8 THE MORXIXG OREGOXIAN, SATURDAY, JUIT 16, 1910. ' . PORTLAND. ORECOS. Enteral n t TftvimTA ft so"Tt Trmt n f f i f- Second-Class Matter. Subscription Kates Invariably In Advance. (BY MAIL). fally. Sunday Included, one year $8.00 Jally. Sunday Included, six months.... 4.2.1 Ially, Sunday Included, three months.. 2.25 pally. Sunday Included, one month 75 JJally, without Sunday, one year 6.00 JJally, without Sunday, six months.... 8.2. pally, -without Sunday, three months... 1.75 Jaily, without Sunday, one month 60 Weekly, one year 1.50 Eunday. one year 2.5(1 Sunday and weekly, one year..... 3.50 (By Carrier). pally, Sunday Included, one year 0 00 aily. Sunday included, one month 75 How to Remit Send Postofflce money ot-?er- express order or personal check on your Jocal bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at i ii ender's risk. Give Postofflce address In lull, including county and state. . Postage Rates 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent: 1 to 2 paxes. 2 cents; SO to 40 paces. 8 cents: so to 60 paces. 4 cents. Foreign postaca double rate. Etern Business Office The S. C. Beck 'lh Special Agency New York, rooms 48 E?i bun" building. Chicago, rooms 010 012 Tribune building;. PORTLAND SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1910. '' DIRECT -LEGISLATION? BARBARISM. Parliamentary legislation Is regard ed by historians as a great achieve ment of political progress. They see Srt delegated, representative lawmaking a. powerful force of national unity and of uplift from political barbarism. Yet In Oregon and In. some other places "statesmen" have sprung up declaring this system antiquated and "direct" legislation fit to take its place. Governor Hay, of the State of Washington, showed himself a student of the world's experience when he de clared himself last Wednesday op posed to direct legislation as substi tute for the parliamentary method. The place of the Governor's remarks was the annual picnic of Pierce Coun ty Pioneers at Lake Sequalitschew, wnere ne reviewea oia times oi tne ancient and primitive folkmoot, toward which direct legislation is reverting. The Governor said: There are those who now advocate a return to the system that a race outgrew as It emerged from barbarism; that is. a return to the folkmoot in Its pristine sim plicity. They would have us who are in the midst of a highly organized civilisation at tempt to govern ourselves with a system that met the needs of a simple, pastoral and bar baric age. They profess to believe, and doubt less many of them do believe, that we who often refuse or fail to drop absorbing vo cations and private Interests long enough to call a halt to those few representatives who have gone wrong, could and would give the practical and painstaking consideration necessary to secure practical and efficient government by direct legislation. 1 To me the proposition would appear ridic ulous were it not so dangerous in its por tent. The remedy for whatever evils may could be applied without changing the form or wrecking the fabric created by the pat riots of the Revolution and handed down to us by our forefathers. This means that Governor Hav op poses the "Oregon system" In his RtnlP 1 1 i la nnf n una In Vila nntMi-l tion. The example of Oregon, sup planting parliamentary lawmaking with direct legislation, is not a pleas ing one. It was not intended by the people of Oregon that the direct method of making laws should take precedence over the other and burden voters with the absurd task that con fronts electors of this state in the next election. Had it been foreseen several years ago, when the initiative and referendum was adopted, that the new system would lead to present ex cesses. Its adoption would have been iroiaiou, JUBl 1 1 U IV na HUUpUUU IS resisted In the State of Washington. Under the initiative and referendum next November, voters of Oregon will , Mtempt lawmaking functions of the Legislature by "direct" voting on 32 . measures. Seven of these measures come from the Legislature for refer endum. Twenty-five others come. In nearly every case, from Innovators, agitators or self-seeking groups of citizens. None of the twenty-five In itiative bills has been framed by a representative body of citizens, with regard to substantial justice for In terests Involved or to adjustment of conflicting needs of the body politic. Of the seven referendum bills, four are constitutional amendments and three are statutory enactments. Of the twenty-five Initiative bills, seven are constitutional amendments and eighteen are statutory enactments. They are complicate and intricate. There Is no difference in the method of voting, as to constitutional and statutory enactments. These many bills need careful deliberation, such as members of a Legislature, or lead ers of such a body, are called upon to give. A number of them conflict In their provisions and purposes. In most of them special knowledge of details and particulars is needed for Intelligent voting, and this knowledge Is such that the great mass of the vot ing citizens will not acquire. These initiative and referendum ex cesses have surprised Oregon's voting population. Defenders of the "sys tem" vainly endeavored to curtail thorn this year by reducing the num- ber of initiative bills. Each group of Innovators insisted on exercising its full privilege under the constitution. The result is an Impossible task for voters. It is a task that only delegated members of the body politic, in par liamentary assembly, have time and opportunity to dispose of. The aver age voter is not as well qualified as the average legislator to act on mat ters of legislation, and it is absurd to deny this obvious truth. Governor Hay has stated the matter in able and forceful manner. .Subver sion of delegated, representative legis lation is return to political barbarism. Parliamentary government is the best bulwark of democracy and of national unity. The lesson is as old as. history and the great historians all note it. Oregon's "statesmen," however, head ed by TJPRen. have ideas which they think superior to the tested ideas of experience. OUR BASALTIC ROCKS. The statement that Oregon pos sesses the best supply of good road material in the world reminds one of the. plight of the shoemaker's wife. Though her husband worked at his last constantly the poor woman had no shoes. Of course, one is merely reminded of this suffering female, for the two cases are not exactly parallel. Oregon has roads of a sort. A physi cian of some standing was once heard to say at a public meeting that they are the best on earth, but he was ex cused by his friends on the ground that he had dined better than usual that day. A charitable rendering of the fact about Oregon's roads would bp to say that they are as bad as they can be. In Summer they are deep in dust. In Winter they are deep in mud. This state of things might be endured with some equanimity if the good-roads problem in Oregon were difficult, but the truth seems to be that it is remarkably easy. The report that roads are difficult to build here can be laid away with the old bits of folly that this state will not grow clover and that corn, will not ripen in Oregon. The project of the Agricultural Col lege faculty to bring home to the pub lic our wealth of roadmaking material by 'actual demonstration is highly commendable. Most people resemble Doubting Thomas in the respect that they will not believe a fact until they see it and feel it. No doubt Professor Parks will give the farmers an oppor tunity both to see and handle the ba saltic rocks which abound everywhere in the state and which would make our roads smooth and dry at all times of the year if they were broken up and properly applied. THE ASSEMBLY TODAY, -v The Republican county assembly, which meets today, will be the larg est representative conference of party hitherto held in Oregon. It will be exceeded in membership only by the state assembly, to be held in the fol lowing week. The delegates in to day's conference come "straight from the people." They were elected in precinct meetings of party members throughout the county for the pur pose of deliberating upon remedies for minority factionalism, plurality primary nominations, and disruption and disorganization of the Republican party. Republicans make up consid erable more than the majority of vot ing citizens in Multnomah County and in Oregon, yet find their purposes foiled in election of high officers of government, and In. control of politi cal policies. The gathering today Is intended to be a conference where citizens of in fluence and foresight shall reason to gether and determine upon a common basis of party unity hereafter. It has been intended from the first of the assembly movement that this confer ence and others in the state shall be free from boss dictation and machine rule, and there is no reason to dis believe that the 800-odd members of the assembly will be free agents of the party, in recommending policies and principles of party action and candidates to represent those policies and principles in primary and elec tion and government. Assembly is the instinctive recourse of American citizens. The hitherto impotent state of the Republican party in Oregon makes a real emer gency for intelligent and patriotic and open discussion in today's gathering. It will be borne in mind that there can be no cure for existing political troubles so long as minority nomina tions shall persist. Nor can there be purposeful and consistent party effort so long as' the instrument of Demo cratic fakery and perjury Statement One shall be accepted by any con siderable body of Republicans. Un less the assembly shall name candi dates whom majority of party will accept and who will forswear State ment One, its mission will fail. But the members of today's assembly doubtless know these matters full well. They realize that all they need do to win the approval of the Repub lican voters is to act as free agents of the voters they represent and place before them right principles of politi cal conduct and worthy candidates for primary nomination. ACTIVITIES I" THE DAY'S XWS. Mid-July marks the Summer dull ness everywhere in the country re laxation of strenuous effort in all forms of activities, the husbanding of strength for the hard work of Fall and Winter. Big enterprises involving large capital are usually in suspense. Apart from the harvest, people are taking things easy in the Pacific Northwest. Yet the news columns of The Oregonian yesterday disclosed this list of things denoting material progress: Irrigation project to furnish water for 55,000 acres in Rogue River Val ley, involving the expenditure of $2,000,000. Bank deposits at Kelso, Wash., in crease $132,000 during the year. Auto road building between Vancou ver and Kelso. Preparing to bridge the Lewis River at Woodland, Wash. Contract let for 16-mile extension of the Pacific & Northern Idaho, from Evergreen to Meadows. O. R. & N. cut-off from Stanfield, Umatilla County, to Coyote. Survey finished for $200,000 auto mobile boulevard from Medford to Crater Lake. . Notable street improvements at Oregon City. All unsurveyed lands in Idaho to be surveyed under the new law. Milwaukie spending $50,000 on street improvements. Nine carloads of gas mains re ceived at Eugene. Newport laying a wide board walk to the Yaquina beach. Albany erecting a $40,000 city hall. Survey for power project on Clear Lake in Eastern Lane County.. One hundred acres of beaverdam land in Marion County to be convert ed into vegetable farms. Three thousand people a' month go ing into Central Oregon by way of Shaniko. Of the great big things in the way of railroad construction involving mil lions and the unprecedented building operations in Portland it is not neces sary to speak. Attention is invited to the foregoing list merely to show the activities that naturally fall into the news of one day. These show that midsummer dullness in the "Oregon Country" Is more fiction than fact. THE not; A USELESS BRUTE. The report that the government of Turkey has bepun to devise measures to abate the dog nuisance may well awaken envious reflections in the minds of dog-harried Americans. Travelers have always pointed toCon stantinople as the city where the canine nuisance throve most abun dantly, but the chances are that some place in the United States will soon succeed to the dubious distinction. Perhaps Portland will receive the palm before long for harboring a greater number of useless and pestif erous curs than any other city in the world. The news from Vancouver of the attack upon two children by. a vicious cur can be paralleled in the newspa pers almost every day. This particu lar Vancouver dog seems to have been exceptionally dangerous, since, after mangling the children, he turned upon a man who ran to their rescue. But nobody can tell at what moment any dog may be seized with the innate instinct of its race to bite and tear. The dog is in reality a modified wolf and the instincts of the wolf are never very far below the surface in him. To one who knows the facts about dogs and their traits the notion of placing children under their "protec tion" would be absurd if it were not frightful. A dog will protect a. child so long as the wolf in . him does not come to the surface. When it does it is his instinct to slay and devour the child, and unless prevented he will carry out his natural bent. The stories about the great intelligence of the hog are almost all discredited by sane in vestigation. His fidelity reduces to a mere matter of habit when it is in vestigated by science, and his so-called friendship for man lasts as long as man ministers to his hunger. A dog which is not well fed will attack a human being as quickly as a rabbit If he can take his victim at a disad vantage. The spectacle of the groups of worthless curs which infest the streets of Portland is a reproach to the civil ization of the city. Hideous by day, by night their howling prevents sleep and hastens the approach of death to the 111. To see the miserable creatures on the street indulging , their filthy habits is bad enough, but to see a woman hugging and kissing one of the dirty brutes in a public conveyance is sickening. THE LEGISLATIVE TICKET. An important duty of the Multno mah Republican Assembly today will be the nomination of the legislative ticket. It will, be recalled that the Multnomah legislative delegation two years ago, nominated by the free-for-all primary, did not make a record at Salem notable either for efficiency or dignity. The House delegation had few members whose names were familiar in the business, political or social world. There was no harmony, no unity of action, no common pur pose to promote the interests of the county and state, no understanding of the needs of the public, no real desire to meet them, and no effort at any time to put the general welfare beyond private interests. The Orego nian speaks of the House delegation as a whole. There were two or three members, who with proper support from their colleagues, would have been able to meet expectations. They were lonesome exceptions. Such a legislative delegation' was and always will be the product of un guided primary. The assembly today is to nominate one candidate for State Senator from Multnomah County and twelve candidates for Representa tive in the House. Great care should be taken in selecting members of the House delegation. It should be made up of men who stand for something. They should be capable of restoring the prestige of Multnomah County in the Legislature at Salem. In former days the voice of Multnomah at Sa lem, was potent. Lately it has been different. The recommendation of the assem bly will have weight at the primary in proportion to the merit of its nom inations. The Oregonian has no sug gestion as to persons to make to the assembly for its consideration in the selection of House nominees. But it observes that there is a movement to call upon the assembly to nominate for State Senator for Multnomah County Mr. L. G. Clarke. It approves the suggestion and ventures to express the hope that Mr. Clarke may be nominated. Mr. Clarke has not been actively known as a politician nor has he been prominent as a partisan in the camp of any faction; but he has been a Republican and has done his share as a citizen through intelligent and honorable participation in affairs. On these accounts he is a candidate of special availability at this time. He is widely known, and he is a man of judgment, sense, character and high business capacity. Much else could be said for him. Nothing can be or will be said against him. HIGH PRESSURE. In warning his hearers at the Glad stone Chautauqua to shun the "high presssUre life," Dr. William S. Sadler followed an example which is respect able and not altogether unwise. Most of our writers upon health recommend less hurry and heat in our dally lives. Worry is not desirable for anybody, and years of unbroken toil under the lash of ambition, necessity or habit will destroy happiness if not health. The story of the banker who for more than thirty years went to his office at a certain hour every morning, worked until night without Intermission and returned home at the close of busi ness to refreshing sleep, taking no holidays and keeping always in per fect health, cannot be deemed typical. This man, if he ever existed, was saved from physical danger by his regular habits. But while his health escaped injury, the same cannot be said of his intelligence, his interest in life, his higher sentiments. Even the great Darwin tells us of himself that his unremitting devotion to science de stroyed his love of music and poetry. The incessant counting of money and computation of interest for thirty years could hardly do less. It may be suggested that strenuous toil is not the worst enemy to health and efficiency there is in the world. Mental competency is more impaired by lackadaisical lingering over a task than by concentrated effort. The best work of the world is invariably done under pressure. Matters of mere rou tine can perhaps be attended to very well when a person is in a semi-slumber, but no work which demands thought carl be achieved properly without expending effort at white heat. The writer for the press, to cite a humble instance, seldom interests his readers until he has kindled some thing of a fire in his brain. The poet must roll his eyes in a. fine frenzy, he must learn in .suffering what he teaches in song. The mathematician loses himself completely in his pro found meditations. Many of the great ones. Abel. Galois, Riemann, have been consumed in youth by the inner flame as if they had been a Byron or Keats. For the ordinary routine worker it is well enough to cultivate a certain serenity. The precepts not to toil very hard or very long at a time may en hance his health and happiness If he obeys them, but on the other hand if he does so he never will rise yery high nor will the work he does attain to any great importance. An accom plished task never contains more than is put into it. If the worker puts fire and energy Into what he does, those elements will show themselves there and mankind will value the work ac cordingly. Perhaps, after all, the best use one can make of hrs life is to spend it in ardent endeavor. The remark that calmness is the one virtue which a stagnant pool possesses is not devoid of instruction. The man who is too calm Is pretty likely -to grow noxious vegetation of one sort or another. Perhaps the warning to avoid high pressure is not the best that Dr. Sadler might have given us. Would it not have been preferable to say, "Work under all the pressure you can generate while you are working, but do not forget to cool the fires down now and then and give the machinery i a rest" ? i A rancher near Shaniko sold his land a few months ago and set out for Canada, where he hoped to secure a location more suited to his desires. He returned a few days ago and bought his old ranch again at an advanced price. Canadians will, of course, de ride him for a homesick tenderfoot. Oregonians will, however, laud him for the discernment he displayed in choosing between Oregon and Ca nadian opportunity, climate and en vironment, and in having the good, hard common sense to retrieve his mistake even though he was compelled to pay for the chance to do so. There is no reason in the world why a man who has holdings in wheat lands or stock range in Central Oregon should seek to exchange these for Canadian lands. If he is seeking lands open to entry he might be justified in crossing the border in his quest, since the Ca nadian government is not monkeying with a conservation policy that shuts settlers out. Perhaps it was only a coincidence, but the news that James J. Hill had enjoyed a very successful salmon-fishing outing in Labrador was followed by a repoft from New York that the great railroad man is taking a much more optimistic view of the Industrial situation in this country. Poor crop reports and an avalanche of railroad legislation gave . a very pessimistic tone to Mr. Hill's talk just before he went to Labrador, but with the salmon biting freely it is apparent that all the world assumed a brighter hue, and Mr. Hill returns to find that this. is a pretty good country after all. It is, of course, noticeable that a four months' adjournment of the Interstate Commerce Commission has just been taken, and this may have added to the pleasure that received its inception in Labrador, where the spoon hook was whirling in the bright waters where the salmon play. In replying to an invitation from the executive secretary of the National conservation congress to appoint dele gates from Washington, Governor Hay very properly insists that at least one of his delegates be given a prominent place on the programme. Our neigh boring Governor voices the sentiments of Oregon as well as those of his own people when he. says that "we of the Northwest feel that we are more com petent to determine how our natural resources may be developed or han dled than men who live 3000 miles away and who cannot, in the nature of things, be conversant with all the conditions existing here." This as sumption of the people of the West that they are competent to manage their own interests may not meet with the approval of Gifford the Pinchot, but it is a fact which he will event ually be obliged to accept. Commander John Drake Sloat, U. S. N., took possession of California for the United States June 14, 184&! The military reservation overlooking Mon terey Bay was the place over which he unfurled the Stars and Stripes in the name of his Government. At this point, sixty years later, an imposing memorial in granite was dedicated to Commander Sloat. The record of an event that might otherwise pass from memory or be obscured in the his tory of the larger events which mark the progress of our National life, will thus be preserved In a most enduring and suitable form. It will also serve to carry the name of Commander Sloat down to posterity as that of a man who saw the Nation's opportunity to acquire a firm foothold on the Pacific Coast and closed with it. Three years later gold was discovered in California. The rest is recent history. The war of scientists on mosquitoes along the Gulf coast and around the Mississippi delta, so far from exter minating these distracting, disease carrying pests, has made no percepti ble inroad upon their numbers. They are, in fact, so numerous and vora cious that wild animals are forced from the woods, where the leafage swarrhs with them, out into the open fields, where they are comparatively free from attack. It is gravely as serted that stock in the lowlands is being- killed by the swarms of the pests that find lodgment in their nos trils and shut off their breathing. This is not a snake story, nor yet a fish story. It is simply a mosquito story that Alaska may be challenged to match. All of the romance which hovered around the old-time pirate seems to have vanished. Even the pirates themselves are scare, but they are still in evidence in the Far East. When a Portuguese gunboat set out to bom bard a colony of them, the pirates were, reinforced by Chinese from the interior, who were all using modern J rifles and smokeless powder." This is indeed a progressive age. If modern invention continues to confer its ad vantages on all races, we may expect a year or so hence to read that the Colowan pirates have been chasing merchant vessels with airships. Wallowa County, that had not a railroad until last year, is feeling the stimulating effect of the locomotive. All her mills are busy and this year's lumber shipments will total twenty million feet. In other lines the effect is also far-reaching, for Wallowa is a great field for livestock and fruit. Bull Run water is not on the market for speculative purposes, certain con ditions that have been developed in the Mount Scott district to the con trary, notwithstanding. That is to say, a man must be on the inside, officially speaking, to be able to turn a corner in the aqua pura which we boast. Governor Shafroth has called an extraordinary session of the Colorado Legislature to correct the neglect of the recent session, which was con trolled by a Democratic majority, yet failed to provide laws that would reg ulate that end of the universe. There will be an all-day session of esperantists in Portland today. Esper anto is a kind of language in which a man can swear and be understood anywhere in the world. High wages in the harvest field are luring men from the river boats. The roustabout Is an honest toller who fattens on hard work. THE CHARGES AGAISST MR. 1IOFEH Mr. Moores FamUhcs Copy- of tne Let ter Sent to President Xaf t. PORTLAND. July 15. (To the Editor.) In the Portland Journal of last even ing there appears a synopsis of an al leged editorial in the Salem Journal in which Mr. Hofer "demands" that Mr. Moores produce the letter of "a promi nent citizen of Salem," preferring charges against him, and the name of the writer who filed them. Mr. Hofer Is famous for his methods of Indirection, for "striking an attitude," and for making- mock heroic demands in double-leaded editorials for the consump tion of the readers of the Capital Jour nal. -"His assumption of ignorance as to the writer and as to the contents of the letter referred to is pure affectation; he knows that a direct and a polite re quest would secure the letter as well as a "demand," but It would not be so dramatic. He was mistaken in supposing a copy of the letter was not accessible. As may be supposed, our personal relations are not friendly, but I bear him no malice, and will not Intentionally do him an in justice. For nearly 20 years the columns of his paper have reeked with personal abuse of almost every man who has ever taken part in the public affairs of Marion County orof the State of Oregon. It seems impossible for him to discuss any public question without Impugning the motives or questioning the honor of those who differ with him. In his latest effusion he kindly refers to me as "one who stands for the sacred rights of v predatory political methods." Such a man, especially when posing as a leader, and conducting a campaign for the Governorship of the state, cannot hope to escape an inquiry as to his own personal and political methods. Such in quiry, fairly prosecuted, is entirely legiti mate. We assume that Mr. Hofer con cedes this much and that he desires the letter referred to published so that he may openly meet the charges and com pletely dissipate every doubt as to his own purity of character. Here is the letter: October. 27. 1909. Hon. Fred W. Car penter. Washington. D. c. Dear Sir: It is generally, understood by public men in this state that Senator Bourne is to present to President Taft the name of E. Hofer. a local editor of this city, for a Federal po sition, presumably Collector of Customs for the Port of Portland, Oregon. As protest In the name of common de cency does not appeal favorably to Senator Bourne, I protest through you to the Pres ident against this proposed appointment. As to my moral and financial responsi bility. I refer you to Hon. Francis J. Heney, San Francisco, Cal.; Hon. W. B. Gilbert. U. S. Circuit Judge, Portland. Or., and Hon. William H. Hunt, TJ. S. District Judge, Helena, Mont. Mr. Hofer has. for more than 15 years. Published a small dally paper in this city, sometimes in the Interest of the Republi can party, at other times in the interest of the People's party, the Free Silver Repub lican party and as independent. Shortly after he commenced publishing the paper, it became noised about that his paper could be purchased to advocate or condemn any person or measure, for money. At this time, and for many years last past, his general representation has been, and Is now, that of grafter. I can furnish you a list of the leading men of this cits', including lawyers, doctors, clergymen, merchants and Judges upon the bench, all of whom will say that Hofer"s reputation for being a grafter la not dis putable. It la accepted here as a fact all persons know, as the recurrence of the sea eon, the rise and fall of the tides, and the phases of the moon. It may be a good thing for Senator Bourne to pay political debts by making such appointments, but it appears to me this Administration cannot knowingly be a party to this proposed debasement of the public service. After having advised you of this condition, the Administration cannot escape responsibility without investigating the charges I make. This letter is not private and It may be shown to Mr. Hofer, to 6enator Bourne, or given to the-public. I am financially re sponsible, and am prepared to substantiate these charges before any official who may care to investigate them on behalf of the Government and before any Jury of my fel low citizens. Very truly yours. L. H. M'MAHAN, In writing this letter Mr. McMahan has assumed the grave responsibility of being required, by every consideration of fair ness, to sustain beyond question all of his charges, and in "demanding" Its pub lication Mr. Hofer is placed under like responsibility of refutlpg every charge. One or the other of these gentlemen should be blotted out of Oregon politics. The grafter and the coiner of false charges are in the same category. It Is not a mere personal controversy. There is a higher and graver question of decent political methods Involved. CHARLES B. MOORES. Initiative and Referendum Snrfelt. Cathlamet (Wash.) Sun. Oregon is very busy these days and has no time for recreation. Under the initiative and referendum law every Tom, Dick and Harry in the state with a governmental fad or with private gain or grudge in view has by the judi cious use of petitions got his little bill before the people. Think of puzzling over 32 lengthy bills and attempting to vote intelligently on them. No chance for amendment or compromise the voter must accept or reject them. It is to be hoped that Washington will be in no haste to adopt this system of leg islation. While our last Legislature was about the limit in passing every measure that could be devised, a spe cial session disposed of some of the most "ornery" ones and the voter is not called upon to wade through 32 good, bad and Indifferent laws, as has our Oregon brother. The State of Washington can well afford to sit back and watch the results of the initiative and referendum in Oregon. There should be no haste to adopt the pro posed reform, if reform it be. The Democratic "Game." . Baker City Herald. The Democrats of the state are not taking much interest in politics with in their own party, but they are watching Republican affairs very close ly and doing all within their power to cause a split on the question of as sembly and direct primary. By this means they hope to cause so much strife within the Republican ranks that the Democratic candidates will be able to step in and carry off the piums. Uncouth. Detroit Free Press. "He's so uncouth." "What's the matter?" "He actually eats the lettuce leaf the salad rests on." . The Mrv-king Bird. By Grlf Alexander. Howdy. Uintah Mockln' Bird! FlitUn' all alor.e Singin' leventy-leven songs An" none of 'em yo' own. Busy eatin' cherries ripe Nuffln' else to do. Ef I was Jes' as full o' Juice I'd sing as well as you! Mollv. she done gone to town Holdin' high her haid: G'wine t' see a clrctu clown When we's all In bald. 6hook me fo' that Mandy's Jo (Mollys epitln' two!) That's the way a yaller gal Done turns a black man blue! How come that you' mockln bird? That's no way to do! They's mo' pains inside mah heart Than cherries et by you! How come that yo' mockin' bird? Cahn yo le' me be? Cahn yo sing a lover's song An bring her back to me? Wonder how many cherries a mocking bird. can. sat. In js, day's work SfOSi-PARTISAX RISK OF LAWYERS Certain Ones Seek 'Influence' With Judsea of the People's Courts. La Grande Observer. The "non-partisan" attorneys of the "non - partisan" Multnomah bar have met, whereased, and resolved, and placed in nomination two Republicans and one Democrat for judges, thereby giving the cloak of falsehood to their very claim for action. These attorneys, inconsistent as can be imagined, hope to delude the voters. They hope to make people believe they have select ed a bench without partisan influence. All of which they know to be buncombe and silly twaddle. But, listen, why has an attorney any right to select his court? Why should he, who works under the court, be the man to choose his master? Is it not a matter of record that in almost every instance where a judge's salary is to be raised or where any favor Is to be extended, the bench attorneys seldom object? A sample of this was visible last Winter when the Legislature added two more justices to the Supreme Court of Oregon without constitutional author ity. It was also in evidence when sal ary bills were before the Legislature. For these and other reasons it is not a good plan for attorneys to choose the courts, and we do not believe the people ofv the state will approve of the action of those who are proclaiming foB a "non-partisan" Judiciary, when, as a matter of fact, the "non-partisan" feature la merely a ruse. VOTE "XO" AND STOP TjTRENISM. Only Safe Wat- to Deal With Initiative Excesses. Amity Standard. Thirty-two questions will be on the ballot at the November election for the voters of Oregon to pass judgment upon. Not to exceed five or six of them are cl sufficient state-wide interest to he brought to the attentiqn of the vot ers in a manner that they may become familiar enough with the purpose of the measure to cast an Intelligent vote therecn. Some few of them are state wide questions that will be openly dis cussed from now until the election comes, and every voter will have the opportunity to hear and read sufficient about them thoroughly to understand their meaning and cast a vote with a knowledge of the right and the wrong side of the question from his poini of view. Eut, In the case of the great mass of them the only safe way for the average voter is to vote "No." The Initiative and referendum was never Intended for solving trifling problems, and its use in this direction Is an abuse that should be stopped at once by the emphatic stand of all voters. A "No" vote upon every measure that is not of general interest to the entire state will be the most effective way by which the abuse of the privilege can be stopped, and direct legislation of some benefit to the state secured. Local or section al questions should not be given any consideration in the state at large, but by rights be referred back to their own localities. Political Issues in Oregon. Astoria Asorlan. Three great and vital purposes are actuating Republican Oregon at the present moment: The sound and com plete rehabilitation of the party within the state; the resumption of the rights of the party in the government of the state, and its full and proper repre sentation and standing at Washington. It is needless to attempt the review of the causes which have dispossessed the party of these things; it is enough to know they are within the reach of the people who have the absolute right to them and who are bent upon their honest achievement. The first of these can be secureaonly by a hearty unanimity of partisan merger; a clean and clear purpose to get together again upon the simple plane of genuine Republicanism, unim peded by factional project, unham pered by personal ambition, and free from . every ism, clique and contract that vitiated the old organism, and cinched its constitutional prerogatives in the hands of the opposing minority. If the 2000 and more representative Republicans who will gather at that time can give the signal for a free and friendly harmony, a genuine, unen gaged, unstinted singleness of purpose, and that purpose the solemn and sin cere unification of the party, then in deed will there be something doing for which all men in the ranks can be proud and grateful and eager. But, if the assembly is to be turned to a medium for personal ends, private In terest and factional disorder the breach and brand of failure and final disruption will be upon us fast and finally. What shall we make of it all? A Sane View of Assembly. Hood River Glacier. The assembly is a new institution In Oregon politics, and while its results cannot be known absolutely until after it has been given a chance, it is certain ly not a thing to be attacked until it has been shown to be bad. In Hood River County so far it seems to be very commendable, and we can see no reason why It will not continue to be so. The precinct meetings, which were well attended by real Republicans, named as delegates to the county assembly men who surely can be trust ed with the duties which they will be called upon to perform. If they see fit to recommend candidates for the county offices there is little doubt but that they will select the best men who can be found for the places. However, their choice, if they make a choice, will be subject to the indorsement of the Republicans, both the real Repub licans and the others of various parties who register with the majority party, in the primary election to be held in September. Thus there is no danger to the direct primary or any other insti tution by the. holding of the assembly which may recommend candidates. . Direct Election of Senators. Denver Times. If we amend the Constitution to pro vide for the direct election of Senators, will not that question of Senatorial rep resentation on a population basis be come a very grave issue? No man is entitled to deny, the possibility of this result following such an amendment of the Constitution; it has at least his torical logic for its Justification; and the thinly-populated West will be well advised in considering the secondary effects of a "reform." however desir able the first and immediate ends it has in view may seem to be. Given an amendment of the Constitution for direct election of Senators by the peo ple; given some new and burning con troversy between the East end the West, such as there have been In other years, and would not the people of the State of New York, with Its popu lation of 8,000,000. begin to wonder why their views on that burning question should have no more Senatorial weight than the views of the people of Col orado, who numbered less than 1,000,000? Pinchot 's Queer Conservation. The Dalles Optimist. The scale of dues in Gifford Pinchot's new conservation party are graded, from $2 per year up to $1000 for life membership. This money is to be used to press legislation to conserve our natural resources, says Gifford. One branch of the duties of the conBervers will be to conserve the junipers of Cen tral Oregon for. future generations, and let the present generation go without fuel. Another, to conserve the coal of Alaska and let the present generation send to China and Japan for fuel, as they are forced to do now. COXSIDER NATURE OF THE MAX. How Caa Roosevelt Escape From Ills Popularity and Op port unity f New York World. Ind. Dcm. T-'pon his arrival in New York Mr. Roosevelt declared he would make no political speeches for two months. In less than two weeks he had publicly intervened in the Republican fight at Albany; yesterday morning he made an editorial plea in the Outlook for direct nominations, and yesterday afternoon he agreed to make a campaign speech next Fall for Senator Beveildse of In diana, one of the insurgents wno vote'! against the Payne-Aldrlch tariff, which Mr. Taft calls "the best tariff ever eit acted." At the time he was so positive In as serting he would have nothing to sav about politics for two months he wrote to the secretary of the Republican Club of Oneida County: "I ask that the club at once stop any agitation to have mo nominated for Governor. It would be an absolute impossibility for me to ac cept." Nevertheless, wl'l ne accept? Mr. Roosevelt laiiuec escape from his popularity, his opportunity and his own nature. The first is enormous. There is an Ideal Roosevelt of popular Imagination that sways the public mind more potently than any other single force In our politics. The opportunity is extraordinary. His party, on the verge of breaking into factional dis sensions, calls for a new organizer. In dependent voters are eager for a leader. The Governorship of the greatest of American commonwealths is to be filled. Beyond the Governorship Is a seat in the United States Senate. Be yond that is the Presidency itself. When all these partisans, independents and enthusiasts In mass meetings and pri maries and conventions send up a great shout for the leader to como forth and master the opportunity, will he, can he, refuse? Consider the nature of the man; his restless activity, his gwntus lor poli tics, his passionate ambition. Consider hU weakness, his fondness Tor office from boyhood, his responsiveness to popular clamor, his eagerness to dom inate everything, his contempt for precedents, traditions, laws, customs Congress, courts and the Constitution itself. With such a nature, prompted by such popularity and surrounded by such opportuniiies, Is It likely he will retire to seclusion as a dummy trustee of an insurance company or be periaa nently content as a sub-editor of a weekly Journal of criticism,? Why should he not be a candidate? All talk of a dictatorship as a result of his ambitions is silly. A personal popularity can ar.d does afCect the passing issues of the day. but the des tinies of a nation are ordered only by forces inherent in the nation itself. Jefferson could name his successor and the successor of that successor, bui there his power ended. Jackson could procure the election of Van Buren for one term, but not for another. Grunt, with all the prestige of a great mili tary career that saved the very life of the Nation, though backed by one of the most powerful of political organ izations, could not gain a third lorni against the third-term cry, when once he had lost the confidence of the peo ple. How great was the ptisonn.1 pop ularity of Clay, of Webster, of Scott, of Blaine and of Greeley? What did it avail them on election day? The one critical point in tlie problem of Roosevelt is to know what he stands for. Thus far he has taken a definite stand only on the issue of direct nom inations. He has visited the President as a friend, and aa a friend he has re ceived the political enemies of the President. Will the Indiana speech bo an indorsement of Senator Beveriajes attitude toward the Payne-Aldrich bill ? Is he for the regulars or the insur gents? For the Aldrich tariff or againsc it? His most prominent visitors thus far have been insurgents like Lev Br idge, La Follette, Bristow. Murdoek, Fish and Polntiexter, who is the anti Ballinger candidate for Senator- in Washington. The one speech he has promised to make is in Indiana, where the Republican state convention re fused to indorse the Payne-Aldrioh tariff, after which refusal Mr. Taft canceled his engagement to go to In dianapolis. How he will stand on the living is sues of the day is of more -importance than his popularity or his opportunity. If he will stand for a lower tariff, for retrenchment, for . reform, for peace against militarism, for economy against extravagance, for public confidence and credit against unwise and unnecessary business agitations and disturbances, for honesty against corruption, for genuine democracy and true American ism against plutocracy and jingoism, his election as Governor would not only be possible but under certain condi tions desirable. The World has no per sonal or political prejudices. If if. "Common Sense" Party Started. Indianapolis News. The first formal announcement for the Presidential race of 1912 has been made by F. P. Walts, an attorney of Billet, 111., in the Democrat, a paper published at Princeton, Ind. The announcement, which is self-explanatory, follows: F. P. Walts, attorney-at-law in the states of Kentucky and Indiana, now residing in Billet, Lawrence County, Illinois, announces to the voters of the United States of America his candidacy for the nomination to the office of President of the .United States at the convention and meeting of a new political party hereafter to be organ ised, the vote of aforesaid meeting and con-, vention to be decided upon and announced at a reasonable time prior to the election Of President in the Fall of 1912. The aforesaid party is hereby given tho title of the Common People's Common Senee Party. Dated July 4. 1910, at Princeton, - Ind. . FP. WALTS. . Torture Known as "Breaking; It Gently" New York Evening Sun. Telling news is always bungled. It . cannot by the very nature of thtnsrs be anything else. There is that torturing experience- known- as breaking news gently. It consists of working, a .-person who is about to bear sad news irt.o such a state of rage against you that his anger In a measure mitigates his sorrow. Just why it has always been considered better to have to bear two great emo tions than one it Is difficult to say. but the dilution is always Insisted upon. A sorrow is always a shock, it cannot be anything else, but to have a person Inti mate that a dozen dreadful things have ' happened by way of preparing you for hearing that one has, does seem a curious method of procedure. . . Righteous Indignation. Portland Advocate (Colored). In the hopes of discrediting Cham pion - Jack Johnson's victory over his opponent, James Jeffries. In the pug ilistic world, a dally paper says tlie fight was a frame-up, and that James Jeffries was a physical wreck. A very small, dirty piece of work. But - men experienced In the prizefighting game, who were at the . ringside know better, and the public can judge between the veracity of the newspaper and men ex perienced in the art of pugdoin. Her Method. Chicago Record-Herald. "Our landlady seems to be determined that not one of us shall have the right to regard himself as the star boarder." "What is her method?" "She makes us take turns at hooking up her waist." Relative Risks. - Philadelphia Ledge--. "You know the fate of the pitcher that goes to the well too often." "Going to the well never hurt a pitcher yet. It s going to the corner saloon that sends him back to the bush leagues."