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
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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