io THE MORXiyQ OREGOJflAX, TIIURSfAYf T1T'TTTT sV - - rORTUXD, OREGON". Entered at Portland. Orison. Fostoffice ma Second-Class Matter. Subscription Rate Invariably in Advance. (BY MAIL-) XRllr. Sunday included, one year $8.00 Dally, Sunday Included, alx month!.... 4.25 Dally. Sunday Included, three months., 2.25 Dally. Sunday Included, one month..... .75 Dal'.y. without Sunday, one year 6.00 Dally, without Sunday, alx months 3-25 Dally, without Sunday, three montha... 1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month 00 Weekly, one year 1,50 Sunday, one year 2 .V unday and weekly, one year 3-50 (By Carrier.) Dally, Sunday included, one year...... 9.00 Dally, Sunday Included, one month..... .75 How to Remit Send PostofClce money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Htamps, coin or currency are at the Bender's risk. Give postoffice ad dress in full. Including county and state. Postace Bates 10 to 14 pages, 1 cent: 1 to 28 pages. 2 cents; 30 to 40 pages, 3 cents; 40 to 60 pages. 4 cents. Foreign postage double rate. Eastern Business Office. The S. C. Beck wtth Special Agency New York, rooms -18-f'O Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 510-512 Trtbuns building. POHTLASD, THURSDAY, FEB. 3, 1810. THE WASTE OF "CONSERVATION." Representative Mondell. of Wyom ing, in. a statement before the com mittee of investigation, on Tuesday, presented a view of the system em ployed for "conservation of natural resources," which too, few have had the courage to declare. An enormous and costly bureau has been created a huge addition to officialdom which devours more than it conserves. Of ficials of the bureau swarm over the country; the central office at Wash ington has become one of the largest; district headquarters, with additional corps of employes, are maintained in many places; the traveling expens?s of the chiefs, the inspectors, the rangers, are enormous; the name of the stenographers, typewriters and clerks is legion. Ingenuity is on the rack to invent new schemes or devices which may give excuse for the em ployment of more officials: and to the salary list an expense list is added which makes an annual total of expenses for conservation which will soon consume more than the value of the resources which .these theorists atje so anxious to "conserve." "It is a new notion that the policy which the country has pursued from the beginning till now is a destructive one. Hitherto the country has urged the settlement of the lands, the de velopment of water powers, the open ing of coal mines, the cutting of lum ber, .the clearing of forests for pro duction of food, the use of the natural resources within our continental area. But the policy which has made the country what it is Is- How found "by these theorists to . be destructive and ruinous. A gang of officials arises whose heart's desire is to pro tect the resources of the country against the people, and to draw in this service some millions every year out of the treasury for salaries and expenses. Thus officialdom will swal low the resources, or their equivalent in money, from the treasury, while it holds back the development of the country. Our people of the West are not so fond of the state of nature. It Is the business of government to pre vent spoliation of natural resources on the public lands; but it ought not to change the policy upon which a continent thus far has been subdued to the purposes of man and of civiliza tion. We should have the reasonable use of things now; we should be able to obtain and to develop and use the natural resources, as heretofore in all the states, in lawful and customary ways, without being checked by spies, driven from our undertakings, or forced to pay unreasonable tribute for support of an immense official sys tem, based on the pedantry of aca demicians and doctrinaires. The own ers of land, lawfully acquired, should be left to do as they think best with It, as all others have done heretofore. It Is the way to turn it to greatest utility, both for the owners and for the state. The Xatlonal Government must part with the lands before any real use can be made of them. The states then will supervise the use of the lands and regulation of the im provements. The policy of main taining forest reserves in mountainous districts, where the lands cannot be used for settlement is sound; but this Is about the limit of proper conserva tion by the United States. Everything beyond this will be a hindrance: and the more rigid the regulations are the greater the obstruction to develop ment. ' The land grant system was carried to excess, and the obstructive poliey now urged is an extreme reaction from it. Great areas of lands granted to corporations are held out of use. It is an abuse that will be aggravated im mensely by adoption of a like policy by the Government, towards the re mainder of the public lands. ' De velopment cannot take place.under the many restrictions proposed, and the protest of men in Congress who have practical knowledge of conditions ought to outweigh the theories of the bureau system, which mean obstruc tion on the one hand and. waste, through officialdom on the, other. TIMBER'S BIO PAY KOLL. The remarkable growth and prosper ity of the Grays Horbor country, as well as other regions where lumbering and logging is the principal industry, are easily explained by a table printed in The Oregonian yesterday, showing the wages paid on Grays Harboa in 109. Eliminating a few industries not directly connected with or de pendant on the logging and lumbering business, there was shown a monthly pay roll of more than $230,000 throughout the. year. It would be Impossible to estimate the number of times this large sum should be multi plied to reflect accurately the volume or business it has made possible; but it is quite plain that a very large pro portion of this sum was turned ov-r many times, and in its progress wid ened out into a credit basis which per mitted buying and selling to the ex tent of many millions. These disbursements, beginning out in the woods, where loggers were at work, continued on through the var ious stages of the industry until the manufactured product was stowed aboard car or ship. Both or these transportation agencies receive their due portion or the proceeds, and thy tn turn spend a share thereor in the region where the traffic originates. Out of this one great industry leads a long list of others. The labor rep resented by this $3,000,000 annual pay roll must be fed and clothed. There must be shipyards, foundries ' and machine shops to provide equip ment necessary for the camps and mills. Dairymen, gardeners and or- chardists also fine in the demands if this army of employes an excellent market for the products of the soil. To meet this demand, there is a stead ily increasing use of the lands from which timber has been removed. It wilt require many years of large out put from these- lands even approxi mately to equal the value, of the tim ber taken from them; but this com ing agricultural development would have been impossible had the timber j business not paved the way for and ; mad the market for the agriculturalist. This 3, 000,000 annual pay roll on Grays Harbor is an example of what we may expect along the Oregon Coast within the next ten years. The lum ber resources of the Tillamook and Nehalem region, of Coos Bay, and of the intermediate territory, are all of much greater extent than those re maining on the Washington Coast. They will all be turning oft large pay rolls, which will build up new com munities and set in motion new indus tries throughout the entire region. Great Is the lumber industry, although we have made but small beginning in exploiting it In Oregon. VALUE OF SMALL ECONOMIES. To the high cost of living nowadays is added the expense of shaves at the barber shop, shines at the bootblack stand and cigars at the tobacco store. Formerly these were listed in the cost of high living, to which few men aspired. Perhaps the housewife is entitled' to her part of the blame for today's high cost of living (iyt now regarded as high living), on account of her poor management of house hold expenses or bad cookery, but the husband who buys shaves, shines and cigars is hardly qualified to com plain or pose as a model. A man in New Tork, who for 30 years shaved his own face, shtned his own shoes and eschewed cigars, tells the Sun, of that city, that in that time he saved 250O through these econo mies. With this money he, three years ago, purchased for his adult boy the business of the boy's deceased employer and the son has wholly re paid his father out of the business and is on the road to fortune. This is the way the father figures his thirty years' savings: Bhav-ing. three times weekly, at 15c 4.-c; per year. t2i.H0: !10 years $ 675 Shoes, three times weekly at 5c 15c: per year. 7.5C; 30 years 225 Cigars, three per day (box price). 5c '15c; per year. X52.50; 30 years . 1.575 Gross saving $2,475 Therefore, when figuring the high cost of living, or the cost of high liv ing, do not forget the shaves, the, shines and the cigars. Great deal .ot money goes into these unnecessary luxuries, and they are not less waste ful than automobiles, which many thoughtless persons who buy shaves, shines and cigars foolishly imagine are the acme of extravagance." AI30 should be included the cost of sham poo, massage and tip at the barber shop. Many men are throwing away fortunes every day, without stopping to figure their waste. And yet they think they are skimping along with out enough to live on comfortably. Good many of them talk about ex travagance of their wives, when they, poor things, are buying fewer luxuries than' their lords and masters. THE DEBATE ON POSTAL BANKS. The debate upon postal savings banks in the United States Senate has not yet become very . exciting or very Instructive. Senator Smith, of Mich igan, makes the objection to the proj ect which one would naturally expect from a man of limited education and narrow ideas. He thinks it would "in terfere with the development of in dividuality." Extreme and unreflect ive partisans of old-fashioned laissez faire economics are always in an agony of fear lest something should happen to "individuality," and it is wrong to laugh at them, for the qual ity is extremely valuable. But if Senator Smith were a little better in formed upon the subject of postal savings banks, he would cease to trem ble because they are one of the moat valuable agencies ever contrived for promoting individuality. That has been one of their marked results n every country which has adopted them. Nothing tends more powerfully to develop character than that economic independence which comes from thrift and the habit of saving. The only peo ple Who can muster up courage to be individual" are those who are above the dread of immediate want. As a rule .he person -who has no property and lacks ambition to acquire any is a squalid dependent. He has no indi vidual character and never will have any. The material foundation for all desirable personal qualities is security from physical want. This security is based upon the habit of saving and in most cases the habit of saving does not come by nature. It is seldom acquired without careful training and much practice. People in general will waste their money unless they are educated to save it. The progressive nationa of Europe, realizing this truth, have established postal savings banks for the good of their pvopie. In doing so, they aim directly at two objects. The first is to cultivate habits of thrift; the sec ond, to reward thrift by providing im pregnable security for petty savings. The postal banks stimulate people jf small means to lay up money mainly by bringing the opportunity to do so to their doors. When the agitation for postal banks began in Holland, n 1870, there were but twenty-seven private savings banks in the whole country and their business was tri fling. Naturally, the people wasted their eatings. In the year 1900, however, there were 161 depositors in the postal banks to every 1000 of the population. The provision for hus banding savings is nearly as bad in the United States today as it was In Holland in 18T0. Professor Hamilton, of Syracuse University, says in his authoritative work on "Savings and Savings Institutions" that "the facili ties for savings are not available in the greater part of our territory noi to the vast maiorltv of out- t-w. 1 and they are not likely to be under any voluntary system. Vast areas, includ ing great states, .have no facilities of this kind." The startling truth is that ave had. in 100 nnlv 1 - . , . 1 ly t 1 savings bank in the United States for eacn 0,103 or population. Since then their relative number has not in creased. ' To make matters wors t Vi evenly distributed! Almost all the "trustee .banks" are situated in New England and New Tork. The rest of the country has scarcely any. The trustee banks are the only savings banks in the United States which are managed under strict , legal regula tions for the interest of the depositors. The trustees serve without pay and all the earnings, after deducting cler ical expenses, are distributed among the patrons. These are the only genuinely popular savings banks in the country. Those which transact a commercial business do not appeal strongly to people of small means and very often they are lamentably inse cure. New Tork had 128 trustee banks in 1890, but they were all situated in thirty-eight eounties and. twenty six in the same county as New Tork City. The other twenty-two counties of the state had none. This is not a typical case, because New Tork is bet ter supplied with savings banks than most of the states. Texas has but one depositor to 1023 of the population. No thoughtful statesman ca regard such a condition without dismay. It is the manifest intention of those who are promoting the bill for postal banks to have the money which they collect redeposited In local commercial banks. This ought to allay all fears of rivalry and unfair competition by the Government. Experience proves that such fears are" groundless In any case. The Director-General or the French postal banks wrote to Mr. Wanamaker when he was at the head of our Post office, that "the postal savings bank does not in the least Interfere with the development of private banks which reeeive larger deposits." The Italian Minister or Posts and Telegraphs re ports that the public and private sys tems flourish side by side without in terference. The question of thrift s no longer academic tn this country. It must be solved in some way or the consequences will not be pleasant for those who possess property. What better expedient than postal banks has anybody to propose? Jt NTrCE BREWER OX THE COrRTS. If Justice Brewer's published opin ions give any clew to the inclination of the Supreme Court of the United States, there is some danger of that distinguished tribunal being included among the promoters of radical ideas. The illustrious jurist is especially in teresting in his strictures upon the courts other than the one of which he is a member. Too much of, their time, he insists, is wasted in fads and foi bles. Any trivial pyrotechnic of law yers' wit is sufficient to nonplus the trial Judge and delay the suit which he is trying. Appeals are so numer ous and allowed on pretexts so worth less that they make the law despised. Justice Brewer would not permit the courts to "trifle with justice" by pro longing suits with technical quibbles. He would give the Judges' more au thority to direct trials and restrict the right of appeal. No sensible person will differ with him. He is unquali fiedly sound in both views. It is re markable that while judges on the one hand have been assuming broader and broader powers both to enact and to veto laws, on the other hand their ef ficiency as managers or suits has been curtailed until they are little more than figureheads in many cases, ir some limitation would be wholesome in the former particular, certainly greater power ought to be allowed them in the latter. TESTING THE CORFORATIOX TAX. The corporation tax of Congress is tossing about in a stormy sea of con stitutional questions. Pending a calm ing of the arguments by the United States Supreme Court, opponents of the tax wish Congress to defer six months after March 1, 1910, the date for corporations to file statements of their income. To the Supreme Court a test suit has gone up from Vermont, to prevent the Stone-Tracy Company, of Windsor, from filing the Information required by the law. The suit was brought by Stella P.- Flint, acting as guardian for Samuel N. Stone, a minor shareholder of x the company. The complaint alleges that the law would cause unfair discrimina tion against the Stone-Tracy Com pany, in favor of competitors not in corporated. .Early last week the Solicitor-General of the United States, Lloyd M. Bowers, filed a brief with the court outlining the specific constitutional questions involved in the suit, as fol lows: Whether the tax Is direct in the constitu tional sense and is void because not ap portioned among the states in proportion to their population. Whether the tax improperly interferes with the general-taxing power of the state to create corporations. Whether the tax is invalid as to state or mupnicipal bonds. Whether the tax is invalid in the case erf public service sorpora-tlons chartered by a state. To which Mr. Bowers might have added: Whether a tax. that singles out corpora tions ana exempts individuals and partner chips in the same business violates the, con stitutional requirement that all excise shall be uniform. Whether the tax is an Income (direct) tax or an excise' (indirect) tax on the privilege of doing business in a corporate capacity. Whether the tax applies to a company in corporated in the United States to do ex clusively foreign business. Framers of. the law tried t avoid, though not altogether successfully, semblance of income tax, warned by the fate of that kind of tax in the Supreme Court. It need hardly be said that Congress has authority to Kvy an excise tax on business or occupations in a uniform manner. But when it undertakes to tax busi ness in Its corporate capacity that is, to tax the corporate franchise or priv ilege granted to it by a state the matter presented is very different, ir the law or Congress uniformly taxed all persons, partnerships and corpora tions engaged in forms of business that could easily be specified, the act would be admittedly constitutional. But in taxing corporations alone. Con gress has singled out one or the vital instrumentalities possessed by the states .Tor carrying on their govern mental runctlons. And according to the well-known doctrine that the power to tax carries the power to de stroy, the corporation tax would ap pear to infringe upon the rights of the states In a manner not granted by the Federal Constitution. The states have not this power to legislate to the detriment of instrumentalities of the National Government. These questions are now coming up in the United States Supreme Court. The states clearly have power to levy taxes on Incomes and on corporation business, and any other kind of busi ness. The National Government should have authority to tax incomes, and it now has that authority to levy unirorm excises. The. test in the Su preme Court is fraught with big con stitutional questions in the abstrac tion of which only small partof the public will nd interest. With a desire to share In the ex travagant profits which the farmer has been making in the past -few years. the harvester trust will advance the price or farm machinery. The trust, of course, does not give the prosperity or the farmers as a reason for mak ing up prices, but places the blame on the higher cost of steel and lum ber used in construction. The high cost of labor, while not exactly satis factory to the laborers, ,is also given as an excuse for higher prices. If the trust would be consistent and sell machinery to the American buyers at as low a price as it is supplied the farmers or the Argentine, India. Rus sia and other roreign countries, there would be less cause or complaint. So long, however, as the foreigner can buy American machinery, several thousand miles from the factory, at a lower figure than is demanded from the farmer in the township adjoining ) the factory, the blame for 'advanced 1 prices here is not all chargeable to tne increased cost of steel, wood and labor. The Canadian Department of Mines has taken up the matter of divert ing gold from the Tukon to the royal mint-at Ottawa. This gold now nearly all goes out to Seattle and San Fran cisco, and in order to turn the tide, the Canadians propose to abolish the charge of one-eight of 1 per cent now exacted by the Dominion assay office. The Canadians are a little late in their endeavors to change the course of this stream of yellow metal for the best producers on the Tukon in Canadian territory have been pretty well worked out, the greater part of the gold of Alaska now cony ing out of American territory. Can ada has succeeded in annexing a con siderable share of the Alaskan trade which formerly went to Seattle, 'but this was secured by lower prices and fine transportation facilities. It 13 questionable whether the inducements offered will change the routing of the gold. Even if it does, the Canadians will be obliged to send it over tho border to liquidate that "balance of trade" which always stands against Canada. . A news report of Tuesday's New Tork stock market mentions that some of the weakness was in part caused by "resentment against the pushing enterprise of a newer figure in the railroad world." This is the kind :.-f treatment which .New Tork always ex tends to the newer figures, which from time to time Invade the sacred pre serves of the Wall-street patriarchs. It will be remembered that, when the late E. H. Harrlman first began gath ering power in Wall street, similar "treatment" was shown him, and more than one concerted raid was made on the properties which he was slowly building up. But Mr. Harrlman lived long enough to pull down some of the temples of the mighty opposed to him and it is not at all improbable that the new figures which will come to the front from time to time will extend similar treatment to the self-appointed overloards of the financial world. The "increased cost of living" seems to have struck the fur market. Reports of the London January fur sales,. ;is printed in The Oregonian yesterday, show an advance of 100 per cent 'n the price of skins of the silver fox. vhich are now quoted at $300 to $500. Even the skins of that famous pair, "de 'possum and do coon," have ad vanced 70. per cent since last year, while the skunk is credited' with an advance of 60 per cent in the prem ium which the fur dealer has placed on his head, or, to be accurate, his hide. Throughout the list the ad vances are quite general, and they point to the rapidly approaching era when the encroachments of the set tler will have practically exterminated many of the most valuable fur-bearers which in the past have contributed so much to the wealth of the world, as it is represented by the apparel of the daughters of Eve. There was 'an increase of $359, 000,000 in the imports of this coun try in 1909, as compared with the preceding year. The greatest gain in imports was in luxuries, such as dia monds, automobiles, champagne, silk, art works, etc. This 'fact is being used as an argument by the protec tionists to bolster up the theory that this country Is extravagantly prosper ous by reason of the tariff, and that the persistent . clamor against high prices is unwarrated. A close inves tigation of the matter would, how ever, show that the consumers who are buying these luxuries were mak ing the money to pay for them by exorbitant profits on. commodities which the real sufferers from high prices are obliged to have. Harvey Scott testifies to the good char acter of Binger Hermann. His paper is also on the side of booze and Infidelity. Albany Democrat. It is unfortunate that every man can't be so truly good, so temperate, so Intelligently pious, so deeply versed in the principles and practice of re ligion, so free from personal prejudices and hatreds, so broad and general in historical and religious knowledge, so full of human sympathies, so free from human imperfections, so fault less in the sight of God and man,- and so fully entitled to pronounce judg ment against "infidels" and . anti-pro-hibltio'nists as the self-righteous brother (what's his name, or has he any?) of the Albany Democrat. Will anybody tell how preservation of perishable foods beyond their sea son, by cold storage, canning, or other methods, can be a cause of high prices? One would think the conse quence would be just the reverse. Without such preservation food would be scarcer still. In proof of the fact that the weather in the Willamette "Valley has been cloudy of late, a Salem man, writing yesterday to The Oregonian, says: "The sun is shining today, and no doubt many old-timers niAU mistake it for the comet." The groundhog, getting an early view or A-l 910, returned to hibernate. He will "release" good weather St. Patrick's day, when the six weeks expire. It might have been expected the breakfast food concerns would merge into a trust when a boycott on meat began. Another" pastor, of Tacoma' this time, has been picking primroses that did not belong to him. The great trouble with a meat-boycotting diet is that one gets hungry again too soon. BRIGHT PLANET BUT TIMELESS." Astronomical Obsenratlons Impossible to Earth's "Twi, Sister." Venus. Garrett p. Servtss in New Tork American. There Is one remarkable fact about the magnificent planet which now is so brilliantly in evidence in the evening heavens, the earth's "twin sister." Venus, to which, so far as I know, at tention has never been called. ir astronomers are right in ascribing thus wonderful brightness of Venus to the existence of an atmosphere continu ally filled with clouds, then she must be a world without time at least there can be no measurement of time there such as we have here. It is because we can see the sun and the stars that we are able to traverse the oceans and run railroad trains across the continents. Surround our earth with an unbroken shell of clouds, and what would be come of all our clocks and chronome ters? Not a ship could safely cross the sea; not a railroad would be able to run its trains without a series of frightful wrecks. Mn a few weeks every clock and watch would be hope lessly wrong, and all exact time-keeping would cease. Probably there are few who stop to think of the way in which our every day life depends upon astronomical ob servations. Our great primary time keeper is the earth rotating on its axis. If we could not see the sun and stars because of clouds, we should not know that the earth rotates, and there would be no standard to which we could re fer our timepieces and by which we could correct them. In fact, we should probably have no timepieces. There could be no hours and minutes, for they are the exact divisions of an ideal day based upon celestial observa tions which would be impossible to us. They could not be based upon clocks, or other mechanical devices, because the most exduisite chronometer that can be constructed will not keep time indefinitely, and must be continually corrected by means of observations of the stars made in the 'observatories. There cotrJd be no accurate maps of countries or charts of the seas, for such maps and charts can only be made by the aid of astronomical observations. There could be no parallels of lati tude or meridians of longitude, for they, too, are based on celestial observations which would be impossible to us. We should not know, with any cer tainty, where we were upon the earth. We could not measure the distance from New York to London, nor from' New Yorlc to San Francisco. Poetical minds- -tnoved by the spec tacle of Venus in her glory, have drawn brilliant pictures of the delights of life in that brilliant world; but there is an other side to the question, of which we may well think as we gaze admir ingly upon her electric splendor in these bright evenings. A BIO POLITICAL ISSUE. Prediction That It Will Turn on Roose velt for, 1912. Chicago Inter-Ocean. A member of the Congressional com mittee in the Ballingrer-Pinchot contro versy hazards the opinion that the in vestigation will take about 19 years. This estimate was based on the lo quacity of the witness, Glavis. It is an error. Like the postal savings bank agitation, the investigation of the Chicago packers, the movement to examine all corporations and the effort to incorporate nationally all large business concerns, the Ballin-ger-Pinchot controversy cannot last be yond two years. . . For in two years all .these and a score more or political agitations and tenden cies Will be merged in the one overwhelm ing political question: "Shall Roosevelt be named for a third term?" - There seems to be no doubt that the Insurgent Republicans are determined on a definite attempt for the- party throne and . the Governmental crown. And with all the elements that are dis contented with the Constitution as. it Is, with, the National Government as. our forefathers handed it down to us, and with the. individual liberty that these safeguard, Mr. Roosevelt is the natural leader. The question that these political con ditions raise for each individual Repub lican is what is to be his side- and where he is going to stand. And his attitude toward the third term will answer all 'other questions. The Republican party is already di vided into radical and conservative wings, each -claiming to be- the only Re publican party. This irreconcilable con flict will go on until the people settle it at the polls. Neither the. truces that may be. estab lished in Congress, nor the concessions that Mr. Taft may make, first to one side and then to the other, will .harmo nize the combatants. The fight will have to be fought out before the people, and in the end each of us will have to choose between a. third term and an apposition candidate. Tho President's Promises. Berwick (Pa.) Dispatch to Philadelphia Record. That President Taft is pulling no wires for re-election was the statement credited to the President by Dr. Leon ard Levy, the noted Pittsburg rabbi, who, satisfied with a $-12,000 salary re cently declined a call from a London congregation, and who lectured in Ber wick last night. Rabbi Levy came, direct to Berwick from Washington, where he had two hours' interview with the President- He declared emphatically and In the pres ence of a large audience: "You don't know that man yet. In my hearing President Taft said: 'Two years ago promises were made to the American people, and every promise has to be I kept. " 'But, Mr. President.' remarked a third party to the interview, 'you can not work for those ends in opposition to the powerful interests of the coun try and hope for a second term." " 'The President is not gunning for a second term; but he will see that the promises are fulfilled,' was Taft's re Joinder." Boccaccio as a Source for Stories. EUGENE, Or.. Feb. L -(To tho Editor.) Referring to Miss BauePs New York letter in The Sunday Oregonian, the origi nal of the story of "Griselidis" is in the Decameron of Boccaccio: Novel X of the tenth day. It is a beautiful story, as are many others in Boccaccio. However, as the book is one that is proscribed by Anthony Comstocfc, it is not likely to be" in many "homes. It is. however, the au thority for hundreds of stories and plots in modern literature. J. R. VAN BOSKIRK. "THE BUST OP BOLIVAR."' John "Barrett Is wearing proudly the order of the Bust of Bolivar, conferred on him by the Republic of Venezuela. Washington News. On his manly chest. Ieft side of his vest. He's proud as a gobbler to wear it; And a Bolivar bust Has a meaning just For government dear unto Barrett. Like the ginger cake The housekeepers bake The "Bolivar" children share it - Is this Bolivar bust. With a meaning Just For governments dear unto Barrett. '- Oh, the "bust" comes quick j When rebels kick. And hustling events prepare it; But .the "Bolivar's" sweet. To kick, or to eat. And awaatiist of all unto Barrett! New York Globe. HOW HOME RX'LE MAY WIS. Wnea the Irish I-arty Has Tories by - the Throat. 'PORTLAND. Feb. 2.-To the Ed itor.) The Oregonian's forecast or the result of the British elections and its subsequent verification, together with the well-taken comments on the gen eral attitude of the English commer cial classes towards Irish home rule, are so well known to students of Irish affairs, that any attempt to misrep resent this view must be surprising. It is true that racial and religious antipathies between the Saxon and Irish Celt are practically nil in the larger political sense, and that the basic fact in the way of home rule is economic. So well known is that that one hesitates to call attention to it. Truth is. cold-blooded truth, that were the Tories now in the same posi tion that the Liberals find themselves, home rule for Ireland would be beyond cavil. Men, rich or poor, when it comes to a choice of giving up something which they themsel ves pos sess, give up with better grace of their own accord than "when their opponents threaten to legislate it out of them. It must not be overlooked that the Tory party of Great Britain are the landed aristocracy and the- owners of the greater part of the nation's wealth among its subjects. It has been esti mated that the peers and landlords, mostly of the Tory element, mulct in dustry in rent $70,000,000 annually from the people. When Lloyd-George coined that shibboleth "peer and beer" in the late election it will be better under stood when 'one realizes that the Earl of Derby owns 72 licensed houses or saloons, the Duke of Bedford 60, the Duke of Devonshire 47. the Duke of Northumberland 36. Lord Dudley 33, Lord Cowper 22. Lord Dunraven 11. Taken together with the large dis tilleries and brewers of the Tory crowd, one can imagine the ocean of boose" turned loose in the late fierce struggle of the lords. The grip that .the peers have on the industrial life and among the rural population in some parts of Great Britain must not be forgotten, as well as the idea of protection which is mak ing vast strides. One reason of the reduction of the Liberal majority is the fight between a certain element among the Liberals themselves and the Labor party, which resulted in both sides putting up candidates and the Torv or Conservative winning out in a factional fight. The Liberals may be likened to a combination of all kinds of reform ers and the Democratic party of this country, with each part .insisting on putting its own reforms to the front hence the unstablllty of the Liberals with such a meager majority. This is not taking, away any credit from the Liberals or rather the honest leaders and their followers in that party, but all the same, I am only repeating what students of Irish history have said these many years past, that the best prospects of home rule for Ireland will come when the Nationalists have the Tories by the legislative throat. FRANK T. COLLIER. LAPEAN BILL IS 1VOT YET DEAD Walla Walla Commercial Club Invites Concert Opposition. thWA WALJ' Wash-. Jan. 31.-(To the Editor.)-Enclosed herewith please find a card bearing an important message for the people of the fruitgrowing sec tions of the Northwest states While this club is. properly no more interested in the defeat of the notorious Lefean bill than is any other commercial organization of an apple-growing locality t'e1 he'ess w tcel that, inasmuch as this matter has dragged out so long and bobbed up from time to time in so many different forms, it is more than . likely that some may lose Interest in.lt and the measure be enacted into law by default of concerted opposition. It has, therefore, been decided that this club will contribute somewhat to the general welfare of the fruitgrowing inter ests by sounding a warning at tills time, especially as the present maneuver ap pears to be to enact the most obnoxious provisions of the bill as an amendment to the pure food law, under the guise of a recommendation coming from the De partment of Agriculture: You are, of course, aware that, without a. single exception, every organization of fruitgrowers in the entire Northwest has repeatedly stamped this measure with spirited condemnation. WALLA WALLA COMMERCIAL CLTJBt Following is the message: WALLA WALLA, Wash., Jan. 31. To the Apple Oroweres of the Northwest: The Lafean bill, with all its iniquitous provisions, still lives. We have authoritative Information that G. B. -Mcabe. legal adviser to the u B Department of Agriculture, has redrafted the measure, retaining every one of its ob jectionable features, and it la to b pressed as a departmental amendment to the pure food law. Get your neighbors together, pass resolu tions, send a copy to your congressman and a copy to this club. Yours for action WALLA WALLA COMMERCIAL CLUB. Prohibition Issue at -November Election. PORTLAND, Feb. l.-To the Editor.) Certain gentlemen who are engaged in circulating for -signatures a remonstrance to suppress the liquor traffic in Oregon are stating that the forces they are op posing are planning to force a special election upon the people of Oregon. This is not true. These gentlemen should, not to say do, know better. The anti-liquor forces would not attempt the illegal action nf calling- o mani.i i n . . 1 I L 1 U II to pass upon the initiative when the reg- ncAi fan is tne only one at which such measures may be voted upon this year. The issue will be presented to the voters November 8, 1910, and not before. WILLIAM HIRAM FOTJLKES. Presidential Electors. CASCADE LOCKS, Or., Feb. 1. (To the Editor.) (1.) By whom are Presi dential Electors appointed? (2.) Does me uirect primary law have any bear ing on this? b. M (1.) Presidential Electors are elected by the people. They cannot be ap pointed. - (2.) In Oregon, candidates for Elec tor were nominated in 1908 by a con vention of delegates, each county's delegates being chosen by the party County Central Committees. This form was then deemed most ernprii.nt Our primary law is silent on the ques tion ot Presidential Electors. Ask Cannon's Self-immolation. Springfield (Mass.) Republican. The anti-Cannon movement now as sumes the form of appeals in the New York Tribune to the Speaker to im molate himself for the sake of the party. A grand old man is Mr. Can non, shamefully abused; but will he not save the situation by definitely an nouncing his retirement at the close of the present Congress? These ap peals, v addressed in terms most lauda tory of the Speaker's eminent services 111 the past, are clearly inspired in high sources. If cleverly enough phrased and continued at proper in tervals, they may fetch him. Hard to Fisrure Out. Pittsburg Gazette-Times. There is a plan on foot to consoli date five Central American- republics into one. The only doubt is as whether this will reduce present troubles down that way to one-fifth as many or mul tiply them by five. ' .- For Governor of Spitsbergen. Providence Journal. When we annex Spitsbergen, Mr. Walter Wellman should be sent there as the first Colonial Governor. THE WESTIOX OF THE HOUR. - Multitude of Opinions About Hitch Prices of Food. New York Sun. We have noticed that our public men. as well as the dealers in foodstuffs, ap proach the subject of high living with positive and . conflicting judgments. Representative Sabath. of Illinois, wants many articles of food, most of them in fact, placed upon the free list, and he has introduced a bill in the House to that end. Mr. Sabath rep resents two crowded wards and parts of two others in Chicago where the . struggle for existence is desperate and where there are no vegetable gar- dens, much less farms. The Secretary of Agriculture.' the Hon. James Wilson, declares that such constituents as Mr. Sabath has art sufferings from the combinations that keep up the retail prices of food. With the interests of the farmer at heart he would like to see more people on the farms and fewer in the cities, but he maintains that the farmers are not getting-their share of the profits on foodstuffs they produce. On the other hand. Swift & Company. dealer in meat and by-products, complains that "vast cattel ranges In the West where countless herds once grazed have been broken up into farms, reducing some what the supply or our meat animals." It will be seen that if these additicnal farms could bo reclaimed for the graz ing beeves there would be so much the less room for the additional farmers who should relieve urban conjestion. Senator McCumber. of North Dakota, most of whose constituents are farmers, and who is the author of a resolution to Investigate high prices, with an ap propriation of lir.0.000 to pay the bill, takes his stand spiritedly by the slrin of Secretary Wilson. McCumber holds the retailer responsible, for the high prices, and avers that, the consumers pay from 200 to 6000 and S000 per cent above the value of the farm products, whatever that may moan. It Is an in riamatory statement so far as'the con sumers are concerned. McCumher is a lawyer, not a farmer; nevertheless bis testimony as to details should bo elicited if he can be called as a wit- . ness before his own committee. Stress need not be laid upon his opinion that the farmer Is imposed upon. The farmer, insists the Senator, deserves all the protection the tariff affords him, in which respect Mr. McCumber is at odds with Representative Sahath. who wants the protection on eornmeal, buckwheat, flour, butter, cheese, eggs, meat, etc., taken off. Senator Bever idge would have the prices of cattle on the hoof and of dressed meats at home and abroad .inquired into. As be is priming himself for .a set speech more full and rhetorics.l than "any. one else could deliver, there is no veiU con cealing his motive. Trie general sub ject Is much obscured by contradic tion and perversities, and there is more, fog than light. In Kentucky a "coun ter boycott" is started by farmers against organizations that get up "anti-meat strikes;" the farmers pro pose not to buy articles manufactured by members of labor unions who deny themselves meat. In Chicago the Fed eral Government enters upon the prose cution of the beef trust, while in Neb raska, where the "anti-trust Taws are very explicit," an attempt is to be made to break up the packers' combination; So the agitation exists and will not down, like a fire that spreads to new centers of combustion and leaps and crackles. Either It will burn low from failure of material to feed on, a' good deal of damage, being done meanwhile, or ir an honest and thorough investiga tion can be had it will be extinirulshod by publicity or by remedial legislation, should it prove necessary. Industrial Prajcrcss In the South. Boston Transcript. "BeTore the war" is still in luany parts or the South the period of milk and honey, or gold and grandeur. In Charleston the Northern tourist is often told .that he should have seen that city in 1860 to realize the difference between Its past and its present. The tour ist hears stories or profusion when a, ten-dollar bill was no rfiore than a withered leaf: and Charleston was a gay metropolis. Now .comes the News and Courier, in a special edition review ing the progress of the city in the last half century, and shows that there is far more money in Charleston than there was before the war. The capital Invested in industrial enterprises is nearly $1 1,000,000, or seven times what it was in 1S60, and the amount of an nual wages of industrial workers has increased proportionately. Capital gen erally is much larger than in the Charleston of I860, which pinned its faith on cotton. What is true of, Charleston is true of most Southern cities. With the abolition of slavery came emancipation of industry, by which they all have profited. New Law Programme Hatched. New YorkHerald. Taft and Roosevelt policies pale into .' insignificance when put beside this pro gramme of constructive legislation out lined y two constituents of John W. Dwight, of New York, the Republican . "whip" of the House of Itepresenta-. tives: . "Please give us parcels post. "Don't raise the postage on second class mail matter.. "Keep the sugar trust under the con trol of the Government. "Disband the labor trust altogether. . "Don't want a new Circuit Court." - The letter is signed first by Mrs. Con stituent, then by her husband. Hunter Dynamites Hidden Wolf. Madison, Wis., Dispatch. For the sport of the chase as well as the $20 bounty that would be paid for the pelt, Roy Rapp and two com panions started after a big timber wolf. The companions quit after a day and a nan. Later Rapp wounded the animal, Jed the animal, ,r se dynamite to .'ice in which It J but was compelled to use get it out of a rocky crev nad secreted itself. London County MarriBgen Drop. London Post. The number of marriages in the County of London last year was the lowest a thousand of tho population on record. .The number was 38,209, and the rate 15.9 a thousand, which com pares with 17 a thousand in the previ ous year. V la con in Eagle, Old Abe. Milwaukee, Wis., Dispatch. Captain Victor Wolf, who carried the famous eagle Old Abe throughout the Civil War . as the mascot of the Wiscon sin Eagle Company, is dead at Eau Claire, Wis., at the age of S6 years. THUS COST OF LIVING. roctor. nay we may Iiv without, stom achs. If you have the price of an opera- iion, tn nisn price of meat need trouble you no more. Cleveland Leader. And Isn't It toujfh. when your physician prescribes a- vegetarian aiet and you . shout for joy, and snub the butcher on your wa home, only to discover t hat the vegetable man has raised the price beyond your limit t Atlanta Constitution. Possibly it half the butcher-shops wen crushed out of existence it would cost tht poor consumer less to support the remain der. Indianapolis Star. That 11-year-old Harvard mathematical prodigy should be drafted and set to work to figure out the reasons for the high cost r of living. Cleveland Plain Dealer. In the agreements to abstain from eatin- -meat, which are now being generallv siKnetf In the cities of the Middle West, care shoull -e taken to except crow, which the insur gents hope to make a ataple article of diet for tho reactionaries on and after November -8 next. New- Orleans Times -Democrat. f