THE 3I0ItXI"G OREGOXIAX, TUESDAY, XOTESrBER 8. 1910. I-OKTLAXD. OREGO!. roterod at Portland. Oregon, pootofflco as fennd-c:fi Matter. CatwerUoA Jtateo Inearlabtr " Advance. CBT MAIL). ratTy. svnc'ar tneiude-l. om year. rally. Sundor li-!u.1. x months.-... ro.:. Fun.:y lucludrd. tf.fM mntha.. . " rally. f in.1i m-luied. one mnntn - laiy. ltn-ul Sjr.day. one reer.. J- r::y. without Sun.'.ey. six month. .... ;j I'ally. without Sunday, threo months. Felly, without Sunday, on nwolfi "eeily. or y-r . . - - - ----- fundir. one year. --"""" c u va&as u4 wo-kty. no yir. o. tBT CARRIER). M rally. inl!l Included, one year...... X,!y. 6unda Included, one roonth . -. - Hoir le RMB.I-S.n4 p.tofnce """"J rder. npnu order or peroonal " our local bonk. Siimpi coin or Jr. . ,h. oender. n.Jfc rl. ',.r"I7 ad-lew In fill, Including county . V. roetoeto Ko 10 It ( ,1. ' to poo. 1 cot.; 14 to " Poioo. ""'; 00 o so pesos. 4 coot ror.. a poetase olnublo rate. rB,k. Hn-Nr. Tor. H-ismwIc rulldln. CBi-c.(-. :cr tjl!:n. . roRTUvn." Tirnr." sov. s. ' Anri; the ivmmTr If the two iinfndmenu to the Con stitution proposed by the People's Power League, and parln by titles last in the lift on the official ballot re approved. Oregon will have taXen n unusual and undoubtedly unwise step In formulation of laws. Here are two measure designed to replace, wholly, two complete article cf the Constitution, or more than half the amendable portion of the present organic law of the State, and to Incor porate In the two new articles Ion and complicated self-executing sections. Legislation by popular vote Is a cumbersome method, and has Its place n'v as a form of protection against linfaiihfulness by the Legislature In tarrying out the will of the people. N.. true friend of the Initiative and rferndum will Keck to carry It firth er. Fah of the f-ur Teoples Tower League measures Is typical In one way or another of a arrowing abuse of the lultlatlve. The two proposed laws, one extend ing the direct primary law to Presi dential electors and the other provid ing: for an official gazette, bear the s-i::r.g finger prints of desiring" pol-I'l'-lans. The two constitutional amendment Involve a lame variety of -ptng and radical changes in the constitution. Proportional represen tation is but an Item in one of them for the "amendment'" embraces twenty other Important changes In the con Mttution and staha here and stabs there most promiscuously by Implica tion among general laws and consti tutional provisions not directly re pealed. Taken together the four present two Important questions to the people of Oregon not found specifical ly stated therein: Is the Initiative to be devoted t promiscuous legislation nd the shear Ins; of the powers of the Legislature until It Is little more than a body em powered to elect United States Sena tors and canvass the Presidential vote In the state, or Is It to be reserved for emergencies arising- from indif ference or corruption in the Legisla tive Assembly? Are political intrigue and special Interests to manipulate the Initiative a they have manipulated Legislatures? The Oregon electorate must vote "yes" or "no" on these two questions. Jt should grasp the opportunity pre sented to express Itself In such a way that not soon again will a disposition be shown to present measures too complicated for ready understanding or even simply worded measures for which there is no genuine public de mand. Visionary, complex, personal and class measures should be swept aside. Certainly more than one of these terme apply to the four measure sub mitted by Bourne and CRen and their Immediate followers. now rmM are btu.t. Moderate taxes attract manufactur ing enterprises to a city. Every ad ditional burden that is laid on. a com munity In the way of high taxes for unnecessary purposes will be a con tributing factor In driving factories and other Industrial enterprises to more economically managed commu nities. In the present demand of In terested persona for public docks, which would enormously Increase taxes, no attempt Is made to show where -any Increased business is com ing from, or where Portland Is to de rive any benefit from the expenditure cf the many millions necessary to es tablish even a small system of public docks. The New Orleans Picayune published In a city which has public docks galore. In Its issue of October SI. has some very Interesting com ment on what builds great cities. "It Is curious notion of the American people. says the Picayune "and one that they persist in holding, in the face of light and knowledge, that commerce, the exchange and handling cf merchantable products. Is what builds up great cities. " The Picayune cites the fact that Galveston, where 'The railroads and private companies own the waterfront and move their trains wherever It may please them." has far passed New Or leans In the shipping of cotton and grain to foreign countries, although Galveston has but little more than one-tenth the population of New Or lean a In other words. New Orleans, with Its costly publio docks Is being outstripped In the shipping business y a city of one-tenth the size which has private docks. The experience of the two cities, the Picayune thinks, "ought to prove that railroads and ships do not necessarily of themselves make a great city, but that It Is nec essary for the people to do something else besides sit down and wait for the railroads to make them rich." Hd the Firayune been !ls.-usslng the situation In Portland Instead of Xm Orleans, it could not have ex pressed the lx-l situation any more t-Iearly or truthfully than where It mis' "What e need Is extensive manufacture and a vast distributing trade i mnke business for the rail roads, and then they will cater to our traffic. If they should fail, then we must put steamboats on the rivers and become Independent." The Idiotic ar gument that the railroads with their enormous Investments in and around Portland will kill the trade of the city unless we have publio docks meets with no more favor In New Orleans than In Portland. "If our merchants." says the Pic ayune, "were slipping Instead of - thousands, tens of thousands, and hun dreds ef thousands of carloads of roods a month to various places in Sha Interior, would not tha railroads J be glad to handle it. and would they not have plenty of cars to carry the trade?" This reference to the part that manufacturing establishments play in the building of a great city Is of special Interest to Portland, where all of our manufacturing Industries are located, where public docks would be of no use to them whatever. The 12. 600.000. which the public dock and debt promoters wish to Invest in pub lic docks, would. If used for the pur pose, add a foot or two to the river channel's depth all the way from Portland to the sea. That extra foot would attract more shipping than all of the public docks that could be built. Since the subject was first broached, the dock and debt promoters have printed columns and pages of theories, sophistries and gauzy generalities, but as yet not one straightforward state ment of fact showing where a public dock could attract an additional ton of business In or out of the port has been presented. No more dangerous tax-eating scheme was ever before the people of Portland. Unless it Is voted down. It will cost the city millions without producing the slightest benefit to any one except a few purveyors of dock sites. irKT AM) THE LIVESTOCK BILL It is clear now that the State Legis lature, at its session, of 1909, waa per suaded to defeat the flftecn-milee-peril our livestock shipment bill through the representations and Importunities of Oswald . West, Jtailroad Commis sioner. Mr. West's activity against the measure, and his open and deliberate championship of the cause of the railroads as against the shippers, were subject of surprised comment then. Now It Is more perfectly understood that he was more anxious for personal prestige and notoriety than he waa to protect the shipper, and he waa ex tremely Jealous of any Interference with or dtrectlon to the commission In any matter affecting the public In terest, the railroad lntrrest or any other Interest. We do not assume that he had a motive more reprehen alble. It was reprehensible enough. A roost Inexcusable feature of this little episode Is that the Bourn e-Chamberlaln-Wes organs and agents have sought to show that Mr. Bower man, in voting against this measure, had a purpose to aid the railroads. It Is not true. It is known by Mr. West and by these hirellngonewspapers and procured orators not to be true. Mr. Bowerman thought the bill should pass. But on the repre sentations of Railroad Commissioner West that the commission had ample power to discipline the railroads and regulate the livestock service, he was persuaded by West) to let the rail road commission have Ita way. That la the authentic history of this In teresting transaction. Tct West and his outfit would now have It appear that Bowerman Is to blame. The public, of course, knows better. Judge A. S. Bennett, who tried to get the Legislature to enact the bill. In the Interest of shippers, also knows better. Read the Bennett letter. TWO ACTTTX. Mint. Besides Mr. Bowerman, Mr. Haw ley for Congress has had to meet dur ing the campaign the varied and num erous misstatements and falsehoods of the Bourne-Chamberlain press bu reau. Neither Bourne nor Chamber lain likes Hawley. He cannot be used. He won't "stand In." He Is perfectly straightforward and matter-of-fact. .He works hard. He gets things done. He Is entirely above the little scheming and Intrigues and pretensions that belong to the arts of the politician. Ho doesn't try to fool anybody. He doesn't know how and couldn't. No wonder Hawley Is out of favor with the Bourne-Chamberlain combi nation. They even try to take from him the credit for work that is plain ly and certainly his own. There is that Oregon City locks matter for ex ample. Hawley was hard at work for the locks appropriation long be fore anybody else. Chamberlain was diligent enough later, but it Is doubt ful If Bourne even knew what the thing was all about. It will be a most serious mistake for the voters to substitute a new man for Hawley. They will not do it. He is growing in Influence at Wash ington, and stands well with both "regulars" and "insurgents." Because he has done his work, and done it thoroughly, through the dominant house organization, the Bourne-Chamberlain outfit and their claquers are trying to beat him by shouting "Can non." What stuff and guff! Lafferty Is a new man. but an ac tive and energetic one. who promises well. He has made a fine campaign. He has the material in him to make good. He should be, and will be, elected. PEC14NING CBAIX PRICES. A bumper crop of corn and oats has brought the output of our three prin cipal grain staples up to the largest total on record. Unfortunately for the ease of the financial situation, there has been such a heavy decline in prices that the total value of these three staples has been cut down about 1375.000.000. or a matter of some thing more than 14 per capita, for the population of the United States. Wheat, which closed In Chicago yes terday at 89 H cents, closed a year ago on the same date at 11.01H. Corn closed yesterday IS cents lower than a ear ago, and oats nearly eight cents lower. Some of this heavy de crease In price of the three prominent wealth producers of the country has been offset by a large yiejd and high prices for cotton, to that, taking the value of agricultural products as a whole, the decrease In price has not yet carried the total down below that of last year. There are. of course, two view points from which to regard this heavy decline In agricultural products. Cheap corn means cheap hogs and hog products, and cheap wheat means cheap flour. Since the present era of high prices began about two years ago. the consumers of these products have been obliged to pay an uncom fortably large proportion of their earnings for these and similar neces sities of life. Home consumption has been gaining so rapidly on production In the case of many of our principal agricultural products that the econo mic advantage of high prices is much smaller proportionately than It form erly was. That there still remains In the country a large surplus of wheat that will not be needed for home consumption, seems cerxajn. it l. Tott.r x regret that tha Amer- 1 lean farmers have permitted the Rus sians to unload on the best market, and leave the Americans to take the lower prices which are now in ef fect. This unfortunate feature is particu larly noticeable in the Pacific North west, where numerous cases are re ported 'of sales at from 40 cents to 50 cents less than could have been secured a year ago, and at from 10 cents to 15 cents less than were ob tainable when ths year's crop waa ready for market. Conservative esti mates place the Value of the grain carried over from the 1909 crop In the Pacific Northwest at more than to. 000.000. This sum, circulating in a sparsely settled country like Oregon. Washington and Idaho, has an ap preciable effect on all branches of in dustry. If the costly lesson which the farmers are now learning Is heeded, there will soon be less idle capital tied up in wheat than there was at the close of last season. WHERE "AVTI-ASSKMBI.Y" NOW STANDS Who are the people and what are the interests that are persistently urg ing upon the .voters the falsehood that "Assemblylsm" is an Issue in the present campaign? You hear it from Senator Chamber lain. You hear it from Senator Bourne, Oregon's only Hessian. You hear It from the associates, benefic iaries. Instruments and tools of the Bourne & Chamberlain partnership. You hear It from the publicity organs of the Bournocratic coalition. You hear it from Chamberlain, because he Is interested in Democratic success, so far as It spells his own success. You hear it from Bourne because he la first and always for Bourne and no body else, and he cannot control the Republican party or its organization. There is no other reason. Everybody knows there Is no other. These are the sources from which pour forth the denunciation of "Assemblylsm" In a frantic and unjustified effort to keep alive issues settled by the pri mary. The public will not have failed to observe that all these gentlemen have an axe to grind. It will also not have overlooked the fact that they are lined up. In one way or another,, behind some candidate opposed to the Repub lican ticket- Usually they are the Democratic nominees, but they are ashamed to acknowledge it. But what of the direct primary? What becomes of the primary as the arbitration board and Judgment seat of differences within a party? Has tbe primary a function? Or are its find ings to be ignored and attacked by ev ery one who, though he may have, par ticipated In the primary, may not be satisfied or pleased with Its decisions? On the other hand, observe the at titude of the Republican leaders who called themselves "anti-Assembly" bo fore the primary. They entered the primary In good faith. They appealed to the primary for final action be tween .candidates and factions.' They accept the result and support the "pri mary by supporting its candidates. Who are entitled to the respect and confidence of the voters the Republi can "anti-Assembly" leaders, who without an important exception (not counting Bourne) are for the Repub lican primary ticket? Or the "non partisan" officeholders, office-seekers, political fortune-hunters, and their newspaper boosters, (all Democrats), who participated in the Republican primary only to meddle, confuse and ruin, and who want to beat all the Republican nominees, "Assembly" and "anti-Assembly," (except where there are no opposing Democratic candi dates) in their own interest and for their own benefit? ri-EASrN'O THE VALLEY TOWN'S.'1 The Oregon Electric Railway de sires a franchise over certain streets of Portland (Salmon 'and Tenth), so that it may establish proper connec tion with the United Railways and with the terminal station of the Hill Railway system at Flanders street. It Is desired also by the Oregon Electric that passengers from- the towns of Willamette Valley may be landed at points nearer the center of the city than the present station at the foot of Jefferson street. The company does not intende to do a streetcar business nor a freight business along the projected railway. Its sole pur pose is to give better and quicker service to its valley and Portland pat rons. It would appear to be In the interest of Portland that every reasonable fa cility be granted the Oregon Electric for Improving and expediting its service with out-of-town places. Yet it seems that certain property owners along Salmon and Tenth streets Insist that It shall be stipulated In the proposed franchise that all electric trains shall atop at each street crossing. It is an entirely Impracticable condition. Port land blocks are short. Two minutes must be devoted to each stop. If this condition shall be imposed the time of getting a train, out of Portland will be increased fully forty minutes. The Railway Company says that the fran chise in these circumstances will be utterly useless. Doubtless it would be. The plans of the Oregon Electric and the United Railways are to extend to Engen and Tillamook with lateral lines to various points. Obviously, with the Increase of traffic, there must be Improved facilities within the City of Portland. It seems to The Oregonian that the City Council ought to grant this franchise without un necessary delay and' without the re quirement that all trains shall stop at every street crossing. They must stop, as It Is, at every street railway cross ing, so that between Jefferson and Flanders streets there will be twelve necessary stops. Certainly these .are enough. Valley, towns have petitioned the Portland City Council to grant this franchise, and it is due them that full consideration be given to their petition and their expectation. They want passengers to get in and out of Portland readily and speedily. Port land should help them. K-FRESIDEXTS IX ACTIO. The more or less vague suggestions einotino- thaut that Mr. Roosevelt may aspire to another term in the White House have revived Interest in the po iiioi ofiv1tt nf other ex-Presidents. Has any one of them ever set a pre cedent ror tne voiddqi vig-urvu m ..(..iniilT mobile camoalimlng? Have any of his predecessors fixed a longing gaze upon tne .rremaenuaj cnair suier twice enjoying its stately hospitality? a- .i-u in tha current number of the Outlook abeds some light upon these questions, mey are aiwajs n . i -a with such a man as mww.B fioosevelt f'""t tha jubllo xa an&J portending heaven knows what they may become important almost any time. A number of our ex-Presidents, like Pierce and Buchanan, rapidly became nonentities after leaving the White House, but most of them have found useful employment which kept them fairly distinct In public recollection. Harrison the second became a distin guished lecturer on international law. for example. Perhaps Mr. Hayes was the only one who chose an associa tion so humble as chicken-raising, but even that is honest. Whatever may be said against these exalted and somewhat embarrassing dignitaries. It must be confessed that all of them have been respectable and mosf of them exemplary In their conduct. Cheap land and cheap transporta tion to the world's markets have made the Argentine a most formidable com petitor of the American wheatgrower. These advantages are still further to be Increased by the use of the com bined harvester, a Pai-iflc Coast in vention which has revolutionized har vesting methods in the Pacific North west. The first of these "combines," which are so plentiful throughout Ore gon and Washington, is now on Its way to Buenos Ayres. It will prove so far superior to anything now at work In the Southern Hemisphere that the cost of producing a bushel of wheat in the Argentine will be mater tally reduced. Russia is at the present time the controlling factor In the world's market, but tho farming and harvesting methods are so crude in that country that the Introduction of labor-saving machinery is very slow. If the land of the Czar should fol low the lead of the Argentine and Introduce the Pacific. Coast combined harvester, the cheapest grown wheat on earth would be found along the Black Sea and the Baltic. General Estrada has ''signed on" for a two-years' cruise as president of the turbulent Republic of Nicaragua. United States Commissioner Dawson, who represented this country In the proceedings, has promised to use his best efforts to obtain a large loan for the country. This loan Is to be guar anteed by 50 per cent of the customs duties, and will be used for funding the Internal and foreign debt, build ing railroads and establishing a gold standard. If Nicaragua 'will remain on her good behavior for two years, and carry out the plans for which this loan is desired, it might be a good plan for the United States to help her our. As the proprietor of the Monroe Doc trine, Uncle Sam has always had the diplomatic responsibility for the con duct of the Central American repub lics, but has never yet got much money out of the Job. - Perhaps, with a large' financial investment to pro tect, we might take a stronger hand in the management of the country, to the advantage of the governed, as well as the governors. Bight lives lost and S500.006 worth of property destroyed are the result of somebody's blunder on the Great Northern Railroad, near Spokane. Two heavy trains, running at full speed, met on a curve with frightful results. Head-on collisions have been taking place since railroads first began run ning: the cause of these tragedies of the rail is in every case a blunder on tho part of some operative. Either the dispatcher falls to give the proper orders or the engineer misinterprets them. The installation of the block signal on most roads has cut down the number of these horrors, but even the block signal has Its limitations when warnings are disregarded. Every en gineer and every train dispatcher knows that two trains cannot pass each other on a single track, but with a blind faith In "orders." every year sees a large number of engineers rush ing to certain death In head-on col lisions. After all. It can matter but little if the opponents to the Broadway bridge carry their fight to the Su preme Court of the United States. The case would have to await its turn, and the bridge would practically be com pleted by the time the final decision could be 'rendered. However, with no further chance to obtain a restrain ing order, and with the very remote possibility for success in the higher court, based upon the sweeping de cisions of the local courts. It Is still doubtful that those opposed to the bridge will go to the expense and trouble of seeking aid in the highest court of the land. Changing election day from early In June to early in November brings a measure of discomfort to the man marking bis ballot in the secrecy of the Australian system. Under ordi nary conditions the voter casts a shadow in the booth and finds diffi culty in marking properly his choice. If tomorrow be cloudy, the difficulty will be Increased. Multnomah County will need enough lamps to stock a general store, but they will be re quired for exercise of citizenship, otherwise many voters will make but few marks. Let there be light, and plenty of it. Examiner Wright's discovery that the books of the Seaside bank "are in very bad shape" comes too late to be of much use. If the bank examiner had peered a little more inquisitively at Its books and securities some weeks ago a tragedy might have been pre vented and Irreparable losses fore stalled. The prime usefulness of a bank examiner, like that of a Chinese physician. Is prophylactic rather than curative. In fact, it is often difficult to cure a patient who is dead. Mr. Roosevelt has contributed at least one .prominent literary gem to the campaign. It is a trope, or, to be more specific, a figure of speech. He is going "to knock the enemy over the ropes" this time. Two years ago he was going to lick the foul monster to a frazzle and he did. Is it more difficult to knock him over the ropes, or less? A few hours will tell. Mr. Taft's Thanksgiving proclama tion is as optimistio as a Republican platform. . Election officials get three dollars today and a chance at pneumonia thrown in. The men who are not running for something had a good sleep last night. Keep your mouth shut today, for it Is a corrupt practice to open it. This is Res't day for the liars. Jlost of the Agony, is over.. REMARKS OJT PARTY PERFTDT. Mordant Comment on tbe Democratic Spirit in Oregon. PORTLAND. Nov. . (To the Editor.) The boys bother me considerably by asking me "What Is a non-partisan?" and as I am a church member I can't tell them and the mail regulations won't let me tell them through the postofflce. Won't you help us out, and tell them through The Oregonlan? Then. I am asked "Why Is Oregon Re publican?" Well, in the first place, Ore gon is not Republican. Since the sov ereigns of Oregon have made laws by their direct votes more true Democratic laws have been placed in its statute I The reason Oregon appears to be Re- puonran is oecause mere is no organizeu Democratic party in this state. ' When I made my first trip from the dear Southland to Oregon I heard of "Williams Democrats." and then "Mitchell Democrats." and next "Simon Democrats." and at last no Democrats at "all men, or excuses for men, placed on the so-called Democratic ticket who ran for office as "non-partisans." and this reminds m of an oid nejrro down South named George. His master sent him with a bag over to Al Tarver's to get six young pigs. On his way back George went into a cross-roads saloon, laid down the bag of pigs and took a drink. While drinking some mischievous boys took out the pigs and put In some pups. When George got home he told his master what nice pigs Tarver bad sent, but when the bag was opened there were the pups. George was sent back. He couldn't pass that cross-roads house. The pups were taken out and the pigs pnt into the bag. When he told Tarver about the pups In the bag he was told he was an old fool. He said, "reckon so, but dem is pupa in 'at bag," but when taken out they were pigs. The old negro was dumbfounded. Back he goes to master; same stop; same pups; his master gave him a cussing. Old George said: "Ah cain't he'p it. Marsah. dey was pigs at Tarver's, but dey is pups beah, sure; mebby, Marsah, It's case at Tarver's dey is pigs case he's 'Publican, an' you's a Demmycrat, so heah dey's yellah dogs." Well, now. we straight Democrats want a candidate to be either a pig or a pup; we don't want him to be a pig at one end of the line and a pup at the other, for that seems to make a non partisan. All things to all men that he may sell all. Os, it is said, gave forth this soliloquy lately: "Am I or am I not; am I the shadow of Bourne or am I a shadow of that man who, like the Irishman's flea, isn't there when you put your finger down? Is this my coin or If. it the coin of the golf player? Thafs the . question. The com is bright and gives strength to send to oblivion outrageous fortune and lets one take baths in lavender water and live amid sweet scented roses, and 'a rose to the living Is more than sumptu ous wreaths to the dead,' and when my toes are turned to the daisies a cabbage may sprout at my head, but while living I know a good thing and cautious thought tolls me this bright coin is mine. When Governor I'll be true .to you. I know my friends. I believe in bearing ye one another's burden's, so 111 bear some of yours. In luxury I'll live and when dead I'll be forgotten like the leaves that fall from the Autumn trees. Opportunity knocks at my door but once: I'll take it while I can; it Is my fate-" , t Party perfidy, by men trusted by Demo crate voters, has made .Oregon Repub lican, and so It will continue until the Democratic party put none but Demo crats on guard. The chairmanship of the state com mittee must be filled by a true blue "yellow dog" Democrat from the country district, and he must not be a lawyer, and then will come the "tug of war between straight Republicans and straight Democrats. . What has the Democratic party gained by the honors conferred on "gum shoe' George: simply party perfidy, party dis integration, an unholy alliance with the golf player, which alliance stinks In the nostrils of all self-respecting men. When the carpenter's son from Galilee was on earth he openly scourged the men who had usurped the temple for their " own personal selfish ends and drove them out of the temple. It Is the duty of every true Democrat to drive out of the temple these nondescript demagogues who have used only for their personal benefit the temple erected by our fathers: a temple held toegther for over 100 years by that "mystio tie of memory" that purely selfish men cannot comprehend. ' The unholy alliance has Issued the order that true Democrats must remain In the rear, and blush for shame of the cowardice of their so-called leaders. Once a General under Grant had been ordered by a Buperlor officer to remain In the rear, but when tbe firing became terrlflo on the front line he ignored the order and went to the successful relief of the Army. On being brought up i for court-martial General Grant said: Fir ing on the front lines countermands an orders." Our poor old party has been dynamited in the middle, shot in the rear and annihilated in the front all by the men we trusted. It Is time now we Ixnored orders and commenced to save our party by turning out the scamps who assume to control it. and the best start is to turn down West and vote for BOW"iOUTHERNDEMOCRAT. In the Gloaming. Chicago Tribune. The shades of evening were falling. The dim electric lights feebly strove to pierce the gloom that overshadowed the east platform of the elevated loop station at Wabash and Madison. There was no crowd a most unusual happening and the young man and young woman who were In the darkest spot, close together and busily con versing, had the platform almost to themselves. Impulsively she leaned nearer. With a swift motion she put her arms around his neck and At this precise moment the man on the west platform, directly opposite, who had been idly watching the pair, turned his head and looked the other way It was none of his business. The purpose of this story is to assure those two young persons that the man saw nothing except what is here truth fully set forth. Sermonette. Henry Edward Warner. There is no place in penal institutions for a man who loves flowers, children and dogs. If I were to prescribe for a man whose inner self was slipping, I would put a rosebud in his lapel and send him walking in the park with the children: there I would have him stop on the lake front and feed peanuts to the squirrels In some snug corner where the birds, unafraid and Joyful, could eing him back to himself. This sort of treatment would throw wardens and keepers out of work, but it would largely help humanity. Lancer contract Than rraal. Chicago Tribune. "Well, sonny, how much?" asked the man with the shortened leg and rein forced 'footgear, when the Job of pol ishing had been completed. "pweiity cents, mister," said the boot black. "Five cents fur shlnln" de shoe an' fifteen far palntin' de airship." The Rush Footballer. Catholic Standard. There once was a full back who hunted For trouble, and got all he wanted. For he started to fool With a Government mule His tombstone reads simply; "Out. punted." Measures Referred to City Voters - Portland Citizens Asked to Authorize $2,500,000 Bonds for Public Docks, and to Amend the Charter So As to Pay for Water Mains Out of the Water Pund Suggestions Made As to How to Vote. Herewith The Oregonlan presents a digest of four measures referred to the voters of the City of Portland by the Council. These measures are Important and should not be overlooked by the voters. On two of the measures the opinion of The Oregonian is expressed that the electors should vote no. These are the public docks amendment and the water mains amendment. The following is a summary of the measures with their numbers on the ballot: An act providing" for tho Improvomont of the wator and harbtfr front; for tho ac quirement and operation of public docks; the creation of tho Department of Public Docks to remilato and control public docks and other waterfront structures; authoriz ing the issuance of t2.5O0.OOO in bonds, and to levy such taxea as may be necessary for current expenses and carrying on such work. Sliull Secnon US. of the Charter of the City of Portland, Or., as amended, ba amended? 1U0. Tea. 101. No. This amendment would give voters no voice in selection of the five mem bers of the proposed Dock Commission. The commissioners would be chosen by the Mayor, and would be vested with both legislative and executive powers. The Commission would have practically unlimited powers over city property along the waterfront, in cluding the right to lease and sell, as well as to purchase, land and docks and pass ordinances o regulate such property. In addition to having exclusive dis posal of revenue from dock property, the Commission would have the righ to ask the Council for a tax levy for its use, amounting to as much as one tenth of a mill. In case the Council should fall to provide such a tax levy, the Commission would be given the right to go over the head of the Coun cil, and. by certifying to the County Clerk the amount of the proposed levy, to have It collected. Adoption of the amendment would create a Commission that would Include among Its various other powers, many of those now vest ed In the Port of Portland, thus doubl ing present expenses of public adminis tration. This $3,500,000 bond issue would be the forerunner of other big bond is sues, because this first sum would but start the city In the docks business. The city debt is already large and these bond Issues would add heavily to taxes. Even without debt for docks the burdens of bond Interest will weigh heavily on property owners. Other things than docks are much more needed by the city.' Publio docks would greatly lengthen the list of the city's officials and em- DO WE NEED MORE COUNTIES t Comparison With Other States That Does Not Fit the Cose. . PORTLAND, Nov. SWTo the Editor.) It is contended that tbe creation of new counties la of no concern to voters unless they reside in one of the counties whose territory contributes to the pro posed new county. This seems to me a narrow view. Tbe proposition to create a new county is likely to be a fairer one to all con cerned if the case is submitted to all the voters of the state as an Impartial Jury, only interested in the state's wel fare, than if it Is made a local .matter and the new county offices and court house site are trafficked In with the usual corruption, . strife and bitterness that ensue. Smaller counties mean the creation of new civic centers more equable taxa tion, new and better roads and bridges, increased immigration into the rural districts on which the growth of the cities depends. . Oregon, with 96,000 square miles, has 34 counties. Kansas, with 83,000 square miles, has 106 counties. Illinois, with 56,000 square miles, has 102 counties. Ohio, with 41,000 square miles, has 88 counties. Missouri, with 69,000 square miles, has 115 counties. Georgia, with 69,000 square miles, has 137 counties. The rapid development of Oregon and Portland requires smaller, and conse quently more, counties. Portland, Or. F. S. MYERS. The average population per county In all the states mentioned by the corre spondent is, with the possible exception of Kansas, larger than In Oregon. He takes no account of the mountainous, uninhabitable sections of many Oregon counties. For tbe purpose of a Just comparison with the states mentioned, he should have considered Oregon's area abettt 48.000 square miles. W. D. Howell's Fixwt Long Story. Interview with William Dean Howells. When I was a boy I worked on my father's paper. Among other things, I set type. Those were days of great struggle for all of us. The paper was not profitable, and ours was a large family. My tastes and ambitions were all literary and I wanted to write a story. Instead of writing it and then setting it up In type, I composed it at the case and put it in type as I in vented it. We printed a chapter of It weekly in the paper, and so it was pub lished as fast as I got it up. I tried to get three or four chapters ready In advance, but I could not do it. All I could possibly accomplish was to have one installment ready every time the paper went to press. This went on for a long while, and that story became a burden to me. It stretched out longer and longer, but I could see no way to end it- Every week I resolved that that story should be finished in the next week's paper; every week it re fused to be finished. Finally I became positively panic-stricken and ended it somehow or other. The experience dis couraged me to some extent. I made up my mind that I could not invent. Reflections of a Bachelor. New York Press. The only sure way to get out of trou ble is not to get in. It isn't safe for a woman to be with some men, even at the other end of the telephone. . . When girls are good. It's because they want to be; when men are good, be cause they have to be. It's as easy to guess about the stook market as to reason out what It will do, and much cheaper because you won't risk so much that way. A trusting woman can believe her husband spent the evening in the office working, even though she finds in his pocket a theater ticket, showing where he was. Poke Bonnets of Gold Laee, New York American. The girls at a fashionable wedding Tuesday had on poke bonnets of gold lace, made with full, baggy crowns of black velvet and trimmed with wreaths of tiny pink and blue flowers and their leaves. Each carried a bunch of white chrysanthemums, tied with gold satin ribbon. ' - Poataxe Progress. St. Paul Dispatch. letter postage was reduced from 3 to 2 cents in 1883. That was 27 years ago. so that it Is nearly time for Postmaster-General Hitchcock's promised 1 cent rate. It has been almost B0 years since the distance limitation was abol ished, and less than 70 since adhesive stamps came into use. plover. The docks unquestionably would fall far short of supporting themselves out of their own revenues. Depreciation would be costly. The city would have to take over all, or nearly all, the wharfage business in order to treat all citizenB and interests alike. Wharfage facilities now are adequate for the city's needs and charges are reasonable. Vote 101 NO. An amendment to Section 27, of tho Charter of the City of Portland. Or., as amended, . authorizing the Council, from time to time, to issue bonds, the amount of such Issues to be determined by the Coun cil: the proceeds thereof to be used for carrying on tho water system: providing that ouch bonds, and the cost of ail water mains herenfter laid shall he paid out of the water fund, and providing a refund for mains heretofore paid for by property owners. Shall Section 221. of tho Charter of tho Citv of Portland, as amended, be amended? 102. Tea. 103. No. . The effect of this amendment to the charter would be to make the water users, as distinguished from the bene fited property owner, pay for the laying of water mains. It would also vest In the Council the unusual right to sell water bonds at will, without first ob taining authority for each issue from the voters. This amendment would make impos sible the lowering of water rates. It would saddle the cost of improving su burban land with water upon water consumers. It gives unfair advantage and free mains to land speculators Vote 103 NO. Charter amendment providing that tho salary of-tho &ity Attorney shall bo rlxod by tho Council. Shall Section S40 of the Charter of tho Citv ot Portland, Or., bo amended? 106. Tea. 107. No. . If the foregoing amendment is adopted, the salary of the city Attor ney will be under the control of the Council, as those of his deputies. At present his salary, fixed by the char ter, is $200 a month. KO Recommendation. An act providing that tha salary of tho City Engineer shall be fixed by the Council. Shall Section 803 of the Charter ot tho City of Portland bo amended T 104. Tea. 105. No. The salary of the City Engineer Is fixed at present by the charter at $20 a month. The passage of the forego ing amendment would permit the Coun cil to regulate the salary of the City Engineer, as it does those of his dep uties. NO Recommendation. "WILL DRIVE MONEY AWAY. How Prohibition Will Enrich Washing ton at Oregon's Expense. Polk County Observer. The Observer cannot for the life of it see what Oregon would gain in a finan cial way by voting "dry." Granting for the sake of argument that every dollar spent for liquor Is a dollar wasted, the fact remains that while Oregon is wet, that dollar remains in Oregon. The very day Oregon becomes dry, the mail-order liquor houses would simply transfer their base of operations from Portland to Vancouver, Wash., or to some other point Just across the Columbia River. Here they would be as close to their Oregon customers as they are at pres ent, and here they could ply their busi ness without fear of molestation. For it must be remembered that the laws of the Federal Government do not permit any interference with interstate ship ments. If you will read the law by which it Is proposed to make Oregon dry. you will see that It says ' "no person shall offer to any carrier for shipment or de livery any Intoxicating liquor from & place to a place both within the State of Oregon." The law does not attempt to forbid shipments from one state to another, for any such provision would be in direct violation of the Interstate Commerce law. Should Oregon vote dry next Tuesday, every thinking man in the state knows exactly what would happen. The liquor business would simply be transferred across the line into Washington and would continue to flourish. Then, every dollar sent out by Oregon residents for liquor Would be lost to this state. The Washington brewer and mail-order house would reap the whole benefit, and Wash ington would grow at Oregon's expense. And we all know the people of Wash ington well enough to know that this would not hurt their feelings in the least. Talk about benefiting the Oregon labor ing man by voting Oregon dry! We ask. in the name of common business sense, what possible benefit the laboring man in Oregon would ever receive from a dollar sent out of the state never to return? What chance would he ever have to get any part of It after it was sent away to another state? Do not think for a moment that the Oregon laboring man does not see the point to this argument We have on the desk before us a circular from organized la bor, received in today's mall, appealing to the voters of Oregon to save the state from this very condition. The circular Is signed not only by the local labor unions of Astoria, Baker City, The Dalles, Salem and Portland, but by the executive board of the Oregon State Fed eration of Labor Itself. Future Railroad Crossties. Christian Science Monitor. The idea that something may be sub stituted for the wooden cross tie in the future has not been wholly aban oned, but the great railroad systems of the country, evidently, are proceed ing on the esumption that their main dependence for a supply ot this useful article will continue to be in rather than In the furnace. Steel ties have been used successfully under cer tain conditions, and It is among the probabilities that they will be used ex tensively as time goes on, but wooden ties are for many reasons more de sirable, and the great problem is not merely how to keep up the present sup tlv rapidly becoming inadequate both as regards quality and quantity, but how to provide against its exhaustion at an early day. Too Verbose. Smart Set. "Hare." said the editor, "you use too many words. You say: 'He was poor but honest.' You have only to say that he was honest. "Again you say," 'He was without money and without friends." Simply say that he was without money. Light That Failed. Cassell's. "Uncle, will wou please pick the wick 0VertaiuryndlBut why such a strange "2Ucosri heard dad say we phould get a fortune when you snuff it." Why He Lost His Job. Chicago News. "Are these lace handkerchiefs all lin e r asked the particular lady at th ba.oima'am"rreplled the ultra honest clerk.'" the open portions are not lin en." , Graded. Baltimore Evening Sun. "Hello, is this the grocer? Send me five gallons of gasoline immediately?" "Yes, mum. Will yau have aero-. . . nhHo mntnr-cvele. torch- piane, u ",,J " ------ light procession or cookin, mumr 1 0