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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1910)
G THE MORNING OliEG ONIAN. MONDAY, APRIL, 18, 1910. ' PORTLAND. ORKGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postofflce as Second-Class Matter. Subscription Rates Invariably in Advance. (BY MAIL.) rjailv. Sunday Included, one. year S.00 al'y Sunday included, six months... 4.25 Jaliy. Sunday Included, three month.. 2.25 fs-lly. Sunday Included, one month 75 tjally. -w ithout Sunday, one year . . . . . B.00 IJaily. without Sunday. six months.... 3.25 pally, without Sunday, three months 1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month BO v. eekly. one year 1.00 Sunday, on, year 2.50 bur day and weekly, one year 3.W (By Carrier.) Jil!y. Sunday Included, one year 9.00 DiVly. Sunday Included, one month . -"5 How to Remit Send Postofflce money orde-, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency a:e at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress in full, including county and state. Postage Rates 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent; 16 -t1 paces. 2 cents; 30 to 40 paces. 3 cents; 40 to 60 pases. 4 cents. Foreign postage double rate. Eastern Business Office The S. C. Beck wlth Special Agency New York, rooms 43 50 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building POBTLASD, MOXUAV, APRIL 18, 1910. ' "WHAT IS CONSERVATTONf" A writer to The Oregonlan, who Confesses himself confounded amid fthe din of controversy, asks, "What is (conservation ?" This is a very irapor Jtant question, yet a very polemical (one. There are almost as many kinds of coneervation as of religion. A great many persons are calling their theo ries and fads and socialistic purposes nd even their schemes of political Revenge by the name conservation. Pinchot names it conservation to locjk up as many acres of wild land . aa Ipossible in the perpetual proprie torahip of the National Government, regardless of the need of millions of men and women for land and the need of the Nation for enlarged productive energy. A large number of citizens, mostly in Eastern States, think the remaining public domain should be retained forever by the Government as a park belonging to all the people, and they demand that the land be conserved by withholding it from private ownership. Then there are those who contend that the Govern ment should merely lease out the lands, the timber, the coal, the stream waters by a system of royalties. That is, by indirect tolls on that rart of the people who use them. A great host think that Far Western resources should be exploited wholly for the benefit of the older communities of the Nation and that the young states should not have use of resources wherewith to make progress as the older 'ones have done. Some enthu siasts contend that the vast timber wilderness of the Far West must be kept an aboC- for bears and wildcats in order to conserve the water of the "people's streams" a contention not at- all established in scientific and practical knowledge and rejected by the moslv eminent authorities. A fast-growiig swarm of officials de clare it necessary to conserve the earth and the fulness thereof through their devouring - activities. Then again are politicians who announce themselves the only pure brand of conservationists, and denounce their opponents in office or in policy as fotg of conservation. So that conservation as a term of National meaning has yet to be freed from a great many absurd notions. Here in the West "true conservation is that which will continue to open up resources as largely as possible by individual endeavor. This kind of conservation will prohibit fraud and inordinate greed by the power of ef fective law and the vigilance of effi cient officials whose number, how ever, will be kept down to the small est number consistent with this pur pose. The 'laws, which for genera tions have allowed men .and women to settle on public land and which would still be in force if not nullified by Pinchot conservationists, will be respected. Water of streams will continue to be regulated and super vised by state authority, in conform ity with constitutions and statutes. Forest reserves will not. be enlarged to excessive extent, and other lands which reserves cannot be made to reach will not be withheld from set tlement by "rulings." The land pol icy which has made every Western state populous and jvealthy in turn will not be withheld from Far West ern states to suit the ideas of distant doctrinaires. Officials will rule by law and not by their own edicts. Pinchot-Garfield conservation in cludes most of these fad restrictions on Far Western development. Bal linger conservation, while somewhat less oppressive, still is very similar. The war between the two springs chiefly from political Jealousies. Both are socialistic and centralizing in their purposes, wholly at variance with the history and the traditions of the Union. Conservation for these Pacific Coast States means use of lands by the larg est possible number of people that is, by permanent residents, homebuilders, farmers and merchants, instead of by wild animals and Kussianized bureau cracy. Nearly all desirable govern ment land is now locked up against settlement. In the name of conser vation. But it is certainly false con servation. , A REVOLUTIONARY. MEASURE. The proposed amendment to the interstate commerce act, removing all exceptions -to the long-and-short-haul clause of the law, is a matter of great Importance to every consumer in the country. This amendment, suggested no doubt by the unreasoning clamor of inland distributing centers for lower rates, than are in effect at water terminals, would be absolutely power less to reduce rates at these interior points and might have the effect of increasing them at water terminals until sufficient tonnage could be se cured to handle the immediate in crease in freight that would be thrown to the water-carriers. This threat ened attempt to revolutionize the car rying trade of a continent may arouse the placid business interests of the Atlantic seaboard to the necessity of securing the proper facilities for meeting the competition which would arise in event of the removal of these exceptions to the long-and-short-haul provision. All that is needed effectually to off pet any possible detrimental change that would result from forcing the railroads to increase rates between the Atlantic and the Pacific Coast is a ' large fleet of freight steamers operat ing between the two coasts. Foreign built freight steamers are now carry ing coal between these coasts as low as 53.65 per ton, a rate which no rail road could meet except at a heavy Joan. What is needed to develop and Increase this traffic, and thus demon strate the independence of the coast ports and the territory they serve, is a suspension of that ancient naviga tion law that demands the use of American-built vessels on this route. For every shipowner or stockholder who is interested in perpetuating this monopoly by prohibiting the use of foreign-built ships, there are hun dreds and thousands of consumers who would profit by the change from high-priced ti low-prfced carriers. The proposed change in the long-and-short-haul clause is so unreasonable that it seems hardly possible that it will ever become effective. Even should the amendment fail, there still remains a powerful reason for the business interests of the two coasts to provide an adequate steamship serv ice, handled by the same type of car riers as are now carrying coal over the route at less than $4 per ton. Concerted effort on the part of the merchants and consumers most inter ested ought to secure from Congress the right to operate ships of all na tions on this important route. In other words, let Congress.make it pos sible for private shippers and consum ers to enjoy as low a freight rate as is now paid for Government business. THE PEOPLE'S WATS OF RULING. The people rule, but not without an oligarchy of officials- They ex press their will, but not without re strictions of the ballot. They take property away from their members, but not without due process of law. They enact statutes and amend their constitution, but not without regard for the Constitution and laws and treaties of the United States. They reach balance of opinion and unanim ity of purpose, but not without delib eration and assembly. So that the people rule by meth ods which make it possible for them to rule. Republicans of Oregon this Summer will decide who are fit to be their candidates, by means of delib eration and assembly, just as many groupb of citizens in all activities of life besides, politics choose the men who are fittest to represent their con cert of opinion and decide on policies that are best suited to carry out .their purposes. They will not curtail their liberties by so doing, nor break any law. An awakened public sen timent will compel a well-ordered assembly, just as it controls all things else. Of course. Democrats are dissatis fied. They see in assembly probable concert of Republicans. They say assembly will defeat the Republican ticket in the election. Tet why are they so eager for Republicans to abandon a course of action that would be destructive of Republican success? Humbug. Democ-ats have their own ax to grind. SOMETHING TO WORM OVER. Why should hot Mr. Polndexter, in surgent, receive at the. coming Fall Republican primary In Washington the ' highest vote for United States Senator? It is not only possible; it is .highly probable. It is the way of any prima-y unguarded from invasion by great bodies of voters from the opposite party, who have no business there and who ought to have no, law ful right or opportunity to cast their votes there. Of course Poindexter will be supported in the Republican primary by his recent associates and allies from the Democratic and Pop ulist parties and by his'' present sym pathizers and fellow faclionists in the Republican party. These together are. likely enough to make a plurality of votes, declaring Poindexter the pri mary choice. Of course the Republican party doesn't w: --t Poir.dexter. Members of the Legislature expect to repudi ate him as the Republican primary choice on the ground that h; is not a Republican. All that would be well enouh. If the law. or the terms of the pledge Washington's Statement No. 1 required that he be a Repub lican. Any candidate who sub scribes to the pledge set forth In the Washington primary law. binds himself to vote "for the candidate for United States Senator- who has received the highest number of votes upon my (his) party ticket." The candidate may then be anything politically he wants to be, or nothing, as Poindex ter is, yet the Republican legislator who signs this pledge must vote for him. The Republicans of Washington have something to think about. HOME DEMAND UNSUPPLI EI. More than 8000 bales of hay have been recetve'd by water from Califor nia within the past thirty days. Every steamer coming north is still bring ing consignments of these "coals to Newcastle." We are also bringing hogs and cattle in by the trainload from points as far east as Nebraska, and Eastern eggs and butter are still supplying the bulk of the trade in the Puget Sound, cities. We are not importing wheat, but this seems to be the only great agricultural staple of which we have a surplus. Naturally there is a heavy economic waste in this system by which a country espe cially adapted to the production of all of the commodities named, adds to their cost, the. freight for a. long haul from distant states. In a degree, however, the situation presents fea tures of value to the state. It dis closes the presence-right here at home of a large and growing market for all of these commodities that can be pro duced for many years. With the consuming population in creasing so rapidly, there is small probability of the production exceed ing the, demand for many years. The new settler can see on every hand many opportunities for engaging in the production of these staples on a profit-producing scale. There .are millions of acres of good hay land in the country, and every year witnesses the addition of several thousand acres of logged-off timber lands, which, when cleared, produce wonderful crops of all kinds. It is not only in hay and livestock that we utterly fail to be self-supporting, but there is also an immense amount of money sent out of the Pacific Northwest for poul try, eggs and dairy products. Professor James Dryden. of the Ore gon Agricultural College poultry de partment, in an address before the Grange Institute at Gresham .Thurs day, said that 100 good hens on every farm in the state would bring in $10,000,000 a- year, or "more than enough to pay the state's expenses for four years." It would not be a diffi cult matter to get the 100 hens on each farm, and. even if they made returns only one-tenth as large as the estimate made by Professor Dryden, the saving would be immense, and would be effected at little or no cost to the farmers. Another neglected field for the small agriculturalist in this state i3 the production of early vegetables and fruits by hot-house methods. . Every year tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and other hot-house products are brought into this city in immense quantities, and sold at fancy prices to meet a demand that has never been supplied by the highly successful gardeners wjio have undertakeri the work right here at home, where the soil was right, fuel was cheap, and where the saving In freight alone admitted of a big profifT When Oregon utilizes its own resources to a sufficient extent to supi ly the home demand for hay, hogs, hens, eggs, butter, vegetables, etc., there will be more money in cir culation than there is at the present time. AN ACADEMIC TAX REFORM. Another of numerous so-called "re forms," which voters of Oregon are asked to enact into the remnants of the state constitution, is one for "more equitable taxation." Tet the constitution from the very first has ordained" that "all taxation shall be equal' and uniform" and "the Legis lature shall prescribe such regula tions as shall secure a Just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal." These mandates of the constitution are now said to be obsolete and anti quated. They need to be improved, we are told, so that property may be assessed and taxed in "different classes." No more equitable basis of taxation ever was discovered than that of ac tual value, and no taxation ever was more Just than when equal and uni form. The law is specific and clear; has been so more than half a century. It was wrought out of a vast deal "of experiment and represents the best 'experience in government. The law making authority now has all - the power that law can give to make men and women truthful and honest with the tax-gatherer. Yet because it has not made them wholly truthful and honest, the law is to be changed so that the miracle can be accomplished. The new scheme will substitute a complicate tax system for a simple one and will add salaries and other expense to burdens of taxpayers with out curing a fault inherent in human nature. If Assessors will do their duty by assessing equally and uni formly, according to actual value, they will reach the most equitable appor tionment of tax burdens. No more just method is possible. None has ever , been discovered. Actual value is determined by ability to pay and this make3 a standard of value which the law already declares shall be lev ied upon at a rate equal and uniform. The proposed change is a product of theoretical and academic inno vators. RIGHTS OF THE SAILER. The rise of the steamer and the de cline of the sailing vessel is a rapidly working 'commercial change, notice able wherever there is water enough to float a craft. The economic rea sons for this change have been ex plained in detail so often and so elab orately that they are familiar to all. But, while the steam-propelled vessel has been forcing the sailers out of the principal trade routes of both inland and deep-sea waters, the ancient type of vessel has always retained certain "rights of the road" which the steam vessel has been obliged to respect. These rights, which were allotted the sailer when steam first came into use, were of course based on the fact that it was easier for the steam-propelled vessel to keep out of the -way of the sailer than it was for the sailer to avoid the steamer. ; Naturally, with such an overwhelm ing proportion of the world's tonnage under sail, the steamer in Its early days was kept much busier dodging the wind-propelled craft than is now the case. This early favoritism shown fhe sailing vessel has always been re tained in evidence to a certain extent, although the big liners flying across the ocean no longer take the trouble to give the droghers a very wide berth. The Newfoundland "bankers" indeed are obliged to sacrifice their dignity and hustle away from the liners' course, in order to avoid close shaves. Now comes the Circuit Court of Clatsop County with a decision that gives that time-honored tradition of extraordinary rights for the sailer a hard jolt. A tug, owned by the Co lumbia Contract Company, collided with and sank a sail craft owned by a fisherman. The fisherman sued the tug owners, basing his complaint on a decision of the Supreme Court which says that, when a sailing vessel keeps directly on its course, as this par'icu lar boat was doing, it is observing the letter of the law. Judge Eakin grant ed a non-suit on the grounds that those on board the fishboat had failed to keep a proper lookout and were thus guilty of contributory negligence. Whatever the merits or demerits of this particular case may have been, the exasperating indifference of many fishing-boat masters to the approach of a steamer in a narrow channel has been frequently commented on, not only by masters of steam vessels, but by passengers who have witnessed the manner in which . the sailing craft obeyed "the letter, of the law." The Astoria case will be appealed. If the lower court is sustained, there will undoubtedly be a slight revision of the unwritten rules of the road at sea. RELIABLE MEN. Hereafter. the Sugar Trust proposes to employ only men "upon whom it can rely." This is its last word to the 200 employes whom it. has just dis charged. These unhappy men could not be relied upon. When they were summoned into "court as witnesses, they told the truth about the thiev lngs of the trust at the New York Cus-tom-House. As loyal servants of the monopoly they should have forgotten as much as possible, and what they could not forget they should have fal sified. It is men who will forget and falsify that the trust is now deter mined to secure, whatever the cost may be. This is the only rational interpreta tion of the trust's parting utterance to Its miserable employes. So far as obeying the commands they received from the magnates of the trust goes, these discharged employes were as re liable as men could be. What they were told to do they did. When they were ordered to use false weights they used them. When they were told to swindle the Government, they swin dled It. Obedience could go no far ther, so it cannot be for any neglect of duty that the men are discharged. It must be because they did not per jure themselves on the witness stand, or possibly because they have let out some facts, not yet known to the pub lic, which will lead to the indictment of one or two of-the dignitaries' at the head of the trust. It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous crime than looseness . of the tongue in a sugar' trust employe. His first obligation is to see nothing, to know nothing, and, abovj all, to remember nothing. If he uses a false weight during the day he must erase it from the tablets of his memory before he goes home at night. If he cannot erase it he must resolve to deny it. Above everything, if the worst comes to the worst, he must go to jail, pay a fine, endure whatever betides, rather than' admit that his exalted employers ordered him to lie and cheat. The lying he did accrued to the profit of the trust, to be sure, but he did it of his own motion. The false weights brought money into the trust coffers, not into the employe's lank pocketbook. Still, It was for himself that he used them. It is highly desirable that the trust should secure a set of reliable men. ' The prohibitionists ought to become excellent patrons 'of the moving-picture shows. According to a Vancou ver news item, the patronage of the shows has increased to such an extent that there has been a reduction in the number of saloons, the city having ten less of the saloons than it had several years ago when the city was much smaller. Meanwhile,-, the moving-picture shows are crowded, and the patrons spend so much of their time there that they 'have no time to loiter in the saloons. This is a feature of the liquor traffic that is also no ticeable in the -much discussed "can teen" question. So long as the soldier was provided with a well-regulated place for recreation where he could buy a drink on the reservation, he rarely wandered away into the dives and deadfalls just outside the reserva tion. The soldier may be unable to secure a drink at the moving-picture show, but the diversion it offers keeps him out of the saloons just as the canteen kept him out of them. North Yakima is apparently seek ing some of the notoriety which Spo kane enjoyed a few months ago. ' The Sheriff of Yakima County has begun rounding up the hoboes who decline to work, and is putting them on the chain gang, where they are forced to work. The reason for this unfeeling attitude of the Sheriff is a crying de mand for laboring men throughout the Yakima Valley. There Is employ ment for hundreds of men at from $2.50 to $3 per day, and many impor tant industrial undertakings are se riously hampered by lack of labor. These conditions are in evidence to a greater or lesser degree all over the Northwest; but in every city there will always be found. a considerable number of street-corner orators and professional jawsmiths who will not work and who abuse those who de cline to remain idle so long as work Is plentiful. By ' a traffic agreement concluded at Denver Saturday, the Gould roads are given direct access to Portland and tributary territory over the Hill lines. With the Western Pacific through to the coast, it will be only a question of time before the Gould lines will find their way into Port land over their own rails. The traffic agreement just concluded will, how ever, facilitate business between this territory and a large area of country that is reached by the Gould lines much easier than by other roads run ning out of the Northwest. The field for ra:'lroad exploitation has become too valuable in Portland and Oregon for this city longer to be neglected by any of th great railroads that cross the continent, for the prestige of this cicy as a great railroad center is daily increasing. Colonel Dosch nas lost none of his diplomacy since he entered the "fair" business. He now advocates a Pan ama Canal celebration at San Diego and' a second one at San Francisco. With an opinion of this kind. Colonel Dosch would be assured of the glad hand at either or both of the Califor nia exposition cities, and is in need of no further credentials than his diplo matic interview printed in The Orego nlan yesterday. Six employes of the Interior Depart ment for Oregon and Washington have been dismissed because the ap propriation for salaries is running short. The Forestry Bureau, how ever, could lend Its neighbor a few hands. , Now the policeman Is to be re quired to give' first aid to the injured. But how is an officer to decide when a man is suffering or Just "spifflicat ed"? This will make another civil service problem. State Superintendent Ackerman says there is too much reading of library books to' the detriment of school work. Perhaps there Is too much school work. King Alfonso denies hotly that his heir-apparent stutters. He seems to have learned from the American Colonel how to nail a lie. If there are degrees of theft, the thief who stole a contribution box in an East Side church belongs to the. foundation layer. Hundreds of tourists are hastening to Oregon and hundreds of enumer ators have, their eyes -on them. Perhaps this is the black man's cycle in pugilism. McVey, colored American, beat Stewart in Paris. The comet is said to have lost its tail. That may be because some per sons have seen it double. Night-riders in Kentucky pay from $100 to $1000, but they are not the automobile kind. The Beavers are near enough to the top to stimulate the yelling. When you have nothing else to do, just kill a dandelion or two. Where are the April showers that "bring the May flowers? Maklns It More Unpopular. Indianapolis News. A reduction of the cost of an upper berth will make it more objectionable than ever to the citizen who is accus tomed to measure the desirability of anything entirely by the price tag. LIFE! IN THE! OREGON" COIXTRY1 ,Os the- Vernal Speedway. . Baker City Herald. It's a race to the finish between the first robin and the bock beer. Sample Copies. Condon Times. Elein livers brought us in a sample of what his garden can do on Wednes day. Lettuce over four inches high and full-grown radishes, are wnat we can classy for the beginning of April, and grown in open, too. Real Money for Ye Editor. Spray Courier. Arch Hunt brought us in a lot- of fine DODlar trees last week and also paid up his subscription. Arch is one of our subscribers who realizes that an editor cannot live on delinquent sub scriptions or poplar trees eitiier. Two Wagons Break One Leg. Burns Times-Herald. John Eichner had his left leg broken Thursday by being run over with two wagons. He had left town witn nis freight team and two wagons and was walking. He decided to get on his saddle horse in the team and stepped on the doubletree fq- that purpose, but it tipped up. throwing him under the wagon. Both wagons passed over him. 4port7 Roseburg Review; ' Walter Cordon, assisted by his brother, "Jack" Cordon, caught a monster salmon at Winchester, five miles north of this city, Wednesday morning. The fish measured 50 Inches In length and weighed 48 pounds. it took 65 minutes of careful work., to land this splendid fish aftor it was hooked. -The usual trolling line for salmon was used. What Could This Man Do With a Cowt Union Scout. The first ticket for the great prize fight arrived from San Francisco for the benefit of a Portland man. The cost wasn't much, only $50. The money would buy a good cow. Perhaps the man didn't need a cow like he did the ticket. We don't blame a man for buy ing the necessaries of life first. There will always be cows for sale, and this will be the last Jeffries-Johnson fight. How's Tula for a F"tli Story f Baker City Democrat. C. W. Woolever,, who lives lust west of the City of Union, had a fish pond last Fall, stocked with trout and gold fish, presumably 500 of the latter. Dur ing the Winter the pond in which these fish were kept froze solid and remained so until the breaking up of the Winter. Out of the 500 goldfish. 200 came out alive, many being found in cakes of ice with a small space around the fish, others being frozen in solid ice. The trout all died. H02. Skamokawa Cor. Cathlamet Sun. For many years H. O. Crippen, one of our prosperous ranchers, has been raising big things on his ranch. First it would be a monster mangel, then an oversized cabbage or a whopper of a potato. H. O. took pride in showing these products, and last week he broke his record and is now the proudest man in the valley. Mrs. Crippen presented him with a 13-pound boy, one of those stout, healthy little fellows who give every promise of growing up to strong manhood. Dr. Peacock officiated ' at the ceremony, and, as H. O. now has seven girls and two boys, and has beaten the record, he says he will re tire on his laurels. Congratulations. WORSHIP GROWS OF BOBBIE BURNS Recent Sole of Poet's Dealt for tOOOO Only One of Many Instances. London Dispatch In the thlck-and-thin worship of their literary hero Bobble Burns' lovers seem to outdo every other class of admirer. Forty years ago the crowd fought for punch-ladles in the Charles Dickens sale. Robert Burns has been dead nearly 114 years, yet his cult shows no abatement of worship. His relics are sacrosanct. Manuscripts of his poems fetch thous ands. Five years ago the market went mad over his family Bible when it was offered at Sotheby's. Dealers from Ed inburgh, engineers from Glasgow and Highland farmers up for the cattle show fought Mr. Quaritch and found- a second Flodden. Yet after he had bid $7800 he generously released the relic and it now reposes in the Burns Museum at Allo way. The other day in 'the same rooms the poet's old mahogany desk came up. The cataloguer called It a bureau. It is a shabby piece of farmhouse furniture three and one-half feet wide, usefully drawered and pigeonholed. At Ellisland or at Dumfries Burns wrote upon it many a memorable lyric, such as "Scots Wha Hae!" and "Auld Lang Syne." His widow, Jean Armour, kept It in memory of her man. Through various hands it went to Miss Annie Burns, of Chelten ham. Then Mr. Quaritch again fought his opponents to a standstill, winning the relic against Mr. Snowden, representing a commission on the book, at, the great sum of $3000. , s . The Independent Newspaper. Kansas City Times. The control of newspapers by busi ness men who use them in the interest of other business investments is the only discouraging factor in the jour nalism of today, in the opinion of Will Irwin, who is investigating the Ameri can newspaper situation for Collier's Weekly. Such control, of course, means the coloring of news to favor indus tries whicli often are 'Seeking special privileges or attempting to evade pub lic responsibilities. Discouraging, to be sure, but the remedy is fairly simple and easily ap plied." The newspaper, like the politi cal party, is absolutely at the mercy of the public. If one party is hopelessly dominated by special Interests, the vot ers turn to the other. If both are con trolled beyond redemption a third party is organized. " A "kept" newspaper will be put out of business or crippled beyond the pos sibility of doing harm if the public merely neglects to read it. Eggs Sold at S Each. Columbus (Ind.) News." J. C. Flshel & Son. of Hope, Ind.. broke the world's record for high priced eggs last Friday, when they sold 15 eggs to Joseph Strausberger, of Greensburg. for $75, or $5 each. The eggs were from a pen of White Wyan dottes consisting of one male and five females, all of which are prize-winning birds and are said by leading poultry breeders to be the best six Wjiandottes in the country. This is the . highest price "ever paid for eggs and is $3 higher per egg than was paid for eggs from the famous $10,000 hen of Kansas City, Mo. From December 1 to April 4 the five hens have laid 500 eggs. C250 for an Eight-Cent Book. London Telegraph. Some time ago It was narrated in these columns how Edward Fitzgerald, dis gusted with the apathy of - the public when his "Omar Khayyam" was first published, strolled into Quaritch's shop and in high dudgeon dumped down a couple of hundred copies, telling the pub lisher to do what he liked with them. They went into the "towpenny box," and since then Mr. Quaritch the second and other collectors have had to buy them back dearly. The other day at Sothe by's a copy of the despised issue turned up and Mr. Hornsteln had to pay $250 for It PACKING OREGON'S APPLE CROP Call for Better Organized System In Preparing Fruit for Market. LA FAYETTE, Or., April 16. (To the Editor.) A recent forceful edi torial in The Oregonlan on the experi ence of Oregon's representatives in the fight against the Lafean box bill, should be very carefully considered by every apple grower in the state. The Ore gonian's pithy scoring of the shippers whose boxes caused such consterna tion among the Oregon delegation in Washington D. C. will be salutary and was needed at this moment. The ad ditional statement that all the apple growing districts of the state should be under the supervision of organized associations, because of their ability, to secure uniformity and completeness of output, was exactly correct. Cor rect also was the statement that ship pers must not put out packs that will not stand the test of inspection, if we would prevent a repetition of the re cent experience of our representatives in Washington, D.- C. After referring to the benefits re ceived by growers in certain "highly organized districts," and, by inference, discounting the remainder of the state. The Oregonlan adds: "Had the fruit men of Oregon been thoroughly united in co-operative effort, the circumstance which caused the opponents of tho Lafean bill in Washington. D. C, so much embarrassment, would not have happened." True Indeed. But curi ously enough, this editorial statement., rests upon an- insecure foundation. President Newell informs me that the only app'es - which stood the test given them in the committee room were packed by an Individual grower, who has no affiliation with any organiza tion and whose orchard is not in a "highly organized district." When our representatives went into the market to secure evidence, all the "highly or ganized districts" fell down. In fact they were the only districts that could fall down, for of course the others would have no fruit In Washington. D. C, at that season, or perhaps at any other time. These facts do not detract, however, from the general proposition advanced by The Oregonlan that a closer and better organized system of packing and Inspection should be observed in pre paring our apples for-market, if we lire to hold our pre-eminent position in the estimation of consumers. It has long been a matter of .comment among dealers that the pack of even our highly organized districts was not I'solld" enough that It is "slack" lengthwise and not "tight" transversely that this is a result of the disposi tion to pack, as 80's, apples that are really 96's and 104's, etc. It is also complained that the slack-pack gives a bulge of only about three-quarters of an inch at packing time, which allows apples to settle down the sides of the box when they shrink In transit as they always do. It is argued that ap ple boxes should be packed "fat," and the tops and bottoms sawed very thin, not thicker than 5-32 of an inch) to prevent bruising. All these conditions and the state ments contained in The Oregonian's editorial will form the basis of a cam paign of education which the State Board of Horticulture will carry out this Summer. k I desire to protest," however, against the proposition that we are selling ap ples by the bushel, and that the test of the capacity of our boxes is whether or not they hold four heaping pecks. All such statements are foreign to the subject, and when our representatives. In their over-confidence that highly or ganized ' districts were packing "solid" (in which case the content would be naturally over a bushel) undertook the test of bushels and pecks, they allowed themselves to be- side-tracked bv the advocates of the bill. It must be the effort of all the official horticultural bodies of the state to bring about con ditions whereby absolute reliance can bo put upon the quality and solidity of our pack, if we do not want to dis appoint our representatives when ad verse legislation' is proposed hereafter. M. O.iLOWNSDALB, Commissioner, First District, State Board of Horticulture. FOR SAFER, SANER JULY FOURTH Programme Fitted to the Day Without Dangerous Features. Less than a year ago the third an' nual congress of the. Playground Asso ciation of America met at Pittsburg for the purpose - of discussing a safer and saner Fourth of July. Delegates from 45 cities were present. In the re port of this conference, appeared the following suggestive programme: 9:00 A. M. Grand parade. Music. Pageant of early National and local his tory us to 3776. Paul Revere on horseback. Fife and drums. Continental Army (High School Cadets) marching. Signing rf the Declaration of Indepen dence. "The Spirit of "7." "Columbia" and the city. United States troops, militia, naval bri gade, police. Pageant of the nations represented In the city, showing their achievements, national dresa. customs, music, etc. School children tshowlng amalgamation of all nationalties) carrying American flags. Pageant of Industries merchants, manu facturers, labor unions, etc 11 A. M. Mass meeting in public square, the City Hall or the Courthouse. Music choral sing ing conducted by the leading musical di rectors of the city. Ii. dependence day oration. Reading of the Declaration of Indepen dence. Singing of the great National lyrics and hymns. Balloon ascension. ' Raising of the nag. National salute of 47 guns. 12 M. to 7 P. M. Band concerts in different parts of the city. Family picnic parties In parks and groves. Games and wading for children. Organised gamss and folk dancing. Organized athletic meets for young boys. Organized athletic meets for youths and men. Organized water sborta. Canoe and rowing races. Motorbcat races. Swimming. 7 P. M. to 10:30 P. M. Tand concerts in different parts of the city. Display of fireworks under tho direction of local committees at various points. Mutilation of Adverb Goes On. . ' London Bystander. Long ago society unanimously de cided to drop Its gs. We went huntin", rldln", shootln'. Now, it is my duty to reveal, we are threatened with the mu tilation of the adverb." "I should be awful glad to come if it wasn't so frightful far." writes the gilded yqjith. "I'm absolute sick of this utter boring play," says Lady Hortense In the stalls. We are "fearful pleased" and "terrible disgusted." Last week we spoke of a certain young lady as hunt tng "regular" with the quorn. Some people, no doubt, put this down to carelessness or downright illiteracy. We intended it to be merely chatty. I s - 960,000 Worth of Damaged Chlnaware. New York Dispatch. Enough high-priced chlnaware to equip half a dozen large - hotels Is to be given away by George C. Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to various homes and institutions' sup ported by women Interested in charity work. The china Is damaged and for that reason cannot longer be used by the hotel. The supply has been ac cumulating for several years, and Is said to have had an original value of more than $60,000. GROWTH OF NEW WORDS GOES ON One Hnndrrd Thousand New Defini tions Added to Century Dictionary. New York World. The addition to the Century Dictionary of two" new volumes of definitions, made necessary to bring the work up to date, gives evidence of the wonderful expansion of the English language within a quaru-r of a century. The claim was made for the original Century that it increased the number of words and phrases defined by upward of 120,000. This is as many words as there are altogether In the standard dictionary of the Spanish language. The new vol umes are expected to add 100,000 more definitions, but including phrases. proper names, colloquialisms, etc., which once were denied regular admission to, a dic tionary. But the point of interest is the growth from the 70.000 words of the first Webster in 1S28. The Unabridged of IStU contained 114.000. the International of 190 about 175,000, and the present edition of 1910 has more than 400.000. The new Stand ard had 425,000, and the Oxford, still in course of publication, promises to have 450.000. But with all allowance for the Inclusion of technical terms, slang, characters from fiction and the drama, and proper names, it is yet true, as the Century editors say. that since its original publication, "a new vocabulary has arisen," reflecting and recording the progress of a quarter of a century "more productive of new knowl edge than any other period of the same length in the history of the language." In that time the automobile has come in with Its garage, tonneaus. limousines and spark plugs. Aeronautics has con tributed Its share, bridge its dialect, and golf, through Its domestication in this country, has claimed greater attention. from the lexicographer. It is gratifying to note the presence on the editorial staff of the new Webster of a distinguished golf champion and of a specialist in Phil, ippine terms employed to define the words introduced Into the vocabulary through our policy of imperialism. Chemistry has been fruitful of new terms, medical science of new drugs and diseases. Bacteriology has added whole families of new bacilli. Anthropology, psychology. zoology have contributed. The great faunal naturalist. Bwana Tum bo, has been a large contributor of dik diks and such. The stage has furnished the show girl, fashion the picture hat. etc., Japan banzai, Cuba the reconcen trado, wireless telegraphy Its quota.. A feature of the new lexicography is the frank acceptance of slang words. "Knocker," "rubber," "rubbex-neck," "fan" and "lobster" are among the ex pressions of the street which find a place in the new dictionaries. -Why not? They are a part of the popular vocabulary, and. all "live" lexicographers may be supposed to appreciate their usefulness In swelling the sum total of words in the latest dic tionaries. A BERLIN CAFE'S FINE FEATURE Among Its Attractions Are 800 News papers From All Over the World. New York Evening Post. Every American who has been in Ber lin knows about the Cafe Bawer. It was bought the other day by a hotel syndi cate, but It Is not likely that any change will be made in the way it la conducted. ' It was established in 1S77 by Matthias Bauer, who believed that a genuine "Vienna cafo would be appreciated in Berlin. It was an. immediate success;, coffee was served in the diverse Vien nese styles, and Bauer himself taught the Berlin bakers how to mane ine "Hornchen." "Kipferln" and "Kaisersem- -meln" that go with it. He was, more- ' over, the first, to serve "Prager Schin ken" (ham) and genuine Pilsener beer. He died in 1894, a wealthy man, and since that time the management has been in .the hands of his sons, who still further developed it on his lines. The astonishing number of 800 news papers and periodicals from all countries and continents is kept on file here, for the perusal of anyone who pays 5 cents for a cup of coffee. These newspapers t cost some $7500 a year. Another thing I that attracts visitors from all parts of the world Is a library containing the di- rectories of 125 leading cities of all con tinents. - Spectacles for British Marksmen. Lancet. London. In many cases the vision of third-class shots has been much improved by the use of spectacles. In the First Northamp tonshire Regiment a third-class shot be- , came a firet-class shot. In the First I Queen's a man who Just missed beln; a. third-class shot became a first. In tr.l First Oxfords one failed and two thirl class shots became second-class and ona third-class became a first. In the First Cameronlans one improved from non-of-fectlve to a second-class shot- In the First Royal Scots Fusiliers one thlrd-cla.-s shot became a second-class shot. These results are due to action taken by the medical authorities in 1907, when' the eyesight of several selected regiment was carefully examined by army meuic specialists in ophthalmology. Recommer.l datlons based on these examinations weru made, and the government of India granted a free issue of suitable glasses to those men requiring them. Characteristics of the Duck.' Spare Moments. ' A schoolboy assigned to prepare an essay on ducks, submitted the follow ing: "The duck Is a low. heavy-set bird, composed mostly of meat and feather. He is a mighty poor singer, having a hoarse voice, caused by getting so many frogs In his neck. He likes tho water, and carries a toy balloon In his stomach -to keep him from sinkirtg 1 The duck has only two legs, and they are set so far back on his running gears by nature that they come pretty near missing his body. Some ducks when they get big have curls on their tails and are called drakes. Drakes don't have to set or hatch, but Just loaf and go swimming and eat everything in sight. If I was to be a duck I would rather be a drake." New Excuset "Been to a Comet Party." Chicago Dispatch. "Please excuse me, my dear, been out to a comet party." This is becoming a stock excuse for late hours this month. The comet doe not appear until 4 o clock in the mo ing, which may be believed to furn a reason to ardent observers for st ing up all night. Amateur sava embrace the occasion, as comet visi only come around once in a lifetime. After May 18. when the comet w begin to make Its appearance In tl early evening. It will furnish a reas for parties of two along the lake fron and the all-night scientists will ha to go back to the old excuse of "ba anclng the books. Studying the Stars for Sixty Yea Indianapolis News. Although he has been studying 1 stars for 60 years, and Is now 86 ye; oia, sir vvmiam Muggins, the gra old man of astronomy," is still in hai ness. Every day he works for hours 1 his laboratory and afterwards in hi study, "thinking and reading, readln and thinking." to quote his own word? "Life is work and work is life." is Si William's favorite saying. Balloonlst's License for a Woman. New York Sun. Baroness "Von Ende. the wife of a re tired Major living at Wiesbaden, has applied for and received a balloonist's license. She is the eighth offlciallv qualified German woman balloonist, and although she took up ballooning onlv a year ago, is already the heroine or. rn- r 18 different ascents.