6
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PORTLAND. MONDAY, FEp. . 1910.
POSTAL - BANKS AND PARCELS POST.
It Is most probable that the bill to
establish postal savings banks will be
come a law. President Taft includes it
In the schedule of measures known as
"the administration programme," and
will use his best endeavor to see it
through. The Republican platform of
1908 promised it, and Mr. Taft, in his
speech of acceptance at Cincinnati
July 28, 1908), said such bill ought
to pass. "The system of postal sav
ings tanks," he remarked, "has been
tried successfully in so many coun
tries that it cannot be regarded longer
as a new and untried experiment. ''-
The Democratic platform of 1908
favored postal savings banks, with an
"if." That is, if guarantee of de
posits by Government could not be
had, then the postal savings bank
system might be introduced. But the
makers of the platform dreaded the
consequences, because "th Republi
can party has so linked the country
to Wall Street that the sins or the
speculators are visited upon the whole
people." In his address, on accept
ance of the nomination, Mr. Taft thus
answered the objection: 'The bill now
pending 1n Congress, which, of course,
the Republican convention had in
mind, provides for the investment of
the money deposited in the banks in
the very places in which it is gath
ered, or as near thereto as may be
practicable. This is the answer to
the criticism contained in the Demo
cratic platform that under the system
the money gathered in the country
will be deposited in Wall Street." It
also complies with the demand of the
Democratic platform that, if the pos
tal savings bank system should be
adopted the money ought to be "de
posited in the local communities."
But though the postal savings bank
system is to be established by the
present Congress, it is not probable
that the postal package express, in
creasing allowance of the weight of
the package to 12 pounds, will be.
The proposition is met by protests
from all the smaller centers of busi
ness. The rate would be the same
for long distances as for short; and it
Is insisted that this would hand the
mail order business over to a few of
the very large centers of the country,
break down local trade, overburden
the postal department, make de
livery costly, and cause heavy de
ficits and losses all round. So strongly
have these arguments been pressed
that the larger system of parcels post
probably will have no chance of pres
ent success nor of future success,
unless greatly changed.
CAN ASQl'lTH KEP PEACE?
Politics will be taken up in Britain
again by the Liberal ministry this
week, so that an interested world, as
iwell as the British electorate, may
get some word from the Cabinet ns
to how the Liberals plan to satisfy
the Irish Nationalists and the Social
istic Laborites and perpetuate them
selves In power. For this coalition
will necessitate concessions "ideals",
and "trades" we call them in America
which are very .likely to make
trouble and another dissolution of
Parliament at an early day.
Concession of home rule will alien
ate a considerable faction of the Lib
erals, who might deprive the Liberal
government of the majority of Parlia
ment. But not without this conces
sion can the Liberals get the necessary
support of the Nationalists. The Na
tionalists, in return, will be expected
to support the budget, whose land tax
and the liquor tax antagonized the
Irish In the last Parliament and which
probably cannot receive the votes of
all the Irish members. "William
O'Brien, who heads the Independant
Irish members, thus defines his hos
tility to the budget:
"There is no doubt that the Irish
party contemplates the blackest trea
son perpetrated against Ireland since
the act of Union. The Nationalists
propose to assist the government in
passing the budget, which will impo.se
on Ireland 10,000.000 taxes per an
num." Then, too, the Liberal government
must cater to the Laborite party and
that may deplete the coalition ma
jority, by antagonizing Liberals with
Socialistic measures.
Premier Asquith clearly will have a
difficult task preserving a working
peace between the discordant factions
of his support in Parliament. It will
make a precarious government for As
quith, for he. can have no stead
fast majority. Asquith is trying to unite
the factions on the common ground of
hostility to the House of Lords. We
are yet to see how long and how-far
he can make this paramount over
Irish home rule and unemployment
Insurance and other socialistic issue-..
Also whether the nation will tike the
Issue of the Lords as paramount over
tariff reform and large navy. There
has been a great deal of criss-cross
voting on these questions and the elec
torate has not succeeded in declaring
Its wish on any one of them. At the
same time, the Liberals have not WDn
their expected victory over the Con
servatives, while the latter are using
this fact exultingly to their own credit.
It is quite probable that the electorate
approves the budget and also desires
reform of the House of Lords, to the
extent of eliminating hereditary
abuses. But the British are not rad
ical for political changes, as the elec
tions proved and it is not believable
that they wish wholly to eliminate the
power of the upper house of Parlia
ment in legislation.
Right now interest centers in As-
quith's feat of harmonizing the dis
cordant factions of his coalitKm
family.
, CSE OF THE WATERS.
Regulation of the use of the waters
iri any state is much more a proper
subject of treatment by state than by
national authority. The Springfield
(Mass.) Republican says: "If the
states themselves will take up this im
portant phase of the conservation
question, the nightmare of a gigantic
water power trust will be forever dis
pelled." The State of Oregon has taken up
this "important phase of conserva
tion." The result Is a very elaborate
act;- some' think so intricate and re
strictive as to prevent or greatly check
the use of streams, either for power or
for irrigation. The act virtually as
sumes the ownership for the state of
all unappropriated waters, and regu
lation, under close restriction, of all
waters not w'holly- on' one's own land,
or, if rising on one's lands, passing
into the lands of another.
The state is divided into two "water
divisions, with a superintendent for
each. The act creates the office of
State Engineer, and a Board of Con
trol, consisting of . the engineer and
the two superintendents. To this
board all applications for use of water
must be made. By this Board rights
of contestants are to be adjudged. Fees
are to be paid to the state by those
who use either for Irrigation or for
power the waters passing their own
lands. -
This act has been characterized by
many as extremely obstructive, and. its
requirements costly, to the extent of
prohibition. Experience alone can
tell whether it will prove so. The act
went into effect only last May.
i 1 -
.V GOOD SHIPS AVAILABLE.
( Perhaps the most charitable view
that can be taken of the owners of the
decrepit steamer Kentucky, that was
shaken to pieces almost . before she
was clear of the land on the Atlantic
Coast, Is that they were imposed on by
a buying expert whose rascality or
ignorance was apparently Indorsed by
the inspectors of the district from
which she departed. ' The fact that
Americans are shut out of the mar
kets, in which first-class ships can al
ways be purchased by every other na
tion "on earth, does not palliate the of
fense of buying an ancient tub like
the Kentucky and trusting to luck to
"keep her afloat with passengers
aboard. The disaster, however, does
call attention to the manrfer in .which
our shipowners are barred from se
curing good vessels except at ex
orbitant prices.- N
The Kentucky was purchased by a
reputable steamship company, whose
business had outgrown its facilities
to such an extent that it was in im
mediate need of a vessel, and appar
ently had no time to wait until one
could be. built." If a British, French,
German, Norwegian, Dutch or even a
Japanese firm of shipowners were con
fronted with such an emergency, its
field for selection would not be limited
to a few ancient, wooden hulks in
their own country. Instead, they
would have access to the - bargain
counters of every big shipyard and
shipbuilding center in Europe. At
every port of importance in Great
Britain can be found first-class,' modern-built,
steel steamships, which have
been supplanted by larger vessels on
the routes for which they were built.
These vessels are as staunch as the
day they were built, and they are sold
at very low prices. Many of the yards,
in fact," make a practice of touilding
ships during periods of dullness and
sellingthem at bargain prices to buy
ers from all parts of the world ex
cept the United States. The Kentucky
was intended to run on a route where
she would come in competition with
this latter class of vessels, which are
brought to the coast by the Canadian
transportation lines. Old, decrepit
and worthless, as she proved to be, it
is not improbable that she brought a
higher price than . the Canadians
would be obliged to pay for a new
steel ship.
DIRGE OF-THINGS HOME-MADE.
An "up-state" Senator of New Tork
cites that farmers' wives have stopped
making butter, cheese and other
things (presumably soft soap and tal
low candles) that formerly helped to
swell, the family income. The Infer
ence intended is that farmers are so
opulent that their wives no longer
stoop to making small sums go as .'ar
as pof-sib'e. Nothing is said about
"up-state" farmers having eschewed
the sickle, the cradle and the flail in
harvesting wheat, or hand gathering,
husking and shelling corn; the hoe
for cultivating and potato-digging, but
ten chances to one the wastrels have
done so.
The inference "in. this 'latter case
might just as logically be that farmers
are so prosperous that they have given
over these old-fashioned devices of a
primitive agriculture for high-priced,
labor-saving machinery, and that
small savings, as represented by these
old-time methods, no longer appeal
to them as worth while.
' The logic in both cases is lame. Why,
in a day and age of large things,
should farmers and farmers' wives be
censured, even by implication, for
abandonment of small things, such as
butter-making by means of the churn
and dasher; cheese-making with the
hand press; peeling, cutting and cor
ing apples by hand, stringing the
pieces on twine with darning needles
and drying them on the kitchen walls
and filling the candle-molds with wicks
and melted tallow to provide light for
the farmhouse? Is it not true, in the
first place, that there is no market for
these things? that nobody wants
these farm-manufactured commodi
ties? Who, for example, wants farm
butter and soft soap and tallow can
dles and apples cut from strings upon
which they had been dried in flytime?
And why should farmers' wives spend
their time and energies and break their
bodies in these long outgrown pro
cesses of manufacture? There Is no
sense in the suggestion , that they
should do so nor would there be even
the smallest saving in so doing. It
would be a one-sided growth, indeed,
that would send a troop of -men in
from the field where they had been
operating the great combined har
vester, to eat food cooked by the open
fire in the utensils of a past century.
One of the clearest, strongest notes
of prosperity on the farm is that
which sings the dirge of things "home
made," from blue jeans and tallow
candles to lye soap and hominy and
hand-knit socks, from hand-spun
yarn, that owed its dark blue color to
the malodorous dye pot In the chim
ney corner. Of course, farmers" wives
up state or down state, in New Tork,
or elsewhere, have "stopped" making
butter and cheese and soap and can
dles; wearing linsey and Jean and tow
linen. These, and divers and sundry
other pleasant pastimes, were those in
which our grandmothers grew early
old and broke the strength of their
children before they were born. Be
ing neither serfs nor fools, why should
farmers' wives of today continue in
these profitless vocations? 'Are they
not separated from the necessity of
such pursuits by the inventive genius
of two or three generations of men,
and by the growth In knowledge of
both men and women, covering three
quarters of a century?
KEW BUSINESS RECORDS.
The first five days of the month of
February made a most flattering ex
hibit for Portland. Real estate trans
fers of $1,212,679, and bank clearings
of $7,200,479, broke all previous re
cords for the period. Building permits
of $135,635 were ahead of the same
period a year ago, but, of course,
seem small in comparison with the
huge volume of construction work,
for which contracts have been let, but
for which the permits have ndt yet
been issued. There is enough business
In sight for the remainder of this short
month to bring the totals up to re
cord proportions. There Is another
feature of this lousiness situation which
does not attract much attention, but
which - has a very powerful bearing
on the growth of Portland and the
territory tributary to this city. In the
first five day of this short month the
arrivals and departures of seagoing
vessels numbered thirty-nine, with a
carrying capacity of more than 75,000
tons. .
This outbound fleet carried Oregon
lumber to China, South Africa and
Australia, wheat to Europe, flour to
Honolulu and miscellaneous products
to New Tork and other Eastern ports.
Coastwise to San Francisco and other
ports it distributed Oregon lum
ber, wheat, flour, barley and ottir
staples which have made the state
famous. The fleet arriving brought
general cargo from the Atlantic Slope,
from the Far East and from Europe.
It brought oil, cement, sugar and
other products from California. There
was no unusual congestion to cause
this heavy movement In five days. If
was all in the regular order of busi
ness and while this fleet was arriving
and departing, its predecessors and
successors were heard from along
nearly all of the world's great routes.
On 'the second and third days of the
month two cargoes of Oregon wheat
entered Queenstown and another ar
rived at Dublin. A big steamship,
carrying another cargo, called at Cape
Verde Island, for orders to port cf
discharge.
One big steamship, lumber laden
from Portland, arrived in Japan and
another in Australia. In the course
of the week, Portland importers char
tered a. tramp steamer and a sailing
ship to load at Antwerp and New-castle-on-Tyne,
while half a dozen
freighters were engaged to load lum
ber foreign and coastwise. WTith the
clearing out of this fleet, in the first
five days of February, there still re
mained in port loading for China,
Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the
United Kingdom six big freighters
with a capacity of more than 16,000,
000 feet of lumber.
The relation of this great water
traffic to real estate transfers, build
ing permits and bank clearings may
not be always clear to, the man who
never visits the. water tcpnt or the
customs-house. . But the water high
way over which this traffic moves to
the and from the world's markets,
more than to any other single factor,
brings Portland its commercial pres
tige. Recognition of the Importance
of this traffic and of its great bear
ing on all other features of our com
mercial life, causes the average -Port-lander
to pay a tax for river improve
ments more cheerfully than any other
which is levied against his property.
It also accounts for the Portland ob
jection to moving this city and its
shipping facilities to any other point
on the Columbia or Willamette Rivera
THE "NO MEAT" PROPAGANDA.
There Is little doubt that total ab
stinence from meat, as proposed by
unorganized thousands in Cleveland,
Chicago, Kansas City and other towns,
for a period of sixty days, would be a
decided benefit to a carnivorous, rheu
matic and irritable public. That the
American people as individuals, and as
a whole are entirely too devoted to the
flesh of animals, for their own good, is
a reasonably well established fact.
Plainly stated, we eat too much meat.
We grow gross of body, stiff in the
joints, rheumatic, nervous . and ill
tempered largely from what we feed
upon. Meat is a standard article of
diet. Doctors tell us that to this fact
is due the accumulation of uric acid
in the blood which the overworked
kidneys are unable to take care of,
and of a long train of diseases" that
follow.
Without, therefore, discussing the
proposed boycott of meat as a retali
ative or corrective measure on the
basis of high prices, abstinence from
meat for sixty days may produce a
wonderful revival of the run-down
vital forces of which there is abundstnt
evidence on every hand. And since it
is reasonably certain that very few
people will abstain from meat for a
period long enough to make a test of
its wholesomeness or unwholesome
ness, unless forced in some manner to
do so, the boycott of the meat shops
for sixty days would probably be a
good thing. One thing is certain. The
price of meat of all grades, even down
to the once freely dispensed liver, and
its accompaniment of bacon, at prices
that every laboring man could afford
to pay, is abnormally, unwarrantably
and unreasonably high. The cattle,
sheep and hog producers seem to be
doing their share toward feeding the
multitude. That is to say, the supply
from farms and ranges is not short.
But somewhere between the steer, the
hog and the sheep on foot and the
offerings upon the blocks of the
butcher, prices are inflated until the
Sunday roast, the liver and bacon fir
breakfast, even the soup-bone, have
attained a cost that is startling and in
many families prohibitive.
While the people who are agitating
the boycott seem to be greatly in ear
nest, and while they are not by any
means all professional agitators, it ;s
not likely that the scheme to bring
down meat prices by this means will
succeed. A vast majority of the Amer
ican people must have meat or think
they must have it upon their tables
at least once a day. It is not conceiv
able that any formidable number of
them will voluntarily restrain the
meat-eating proclivity as long as they
can compass the price of meat ty
economizing upon something else.
They will simply scrimp in other lines
and pay the price demanded.
RESTRICTING APPLE DEMAND.
Director Shepard. of the Hood River
Apple-growers' Union, offered excel
lent advice to the peopie interested In
growing and handling the apple crop
of the Pacific Northwest. The most
Important point .brought out in his
address was that in which he accused
retailers of injuring the demand for
apples by charging exorbitant prices.
Mr. Shepard stated that a box of
apples, for which the grower received
about $2.25, reached the hands of the
retailer via" the association and th-3
commission merchant at a cost of ap
proximately' $3. For these apples the
retailer Is then accused of exacting
prices which In some cases bring a
profit of 500 per cent. There is, of
course, a limited number of consum
ers who will pay very high prices for
first-class fruit.
Unfortunately for the fruit indus
try, this class of buyers is not large
enough to supply a demand for more
than a moderate amount of. fruit. The
apple is a delicious fruit, and. If !t
can reach the consumer at a moder
ate cost, there are immense possi
bilities for widening the market. Tt
is still, iowever, .far from being a
necessity, especially so long as the
best stock it-mains beyond the' finan
cial reach of people of pocr or only
moderate circumstances. With the
rapidly increasing acreage of " apple
orchards, this objection to present
methods of marketing will be over
come by Its own weight. Even the
grower may be obliged to take less
than $2.25 per box and the profits and
general good of the industry to the
country may be- enhanced by the
greatly increased demand made pos
sible by reasonable prices.
It Is a commercial law as old as
trade itself, that high prices restrict
and. low prices Increase consumption.
Apples are not exempt, not even Hood
River apples.
The "finished" East, - where rail
roading as well as other branches of
Industry, Is supposed (in the East)
to have attained the highest degree of
perfection, continues to profit by the
experience and Ingenuity of the West.
The Pennsylvania Railroad recently
borrowed one of the mammoth com
pound locomotives built by the Great
Northern Railroad for its own use in
the West. On the "worst division of
the Pennsylvania road, the Great
Northern engine performed the work
of two of the big consolidated loco
motives of the Eastern road, and
burned only one-fifth more coal than
was consumed by one of the consoli
dated engines. Recalling the remark
able success of Western railroad men,
who have been called to high posi
tions in the East, It would seem that
in both, men and machines the West
ern railroads are equipped much bet
ter than those of the East.
The gift by the Ladd estate of a
sit for the Reed Institute is an ex
cellent and most useful addition to a
great- public benefaction. It is a
beautiful and commanding site; it is
ample for the purpose; it's contiguity
to the city and the healthfulness of
the situation contribute to make it all
that could be desired. The endow
ment for the Institute by one family
of pioneers is materially strengthened
by this gift from another. Good deeds
like these hand the names and mejno
ries of the benefactors on to future
ages. In them there is that which
defies time and cannot perish.
England is stili "seeing things," -most
of which have a strong Teutonic
cast. The latest bogie man to stalk
into "an Englishman's home" is a
rumor that the crowning of the Ger
man Emperor has been postponed
these many years, in order that it may
take place in Westminster Abbey,
when William the Mighty invades the
"tight little isle" with a conquering
army. England is in a fair way to be
suffering quite an attack of "nerves"
by the time the comet swishes its way
across the Summer skies.
The Rev. Mr. Stuckey, the Kansas
minister who alleged that he was
lured away from the path of duty and
decency by a 17-year-old girl of his
congregation, has been sentenced to
from one, to five years in the state
prison. Inasmuch as the erring
preacher blamed the girl for the esca-"
pade. It would seem that he ought to
serve the one year for the original of
fenseyand an additional five years for
hi3 cowardly attempt to shift the bur
den of guilt to the shoulders of the
victim of his rascality.
Man can board a streetcar with
little discomfort,- but he cannot dress
or undress'-inside a nightshirt. This
Is equality of the sexes until one re
collects that man is the only animal
that can get into and out of a pair of
trousers in a Pullman berth. This Is
a return to the starting point, how
ever. r,
Denver now has a woman judge to
hear cases of women and children.
This is an experiment of doubtful ad
vantage. The official woman has ,not
proved herself more humane than the
official man.
The alleged wholesale murderer at
Aberdeen has been under suspicion
for seven years, so it Is said, but had
to kill a dog to be arrested. The man
who kills a dog is a villain, anyway.
The most notable -work of Frank
Welch, late secretary of the State
Board of Agriculture. In past years,
was in convincing people that passes
to the State Fair were invalid.
. The treasurer of a Massachusetts
savings bank is short half a million
and says he is willing to bear all the
blame. In a short time the judge may
remark: "Three years."
Chicago has just discovered the city
has lost $30,000,000 in one kind of
graft in the past few years. The
money went to topgrafters in the city
hall.
If all these -disasters were caused
by the comet It were time It swished
into space; but the frailty of man is
responsible for- them.
At Oxford they now have a Shelley
cult, where they study the poetry jf
the greatest poet that Oxford ever
expelled.
An exchange of mlnirriums averts a
tariff war wtih Germany. Hoch der
Kaiser!
DEMOCRATS ARE! TUB OBJECTORS.
.-
Republic Defeat Is Their Sole Purpose
1b Opposing Assembly.
Pilot Rock Record.
What about the assembly? Shall Re
publicans be permitted ' to consult to
gether for presentation of candidates
for nomination in the primary? The
Democrats will probably object and
so wilt those alleged Republicans who
Imagine that Democratic votes are es
sential to the success of the Repub
lican party. There are a few Republi
cans, however, left who may go ahead
and do whatever they think best for
their own interests regardless of what
the Democrats and milk-and-water Re
publicans think about it. Experience
has shown that the Republican party
has lost more votes in this state
through the efforts of Its leaders to
placate the opposition than It ever
gained by its half-hearted support of
Democratic and Socialistic fads. The
same men who gave heed to the clamor
for reform legislation were at the bot
tom of the disrepute into which the
convention system was brought, all on
account of their belief that the Re
publican party was an organization pri
marily designed for their special bene
fit, and once It could not b controlled
In their own interests that It had out
'llved its usefulness. To a certain gang
in this state, and let It be said in all
earnestness it does not belong to a
single party, office is its chief aim In
Its attempts to prevent, if possible, or
ganization and management.
It will be remembered that under the
old system there were always . to be
found delegates to conventions that
did not wear collars, and the only
reason there were not more of such ,in
every convention was entirely due to
the inactivity of voters, because the
great majority of the people are honest
and opposed to the trickery of politi
cians. Of course, the Republicans ought to
meet and present the names of their
candidates for nomination In the pri
mary, and if the Democrats do not
want to support them, there should be
no hard feelings on that account. It
will not prevent others from nominat
ing themselves If they see fit to do so.
It is the honest opinion of this paper
that through the assembly plan there
will be men put to the front who would
never think of seeking a nomination
under the present primary law, and yet
they will be among our most repre
sentative men. -
The objection the Democrats have
to the assembly plan is that they fear
It will result In the defeat . of repub
lican candidates. The Democrats have
always been very "Solicitous of the wel
fare of the Republican party. There is
good reason for their manifestation of
good will toward Republicans. Every
Democrat holding office in this state
has been elected through support of
Republican votes.
MEMORY OF" A PIONEER SOLDIER.
Justice .Soiucbt for "Widow of Veteran
Who Fooght In Cayuse War.
SALEM, Feb. 5. (To the Editor.) The
Oregonian yesterday reported the death
of Almoran Hill at his farm in Yam
hill County, an enthusiastic pioneer of
18-13. who fought in the Cayuse War of
1847-8 and had not drawn his pay or his
pension.
The writer was appealed to only by
William D. Gardener, of 413 Second street,
N. W., Washington, D. C, for the address-
of Almoran Hill, a Cayuse War
soldier, to , whom both pay and pension
seems to be due. From the case of Mrs.
Margaret A., whose pension on back pay
was allowed - and forwarded to !her
through Hewitt S. Cox of Albany, Mr.
Gardener became known.
If the only living .son of Walter Mon
teith be of the same spirit as his father
and uncle Thomas, members of Captain
Levi Scott's company of volunteers, who
battled with the snows of Siskiyou 62
years ago in a forlorn hope to pass to
California with messages of Governor
Abennethy and Rev. H. H. Spaulding and
were defeated, he. Walt Monteith. will
rate the record more than the $790 of
back pay, which was bravely earned.
This is written to aid Mrs. Hill In se
curing before her death what is due her
at her late husband's back pe.y.
JOHN MINTO.
"Bob," Mr. Lincoln's Saddle-Horse.
PORTLAND, Feb. 6. (To the Editor.)
The 101st anniversary of Abraham Lin
coln's birth, which will be celebrated
soon, recalls the pathetic incident of "Old
Bob." or Black Robin, as the family
called him. In the funeral march to Oak
Ridge Cemetery at Springfield, 111., when
Mr. Lincoln was buried. May, 1865. "Bob,"
Mr. Lincoln's old saddle horse, then 22
years old, carrying the same saddle and
saddle-bags, jus as Mr. Lincoln rode him
when he practiced law in Springfield and
the region round aboAt, was silently led
close up behind the hearse by two aged
colored men on foot. When "Bob" came
along in the solemn procession, strong
men turned aside and wept.
C. E. CLINE.
When Silence Was Not Golden.
' Kansas City Star.
A Chicago 6-year-old excitedly de
manded his father's attention at the din
ner table when guests were present.
"Robert," his father replied, "little boys
should be seen and not heard. Please
keep silent until you are given permis
sion to speak." Robert subsided. Later
his father relented. "Now, my son," he
said, turning to the boy,- "you may tell
me what you wished to say." "It's too
late now. papa." the child answered.
"There was a green worm in your salad
and I wanted to tell you about it, but
It's gone now."
Would Make Lent XTnantmous.
New York Tribune.
It begins to look as if the meat strike
would make this year's observance of
Lent, now rapidly approaching, a record-breaker
in the way of unanimity
and enthusiasm.
Cannon's Contemporaneous Tfaoushts.
Indianapolis News.
- A suspicion is beginning to grow that
the Speaker is not - giving so much
thought to what .he Is going to do as to
what is going to be dqne to him.
CURRENT SMALL CHANGE.
Tom "Were you left much in your uncle's
will?"' Jack "Much! I was left com
pletely." Boston Transcript.
Mr. ' Closecoyne (during his wife's recep
tion) "She gives 'em lights; she gives 'em
music: she (fives 'em food, flowers, cham
pagne, and that's what she calls receiving!''
Puck.
"There goes a man I could have mar
ried." she said softly. " "Some men never
know Just what they missed." he replied
quietly, and she is still wondering what he
meant. Detroit Free PrVss.
"I can't make anything out of this poem
of yours," complained the magazine editor.
"That Isn't the point," replied the poet.
"The question i" can I make anything out
of It?" Philadelphia Record.
"How about your cook? "When I saw you
last month, you were quite dissatisfied with
her." "Was 1 ?" responded the nosteva
wearily. "I've been dissatisfied with Ave or
six cooks since then." Louisville Courier
Journal, i
"1 understand you have said you might
retire to nrivate life," "Yes," said Sena
tor Sorghum. "It's all right for me to
make that sort of a remark. But I'd hate
to have any of my constituents say it."
Washington Star.
SEVEN DEVILS ZONE IS RICH
Great Future Predicted for Idaho
Copper-Producing District.
It is the opinion of William Trevor, a
prominent mining man and other mining
experts that the Seven Devils' Mining dis
tricts in Idaho Is destined to become one
of the biggest copper producing districts
in Idaho is destined to become one of the
biggest copper-producing districts In the
world and that It will soon rival the
Butte district in output.
"At present there are between 2,000,000
and 3.000.000 tons of ore waiting to be
shipped from the Seven Devils' country
as soon as transportation is secured,"
said Mr. Trevor yesterday.
"The center of the great mining dis
trict is the town of Cuprum. This town
is about 15 miles from the site of the
huge Ox Bow power plant which is near
ing completion, and a car line will soon
be built between the two points. This
will afford an outlet for the vast product
of the district.
"The Northwest Railroad has just been
completed from Huntington to Home
stead, a distance of 65 miles. Over this
road the ore obtained by all the mining
companies in the district will be shipped,
and over the same line the machinery for
the power plant and all mining opera
tions will be brought in. Practically all
machinery will be brought from Portland
by way of the O. R. & N.
"The Ox Bow power plant, on the
BnRke River, will cost J2.900.000 and $2.
000.000 of this sum has already been
spent. The river is being dammed and
three large tunnels are being constructed
across the. peninsula, to carry the water.
Hundreds of miners are waiting until
that part of the river bed will go dry
that the supposed rich mineral deposits
In the bottom of the stream may be
gathered. It is expected the power plant
will be completed in two years and that
power will be furnished In six months.
The railroad tunnel just opposite the
power plant is ll4 miles long.
"All the ore in the district Is high
grade and averages over $200 a ton. Some
exceeds $300. Copper is the dominant
mineral but there is also a good percent
age of gold and silver.
"Dividends paid by the various mines
of the district have run from $2,000,000 to
$11,000,000. Some of the larger concerns
are the Calumet Buena Vista Mines
Milling & Smelting Company, the Bunker
Hill and Sullivan, the Standard Mam
moth, the Empire State, Hercules, and
Morning."
Bl'RX'S TO START AGENCY
Detective to Organize Government
Sleuth Bureau Here. .
William J. Burns will arrive In- Port
land this week for the purpose of in
stalling here the private detective sys
tem which he organized for the United
States. . Offices will be opened and will
be placed in charge of a chief operator
who will have direction of the field
men who will be assigned to the
Northwest. It is understood that the
Burns agency will be conducted on
lines similar to the Pinkerton methods.
An important branch of the work
which the Burns agency will undertake
will be in hunting down the class of
crooks who operate among the banks
of the country. Chief Burns recently
secured a contract with the Association
of Bankers, embracing -11,000 financial
institutions located in every state of
the Union. He also made an extensive
trip through the East and conferred
with some of the most noted thief
catchers of the police forces of various
cities, and those engaged in private
work. He has secured the services of
a large number of them. A press dis
patch recently announced that the chief
of detectives for New York City would
assume charge of the Eastern division
of the agency.
Until Burns shall make his announce
ment It -will not be known who will be
made superintendent of the local di
vision. Applications have been filed
by a number of Oregon men who aspire
to become Identified with the new
agency.
Detective Burns became well-known
In Oregon by . gathering evidence
against land-fraud manipulators. He
was the rlghthand man of Attorney
Heney and was so successful In getting
evidence that many of the defendants
confessed. Later Detective Burns went
to San Francisco and was prominent
in the graft investigation there.
SOCIETY IS SEEKING HOME
Sellwood and Snnnyslde ITrge Claims
for Site of Building.
The Sellwood Board of Trade will
submit a proposal for the location of
the home of the Oregon Historical So
ciety In that suburb. At the next meet
ing the offer will take definite form.
The Sunnyside Push Club also will
urge that two blocks In the new park
tract in Laurelhurst be set apart for
the home of the society.
That steps must be taken to provide
a home for the society this year is the
opinion of George H. Himes, the secre
tary, who Is a member of the commit
tee appointed to look up a site.
"It would not be proper for .me to
favor any particular site for the home
of the Oregon Historical Society," said
Mr. Himes, "except to say that we must
secure a home as soon as possible. Our
society has grown faster and gathered
more historictl matter in the past 11
years than any .other historical'society
In the United States. This I know to be
a fact. In selecting a site for the home,
one thing, however, ought to be kept
in view, the future expansion. I am
in favor of locating the home in one
of the city parks on one or more acres,
for then there would be space for ex
pansion. The site need not be in the
center of business. It is a mistake to
suppose that the home of the society
need be close In. In New York, where
there Is the greatest natural history
department almost, in the world, the
buildings are eight miles from the
postofflce."
BACHELORS "WIDEN SCOPE
Blue Mountain Club Now Plans Xa-
N tional Organization. '
. DAYTON, Wash., Feb. 6. (Special.)
Acting on suggestions received from
bachelors living in other states, offi
cers of the Blue Mountain Bachelors'
Club have taken steps to insure a
National organization of bachelors. A
constitution, by-laws and articles for a
charter are now being prepared under
the direction of President Ralph Hunt.
The publication of a monthly official
paper is also being considered.
A feature of the Brotherhood of
Bachelors possibly will . be a matri
monial bureau.
Alleged Chinese Forger Taken.
VANCOUVER, Wash., Feb. 6. (Spe
cial.) Lee Ya, a China,man, wanted in
North Yakima on a charge of forgery,
was brought from Portland tonight and
placed In the City Jail to await the ar
rival of Sheriff Lancaster. This was done
to offset the trouble of securing requisi
tion papers. The Chinaman's attorneys
were about to start habeas- corpus pro
ceedings when the prisoner was hurried
to Vancouver.
Fall on Ice Dislocates Hip.
MOSCOW, Idaho, Feb. 6. (Special.)
Charles H. Thompson, a member of the
City Council, fell on the Ice on a street
crossing near the City Hall this after
noon and his hip waa dislocated.
JAPAN IS FEELING MI CH 111 It T
Teople Regard Manchurian Railway
Control as Spoils of War.
TOKIO. Jan. 10. The proposition of the
United States for the neutralization of
the railroads in Manchuria came as a
surprise, and the publication of -details
of the note handed to the Japanese gov
ernment on December 10 by the American
Ambassador aroused an immediate chorus
of disapproval.
Count T. Hayashi. last Minister of
Foreign Affairs and ex-Ambassador to
Great Britain Count Okuma, formerly
one of the most active of statesmen, and
every one whose name carried any weight
whatsoever were quoted in the news
papers in strenuous objections- to giving
up what they claim as the harvest of
the war with Russia.
"Tens of thousands of our soldiers died
in Manchuria in the war with Russia."
they said. "We got little out of the
war except what was political. The ma
terial side is represented by the South
Manchurian and the Antung-Mukrisn
Railways. The leased territory and Port
Arthur were only recovered. These we,
won 10 years before and lost again by they
intrigue of certain powers when we were
a weaker nation. Now the Unltosl States,
hitherto always our friend, comes into
combination with other powers and pro
poses that we should give up the South
Manchurian Railway, a paying road, and
the AntUng-Mukden. the continuation of
our railroads in Corea. to the control of
foreigners and strangers.
"The reasons assigned for this are that
the principle of the "open door' and
equal opportunity for all nations doing
business in China must be preserved. But
Japan has entered into combination with
the powers of America and Europe to
preserve the integrity of China and to
maintain the principle of the open door
and equal opportunity in concert with
China and with all other nations, and
to this Japan had adhered religiously.
"In two ways, therefore, the United
States? attacks the honor and sentiment
of the people of Japan. Is it. any won
der that we refuse to permit our gov
ernment even to suggest that the pro
posal has been received by Japan with
equanimity ?
"The riots that followed the making
of tho treaty of Portsmouth would not
be a circumstance to the trouble that
would follow the relinquishment by Japan
of her rights in Manchuri-i. even though
she received twice tho intrinsic value."
One thing may be wot down as about
certain, and that is Japan is not going
to give up her right In the South Man
churlan Railway until those rights Shall
be terminated by the lapse of the term
for which Japan has control. Japan was
given control of the South Manchurian
Railway for 36 years from the signing o,f
the Portsmouth treaty. The Autung
Mukden Railway will remain in posses
sion of Japan for 15 years.
There are in Manchuria about 30,000
Japanese settlers, and. since they are
within the zone of the railroad, where
Japan has a sphere of influence, the pro
posed taking over by tile powers would
place the Interests of these in jeopardy.
IDAHO EDITORS ORGANIZE
Moscow Host to Visiting Newspaper
Men, Who Talk for Once.
SPOKANE. Wash., Feb. 6. (Special.)
Editors of eight Idaho weekly papers
meeting at Moscow last night formed
the Latah County Editorial Association
and were banqueted by the Moscow
Commercial Club, at the University of
Idaho.
William M. Morgan presided as toast
master and Mayor B. T. Byrnes de
livered an address. The response was
made by Editor George W. Hancock,
of the Kendrick Gazette; "Latah Coun
ty, Her. Resources and Possibilities,"
was discussed by Hugh Cheney, of
Deary; "Latah County's Relations to the
State," was treated by ex-Congrcss-man
Burton L. French; W. D. liumis
ton, of Potlache, spoke on the "Rela
tions of the Press to the Development
of Latah County;" "Life Is Just One
Damn Thing and Then Another," was
discussed by Editor P. L. Oreutt;" "The
Relations of the Editor to the State."
by F. C. McGowan, of Deary, was an
outline of modern ideaa; "The Editor
and Agriculture Education," by R. J.
Lyman, suggested the harmonizing of
agricultural with modern life; "The
Railrods," was discussed by M. E.
Lewis," president of the board of re
gents, of the University. W. E. Lee, a
graduate of the University of Idaho,
spoke on "What I Know About Do
mestic Science."
INDIANS DELAY LAND OPENING
Banished Modocs Must Receive Al
lotments First.
KLAMATH FALLS. Or., Feb. 6. (Spe
cial.) Hiram F. White, a special Indian
allotting agent, 'who has been allotting
lands on the Klamath Reservation more
than two years, has nearly completed
his assigned work, except for the allot
ments to the band of Modocs in Okla
homa, who were banished to the Indian
Territory after the Modoc war in 1872-73.
The disabilities of these Indians were
removed by an act of Congress, approved
March 3, 1900. but no date is mentioned
in the act for their return. This is a
perplexing mission, especially if linal
opening cf the Klamath Reservation must
await the pleasure of this small bantl
of Indians as to their return to claim
their allotments.
The lands allotted to them in the Modoc
Reservation at the Quapam Agency, in
Oklahoma, they are authorized to sell or
lease, but this is necessarily a slow
process.
"The present Congress should by
amendment fix a time limit so that tho
allotments can be completed within a
few months," said a citizen of Klamath.
Falls today. "The great Klamath res
ervation, nearly as large as the State of
Delaware, and rich in resources, should
be opened within a reasonable time, for
it is no longer in an isolated wilderness,
but in the heart of a region on th& eve
of great- development."
PRICES OF FARMS ADVANCING
Sales at $100 an Acre Near Pullman
Is Record. Within Year.
SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. 6. The sale
of the Fred Young farm, west of Pull
man, for $100 an acre yesterday, is
taken as an indication of advancing
prices for farm lands. The farm has a
good house, barn, electric Rights, water
system and other modern improve
ments. This is the second farm near
Pullman t6 sell for $100 an acre, an
other having sold last Summer, but of
fers of $100 an acre for well-improved
farms near Pullman have been made
frequently of late.
There is a strong demand for good
farms and acreage near town. Three
acres, bought a week ago for $1100,
sold In a few days for $1400.
COMET LIGHTS VP RANCHES
People Near Glendale Have Nightly
Views of Visitor.
GLENDALE, Or., Feb. 6. (Special.)
A. view of the comet was obtained
by a party of citizens who drove to
the high ground east of the city to
night. The nucleus was only dimly
visible through a hazy cloud low down
on the Northwestern horizon, hut the
tall was seen plainly reaching some
distance into the sky.
Ranchers in this vicinity have been
watching the comet nightly for some
time.