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