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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1911)
TIIE MORXIXG OKEGOXIAN, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21. 1911. PORTXAXO. PRECOX. Knta d at Portland. Oroo, Fostofflee leond-ClM Matlsr. ubacrlpuaa Kt Inrsxlably In Ad-rune. CBT MAIL.) rally. undsy lnclud4, on Tr t'i.y. Sunday Included, sis, month!.... J -J I'alty. Sunday Included, throo months-, pally. Sunday Included, on month.... al.y. without Sunday, ono yoar J-"" Pally, without Sunday, six month - pally, without Sunday, thro monllu... Pally, without Sunday. OH montll -T! Woakly on yar I 7., Sunday, on year ... -jY Buiulaj and Wnkly. oa yar. DsJ'y. Sunday Included, on yar 1 Dally. Sunday Includod. on month Bow Ramlt Bond Postofflce moos rdr. ox prooa order or poroonal check oa your local bank. Scam pa. coin or ourreney I a - unH. -t.- OlT DOStOfHC a4droa la foil, tnoludlns county and atata. roMar Ratoa 10 to 14 pat. 1 : to at paaoak a con la: to to to pacoa. S cent: 40 to pa-. 4 caata. Forusn poatas tfoabl rato. fcat i flwtnv Offlrss Vrr Conk Ba Now York. Urunawlck bulidlna. CbJ asa, Star bulldlsa. Earavwwa OfBoo No. a R(nt atroot. S. W. London. . PORTX-AXD, SATT7BMXAT, OCT. U IMA. -- - niEMM OB KAEJsXESr President Taft had nothing to T In Oregon about the Oregon system. Nor ha he expressed his Tlews else where on that subject, so far as The Oregonlan has observed. He Is criti cised by his hypercritical critics be cause he did not discuss the subject. Possibly It did not occur to him. But It Is well known that he opposes the Judicial recall. Does his unyielding and outspoken opposition to the Judi cial recall make him an enemy of the Oreron system T Then what shall we do with ex-Presl-dent Roosevelt, who objects to the Ju dicial recall, who says that any sys tem (like Oregon's) must be Judged hy Its results, who says that the refer endum Is all right, who says frankly that he la In doubt about the initia tive, and who has sharply attacked the Oregon ballot of 1910. with its thirty two distinct measures. as confusing, perplexing and impossible? What shall be said about Woodrow Wilson, who opposes vehemently the Judicial recall and who says the Initi ative and referendum should be em ployed to restore representative gov ernment, and who says that the initia tive should be used .sparingly and guardedly? Are all these frank critic of the Oregon system its friends, or are they Jl its enemies? BT THFXR nVTn WE IvNCTW THEX. We do not share the alarm of Mr. 3. H. Wilson, a expressed elsewhere In The Oregonlan today, over the growth of the single tax delusion. Mr. Wilson fears single tax will be adopted in Oregon because the num ber of large landowner is relatively small. But the single tax battle Is not one with small property-owners arrayed against large property-owners. If there Is to be any distinct alignment it will more likely be one with the owner of highly-improved property opposing the owners of part ly cleared or partly developed tracts. It will be the well-to-do, able-to-pay property-owners against the strug gling homebullders. We have had that catch phrase, '"stop fining men for industry." thrown at us o often that possibly a number of cltlxen up Corvallls way re beginning to absorb It. Robert Louis Stevenson once pertinently ald. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but principally by catch phrases." Some of Mr. Wilson's friends are apparently taking nour ishment with considerable noise. That 1 alL Let us look Into this "fining of in dustry" a moment. The man who ten or fifteen year ago began clear ing 1(0 acres of land in the Willam ette Valley paid a a rule no tax ex cept a tax on land. He paid only a land tax because he had nothing but land. But hi well-to-do neighbor who had come before him paid taxes on his horses and carriage, his piano. Ma comfortable house, and thereby lessened the burden on the poor neighbor. The latter, as he accumu lated stock and buildings, gradually paid more taxes and he gradually also became able to pay them. We are now told that it is wrong to tax his accumulated wealth and Improvements. We are fining him for his industry. We should remit hi fine and put It on the man now start ing in on 110 acres of raw land. Raise the tatter's taxes. That's the thing. Fine him for not coming to Oregon when the general property tax was in operation. Fine him for not having been born a generation ago. Fine him for not having money enough to buy an Improved farm. Fine him for trying to gain a home with but bare hands and willing heart a capital. The new settler has but little livestock: his shack Is often worthless: hi household furniture is nil: his lnplements are too few for the aessor to enumerate: his land is his only taxable asset. He's no busi ness to have nothing but raw land. Therefore fine hlra by raising hi land taxes. That Is single tax. and it applies a a fine not only against the new set tler, but against every landowner in greater or less degree who has not yet had the time, money or ability to get the major part of his land under cultivation. Not only this, but single tax in fining the speculator until ha let go fines the man who buys from the speculator. The land hcM for speculation Is usually unimproved. The purchaser's taxes are to reach the maximum be fore his income begins and at a time when he is least able to pay. No. tt U not the big landowners' fight alone. It Is the fight of all who desire to protect the small home owner and the beginner of all who wish to see the j state develop, grow more pruspcrum and maintain the credit of Itself and people on a firm and substantial basis. There are to be reckoned with, too, the thousand of voter who pay no taxes. The Fels press a rents are alive to this fact. They present the glorious promise that single tax will promote building operations, solve the saloon problem, cure the social evil and do other wonderful things. Rut as a promoter of employment and consequent prosperity, the single tax Is most persistently presented. Vancouver's growth is almost dally cited as proof of what single tax will do and it Is cited with full knowl edge, undoubtedly, that Vancouver doe not have lngle tax. Flngle tax ers refuse to drop the fake. Mr. fridge, in The Oregonlan today, tlll chases the exploded bubble. In British Columbia there are two taxing powers, the. province and the municipality. The Vancouver munic ipality get most of its revenues by taxing land only. The province, how. into the municipality and taxes nearly if not quite everything that is taxable except lana. it wouia be as truthful to say that in Vancouver land Is exempted from taxation as to say only land Is taxed. But It is by such frauds and deceptions that the Fels agent expect to earn their sal aries Just as they earned them with the poll tax fraud in 1910. The Ore gonlan, however, unlike Mr. Wilson, bellves that the voter of the state are now awake. EIGHTEEN HEX Or OREGON. The Oregonlan venture to suggest. In the interest of the general neigh borhood peace, that the paroxysmal Journal (Portland) suspend it epi leptic outburst long enough to fix it troubled gaze once more on the name of the Taft committee, which has undertaken the labor of Inflating and promoting. In conjunction with other committees, the Taft primary campaign in Oregon. Here they are: T. B. Wilcox Ben Belling. A. O. Rusbll'ht. Pr. A. C rrailb, Inhnun Porter. Phil Met'chan. Jr. John K. UealU A. E. Clark, w. B. Arr. W. F. wooawara. nin j. ualarky. Amde bi. Smith, John F. Logaa, P. O. UlTely. w .Mam.r Seton. J. B. Veon. John H. Fursard. W. M. Kllllnneworth. That Is the committee, bers eighteen count them It num- Ighteen A r It liana of Portland Some of them have been prominent In politics and all of them are widely known a good men, good Republi cans, good Oregonlan, good Ameri cans, and sound patriot. No group of men In Oregon ha performed a greater measure of efficient public service; none are more disinterested; none more reputable; none more worthy of the general confidence. Now the Portland Journal, Demo cratic exponent of Republican de moralization and Democratic voice of Republican factionalism.- rolls- Its bleary eyes, tears Its remaining, hair and hoarsely howls "reaction!" "as semblylam!" "machine!". Will our frothy friend descend from unconvincing .and noisy gener alities long enough to give the politi cal and personal records of the mem ber of the committee all -of theta? How stand they on the Oregon si tem the direct primary. Initiative and referendum. Statement No. 1 and all? Let us have the whole harrow ing story of the cause of the Demo cratic paper" vast agitation and tear ful cogitation. ' A GO01 CENTRA!, BANK. The Bank of Franco Is probably the strongest financial Institution in the world and certainly it Is the most useful. It ha branche in every town of the Republic so that It in fluence ' pervades the whole - country. In France there are no panic such a we enjoy periodically. "Stringency" of the currency la unknown and gov ernment loan are taken up by the people, not by syndicate of million aires. The French are a nation of Investors, not of speculators, and this desirable condition is to be ascribed largely to the fact that the govern ment bank makes Investment easy for everybody who has saved a little money. The great war loan to pay the German Indemnity waa subscribed twice over by the French peasants, distressed as the country waa at the close of a disastrous war. Another loan offered soon afterward wa ub scrlbed for ten time over. It 1 Im possible In practice to Impair the credit of France. One of the wisest activities of the bank 1 the provision it makes for rural loan. A farmer who wishes to et up in business can obtain money from the bank to purchase land, build a house and buy stock. The, terms are easy and the time is not limited unless he so desires. The loan may be continued from generation to gen eration a long as the security is not depleted. What every Frenchman, banker or peasant want I Income. The capital he Is content to leave un disturbed. The effect of this loan system upon the rural community 1 Incalculably good. With the postal savings banks and the parcels post it makes the French farmer Independ ent of shark of every variety. He can procure all the funds he needs for legitimate enterprise at low inter est and need not worry over the date of repayment, for that date can be postponed a long a he wishes, pro vided only that the interest is paid and the security kept up. We cite this example from France to show that the problem of estab lishing a sound and useful govern ment bank is not novel, nor la the solution at all mysterious. . GETTING DOWN TO THE PRACTICAL. The shortcomings of several Irriga tion companies which have been oper ating, or pretending to operate. In Central Oregon are not conducive to rapid development of the portion of the Interior within their blighting cope. A Salem dispatch yesterday told of one company which set out to water 17.929 acres with water suffi cient to cover only 2000 acres. Water rights on more than 18.000 acres were sold at $10 per acre, the company thereby realizing more than SI 80,000. Tet when the state proposed that this money be utilized on a storage system the company refused. The state, too, has failed In a suit to cancel the Carey act contract. Another company In disfavor with the Land Board haa made a somewhat better showing. Still it Is said to have attempted to supply land with water from one canal that should have come from a canal yet to be constructed, with the result that the farmer who have paid for service from the lower canal are suffering from a shortage of water. These things do not speak well for Oregon, for the state. In entering into a Carey-act contract, gives at least a strongly Implied assurance to the water purchaser that the project la soundly financed and that the promot ers are honest and capable. So long a the sin of tricky promoters re main unatoned, so long will suspicion rest on future undertakings of the same character. The state Land Board herein has an Issue that needs feel the force of a firm, consistent pol icy conceived In the interests of the settler and of right and Justice. If the administration can solve the irri gation problem of Central Oregon and solve It right. It will have achieved more for the good of the state and community than can possi bly com from all the new wrinkles in convict control and purchasing of supplies that the Governor can think up in hi entire term of office. It is a practical problem that demands a practical solution. The Land Board cannot do better by the state than re lentlessly to dispossess all promoter of irrigation project whose course ha been shady, wavering or dishonest. MAKE LAND rROnlTE MORE. Having brought under cultivation practically all the available agricul tural land, this Nation 1 now con fronted with the Alternative of In creasing the production of that land or soon buying food abroad. This is particularly true of grain. The aver age yield of wheat is 14.3 bushels an acre and we consume (-5 bushels per capita and export about 10 per cent of our production. As our popula tion Increased 21 per cent In the last decade. It will not be long before It will have overtaken the production of wheat and passed It. The only way out is to make the same acreage produce more, and to this end the National Soil Fertility League is working. It ha encour agement from experiment In some countries and some states. Germany and Belgium . realized the same ne cessity over a quarter of a century ago and set to work to increase the fertility of the soil. In twenty-five year Germany increased the output of staple crop 85 per cent. Belgium, by sending out farm demonstrator, produced even more remarkable re sult. She turned the drift of popu lation back from city to country, in creased the value of farm land two third and Increased the crops of wheat B7, oat 83.8, rye 68.4 and bar ley B0. 5 per cent. 81mllar improve ment haa followed In this country wherever farmers have taken the ad vice of farm demonstrators, even rocky old Vermont showing four time the yield of the Dakota. To bring agriculture up to the de sired scientific standard of maximum production without exhausting the oil requires more than demonstra tion to the present generation of farmers. It require teaching of first principle of agriculture to the rising generation. This can best be accom plished by substituting the graded country school for the district school; that teaching may be continued till the boy and girl are ready for college or farm work. In some states an omnibus gathers the children and takes them to school that the obstacle of distance may be overcome. In these day of the automobile, a mo torbus should do thl service. That It may do so efficiently, good road should be provided. With a certainty of money in farm ing and with the country made habit able by good school and good roads, the drift of population may be turned from city to country and the story of thrifty, densely-populated Belgium told over again In the United States. JOHN HOWARD PAYNE AND MART bUEXXEV. The discovery of a love affair be tween John Howard Payne and Mary Shelley, the poet' widow, would be deeply Interesting If it were real. Payne la known to everybody as the author of the words of "Home, Sweet Home" and it 1 commonly supposed that he composed the music also. But the fact seems to be that the melody Is Italian. He picked it up on the street in Naples, perhaps, where fhe beggars alng air that are the de spair of all the musicians. Mrs. Shelley ha some renown of her own. She 1 remembered as the author of "Frankenstein," a novel which was widely read in her day and Is not yet forgotten by any means. The name "Frankenstein" 1 often applied, by a singular blunder, to the monster whom the hero put together out of fragments which he collected from tombs and death chambers, but it was really the name of the hero himself. When one wishes to allude to the famous fiction It is proper to speak of "Frankenstein's monster," but Frankenstein himself was a lik able young man, his only falling be ing an excessive fondness for risky experiment. Mary Shelley wa the daughter of William Godwin, who wa well known a the author of work on social sci ence. He would be called an anarch ist in our day. Like Shelley he be lieved that marriage should be mere ly an agreement . between the ' par ties which either might terminate at wtIL Mary accepted his teaching so faithfully that she went abroad with Shelley after hi first wife deserted him and for a time they lived to gether unmarried. After the unfor tunate Harriet Westbrook had set him free by committing suicide, Shelley married Mary in proper form and they made an exception ally happy couple. After her hus band was drowned Mary returned to England and met Payne In London. The author of "Home. Sweet Home" wa not a successful man In the ordi nary senso of the word. HI solitary notable literary production sold well, but he4 did not receive the profits. In fact he was always poor and had been in prison for debt, though in those days thl wa no very black dis grace. He' waa born In New York In 1791, the son of . schoolmaster, and, having chosen an actor's life, made his way to London, where he worked in partnership with Washing ton Irving, making over French plays for English use. The two men shared the same room for a time. Irving became so highly respect able in later year that it seems odd to think of his close intimacy with Payne, who wa half hobo and all Bohemian. But the exigencies of the literary career make strange bedfel lows. Payne wrote some original piece for the theaters. In one of these play. "Clarl the Maid of Mi lan," "Home, Sweet Home" was Insert ed a a lyric. The play has been for gotten, but the lyric has not and never will be. These facta have been collected by Jeannette L. Glider' and published in the Chicago Tribune. MLss Gilder goes on to intimate that Mary Shelley fell In love with Irving and lined Payne a a sort of stalking horse in the affair. He had a pocket full of complimentary ticket to all the thea ters, since he was an actor, and sup plied them plentifully to Mrs. Shelley, who often went with him to the play. As their intimacy developed Payne began to hope for marriage, but he was humbly respectful in pleading his cause. Miss Gilder prints several of the letters he wrote to her. "Be certain," he wrote one day. "that I feel the limit I am bound to set to the compliment of your unre serve, and that I am. incapable of presuming upon it even in the wildest dreams. . . . May I not then praise you and like you and more, much more than like you. without a box on the ear or' frowns?" Mary Shelley replied that he wa good and kind and deserved nothing but kind ness In return, "but we must tread lightly on the mosaic of circumstance, tor If wa pre) too hard the beauty and charm is defaced." At the same I time she would like a box to see I "Vlrglnlus" and would Payne attend , to it? The affair never got beyond the thinnest platonlo relation. Payne raved a good deal and Mary Shelley responded with discreet platitudes, but evidently she did not care for anything about him but his theater tickets. No doubt his erratic ways amused her. but there is plenty of ground for believing that her experl . ence with Shelley had taught her that erratio ways were better enjoyed out side the bonds of matrimony. Irving must have attracted her much more strongly than Payne did, for he was eminently staid. A union with him might have promised entrance to the society of which Mary had seen little up to - that time. Shelley came of noble stock, but hi family had cut him off when he waa expelled from Oxford. His atheism and disgrace made him an abom InationMn British society, which has always been emi nently devout, no matter what else might be said of it. .He had little money and no friend. The Lord Chancellor deprived him of the guardianship of hi own children when he began to live with Mary Godwin and his poetry was looked upon a an emanation from tophet. Harriet Westbrook was supposed to be the victim of Shelley's sins and wa therefore pitied, but Mary waa hi active ally and had to bear her share of hi odium. Her circle wa. rather restricted when she returned to London to live and both Irving and Payne must have been welcome addi tions to it, though It is impossible to Imagine that she could have thought seriously of marrying either of them. Such a marriage would have involved living in America, which was out of the question for a woman like Mary. Her eagerness for Payne' theater tickets reveals her as a true woman. There was not the slightest need of her sponging at that time, for Shel ley's finances had Improved before he died and he left her in easy circum stances, but, like all her sex, she could not let a bargain pass by and preferred to spend a man' money rather than her own. even If In doing it she stirred up trouble in his heart. It would be pleasantly instructive to learn the reasons why the Daugh ters of the Confederacy want to hang Lee's picture in the University of Washington. He may possibly have heard of the region now called Wash ington when he was alive, though we doubt it. Certainly the bare name waa all he knew about the country. Hla picture Is a welcome ornament wherever it appears, but we can think of many halls where it would be more appropriate than In Washington University. The milkman who undertook to de liver eggs along hla route had a hap py inspiration. Why should he not deliver butter, too, and dressed poul try and some of the apple pies that mother bakes? Our social scheme la sadly defective in the matter of dis tribution. We can produce food as well as anybody, but when It comes to placing it in the consumer" hands we are Just about helpless. Our devices are absurdly expensive and futile. If what Mr. Heckbert says is true, the Park Board would make poor farmers. Their chickens would go hungry unless they foraged upon the neighbors and their pigs would squeal In vain for supper. Wild animals shut up In a "zoo" have not a very enviable time of it even when they are taken care of. When they are neglected and starved the case look like wantor cruelty. Governor Johnson' fidelity to the recall induced him to absent himself from the Taft banquet at San Fran cisco not only to the Judicial recall, but to the recall of the President to open the 1915 fair. The Governor Is an Insurgent, all right, but when the Interest of California are Involved "he lay low," like Bre'r Rabbit. The request of the managers of the poultry show soon to be held for financial aid from the county Is rea sonable and within the law. A suc cessful chicken exhilbt does much to fire the enthusiasm of a great many people other than the cranks In the business, and Oregon needs the stimu lant. The death of Eugene Ely is the first sacrifice Portland makes to the sci ence of aviation. Ely learned to fly" high and showed his skill and daring by his flights over the business streets of the city last June. His death adds to the heavy price paid by the year 1911 for toying with the-elements. A Freewater rancher, 78 years old, has Just remarried after being a wid ower for five months, but as the bride 1 66. the affair is wholly their busi ness and both are to be congratulated. J. P. Morgan swore oft a quarter of a million in personal taxes Thursday. That gives hope to many local people who are making life burdensome to the board of equalization. Which of men's exclusive rights will women take next? Many of them have taken . the ballot, some have taken the trousers, and now they are taking the razor. The failure of the bank at Philo math has a mitigating feature, in that it was helping local Industrial con cerns and passed the limit. The time has come to stop this high cost of living. Catfish is quoted at 15 cent a pound. Great shades of Mis souri! What next? Elimination of the Krebs people from, hopgrowing removes a big land mark in Oregon Industry. The call of the elk. not the recall, will be heard by the Gill hunting party in Alaska this year. Fifty thousand dollars a year for rent of the Harriman bridge means a million nickels. " The trouble in the County Court is Just a family quarrel. The potato show at Redmond will be an object-lesson of the right sort. Talesmen, rather than defendant, seem to be on trial at Lo Angeles. Oregon hops are at 40 cents and the "brewer must have them. Eastern weather 1 prolonging the agony of the fan Gleanings of the Day Following the example set by Ger many and imitated by France and Eng land, Japan has arranged for an ex change of lecturers between her uni versities and those of the United States. Dr. Nitobe will be sent to lecture six weeks each at Yale, Virginia, Johns Hopkins, Columbia,, Minnesota and Illi nois. Another Japanese emissary to this country will be Saburlo Shlmada. M. P, who will lecture to the Japanese people residing in America and teach them so to order their conduct that they may not be a reproach to the civi lized country from which they have emigrated. But the main idea of the Japanese residents in inviting Mr. Shl mada was to introduce him to the American people and give them a chance to hear him and thereby establish more firmly the confidence of th American nnnniA in the JaDaneso. and by showing the real state of the progress of the' residents convince the Japanese sou tleman that their position was such that It could not be upset by the agi tation against them. United States District Attorney Wise of New York has stirred the anger of tho New York bankers by a speech to the American Institute of Banking, composed of bank clerks. In which he handled them without gloves. He said the reoords would show that there are more bank presidents, bank cashiers and other officers charged with crimes than the lesser employes. He said that he had noticed that when an investiga tion had been started into a bank's af fairs or management, those employee who knew nothing about the matter and had absolutely nothing to tell the grand Jury were able to retain their po sitions afterward, "while of those who did testify before the grand Jury or the petit Jury, none are occupying banking positions today." He con tinued: Tet they are th very men whom bank presidents should bo seeklns out most eager ly. Ther ar non better fitted. Th demonstrated that by th courae they took. And I think It la a aham that they should, for doing th right thing, be cut on trom pursuing th very career for which all their early training had prepared them. He is acoused of arousing antago nism on the part of bank clerks to bank managers by saying: WTiy wouldn't It be a good thing for you men of th American Institute of Banking to form a league which hould, be In protest against such a standard? II any bank employ refused to take any part, however small. In th commission of an act In violation of the hanking laws, and If he lost his position for his pains, tho members of such a league would all walk out. it would be a real contribution to good banking and good citizenship. He confessed that when he gathered how much knowledge of finance and of com mercial law the bank clerks were exhorted to acquire, he was led to wonder how much they were paid, and whether or not they did not feel like saying, with Andrew Jackson's servant, when replying to his master's criticisms: "Egad, do you expect all th virtue for $13 a month?" All this' provokes the Commercial and Financial Chronicle to indignation. It tells of the great work done by the clearing house to "clean up" the banks, but It does not deny that the. clerks who testified against bank wreckers are out of Jobs in banks at least. It accuses Mr. Wise of inciting clerks to organize a union, to strike and inciting discontent by dwelling on low salaries, but it ad mits that they are. not overpaid. His outburst is attributed to the bad exam ple set by Attorney-General Wicker sham in making war on the trusts. In 1910 the sale of mineral water In the United States amounted to $6,357, 590, the product being 62.030,125 gal lons, as reported by George C Matson, of the United States Geological Survey. Minnesota was tho greatest producer, with 9,962,370 gallons, derived from 19 springs. New York was a close second, selling 8,780,903 gallons from 46 springs. Wisconsin, however, obtained the great est Income from her mineral waters, her sales amounting to 8974,366; New York was second, with 8858,635; and In diana third with $514,968. Minnesota's sales amounted to $281,009. Louisiana has only four commercial springs. They produced 2,318,000 gallons. The impor tation of mineral waters in 1910 was 3,806,303 gallons, valued at $983,136. Active agitation for closer relations with ' Russia is being carried on in Japan by the Russo-Japanese associa tion, which is headed by General Teranchl, ex-Minister of War and which is raising a fund of $100,000 to promote the movement. An international commission to establish a new system of government for China and do away with the system of graft and squeeze is proposed by Dr. W. W. White, president of the Teachers' Bible College of New York, in an interview with the China Press of Shanghai. He was starting home from his second trip to the Orient and said: Th thing that moat appall m 1 th thought that unless radical f J-jrolo action b taken th present condition of ooverty and misery must continue to prevail ?o, "hundreds of year. Th. official, of th emnlr nay high prices for offlc and they gP,h.l? mon?, back by grafting upon tj mlddl. and poorer classes of th PP- Th whol nation Is graft-ridden and his graft halts at nothing. When a great flood or drouth produce a famine and th gener ous people of their natlona contribute money to relieve the distress, .even tme money Is wasted In graft. It la unbelloveable. I am Informed by a man who knows what ho Is talking about that two firms at Wuhu mad mor money out or th.' Anhul famln than was distributed to th starving people of th province during th entire cours of th famine. You have an example of graft her In Shanghai where th Chines ar paying from twice to three times the amount they ought to pay for rlca. Thla Is because the rice 1 not allowed to com in. Th dealer tak advantage of conditions to mulct the pubUo and they are permitted to do it. And what are you going to do about Itt I say that until the entire system of squeeze Is done away with, China will continue to remain th weakest among the great nations and will continue to flounder hopaleseiy about In the mire of her own official corrup tion. Until China herself cleans house and abolishes all forms of corruption she cannot hop to stand erect among th powers. And I bavo come to th conclusion that China will not of her own accord do this. An International commission should be formed to undertake this reform and the reform should extend from top to bottom. The nations should enter Into this compact In the Interest of humanity In general and especially In th interest of the women and children of China. They should announce to T n WOriQ v. 1 wvwiu be preserved: that no part of the empire WOUIO DC pniuitoilTO uuv . ' -v.ou hearts and hands they were going to take charge of their wayward brother, show him the error of his ways, brace him up, put hlra on the right track and tell him to go along. It is time that a campaign of educa tion was inaugurated as a means of blocking the game of these conspira tors, says the American Banker, refer ring to the get-rich-qulck swindlers. The school and universities of the country ought to make a point of giving Instruction which would safe guard the students against this wide spread form of swindling. A hundred millions a year Is too large a sum to be lost, and If the capital thus wasted could be invested in productive chan nels of Industry, it would be of great benefit to th ooontrja. SUCCESS OF FRAUD IS FBARED. Opponent of Single Tax Has Gloomy View of Vote on Isane. CORVALLIS, Or., Oct. 19. '(To th Editor.) Mr. URen's suggestion that the single tax will take off of the land in use and place on the land held for speculation, has its flaws. I am not averse to placing a proper tax against the lands held for speculation by the railroad, or by Weyerhaeuser, or Collins, or the Monroe Timber Com pany, or by Hartman, or by Booth Kelly, or C. S. Smith, or many other of our timber barons who have seized the sources of production in that line. In deed, I contributed somewhat towards raising the value of the Southern Pa cific holdings, In this county to a rea sanable price, and when their tax agents came our way convinced them that the raise was only in harmony with the assessment of other like prop erty, and that they really owned valu able timber lands, although they had not known It. But to double the tax on any of these timber speculators, and work a corresponding reduction in the lands of a man who happens to be using his land, is not to my liking. The timber barons cannot all use their land at one time. It will require many years, manv decades, in fact, to denude our primeval forests of their wealth of timber, and meantime shall the county each year deplete the value by a tenth, or such a sum, in taxes 7 It would only require about ten years to take the value of the timber itself. Then why not confiscate It at once, and not drag out the misery. The exemption of personal property and improvements will not nearly double the tax on that class of property alone. Whenever you take the tax off of improvements and movable prop erty, and place it on the land alone, it Is obvious that the spread over all the land must be uniform. The thing about this that appeals to me. and that gives It a semblance of reason is that land is Immovable. It cannot get away. It can be viewed once in five years, and thereafter the assessment is easy until another time to view it ar rives. This makes assessing largely an office Job. as it should be, listing prop erty. Instead of valuing it afresh each year. Each man has a different idea of values and consequently the as sessments show It. And this creates discrepancies among the different coun ties each year. If the valuation placed on lands wre to be uniform over all the land, taking into consideration the state of im provements, and entering a value for those improvements; that it Is a farm Is well Improved with orchards, houses, good fences and the like, give it the value which its Improvements would Justify; to each piece of pasture land give its proper value, and to each field, give Its value, and make these values uniform throughout the taxing district perhaps there would not be so much to complain of. I am satisfied that the single tax will carry In Oregon. We are going to extremes In legislation and in the fads which follow closely In the wake of such legislation. This single tax idea appears to me to be one of the rankest frauds as yet promulgated in this state. And yet, I believe it will carry. Take the case of United States Senator. Because a few interested men insisted on running things In the Re publican party, the rank and file voted for a Democrat for Senator an honest Democrat. But there was nothing honest about the system which put him in the Senate. I did not vote that election. Take the case of Governor. Because a number of interested men tried to run in through the semblance of an as sembly In Portland a candidate' for Governor, the rank and file of Repub licans repudiated him, and voted for a Democrat. I am frank to say that I was one of those Republicans, much as I regret it much as I then re gretted having to do so. But what could one do? Uphold the candidate who had been produced In the manner the Republican candidate was produced. It was not to be thought of. No other had a lookln. To say that the primaries were open to all comers, was not exactly so. These are some of the results of our boasted progress. I do not believe altogether In this sort of progress. Rather it would be far better to return to the system In vogue prior to the adoption of the direct primary, and have the scrapping In caucus, within the party, or in the party primary within the party, and then when the party moves forward to meet the enemy at the ballot, go united. The single tax Idea Is simply the abuse of this progressive system. But it is of little use to say so. For I find all about Republicans, Democrats and all other sorts a good proportion of them already committed to it. The number of large land owners is rela tively small, and the number of voters of smaller means large. There's the difference and these smaller proprie tors will generally vote for the single tax. unless I am mistaken. J. H. WILSON. Dark Shooting; Annoys Mr. Clarke. PORTLAND, Oct. 19. (To the Ed itor.) It Is a great source of vexation to me that so many young men who can 111 afford it are being fleeced by the duck-club promoters. At this sea son of the year every ono who has a little stagnant pool of water is anx ious to lease same to the ever-verdant week-ender. . I dare say one might well say, serve them right, for there Is neither sport nor profit in it, and the filthlness of such a destructive and noisy diversion I need not dwell on. Danger there is in plenty for many of the so-called sports on learning the use of a gun for the first time. Most of these ambitious youths are amateurs, though so far the acoldenta seem to be few, miraculously so. Considering the apocryphal nature of everything con nected with duck clubs I am sure that as the season advanoes numerous fa talities must occur. I do not see any reason in particular for these orgies myself, and while I condemn the pool room gush that no doubt is responsible for most of the hunting, I oondemn still more the happy Jack parental pulpit for Its lack of intelligence in allowing the strong young American minds to drift so far away from decent Ideals. E. B. CLARKE. Old Scotch Soma;. PORTLAND, Oct. 19. (To the Edi tor.) Please publish what Is referred to in the song, "Coming Through .the Rye." Is it a rye field referred to. or the old stepping-stones across the Rye river? Who wrote the song? A SUBSCRIBER. A field of rye Is meant, according to Alfred Moffet's "The Minstrelsy of Scotland." published by Augener & Co, t i mi.. Biithnrttv aaVS! UVUUUU. U.'I'U -" - - "Robert Burns has written a portion -a -t-j- i . . v. i.,t.r la A. Vp.rV I old one and the true author is unknown. To say that a stream oi wucr i mcom . t. ..'i.v vAminn of the song we have seen, the word is written rye. but not with a capital 'R. The con dition of the rye fields in damp weath er would be quite sufficient to reduce the 'petticoatles- oi a caioit" s lady to the 'draig'f condition." Old Coins at Mint. ' PORTLAND, Oct. 19. (To the Ed itor.) If I should go to tho United c-xrfnt with a. 820 srold niece and ask for change, would I get face value or would tney weign me piece ana ae duct the wear? H. G. A. The value lost by wear would be de- d acted. N. NITTS ON CHALK By Dean Collins. Nesclus Nitts, he whose sap'ent talk Kept people of Punkindorf Station a. gawk. Aimed careful and long, with an eye And nailed with 'his quid a lone bug on tho TrVtvlk Then spoke on the tested food value of chalk. "The school suprlntendents fer three weeks or more. With bacteriologist fellers, went o'er The whole field of chalk, such - as school boards has got. To test and to find If 'twas pizen or not. Eighteen dlff'rent brands or so. Tve understood. Was given to 18 guinea pigs fer their food. "In rations of grams, so the papers has stated. Them pips ate the chalk until plumb satiated, ' And throve and grew fat, thus con clusively showln' No plzen nor germs in them crayons was growln". This chalk." said the testers, la proven the best. And feeblest school children could eat it with zest.' The paper don't state why they wished thus to find That crayon ain't plzen; but I have opined It's some modern scheme that the school boards is takin' To substitute somethin' fer cabbage and bacon. And other commodities, whloh has all took A rise that's beyond many folk's pock etbook. "Course I may be wrong, but riRht here I'm a-sayin' There's chances that this recent testm of crayon May lead in the future to sech table talk As 'Have an eraser!' and Pass the green chalk! Who knows but the chalk test the school board's been givin' May Bhow a way out from the high cost of livin'?" Portland. October 20. Half a Century Ago j From The Oregonlan Oct. 21, 1861. At the meeting of the Common Coun cil Friday night a resolution that a committee be appointed to inquire into and report the necessity of organizing a police force was adopted. Messrs King, Harbotigh and Hallock were named as the committee. It is reported that the revenue cutter Jeff Davis has seized the brig Sunny South on Puget Sound. She is partly owned In the South. The court met yesterday morning and heard arguments of counsel in the case of State vs. F. Patterson, who is ac cused of the murder of Captain Staples. Messrs. Mitchell and Page appeared for the state and Mr. Logan for the defend- ant. The court decided to admit the prisoner to ball in the sum of tlS.OOO, In default of which he was remanded to Jail to await his trial at the next Circuit Court. Mr. Crldge Reverts to Tsseonver Again. PORTLAND, Oct. 19. (To the Ed itor.) Henry E. Reed should read tip on the British Columbian system a lit tle more carefully than he appears to have done from his communication In The Oregonlan of October 15. If he takes my advice he will discover that Vancouver, B. C, collects no poll tax or tax on personal property. Its city revenue is almost entirely collect ed on land values. With the state taxes (provincial) It has nothing to do. To that extent it is a eingle-tax city. Confiscation? Bosh, Brother Reed. All land now belongs to the state. All Is held to paying the taxes levied or the tenant is dispossessed. The owner of a home would far sooner pay the rental value of his land and have tha public services extended and enlarged than pay on his improvements the pres ent tax. A piece of unimproved land worth $300 would be annually worth 930 a year. Who would not pay it cheerfully in preference to all the mul tiplicity of public burden that now rest on him from the graft of the sugar trust to the street-improvement confis catory swipe? Not until then would we have tho full rental value taken, and when it was taken only value would be given in its place. There is land enough in Oregon for 20,000,000 people. Stop fining them for industry and they will come. When men can obtain land by merely paying the rental value they will be able to build without borrowing. The opponents of the single tax pro pose nothing but the present system. That must be changed. ALFRED D. CRIDOE. FEATURES TO IN TEREST ALL IN THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN ''Murmuring; Sweet Nothings," full-page photograph. Panama Canal to have worlds greatest dock and harbor system, illustrated article. Ten Minutes with the funny men. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, the adventure of the Greek in terpreter, by Sir A. Conan Doyle. Inspecting Oregon's Food. How Uncle Sam protects the public. Illustrated. "In Eighteen-Sirty-One," song featured in "Up and Down Broadway." Pickings for Peers still good in England. Illustrated. A Tale Never Told, short story by Alfred 'Williams Anthony. Washington's Beau Brummels, men socially prominent at the National capital. "Compensation," a novel of Washington Bociety. New Fables in Slang by George Ado. Portlanders Who Served in same regiment in Civil War. Widow Wise, Sambo, Hair breadth Harry, Mrs. Timekiller, Slim Jim and Anna Belle. i
