and states. The phenomenon has simply been the transformation from one basis of life to another from the agricultural life, which was simplicity, to the more highly specialized and developed life the product of human evolution, which has no stopping place. . It must "be admitted that Oregon, founded on old conditions and established on- old ideals, has been behind hitherto in this movement. It was a necessary consequence of the conditions. Nat urally, therefore, it has been hard to move the people of Western Oregon They were established on the primitive .or pioneer basis. But long ago the primitive people of Western Washing ton were overrun, submerged, drowned 'ncomln ood. Frank Henry's Old Pioneer" remains a literary monument over the grave of the early settler there. Two things have pushed the State of Washington ahead of the State of Oregon. First, the rush of the rail roads to reach Puget Sound. Second the transformation from pioneer and agricultural conditions to commercial conditions, the more rapid submergence of the early settler In Washington than in Oregon and the outburst of Alaska. The Inundation In Washington thus far therefore, has been more, rapid and complete. Yet doubtless we still have people in Oregon who regret even ''7- fhange here. But the mdve- -hav ,r ,nexorable- Our push clubs hae its Impulse; the rose fair is a manifestation of it; the eagerness of increasing numbers of our people to get into the current instead of drift- -Vg about in the eddy, attests it. Ore gon too. therefore, presses forward lit, mrk f ner hlsh calling, for NoV th things which are behind! Nat forgetting them, either, for that not necessary. But the new and oncoming generations must set their " La,?nVWard !he corning. The old ex! tatence was idyllic, indeed, and mav be remembered as Ideal; but no state . or stage of life, especially in a new country, is fixed and permanent n ought it to be. Yet the old principle, w.tnndl?7y and f Prudence never tth safety can be abandoned Ovtgon-now Is feeling the "rush of I" . de, ? of life. Tnre has Len Progress always, indeed, but the cur rent at times has been checked? even at t roes there has seemed to be al most a refluent movement. Prudence sometimes outdoes itself on one s ide "heamtbntl0n "en rleap, lelf on the other. But It Is apparent that Oregon i, maklnjf srte? pr" iress Jn, these ten years than fn 4any other two decades of her his nory. The significance of this fact is .ul,. Still, there Ja on fact.- Till Oro KSt wK. '""-oacr development that Washington has. our state will Tot be abre to attain to a degree of .similar or comparative progress The mrerjer. jet the census of next year inha,"0 m,UCH mre than 60 000 A. pioneer woman of the "palouse Ul ar 68 Was recen"y married . flld,.to. m"-n 38. The in- centive of this marriage from the man s standpoint is not far to seek. The elderly bride is wealthy. Not so with a singular marriage in Hillsboro recently in which the bride was 80 years old and with small property holdings and the bridegroom a fairly well-to-do man of 37. The -""wny" In stinctively asked in connection with 'such a marriage must forever" remain unanswered, since, no object, either from the viewpoint of companionship of wealth, nor yet from the natural de sire for offspring that leads to mar riage, can possibly be accomplished In such a case. Hence it must be dis missed as an unaccountable freak of human folly which is measurably ex plained in the saying "There Is no fool like an old fool,'" to which may be added, "unless it. is a relatively young fool." . .. . .... THE REGISTRATION AND THE VOTING. It . is not true, as so often asserted, that the vote of Portland in the recent election was "20.0QO short." The total registration, including the recent reg istration, was 33,041. Most of this registration had been carried more than a year many have moved away; some are dead." The total vote cast June 7 was 17,935, or 15,106 below the number registered. But the vote actually cast in every election is much below the registered vote. Thus, last November, In the Presi dential election, the total vote of the city for highest elector (all tickets) was 25,646, nearly 7000 less than the registration. The county in 1908 reg istered 38,473 votes, yet the whole vote of the county was but 29,157. And a Presidential election always brings out the fullest vote. - The very fullest vote that could have been expected June 7 (this year) could not have exceeded that of last Novem ber 25,646. The vote actually cast June 7. was 7771 below this figure, which- is a large number, but it isn't 20,000. It is probable that no greater proportion of the total vote of Port land ever came out for a city election than that cast a week ago last Mon day. THB CASE AGAINST MARK TWAIN. When Mark Twain's book, "Is Shakespeare Dead?" first came out The Oregonian made some comment upon it. We noticed the prominence he had given to the legal argument which to many minds tells strongly against the Shakespearean authorship of the plays and poems, and stated that in our opinion he had relied'upoa it too much. We did not at that time think it worth while to mention that Mark -Twain had supported his vi?-v -by copying a long-extract -from George G. Greenwood's book, "The Shake speare Problem Restated," but this fact has since become Interesting, be cause it has raised a question of the humorist's iiterary manners, if not of his honesty. To begin at the beginning of the affair. Mark Twain says on page 4 of his "Is Shakespeare Dead?" that "a friend has sent .me a new book from England 'The Shakespeare Problem Restated' well restated and closely reasoned, and my fifty years' interest in that matter asleep for the last three years is excited once more." Burning with newly awakened zeal, he went back among the "stacks of un published manuscript which consti tute" his autobiography and selected for publication what he had long ago Written on the Baconian controversy. To fortify It he copied nine pages of Greenwood's book and formed his eighth chapter from them. It is no wonder that Mark Twain should have desired to use the borrowed passage because It confirms by admirable argu ments and citations the opinions which he had formed independently Evidently he worked at his little vol ume of 150 pages with extreme ardor, as one does in periods of fanatical zeal, and when it was finished he has tened to his publishers with the manu script and urged them to get it before the public as soon as they possibly could. He was eager to strike a tell ing blow upon the Iron which Green wood had heated. The publishers. Harper & Bros., wrote to John Lane, who is Greenwood's London publisher and asked for permission to use the nine-page extract, mentioning as an inducement that Mark Twain's work would be "largely devoted to advertis ing George Greenwood's book." The desired permission was received by the Harpers and they proceeded to publish Is Shakespeare Dead?" getting it out, as they allege, "more hurriedly than any other volume we have ever pub lished. When the book appeared it trans pired that Georee Or(.t.nnj . mentioned by name in it. nor was there any reference to his publisher. The omission excited the pugnacity of the British author and the no less British firm, and between them they have de termined to Drevpnt Ha , Twain's book in England. This they uuuer tneir domestic copy right law. John Una ho. ;i . , " v iii- ten the Harpers a letter, in which by slight indirection, he calls Mark Twain literary Durglar, accuses him of filching Mr. Greenwood'., r... adds that no consideration should have "Z, w uwea to stand in the way of his acknowledging his indebtedness." All this smacks a. cri-oat of British pugnacity than of British fairness. Mark Twain is not a literary burglar, for he requested and received permission to use the. extract in ques tion. Neither can it be said that a man filches a thins- whi), v. freely allows him to take. As for his iiiueoreaness to Greenwood, he did acknowledge it in at ict i tinct places In his book. The first k-.c is on page 4 of "Is Shakespeare Dead?" as we have 1nflioH i - uwuj. The second begins at the bottom of page 77 and reads: "Chapter XIII of ..uaiestare irooiem Restated' bears the headine 'Shiiin.onJ. Lawyer and comprises some fifty pages of expert testimony, with com ments thereon, and I will copy the first nine as being sufficient all by themselves, as it seems to me. to set tle the question which I have con ceived to be the master . key to the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy." The third acknowledgment appears at the bottom of page 79. where it is defi nitely stated that Chapter VIII is copied from "The Shakespeare Prob lem Restated." Evidently here is no question of plagiarism or literary filching. The worst that can be said against Mark Twain Is that in his ex treme eagerness to finish his little brochure he gave abundant credit to Greenwood, but did not give it in the proper way. His mind was full of the book, but not of the man who wrote it. - ,M.ark .TWaiD had been far le3 punctilious in acknowledging his debt xor the passage borrowed he could THE MOItXIXG have justified his conduct by precedent of the highest kind and unlimltorl quantity. It is common enough to cite passages from books without naming the author, and certainly with no. men tion of the publisher. Suppose in quoting Shakespeare one were bound to give a complete list of all the firms which publish his plays. Suppose one felt obliged to give in full -the- pub lisher's name and address every time there was occasion to quote the famous stanza frem "Seven Seas," - "When 'Omer smote his bloomin" lyre. He'd 'eard men sing by land and sea; And what he thought he might require, He went and took, the same as me." The task of literary allusion would become too wearisome for anybody tounder take unless he possessed endless leisi ure. Most authors who amount to much have been reviled for alleged plagiarism. Shakespeare was a' Jay who had decked himself ' in stolen plume, if Greene is to be believed. Milton swlDed "Parartiso T.nt e a Dutch poet. Longfellow filched "Hia watha" from the Finnish. Kalevala. In short, if we are to take the word of certain croakers all literature is a. mass of thefts. Mark Twain comes through the ordeal with plumage not much bedraggled. One surmises that if Greenwood and his-publisher . had not seen a neat parcel - of advertising for themselves in their farcical expose, they would have held their peace! Mark Twain has -stolen nothing from them and- has probably greatly en hanced their- profits by quoting from their book. THE BRANDENBURG FABRICATION. The Broughtbn Brandenburg article of last year, attributed to Grover Cleveland, had a sort Of verisimilitude, but it was a fabrication., It purported to be an expression of the judgment of Mr. Cleveland on Mr. Bryan. - That it contained, In some part or degree the ideas of Mr. Cleveland, cannot be doubted. Not improbably conversa tions with Mr. Cleveland supplied -part of the statement. Still, as it purport ed to have been written .by Mr. Cleve land himself, it was a. forgery. . Yet undoubtedly it contained some part of Cleveland's opinion of Bryan.- The facts, apparent enough,' can hardly be made clearer by the trial of Branden burg in New York. Grover Cleveland called himself a Democrat. But he was not a Demo crat of the Bryan order, nor even of the Jefferson order. Party was but a name with him. His politics were those of Washington, Hamilton, Web ster and Lincoln. He stood for a cen tral government, a government of au thority; and he detested the half socialist ideas of Bryanism. - . But the Brandenburg article was a forgery. It was quite in Cleveland's style, and possibly it may have embod ied notes written by Cleveland's own hand. The stamp of some of the ideas is, indeed, unmistakable. Yet the article presented as a product of Mr. Cleveland's pen was not his. He never would have put it forth in this form. But, as presented by Branden burg it was a clever piece of work. The trial of Brandenburg is for lar cenylarceny of notes perhaps writ ten by Mr. Cleveland, which Branden burg had no right to appropriate. But thematter is of no great importance some Seattle' opinions. The Seattle Times devotes a couple of columns of its valuable editorial space to an elaborate dissertation on the respective merits of Portland and Setfttle as reflected in real estate trans fers, building permits and bank clear tll" 6 .Tlmes courteously states that the article is not written "with any desire to belittle or speak slight ingly of Portland." and in proof there of submits the statement that "Port land leads Seattle only in real estate nT -T""16 nIy one of the three proposit ons where a lot of 'monkey business' can be performed." Of fHU?le the Times' havin long ago bur led the hatchet which it used to carry infer that there had been any "mon key business" here, and it merely uses the term in that manner as an airy fairy meaningless figure of speech of tVS-n acc,ount of tne ferociousness of the Times in presenting some care fully selected figures with quaint ex planatory notes, similar to the one frUomed,'nHhatt,The refrains n m. 'Inuan that "monkey busi ness could be performed in the mat ttnZ bank -lea-"ings. Had the Ttaes failed to substitute the rapier for the customary, bludgeon with which it hammers home its arguments. The ?t, ian ml&ht have ben con! strained to call attention to a certain bank clearing operation in a North western city famous for the size of its nnenanSrS ?hich one chec 'or 200 ! 000 passed through the clearing-house wayntoTh " SnalIy "s 7?ZJ, , the Waste paDer basket. In explaining why the real estate trans fers of Portland for the first five OOOOo'in116 5'ear W6re "-e'thln th; Ti'm0 eXC.6SS f thOSe of Sea"le, the Times convinces itself "that the arrdnoa,CtS d DOt "tablish a stand ara or measure when rpPQ an industrial standpoint' c'o'ur" ously calling our attention to whit Stayte tranf dla- f the rea tfnues- "Th,?.CaSe'.the Tlmes cn 1 ! true that it may lo ', TT -:iuai value of the property "had greater value" than the humble dirt on which Portland k built and merely submit as aTsLle key to the mystery surrounding the figures that the Seattle buyers would rX," S" SeaU,e P-P-tywis worth. While those of Portland . when Seattle propertv "hJV me valnp" thT, i'roperty had greater vaiue than buyers would admit t,j SgTernTs. "hove'r t V for construction, repaid fto necessary be fa.r.r'accuraie.""11 The Oregonian editorial selected by tne land for the first twenty-five "avs or the month of May was nisi Z nJl'at this Percentage of -difference has been practically the same for ma! ears offers- further proof that the QREGOyiAX; Times was correct In stating that building permit values must b "faiT-w accurate." We are pleased to note the friendly spirit displayed by the Times in calling attention to these matters, so that the Times will not "speak slightingly of Portland." and trust that this feeling will not soon subside. The anti-tipplng law, now being en forced in Spokane, promises to drive most of the first-class waiters out of the city, unless the employers advanco wages to make up for losses In tips. The public, which more or less grudg ingly has been paying the waiters' sal aries in the shape of Ops, will hardly feel any regret over the change in the system. There is no good reason why the proprietor of a restaurant should not pay his help reasonable wages. The tipring habit is not only degrad ing to the man who receives the tip, but it' is unjust to the man who gives It. It is a cu;om that drifted across the water from the ancient aristocra cies, where all waiters or servants were treated as lackeys or menials devoid of Independence. The American waiter should not be lowered to the level of the foreign flunkey by being forced to ask alms or tips from the men he is paid for serving. An anti-tip law Tigidly enforced would materially Im prove the character of the service in hotels and restaurants providing the employers paid the waiters proper .(wages. French newsDaocrs havn nnenarl nn attack on the proposed plan for listing American steel stocks on the Paris course. Tney charge that Introduction of these securities is purely for spec ulative purposes, and Intimate that legal steDs them from being listed. Inasmuch as me steei trust is in no great need of money for dM-plnnmpnt wb- Increasing the size of its plants, no 5eai narasnip will be experienced in this country if the Stocks fl hapra from the Bourse. They might turn out an ngnt as an investment, but there has been so much "fhimhio.ri with stocks in Wall street that there is a possiDinty of similar work when the game gets under way on the Bourse. This country Is in need of French money for investment in legitimate en terprises, and we might stand a better chance for erettimr It if nut .,t , more attractive line than steel stocks. Mayor C. Gardiner Johnson, of Van couver, B. C. is to Visit Portland tr. Ir. vestigate the methods of handling wheat at this port In order that he may Know how properly to equip his new wain rtrtrlf ot r ' .. t .. ... liiq vauauitlU port. The Portland grain docks' have recent ly Deen "investigated", by a number of high officials of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and bv grain dealers. As the method for cleaning, grading and - loading grain In this city has .reached a higher stage of perfection than at any other port on the Pacific Coast, it is but natural that the grain docks of thu it .i ... tract attention from persons who wish to begin operations elsewhere with the very Dest f aciHties obtainable. Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, who ought to know. onlnes tnnt mnct over 18 years of age hate the men. x ms laci contrasted with the well known truth that all men over 18 years of age love the women , raises an in teresting auestiiin. .' A sically the more lovable sex, or are men endowed with a more ample power ot loving, so that their affections twine round almost anything that happens along? It were to be wished that Mrs. Belmont would push her inquiries far enough to find the answer. Aldrich and Payne, standing for high tariff, assume that the consumer is a myth. So . he is. If you attempt to distinguish the consumer from the non-consumer. Some may produce nothing as the Idle rich. .But they are the greatest of consumers: They are wastrels. Is -anybody worrying to make goods cheap for them? All the Democratic Senators except Chamberlain of Oregon seem to have voted for Philippine independence. You see. Chamberlain thinks Oregon wouldn't like to give up the Phil ippines. It is an embarrassment to a Democratic Senator to meet the senti ment of a Republican state. Senator Borah's opinions may not be very valuable, but they are his own un mistakably. The fine old spirit of American independence seems to re vive in the utterances of the Senator from Idaho. The more men there are like him in Congress the better it will be for the country. Mrs. Gould's attorney, denies that Mrs. Gould was drunk, but, if she was drunk, her husband should have stayed with her. Possibly; but Mrs. Gould appeared to prefer to get drunk with some one else's husband. If the duty on diamonds increases the price to the purchaser 100 per cent, what must be the effect of the cotton duty on the . price of calico dresses? Does the same cause produce the same effect In both cases, or not? The , heaviest sluggers in either of McCredie's teams will have to do a lot better 'at the bat "before they are eligi ble, to-.a personal Introduction to the patron' of the National-game now oc cupying the White. House. It is said, that the states of the great Middle West "will revolt against the Aldrich tariff. Possibly. But will the states of the .great; South, where Aid rich is. getting his necessary votes, revolt against it? One memb of an African party has been fatally wounded by a lion. That would appear to dispose of the slan der that shooting African Hons is about as exciting as shooting grandmothers. Will some of our Puget Sound friends who have long cherished the delusion that there is really no water worth mentioning in the Columbia River come over and look at it now? It would -be Interesting to publish a complete list of the "experienced" river men who a month ago predicted the highest flood ever known in Port land. Sir Thomas Lipton won't challenge again for the America cup under pres ent rules. He doesn't need the ad vertising. ' All those in favor of a safe and sane Fourth will nl o"..-7 .- Mine refusing to buy dangerous explosives. MORE REMARKS OUT "SHO-FER." Mr. Werner la Fnrtker Eallghtcscd la Pronunciation. PORTLAND. June 15. (To the Editor.) If I were inclined to be sarcastic the tone of this letter would be different, but I am too genuinely an admirer of The Oregonian to do more than call atten tion t'o its mistakes in the mildest manner. The 1909 edition of Webster's Dictionary does not give the w6rd "chauffeur," the one about which your correspondent was Inquiring. It does give "chauffer," pro nounced eho-fer (accent on first syllable), a word with a distinctly different mean ing. Reference to the latest edition of the Century - Dictionary will show "chauf feur" pronounced sho-fer (accent on last sy liable), which hardly rhymes with go jfher. - By the way. does The Oregonian sin cerely believe common usage to be au thority? If so. does it justify expressions such as "I seen It," "he done It?" CHARLES M. WEH.NER. The 130S edition of ' Webster's una bridged dictionary (Supplement ' page 39) gives "chauffeur (sho-fer) fr., literally a stoker; one who manages the running of an automobile." That Is the word (not "chauffer") under discussion.' Mr. Werner, whom The Oregonian assures of its esteem, would better look at his brand new Webster's unabridged again. Now, as to accent: It is true that the accent in chauffeur -is placed on the last syllable: but that is the French of it. so far as the French have an accent.' Accepted usage (not common usage which may be a different thing) has made the English of it sho-fer, for no real American can give the peculiar French pronunciation to the terminative feur," and he will not try.. Therefore plain sho-fer, which rhymes with go pher, goes. The Oregonian might suggest further to its friend, Mr. Werner, that usage neither .accepted nor . common, justifies' I seen if or "I done it." Very few people are -so grossly ungrammatical. ..I !feverybody should say "I seen it" or I done it." after awhile it would be grammar. Any philologist will tell you iSJiit e SDOken language, not the written, that is correct speech. The dic- The "dTcflontry:6 man' .DOt man fr DOIVT MAKE MARRIAGE COST MORE Why Kot Tx Old Maid and Bachelor, to Support Children T tt,rE?T GRVE.. Dr., June 15. (To ltor) 1 thought the state of Oreg-on was the fool state to pass fool the itw8' bTUt Washl"Ston has taken c.a5e- I am thankful I have been cTld LrnaDd ralSed a famlly ,n the good old time when and where fad and fake laws were not so numerous, i always was convinced that it was the duty of every man to get married and establish a home for comfort and protection; but . ?Can,aas we had had such a law as Washington has. being a poor homesteader, it was then a hard ship to even pay $2 for a Tntnw,.nd . 5. , t0 the Poacher. The whole principle of tariff, licenses atatCaae.aI1 wron- The married state should be encouraged by help in stead of hindrance. When a young couple start to get a home and' marry, IS "J?8!"9 In a large majority of cases limited and the state should help, or at least should not pass laws to al low designing men to rob them. I question whether such a law as Wash h.as 18 rlgrnt- But 1 am satis fy.. . 8 , ?U wron8T to compel the candidates ' to a marriage contract to pay such expenses. If the state is to benefit, it should pay. I do not be lieve in placing so many laws on the statute books to oppress unnecessarily.' We have the ten commandments and Constitution of the United States for our guide sufficient In our land of Supposed freedom. But if we are bound to have fool laws, I think we should pass one giving a bounty of say from ... to 100 to a11 young persons who will marry and settle down in one place long enough to buy a home aad raise a family and talc old maids aid bachelors to pay these bounties and a yearly revenue to help educate the children of those who will obey the law to increase and subdue the earth. R-W. TP.AVER. AS OTHERS SEE VS. Remarks On the Recent Election In N Portland and Its Significance. Los Angeles Times. Oregon seems to be rapidly recover ing her senses. She went wild some years ago after a bunch of false politi cal gods as bizarre as anything to be found in a camp of voodoo worshipers in the heart of Africa. The Webfoot people then resented any suggestion from abroad that their new gods were made of very common mud and only half baked. But experience opens the dullest eyes, and the Oregonians are not of that class. The metropolis of the state naturally is the first to return to sane political Ideas, and her people have re turned with a rush. . . . How en tirely converted to sane Ideas the peo ple have become is shown by the vote cast on Monday In the municipal elec tion. Simon had four opponents and he gets not merely a plurality of the vote, but a net majority over all com petitors of almost 200. Furthermore, the straight Republican ticket carried .every office voted for from the top of the ticket to the bottom, by at least decisive pluralities in every case. What a shining examnla fnr T.n, There were 35 charter amendments of the initiative type to be voted for at this election, and among these was the Gothenburg plan of running sa loons; also the Des Moines plan of city government. Two out of every three of the proposed amendments were de feated, and among them all these new fangled freak notions whose features are as strange to Americans as would be those of a spinning dervish from the center of Asia. We fondly hope and sincerely believe that the turn of the tide has come in America and that it will be "to the tall timber" with these fads from now on. The American people are too intelligent and too deeply Imbued with the Ameri can spirit to be long deceived by de vices of this kind. Tag; Day for Public Baths. PORTLAND. June 14. (To the Editor.) Will you please? grant me space in your columns for the following, which I verily believe will appeal to many and perhaps be Instrumental in our boys being saved (or at least a large per cent of them), from watsry graces. If you will I will be very grateful to you. Why is it not possible to raise funds for a public bath? There Is always a way provided to maintain the Baby Home, a very worthy Institution; also for rescue homes and all such which are very - needful. Any one contributing to their maintenance and support is to be commended for doing so, as no worthier causes are to be found. About one year ago a day was set aside as tag day where tags were sold to any one who wished to buy, for the small sum of 10 cents each, whereby a goodly sum was raised for the Baby Home. If It is not possible to ' get a public bath any other way. why cannot we have a tag day to raise funds for this worthy institution, whereby the Uvea of scores of boys may be saved each year. I feel sure should such a day be given that as much or perhaps more could be raised aa there was for the babies. I for one am willing to give my time and assistance to help get it If others will come to the front and assist me: MRS. A. LARKY. i Z ' : r 1 WHE" OREGON LIVED SIMPLE LIFE Tber Waa No Complaint Then About the Hlsrh Coat of Living;. PORTLAND. June 14. (To the Edi tor.) There are many good and plain reasons why thinking people should or may differ about most of the current problems which are under discussion, but the causes which underlie the in creased cost of living are not difficult to find. In a word, it costs more to live now than it did 40 years ago be cause more is got out of life than then and fully In proportion to the in creased cost of it. When a man gets and enjoys twice as much as he did a generation ago. he should not lift his hands in savage protest that it is cost iriS . wlce as much to live now as Ifr il ,LTwo nd two merely make attained through the same mathemati cal process in the days of our fathers. As Johnny couldn't eat his cake and St6 ; When the experiment was nrst made in the remote past, no more Can his sucrpssnrc . i . i j " . uno nunareo. cents worth of luxuries and necessi ties of life for every dollar of income and lay by a comfortable bank account besides The law of cause and effect fa.1f0 8 abrogated not even by the Initiative and referendum. It Is a sit uation where only the recall can do the work. .l.7,herS are tlme when people "have thinBS" t.JI they lnslst "Pn having them. If they lived like they did 40 years ago even like our parents did .early days the cost of living would be much less than then, consid ering the improved methods of produc .la evry line' 1 latter myself, whether others do or not. that I am quite a young man yet, still I can re member when sperm candles were lux uries, only used when "company" came tLff end the evenln- At all other times tallow candles were universally rlrne,f made at home by the "women IZ? -u1" those day. f any family should have used sperm candles, which came in small boxes containing 12 doz en, it would have been talked about by the entire neighborhood as reckless ly and scandalously extravagant. Now, however, even the kerosene Kam.psLare eneraHy cast into the rub bish heap When, you want to rent a .J?,e "n,e8s you can, upon entering l y.door ln turn a switch or press a button and immediately secure an illumination equal to 20 or SO candle power, you at once pronounce It out-of-date and undesirable. And there must be hot and cold water in prac tically every room, up and down stairs, ad merely by turning a faucet, ana a hotwater tank must be Installed which will supply large quantities of water for washing and bathing pur poses. In the days when it didn't cost so much to live, the bath was taken in tne kitchen or on the back porch in the wash tub, with water heated in tlih n-e"ler"a Process. by the way. which did not occur more than once a week-. And that was a saving It costs more to live now than then Tor the reason that four times two is twice aa many as two times two. It always was and. go far as can be cal culated now, it always will be. enJn-tHSeida.ys' reo-uir'nK as it did an entire day to travel from Salem to Port land, for Instance, and another to re turn, the trip would necessarily re quire three, days, if time were taken to transact any business. Now the same thing can be done in 12 hours. And It cost less to come to Portland 60 years ago than now for the reason that the trip was seldom taken. In , areate, no doubt, the people of Salem spend 25 times as much per CawL aeach year vl3lting Portland now witlv the fare at $3 for the round trip as they did when it was io. Ic is almost as little a matter of surprise to meet a man from Salem. Eugene. Albany or of any Eastern Oregon towns on the streets of Portland as it is to meet a Portland man. Naturally " it costs more to travel when fares are low, when you travel, then when fares are much higher. If you stay at home. But this is only one phase of it. We have moved forward at the same rate along all other lines. Telephones, free rural mail delivery, free bridges, bug gies, automobiles and a thousand and one other comforts of life which "the rathers never conceived of even in their wildest dreams are ours every day in the year. That they cost money goes without saying, and money which would be saved but for the indulgence. And the clothes we buy were once made by the family. Even the cloth Uself was made by the women folks. Not a dollar was paid out for this pur pose. Now the whole of it represents cash. And the family 60 years ago which sent Its washing to a laundry by that act placed itself strictly within the pale of unquestioned aristocracy. Now, nearly everybody's washing finds its way to a laundry each week. Even the farmers' wives have "caught on" to this modern method of saving the mus cles of the back and arms and literally tons of dirty linen are shipped in to the towns and elites of this state every week from the farms a system which would provoke an indignation meeting in that part of spirit land set apart for our grandmothers if communication with them as to the comings and goings of their posterity were possible. In these days farmers' sons wear starched collars and cuffs and ride in the best buggies many of them sport ing automobiles whereas their an cestors were content with the woolen shirt and jeans trousers while even the buggy was a luxury. When a young man wants to shave now he Bteps into a barber shop and sleeps in a cushioned chair while he hires a man to do that which ln other days was accomplished by his own hands before a looking glass on the back porch with his "gal luses" thrown off his shoulders that he might have full sway with razor and brush. In every direction, on every side, you may see why the cost of living has been increased. We get three times, indeed, a dozen times as much out of life as our forefathers did in a way. At least we think we do. And what we get that they didn't, necessarily costs money. There's nothing strange about it excepting that some people should think It strange. Does it cost more to live than form erly? Sure; but then we live more. Even when 15 cents a bushel. It always did cost more to buy C) pounds of po tatoes than 50, odd as it may seem. And It probably always will. A return to the simple life would no doubt be accomplished by a notice able decrease in the cost of living of course, this will never happen, but it Is worth considering in the discussion. ' T. T. GEER. Business Jnst "Now at the Flood. Pittsburg (Pa.) Dispatch. What has happened In the nail and wire business during the past few weeks is little short of marvelous Six weeks ago that industry was languish ing, with Its warehouses stocked to the utmost. Today it is working trying to keep up with its orders. The surplus is all gone, the sales having been beyond all precedent. The warehouses of the American Steel & Wire Company have a capacity equal to three months' output of the mills. All this and more has been sold ln less than half of that time. There are orders ahead. And there Is three months' work assured, to restock the warehouses, even If not another order came during that time. These are the facts. It requires no prophetic vision to foresee mills of all kinds striving their utmost to meet orders next Fall. The oncoming wave will be higher than the last. There are greater opportunities ln the future than any that have been realized There will be greater industry and under better conditions. SHIP BY THE TEHl'ANTEPEC ROUTE Portland Merchants t riced Onre More to Beard the Railroad Lion. tlR1-LKSi'D- June 15. (To the Edl i,..;;L.'ra". much gratified to read men , 'toria' concerning salmon ship ment from here via the Tehuantepeo l l0,Nw York, a part of the cargo to be returned westward as far as Chl Some two weeks ago. you per- vo," t 'etter from me to apr-ear m our columns endeavoring to impress our merchants that, the manly course to pursue rathr than to parley with IVJi Ka.d managements about better treight rates overland, was to charter at least two tramp steamers of 10.000 1 ac'ty each, one to run from New . York to Tehuantepec, the other to connect at Salinas Cruz for Portland. ine railroad is managed by the Mexi can government and no connivance is 11 t, f. there' whereby the cinch is applied to foster monopoly as is the American habit. No one well informed will deny that the steamers can be had ror J3.50 per ton for their respective trips. hat the railroad charges for its 190 miles of transportation across the isthmus I have been unable to as certain, but it cannot be in excess of Jo per ton (more likely half that ln gold), so that It Is reasonably certain cargoes can be taken from Portland to New York or any other Atlantic port ror 12 per ton, or vice versa. I estab lished by reference to the freight sched ules of the railroads operating over VH. ' that the average Is not less than fiO per ton for all classes of freight and that the clear saving to make use or this facility would be not less than 18 per ton. I wrote that letter hoping to elicit some response for it from mercantile sources showing why It is impracticable Inasmuch as our merchants show no signs of using it But the merchants are like the ministers. I notice that when occasionally you administer a re sounding thump against its thick hide of its orthodox covering, all the big guns of the church militant duck their heads, and let the storm blow ovet. When some poor little advocate pipe a feeble response, you proceed to eat him up, and he wonders why he has to bear the brunt of battle and get ridicule for his well-meant efforts. Con sequently with more temerity not one merchant, big or little, gave any refu tation of my conclusions. Your edi torial is on the same line. It proves that someone is bold enough in a sal mon shipment to beard the railroad be hemoth, and I come to the question once more: Why do not our merchants put Portland where it belongs, as a foremost independent free port, backed by our waterways, north, south and east, an advantage which no other Pa cific Coast city enjoys? Even the mer chants of Lewlston evince more manli ness, as your editorial tells us, as they are making money by using the river boats from Portland. It seems evident that the merchants of Portland are too inert or cowardly to rise to the opportunity that is pre sented them. Your editorial proves It. So long as the freight overland Is an average of $30 per ion to all shippers, they are indifferent .to get It for $12 per ton, as the customer lias to pay the freight anyhow. Portland's advantage does not concern them. If there was a possibility of obtaining concerted action by them, it would en hance our pretensions of commercial supremacy here a hundred fold. Isn't It time for Tom Richardson, If he la the vaunted bell-wether of the mer cantile flock, to commence beating his tom-tom and not to let his enthusiasm effervesce in a cloud of tobacco smoke and the rattle of billiard balls on the sixth story of the Commercial Club building? CHAS. P. CHURCH. WHERE LOWLY POTATO IS KING Farmers of One Connty in Maine Ex. - pect. to Clear $24,000,000. Piesque Isle, Me., Special to New York Press. The potato Is king in Aroostook County. Fully $12,000,000 has been cleared by the farmers ln that one county on the potato crop of 1908, the total shipments to market having been 15,000.000 bushels. This year every piece of land that will grow a potato has been planted, and the estimate for the 1909 crop is SG, 000,000. If prices hold good it Is thought the Aroostook farmers will clear not less than $24, 000,000 after keeping all the potatoes they need for home use. The price of potato land has advanced 30 to 50 per cent, and the market is strong, even at such prices. The banks in the county simply are gorged with potato money. Autoplows and disk harrows are being purchased by the farmers and fertilizer is being purchased by the carload lot. - Train after train, loaded down with supplies for the potato-growers, is moving up the line into Aroostook County. The prosperity Is not without its draw back, however, because the price of farm labor has advanced to Civil War rates, and the county is being overrun with automobile and piano agents. They are pleading with the farmers' wives and daughters to insist that with fortunes made It is necessary to have music in the home and autos ln the roads. TRUE, ICTHYOLOCICAL STORY. Dehorned Catfish and Sterilized Carpi ln Eastern Oregon. PORTLAND, June 15. (To the Ed itor.) It has been a long time since the days of Dan Dequllle, of the Vir ginia City Territorial Enterprise, and his discovery and description of the eyeless fish 2000 feet under ground in the Comstock mines at Virginia City, Nev. Yet the writer of this had equally as wonderful an experience with fish of the cat and carp variety that in habit the Hot Lakes of Eastern Oregon, near La Grande. The fish have become accustomed to the temperature from long residence In the lake, the mud of which is used by bathers for various complaints. To keep the fish from stirring up the mud and making it too thin . they sterilize the carp from a recipe ob tained from Astoria, Or., which renders them less active. They also dehorn the catfish. These are driven into a framework enclosure something like the frame they use to put shoes on oxen. Then the gate Is shut and an at tendant takes a hammer and knocks the horns orf. Thus, while the fish are one of the curious attractions of the Hot Lakes, they are prevented from stirring up the mud and making it too thin. DR. KEY CHURCHMAN. Currants Grow on a Wlllo-rr Tree. London Letter to Chicago Inter Ocean. A horticultural curiosity is to be seen in the garden of Gloucester Lodge, Portsmouth road, Thames Ditton. Sur rey, the residence of James Packham, a member of the Surbiton council. A gooseberry bush, a currant bush and an elderberry tree are growing high up on a willow tree, to which they have by some means become grafted. All are flourishing and fruit is forming on the gooseberry and currant bushes. . Lov-r In Chnrch Invited to Marry. Richmond, Vs.. Dispatch. Annoyed by the lovernaking of a young couple during the service at Cape Charles, Va., Rev. Asbury Burke, after delivering his sermon, invited the court ing couple into his parsonage to finish the courting. The invitation caused much blushing, but was not accepted. Oh, Well! a Pan's a Pun. Chicago Evening Post. Portland showered the Chicago boomers with roses, thereby dispelling any impres sion that it doesn't care a scent for us.