11
APRIL 2, 1913.
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rRTLA-VD, WEDNESDAY. AFKIL , 191S.
INCOME TAX AND ITS WORKINGS.
When the Income tax comes up for
discussion In Congress, the battle is
likely to rage around the question of
the minimum income to be taxed, and
the adjustment of the graduated scale.
When the same subject was being- de
bated In 1814, W. J. Bryan, then a
member of the Bouse, was a champion
of exemption of small Incomes, placing
the minimum subject to tax at $4000.
In support of his contention he cited
the example of foreign countries, Eng
land exempting Incomes up to $750,
Prussia up to $225, Austria up to $113,
Italy up to $77.20, the Netherlands up
to $260. Champ Clark was in favor of
a higher minimum than $4000, but
could not be pinned down to anything
more definite than the statement:
"I would fix it for the public good,
whatever fig-are I fixed."
There Is good reason in the minds
of legislators for desiring a high mini,
mom. The lower the minimum the
more persons would be subject to the
tax and the more persons there would
be protesting against it, calling for
economy and raising an outcry against
"pork" bills. The legislators know
that an Income tax. however popular
in the abstract, is sure to be unpopular
when actually collected. One Treasury
expert has calculated that with a $5000
minimum 282,620 persons would be
taxed, while another estimates the
number at 412,360. If the minimum
should be raised to $7500. estimates
range from 182.620 to 212.360.
The underlying principle of exemp
tion Is that a person should not be
taxed on the amount of income which
is absolutely necessary to the mainte
nance of his family In reasonable com
fort. But this amount might be put at
a much lower figure than $5000, or
even $4000. Suppose, for the purpose
of Illustration, that the first $1000 of
every man's Income were exempt and
all above that sum was taxed. Such a
large proportion of the cltlxens would
then be taxed that the rate of the Im
post would become a matter of vital
Interest to a great body of voters and
economy would become a real election
Issue. Merely perfunctory economy
planka in the platforms would not sat.
lfy the electors; they would demand
tangible results. The Economy and
Kfftclency Commission would be re
vived Into feverish activity and barna
cles would be knocked off the depart
ments in astonishing numbers. Pork
ould be dealt out with a sparing hand
nd It would become extremely peril
ous to propose and difficult to pass a
building or pension bill or to secure
appropriations for useless Navy-yards
and Army posts. Public opinion would
compel the adoption of a budget sys
tem and the budget speech in our
House would become as great a sub
ject of news as it has long been in the
British Parliament.
There are good reasons for not
adopting a low minimum Income sub
ject to tax and they will not be over
looked by the statesmen, who are poli
ticians first and who dread an electo
rate ever vigilant as to where their
money Is going. One is that the smaller
n Income is, the more difficult it is to
discover and the easier Is evasion. An
other is that the smaller the amount
collected, the greater is the cost of col
lection, until a point Is reached where
expense equals, or even exceeds, re
veipts. Direct National taxation, reaching
the mass of the people, would, how
ever, be a salutary experience, both for
the people and their public servants.
Our system of Indirect taxes, the
mount of which Is hidden in the price
of the article taxed, renders the Na
tional budget a subject of academic in
terest and is a premium on National
extravagance. We need some induce
ment to watch where the money goes.
Rl l.L MOONK TROl'BLE MAKER.
If any man imagines that the ap
proaching session of Congress will be
dull and uninteresting, he is reck
oning without the Bull Moosers.
stirred to action by Representative
HInebaugh. of Illinois, they will cau
cus, nominate a candidate for Speak
er of the House and demand commit
tee places. They will introduce bills
providing for Presidential primaries,
the eight-hour day. against child la
bor and occupational diseases and for
other ends. They mill worry commit
tees which fail to report their bills,
will filibuster and obstruct and gen
erally make life weary for Mr. Un
derwood and Mr. Mann. Their prob
able choice for Speaker is Victor Mur
doch, who in the Sixty-first Congress
acted as an antidote to somnolence
on the part of Speaker Cannon.
Just how many Representatives will
enlist under the Bull Moose standard
cannot be known until they stand up
to be counted. The out-and-out Bull
Moosers are estimated to number fif
teen, but Mr. HInebaugh expects to
enroll fifteen Republicans of progres
sive tendencies and his most sanguine
hopes expand the number of the third
party to forty-seven. That these
hopes will not be realized has already
been made apparent by the refusal of
three men listed as Bull Moosers to
fall in line. Others will probably do
likewise. But the Bull Moosers count
on home Influence" to swell their
ranks. They will dare members in
whose districts the Roosevelt vote was
heavy to vote against their bills and
then go home and explain. They lay
great stress on the moral effect of
the vote cast by their party at the
Presidential election, which under the
proportional plan would have entitled
them to 119 members of the House.
It is too early as yet to take a cen
sus of the Bull Moosers in the House,
but there are enough of them to create
a great disturbance if they follow the
flan outlined. A much smaller num
ber than fifteen, the minimum esti
mate of their strength, has been able
to create much turmoil by taking ad
vantage of kinks in the rules, by ig
noring courtesy and by indifference to
the necessities of public business.
Although their original quarrel is
with the Republicans, the Bull Moose
will find occasion to worry the Dem
ocrats when the tariff bill is up for
debate. Each of them has pet Indus
tries In his district which he wishes
to protect and, when Mr. Underwood
strives to take away the tariff pap
from these Industries, the Bull Moose
call will be loud, long and vociferous.
TWO TIKWS or A STATESMAN.
James Hamilton Lewis, the new
Democratic Senator from Illinois, was
long a resident of Washington state,
and news of his triumph is received
by the newspapers in Washington with
varying manifestations of emotion.
The North Takima Republic, which
has a long and disconcerting memory,
is reminded of the days when Lewis
was a shining figure in Washington
affairs, culminating in his election to
Congress In 1896 and his defeat in
1898. It declares that "Lewis is the
great National Joke. . . . The man
is incapable of doing hard, honest work
of any kind. He isn't as much of a
statesman as Carrie Nation, used to
be. ... Lewis' course while he lived
in this state Indicated to many ob
servers that he is thoroughly insincere,
utterly conscienceless, and vastly in
capable." The Aberdeen World remonstrates
vcith the Republic for its uncharitable
expressions, and sketches Senator
Lemls' career from longshoreman to
Congressman, and cites a few ex
amples of his triumphs at the law.
Among them he kept a murderer from
the gallows, for eight years through
the- successful interposition of tech
nical pleas. "Maybe," remarks the
World, "he has broadened since he
left this state, and it is Just possible
that he has acquired wisdom and
knowledge. We don't know that this
is the case, but why not wait and find
out V
It is well enough to -wait, for there
Is nothing else to do. But what Is
there to find out that is not already
well known? Lewis has succeeded in
Illinois by the kind of methods he used
in Washington. He has a certain su
perficial brilliancy and he is besides
a consummate self-advertiser. But he
has no fixed political principles, and
he will achieve no real results beyond
notoriety for Illinois or the Nation or
the Democratic party.
Long ago Lincoln said that no one
could fool all the people all the time:
but Lewis has proved in Lincoln's
state that he can fool most of the
people a good deal of the time.
TRUE DEMOCRATS.
The cheering news comes from
Washington that the two Oregon Dem
ocratic Senators have agreed upon a
number of deserving gentlemen who
are to hold the Federal places in Ore
gon. But the Senators with great dis
cretion decline to make public the
names of the lucky Democrats until
the nominations shall be sent to the
Senate. Your disappointed office
seeker Is a noisy creature, with an infi
nite capacity for mischief.
It is pleasing to know that a Port
land postmaster is included in the
ninM tn he Barreled out by the Sen
ators. The place has been vacant for
over six months. With great astuteness
Senator Chamberlain circumvented all
efforts to put a Republican in the post
office Job. Just now he stands up. a
stout Democratic oak, with the bark
nn Tie in an much a Democrat that
he and the other Democrat, Senator
Lane, will refuse to permit any rtepuo
lican to be reappointed to any Oregon
nnatnfnrA even when an entire com
munity desires It, if a Democratic ap-
nlk-nnt can be found, or course ne
can always be found.
The assistant Democrats In the Re
publican party who elected the two
Oregon Democratic Senators now dis
cover the difference between a Demo
cratic candidate for Senator and a
Democratic Senator.
WILSON AND TOIJ. B.XEMPTION.
ie t. e.renlrted that President Wil
son will recommend repeal of the toll
exemption clause or the Panama ca
n,i luv. Tn so doing he would yield
to the influence of those Eastern In
terests which would protect the rail
roads from water competition by glv
in hm an advantage eoulvalent to
the amount of the tolls. The cry of
subsidy is now raised against exemp
tion by those interests which have
always been most greedy for subsidies
and which have been gorged with
them. The calloused consciences of
,h man who had to be dragooned In
to fair dealing by means of interstate
commerce and anti-trust laws nave
suddenly become very tender over our
National honor, over pretended viola
tion of treaties.
Whence comes the money with wnlcn
the American Association for Inter
,!n,ai Conciliation is enabled to
flood the country with pamphlets op
posing exemption? This organisa
tion has not hitherto been overbur
dened with cash for sucti wiae puo
Ilcity. Have not men with selfish In
terests to serve been suddenly inspired
...i.v. .ani nf t nTornatinnal arbitration
and furnished the funds for this agi
tation? We have no means oi snow
ing, but, when selfish interests eoln
Ai.u vith tho enrl.e Bourfat bv the al
truistic arbitrationists, we have good
cause to suspect.
Coastwise commerce ts already pay-
hravr Indirect tax for the pur
pose of keeping the American ship
building industry alive. Were foreign
ships admitted to our coastwise trade,
freight rates would be much lower.
The consumer pays the freight. He is
taxed to the extent or tne increase in
rates due to the exclusion of foreign
ships. Railroads which compete with
coastwise ships get the benefit of
this increase and are subsidized to
that extent. Then surely the consum
er is entitled to the lower water rate
which will result from toll exemption
of coastwise ships as a slight offset
to the burden he bears for the pur
pose of keeping alive the shipbuilding
industry, more especially as the canal
was built for the purpose of promot
ing water competition.
Since the canal revenue will not suf
fice for many years to pay interest
on its cost and at the beginning will
hnmiv lur oKt of ooeration and main
tenance, no other nation can fairly
complain mat we are imposing .
burden on its ships which is not borne
by our own. If we choose to charge
the tolls which would have been paid
by our coastwise ships to the account
of interest on the cost of the canal, as
Senator Newlands has proposed, we
are free to do so and no man can
complain. Congress doubtless had this
In mtnH w-hon nnjislno the expmntlon
clause. An amendment to the law
creating a canal fund and making this
provision would remove all doubts.
Then, if any nation still protests, we
shall have a clear case for an Impar
tial arbitration tribunal.
Whatever may be Mr. Wilson's opin
ion on exemption, he is pledged by the
platform on which he was elected to
uphold the law as it stands in that
particular, for the following plank
was adopted by the Baltimore conven
tion: We favor the exemption from tolle of
American ships eneased In coaatwiao trade
ptiilnit through the Panama Canal. We
a. so favor legislation forbidding the nae of
the Panama Canal by ship owned or con
trolled by railroad carriers engaged In
transportation competitive with tn canal.
Mr. Wilson can. consistently with
this declaration, favor arbitration by
a tribunal which, in order to be im
partial, should be drawn from non
maritime nations, but he cannot favor
repeal of the exemption clause.
BASEBALL.
Exit the Balkans, exit the tariff, exit
Mexico, floods and disaster along with
Atu. innip, nf nnjisirisr interest. Enter
baseball. Henceforward we will be
wholly absorbed in the greatest or out
door sports. That considerable portion
of nir nnnulace which constitutes fan-
dom will have eyes, ears and other
functions for little else.
There's nothing that seems to arouse
nuitA on miirh An t h 11 si asm and Interest
as does baseball. The man who ac
cepts the Job of manicuring Portland s
big park lion will not display any more
activity when the lion objects than any
one of ten thousand fans in the ninth
Inning of a hotly contested game. If
th home team haDDens to be losing
out, an individual with muscular rheu
matism and St. Vitus' dance .would be
calm, tranquil and comfortable by
comparison.
But to leave for the nonce tne pnys
iology and psychology of baseball, it
might be well to mention iu passing
ht thf home team won yesterday.
Yessir, the home team won, which is a
portentous as well as a momentous In
cident. It's the first time we've cap
tnfrt an nnfninr eame since back In
'06, in which year we also coouy ac
cepted possession of the pennant. To
be sure, we've been more fortunate, or
more skillful, if you please, about win
ning pennants than We have in win
ning opening games. Portland may
almost be said to have the pennant
winning habit. There's something in
the elements, fostered by the spirit of
Portland's fan element, that renders
pennant-winning quite the natural
thing. We walked oft with the pen
nant in 1910 and again In 1911, and
would have gotten it last year except
for the trifling fact that our team
didn't measure up to the pennant-winning
mark.
This year it would seem that we
again are going to live up to our once
proud reputation as a pennant-winning
community. Having captured the
opening game, the rest, it would seem,
must follow as a matter of course, al
though we shall prefer to wait a few
games before presenting that assump
tion in the guise of a firm prediction.
GERMANY AND AMERICA.
Price Collier's articles on Germany
and the Germans in Scribner's Mag
azine have that quality of first hand
knowledge which convinces while it
entertains. He Is by no means an In
discriminate admirer of German in
stitutions. In many particulars he
contrasts them unfavorably with those
of the United States. He especially
dislikes the Teutonic police supervis
ion, which pervades the whole scheme
of life and becomes unendurably- in
trusive at times to a person who has
grown up under our American free
dom. Mr. Collier also finds the Ger
mans as a nation somewhat flabby.
Their excessive fondness for beery
contemplation has led them to neglect
physical exercise. They are too fond
of coddling themselves and depend a
great deal more upon the government
for personal guidance than Mr. Collier
thinks desirable. But on the other
hand he sees many features in German
life which are to be unqualifiedly com
mended. For example he likes the
general education which the young
men receive during their years of
in th irmv. It makes good
soldiers out of them as a matter of
course, but it does mucn more, it
hardens their mental and physical
fiber. Inures them to habits of regu
lar industry, cultivates the spirit of
organized activity and Imbues them
with the brotherly feeling for men of
their own race which Is going to be
more and more the basis of national
success.
Naturally in the course of his studies
Mr. Collier has occasion to contrast
German Institutions and their influ
ence upon men and manners with
those of the United States. If they
are inferior to ours we may nurture a
legitimate pride by discovering where
in we excel. If they are superior it
is the policy of wisdom to improve
hv observing our competi
tors. This was the way Peter the
Great prepared himseir to overcome
Charles XII, who at the outset sur
passed him in every particular as a
military commander. Bvjt In the end
Peter defeated him and drove him
I-.- .iio PcT-hnns bv attentively
studying the points where Mr. Collier
thinks the Germans are our
in time eoual or surpass them.
Certainly we never can do so by de
nying the facts. And yet mere am
some newspapers which assume pre
cisely that inexcusable attitude. In
stead of humbly confessing our Na
tional shortcomings and promising to
bring forth fruits meet for repent
ance they set up a shriek that Mr.
Collier has been "sneering at his
country." A calm statement of facts
is anvthing but a sneer. Comparing
the German civilization of the Nine
teenth Century with ours, Mr. Collier
finds In the former a massive solidity
of culture which far outranked us.
Admitting that Lincoln was the peer
of any man in the world, he asks where
an American of sober intelligence
would look "to find a match for Bis
marck as a statesman, Heine as a wit
and song maker. Wagner. Brahms and
Beethoven as musicians, Kant and
Hegel as philosophers, Humboldt, Lie
big. Helmholts. Bunsen and Haeckel
as scientists. Moltke and Roon as sol
diers, Ranke and Mommsen as his
torians." and so on through a long
list. The critics of Mr. Collier are ut
terly routed as far as the Nineteenth
Century goes, but they turn more con
fidently to the Twentieth.
Here, they say. we have Wilson and
Roosevelt, Bryan and Root as states
men. Sargent for a painter. McKim for
an architect and the Standard Oil
Company for a "commercial model of
Imagination, scope and efficiency."
What German philosopher of this day,
we are asked, can rival William James
and what historian ts the equal of
t i -i snmn nf these examples are
admirably chosen. Mr. Sargent is a
painter of great merit ana n nunm
James ranks high in philosophy, but
what a perversion of taste it is to put
forward the Standard Oil Company as
an exemplar of our National culture.
Germany Is not leading the world in
art Just at this moment, but in every
other civilized activity it stands as
consplcuouslyi at the front as it did
in the Nineteenth Century. Haupt
mann still ranks as the greatest trag
edian In the world. There Is only one
philosopher to rival Eucken and he
is a Frenchman, not an American.
German historians are doing work
which we imitate more or less faith
fully but do not rival. German
science in most departments is far
ahead of us. German trade is push
ing its way into all markets td the
discomfiture of its competitors, and
the German government has discov
ered how to keep an Increasing popu
lation healthy and happy.
Mr. Collier concedes that the United
States was superior to all the rest of
the world in the last century In pro
ducing "trust and tarifT incubated
millionaires." No doubt we still
maintain this bad pre-eminence. The
mention of the Standard Oil Company
as a sample of culture shows that
some of us are proud of it, which is
perhaps the saddest and most discour
aging symptom In the case. There Is
in this country a budding idealism
which will presently bear fruit in art.
letters and philosophy, but as yet It is
scarcely visible above the muck of ma
terialism which will by and by serve as
its fertilizer. When we learn to el
teem our native artists and musicians
as highly as we do foreigners of no
greater gifts, then we shall be on the
right road to National culture. But
Just now some of those who shriek
most volubly at criticisms such as Mr.
Collier's are the very ones who exhibit
the most fawning servility to foreign
ers when it comes to a question of en
couraging American genius. As a Na
tion we have some hard lessons to
master before we are prepared to en
ter the race of intellectual achievement
on equal terms with other peoples, but
we can perform the task if we honestly
set about it.
TT7KA .-..a., hosrn nf nflminST A nubllC
school for a woman? Corvallis has
"Waldo Hall," Dut tne tiue is n m
honor of Mrs. Waldo, much as she de
serves It by her services to the col
lege. Several of Portland's schools
bear men's names, but no women have
been commemorated In that way. In
Baltimore there is an agitation to
remedy this slight, which la Nation
wide, and treat both sexes with equal
favor in naming schools.
Bv establishing a centralized pur
chasing department on the model of
the Canadian Pacific Railway, New
York hopes to effect a great economy
In buying supplies. At present the
city has 120 departments which pur
chase without concord. Naturally
there is waste and confusion. Con
trallzatlon Is the remedy. It will usher
in a reign of efficiency and honesty.
The Government at Washington will
follow New York's example some day
and stop waste by putting its business
in a. few responsible hands.
In his coming visit to Europe Com
manrlor Pearv will be showered' with
dignities and decorations by foreign
potentates ana learned societies. LP
n ina nna.nt h hfLA received little
reward at home and hardly any abroad
for his great achievement, but the uae
l tnrnlnc and he will die one of the
most lustiv famous men of his time.
The temporary blight of his renown
he owes, of course, to the pernicious
Dr. Cook.
Plucky and prosperous Omaha
wants no outside assistance. Neither
does she care to be known as tn the
belt of destruction. Just as San Fran
cisco refers to the earthquake as "the
big fire," so will the Nebraska city
in time date affairs from the night
of the big wind.
xnw lot the United States send a
warship over to Great Britain and
with the bristling mouths of four
i,.n.fni)i orima nnlnrino At Parlia
ment demand release of the American
suffragette in durance vile! Vaude
ville needs her.
Tn1a survivors, turn bald, announces
a headline. Reading no farther we
are left in doubt whether a tonsorial
emblem or the earth's southernmost
axis is referred to.
nut If the Democrats had followed
their original plan and started butch
ering the tariff on April l tne cry
of "April fool" would never have
ended.
Mrs. Pankhurst calls Miss Emerson,
the suffragette who tried to catch
pneumonia in prison, a heroine. Oth
ers would call her by a shorter and less
complimentary name.
Portland's ready and liberal re
sponse to the appeal from flood suf
ferers Indicates not only the city e
prodigal liberality, but its immense
prosperity
XT. K fnnrtJ tn nr-r-enr tho
Job of trimming the park lion's nails.
Make it a political Job and there'll be
a thousand applicants.
The Turk now thankfully accepts
any terms offered. If the allies ham
mer away much longer, ne win De giaa
to escape with his skin. .
t- it MccihiA thorn Am four second-
class postoffices in Oregon for which
no Democrat has applied? Are the
brethren asleep?
With a million and a half in auto
mobiles in Oregon, $40,000 or more
is not much to spend on grand opera
in Portland.
Now that Chamberlain and Lane
are apportioning the spoils. Demo
cratic tongues are beginning to water.
With March setting a new pace in
commercial activity, the year 1S13
looks brighter than ever to Portland.
The office-seeker to whom President
Wilson showed the door will now go
home to nurse a "grouch."
There is a subtle irony in designat
ing April 1 as the opening date of the
trout season.
Doesn't it make you sore to read
that the price of meat Is soaring
again?
The season of Joy is on for six days
a week, jjetaiis are on tne score
board.
The Turk will take his medicine if
the powers hold the spoon.
Between grand opera and baseball
these are exciting times.
The crop of Woodrow babies is now
being harvested.
Haywood got what was due. '
JfATTRJE IS HEARTLESS IN LAWS,
EllaalaaUoa of I'aflt Cans of Flarnes,
Saya Gold Hill Mas.
GOLD HILL, Or., March 37. (To the
Editor.) Is the race threatened with
the "white plague?" The impression
that it is has doubtless been made on
many lay minds by the wid discussion
given to the subject recently. But the
evidence shows that a very large part
of the race is immune to it. But why
immune? Because their blood has not
reached the stage of physical degener
acy peculiar to those who are not thus
immune.
There Is a well-marked difference In
the chemical reactions in the blood of
the two classes.
Nature knows no mercy, but in her
.seemingly cruel plan of selecting the
fittest, has marked this unfortunate
class for elimination.
For good and sufficient biologic rea
sons, but dimly understood, this suffer
ing class has fallen below the stand
ard set by tbe laws of nature as neces
sary for the continuance of the race.
No serum, I take it. can be devised that
will set aside this decree of nature.
The futile quest for the spring that
would restore youth failed for the
same reason. Youth once spent or life
force lost can never be recovered. Some
diseases leave behind as a result cer
tain elements which act as barriers to
prevent their recurrence, thus setting
up a tendency towards "race immunity"
and this well ascertained fact has led
to the thought that a suitable serum
might bring about a race Immunity to
consumption, but this reasoning Is
fallacious, because this disease Is fun
damental. It leaves no barriers to pre
vent Its recurrence. It is hard to say,
but it is nature's executioner sent to
remove a strain of blood which has
lost race efficiency.
Suppose for a moment that -rr. Freld
mann has discovered a serum that will
arrest the ravages of this disease In
certain cases, yet I desire to say that It
cannot be any more than a palliative.
The patient, though his life may be pro
longed, would still be a member of the
decadent class, anf If married would
have children of tbe same class, as
liable to this disease as though the
parent were never treated. To create
this false hope would only be a greater
menace to the race.
That nature's conditions for race con
tinuity are being more and more vio
lated Is evidenced by the Increase in
the army of consumptives. There is
only one way to stop this inerea-ie, and
that is to comply with these conditions.
This hubbub to raise money "to fight
the white plague" Is as futile as the
Pope's bull against the comet.
Why not look a stern and terrible
truth squarely in the face?
Nature has her laws for spacing
proved by Avagodro's law of gases and
everywhere evident, in Bode's law of
planetary distances, in the number of
trees that will live on a given space, in
the amount of grain which should be
sown to the acre, etc But manl Sow
him thick! He seems to have no law.
The plagues that devastate the world
are nature's protest. Consumption has
well been called "The White Plague."
Its brother Is called leprosy, the same
sign Nature's decree of extinction. Tbe
most senseless cry of modern days is
"race suicide."
If Nature can be accredited with an
altruistic purpose, she Is now trying
to save the race from utter extinction
by marking excess population with her
fatal sign of elimination. Yet the world
could support even more people than it
contains without Invoking this fatal
scourge providing the conditions ap
pointed for race continuity were ob
served. J. R. KENDALL.
MALE ATTIRE NOT VERY MODEST
Woman Charges That It Is la Need
of Regulation.
PORTLAND, April 1. (To the Edi
tor.) Apropos of "Fashions and Mor
als" as commented upon in an Oregon-
Ian editorial, I, with other women, be
lieve that it Is high time for the men
of Mr. Bok's cocksureness to cease
dwelling on the mote and take cogniz
ance of the beam.
As your editorial indicates "We grow
accustomed to everything imaginable In
the way of attire." If this were not
true, pitiably true, the women of this
country long ago would have risen up
in revolt against the man who dons
bifurcated garments and a cut-away
coat.
Time was when men wore flowing
garb such as effectually concealed the
unattractive outlines of their anatomy
as effectually as did the gowns of the
women before the era of the much
condemned stovepipe skirt and peek
aboo waist. But Just why the masculine
mind should assume that the trouser as
worn by him Is a garment of either
beauty or modesty is a conundrum to
the feminine mind.
We have grown accustomed to it. It
Is true. But It is not true that it can
be looked upon as a garment in which
are combined all sartorial virtues.
Just why there is no limit set upon
men's attire while every change in the
mode that women affect is condemned
fore and aft by the masculine element
is hard for a mere woman to under
stand. The cutaway or short sack coat
worn by men is far more indecent than
any fashion women have adopted even
in this last decade and yet not even
one reformer has raised his voice
against It.
A SOMETIME STRAPHANGER.
HOW TO GET MOXET CIRCULATIJfG
Eugene Man Suggests Way of "Busting
the Money Trust."
EUGENE. Or., March 31. (To the
Editor.) You say in The Oregonian of
March 24. under the heading "Farmers'
Loans," that two honest and Industrious
farmers wish to obtain a loan on land
valued at SS00U or $9000 but without
success. The best bargain they have
been able to make includes interest at
8 per cent and a preliminary bonus of
3 per cent, which Is simply ruinous.
I take it from the way you put it that
the loans will not be made, hence those
two farmers will do without this money.
Results: Idle money and unimproved
farms. This Is the fruits 6f a money
trust. Let us burst this trust in this
way:
Let the Government go into this
moneV-lendlng business, and cut out
the 8 per cent and charge the S per
cent. That perhaps would be sufficient
to cover all cost. Results again: Thes
men would get the money either from
the Government or from these brokers.
The brokers would beg these men to
take their money at the same rate of
interest, unless, perchance, they could
otherwise Invest it so that it would
bring a greater per cent. If they did
the latter it would help society by put
ting their money in circulation, where it
belongs, and these men would go on
and further improve their farms. This
would prevent all hoarding of money
and force it out In circulation, and there
would be very little borrowed from the
United States. D. HARBAUGH.
One Jnmp at a Time.
Washington (D. C.) Herald.
"You say you're so good. Why didn't
you enter the amateur broad Jump?"
"Rules didn't suit me.
"Why not?"
"They wanted to start us off with a
pistol shot, anil I do my best Jumping
when I hear an auto born."
Hnaband-and-Wife Logic.
New York Herald.
She You once said you would die for
me, and now you refuse to get up and
light the fire.
He That's perfectly logical. If I
died for you I'd be done with: but if
I get up once and light tne lire you u
want me to do it every morning.
An Expression of Delicacy.
Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Jane Would you marry a man who
was your Inferior?
Mary 11 I marry at an.
"IXWRITTKSi LAW" IS CONDEMNED
It Is
Snr-rtva or Day of
SavasrerTi
Saya Woman.
PORTLAND. March 49. (To the Edi
tor.) L. J. K. is firmly convinced of
one thing and that is the essential
justice of exclusively man-made moral
codes. Hence be cannot see that he
takes a one-sided view of the "unwrit
ten law" and "dementia Americana'
which The Oregonian so Justly con
demned in the Ralph Henry case, and
which any community claiming to be
civilized must completely outgrow.
L. J. K. objects because of my as
sertlon that where the "unwritten law'
and the insanity plea are upheld as
they were recently, men regard their
wives from the standpoint of proprie
tary rights. Yet is not that the unaer
lying theory of proclaiming the hus
band as the "head of the family I
the other hand. I regard mature wo
men of ordinarv understanding as in
dividuals who ought to have full control
of their own actions so long as they
do not trespass on the life, liberty or
orooerty of others. Women cannot
demand less than this if women are to
be regarded as neither slaves nor para,
sites.
Immediately the sentimentalist puts
this poser, as it has been put to me
more than once: "Was your own mother
a slave or a parasite?" Frankly, my
own mother was not, because my father
was a "woman s rights man In Mas
sachusetts with Wendell Phillips as
long as 40 years ago. His benighted
fellow-citizens indulgently considered
him as "eccentric" on that particular
topic My mother and father were in
perfect accord on Wis tuDjeci oi tree
dom for women. Yet the "home
wrecker" of L. J. K.'s imagination
would have found his occupation gone
In that particular domicile. But I am
sure that if my mother had fallen in
lova with another man after marriage.
my father would not have shot him to
death. Why? For the very reason that
he believed in freedom, not ownersnip.
for women, including his own wife. It
was one of the deepest convictions of
his life. He It was who gave me the
first Inkling of the wrongs that women
have suffered through the ages, and are
now suffering, because men refuse to
regard them as Just human beings like
themselves, wltn tne same strengta ano
the same weaknesses. Aiy parents re
ceived their Inspiration from that great
orator and maenilicent humanitarian
Wendell Phillips. His was an abiding
Influence in their lives. Their mar
rlairn was based on absolute freedom
unon mutual affection, forbearance and
a recognition of each other's rights. I
know they weTe all the happier for this
complete understanding. Neither can I
see where their children suffered be
cause the parents regarded each other
as free agents. .
So I venture to say that L. J. K. has
nothing to teach me in the way of
mutual responsibility for husband and
wife that I did not learn years ago
from a -free father and a free mother.
True, I am unmarried. But I have not
yet been as fortunate as my mother to
find the splendid type of manhood that
my own father was. Most of tne men
one meets have the same attitude
toward wifehood that L J. K. has,
namelv. Tjroorietorship. Luckily for me,
my parents saw to It that I, their
daughter, snouio oe economically in
dependent and capable of making my
own way in the world. Otherwise I
might find myself In the position of so
mnnv women I know who are unsatis
factorily married but who, because of
lack of independent means or of train
ing, would be quite helpless cut off
from their nusDanos- poc.etouwK..
women, as Inez Mllholland truly says,
have been practically starved into sub
mission by their husbands.
What has all this to do with the
Ralph Henry case and the "unwritten
law." Just this: So long as man as
sumes that he alone has "honor" to
guard and that his wife Is to conform
to that code unconditionally and under
all circumstances, we shall have op
pression and Injustice for women. We
demand freeoom, eoucation, iu imj
nnrtnnitv of obtaining economic inde
pendence, and motherhood Inspired by a
social and racial Ideal. Under such con
ditions the "unwritten law" in all its
disguises will come to be recognized
as exactly what it is: a part of the
ethics of savagery and not of civiliza
tion. (Miss) it- v: m.
LOST FAITH IX COL. ROOSEVELT.
North Bend Man Disputes That "Great
est American" la Great.
' NORTH BEND, Or., March 31. (To
the Editor.) In an editorial in the Sun-
t sntitlAri . "Theodore
Roosevelt's Life," you say, "no one Just
like Roosevelt ever uvea, kdu ou
I can agree with you; but you also say
.. v- i oat AnnnnMtfl Were
for his own glory and Roosevelt'B have
not been," and here l leave you. juoi
let me say a few words on this subject
and I think I will feei better. I once
believed in Roosevelt as a moral and
political reformer. I have lost all faith
in him, as have millions of others. He
i i . v. a fn,olhlA ovnnnnrler of
uas uccu in".' i
many beautiful doctrines, but when the
people have lost latin in a prujjuot
teachings are soon forgotten.
He was the greatest self -advertiser
that ever lived. Since he first appeared
upon the scene he has gone about the
u hinrino- a triimnet. He went
to war like a drum-major leading a
band. He marcnea into tne punnum
arena showing his teeth figuratively
ii a iitora ll v He made a set of
teeth famous. He attacked with a club
everything and everybody that got in
his way. rle even penetrateu utti ncoi
1..! papH lnuder than the lions.
He could not brook opposition. He
continually cried aioua, inane nj
Me.
tt. 1 a wllllncr tn sacrifice
ne n ... i' j o
anybody except himself. His doctrine
was "the people snouia ruie uuuusu .o.
v- "v, has ftiwavs had in mind
the welfare of the little fellow as dis
tinguished from the big fellow." In
the language or tne oay, sure. xi
- nf him and Roosevelt was a
politician. Moreover he was a steam
engine, a steam roller ana a. iwuu
iope combined. He was a wonderful
Kii, nnt a fiTPftt HlAIL He WaS not
big enough to put the interests of the
Nation above his own personal amui
,i wv.or hitd the oooortunlty to
make Governor Hadley his own certi
fied Simon pure reformer President of
the United States, ne reiuseu. m
not ring true. He was not honest. He
aroused enthusiasm and had a great
following, but he never touched the
hearts of the people. He was not great.
Lincoln was a great, man and millions
of Deople loved him. No one loves
Roosevelt. A. S. HAMMOND.
DO NOT LEAVES CHILDREN ALOXE
Sack a Riafc Is Marked by Many Grave
Dangers.
PORTLAND. March 31. (To the Ed
itor.) In reference to the tragedies of
the past week in this city, Deputy Cor
oner Dunning says "Parents should
learn that matches should be kept out
of the way of children."
It seems to me there are several
other things that parents should learn,
and one of them is that small children
should not be left alone in a house to
care for themselves or to be cared for
by Providence. The Lord is good and
cares for the neglected and helpless,
but often he permits tragedies even
more horrible than burning to death,
and some parents and whole communi
ties get very severe lessons. It is ex
ceedingly sad. but only too true. Why
not take the lesson?
Perhaps in face of these tragedies It
seems a little hard to offer advice, yet
it is only one who really cares who
will take the trouble to do so.
Parents should be thoughtful of the
welfare of their children, and have love
enough to prevent such terrible acci
dents when possible to do so.
NANNIE B. MOORE.
The First Day
By Dean Collins.
With a brand new rod and a brand
new reel
And a khaki outfit that crackles
With newness, and with a brand new
creel
And brand new "sortments of hackles.
And bait hooks, too. and a box that
squirms
With more than a score of angle
worms
Huroo! Hurray! To the stream away.
For it's open season for trout today.
'Twas a beaten trail on the streamlet's
banks.
Where a hundred boots had trod.
And willows had broken their serried
ranks
To the march of the knights of the
rod;
And the shoreline offered a fair Im
pression Of some sort of holiday procession.
As up and down the stream they'd
splash.
An hundred anglers, bold and brash.
There were anglers bold and strong.
Who crept at the close of day
Alleys and by-streets dim along.
Nor paused In their onward way;
Though open season for trout, 'twas
true.
Though the outfit was fine and fresh
and new
Which of the knights of the rod and
reel
Waa willing to have you inspect his
creel?
There are hundred anglers brave and
bold
Who wake on the second morn
With the "Charley horse" and the cough
and cold
And a sorrowful look forlorn
But though their catch, as a general
rule,
Was more or less of an "April fool,"
They smile through their troubles any
how At least It is open season now.
Twenty-five Years Ago
From The Oregonian of April 2. 1SS8.
Chicago. April 1. The prospect of an
Immediate tie-up has added a graver
aspect to the railroad situation this
evening than at any time sines the
commencement of the Burlington
strike,
San Francisco, April 1. Mrs. Robert
Louis Stevenson, of Bournemouth. Eng
land, wife of the noted novelist, arrived
here from the East this evening.
The popular dissatisfaotion with the
United States Senate is voiced by the
proposition now before Congress to
have United States Senators directly
elected by the people.
The first annual commencement of
the medical department of the Univer
sity of Oregon will take place at Turn
Hall thlB evening. The degree of doctor
of medicine will be conferred on the
following young men: H. B. Stanley, C.
P. Thomas. H. A. Wright, H. J. Whit
ney, J. Hunter Wells, Felix Callahan
and A. E. Severance. Conferring of de
grees: Honorable M. P. Deady, presi
dent of Board of Regents. Charge to
graduates: Dr. S. E. Josephl, dean of
the faculty.
A new black walnut pulpit has been
added to Trinity Episcopal Church.
The steamer Telephone No. 2 Is rap
idly approaching completion.
Governor Pennoyer, speaking to an
Oregonian reporter, expressed the hope
that the Democratic State convention,
which meets In Pendleton this week,
would speak in unmistakable terms In
regard to opening the Columbia River.
A bond for a deed, wherein Amos N.
King agrees to transfer to George B.
Marble, Jr., as trustee of the Industrial
Fair Association, the property selected
as a site for the fair buildings near the
Intersection of Fourteenth and B
streets, was filed Saturday. The asso
ciation is to pay Mr. King $8000 in cash
or one-half cash and the remainder in
fully paid-up stock.
At a meeting of citizens held at the
West Shore office on Saturday, Messrs.
H W. Corbett, Donald Macleay, W. K.
Smith, Ellis G. Hughes and L. L. Haw
kins were appointed to act as an ad
visory committee to Mr. L. Samuels In
his scheme to advertise the city of
Portland in the East.
Half a Century Ao
From The Oresonian of April 2, 1883.
A letter from Mr. J. W. Johnson to
Honorable George H. Williams, says
that Mr. Frank Rand, who was on the
way to the mines with Mr. J. H. Boyd,
of this place, was drowned from the
steamer Cascadllla, being thrown over
board by the concussion when the
steamer struck a rock.
On Sunday last several of our patrl- '
otic citizens obtained two anvils and
fired 100 guns in honor of our recog
nition as an integral part of the glori
ous Union. Nine cheers for Idaho, "the
gem of the mountains," were given in
tones that will vibrate through every
part of our beautiful territory. Lewis
ton Golden Age.
We publish this morning the request
of many Union citizens that ward
meetings may be. held this evening to
make arrangements for the election to
be held on Monday next. We trust that
every voter who cares for the welfare
and prosperity of the city will attend.
It cannot be denied that the present In
stitution Is a BUblimo humbug a ridic
ulous libel upon intelligent city gov
ernment. The Winter term of the public
schools closed yesterday. A picnic was
given to the children.
NO EXCUSE FOR 'UNWRITTEJr LAW
It la Held to Be Evil Because of Its
Evil Source.
PORTLAND. March 30. (To the Ed
itor.) We are taught that two nega
tives make an affirmative, but two
wrongs do not make a right. There
fore, the murderer should not be ex
cused from execution, neither will the
execution, proprltiate the crime. No act
conceived In the darkness of the mind
can be a just deed to .serve a just
cause. Thus, the unwritten law Is an
evil by virtue of Its evil source.
The breaking up of Ralph Henry's
home was the result of evil. The sub
sequent act of murder was the result
of a vindictive spirit that, unre
strained, becomes the father of un
written law.
The first inception of the whole mis
erable trouble traces back to the foun
tain head of the real and Initial cause,
but there is the rub. The solution Is
there, the reward also, but what's the
use, when humanity in its weakness
must choose between chastity on Its
throne of will power and self denial,
or the devil on his throne of seductive
pleasures?
When the precepts of love in their
fullness and purity are the only in
centive for marriage and continue in
control of the marriage relations, nt
man or woman can enter a home and
destroy its chastity. Likewise will go
the unwritten law. O. G. S.
A Matrimonial Enquiry.
Buffalo Express.
"Here is a story of a Chicago woman
who says that present marriage laws
make women the slave of man," said
the square-Jawed matron as she looked
up from the newspaper.
"Why don't they enforce the law,
then?" meekly asked Mr. Henpecke.