to THE MORMXG OREGOXIAX, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1910. PORTLAND. OREGOX. Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postofflce as cacuna-ciau AlaitMr. ' Subscription Kates Invariably In Advances ' ' (BY MAIL.) f rwtly. Sunday Included, one year $8.00 ' I)aily. Sunday Included. Blx months.... 4.23 Ially, Sunday Included, three month. . 2.25 Isllv. Runrlnv I ri i-1 1 wl . H nnft month..... .75 Iaily. without Sunday, one year....... 6.00 lastly, without Sunday, nix months..... 8.25 Xaily. without Sundav. three months... 1.75 Tally, without Sunday, one month 60 Weeklv. one vitar ... ...... 1.50 punday. one year 2.fiO bunoay ana weekly, one year. ...... s.ou (By Carrier.) Tally, Funday Included, one year...... 0.00 QDally. Sunday Included, one month. .... .75 How to Remit Send Postofflce money trder. express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress In full. Including county and state. Postage Kates lo to 14 pages, 1 cent; 16 to 2H paces. 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 wlth Special Agency New York, rooms -4H-t0 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building. J"ORTLAND. SATURDAY, FEB. 19, 1910. THE INCIDENT AT ROME. Protestant, , Catholic and Jewish publications give much attention to tthe Fairbanks Incident at Rome. It Is el delicate subject for a newspaper, i'et It yields a feature of news of "which a public Journal may take no tice. Protestant publications, espe cially those of the Methodist denomi nation, charge the Vatican with lack wf religious tolerance; Catholic Jour Hals retort that the Methodists in Home are trying to steal Catholic ichildren from the church. Jewish Journals assert that both Catholics and Protestants not only have been Intol erant toward the Jews, but have car ried their efforts at proselytizing to most pernicious lengths of activity, land even of oppression. It is not a function of The Oregonian to intrude upon such a discussion. It will con tent itself merely with reprinting a few extracts from Journals engaging in it. This is from the Jewish Trib une (Portland): Why are the methods of conversion prac ticed by the Methodists upon the Catho lics outrageous and the same methods prac ticed upon Jews by the Catholics Justified? Do not such Immoral activities In the name of any religion prove the weakness of that same religion? It is always the case of whose ox is gored. If the Meth odist gores the Catholic It u wrong, but when the Catholio gores the Jew, It Is right. Is It not time to stop the conver sion business? Is It not time to leave people to choose tholr God and select their religion by themselves? Judaism, being a religion of deed and not creed, acts and not beliefs, does not run after proselytes; it Is perfectly satisfied that no religion In the world can or may shatter Its strong foundation of reason. Not so Christianity; belief Is its quintessence, creed the basis of Its faith. It cannot stand before criti cism based upon reason. It cannot afford to have people calling It to account; hence flourishing of the conversion business, hence all kinds of means, fair and unfair, to ensnare children, hence the large suras paid for the conversion of the Jewish ras cals, who are ever ready to sell their birth right for a. mess of pottage. The Catholic Sentinel (Portland) takes its turn at the Protestants who are putting forth "efforts to bring light to Romanists," thus: The Protestant sect seems unable to get , hold of the idea that bad Catholics do not make good Protestants. Men who have been Instructed In the Catholic religion sometimes fall away from the faith, lut It Is rarely that they become Protestants. Why should they? They know that as Catholics they already possessed whatever of Christian teaching the sects nave re tained. .Moreover, they see Protestantism everywhere in disruption and decay. Of course those old-fashioned Protestants who still believe that Catholics are not per mitted to read the Bible have some Justi fication for their efforts to bring tho light to Romanists. These people are to be excused on the ground of ignorance. But sny Protestant with a sense of humor must see the absurdity of Protestantism any longer posing as the champion of Holy Bcrlsture. To the Catholic Standard and Times (Philadelphia), which advocates re ligious teaching (Christianity) in the public schools, asserts that "the Jews are the great obstacle to it," and con cludes with the declaration that these people "cannot much longer be per mitted to dictate to the Christian pop ulation in the way they have been do ing," the Jewish Tribune makes this rejoinder: It is a world-renowned fact that the Catholic Church stamps every other re ligion as heresy, and allots its followers to more than a warm place in the future world, and that ad infinitum. Any teach ing of Christianity which Is not in accord with the teachings of that church Is anti Christian, according to the beliefs of that church. The Catholics maintain their pa rochial schools for the mere purpose that their youth be not contaminated with the heretical teachings of Christianity by other Christian denominations. It Is also known that, no matter how Christianity may be taught In the public schools, so long ' as It will not follow the lines of their church they will not allow their children to at tend these schools and certainly will keep them in their parochial schools. Now,' wherefore this advocacy of forcing Chris tianity Into the public schools? Dr. Emll G. Hirsch, the well-known Jewish publicist, puts in these re marks through the Reform Advocate (Chicago): Where the old Roman Ghetto used to be, right at the gate opening upon Its laby rinth of dingy streets, there stands a church Into which, up to 184u. Jews were driven to hear mass every Sunday under penalty of being expelled from the Eternal City If they refused to attend the servlcos. tho object of this compulsory participation In the church rites being to cast ridicule on . the Jewish practices and to convert the Jews to the faith of the dominant church. Over the portals of the edifice are Inscribed, In Hebrew and Latin, lines from Jeremiah, calling down upon the heid of sinful Is rael the curse of heaven. Both the choice of the Inscription and the uses to which the building was put suggest that for per nicious proselytizing the Methodists in Roma have good Catholic precedent. However, at this very day the Meth odists of Chicago, according to Dr. Hirsch, are shewing an offensive ac tivity in trying to convert Jews. So it seems one effort may be alleged as an offset to another. However, Dr. Hirsch strikes a higher note. The Jew, he says, who passes through the old Ghetto district of Rome now almost entirely reconstructed will find the old -church (above de scribed) still standing. But His eye will be attracted at once by a most impressive structure directly oppo site. And he will break forth Into the old benediction praising him who changeth the times. The' new and much more stately ediflce Is the new synagogue, monumentlng the new spirit of young and united Italy. The Juxtaposition of the synagogue and the church may -well make us forget all about this wrangle of the rival proselytizers, the modernised battle between frogs and mice, and whisper Galileo's faith "E pur si muove." the woVld moves after all. The spirit in which this is written and the sentiment thus expressed are the very motives that should actuate all the parties, and he fully accepted by all of -them. Fortunately, the ten dency is not toward religious indiffer ence, but toward liberality and' toleration. THE REAL REASONS WHY. The argument against the appro priation for the Crater Lake road (pronounced unconstitutional by the Supreme Court) that the- road would not be used by citizens from distant parts of the state, who, nevertheless would be required to pay taxes for its construction and maintenance, was not the potential argument. With some, Indeed, it may be conclusive; but it is worth little heed; for, as Jus tice King said in his dissenting opin ion, the like argument could be in voked against almost every improve ment requiring expenditure of public funds. Of very different nature -was the real argument the argument of real weight. Of course it was the consti tutional inhibition that decided the case; but the cause of this inhibition, the motive that gave rise to it and placed it In the constitution, was to be sought, as the real ground. That was found in the obvious purpose of the makers of the constitution to pre vent embarkation by the state in any general scheme of internal improve ment which, as experience had amply proved, might be expected to lead to embarrassment and disaster. If one part of the state should be granted a favor of this kind it was deemed certain that other parts would demand a like thing or its equivalent. The objects were to prevent log rolling schemes in legislation, general corruption and state bankruptcy. Perhaps these were not desirable objects. But the makers of the con stitution thought they were; and so we have "the constitution as it Is." IDAHO MINING STRIKE. If the story of the great gold strike at Elk City, Idaho, had come out of the frozen and inaccessible north, it would probably have attracted world wide attention; a rush would set In from all quarters of the globe. Idaho, however, is in the civilized belt. While there will undoubtedly be a rush, es pecially if the early reports of the strike are confirmed, the comparative nearness of the mines will relieve the situation of some of that enchantment that distance lends to the view. Yet there is much that may reasonably be expected from that Central Idaho mining district. The region is not a new one. Portions of it have been worked over lay prospectors for more than forty years. In the early '60s the Salmon River mines were notable contributors to the gold supply of the Pacific North west; the rush of miners and their supplies to that country was one of. the principal sources of revenue for the Oregon Steam Navigation Com pany. That It was not an idle rush is shown by some of the steamer manifests of that period. The O. S. N. steamer New World on a single trip in 1864 'brought to Portland 2000 pounds of gold. Consignments of more than 1000 pounds were quite frequent. Practically all of the gold that has come out of that portion of Idaho in which this latest strike Is re ported was placer gold. "Veteran min ers who prospected in that region have never abandoned the belief that rich quartz mines would some day be discovered. It. is, of course, too early to deter mine the extent of the strike, or even its richness, as early reports which trickle out from new mining camps always show a tendency toward exag geration. If the new field should prove a promising one, it is difficult to overestimate the effect it would have on Portland, which is situated at the foot of a downhill haul from the mines. Nothing on earth will attract a railroad so quickly as the rich traffic of a productive mining camp. With the number of railroad projects headed for the immediate locality of the new mines, it Is almost a certainty that transportation facilities will not be far behind the first authentic evi dence of the richness of the field. EXPERT MEDICAL, TESTIMONY. To carry out the reforms which the New York State Bar Association wishes to effect In relation to the tes timony of medical experts in lawsuits, a bill has been introduced . into both houses of the Legislature at Albany. Inasmuch as the bill was drawn un der the supervision of four powerful medical societies, besides the Bar As sociation, it probably provides a rem edy for most of the evils which have grown Out of the unregulated employ ment of medical experts in court, and ought to become a law. It does not touch the subject of other "expert" testimony, such as that of handwrit ing adepts in will contests, chemists in pure-food cases, and so on. But these, are. minor matters compared with the crying abuse of medical evi dence in criminal trials, and may well wait until that has been attended to. This bill was thrown into form by Judge Clearwater, who, as chairman of five committees acting conjointly, represented a formidable mass of edu cated opinion. It provides for the ap pointment of a number of official medical experts, who must testify whenever they are called upon either by the trial Judge or by one of the parties to any suit. The appoint ments are to toe made by the appel late judges, and may be revoked at any time without stating the reason why. The trial judge fixes their fee for testifying in each case, and it Is paid by the county where the suit takes place. The value of this pro vision is striking. It goes to the root of the inequality between rich and poor in court and places all suitors on a. level so far as expert medical testimony is concerned. Or, more ac curately perhaps, it tries to do so. Since the bill permits the employ ment of unofficial experts, money will still have an advantage, but it will be greatly diminished. In this partic ular very likely reform could not go much farther. The law could scarce ly forbid a party to summon any wit nesses whom he is willing to pay. Venal experts will always be confront ed by impartial witnesses who are capable of correcting their perversions of truth, and that is the best we can hope for. The bill leaves a good deal to the judges' discretion in respect to the number of experts. It may vary from ten in judicial districts where there is not much litigation to 120 where suits are numerous. Naturally, only a part of them, no matter whether their number be 10 or 120, can testify in any particular case, and one can easily imagine how evils could grow out of this condition. Should there happen to be an expert appointed who cared more for fees than for the truth, the lawyer would see to it that he was always called upon, and to win favor he would steer hisrtestlmony to suit the side which had summoned him. Thus venality might, become as rampant under the new regulations as it is now. The only way to prevent it, -in the last analysis, is to elect appellate judges who will make no bad appoint ments. Here, as elsewhere,' the prob lem of good government resolves it self finally to the problem of induc ing the electors to vote for competent candidates. The power of the judges to remove an expert without any pa' rade or publicity will, of course, be an effectual check to venal tendencies. One cannot evade the difficulty, how ever, that Judges who had not the strength of character to refuse to ap point a corrupt expert could hardly be depended on to remove him. Crit ics who maintain that much of the trouble with our oriminal jurispru dence lies in the feebleness of judges are not without plausibility, though it is conceded that their views are par tial. An encouraging feature of the movement to reform the evils of med ical expert testimony is its disposition to spread. If anybody thinks it is limited to New York, he commits a serious error. It began there and will perhaps become effective as a law in Albany sooner than elsewhere, but it has developed already in twenty different states. This shows, for one thing, the eager desire of the American people to move forward as soon as competent leadership appears. Tt R.1RO shnwfi that nrt mlcr-hlof Vi ever well intrenched, can hope "to live wnen me intelligence or tne people has resolutely attacked it. inXPRECHrS NOTABLE WORK. The fiftieth anniversary of. Profes sor Hermann V. Hilprecht, of Penn sylvania University, has been signal ized by the publication of a memorial volume. It is Issued by a committee which seems to represent the entire learned world and has been published simultaneously in Leipzig, Paris, Lon don and Chicago. In view of Profes sor Hilprecht's field of labor, the vol ume naturally contains many facsim iles of the clay tablets whereon the ancient Assyrians kept their accounts and wrote their books and letters. These tablets are indestructible un less some accident shatters them. They exist in countless numbers bur led in the clay of Mesopotamian ruins, and Professor Hilprecht has done as much, perhaps, as any other man to bring them to light and interpret them. The writing on the Assyrian tablets, as the public well knows, is in cunei form, or arrow-shaped, characters. The labor of deciphering them in the first instance was incalculable. It was not accomplished, in fact, until Champollion had learned from the Rosetta stone the secret of the Egyp tian hieroglyphics. His methods were helpful to Assyriologlsts, but the cuneiform writings were more difficult to decipher than the hieroglyphics and there was less of a key to start with. The triumphant solution of the problem will always rank among the glories of the human intelligence. The most serious difficultes were over come before Professor Hilprecht be gan his researches, but he has done invaluable work as an explorer and translator. FAB-FETCHED COMPETITION. Testimony thus far introduced in the celebrated railroad merger case does not seem to be exceptionally damaging to the railroads. One of the supposed strong points of the prosecution was the closing of the Portland gateway, by which the Union Pacific was expected to reach San Francisco. The prosecution has taken the position that the Union Pacific, having no rail connection to San Francisco, should be expected to haul freight from Omaha to Portland and at this point transfer it to steamer and carry it to San Francisco in com petition with the Southern Pacific, which had a through rail route. With a longer haul, an additional transfer and attendant loss of time, it is not at all clear how the Union Pacific could prove very much of a. competitor for San Francisco business by way of the Portland gateway. As a local proposition, the steam ship line between Portland and San Francisco undoubtedly offered some competition, but there is so much dif ference between steamship service and rail service that the comparative advantages of the two classes are dif ficult to arrive at. This difference in service is always recognized ' alike by competitive and non-competitive lines; wide differentials are made and recognized by both systems. The shipping public naturally desires healthy, legitimate competition, but it is questionable whether it desires one railroad to. provoke the hostility and reprisals of another road by hauling freight several hundred miles out of the way in order to reach, a point to which It has no actual connecting rail line. As stated by Traffic Manager Mun- roe, of the Union Pacific, the South ern Pacific was in a position to de flect much traffic which it could -turn over to the Union Pacific, and, as the' Union Pacific water line from Port land offered a very poor instrument for retaliation, there was naturally a desire to keep on good terms with the Southern Pacific. It would appear from the testimony that this mutual understanding was', fully as effective before the merger was formed as it was afterwards, and for that reason competition through the Portland gateway could not have been affected. The farther this suit progresses the more apparent it becomes that the Government might have undertaken with infinitely better prospect for suc cess the task of dissolving a railroad merger at some point much nearer home. The Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific under one manage ment would hardly be expected to be come violent competitors for traffic, but their routes for the greater part of their mileage are too far apart to admit of much competition even were they under separate ownership. The Government should have made a test case of some Eastern merged roads, like the New York Central and Its al lied lines which parallel each other within whistling distance -for hun dreds of miles through a richer traffic-producing country than the Har riman territory ever will become. Limitations of the present methods of civilizing the red man were graph ically set forth in a news item appear ing in The Oregonian yesterday under a Lyle (Wash.) dateline. Announc ing preparations for the annual ghost dance of the Klickitats. the item fur ther stated: "Chief Spedis spent five years at the Government Indian school, but, on completion of his course, saw no opening among the white men for his activities, and so returned to the primitive ways of his people. He now lives the simple and uneventful life of the average siwash, giving no exterior signs of his su perior education." It was a knowl edge of the hopelessness and even cruelty of attempting to change the social conditions of the Eskimo that caused Explorer Peary to decline to Introduce either the white man's re ligion or his civilization among the simple children of Nature in the far north. Similar consideration for the American Indian might have saved a world of trouble for those who were less philosophical and sensible than Chief Spedis. What Is known as the Administra tion railroad bill in amending the in terstate commerce act establishes the general principle that no stock shall bo Issued by railroads except at par, and no bonds except at the reasonable market value. The object of this Is, of course, to 'eradicate the evils of watered stock and to enable the pub lic to determine how much a road is expected to earn on its actual value. It will be difficult, however, to sell stock at par, and it will be still more difficult to maintain it at that figure. Practically all of the capital originally invested in American railroads was in vested at a stock valuation considera bly below par, and many a Western railroad project which afterwards proved a big dividend-payer would never have been floated had the pro moters been prohibited from selling the stock far below par value. It is not the intention of the proposed law to hamper railroad building, but un less stock can he marketed railroads cannot be built. The National Review, one of the Unionist organs of England, says that Lloyd-George is "a fervid Celt, ani mated by a passionate hatred of Eng land and of all things English"; that Churchill is "simply a Tammany Hall politician, without, however, a Tam many man's patriotism"; that Har court "belongs to that pitiful type of demagogue who slangs peers in public and fawns upon them in private." Harcourt, moreover, "is animated by an Inherited bias against his own country, which found yesterday ex pression in pro-Boerism and today in equally pronounced pro-Germanism." Of a Manchester member of the Com mons, recently re-elected, doubt is ex pressed whether "any constituency, except one within the Manchester miasma, would tolerate such a traitor to his country." And yet the English press lectures America on decorous journalism! The Southern point of Illinois meets the borders of Kentucky and Mis souri the Ohio and Mississippi di viding the three states. It is a good people, but of little culture and civic development, and contains a. rowdy and turbulent class. Cairo, the most important town of the region, is a "tough" place, and the class who make it tough "hate niggers." Nat urally, there is a class of niggers that are no better and have no more self restraint than the whites. These nig gers commit outrages, or are sus pected of it, and the whites then turn out to lynch them. Here is the ex planation of the bloody events on several occasions at Cairo. It was the mob that got peppered this time. Again the cattle on the great ranges of the Rocky Mountain States are suffering and dying from cold and hunger. Having weathered at least three heavy falls of snow, accompa nied by zero weather, these wretched beasts are in poor plight to withstand this latest onset of Winter. The very suggestion of unsheltered cattle on the range in this region in midwinter is an arraignment of stockmen upon the double charge of inhumanity and wastefulness. Economists and hu manitarians have long dreamed of conditions that will make provision for wintering all the livestock that is left over from the Fall shipment to market, but as yet the dream is un realized. If It Is true, as alleged by sundry citizens of South Portland, that the Fulton Park schoolhouse is inade quate to the needs of that portion of the district, that It is not supplied either with drinking water or lava tories and that a portion of it Is mere ly a shed built over vegetable grounds, it is plain that the relief asked for is due. The needs of the district are constantly recurring and insist ent and those represented in this in stance call for relief at as early a date as is possible, since cleanliness, health and comfort are Involved in the de mand. This statement comes from Wash ington among recent telegrams: Senator Chamberlain has declined "the appointment tendered him as a member of the Senate committee authorized to In vestigate the cost of living and food prod ucts. Senator Money. Democratic leader in the Senate, is having trouble to get any Democrats to serve on the committee. These brethren have no interest in discovery of the causes of high prices. Enough for them that prices are high. Nor do they want them lowered now. 'Twould spoil their hopes of a "para mount campaign issue." A young woman of Seattle, wife of a carpenter, drank carbolic acid last Sunday and died because her husband had cruelly beaten her. Mistaken woman! Why did she not, if partial to that mode of settling her domestic woes, watch her chance and adminis ter the potion to her bellicose spouse? Murder is more Justifiable than sui cide under such circumstances, though, of course, eithen- is to be de plored. When taxpayers visit the tax collec tor and gaze upon the foundations of the magnificent new Courthouse, let them remember that nothing is too good for the lawyers. "Fireproof schoolhouses" is the lat est idea In Portland. Meanwhile all of us live in wooden houses and think them good and safe enough. j We should think the friends of Peary would prefer to have Dr. Cook made a Rear-Admlral. A breakfast-food trust having been formed, a rise in the price of sawdust may now be expected. Never fear about Spring. Easter and the hats will surely come. HOW MANY WORIv FOR WAGES t Valuable Data to Be Sought la Coming CensuM. PORTLAND, Feb. 18. (To the Edi tor.) Will you please give me some approximate estimate of the number of working men employed at wage or salary service in the United States, exclusive of women and children. We hear so much street hawking these days that we think the general public would be Interested as well as the enquirer. LEON H. DU GAS. No one knows; nor can The Oregon ian suggest a source for an intelligent estimate. But the Census Bureau is going to spend a lot of money to find out this year, beginning April 15. Prob ably two years hence the figures will be compiled and published. Among new inquiries to be pro pounded by every enumerator to every citizen in the land is this: "Are you an employer, an employe or working on your own account?" This informa tion has never been sought before. Here are a few satistics from the census of 1900: a Total number of persons In gainful occupations, 29,285,922. Farm hands.- 4,459,346 ; total in agri cultural pursuits, 10,438,219. Professional service, including 446, 000 teachers and college professors, 1,264,737. Domestic and personal service, in cluding 2.619.4S6 laborers and 1,565,440 servants and waiters, 5.691,746. Trade and transportation, 4,778,283. Manufacturing and mechanical pur suits 7,112.987. These figures include employers, em ployes and persons working on their own account, men, women and children.' In the census soon to be taken, the sexes will probably not be separated In the tabulation, st far as the gainful occupations are concerned. A REAL, COURT WITHOUT LAW YERS Xradea Tribunal In Berlin Where Jadge and Clerk Dispense Justice. Professor W. H. Carruth. of the I'nlverslty of Kansas. In the Kansas olty Times. On account of the exorbitant prices charged by the lawyers and the slowness of justice in the regular courts, the mer chants and laborers of Berlin demanded of the National Government a court for the settlement of all differences arising between the employed and the employer. Accordingly, in 1S90 the trades court was organized and in 1S95 the merchants' court was opened. The features of the courts are their promptness and fairness. Every case is decided In less than three weeks. The average number of cases disposed of in a day in the two courts is twenty. No lawyers are allowed in this court and the only officers are the judge and clerk, who obtain their positions after passing a severe competitive examination. The Judge asks the litigants concise ques tions and usually tries to affect a com promise. In case the suit is compromised no costs are assessed. The costs, when assessed, are graded, a judgment of $5 costing the loser 25 cents, a Judgment of $10 costing 35 cents, and so on up the scale. ' No criminal cases are tried in the trades and merchants" courts. Only such cases as disputes between employes and employers over wages paid or treatment accorded the employed by the employer are heard. Lawyers are admitted into the criminal courts. Of the cases brought before the trades and merchants' court, 90 per cent are brought by the laboring class' while only 5 per cent are brought by the employers. The employers win a majority of their cases because they are seldom brought without good grounds. Besides his Judi cial duties the judge also serves as an adviser to the National Government in labor legislation. A Letter, With n Reply. PORTLAND, Or., Feb. 17 (To the Edi tor.) Will the editor of The Oregonian please tell the writer of this letter why The Oregonian readily publishes letters sent her by some folks and ignores let ters which Is sent her by other folks? An answer to this will be greatly appreciated by the writer and his friends. H. W. The Oregonian prints "letters which is sent her" when it deems them of suffi cient interest, or intelligence, or moment to print; it rejects them when they are silly, or worthless, or of no current value, or offensive, or tedious, or because the writers are nuisances. We leave this correspondent to struggle with the ques tion as to the class to which he belongs. To aid him, we will suggest that he doesn't come In the first. At Last, a Poet From Missouri. Chicago Tribune. MARCEIJNB. Mo. (.Editor of the Trlb? une.) The Tribune said that Missouri had no poets and that Kansas had one and one-fourth poets to every square mile. The following was written not to refute the editorial, but rather to uphold the honor of the Missouri poets : The mule of Missouri, the festive, gay. Can make a trip of forty miles a day; And when the West reflects the setting sun -And all the labors of the day are done. He rolls about and tumbles o'er and o'er. Then rises up as fresh as e'er before, And neighs and brays as If to let you Know He's ready then to make another go. Missouri Poet. Where Else Would You Find Them? ' Delineator for March. A Washington man while visiting a friend's place in Virginia became much interested In his experiments in fruit culture. One day the visitor was mak ing the rounds of the place, being in charge of the friend's young daughter of 10, who acted as a guide. This tree seems to be loaded with apples," ob served the Washlngtonian, Indicating a particularly fine specimen. "Yes, sir," assented the child,, father says this is a good year for apples." "I am glad to hear that," said the visitor. "Are all your trees as full of .apples as thl3 one?" "No, sir," explained the girl, "only the apple trees." A Correspondent Worth While. . LEBANON. Or.. Feb. 16. (To the Editor.) I have 18 White Leghorn hens from which I sold $6 worth of eggs in January, and we used nearly one dozen per week. If this Is published I may write again. MRS. HELEN PHELPS. Write again, by all means. We would rather hear from you and your hens' doings, regularly, than ' from all the poets and poetesses in Oregon. Nothing on Jack. Denver Republican. It is said that James J. Jeffries is a direct descendant of "Hanging" Jeffries, the famous English judge. But maybe Jack Johnson Is a descendant of the Ah koond of Swat. Would Be More Profitable. New" York Telegraph. Still talking about an expedition to the South Pole. For goodness' sake start and find sout If there are any animals or fish the cold-storage people don't control. Tariff and the Drama. Kansas City Star. Investigating the high cost of living with no reference to the tariff would be like "Hamlet" with Eddie Foy left out. LEADER5HIP TO THE NORTH POLE Why Peary Did Not Allow Bartlett to Accompany Him. New York Sun. We have never thought it was obliga tory upon Commander Peary to make the able and courageous lieutenant. Captain Robert A. Bartlett, his com panion instead of Matthew Henson upon the final dash to the North Pole. There seems to be some feeling in the matter upon the part of admirers of Captain Bartlett, and both in this country and in England there is still criticism of Commander Peary for not allowing a British subject to share the satisfaction of reaching the goal. This point of view found expression in a let ter to the Sun on February 8, in which the writer said that Commander Peary scarcely disguised the fact that ,his "motive was to exclude the brave Canadian from the consummation be cause he w-as a British subject." The leader of the successful expedi tion does not lack defenders, and,, one of them, W. B. Feakins, asks the Sun "to give equal publicity to the signed statement of Captain Robert A. Bart lett In regard to the report that he 'begged Commander Peary to take him to the Pole" and was refused." The "signed statement was obtained by Mr. Charles J. Nichols, a lawyer of Port land, Me., on January 15, 1910. and for warded to London for publication in the English newsDaners.. The "statement" of Captain Bartlett is extremely creditable to him as a man and proves a loyalty to his chief that cannot be too highly praised. The ex pedition, says Captain Bartlett, was American in inception, Americans pro vided the funds for It. most of the members were Americans, ami the leader was an American upon whose resourcefulness the triumph of the ex pedition depended. Then Captain Bart lett says: Trom his (Peary's) years of experience In Arctic work he -worked out a definite plan, and it Is my Judgment that had this plan been changed the Pole would not have been reached. The four supporting parties were necessary, and It was distinctly understood at the outset that each one of the leaders of these supporting parties should turn back at a certain point. Each party, consisting of one white man and four Eskimos, did the work for which it was best rltted on the sledge Journey. For all to go on was Impos sible for several reasons, such as the addi tional loss of dogs, consumption of food, and possible exhaustion of the individual mem bers. Captain Bartlett says that he was much pleased when Commander Peary selected him for "the fourth or last supporting party," that he never had "any idea" that he was going to the Pole, and that he would be glad "of an opportunity to do again for him (Com mander Peary) just what I have done." Captain Bartlett does not touch in his "statement" upon the report that he begged Commander Peary to take him to the North Pole. There seems to be no doubt that he did make the request, for Commander Peary said In the de tailed account of his success sent from Battle Harbor on September 8, 1909: The next march -was also a long one. It was Bartlett's last hit. He let himself out over a series of large old floes steadily In creasing In diameter and covered -with hard snow. .During the last few miles I walked beside him or In advance. He was very sol emn and anxious to go further, but the pro gramme was for him to go back from here In command of the fourth supporting par ty, and there were no supplies for an In crease In the main party. The next morning Bartlett, "to make sure of reaching the 88th parallel" obviously a point of pride with him pushed on five or six miles to the north. When Bartlett turned back from the camp Commander Pearly "felt for a moment pangs of regret as he disappeared In the distance," not, how ever, because his request to go on to the Pole had been denied, but because the Commander knew that he would miss the man who had been a great help to him and who had borne "the brunt of the pioneering"; that is to say, the breaking of a way for the ad vance. "My work," Peary said, "was still ahead." The Commander gave three reasons for assigning Captain Bartlett to the post of honor as leader of the fourth and last supporting party; first, he had handled the Roose velt with marked skill; second, he had cheerfully stood between his chief and "many trifling annoyances on the ex pedition," and third: It seemed to me appropriate, in view of the magnificent British record of Arctic work, covering three centuries. that it should be a British subject who could boast that, next to an American, he had been nearest to the Pole. The fact seems to be established by Commander Peary's own testimony that the captain of the Roosevelt solicited the glory of marching with his chief to the Pole in addition to the honor of commanding the last supporting party. It was human and worthy of a brave man. But the duty of a lieutenant is to obey, as it is the prerogative of a leader to plan and command. Captain Bartlett has since realized that his re quest could not have been granted without a new disposition of the re sources of the expedition that might have resulted in failure. Those who now criticise Commander Peary for carrying out his plans in his own way can cite only -his third reason for giv ing Captain Bartlett the leadership of the last supporting party to Justify themselves, but the very frankness of the avowal should disarm criticism, for It appears to be an afterthought to a carefully elaborated system to attain the Pole by disposing 'of the comple ment of the expedition according to the strength, skill and usefulness of each and every one of its members. - Hotel to Have Cave Air. Louisville Times. Samuel Fleming, proprietor of Fleming's Cave, a popular resort, announces his Intention to have a hotel built at the entrance of the cavern. The rooms of the building are to be ventilated with cave air, which is germless. He proposes to connect the hotel with the cave by shafts, and every apartment is to be sup plied with Sues. By means of electric fans the delight ful air of the cavern will be circulated continuously throughout the building. A similar system is now in operation In Page County, Virginia, where the resi dence of T. C. Northcutt is ventilated with the air of Luray Cave. Some Progress. Dr. Gladden's Recollections. One finds, in a survey of the political progress of the last 25 years, much that is reassuring. The political morality of the present decade, as compared with that of the Cleveland and Harrison ad ministrations. Is clearly of a higher grade. This judgment applies to the executive departments: anything more immoral than the general attitude of the National Legislature as displayed in the tariff debate of 1909, it would be difficult to imagine. To the Wooda. Yonkers Statesman. Mrs. Crimsonbeak It is said that the five great original forests of the United States' covered 850.000,000 acres and contained 52.000,000,000 feet of lumber. Mr. Crimsonbeak In those days, you see, there was some place for a man to go when his wife cleaned house. Kitchen Cabinet. Council Bluffs Nonpareil. Why wouldn't it be a good Idea for the Administration to create a kitchen cabi netto investigate the cost of living? Rather Steer Than Pull. Washington (t. C.) Herald. When the river men appear And would a-boating go. They're always very glad to steer But seldom care to row. And when we seek the business realm We find It very full Of folks -who -want to take, the helm. But never -care to. pull. r Life's Sunny Side George W. Martin, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, tells a story about an early day Kansas Jus tice of the Peace, who will be nameless here: "This J. P.," said Mr. Martin, "would marry a couple one day as Justice of the Peace and divorce them the nexl as notary public." One time, as the story ran. a mar surrendered himself to this J. P. "An' phwat's the matter?" asked th Judge. "I killed a man out here on the prai rie in a fight." was the reply. "I want to give myself up." "You did kill him, sor?" asked th J. P. "Yes. sir." was the reply. , "Who saw you?" asked the JT P. "Nobody." "An" nobody saw you kill 'ini?" "No, sir. Just we two were there." "An you're shure nobody saw you?" reiterated the J. P. "Of course I'm sure," was the reply. "Thin you're discharged," said the J. P., bringing his fist down on i the table. "You're discharged. You cant criminate yourself. Fifty dollars, please!" Kansas City Journal. Sandy McPherson. an aged Scot, of Glasgow, always drank his whisky up the very instant it was poured out for him. "Why do you drink your liquor in that quick, greedy way?" said a stranger to Sandy. "I once had one knocked over," the old man explained. Exchange. "I lunched with Winston Churchill in London," said a journalist, "during his remarkable campaign. This brilliant young Cabinet Minister, with his Ameri can blood through his mother and his ducal blood through his father, praised American journalists. "He gave me an example of our per severance. Not less than 47 American correspondents had called on him at the Board of Trade offices for an Interview one week on the American tariff, and as none of them had sufficiently good cre dentials he refused to see them. "Finally a correspondent came with a letter from Mr. Lloyd-George, and him Mr. Churchill saw gladly. " 'Do you know,' he said to the young man, 'that I have refused to see 47 of your compatriots on this very subject?' " T ought to know it,' the correspond ent answered, 'for I'm the whole 47." " Philadelphia Bulletin. "Good evening, Johnnie; Where's your mother?" "She's gone off to a "Votes for Wom en' meeting." - "W'here's your father?" "Oh, he's taking lessons in a night cooking school." "Where's your sister?" "She's off on a long cross-country run with a snowshoe club." "Where's your brother?" "Oh, he's off with the 'Sons of Rest' bowling team." "Who's looking out for you?" "Oh. I'm all right. I'm taking a course in a correspondence school on 'How to Entertain One's Self Though Alone in a Big City.' " Baltimore News. A well-dressed man entered an Orange-street car the other day, ac cording to a story that is going the rounds of tho streetcar men, and hand ed the conductor a $10 bill. The con ductor was unable to change it and he let the man ride free. The next day the man presented the same bill, and again the conductor was unable to change it. for the man had evidently found a time when he would be sure to catch the conductor without much change. "I'll fix you," thought the conductor, and he obtained $10 worth of nickels and was ready for the man when next day he flashed the bill. The man took the matter good naturedly and soon left the car, his pockets fairly bulging with nickels. The conductor was more than pleased with his "coup" until next day, when he learned that the bill was worthless. Newark Star. TWO CAISES FOR HIGH PRICES. First, the Swill Barrel and Then th Coftt of Caovernment. From Circular of J. S. -Bache & Co., Bankers. Another factor in raising prices by lessening enormously the supply to meet the demand, is the American habit of waste. In this country, the art of culinary economy is more universally unknown and more grossly neglected than in any civilized country In the world. The amount of good supplies ruined by bad cooking, or extravagantly thrown away in service, is something fabulous. The swill barrels of America are filled daily with discarded waste of enough good material to decently feed all the rest of the world every twenty-four hours. If all the supplies thrown away or spoiled by unfit and thriftless treat ment were saved, we would find the price-level of commodities rapidly falling. Another item of daily expense is the cost of government, beginning at Washington and extending to every city, town and hamlet throughout the states. This cost lias steadily risen for the last twenty years and has grown to huge figures. A pampered class, the political rulers, big and little, are dally adding to the expense of living, through high salaries, wasteful con tracts, and' graft generally, thus help ing to sap the incomes of millions of toilers. These rulers are the drones who Infest the hives, steal the honey, and monopolize the pleasures at the ex pense of the millions of sober workers who slave from morning to night with out adequate compensation or share of the Joy of living. Menace of Cold Storage. Norfolk Virginian Pilot. Cold storage ought to make eatables cheaper by preserving for use perish able articles of food which would other wise be wasted. But nowadays human greed perverts the very agencies of economy into instruments of extortion. Refrigeration of meat and eggs, if not unduly protracted, should enlarge the supply available for consumption, but when practiced with a view to corner the market and create an artificial rela tion between supply and demand, the system not only takes unjust toll from the pockets of the people but menaces their health as well. There is room here for regulation which shall prevent the growth of monopolies caused by restraint of trade; and such regulation will be to the interest of those who are willing to conduct the business of cold storage on legitimate lines. Lovers Marry to Meet One Year Hence. Lynn, Mass., Dispatch. City Clerk Packard, of Brockton, Mass.. married Joseph Swartsberg and Miss Lena Muskovitz in his office, and no sooner was the ceremony over than the newlyweds kissed and solemnly promised each other to meet one year hence, when they would be remarried by a rabbi. After the parting kiss the bride started for the railway station to re turn to New York, while Swartsberg went home. I'ncle Sam's School Population. Washington. D. C, Dispatch. It is estimated that the census of 1910 will show that the United States has a school population of at least 14.000,000. The school army 10 years ago was 13. 367,147. Of that number 4,266,302 were be tween the ages of 5 and 9, and 6,453,39 ranged from: 9 to 14.