THE 3IORXIXG OREG ONIAX, MONDAY, MARCH 28, 1910. PORTLAND. OREGOX. Kntered at Portland. Oregon. Postoffice a Second-Class Matter. Subscription Bates Invariably In Advance. (BY MAIL.) Ja!ly. Sunday Included, -on year 8-2? Xally. Sunday included, six months... 4 f - ally, Sunday included, three months.. 2 Ially. 8unday included, one month.... Daily, without Sunday, cne year..... liaily. without Sunday, six months.... f-? Iaily. without Sunday, three months l-7o Dally, without Sunday, one month - 'Wsesjy, one year '?2 Sunday, one. year . 3'2n Sunday and weekly, one year 3-5u By Carrier.) tally. Sunday Included, one year 0.00 rally. Bunday included, one month.... ' How to Kemit Send Postoffice money order, express order or personal check on tour local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give postoffice ad dress in full, including county and state. Pontare Rates 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent: 1 to 28 pases. 2 cents: 30 to 40 paces, 3 cents: 40 to 60 pages. 4 cents. Foreign postage double rate. .- Eastern Business Office The S. C. Bck with Special Agency New -York, rooms 43 60 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 01O-O1.4 Tribune building. yOBTLAND, MONDAY, MARCH 28. 1910. INLAND WATER TRANSPORTATION. Ray S. Reid. Waterways Commis sioner of Wisconsin, published last year a statement of his observations on conditions of transportation on European rivers and canals. He made the trip to Europe by authority of the Legislature of Wisconsin, for the pur pose of collecting information on traffic conditions on inland water ways, traversing the navigable por tlons of the Rhine and Seine, the Elbe and Moldau, coursing the Danube from Budapest to Regansburg, visit ing the Rhone and its main tribu taries, examining all the navigable streams of England. Scotland and .Ireland, and inspecting the principal canals of Western Europe. The re port throws discredit on -the proposi tion to make a deep channel through out the course of the Mississippi, on the ground that it is not necessary, and that the cost would be in excess of the benefits; but the writer sas that if modern methods of operation, such as are in use In Europe, were employed on the rivers of our coun try, we should be able to develop on our streams In their present condi tion the most economical means of transportation for much of our traffic that we could possibly have. His plan, following that which he observed on the larger rivers of Europe, would be the employment of towboats, carrying no freight them- selves, but towing large fleets of v barges. The writer seems to overlook -the fact that this system has been In ,use a long time In America, especially '.on the Mississippi River and its trib utaries. On the Rhine and Elbe he .remarks what most other travelers ;have noted, namely, that it is diffi cult to get out of sight of fleets of Ibarges, even in seasons of low water, ;towed " by steamers. Depth of three to three and a half feet suffices. But methods of handling and of distribu tion would he too expensive for our country, where all things. Including labor, command much higher prices. The bulk of inland traffic in Ber '.many, Austria and Hungary is car ried on the rivers. Traffic on the canals is of little importance. The 3best canalized river, this writer re ports. Is the Seine, from Paris to the sea, but the sea traffic through the river is limited to a few small vessels. The Manchester canal in England, though of great benefit to the city in many ways, has not been deemed a satisfactory financial investment. So as to the Caledonian canal in Scot land. But concentration of population, in all the leading countries of Europe, the presence of many old and large cities on the rivers, comparative cheapness of labor, and low general cost of operation, make boating much less expensive there than in the United States. The somewhat singular argument is presented that, since the great bulk of our traffic must be carried by rail, there is no general economy but. ac tual loss in putting a great deal of money into our waterways. The ar gument is put in this way: "Owing to governmental supervision the day of railway competition now Is past. Every railroad Is entitled to a- rate that will pay a reasonable profit, and every dollar of profit taken from a railroad by water transportation must necessarily be added to the tonnage actually carried by It; and it follows 'that every ton of freight that is car ried by water transportation at a "cost exceeding that of transportation by rail is a loss to the public." It is not probable that this argument will be accepted by people In the United States who live on or near the water ways for a long time yet. If ever. But the suggestion is full of Interest, even though the Inhabitants and pro-' ducers of our river districts certainly will not deem it sound. - UNLAWFUL PROCEEDINGS. The people of the United States think they have taken good care, In their constitutions and laws, that of ficials of government shall not wield .despotic power. They have declared themselves in numerous bills of rights. Theyhave sought to make their gov ernment one of laws instead of offi cials. They have limited to the min imum the discretionary and arbitrary powers of officials over individuals. They have provided courts to which outraged citizens may appeal for jus tice over the heads of executive offi cials. And, so far as practicable, they liave ordained that the- officials shall be held amenable to popular will through elections every two and four years. But not so with the forest reserve domain in western states. Pinchot officials can browbeat and drive set tlers out of homestead lands in re serves where the laws have given set tlers the right to enter before the Pinchot officials came. Homes on reserve lands, which, though more valuable for agriculture than for tim ber and therefore under .the law ac cessible to settlers, these officials can forbid. The same officials can deny citizens the law-given privilege of taking for homesteads land elsewhere. iwhich the officials may decide to be more valuable for timber than for homes, and then, when the settler wishes to claim his chosen tract un der the timber laws, the officials can put up the price to a prohibitive ap praisement this too In violation of the law which allows claimants to take up timber lands at $2.50 an acre and which Congress has refused to repeal. Now these are powers that Pinchot officials are wielding to the flmit In the Western country in the false name of conservation. They are des potic and tyrannical powers and moreover unlawful. More than one fourth of the best area of Oregon is thus held under the sway of an abso lutism which is not amenable to any will of the people here and which suspends the laws of the people of the .United States. ( An army of be tween 400 and 500 minions of this despotic power, nearly all of them sent hither to do the Pinchot bidding, and few with any abiding interest here, rules over large part of the Staues of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and keeps it wild. . The laws forbid this business, but the laws are held as of no account by the Invading hosts of Pinchotism. WHAT SHIP SUBSIDY IS. Ship subsidy, like every kind of protective tariff, is a plan to take money from the mass of the people, through the Government's power of taxation, bestow it on a few, and thus create "prosperity." Prosperity, how ever, for the few only. The argument that calls for ship subsidy is based on complaint that the freight rates paid for transportation of our products over seas are too low. Foreigners do the work so cheap that our people can't make money In the business. The New York Tribune, of recent date, publishes what U calls a "sub vention section." It is devoted to the purpose of showing that the sea serv ice rendered by other countries is so cheap that our people who would like to engage in the business can make profits only by obtainment of regular grants of money from the treasury. There are those, however and we think they are a great majority of the American people who are will ing to get cheap freight rates for car riage of their products, and who would prefer not to create another great trust by subsidies from the treasury for further enrichment of a few who are rich already. For only rich men have ships, or could build or buy them, and obtain thereby the advantages offered by the act. And, since the complaint is that freight rates are too low now, who but the beneficiaries of the subsidy would obtain benefits from this act of paternalism? It is merely a form of taxation of the whole people for benefit of a few, of which the country ' has something too much already. THE OREGON-STREET BRIDGE. It is perhaps not necessary to make long argument to convince people of Portland of the advantages they will derive from the public deck of the railroad bridge at Oregon street and from the city's contribution of small parts of two streets for a pier site for the East Side approach to the upper deck of the viaduct. Tet at the risk of being tedious, pertinent matters will here be reviewed again. The public advantages are obvious to per sons who study the matter dispas sionately. Without scrutiny of the facts, citizens ought not to give credence to the assertion commonly heard that the city will pay excessively for use of the upper deck, and that the O. R. & N. will cheat taxpayers, under its bridge franchise granted by the Port of Portland. This assertion is cer tainly unwarranted; it starts from men who are excited by prejudice or hysteria. The bridge franchise was fought out a year ago, when It was under consideration by the Port of Portland Commission, and as finally granted, was considered fair to all parties concerned. Now the city au thorities have granted 100 feet of Ore gon street and 100 feet of Adams, where the two avenues meet, as a site for a pier, and have refused much larger concessions to the rail road in the same vicinity, until return privileges shall be granted the muni cipality by the railroad, chiefly for Broadway bridge. This pier conces sion by the city will benefit the pub lic Just as the other by the Port Com mission. This assertion is made with due regard for the interests of the city in its streets and for the natural desire of the railroad to get all it can for itself. The public interest in this matter is first and foremost. It has been well conserved in the dealings with the railroad for this new bridge. The vacated parts of Adams and Oregon streets are equivalent to two city lots in area, and are worth not to exceed $10,000 or $15,000. This amount of land, and this only, the city is contributing for the public deck of the bridge. A small amount of land to grow hysterical about. Isn't It? And this land, let it be remembered, is to be used wholly for the conven ience of the river-crossing public. It was not necessary, of course for the city to vacate this land, Just as it was not necessary for the railroad to build the upper deck; the railroad preferred not to build the upper part of the structure, but was forced to it by pub lie demand. Now that the railroad Is compelled to bullet the upper deck, some noisy citizens say It should not have the land neecled for a support ing pier. Thi3 matter Is Insignificant, how ever, compared with the fmportant question whether the city will have to pay excessive charges for use of the bridge. The assertion has been made by an East Side club that the Ity will pay not only the cost of. the upper deck, but also 5 per cent interest In definitely on $800,000, the club's estimate of the cost of the upper addi tion to the viaduct, besides cost of operation and maintenance the whole amounting to more than $75. 000 annually. Even if the city were obliged to pay this annual sum, it would be get ting a new bridge at a much cheaper price than it could provide and main tain an equivalent bridge of its own. But truth is, the cost to the city will be much less than $75,000, .as any per son can ascertain for himself. And, if the city should not wish to use the bridge. It need not do so; then the railroad could obtain an insignificant revenue from tolls, in competition with .the free bridges. It is clear .the com pany will have to come to whatever terms the city may deem reasonable. Should the city agree to take over the upper deck, it would then pay, under the most stringent terms al lowed by the franchise, three separate charges to the railroad: First, 5 per cent annual interest on the cost of the upper deck, which the chief engineer of the O. R. & N. estimates will amount to $400,000 half the sum es timated by the East Side club; second, cost of operation and maintenance, which would not exceed $12,000 a year; third, an annual sum for de preciation, which, compounded semi annually at 4 per cent, would amount at the end of twenty years to the cost of the bridge. This third annual pay ment for depreciation would be about $15,000, not $25,000, as alleged by'foes of the new viaduct. These three charges added together make a total of $47,000 a year, considerable part of whichr would be returned to the city in streetcar tolls, probably be tween $10,000 and $15,000. This annual charge would be far less than the annual cost of the pro jected Broadway bridge, which the city is about to build at a cost of not less than $2,000,000, and probably of a much larger sum. Interest, depre ciation, operation and maintenance of the Broadway viaduct will amount to between $125,000 and $150,000 a year, of which $80,000 will be for in terest alone. The new railroad bridge will be seventy feet wide and offer better transit facilities than any struc ture now spanning the river. The city will not have to sell bonds nor use Its credit to secure it. And while at the end of twenty years the city will have paid for the cost of the upper deck In the annual depreciation payment of $15,000, It is likely that the bridge will then have to be replaced with a new one, just as the present railroad bridge, built some twenty years- ago, is now to be replaced. The city has already put up money for two of its own bridges, which it has had to tear down. Yet the city is still paying In terest on those two bridges, besides on the new ones that are in their place. These matters should receive the deliberate, hard-headed consideration of taxpayers. The men and the women "who are to pay for this new utility will find it cheaper to them than any project the city could devise for a, bridge of its own. This, after all, is the main consideration. THE COUNTRY KEEPS PACK. Portland real estate transfers, for the week ending last Saturday, reached a total of $777,656. Building permits, issued during the same six days, totalled $549,215. Both these Important evidences of Portland's growth are record-breakers . for the last week In March, and they still further increase the lead, that 1910 has to date, over any previous year. Figures of this kind cannot be other than gratifying to Portlanders who feel a pride In the remarkable growth of the city. But along with these figures of unparalleled urban growth and development, there appeared in yesterday's Oregonian notice of scores of transactions in farm lands in va rious localities in the Pacific North west country directly tributary to Portland. Thee transactions involved farm property of all descriptions, ranging from five and ten-acre fruit farms to an 18,000-acre wheat ranch in East ern Oregon. Each of the smaller transactions means that room is be ing made by subdivision of tracts for support of from five to ten families on farm areas which in the past were so poorly developed that each pro vided sustenance for not more than one family. Even from old Polk and Yamhill Counties, where the day of the big farm is supposed to be gone, comes the news of the sale of a num ber of farms for subdivision, while Southern Oregon, Hood River and every other prominent fruit district report numerous sales at record prices. What this coming of the small farmer means to Portland and to the entire Northwest can be understood by a casual notice of what is taking place just outside of the city limits. In the Gresham district, in Eastern Multnomah, it is estimated that there are 1000 acres of new land, which this year will produce the first crop. Practically all of this new land Is in small farms ranging from five to twenty acres, and it has been repeat edly demonstrated that a five-acre farm, intelligently handled, will pro duce enough to maintain a family. This kind of development helps the city in many ways. . It aids in keep ing at home large sums of money that are now sent out of the state for eggs, butter, vegetables and meats. It also provides a place for those who prefer farm life and who in the cities would compete with workers in the con gested centers. On a different scale this economic advantage of the small farm is noticeable in the sale of the big Woolery holdings in Morrow County. The late J. A. Woolery had added farm after farm to his hold ings, until at the time of his death he owned more than one hundred quar ter sections of wheat land. Farmed by hired nomadic labor, or leased to wandering renters, this vast tract, naturally, has never had an oppor tunity of reaching its maximum pro duction, and its breaking up and sale to small farmers will be of inestima ble benefit to Morrow County. There can be no dispute about the economic advantage of one hundred farmers with one farm each over a system where one farmer owns a hun dred farms. So long as this breaking up of the large farms and clearing of new land for small farms continues, no fears need be felt that Portland is growing too fast. FOR AN OPEN WILLAMETTE. The Albany Commercial Club and the Albany Merchants' Association have sent out a call to the commer cial organizations of twenty-four of the most prominent cities in what might be termed the "river belt" of the Willamette Valley. These com mercial bodies are asked to be repre sented at an open river convention in Albany next month, for the purpose of enlisting aid of the Government in improving the Willamette River as far south as possible. The advisa bility of building and operating an independent line of steamboats is also to be considered. A steam road on one side of the river, and an elec tric line on the other, for a consid erable part of the distance between Portland and Salem, have perhaps made the problem of river competi tion more difficult than before the electric line entered the field against the Southern Pacific. And yet it is not clear that there is not a good field for steamboating in a small way if the Government will clean out the river channel. Steam boating on the Willamette is not un der the overwhelming handicaps of rocky, treacherous rapids, high-priced fuel, and a costly portage such as makes the navigation of the Columbia above The Dalles an economic failure, and for nearly the . entire year the stream carries a sufficient volume of water, if it were properly controlled, to enable light draft carriers to reach Albany and Eugene. For fast freight, or commodities in which time is an Important element, the steamboat line would be comparatively useless, but there is an immense amount of freight moving, in which the addi tional time required by boat as com pared with the train. Is Inconsequen tial. The entire country, on both sides of the river, is undergoing a remarkable development and, besides through traffic between Portland and the head of navigation, there would be consid erable local business available for steamers that could run the year round. It has been nearly forty years since Captain Scott, with the old steamer Ohio, placed Eugene on the map as a river port, and since that time the railroads have never entirely succeeded in , killing the steamboat business. Lack of Improvements, how ever, have prevented a- regular serv ice, and this, more than anything else, is responsible for the very light river traffic. If the river could be im proved so that nothing but an unusual stress of local business could prevent a boat's maintaining a schedule, it would be difficult for the railroads to get, rid of such competition, provided the people who are demanding river transportation would stand by the line after it was established. Sixteen hundred and ninety appli cations were made in the land office in Los Angeles, Cal., for the 173 farms of the Yuma reservation, soon to be awarded to settlers. Some of these were filed upon as high as 50 times in a single day. Disappointment and in hundreds of cases destitution will follow this latest land speculation with the United States Government in the title role. Perhaps the plan pur sued is the best that the Government Is able to devise for the management of its land openings. To a disinter ested observer, however, there seems to be little difference, as far as re sults are concerned, between the first rush across the border of Oklahoma in the feverish . desire to get there first and the long line of waiting men and women that, gaunt from hunger, weak from sleeplessness, and worn with anxiety, has stood before the land office In Los Angeles. The out right gift of land fettered by such conditions would be land dearly bought, even if each waiting appli cant were certain of receiving a prize. As it Is, with but 173 farms to near ly 17 00 applicants, the transaction stands out boldly as a gambling ven ture enticingly baited and largely ad vertised. The Anglo-Saxon, as a rule, is a better worker than the yellow or the black man. For that reason, he al ways commands higher wages, and when the Hindu, the Chinaman or the Japanese is employed at reduced wages, it is because he cannot deliver as much work in a given-period as the white man. Yet there Is another phase of the racial struggle which broke out at St. Johns last week. Ac cording to the St.' Johns Review, "white men have been tried time and again on the rougher work, and the management never knew whether they would be back at work next morn ing or not probably not. There were three shifts one coming, one going and one at work. As a last resort to keep the mill going, the black men were employed." There will be a great many industries halted and much suffering throughout the land if we ever reach that stage where men who will not work themselves can exercise without limit the power to prevent others, black, white or yel low, from working. The railroads have reduced the grain rate between Portland and As toria from $2 per ton to 90 cents per ton, thus complying with the Inter state' Commerce Commission ruling. The' reduction is quite a liberal one, and will materially aid the Astoria dealers. When compared with the cost of 6 to 10 cents per ton, at which grain is moved in the holds of big vessels over the 110-mile stretch of water between the two cities, 90 cents per ton still seems a high figure. Any railroad that attempts to haul freight over the route In competition with these ocean carriers will be merely paving the way for a receivership. To this fact was due the refusal of the Interstate Commerce Commission to compel the railroads to meet the ocean carrier at Astoria, instead of at Portland, the point farthest inland at which the transfer from car to ship could be made. The people of Portland can have no interests to protect, against them selves, in the matter of erection of a bridge for their own use at Oregon street. The city, therefore. Is not vacating the land for the pier of their own bridge, but turning it to use for themselves. A "contract" widow in St. Louis, .deserted twenty-seven years ago, is just now seeking a divorce because she has learned her husband had other wives of similar standing when she made the contract. She seems to be very particular for that kind of wife. Between the new committee on rules and the old one there is no spe cial difference, except that the Speaker is left off. But this the in surgents think is a good deal of dif ference. The Democrats think it little. "The Forest Service," says the As sistant District Forester of the Port land office! "has been built up by the earnest co-operation of the men with In It." The truth of this statement is unquestionable. After reading many of the reasons offered by persons seeking divorce, one" is led to wonder there are any per fect and happy marriages after the glamor of the honeymoon Is gone. A Forestry officer read a paper In Portland telling of large sales of tim ber in reserves. But no settlers bought the timber; only rich men and cor porations. There was no Easter rain, but do not make light of the forecaster who predicted showers. He is a mere man, with a man's contempt of mil linery. That Vancouver man who retains his wife's estate of $3000 if he remains single puts on cheap shackles. . If Georgetown fails to annex, Se attle still can have recourse to the graveyards. Buffalo Bill's press agent is at work early. There has been a reconcilia tion. Volcanoes are like humanity. Mount Etna is breaking out this Spring, WHO IS Till; DEMOCRATS' MOSESt What Can They Do With a Victory -When They Win It t Louisville Courier-Journal. The Democrats have been burning black smoke so long that they are apt to over-estimate any good fortune that may come to them. The triumph in the Lower House of Congress which they owe to the insurgent Republicans starts the braves to shouting "wake, snakes, day's a breakin'," when It were perhaps fitter for them to murmur. small favors thankfully received." It is a long way from the overthrow of Cannon, who in the course of nature had not long to stay, and the election of a Democratic President in 1912. Very many things are likely to happen be tween now and then. The victory in deed may prove more seeming than real. In the first place it is yet to be seen how far the Insurgents will go along with us. If they are to make a scape goat of Uncle Joe, redress their lines and claim for a Republican merit a bogus reform movement, they may get an arrest of public judgment and hold us off yet another four years, our vi tality growing less and less' the longer we wait. If they are to rally about "the Man from Africa," and recover the popularity lost them by the case-hardened Cannon and the iron-clad Aldrich, to say nothing about the blundering Taft, the country will again be fooled to the top of its bent. Democracy the victim of what the gamblers call the double-cross. That Theodore Roosevelt was able to steal so much of the Demo cratic apparel as suited his fancy and seemed likely to attract the voters, and to foist such a man as his successor upon us, is alike discreditable to him and the people. Can he do It again? , That will depend a good deal upon the leaders of Democracy. In case they show themselves true and wise, that is self-denying and self-poised, we may snatch the brand from the burning; for wresting the Government from hands that have held it so long amounts- to that. It may be that the Republicans will split wide open on Rosevelt. If it be , the determination of himself and his friends, heralding him as the only hope of Republicanism, to make him the Presidential nominee in 1912, they will. In that event the road before us will be broader and straighter. But, in any event, we must shape our course to meet' the popular demand for a general house-cleaning felt by everybody to be the crying need at Washington as else where. Tins can be alone effected by a change of parties and If we are to ' e intrusted with this the issue must not be obstructed by any side issues, or doctrinal quibbles, or theoretical hair splitting. We must find a nominee suited to the work to be done and hav ing gained the confidence of the coun try. The party must gather about this nominee loyally. - If any man proposes to lug in any "paramounts," kick him out. If any man breathes a word about "1896" shoot him on the spot, as a famous Secretary of the Treasury once said. In the meautime. the Courier-Journal stands up on its hind-legs and says in its artless way "Uncle Joe, you has our sympathy! They done you dirt they sure did! Stand up, you magnificent old reprobate, whilst we salute you and, amid the cowardly clamor and the ribald Jeers, we render you the homage of a life-long foeman! You fit a good fight. You held out long and well. Except that you are an old man, they would not have dared but, even at that, you made them play ball! Now they want to unload on you the sins of the Republican party; to find their expiation In your slaughter; to make that a virtue In Roosevelt and Taft which they find a crime in you; In short, to personalize their own system as Cannonism, and having cast out Cannonism, to reappear as good as new, as sinless as doves, as stainless as snowflakes,- you, after your 50 years of service, to pay the forfeit, they to get the reward! Ah, Joseph! Joseph dear old Uncle Joe! It is true enough that parties, like republics, are un grateful! At least you told them no lies! You stood to your guns, which, until there came a fire in the rear, were their guns! The young may die. The old must. Your time had come. Uncle Joe. Better to go down with colors flying than peter out in a long drawn agony of hope and fear! We re joice that the system with which you were allied no more than the others who went before you which was no more Cannonism that Reedism, or Crispism, or Carlisleism or Blaineism, for it was practiced and ' illustrated more or less by every Speaker of the House has gone down with you; for it was a bad old system, quite elimin ating the spirit of representative gov ernment! The proposed change will prove good for the country and not ill for the House! It will lead to other reforms until high Parliamentary methods prevail in Congress! Mean while, as to you. Uncle Joe, here's 'how!' We looks toward you, Joe! There shall still be cakes and ale! Join us, old enemy, join us, in singing that good old song. 'Never say die till the sea goes dry; we'll git over double trouble in the sweet by aid bye!" " As for the insurgents, just a word; are we peers, or are we vassals; are you in with us, or Just a lot of bunco steerers; if you be for a reduced tariff. Join the Democrats; if you be for a cleansing of the Augean Stables, join the Democrats; but. if you be only monkeying to hold your places, get ye gone for a pack of cheap-john poli ticians! The trick won't work twice. The voters will say in reply, "you fooled us with Taft. That was your fault! If you fool us again, it will be our fault." The plot thickens. At least a Demo cratic House seems now assured. After that, we shall see what we shall see; but, from now onward with Democratic newspapers and Democratic party leaders, the word should be, close ranks, and down with the doctrinaires and theorlzers! HiRh-Priccd Pork. Prairie City Miner. Austin Bradford has been having trouble with a cow and a pig. He has a first-class milch co-tv which suddenly failed in her milk supply. Mr. Brad ford began an investigation and dis covered the pig sitting on his haunches sucking the cow. The Deadly Parallel. Lebanon Criterion. If any one will taRe the trouble to look over the names of Republicans who are opposing the Republican as sembly and compare the list with the old-time Populists, the similarity in names will surprise him. REFLECTIONS OK AN OLD FOGY, Some women can live on love and $14 per week in print. Pittsburg can now redeem itself by im porting 14ayor McCarthy of San Francisco. Reform in Oregon is an avocation which reforms working for a living. Those cartwheel hats and "pay-aa-you-enter" cars can settle it between themselves. Tbe Insurgent 'Congressmen might send for Dan Kellaher or leave the committee on rules to the pages and janitors. No, Senator Bourne is not interested in Colonel Roosevelt. He's trying to conserve a leaky lot of patriots with pamphlets on li'Rett J. H. M. DOLLARS AND HEALTH AT HOME. A Plea to Grow Kitchen Vegetable on Bark Lota; Make the Boys Help. SANTA BARBARA. Cal., March 24. (To the Editor.) In all that has been said touching upon the greatly increased cost of living today, there has been little or no reference to the humble kitchen garden. Traverse our city, or any other, and note the neglected vacant lots and blocks, unsightly and uncared for. There is sel dom the least attempt toward practical, profitable gardening. There Is not a 50 foot lot in Portland that could not be made to yield fresh vegetables, sufficient for the needs of an ordinary family four or five months of the year. This asser tion presupposes the house and conven tional front yard. It is a great pity that gardening as an avocation by the city dwellers should be so nearly a lost art, if one may term so simple a phase of outdoor life. We are not all millionaires, nor can every family sport a motor, but in the humble kitchen garden many a business or professional man will find at once health, pleasure and profit. Parenls of healthy, growing boys are perplexed each Summer to find for them a healthy avocation. Boys are store houses of energy. Body and mind n.'jst have occupation. Too often does the close of a Summer vacation bear witness to wasted days gone in an effort to have a "good time." Barring an intermission of four years, when the writer worked by day and slept at night in a drug slore. he has from early boyhood "put in'' and worked a garden. By experience and by every test of health and dollars he knows It pays. He has seen boys, once their interest was aroused, make the little garden, which they cared for. the begin ning of a life's good work. What a fool ish waste is this where the entire door yard is devoted to lawn, and fertilizer bought each year to replace the grass, which a man is hired to cut and carry away. Now is the time to start the garden. Hire the initial spading to ne done it is the one and only part of the task which the hack of the average man or boy won't stand for. As for the rest of the work, there is' no lad of 10 who cannot, beginning now, convert .1 space of 50 feet square into dividend property, with an hour's attention each day. Many who garden, essay too much too many varieties. Lettuce and radishes, dwarf and tall peas, snap beans, sown as successive crops, two or throe hills of cucumbers and Summer squash, liaif a dozen tomato plants trained igainst a back fence -where the sun strikes in furnish the variety which can be, most easily cared for. Don't buy tomato plants which the dealer scoops from a jungle-like mass. Get the single plants each in a pot or box, paying a trifle more, and secure a crop which will rlp-'n in August. Then, there is another use for a back fence than merely a stage for feline conceits. A 50-foot stretch will take two each, evergreen and Lawton blackberries and loganberries. "Toms" and "Tabbies'" have a proper dislike for these thorny intruders and will promptly transfer their vocalizing to other locations. Most men look upon gardening as "too much like hard work" and involving a degree of expert knowledge attainable and possessed only by those gentlemen from Italy or China whose calls at the kitchen door grow Increasingly expen sive. To these doubters let me say: try out a small garden this season, or start the boy with a kindly word and the price of tools and seeds', then, as our beautiful Summer draws to its close, there will be an answer written which will spell "worth while." WILLIAM F. WOODWARD. Of Portland, Or. OREGON COLLEGES CRITICISED. t'arnenle Report Snyn Dual Function of O. A. C. and I", of O. la Waste. ALBANY, Or., March 27. (To the Editor.) Educational conditions in Oregon come in for severe criticism in the annual report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which has just recently been published. The report charges that in Oregon, as well as in other states where the college of agriculture and mechanical arts is separate from the university, that an unwholesome rivalry has grown up between the two institutions, which in some instances has become almost laughable. In nearly all cases the school of agriculture and mechanical nrts has developed into more of an en gineering school than a school of agri culture, thereby duplicating tne worn of the university in that respect. More over the two schools In their rivalry for students, have almost invariahiy been tempted to underbid the univer sity by lower standards. the result is that two standards exist in the same state for an engineering education. Oregon is cited as a glaring example of such abuse, where the engineering school in the college of agriculture and mechanic arts Is recruited by means of low standards. To ctuote: "Students are drawn from strong high schools) like that of Portland to these sub freshman classes. The chief reason in all such cases is the desire for num bers and the wish to impress the Leg islature. In Oregon there are nine so- called colleges and universities within mo miles of each other, all of them in the Willamette Valley. Among these are the two state institutions, the uni versity of Oregon and the Oregon Ag ricntural College, about 35 miles apart each engaged in the development of a school of engineering. Could anything be more useless than two schools of mining engineering, for example, .50 miles apart in a sparsely settled state?" This report will not be a surprise to those who are familiar witn eauca tional conditions In our state. The sad fact is, that it is only too true. Here, then, is a splendid opportunity for the Board of Higher Curricula, provided for at the last session of the State Legis lature, to correct thjs evil. What can be more senseless than for the State of Oregon to nialntala two separate and distinct engineering schools 35 miles apart, and moreover, with two different standards.' Of course, any attempt to unite the two schools would meet with severe opposition, as would an attempt to adopt the metric system of measure monta in the United States over the more cumbersome English system of feet and Inches; yet eventually both must come. The University has the advantage of higher entrance require ments, while the' Agricultural College .as the advantage of buildings ana laboratory equipment. That a high standard of graduation in the school of engineering should he romitred is self-evident. No man should possess a broader or more complete education today tnan me iruitoiujii engineer. He is constantly involved in legal tangles, business transactions, as we'l as a maze of technicalities. If the colleges fall to equip him with the fitness to meet these ever-increasing demands they are failing in the pur pose for which they were createci. R. E. S. Rest Count an Iron ruddier. Baltimore American. Count Michael von Mourik de Beaufort, who recently began an apprenticeship in the works of the Columbia Tool Steel Company as a day laborer, has now been promoted to puddler at rioO a day. In view of his recent rise in position he will move next week with his wife, formerly Miss Irma Kilgallen, daughter of M. H. Kilgallen, to a little cottage on Chicago Heights. Oregon Losing Population. Santiam News. Mrs. Hay, with the noted triplets, who have been seen at the Scio fair the past two years, has now gone to Vancouver, 'where she arrived with her family safely. Mr. Hay is working in an ice factory In that cit- LIFE'S SUNNY SIDE Simeon Ford said the other day, apro pos of whiskers: "I have shaved off my whiskers and it makes me look younger. People now eye me more appreciatively than they used to do. I, unlike poor Tom Angus, have gained by this facial change. "Tom Angus was an architect of Tomb stone. When they expected Mrs. Lang try in Tombstone. Tom was appointed to decorate the railway station and the streets. He did so, and he made a good job of it, and after the Mayor had con gratulated mm. he said: Well, Mr. Mayor, since vou like mv work, introduce me to Mrs. Lanetrv at the banquet, will you?' Sure I will,' said the Mayor, 'but vou must knock that spinach off your chin first. Mrs. Langtry is a lady, and she could never stand for a rusty alfalfa field liKe yours. ' 'But,' stammered Tom. 'but. Mr. Mayor, the King ' tut down the alfalfa cron.' the Mayor Interrupted, 'and I'll introduce you. Vice versa," he added very decidedly. oo torn removed his rich whiskers. and that night among the banqueters his white, nude chin was a conspicuous ob ject. "But the Mayor didn't introduce him to the beautiful Mrs. Langtry after all. Be tween every course and all through the speeches Tom kept winking and nodding to tiia Honor, but it was to no purpose. He didn't get introduced. "And the next day, after Mrs. Langtry was gone, the Mayor, when Tom re proached hlnl, gave a loud laugh. " 'Was that you?' he roared, nodding and winking all last night? By Jove. I didn't recognize you, Tom. without your whiskers!' " Philadelphia Record. The little daughter of a clergyman stubled her toe and said "Darn!" "I'll give you 10 cents," said her father, "if you'll never say that word again." A few days afterward she came to him and said: "Papa, I've got a word worth half a dollar." Everybody's. A story is told of the late Cardinal Francesco SatolU's visit to Scranton, Pa., on the occasion of Right Rev. Bishop M. J. Hoban's consecration. During his stay in the upstate city he inspected the Cath olic college there, and after addressing the boys, gave them a blessing, holding his right hand aloft, in the manner of churchmen, with thefirst and second fin gers extended. , "Now, boys," he said, on concluding the blessing. "I am privileged to announce that you may have a holiday." A quick-witted Celt, observing the two fingers still extended, smilingly piped up: "Two, Cardinal Satolll?" "Yes, two." laughed the cardinal, catch ing the idea which prompted the boy to put the query, but at the same time low ering his hand. Philadelphia Times. Rev. Dr. Boynton, a Congregational minister of Detroit, talked one evening at a meeting of worklngmen held In the Detroit opera-house. The next morning two Irishmen met on a streetcar. "Och, Pat," said one, "ye should ha been out last night to hear Father Boyn ton. . "Father Boynton!" replied the other. He's no father at all, at all. He's a mar ried man with seven children." New York Press. One of the New Jersey Representatives in Congress, very much addicted to ap parel of the variety kuown as "loud," was on his way to the Capitol one day when he encountered Senator Depew. "If you're going to the Capitol." said the Senator, "we might as well walk to gether. "I'm not going there just yet," said the Representative. "I must first stop to see my tailor about a new over coat." "The tailor!" exclaimed Mr. De pew, in mock astonishment. "Why. Jim, it has always been my understanding that you wer,o clothed by a costumer!" Cleve land Leader. A young Concord, X. H.. lawyer had a foreign client In police court the other day. It looked rather black for the for eigner, and the Concord man fairly out did himself in trying to convince the magistrate that his client was innocent. The lawyer dwelt on the other's igno rance of American customs, his straight forward story, and enough other details to extend the talk fully 15 minutes. His client was acquitted. In congratulating the freed man the lawyer held out his hand in an absent though rather suggestive manner. The client grasped it warmly. "Dot was a fine noise you make." he said. "Thanks. Goo'hy." Concord (N. H.) Monitor. "French Republic (orrupli Man. Paris, France. Dispatch. The Duke of Orleans, in a manifesto to the Royalists of France, apropos of the scandal arising from the liquidation of the religious orders, said that republican institutions are responsible for the cor ruption of man. The Duke announces that he is ready to come to Paris the minute there is a real chance of overturn ing the present rule, and he concludes his statement by saying: "Popular disgust indicates that the time is almost ripe." "Increment" In the Country. Ashland Tidings. The sale or the W. G. LOstep orchard near Talent to L It. and H. B. Hous ton, of Jamestown, N. Y., is reported, comprising 35 acres for the handsome sum of $40,000. This property is a por tion of the old Pellett orchard and in cludes eight acres of 16-year-old Bart lett pears, eight acres of 16-year-old Newtown apples, the remainder In young trees. Mr. Estep purchased the place two years ago ror $12,000. Moral i Read the Xfwpaper, Philadelphia Record. Harvey Hldley. 51, a painter of Read ing. Pa., read in a newspaper several days ago that his aunt, Mrs. Mary Uline. had died In Troy, N. Y.. and left hltn an estate exceeding $100,000. Hldley. who has been employed in that city for a year, wrote to a law firm in Troy and found that the newspaper article was correct. Whlnky, Tobacco and Long Life. Indianapolis News. William Carroll Reed, who was born in Vicksburg. Miss., March 15, 110, cele brated his 100th birthday by registering to vote in Bakersfield, Cal. Somebody asked him to what he attributed his health and vigor. 'To the fact that I drink only the best whisky and smoke only the best tobacco," Mr. Reed an swered. ' POLITICAL COMMENT, Whatever happens to Cannon and noth ing can be too bad for the wickedest Man in the World "Cannonism" remains a somewhat sturdy, however offensive, fact. The Democrats have yet to batter It down; and if they can and do they may find them selves homesick for at least its parliament ary variety. New York Sua. Theodore Roosevelt may not present to the English and the Egyptians just what a former President of the United States ought to be. but he can show himself as a type of the successful American politi cian with demagogic ways. Montgomery Ala-) Advertiser. In the name of all that is good and prof itable let Bryan and Bryanism and all that It stands for be not only set aside, but dis tinctly repudiated. It never was sound Democracy, and can never be dressed up so as to deceive the people into believing that It Is the real thing. Mobile Register. Besides, what good would it do Champ Clark to be Speaker. If he could not do In his way and according to his lights the mighty works old Joe Cannon has wrought? A Speakership shorn of its power would not be worth having. Richmond Times -D-la-