8 Bt (OrirtRmtmt PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oron. postofflce as Second-Claas Matter. Subscription Rates Invariably In Adranee. (Br MalL) Pally. Sunday Included, one year Dally. Sunday Included, fix montha.... 4 Daily, Sunday Included three montha. .. H:3 Dat.y. Sunday Included, one. month .j Dally, without Sunday, one year " 0 Dally, without Sunday, aix montha 3-5 Dally, without Sunday three montha.... l-l? Daily, without Sunday, one month...... .80 Wielcly. one year .. 1 Sunday, one year....'. - ;'.;! Sunday and weekly one year S-SO (By earner.) Dally. Sanday Included, one year Dally. Sunday Included, one month 3 How to Remit Send postofflce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stampa. coin or currency are at the eendefa risk. Give postoftlce ad dress in full, Including connty and atate Poetace Rate 1 to 14 pares. 1 cent: 18 to 28 pases. 2 cents; SO to 40 pad's. S cenla; 4 to 60 Dacca. cent. Forelan posts ks double rata Eastern Business- Office Tb-j S. C. Beck wlth Special Asency New York, rooms 4i 80 Tribune bulldln. Chlcaxo. room 510-ia Taibune building. PORTLAND. SATURDAY, NOV. IS. BALLINGER AND HIS ASSAILANTS. It is probable that not many persons have actually read the studied pre . sentation by L. H. Glavis (published in Collier's Weekly and many other jour nals), of his "charges" against Secre tary Balllnger. Those who have read them find in the flood of matter only an elaboration of his former insinua tions, which were rebuked by Presi dent Taft. In substance it is asserted that Mr. Ballinger. when Commissioner of the General Land Office, ordered patents to issue for coal lands in Alaska, when he must have known such order was improper: that, on leaving the Land Office. Mr. Ballinger became attorney for claimants of these lands and for other claimants; and that soon after he became Secretary of the Interior he rendered a decision which would have validated all these claims but for the interposition of the Attorney-General, obtained by Mr. Glavis, on presenta tion of the law and the facts. Are these charges fortified by the records? If they are, they would be serious, indeed. Ballinger was Com missioner of the General Land Office. After his retirement from that position he did act as attorney for certain par ties among these land claimants. All the remainder of the matter, all the Intermediate particulars, seem to have been filled up by the Imagination of Mr. Glavis. There need be no im peachment of the honesty of his intent. But his suspicions- and conclusions are not facts. The statement by Mr. Glavis is as much an answer to President Taft as an attack on Secretary Ballinger. A passage in the President's letter of September last, addressed to Secretary Ballinger, authorizing him to dismiss Mr. Glavis "for filing a disingenuous statement unjustly Impeaching the in tegrity of his superior officer," covers the charges fully, and seems to con stitute sufficient answer to them. The President said: The Inference which Mr. Glavle aeeka to have drawn to your discredit In this connection If that you, while Commissioner of the General Land Office. came Into possession of facta concerning- the so-called tunnlnxham group of coal land claims which made It improper for you to use such farts after your resignation In the course of securing patents. 1 And the tact to b tl-at as Commissioner you acquired no knowledge In respect to the claims except that of the most formal character, and nothing which was not properly known to your clients when they consulted you. The evidence In respect to which you were con sulted professionally waa not secured by Mr. Glavis until after your resignation as Com missioner of the General Land Office. For the service to which Mr. Taft alludes, it has been shown that Mr. Ballinger was paid J250. It was serv ice such as any lawyer might render, cs was perfectly proper. Is a lawyer to be forbidden to do a legitimate business because he once was a public officer? But Mr. Taft found, -after his investigation, that, as Secretary of the Interior, "Mr. Ballinger studiously declined to have any connection with the Cunningham claims, or to exercise any control over the course of the claims"; and that "the charge to the contrary is not sustained by any evi dence." Of course, no President, is willing to keep any corrupt man in office; least of all as a member of his Cabinet. On another point it is as well to quote from the President's statement; for the facts should not be submerged and lost in the flood of repeated ac cusation. An article appeared In The Independent (New York), September 16. headed. "The Seizure or the Peo ple's Water Power." In this article the charge was repeated that Mr. Ballinger was the tool of the Water Power Trust a trust that exists only in Mr. Pin chot's Imagination, since others never have heard of it. The charge was that Ballinger had thrown open to specula tors water power sites of immense value that had been withdrawn by the Roosevelt Administration. On this sub ject President Taft said: H upbears from a report of the Director of the Geological Survey that the order of withdrawal of January, 109. waa hastily made by townships and by reference to in adequate maps; that it included, large areas not within miles of any river or stream, and that It failed to Include many valu able water power sites In the Immediate vicinity. From the same reliable source It Is learned that under the withdrawals made by your department from time to time, beginning In May last, there are now with held from settlement awaiting the action of Congress 50 per cent more water power sites than under previous withdrawals, and that thla has been effected by a withdrawal from settlement of only, one-fifth of the amount of the land. No other or fuller answer is neces sary. The facts, as to power sites on the Owyhee, Yakima and other streams, have been fully published, with maps and diagrams which prove the accuracy of the President's state ments. There will be further rebuke of, this wholesale lying presently; and more officials, dismissed as Glavis has been, will seek what consolation they can in posthumous statements. No man who knows Secretary Ballinger believes for one moment these asper sions upon his official and personal In tegrity. But there is a lot of men who depend on their suspicions for their facts; and their suspicions are the product of their own natures. The Territorial board of Immigra tion of Honolulu having met with in different success In solving the labor problem by the importation of Span iards. Portuguese. Porto Ricans, South Sea Islanders, Chinese and other na tionalities, is now making an effort to secure labor from Russia. About fifty Russian families are already on the way to Honolulu, and. If they prove satisfactory, more will be Imported. The Hawaiian labor problem, as well as that of the Pacific Coast, will be much easier solved when the Panama Canal is completed." Regular steam ship lines operating through the canal from the old world ports will bring t the shores of the Pacific great numbers of foreign laborers who, at the present time, will not make the long overland trip from the Atlantic Coast ports, where they are dumped by the ship load, to Increase the congestion in the over-populated labor centers of the East IN NEW VORK AND IN OREGON. Republicans of Oregon do not pur pose to set aside the primary law. No body in Oregon does. But there is a desire and there is a purpose so to use and so to administer the primary law as to prevent fraudulent intrusion of one party Into the affairs of another; so to guide party action by assembly or con vention, under the primary law, as to get results in conformity with the will and Intent of the people who consti tute parties, and to repudiate the Jug gle and fraud known as "statement one." There is a peculiar fight in the State of New York, over the primary law. Many politicians of either ' party are opposing the plan of Governor Hughes, who insists that nominations shall be made by direct vote In the primaries, but that party committees or assem blies may suggest candidates. This is the Republican plan In Oregon. But the opponents of Governor Hughes contend against direct nominations. They would limit the primary to se lection of delegates to party conven tions. And the party conventions would make the nominations. When, therefore, it is asserted that Governor Hughes is contending for the primary that Democrats and "statement" Republicans insist on In Oregon, nothing could be more false. Hughes Is contending for the sort of primary that Republicans of Oregon want and mean to conduct; and they will conduct It. moreover, strictly In accordance with the law, as It stands. GENTLEMAN JACK AGAIN. It is clear that "Gentleman Jack" is abroad In this city with a faithful coadjutor at his side. The command "atanH nnH deliver" at a residence In f North Irvington Thursday night, could have been made, and the details of the search of persons and house which fol lowed, could have been conducted only by gentlemen born to and bred In the gentlemanly calling which these house breakers have made their own. Putting persona to bed in the danc ing firelight of their own hospitable hearth, having first brought a bed down from the chamber above, and set It up for that purpose, binding them securely, but not painfully, to their couch, gagging them gently, but sufficiently to prevent outer', and lead ing them to enjoy their imposed rest while their house was systematically and thoroughly searched, are certainly new adjuncts in the ancient art of robbery. Nor was this all. These courteous robbers of this Isolated bungalow de clined to take the watches and jewelry of the householders, who were for the time being their prisoners, leaving these things for "sentimental" reasons. Finally, before taking their departure with all the money about the house, they gave conclusive evidence of their gentlemanly instincts by offering to bring a glass of water to the wife of their involuntary host, fearing the con ditions were such that her throat might hav. become parched. Possibly the revolvers carried by these gentlemanly and considerate burglars were loaded with soft, fluffy antiseptic cotton; or, if It had become necessary to subdue their host by drowning him in the bath tub, they would have made it a point of con science to see that the water was warmed at least to blood heat so that an unpleasant shock might not have followed his submergence. Really, these house agents are too gentlemanly to be at large. Extraor dinary efforts should be made to cap ture them. Such rare specimens should be caught and caged as curios ities. Otherwise they are likely, some fine evening, to attempt to put the wrong man to bed, having first rifled hU pockets, while they proceed to search his house. In this event, dis aster would fpllowwhich would cause the sudden extinction of a new species of house-breakers a rara avis in the professional world. EAST TRIES WESTERN METHODS. It is somewhat surprising to learn that the thrifty East is adopting to great advantage some of the ways of the wasteful West. The experimental farm, which is a distinctly Western innovation, has appeared on Long Island Sound, and, it seems to be meet ing with all of the success that was scored In the West. In 1905 the Long Island Railroad Company secured 17 acres of what had always been re garded as worthless land and began improving it. A year later the road secured 70 acres of similar waste land which the oldest settlers and best farmers on the Island declared was absolutely worthless for farming. But the railroad placed the farms in the hands of men who had made a science of farming, and by application of modern scientific principles the ex perimental farms were made to pro duce enormously, and at the Riverhead fair trie railroad farm secured more than forty first and a large number of second prizes. The farm Is no longer an experi ment, for it proved such a success from the start that large areas of similar land have been brought under cultivation, and there is a great rivalry between the farmers to see who can turn off the best crops from lands which for generations had been re garded as worthless. Naturally the Long Island Railroad did not take up farming with any intention of making it a part of the railroad business, but its efforts along ' these lines have brought large indirect returns In the shape of more traffic and a more prosperous people along the line of road. Even' the old farms already in cultivation were improved by follow ing the railroad's "book farmin' " methods. The advantages of this kind of work on the part of a railroad company are exceptionally well understood in the Pacific Northwest, where for many years the O. R. & X. Company con ducted an experimental farm for the purpose of demonstrating that many thousand acres of dry land east of the Cascade Mountains could be made to yield good crops. The success of these experimental farms was pro nounced and complete, and the com pany further improved its traffic field by bringing into the state some choice blooded livestock which is gradually replacing the inferior grades which formerly covered the ranges. The ex. perimental' farm and the railroad com ! pany's demonstration trains have both been of inestimable value in improving the agricultural situation in the Pacific Northwest. TO SUPPRESS THE FRAUD. The candidate who "accepts state ment one" plays a double part. He Is deceiving men of one party or of an other, or trying to deceive all. It is a fraud in its inception and in its con sequences. But it's fine for the minority party. Republicans of Oregon intend to repudiate it- They intend to suggest. In assembly or convention, candidates for the primary, and will put the knife into each and all who declare for "statement one." And if men of this class, by the aid of the Democratic vote, based on perjured registration, shoul obtain nominations, every effort will be made to defeat every ono of them. This fraud is to be eliminated. Re publicans of Oregon are going to have something like honest and straight alignment In politics. Or there will be no Republican party. Nor should there be. We all can stand the straight Democratic party, If we must; but away with those who, for their own purposes, play one party against the other, through "statement one." No fraud in politics ever -equalled it. WELCOME TO EU9APL. The arrival of Eusapla Palladino in New York is an event which nobody ought to overlook in the pressure and hurry of commonplace affairs. With out marvels to cheer and refresh us, what would the world be worth? Not very much. A new wonder is a boon Inestimable, and Eusapia is a wonder if there ever was one. She cannot do all the miracles which recently hap pened in Portland, but she can do some of them, and the beauty of her art Is that she has it under command. The spirits come when she doth call for them and do her weird bidding in the light of day, or at least in a twi light. In Italy, her native land, Eu sapia convinced many men of Lom broso's caliber that her phenomena were beyond ordinary explanation. In the United States she is to be observed by James, Jastrow, Munsterberg and other psychologists of unimpeachable standing. If they say her miracles are genuine, we may all rest assured that no mistake has been made. Whatever the outcome of Eusapia's seances may be. It is agreeable to see men of science at last mustering up courage to investigate these subjects. For many years it was Impossible to get a man who. had a reputation to lose to venture into the samo town with a. medium. No matter who re ported a seance, he could obtain no hearing. His facts were laughed at, his Inferences were scorned. The change of opinion which permits sa vants to test such people afe Eusapla without losing their good namej is much to be welcomed. In some meas ure it has been forced upon the scien tific world by those discoveries in ra diant matter which make It difficult to say Just where the occult begins. But partly, also, we may trust, the new spirit has grown from a stronger love of truth. Incredulity is a wholesome state of mind, but It may go too far. There Is nothing to be rained by stupidly denying facts which w,e know are true. Better stop denying' and use the mental energy we save by It In explaining them. I -RECOMMENDING QUACK NOSTRUMS. ' Agitation of the ship subsidy ques tion has reached a point in the East where the staid and eminently business-like New York Chamber of Com merce has taken it up. As yet no recommendations are forthcoming, for the discussion at a special meeting last week developed radically different views as to the kind of nostrums that should be administered to our puny Infant industry.. Senator Chauncey Depew came out of obscurity and argued at length for a ship subsidy, expressing the view that nothing else could accomplish the desired result. As Mr. Depew has spent a long life In the service of corporations that have waxed great on special privileges, he was probably reasoning from analogy. Lewis Nixon, who has had consider able experience in shipping and ship building trusts, veered away from the subsidy plan, and advocated restora tion of the ancient policy of dis criminatng tonnage rates and dis criminating duties. Both, of these arguments, it will be noted, have In view a direct tax either for subsidies or in the shape of. discriminating duties, which must be paid by millions of producers and consumers for the benefit of a few wealthy shipowners and shipbuilders. Neither of the plans mentioned would have any effect of consequence in increasing our transportation facili ties. This problem can never be satisfactorily settled until it is settled on plain business principles. We must be permitted to engage in the ocean carrylig trade on even terms with our competitors, who are now carrying our freight to market much cheaper than we can carry it ourselves. Until we make a trial of this common-sense and businesslike method of securing and operating a merchant marine with the cheapest ships obtainable any where In the world, regardless of what flag they were built under, we cannot determine whether pr not we care to engage in the business. If removal of the antiquated restric tions which now hamper American shipping, and granting the right to Americans to buy ships where they can buy them the cheapest, fall to wrest the carrying trade away from our neighbors, no subsidy will accom plish the end sought. In connection with the New York meeting, it is some what surprising to find that great champion of the people, Mr. Hearst, advocating Mr. Nixon's plan for mak ing the producers and consumers pay the tribute. That the editor of Mr. Hearst's Journal has a somewhat hazy Idea of the size of our merchant ma rine as it now exists is apparent from his inquiry, "How can a Senator of the United States fail to feel the necessity for vigorous or even daring action in face of the fact that our country has not more than 800,000 tons of carrying capacity on all the seas lyings between Canada and port to port in the United States, both on the Great Lakes and in the coastwise trade. while England has 18.320,000 and Germany 4,110,000 tons?" For information for this late addi tion to the ranks of the treasury raid ers, it might be said that Lloyds latest register of the world's shipping credits Great Britain with 18,826,000 tons, the United States 4,953,813 tons, Germany 4,266,713 tons. This includes about 2,000,000 tons of lake shipping In this country, but our sea-going merchant marine totals 2,791,282 tons, which is nearly 1,000,000 tons in ex cess of that of the heavily subsidized French merchant marine, 800,000 tons In excess of Norway's, and 1,600,000 tons In excess of the heavily subsidized Japanese merchant marine. Consider ing that the United States has the world to draw on for ocean carriers, we do not seem to be suffering from lack of ships. The Broadway car service- is unde niably bad. So also is that of the Irv ington line. If there Is any difference between the two, it is in degree, not in kind. If the freely spoken word of the numerous patrons of these lines is to be taken literally, the service upon each is worse than that upon the other. The district which these lines are supposed to serve is one of the finest resident districts in the city. Re lief could no doubt be had by vigorous protest, properly placed. One thing Is certain; To get relief in a matter of this kind it is necessary to go to head quarters with duly attested facts ani figures. It is no use to make the lives of the company's servants Ta burden to them. They are running the cars on a schedule fixed up in the office, and which, as far as they are concerned, is unchangeable. Here are the facts: The run Is a long one; the service Is exceedingly Irregular; there Is not a waiting-room or shelter of any kind along the lines for waiting passengers; the population In thesdistrict that Is ostensibly served by these two lines has more than doubled, in the past two years. Yet the car schedule remains the same, with increasing irregulari ties because of the more frequent stops. For these conditions it should not be impossible to secure relief. The fight waged on Collector Loeb, of New York,' is not due to any one specific grievance. It is rather the culmination of a series of abuses and indignities that have grown out of an effort, to check other abuses. Collector Loeb has broken up some extensive smuggling schemes since he beca,me Collector of the Port of New York, but the New York papers seem to think this might have been accomplished without the necessity of having thousands of inno cent American tourists of both sexes "man-handled" and insulted by cus toms inspectors. It would probably be a matter of mild indifference to New York how these people were treated were it not for the fact that the un warranted severity of the New York customs officials had already diverted travel to other ports of entry. Bos ton in particular has profited by the in dignities which tourists entering at New York must stand, and large addi tions to the steamship service have been made necesary within the past six months. The sight of a dollar be ing diverted to some other port will make "Little old New York" sit up and take notice wHh indescribable alacrity. The annual dinner of the Balaklava veterans, the survivors of the famous "Six Hundred," was held in London last month, and, although fifty-five years have passed since the Light Brigade made the . immortal charge that will live through all history, there were still eleven of the troopers pres ent who had followed Cardigan "into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell." This- charge of the Light Brigade has proved a famous theme in song and story, but it was, at Its worst or best, a great military blunder, with a needless sacrifice of life. In the new world, the carnage has been greater in some historic battles. There were no survivors of the Alamo, and no white witnesses to the last stand of Custer and his brave followers, while out of 673 men who were In the fight at Balaklava 11 3. were killed and 134 wounded, leaving enough to hold an annual reunion for more than half a century after the great battle was fought. The Central American imbroglio seems to be growing more serious. Ac cording to Washington advices, the Nicaraguans may be unable to keep the conflict within their own territorial bounds. Honduras Is said to be ex hibiting unwarranted friendliness for the cause of President Zelaya, but Costa Rica remains neutral, although Invasion by Nicaraguan troops may draw that country into the fight. In response to a protest from the United States, a gasoline launch, pressed into service by the revolutionists, and after wards seized by the government of Honduras, has been released. . There will be a disposition In this country to permit the contestants to settle their own difficulties so long as they do not interfere with the rights of American citizens. If anything of this nature should happen, the United States would promptly give an exhibition of bringing a war to a sudden end. Lawbreakers In the penitentiary at Salem, who are serving long terms and others who may be sentenced to imprisonment, had before their eyes yesterday the spectacle of a man who would have been glad to be in their place. Men's ways of looking at for tune and misfortune are largely rela tive. Dr. Woods Hutchinson says that ultimately the world will pay higher wages to the father that the mother may devote more time to the care of the infant. This idea certainly de serves consideration. To some people it may seem novel. The law is said to prohibit sale of milk that contains more than 400,000 germs to the cubic centimeter. If the law permits that many, what is im pure milk in the meaning of the law? Warriner, the "Big Four" treasurer who is short two-thirds of a million, is said to be a physical wreck. A disclosure of that nature would natur ally superinduce nervousness. A local plaintiff has been granted a divorce because he went home and found his wife sitting in another man's lap. The other man was not a dentist, either. Frequenters of gentlemen's gambling clubs are again under the ban of the' Police Court. The clubs should move to more fashionable quarters; . It is among the questions yet un answered as to whether it feels better to be held hp and robbed by a refined or an unrefined thug. Turkeys are said to be plentiful this year and even the poor man can get one if he knows where it roosts. There was once said to be a short age of rain, but when? SELF-ANSWERING UESTION6. Criticism of Municipal Government in the United Stales. VANCOUVER, Wash., Nov. 10. (To the Editor.) It seems to be the general consensus of opinioif of writers that city government In the United States has been a failure. It is said that the' business of our great cities is usually done In an unintelligent and inefficient way, and often dishonestly; that streets and bridges are badly maintained,' that the police force is often so. badly maintained and ill disciplined as to become the ally of vice and the corrupter instead of the protector of society, that pay rolls are padded. Inspectors unfaithful, exaggerat ed prices are paid for city supplies, un reasonable wages are given for badly-done work, and that valuable long-term fran chises are given to corporations without adequate compensation to the cities. There are other evils cited, too numerous to mention here. This may be true of Eastern cities, but is it the case in cities of the Northwest? Can such conditions exist under the pres ent city charter of Portland? Is a uni form system of bookkeeping required in this city? Should the affairs of a city be managed just as those of a large busi ness corporation? Would a commission system of government, modeled after the Des Moines plan, remedy these evils? Is It not better men that we need rather than any radical changes in our munici pal government? Personally, I do. not think that the Des Moines plan fulfills Its purpose, but would like the opinion In The Oregonian. FRANCES STONE. The picture which this correspondent paints in the opening paragraph may apply to Seatt'le, Los Angeles, San Fran cisco and other wicked cities, but not tot Portland. This city is free from the enumerated faults and crimes almost. A proposition to govern the City of Portland after the Des Moines plan (with a fet modifications) was submitted to the voters last June and rejected. GAVNOR TAKES IT ALL BACK. Serve as Mayor of New Yorkf Of Course He Will. New York Tribune. In an interview in the New York World Mayor-elect Gaynor charged the newspa pers with Inventing the assertion that he would not serve unless his associates on the ticket were elected to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. He said: "They (the newspapers) put things in my mouth that I never said, and dis torted and even forged what I did say, so as to carry a wrong impression. I see today they are still using the false hood of their own Invention that I said that if my two associates, Moore and Galvin, were not elected I would resign. Let them go right on falsifying.' The community Is now fully alive to the con spiracy of distortion and falsification which this campaign has witnessed." But the newspapers which were support ing him represented him as making that threat in a speech last week. The New York Press in its report of his speech of Thursday night quotes him as saying after an appeal in behalf of Messrs. Moore and Galvin: , "Do not think of electing me and then surrounding me with a hostile Board of Estimate. Why, you'd fret me to death. I couldn't stay there, and I wouldn't' stay there." The World quotes him thus: "Just think of electing me, if you will, and surrounding me with a hostile Board of Estimate. Why, you would fret me to death.- I could not stay there, and I would not stay there." Yet he now denounces that statement as a falsehood of newspaper invention and part of "a conspiracy of distortion and falsification." Perhaps the candidate was under such excitement that he did not know what he was saying when he was on the stump. That is a charitable ex planation of some of his extravagances of speech and a plausible one of his be lieving that what he subsequently saw in print as utterances were the forgeries of a conspiracy. REGULAR ARMY IN CIVIL, WAR Record for Desertions Is Bad, Says This Correspondent. PORTLAND, Nov. 11. (To the Editor.) "Regular Army," in The Oregonian of this date, says one thing that naturally makes a volunteer in the Union Army dur ing the Civil War rise up and stare. Here it is: "It would be interesting to inquire what proportion of those ork the pension list saw the real thing, even in the Civil War, but!" Now, every vol unteer soldier "within the range of my voice" implores and beseeches "Regular Army" not to expose him. The humilia tion would be depressing, for not every member of the Grand Army of the Re public fought, bled, died and almost suf fered like "Regular Army" did, no doubt. But the citizen volunteer in that drjadful conflict did stay by his gun, and didn't desert at any rate, like the "Regulars" did. If "Regular Army" will consult the Adjutant-General's report at the close of the Civil War, he may discover, to his abid ing comfort, that every fourth man of the regular Army deserted from the field. Think of it 250 deserters (nearly) out of 1000 men. Nothing equals it, unless it la desertions from the regulars the last de cade. From the volunteer regiments dur ing the Civil War less than 69 to the 1CO0 deserted. In some of the states Maine, for instance only four men de serted out of 100. Great was the "regular Army" during the Civil War. What few of them, espe cially among the officers, that didn't go with the secessionists? Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock, Thomas, Schofield, Howard and a host of other great and good leaders were regular Army men, but of the regular Army as such I will like wise refrain charitably, and hubh. , OLD COFFEE COOLER. Anthor of "O. K.' With much asperity, the Army and Navy Journal resents the assertion that the phrase "O. K." originated in the igno rant spelling of "All correct," as "Oil korrkt," by Zachary Taylor while in Mexico, or some other officer of the Army "General Taylor," says the Army and Navy Journal, "was not a man of 'liberal education' in the ordinary sense, but neither he nor any other officer of the Army that we have ever heard of was so ignorant as this. According to Edwards' 'Words, Facts and Phrases,' the use of 'O. K.' originated with John Jacob Astor. the millionaire, who, being the son of a butcher of Waldorf, Germany, might be excused for a deficient knowledge of English." Edwards says: "If a note of Inquiry as to any particular trader's posi tion came, the answer to which he in tended to be satisfactory he was accus tomed to write- across the note the let ters 'O. K.' and return it to the writer. The letters 'O. K.' he supposed to be the Initials of 'All correct,' and in this sense they are now universally current in the States." -Revenue From "Ad" Cylinders. PORTLAND, Nov. 12. (To the Editor.) In Journeying from Naples to London, the traveler will note the billboard nui sance. In Europe the use of these un sightly abominations seems to be for bidden, and their places are taken by hol low cylinders about four feet in diameter, which are placed on street corners and other convenient localities. The right to place advertisements upon the outer sur face of these cylinders is given in vari ous cities for a reasonable consideration. This would seem to be a good source of revenue and an "innocent - municipal graft." T. M. ANDERSON. True Happiness. New York Sun. "What is your Idea of true happiness?" he asked. "To have a husband who could afford to buy all the hair I wanted without making it necessary for either of us to deny ourselves anything else." NEW LEADERS IN BOTH PARTIES. ' A Look Ahead Into the Presidential Campaign of 1912. Kansas City Times. f This is not the time to press the discus- sion of Presidents! possibilities for 1912. I Chairman Mack, of the Democratic Na- j tional committee, is wise In advising that personal speculation be left to the future, although he mentions Governor Har mon, of Ohio, and Governor Marshall, of Indiana, as men who might com mand large followings in the next few years. It has been many years since a new Presidential administration has begun under conditions so favorable to the de velopment of new leaders in both par ties. Evepy other question, including the very active issue of real tariff re- vision, is merged into the conflict now on between the: progressives and the reactionaries' for the control of the two parties. That the people have made up their minds to continue this conflict until they win a triumph over the spe cial interests Oiat have controlled Congress and exploited them is mani fest in the scope and intensity of the movement under way. Progressive sentiment is more general and is stronger In the West than In the East, but it is growing everywhere. It is not sectional. On the Republican side new leaders have already defined themselves. They made themselves conspicuous In ttsir contentions for the people in the tariff session. They are gaining in popularity and Influence. They are neither In timidated nor embarrassed by the at tacks and the scoffs of those who de nounce them as renegades. They know that they are in line with party senti ment, party pledges and party action, and that they are "Irregular" only in defy ing the special interest organization in Congress. These men, and those who will Join them in the fight for the square deal, will bring forth the new leaders for the Republican party by the time the progressives gain control of Congress. A similar opportunity presents itself to the Democratic progressives. The Democratic party must align itself with the people. It must disown those of its representatives who joined hands with Aldnich and Cannon to defeat the expressed will of both parties. Sys tematic plans will be. laid by the cor porations and trusts to gain control of the Democratic party in view of their loosening grip on the Republican organization. The relative position of the Democracy will depend very much on its ability to "withstand the tempta tions placed in its way. There is plenty of time to make con jectures for 1912. The people are In a big National fight, and the future will develop the qualities of those who shall lead for the people against the special interests. CIVIL WAR FOUGHT BY MERE BOYS No Wonder Then That Nearly All Gen eral Officers No Longer Survive. - New York Evening Post. That almost all the Confederate and Union generals have now disappeared from the scene Is perhaps not so sur prising as that many of them survived for so many years after the great strug gle in which they won their honors. But the Civil War, It must be remembered, was fought by boys. It !s related of Gen eral John Sedgwick, who was killed at 50. that two years before he was famil iarly known as "Old Uncle John." be cause of his extreme age. His oldest staff officer, a lieutenant-colonel, was but 27; the ages of the rest varied from 25 to 18. General Howard himself was 30 at the outbreak of the war and Sickles 36. General Wesley Merritt, after Sickles the most distinguished Civil' War veteran on the retired list of the Army, was only 25 In 1861. Sheridan was 30 and General Miles 22 when he went to the front as a captain. In striking contrast is the rapid disappearance of the prominent figures of the Spanish War, a phenomenon re called by the death last week of Major General Elwell S. Otis. General W. R. Shatter, Fitz Hugh Lee, Joseph Wheeler, Guy V. Henry, Henry C. Corbln, Wil liam Ludlow and Henry W. Lawton have gone, in addition to Captain Philip, Rear Admirals Sampson and Taylor in the Navy, and the commander-in-chief, Wil liam McKinley. The war with Spain was fought by men well on In years, and was so brief that only a few younger men like Theodore Roosevelt, Leonard Wood and Frederick Funston could come to the front. How rapidly the old Army of 1861 1864 is now disappearing appears, too. from the pension figures. 45.000 Civil War veterans dying in the last fiscal year. NEW STORY OP THE CHICAGO FIRE. Remarkable Revelation After Many Years of Misinformation. Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. Thirty-seven years ago today Mrs. Mo riarity's cow kicked over the lamp that set fire to Chicago. Before the fire had been checked more than 18,000 houses had been destroyed, entailing a loss of over JSM.OOO.OOO and causing more than 100 fatalities. With those on the inside, it has been an open secret for many years that the fire was the result of terrible error in judgment on the part of the authorities. The fire started in West Canal street, in what was then the most lawless part of the city. The houses, which were old, were connected by underground passages and other means of communication un known as to their details to the police. When a criminal was so fortunate as to gain the refuge of one of these houses he could rest In comparative security. When the fire started it seemed too good an opportunity to let pass and the word was quietly passed to the firemen to make a bluff fight until the dive district was wiped out. Unfortunitely a fierce wind arose, the water supply failed and the fire got beyond control. It burned for more than three days before It was finally conquered. There can be no question but that tne authorities did wrong when they allowed the fire to burn, although they were do ing what they thought would be for the best interests of the city. It was their duty to extinguish the fire as soon as possible. They had no right, moral or legal, to pursue, the course they did. Yet it is an every-day event in the lives of most people to be cognizant of some wrongful act being performed that good may result. And it never works out well in the end. Keep the House Air Moist. La Follette's Magazine. There is such a thing as having a house, or its air at least, too dry. The effect of very dry air is to take moisture too rap idly from skin and mucous membranes. This has two bad results. It produces a feeling of chilliness, making rooms that are really too hot seem too cold, and it injures the throat and air passages. As yet, no satisfactory Bcheme has been de vised for keeping the air in a house properly moist in the Winter time. Wa ter in furnace pans or in dishes set on radiators supplies only a fraction of the moisture needed. And yet these attempts should not be abandoned; they are far better than nothing. Use pans or dishes of generous size, remembering that the larger the surface of the water, the more rapidly it evaporates. Her Money's Worth. Harper's Magazine. A Buffalo preacher tells a story of a woman who, after hearing him preach, informed a friend that she did not like the services at all. The seat was hard, she said, the singing was not good, and the preaching was poor. Her little girl, who overheard her remarks and who was present with her at church, said: "But. mamma, what can you expect for a penny!" Life's SunnySide At a recent luncheon In New York Dr Henry A. Morse, the well-known Luther an delegate from Manchester, recounted a number of amusing pulpit experiences. "I know a young divine," he said, "who. wishingto impress upon his con gregation the beauty of a child's up turned face, said: 'Ah, dear friends, what is more beautiful than the face ol an upturned child?' "Another divine illustrated the absurd ity of talking in prayer, instead of hum bly and reverently beseeching, when lie said, 'Paradoxical, O Lord, as It may seem to thee, it is nevertheless truo that,' and so on. "A third dhjine. in a funeral oiatlor, over a young girl, had his audience bathed in tears. In conclusion lie suid: 'Finally, brethren, may the bereaved father find consolation for the untimely death of his only daughter.' and here, remembering there were other daughters, the fruits of a second marriage, he add ed, hastily: 'I mean, of course, by hi! first wife.' " Louisville Times. - Mike Murphy, the University of Penn sylvania's famous trainer, said of a Penn sylvania player: "He has the self-sacrifice and the in ventiveness, minus t the deceit, of a man at a Philadelphia game last year. When the crowd was entering thickest at Franklin Field one afternoon this man shouted to .the ticket-taker from down the line: " 'It's all right. I've got the tickets. There's 12 of us. Count 'em as they go in.' "Eleven men were counted. They en tered the field and mingled at once with the crowd. "Then the ticket-taker turned to the 12th man but he had disappeared."- Washington Star. s The dinner had not gone at all well. The waiter was slow, the food was cold and the cooking was bad. The guest in the German restaurant was of a natur ally peevish disposition anyhow, and he complained vigorously to the head waiter, and especially complained of the waiter at his table. As he "was leaving the waiter said humbly: "If you only knew vat a hardt time us raiters hat, you would nicht be so hardt." "But," said the guest, "why be a waiter?" "Vot else couldt I do?" asked the waiter. "Well," said the guest, "up at the Met ropolitan Opera House they pay a man 5 a night to play the oboe. You might try that." "Budt," said the waiter, "I don't know how to blay dot oboe." "What Is the difference?" observed the guest, as he turned away, leaving a much mystified waiter. "You don't know how to watt, either; you might scatter your incompetence." Cosmopolitan. A shrewd old Vermont farmer came Into a lawyer's office the other day and proceeded to relate the circumstances in a matter about which he thought it would be profitable to "go to law." "You think I hev a good case?" he finally asked. "Very good, indeed!" the lawyer as sured him. "You should certainly bring suit." "What would your fee be fer the whole thing?" the old farmer asked. "Fifty dollars," wag the prompt re sponse. The client pulled out an old wallet, ex tracted a roll of bills and counted out tso. "Now," he said, "you hev got all you would get out of this case anyhow: so 8' pose you tell me honestly just what you think my chances of winnin' a suit are?" The Green Bag. The 4-year-old son of a Presbyterian minister here in town had done some thing to get in wrong with his father and mother and the latter asked him If he didn't think he'd better get down on his knees and ask God to forgive him for what he'd done and ask divine aid to keep from erring similarly in future. "Aw, rats!" retorted the minister's son. "let's give God a rest for a while and quit pesterln' him about every little thing that happens." Cleveland Plain Dealer. MANY DRINK 4 O'CLOCK COFFEE. New Yorkers Now Go In for What Used to Be a Way of Foreigners. New York Sun. When he first got back from a. trip abroad, the young man felt strongly the need of his afternoon coffee and cake, when 4 o'clock came around. This was not only custom but a bit of medical ad vice, because the doctor at Carlsbad had told him that Americans didn't eat enough and that was a reason why they were so nervous. The young man expected when he went into one of the small lunch places down town that his request for coffee and caka might be looked upon as something odd, as typically foreign. It was to his sur prise, then, that he found that he waa not by any means the only person in the, lunch place who was there with such, an object. There was a fair crowd, each man tak ing his coffee and cake. Some of the men appeared to be clerks and others were just office boys. So the young man spoke to one of the men behind the counter. - "Oh, yes," replied he, "there Is always a good crowd In here at this hour. I think you will find the same thing in other food places. People seem to come In here just naturally for that midafter noon food, and with these fellows it isn't a case of a deferred luncheon, either. They do it because they are hungry and they don't want too much. The habit has come up very strongly in the last few years." Wattersoa on the Ferrer Case. From Henry Watterson's Letter from Tours, France, to the Louisville Courier Journal. At worst Ferrer was a Catalonian Bob Ingersoll. He seems to have been a cross between Fra Elbertus and William T. Stead. It was worse than wicked, a blunder of the first magnitude, to take his life. It Is out of such follies that sys tems topple. I wonder that a great man like Merry del Val. himself half a Span lard, did not interpose before it was too late. A Bit Mixed. Louisville Courier-Journal. An English Journalist, somewhat mixed as to personalities in America, says Dana Gibson founded the New York Sun. Of course. Richard Harding Davis was the President of the Confederacy and Booker T. Washington the Father of His Coun try. The Man Who Likes Ills Job. Springfield (Mass.) Republican. Professor Brander Matthews has said something that is worth passing along to the rising generation: "The man who Is in love with his job gets more content ment out of life than any other." v Good Cooking- Coming;. St. Louis Republic. It's 'possum and sweet 'taterg in Mis souri and Georgia, but just wait until Creole gumbo Is served by Creole cooks in New Orleans sassafras leaves and crab meat and things like that: ( vhy Governors Were Changed. Chicago Tribune. Perhaps- Cleveland had grown tired of being called the best-governed city in the Unltd States. Hence its recent change in Governors V