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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1911)
THE ORFHOXIAX. SATUKDAT, FEBRUARY 4, 1911. 10 roartAXD. oiroot. Ivml at rartlaad, Oraeaav. Fee taftl at caa-.:aae vailae. BT M4IU ' awa'aT raelaea. e rar . ....t a-.,a4a ) -.4 1 .1. . 4 " !'. Saaaaa Iaiula4. Itrw aeothe.. JJ XTt. SuDdir iiwrui4. aa mata.... althavt Suadav- ema vaar....... wlthcxit Suadair. 911 irootha . . . . All with M,t hgndftr. tiaraa ro on t o . . l-ll '-i. . . .7. - Saada. taar " 3 Mf sad ! as Tar. HIT CARRIE t. "aarfar toeladad. ana raae. ..... Mi t Sunday larluaa4. aaa -n-"... few la nraaH 14 raofflra earaaa ar)r or parannal aha Tr local balk. stamoa. re' n ar eorrawea ara af I ha aaadar-a . Olra ptf-a aTraaa la mil tarludlns reaars td ara "aaa Rat aa ta ta 14 pa (aa. t eaat: I a f aaaaa. J raala; ta ia i pa aaa. a ceata- 40 aa, 4 aaata. Faraa saataca aaakia rata laafara fla.laaaa Orn. aa Vae-aa a) Ia Naw Vara. Hrrjr.awlca aallalas. CaJ- aaa Piw .ullr) n rarr. Ia roRTUn. s-tTmnAT. nn . mi. the nrroRo or nmr year. The Morning Oregonlan today reaches and passes Its fiftieth mile atone. It has achieved a record In a momfntou" half century without parallel among- the Important Journals cf the Nation, since It has been throughout Its history under the con tinuous genera direction of Its founder. mnarr and principal owner. It felicitates Itself and the public that t the end of a long" half century the fAr-seelng and ambitious young- pub lisher who brought forth the first Lmu of the pioneer dally Is here at the helm In good health, his eye clear and his rrap firm, with undiminished courage nd unexcelled optimism looking for ward to a greater and more useful future for the child of his brain and Labor. If The Orrgonian anticipates now enty prosperous days. It Is not unmind ful of the mischances and losses of the past, the heaviest of which was the death during the recent year of Its edftor. long Identified with Its for tunes, and conspicuous throughout his life In the Held of American Journal- Ism. It is duly humble, then, when It has occasion to reflect on the frail ty, of life and the mutability of all things human: yet It would buckle on its armor anew, close up Its ranks for the forward march and continue undismayed and unafraid the struggle en behalf of the many people for whom it feels entitled to regard Itself a both Toice and champion. Another And yet another will drop by the way aide; but the progress of time and the adrance of events cannot be halted. Come what may The Oregonlan will go on. fill endeavor. Where Is there another story like his? What other here In Oregon can look back over the traveled road and find in It no turning or devi ation o right or left? , Where Is here such another example of a fixed aim persistently and consistently pursued? Where Is there such another monu ment of a life well spent as he. living;, now sees? These words are, of course, written by another hand; they are penned through a sense of loyalty and duty to the quiet and modest man whose spirit and temper have so long pervaded The Orcgohlan and have been so fine and worthy an Inspiration to his fellow-workers. xne Morning Oregonlan had lt birth on February . Hal. Amid the rumblings and contentions of ap proaching civil war. Its life has been closely associated with the eventful history of A primitive country grown now to a populous And thriving com monwealth. No other dally Journal now published In the Northwest was la existence when the first Issue of The Morning Oregonlan Appeared: and scarcely Another In the entire West. No other surviving 'Institution of any kind has been to prominently Identi fied with the progress and development of the Pacific Northwest; none other has always been so truly the breath or its breath, the life of Its life. It has been ever an observer and reporter of events. It has sought to be a friend of woi-hy effort and a foe of the un worthy. Ignoble And traitorous. It has defended the Union and upheld the Federal power and sovereignty. It has fought secession. It has detested and denounced slavery. It has declared for the equal rights of all men. white and black, before the law. It has de fined And Approved reconstruction. It has opposed the greenback heresy, and It has made long And successful war on the greater stiver heresy. It has preached sanity, taught reason and usually practiced moderation. It has never forgotten, and has Admonished Its readers never to forget, the fruit ful lessons of history And experience. It has not hesitated to challenre rus tic opinion when It appeared to be vacillating or wrong. It baa gone Into the partial eclipse cf popular disfavor through Its persistent presentment of correct principles and rational policies, but It has in due time emerged into the bright sunshine of general approval. It has made mistakes and suffered lapses, but It has sought always the straight way and. we hope, has kept the filth. Of Its errors The Oregonlan haa ben keenly conscious not less con scious, indeed, since tt has been al ways, and is today, reminded of them constantly by Its vigilant friends and Amiable critics. But It begs to Assure them snd others that It welcomes their suggestions And frequent Animadver sions: for It benefits much by coun sels of perfection And Achieves humil ity through the dally contemplation of Its own shortcomings. Tet It would say for Itself that The Oregonlan Is what It ia because It has practiced Journalism Always for Its own sake, has avoided entangling alliances with Any other Interest or Influence. And hAS given exclusive And Impartial at tention to the difficult business of daily newspaper making. If we should undertake to define the position of-The Oregonlan today before and with Its public, the ta k would not be hard. It is not A creature of chance or fortune or circumstance. It is a growth, a product, a reflection of the times in which it has lived, the oppor tunities It has met. and the obstacles it hes overcome. It Is here today be cause It has always supplied a public need. And in A permanent sense haa fulfilled public expectation. When The Daily Oregonlan was started the City of Portland, with about 3000 people, had three other daily papers. But they dropped out one by one before the steady progress of The Oregonlan because they failed to print the news, or because their proprietors and editors were not in accord with the patriotic sentiment of the people of Oregon: or for both reasons. The Oregonlan from the first realized to the best of Its ability Its function as a purveyor of news, for it tolled And searched for the latest And" best Information of All events worth chronicling, particularly of the mighty conflict then raging between North and South, while others waited for what luck or the slothful malls might bring them. Ia the early '60. there was no telegraph line nearer than Treks. California. Mr. Plttock at the outset arranged to have the latest news wired from San Francisco t Treka And relayed by mail to Port land. Here was genuine enterprise rewarded by the Instant favor of the reading public. Later, when the tele graph wire was put through, he brought here an enlarged direct serv ice and printed Alt the desirable news he could get. The policy thus early inaugurated has been throughout tra dltlonal with the paper, and Is pur sued now with more diligence, elabor ation And completeness than ever. If Anything Is worth printing it Is worth telecraphlng. is one fixed motto of The Oregonlan. so that the news Is carried by wire from alt quarters of the globe In coploos volume and va riety. The Associated Press brings 11.000 to 1S.000 words nightly and the special service Increases the Average dAlly quantity to near 10.000. But the latter has become far the more costly The prime effort, however, has been always to print everything obtainable About Oregon And the Northwest, And to cover And expound every phase of life. Industry And thought of the great Oregon country. If The Oregonlan has brought the outside world to Ore gon through the electric telegraph and the daily mails. It haa no less done Its full duty la carrying the message of Oregon. Washington and Iduho to the attentive millions of East and Middle West. So It Is everywhere regarded hi the beacon And prophet of the mighty land on the North Pacific shores. Its lights have never been dimmed through their failure to shine for all Oregon nor has Its voice been silent when the Northwest Stater needs were urgent or their fortunes in Jeopardy. The Oregonlan. being of Oregon, has understood and inter preted the Oregon country. Doubtless much that Is here re corded will appear to savor of pride and boasting; yet there ia nothing that can or will be disputed. The Orego nlan would remind lis readers Again that It la fifty years old today. It has therefore given way to a natural de sire to talk of Itself and even to pro claim its own merits a task It prefers to Assume for Itself rather than assign to its contemporaries or bequeath to Its biographers. The role of autobiog rapher Is pleasant and may Indeed be profitable None knows better than The Oregonlan the reasons of Its be ing and none Is so well qualified to state them. The consciousness or duty to the whole public dis charged with fidelity ' through the years deserve to find here ar.. now. we think. Its fit expression, and The Oregonlan does not hesitate to sny It for Itself. The rewards have been abundant And satisfying. i season to date the Argentine exports greater direct tangible results than exceed those of last year by more than ' they have ever obtained by efforts to 15.000.000 bushels. Russia Is not ' sell ship subsidy gold bricks to a pa only holding her own with last year's , trlotic but not always credulous peo record exports, but since July 1. 1910. . pie. If Mr. Oallinger Is sincere In his has actually exported 6,000.000 bush- 1 promise to abandon the subsidy plan, els more than for the corresponding the decks have been cleared, and we period of 1909. These enormous i shipments are of course distinctly ad- are now In a position to take up the matter of reviving the merchant ma- vantageous to, the European consum- I rlne by the methods so successfully era, but so long as they are maintained they will make - It very difficult to advance prices In this country. This Is not an unmixed evil, for the. wheat consumers of the country already out number the producers. used by every other maritime power on earth. PROMrEKITT. PRKENT AND FCTOtE. Elaborate review of the wealth of statistics and general development news contained In The Oregonlan to- against vessels In aay is unnecessary in tnis column, me facts and figures speak eloquently In detail of a period of advancement such as the state never before experienced. At no other time In the half century In which The Dally Oregonlan has been recording the progress of Portland, Or egon, and the Pacific Northwest, has it been possible to make such A wonder ful showing. It is also true that at no previous period were the prospects for the future so bright. Perhaps the best feature of the highly satisfactory industrial situation J reflected in the records oi progress in this Issue Is the fact that throughout the Northwest In the cities, towns ai.J country there is shown prosperity strictly In keeping with that which en abled Portland to , break all kinds of industrial records. The making of Portland a city of more than 200.000 people has taken place under adverse circumstances. The Standard Oil Company, owner of a steamer that rescued the dis abled steamer Shna Tak from Immi nent peril on the Columbia River bar. la endeavoring to collect $10,000 salvage for the service rendered. Since the O. R. & N. Co. anjjthe Port of fortiana nave waived salvage claims distress, there have been few claims of this na ture brought before the public. The validity and propriety of sal vase claims, however, remains unchanged since the early days of navigation. The average seaman, before the mast or behind the mast, is generally will ing to risk his life to save some fellow-man -In danger on another ship. He needs no salvage rewards or money offers to spur him to the risk. In the case of property loss, conditions are entirely different. The courts have for generations ' awarded salvage claims as an Incentive for seamen io take risks which they would not other wise take in saving property. If the result of the Seattle election shall be that Mayor Gill is triumphant. It will be because the voters there wilt have thus protested against the meth od of his recall. The term of a Seattle Mayor is two years. GUI was elected Lack of transportation has retarded , a year ago. but the furore over his the growth of some of the best por- administration and the demand for For nearly two full generations The Oregonlan has striven And wrought In Its field from that long-ago day IVcembr 4. 1SS0.) when The Week ly Orrgonian first made Its appearance, don through the doubtful struggles uf the eaio' time to that other day, ten jeurs mi A little more later, when The Wily Morning Oregonlan made Its bow. And on. through many memor able experiences, to the present period. It Is proper here to record that Mr. Pittock's connection with The Orego nlan began November, 1I5J. following his weary Journey by ox-team across the plains, when he entered the office as Apprentice And at the printer's case began his long life-work. In All the intervening time he has been with The Oregon Ian a record of more than jlTjr-sevea years of ptUc&t vnl faith.. Fifty years! The span of A full life time, the end of a long And interesting Journey. Tet not the end. , but the very beginning, though in a few years more the pulsing flnvera that work and weave At the manifold tnsks of making a dally newspaper will have dissolved Into dust, and the burden will have been Assumed by others, flut we venture to hope that The Oregonlan ill In the coming years realise Ita high mission of duty and service to all the people and be always a lamp unto their feet, an Inspiration to their minds, and A monitor to their con sciences. If the future has much In store for the people of this mngnlfl- 1 cent empire of the great Columbia. It has much also for The Oregonlan. If It shall live up to Its Ideals and fulfill Its destiny: and we think It will. It pledges Itself to the States of Old Ore gon, of which It so long has been and is a part, to be now and always the minister of their needs, the herald of their fortunes, and the servant of their proper tleslres and wants, as well as the dally chronicler of their many achievements. tlons of the state. The area thus neg. lected Is much larger than that which has enabled us to make the splendid showing appearing In the tables and accompanying details presented' else where. Even the rich Willamette Val ley, which was the foundation for Port land's commercial prestige. Is but pre paring in diversified farming, dairying, fruitgrowing and similar pursuits to double and quadruple the per-acre value of its output. The addition of this Increased wealth from the older settled portions of the state Is not all: there are thou sands of square miles of new territory that will be reached this year by the new railroads on which construction Is now being rushed. These rew roads, steam And elec tric, are opening Central and South eastern Oregon: they are going Into the Tllinmook nnd Nehalern country; Into Southern Oregon, and Into the Coos Pay country. The new North Funk Is preparing to throw out feed ers which will make tributary to Port land a vast region which now has no outlet except over the Cascade Moun tains to Puget Sound. The new terri tory thus opened will support an Im mense population. There Is no other place In the known world where the people who will take advantage of the opportunity can reap greater returns. The Oregonlan is proud of the show ing that Portland and Oregon has made In 1910. This showing, however, will seem small and Insignificant by comparison with that which will be made when the great transportation and Industrial projects now under way have been completed. TillF.RE OREGON STASBA. Oregon Is not A single-tax state The Oregonlan reasserts emhpatlcally his removal under the recall began shortly after and have continued for months. Result is that Seattle has been In the throes of a continuous campaign, conducted with great acri mony on both sides, for practically a year. Of the merits of the charges against Gill The Oregonlan ventures no opinion. Tet It thinks that not much has developed by recent investi gations that was not well known when he was elected Mayor; and he has given Seattle the kind of administra tion it voted for. It ought to have been possible to stand it for another year and recall QUI by electing some other for Mayor. The recall ought not to be applicable for short-term officers. TllE OREGOXUX-1981-Hlt Evarr successful battle, said poleon Bonaparte, Is fought upon an j Idea. So of every human enterprise. , Without the guidance of definite and resolute purpose nothing goes a j straight course, finds the powers to overcome or plow through difficulties, j the faith, the force, the restraints Which lie back of all great and especially of . all continuous achievements. This newspaper, whose career of half a century Is celebrated today, had at the cornerstone of Its foundation the Idea of simple honesty and good faith. Set down in words this Is a mere plati tude, but translated Into practice, ap- . . . . . . . . . - . kll. U.....1 puea to ma cunauci ui iiumit jvu no.. . and carried consistently through fifty I years of struggle and success, it is a thing most rare, most precious. There were no rainbow tints or other forms of self-consciousness in Mr. Pit tock's plan as it took concrete form fifty years ago todaj. His Idea was to give to Portland and -the Northwest re gion, then little better than a wilder ness, a daily newspaper that would faithfully report and Intelligently ex plain the news, exploit the interests of the country and sustain the general motives and alms of civilized life under American standards. It was a simple conception and yet a noble one, for in that day in any day, for that matter there are few Journals so slngle- The Morning Oregonlan at the End of Fifty Years 'William Lair Hill, Former Editor, Contributes a Sketch of Early Day Jour nalism la Portland Why The Prenonlno So weeded Where Others Failed. Methods and Characters la Newspaper Making. PROMPTED by deep and sincere af fection, based upon unusually In timate acquaintance from the day of its first Itsue fifty .years ago, and close personal relations with Its man agement during a part of that" long period, I am about to essay the diffi cult, if not Impossible. task of condensing into a single short article If Indeed It should not prove disastrous to the weekly edition. Leland, the edi tor of the Times, for whom I was then . writing articles occasionally, said to ma with a hearty laugh at his own wit or at his approaching victory, that The Dally Oregonlan would never have to repeat King Charles' apology for being "such an unconsciously long time dying" But the story of one of the great instltu- j Pittock's mind was made up. and the tlonal newspapers of the country. case was closed. He went at once to the In its methods the newspaper of to- I proposition of enlarging his printing day Is vastly different from the news- i plant to meet its larger requirements, paper of fifty years ago. But not In ' And here he met his first disappoint its functions. Its chief function, aside ment. There was no such thing as rail- from Its character as a business ven ture which is of so small importance to the world at large as to be merely incidental and negligible was then, and Is now, twofold: the gathering together of facts with respect to cur ment events and communicating them to its readers, thus making common and general knowledge what would other wise be Individual and local; and the presenting of such comments, opinions and suggestions as appear to the editor to be worthy of public consideration. minded, so right-minded. Few then But to tne newspaper of the old time The Treasury statement for the month of January shows a deficit of nearly $4,000,000. Under ordinary L circumscances a snowing oi mis na ture' might be regarded as distinctly unfavorable, but the statement that $3,000,000 of the deficit is on account of the Panama Canal makes a satis factory explanation. Not until the completion of the canal And the liqui dation of the enormous sum wht'h it has cost will It be ponsia to make fair comparisons of Treasury state? ments. The canal is an extraordinary undertaking. The money it Is costing the Government must bo regarded as an Investment that for A long time will show a loss but eventually It will be absorbed In such s manner that its effect on the mouthly statement will seem less Imposing than at present. There Is a difference between the cost of burning garbage In the new crematory at from 0 to 60 cents A ton and 11.25 a ton. The former fig ures represent the guaranteed cost of that by fraud and subterfuge the vot- combustion by the new plant, the latter era were persuaded last r,ovemDer to i tne actual cost. The guarantee seems enact through the Initiative a law per. mining counties to devise and enforce their own methods of taxation. It was a stealthy enterprise of the single taxers looking to experimentation with their fad In various Oregon coun ties. Put their purpose was careiuuy concealed. There was not a breath of suspicion or shred of knowledge by the voters at large that the measure was "loaded." They voted for it be cause this was printed on the ballot: For eontltutlonal amenamant provldtn for tha people of rarh count to resulala taxation and eKmplln mill the county re.trdl-aa of eonatlt utlonal restrictions or taia statutes, and aboliahlws tne poll or head tax. Abolishing the poll or head tax! There Is no poll tax in Oregon and the dishonest framers of this dishonest measure knew It. undoubtedly; hut they put It In so aa to sugar-coat the single-tax pill. It misled thousands of voters and they supported the measure. It passed by a small plurality. The real attitude of Oregon on sin gle tax Is shown by the vote in 1903 on that identical question. A single tax measure was put before the voters fruukly and without evasion or dis guise. It was beaten overwhelming ly 32,066 yeas to 60,871 nays. The Oregonlan deems It worth while. In view of the widespread ad vertisement the state has had In con nection with this pernicious and harm ful doc-trine, to show plainly where Oregon . star ds. The state Is quite sano. It will vote down single tax again next year, as It did In 190S. by d' i.-ive nnd final majority. to be based on nothing more substan tial than experiment that has failed and the assurance of constructors un backed by coin. So It appears that, as usual in this matter, the city Is likely to catch it a-comln' or A-goin. The distinction between A boss and a leader may become a little hazy now and then, but It Is usually pretty clear A boss drives, a leader persuades. A boss works by subterraneous methods. A leader stands in the open always. Mr. Barnes, of Ne-w York, Is a boss. Woodrow Wilson Is A leader. Theo dore Roosevelt presents A curious mingling of the two types. . Senator Elklna' widow Is claiming her right In refusing to take one eighth of the estate, as devised. But what was she doing when the Senator was making that wtU? The exchange of greetings between an airship and a submarine boat In San Ditgo Harbor ought to make the I Knna of Tnia Verna and Baron Mun chausen rattle a bit. That Russian physician who has been poisoning people for years for hire had a certain pride in observing the code of ethics. He did not advertise. and few new are the newspapers which owe no favor to some cause, some personal purpose, some commercial, political or social ambition. Few then and few now are inspired with simple and consistent honesty In support of the essential purposes of legitimate Journalism and no other. a a a In a sense The Moxning Oregonlan has been and Is a commercial business. But it has been and Is much mora than a commercial business, rvever a aay In Its career has the commercial inter est been the only or the main Interest of the man who founded It or those who In relations great or small have co operated with him in building and sus taining it. I speak with knowledge, for I am a son of The Oregonlan, minded of Its mind, formed and schooled and drilled in Its'sptrlt and discipline. "Get the facts,", "State them plainly,'.' "Show their meaning and application," "Pledge us to what Is right" these phrases summarize the Instructions given to all who In my day wrote for or rep resented' The Oregonlan. There are few newspapers In this or any country whose scheme of Instruction to Its staff is so brief. I doubt. Indeed, if there be one other. I am sure that there Is no other in which the idea of social and moral responsibility has been more highly or faithfully regarded. But motives and principles, however noble, have small power of self-enforcement. Honesty and good faith, high qualities though they be, could not alone have made or sustained The Ore gonlan. Resolution, courage, faith and labors piled upon labors these have been essential and they have not been lacking. And to these have been added prudence In all things, small and great, and a self-denial knowing no limits. There Is In the application of even fixed principles a certain working elasticity, but there Is rarely found In one man still more rarely In two working together the capacity to respond promptly yet unhurriedly to changing times and conditions. The men of small things are not always or often the men of large things. But Just this was requisite In the de velopment of The Oregonlan. In the long creative period which some of us so well remember there had to be the gathering of fresh news was so limited as to field and restricted in method that the newspaper of today was impossible in fact and inconceiv able to the imagination. Information of events beyond the immediate local ity came to the office by mall, generally from persons who were moved by per sonal Interest or Inclination, special arrangement for prompt news being resorted to only in case of preap pointed public events of unusual Im portance and not at great distance. The editor, or, in the case of the greater Journals, a special assistant, condensed the mass of Irregular corre spondence into reasonable limits and readable form, and gave it to his read ers, sometimes Incorporated the body of his comments, sometimes in a separate summary. aaa Later came the formation of com binations or associations for the col lection and distribution of news, and with them the general employment of the telegraph as the means of trans mission. Instantly the face of the world of Journalism was changed, the function of the newspaper as a pur veyor of knowledge expanded into every part of the civilized world. It was more than a change; it was a revo lution. No class of newspaper escaped Its Influence. The metropolitan papers, able to meet the additional expense of the new system, passed at once Into pre-eminence, and the smaller and local sheets those of them which, by rea son of local conditions or special in terests represented by them, were still able to maintain themselves in the 1 field were enabled to give their read ers vastly better news service by clip ping from those in the combination as soon as they were issued. This was an Incalculable benefit to the public It placed every home In every part of the country en rapport with the ac tivities and social progress of all other parts. The vast expansion of the news-giving function also profoundly affected that of the editorial. Possession by the reader of the wider information which the news pages of his paper brought him placed him in a better position to form opinions for himself. prudence to stoop not meanly but nobly and left him less need of suggestions to small economies that means mlcht i from the editor. But the editor was be unstinted for large and liberal not thereby MK. GALUNGKK'S BWAJt KON'O. Regret over the passage by the Sen ate of the Galllnger subsidy bill will be softened by the announcement of Senator Galllnger that this Is the last effort he will make In this direction. Further cause for complacency will be This will be more pleasant than wan- No earthly power can fix responsi bility for the Jersey City explosion. The man who. caused it Is too well scattered for even an Inquest. It is fortunate that the Seattle court And Jury exposed to smallpox were not trying A criminal case. The prisoner might have broken out. All visitors to the Panama Exposi tion can enter at the Golden Gate. The Argentine wheat shipping sea son is Just getting fairly under way, but the ports of the La Plata this week shipped 2.1 St. 000 bushels, or more than double the amount shipped' In the last week In January, a year ago. Australia ta also coming to the front with big shipments, this week's exports ex ceeding 1,000,000 bushels. For the found In the practical certainty that tho bill, when it reaches the House, will meet the same painless death that has overtaken its predecessors. Senator Galllnger. however. Is In error w hen he says "If this legislation falls. It will be a long lime before Anything more will be done to place our flHg upon the seas, and to restore the prestige of American ship ping." The ship subsidy bill, whether it has appeared as a point-blank de mand on the Government for alms with which to make profitable an alleged unprofitable business, or whether It has sailed under false col ors as a mull subsidy or "subvention." has displayed tenacity and vitality derlng through A delta. That scrap in Mexico begins to grow i interesting. Ia it time for the Wash ington to emerge, or does somebody get spAnked? The Braslllan coffee crop has been cornered. Brazil has alwaj-s been a hard nut for us to crack. Here's to The Oregonlan's sixtieth anniversary. Where do you expect to bet A decade from now? uses. Thrift was essential to the right hand that the left might be lavish. How faithful to these severe require ments the management of The Oregon lan has been those who have observed the walk of Henry L. -Plttock and of Harvey W. Scott this long and fruitful half century well know. aaa The Morning Oregonlan Is what it Is today because it sums up and repre sents all that has been put Into It dur ing the 60 years in which It has sin gularly been the guide, friend and philosopher of the Northwest. If The Oregonlan stands for high purposes, high purposes have been behind It. If It speaks for efficiency, there have been energy and diligence In its mak ing. If It stands for good faith It is because good faith has been put Into it If It commands public respect it is because Integrity, sincerity and all honorable motives have been forged Into Its being, made part and parcel of Its organic constitution. This anniversary Is peculiarly a day of glorious memories for Mr. Plttock, for It -as he who conceived and found ed The Morning Oregonlan. Upon him every day of its life has securely rested 'reduced to the ranks"; he was lifted to a position In which higher abilities and better work were de manded of him. a a In the light of the foregoing tedious Introduction the story of The Oregonlan will be more readily understood. ' On the 4th day of December, 1S50, Thomas J. Dryer issued at Portland the first number of a little four-page weekly newspaper with the title "The Oregonlan." Portland was then a tiny village, consisting of a few houses on the bank of the Willamette River, and backed by a dense forest of fir timber coming down to the line of First street a little nearer the river's bank at places. There was not much be sides ambition and hope to build a newspaper on, but Dryer had both of these. He was by nature a violent par tisan, loved a bitter personal contro versy better than a dinner, could write without the restraints of editorial courtesy or extreme delicacy, and pos sessed a peculiar aptness for the free ways of the frontiersman. These qual ities fitted well into his work as edi tor, business manager, reporter and advertising solicitor and he was all of these. He continued the publication the responsibility of its material for- , of hls paper till October. 1860. when he tunes. But Mr. Plttock would be the last to claim for himself the whole honor of an achievement which In the minds of all men is stamped indelibly with his name and with one other. Mr. Scott, whom only Just now we have borne In honor and' love to was nominated by the Republican party as one of Its candidates for Presiden tial elector. In the meantime there had come to Portland a modest, unassuming young man from Pittsburg, a printer by trade anil a nWKnnnfr man bv Instinct. He his final rest, came to The Oregonlan ( wag ,n charjfe or tUe printing office of the paper at the time of Dryer's nom- in Its youth, sharing with Mr. Plttock as his helper and partner. In the cares and labors of nearly the whole half century represented in the life of this paper. The two, Mr. Plttock and Mr. Scott, as right hand and left hand. wrougnt togeuier in a single aim ana . Sprinsneid Illinois; the other, the to A common purpose, the one forging prlnter trom plttsburg. was Henry L. the sword of power, the other wielding j p.ttocki nOW kn0VD everywhere as one It. Honor and reverence to the great i of ,he few newspaper managers whose ination; and during the absence of Dryer on the political campaign he and Colonel Simeon Francis got out the paper. Col. Francis was an experi enced editor, recently arrived from writer who sleeps! Honor and rever ence and length of years to the great organizer, financier and administrator who abides! ALFRED HOLMiN. In nearly all cases It would be very rank to dump American cold storage kin to that of the traditional cat of j butter In England. nine lives. The cat seems nearly ready to give up her ninth life, but If the obsequies are made final and conclusive In the House there will be an opportunity to "place our flag upon the seas" and "restore the pres tige of American shipping." Just as a starter and method by which they can obtain Immediate re sults, let Mr. Galllnger in the Senate and Mr. Humphrey In the House make a stronjr fight for American registry for the splendid steel steamships of the United Fruit Company. The Amer ican owners of this fine fleet of ships would like to change from the British to the American flag. As they have A fleet of About thirty-five of the finest modern steamships, Mr. Humphrey And Mr. Galllnger could thus ecur Many store scales In the Northwest. It appears, have been lying in weight for customers. . Submitting the J300-exemptlon law to the referendum is the same as passing It. That 110.000.000 suit against the sugar trust must be for a lump sum. Those Mexican Insurgents are more dangerous. They are armed. Fifty yeara thank you. old And pretty well. The same to yout Death Kate la States. SPKINGFIELD, Or., Feb. 3. (TO the Editor.) Please state in The Orego nlan which is the healthiest state in the Union, the one with the lowest death rate. There are no accurate statistics on the death rates by states. Eighteen states, only, have mortality registration laws, covering but littie more than one-half the total population of continental United States. Boy Scoots of America. CHEHALIS. Feb. L (To the Editor.) WU1 you please give an address where ore can write for information regarding The Boy Scouts." MRS. C. MILES. John I Alexander, secretary Boy Scouts of America, 121 East Twenty eighth street. New York City. A SwKgestloa. Why doesn't someone proceed against politics as a monopoly in restraint of trade? Cleveland Leaden genius has proved adequate to meet every stage of the development of a great modern newspaper. Upon the successful termination of the campaign. Dryer proposed to sell The Oregonlan to Plttock. Terms were quickly agreed upon, and the paper and plant were transferred. Dryer retiring from the newspaper business. Colonel Francis became the editor. a a a The village had now grown Into an ambitious city of 3000 or 1000 population. Early in December, only a couple of weeks after purchasing the paper, Mr. Plttock announced to the public that on and after the first of January. 1S61. The Oregonlan would be Issued daily as wull as weekly. There were already In the field three daily papers: the Dally Adver tiser, edited by ex-Governor George L. Ourry; the Dally News, edited (accord ing to my present recollection) by W. B. Allison, and the Dally Times, owned by Russell D. Austin and edited by Alonzo Leland. The opinion was freely and gen erally expressed that Mr. Plttock was making a mistake: that in a field so nar row and already more than fully occu pied his Issuing of a dally edition of The Oregonlan would prove a failure, at least, way transportation to or toward Oregon. ' Everything had to be gotten into the country by sea, and there were long In tervals between steamers. Storms added to the difficulties and when the first of , January camo the material for the new j plant of The Oregonlan had not nrrive.i and the paper could not be brought out. This was temporarily some thought I permanently embarrassing. But tho material came a little later and on Feb- i ruary 1, 1S61, the first number of Tlu j Daily Oregonlan appeared. Then the struggle began in earnest. Four dally papers in a city of 3U1.0 peo- : pie! Competition was strenuous, rivalry extreme and newspaper rivalry in the pioneer days was certainly "the. real thing." It was clear that one or morn of the competitors must go to the wall, t and the chances of survival were natur ally assumed to be most against that ono . which had entered latest. But one after ' another the older dailies died, till fit i last The Oregonlan had the field suoh as It was pretty much to Itself, and soon gained general recognition as the ' fearilne nnner of thp Vrtrrha-pcr a nno). tion it has maintained to its ooth birth day. aaa But let it not be supposed that In maintaining the leadership, which it had won in its first contest, the entire path of The Oregonlan was strewn with roses. Numerous rivals entered tho field from time to time, and some of them fougnt hard and long for possession of a field, which was really too small for one large dally paper, and could not possibly sup port two. One after another these rivals entered the tournament with a trumpet blast of anticipated victory, and each in turn went down to defeat. One of them Is worthy of special mention. In the I late '60s Ben Holladay. then In command I of vast financial resources and avowedly ambitious to dominate the politics of Oregon, launched the Daily Bulletin with the declared purpose of supplanting The Oregonlan. His managers employed every means that money could command to push the Bulletin to the front, and It quickly obtained a wide circulation. The opinion became very general that The Oregonlan must fall back to a subordi nate position If not leave the field. But those who thought so did not know Henry L. Plttock. He met the money king with the same placid and smillnr self-possession with which he had mot and vanquished lesser foes. The con flict was long and bitter. But In Janu ary. 187. Plttock played the winning trump which he had been holding In re serve. The Oregonlan prooured member ship from Oregon in the Associated Press, the great combination, which had been formed in the meantime, for gathering news. It cost money to pay the big bills for sending in news from all over the world by wire. But Plttock had the newspaper Instinct and could see the result. He did not hesitate. That move ended the Bulletin. After lingering on some months, struggling against the inevitable, it went the way of Its predecessors. The position of The Oregonlan was now secure and. with Its triumph over Its most formida ble rival, it entered with firm tread upon its splendid career as one of the greatest among the great modern newspapers. a Simeon Francis was the editor only about a year, being appointed paymaster in the Army in December. 1S61. He was a born editor, of the kind required for the old-time newspaper possessed of sound Judgment, moral courage that never flinched from legitimate discussion, and an Intuitive recognition of popular sentiment. After him came Henry Miller, a bril liant but erratic writer, too in.p3tuous and combative to be trusted with edi torial control. He lasted but a fuw months. Miller was followed by Ambry Hol breok, a lawyer who had come to Oregon from Massachusetts. He wasan accom plished scholar and a most graceful writer. Holbrook retired after two or three years, and was succeeded by Samuel A. Clark, an early pioneer of Oregon, a writer of very fair abilities and of con siderable experience in editorial work. aaa Harvey W. Scott succeeded Clark about 1SC5 and continued to be the editor until his death, except from September, 1&72. to March, 1S77. during which time the editorial chair was filled or at least oc cupied by the writer of this sketch. Mr. Scott was one of the great men of modern journalism. As an editorial writer he occupied a position of unquali fied distinction among the greatest edi tors In the Republic. His grasp of public questions of National Importance, his Intrepid championship of whatever cause he espoused, and the wonderful re sources of argument which were at all times at his command, made the In fluence of The Oregonlan a great power for good government, commercial prog ress and clean social life. His editorial career opened Just as th new conditions of Journalism appeared as before described, and his ideal of his profession was formed is accordance with the higher demands of these condi tions. None could have better performed the public Bervice which destiny laid upon him. His death, which occurred only a few months since, was noted throughout the country, east and west, as a distinct loss to higher Journalism. The Oregonlan Is no longer a business enterprise; It Is an Institution. Its his tory is the history of the American Northwest, the story of steady, health ful growth from the feeble settlement in the wilderness to the conscious strength of an empire. Henry L. Plttock Is still at the helm as business manager. Of the succession of editors of the paper who have been associated with him as stated above, all have gone to their final account except the writer of this little story. But when we also shall have passed over the great divide The Oregonian will be adding new chapters to its story of splendid achieve ment. For a trreat newspaper, with such a career for the background of its past, has already grasped an indefinite series of future services and honors. It projects Itself automatically into the years that are to come. It is an inseparable part of the civilization of the country which has created it and which it has created; which has led it and which it has led. Its vitality Is the spirit of the age in which and the people among whom it circulates; its life, the life of the whole community. Its leadership Is not in com mands but In the formulation of the sentiments and aspirations of the coun try: In giving body and tangibility to the Ideals of the world around it: in receiv ing from the people their sentiments, through all tho thousand channels in which they move, and giving them back harmonized, concentrated, vivified and energized. Such is the form of force by which the great newspaper Impels the world forward along the highway of progress that is worth making. W. LAIR fTTT.Ii. j
