THE MORNING OREGONIAN, SATURDAY.
APRIL
5, 1913-
6
PORTLAND. OREGON.
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PORTLAND, SATXTICAY, APRIL S. lsl.
THE DESPOTIC LAND OFFICE.
; Not only do the laws governing ac
' quirement of public land need thor
i ough revision, but the entire admlnls-
t ration of the land .laws needs com
I plete overhauling. Evidence submlt
" ted to the Senate committee on public
lands proves conclusively that the de
I cision of contests has been despotic,
capricious and frequently in violation
' of the plain directions of law. By its
i interpretation of laws passed for the
protection of homesteaders and mln
i era. the Land Office has In effect re
J pealed or radically amended them.
Settlers have been bedeviled in a man.
; ner worthy of Russia or Turkey. The
bias of each succeeding Secretary of
the Interior on the subject of conser
vation has colored decisions of his
--subordinates. No precedents rule.
, There is no certainty anywhere that
. the principles laid down hi one de-
cision will be followed in another
; parallel with it.
The rules governing adjudication
'. of land cases are based on the theory
; that they are simply deals between
buyer and seller. Originally this was
J a sonnd theory, for the land was sold
J outright for cash. But our land laws
r are now so complex that private equl-
ties of great value grow up which are
at the mercy of the Land Office. They
'. are matters for judicial determination,
; but clerks and attorneys in the Land
i Office have been constituted the
', judges, though they represent one of
the parties to the transaction the
! Government. Only in rare cases is
1 appeal to the courts possible. Con
' gress has vested the Interior Depart
I ment with wide discretion to make
rules and regulations. This discretion
! has been used by the Land Office au-
torrau to amend and repeal laws and
to put in operation their own ideas of
; what the law should be. They are the
great Pooh-Bahs. In administering
.' the law they exercise executive power;
in making rules, professedly applying
the law but actually changing it, they
; exercise legislative power; in deciding
' claims and contests, they exercise Ju
', diclal power. They are all three dl
; visions of the Government rolled into
one. They are the law.
A land contest between two indi
' viduals is-tried before a Judge and
jury, who hear all oral and see all
; documentary evidence. A land con-
test between an individual and the
! Government is tried by the Govern-
ment through Land Office officials.
I with no Jury, and the Judge considers
' as evidence special agents" reports
which are not put in evidence, but are
withheld from the claimant as ."con-
' fidential." The same man who col-
lected the Government's evidence may
I try the case and decide the appeal
1 from his own decision.
The statement that the Land Office
; has repealed laws may seem incredl-
ble. but it is true. In 189X a law was
' - passed providing that after the lapse
of two years from the issue of final
receipt without contest a homesteader
'shall get & patent, but the depart
- ment has interpreted away this right
of the settler until it now arrogantly
refuses to be bound by the law. Be
cause the department found suspicious
circumstances in seventeen entries in
the Slletz country, it arbitrarily sus
pended all entries In fifteen townships
in that section. The Land Office has
created a new class of homesteads
which it calls "timbered homesteads,"
though the law recognizes no such
classification. Though the law re
quires a homesteader to reside on or
cultivate his claim, it has been con
strued as requiring him to reside on
ad cultivate. This construction has
been used to extend National forests
by cancellation of entries on so-called
timbered homesteads in states where
the law expressly forbids such exten
sion. Men who have spent years in
improving homesteads have been
driven out to make room for scrip fil
. Ings by men who would hold the land
for its timber. By requiring as much
improvement on a homestead in the
fourteen months' residence required
for commutation as during the five
years' residence required for a free
, homestead, the Land Office has prac
tically repealed the commutation
homestead law. -Congress provided
that reservation of public land should
not impair the right to explore, de
velop and purchase mineral land, but
;in 1910 the withdrawal, at the instiga
tion of the Land Office, excepted coal,
" oil, gas and phosphate land, and the
- law of August, 1912, made the right of
"miners apply only to metalliferous
" minerals. This cut out clays, lime,
marble, onyx, building stone, cement.
- gypsum, borax, polishes and all other
... non-metallic minerals.
President Taft proposed creation of
- a land court to hear appeals from
" the Interior Department. The friends
"" of the settlers propose appeals to the
Circuit Court of Appeals in the Cnlted
States and to the district courts for
.' coal claimants In Alaska. But. in or?
..- der that Justice may be done, the
-- Land Office should be overhauled, its
entire practice revised and the men
who. through long habit, are mental-
'- ly incapable of dealing out Justice
should be displaced. We look to
-"' President Wilson and Secretary Lane
- to initiate these reforms and put an
" end to the arbitrary star-chamber
methods which now prevail.
-I NWEPT. r"HOSRXD AXD rjiSVSG."
: "Breathes there a man with soul so
dead who never to himself hath said,
;: This la my own. my native land?'
Whose heart hath ne'er within him
burned as home his footstep, he hath
j : turned from wandering on a foreign
I strand?" Yes. there breathes Just
, such a man and his name is Frank J.
: Gould. He has been meandering
' around In New York for the last few
: months half dead with ennui, bored to
i the last limit of endurance. And now
', he is going back to France and there
he will stay. America has seen the
last of him. In France he owns a
farm where he will consecrate his
mental energies to raising artichokes.
He is never coming back any more be
cause "America is not amusing.
Poor Frank. It is an everlasting
pity that the American people have
not turned their attention to making
amusement for their bored million
aires, as Samson did for the Philis
tines. The only thing to dread if they
had done so would have been that
thev might Imitate Samson a little far.
ther and pull down the pillars of the
temple on the heads or tne merry
makers. In this great land of promise, where
the hope of humanity is beginning to
blossom into reality, Frank Gould can
find nothing to do. None of our prob
lems interest him. None of our op
portunities charm him. He is going
back to France to raise artichokes in
preference to taking a hand in the
noblest and most difficult work the
world has ever seen. No doubt some
kindly instinct . has guided him to
choose wisely. A man who can be
content with growing artichokes and
nothing more is hardly fit to help grow
a Nation.
America has done a great deal for
Frank Gould and his brothers and sis
ters. Our natural resources have been
noured out like water for them. Thou
sands of men have tolled to make
them rich and are tolling for them
still. The laws have been indulgent
to them. Public opinion has endured
many an insult from them and their
kind. We might justly look for some
better return than sneers. It is scarce,
ly possible to believe that America was
endowed by Providence with its nat
ural wealth in order that empty-head,
ed simpletons might grow artichokes
near Paris. It is reasonable to believe
that there must have been some other
purpose in it all.
SAME OLD PARTY CAUCCS.
President Wilson sends for the
chairman of the house ways and
means committee, and Instructs him
as to the Administration's views of the
proposed tariff bill. The ways and
means committee has a meeting and
conforms with the tariff plans of the
President.
President Wilson sends for the
Democratic members of the Senate
finance committee (which has tariff
legislation in charge) and notifies
them that the Administration has a
certain tariff policy which it wishes
to bave incorporated in the tariff bill.
The Democratic Senators express a
willingness to yield to the President's
desires, but are in doubt whether the
entire Democratic majority can be
whipped into line. '
It is evident that the President,
through the Democratic leaders, in
tends to use the party lash in order
tn nrnciim legislation from Congress.
The open doormat the White House has
no relation to the open iioor or vou
..... h. iron rule of the Demo
cratic machine is to override free de
bate and independent action Dy con
gress, or by Congressmen. The tariff
hin nt th Administration and all
other cardinal policies are to be crys
tallized, perfected and adopted behind
the doors of the party caucus.
t bv narty. We
support party because party stands
for some well-aeiinea pnnctyte,
code of principles. We elect a Presi
dent because he represents certain
ideas and policies, we elect a majur
, rnnprpM because it upholds
certain purposes, desires and aspira
tions of the people.
Thus there are some tnings we ei
do as our unenlightened fathers did.
ir w nnert a President and Congress
to Ignore party and the party caucus.
we must devise some otner way tnau
through party to elect them.
SENTTMEXT VERSCS FACT.
A revival of the .activities of the
.jiiu has followed the
speech of Winston Churchill in the
British Parliament, in which he ad
vocated a year s truce among tin na
tions in warship building. The World
Peace Foundation quotes Mr. Church
ill's words with approval and ex
presses a hope for co-operation among
Teutonic nations the
United States. Great Britain and Ger
many in the interest or peace ana
...tinn nt nrmaments. It rejoices in
the refusal of Congress to build two
battleships yearly, it quotes oet"j
of State Bryan and Nicholas Murray
Butler as advocates of the Democratic
policy of a small Navy, peace and ar
bitration. Mr. Bryan's utterances assume pe
culiar importance by reason of his ap
pointment to conduct our foreign rela
tions. At the Mohonk conference, in
1910. he held up to ridicule the com
petition in naval armament among na
tions and declared that, if we told the
world we did not believe In war and
that we had no disputes we were not
willing to submit to the Judgment of
the world, we should soon have treaties
of peace with practically all nations,
and other nations would follow our ex
ample until the day of war would be
past. He spoke in the same spirit at
Kalelgh. N. C, only a week before the
Inauguration.
These are beautiful sentiments, but
what are the facts? There have been
more wars among civilized nations In
the last twenty years than in any like
period for generations. We had the
Chino-Japanese war in 1S94-5 . the
Greco-Turkish war in 1897, the Spanish-American
war In 1898, the Boer
war in 1899-1901, the Russo-Japanese
war in 1904-5, the Italian-Turkish war
in 1911-12. and the Balkan war in
1912-13. Would any of the nations
involved in these wars have been will
ing to submit their disputes to arbitra
tion ? We know they would not. There
were issues to be settled which could
only be settled by force, and the
weaker in each case was beaten, re
gardless of the abstract rights of the
controversy. Every nation professes
an earnest desire for peace, but when
such an issue as that between Great
Britain and the Boers or between the
Balkan states and Turkey arises, they
will accept no arbitrament except that
of war. All nations follow Colonel
Roosevelt's admonition: "Speak softly,
but carry a big stick." To throw away
our big stick would be equivalent to
disarming the Sheriff and notifying
the burglars that there is naught to
fear.
There is no reason to hope that Ger
many will accept Mr. Churchill's invi
tation to make a truce. That country
has rejected every disarmament over
ture at The Hague conferences. She
will continue to arm, and other nations
will do likewise. Our words will have
weight in the congress of nations pro
portionate to our power to back them
with deeds. If Mr. ffryan has his way
In the Wilson Administration, the in
fluence of the United States among na
tions will sink to a low ebb.
Huerta now talks of retiring. He's
been In too long. The Presidential
term in Mexico should be reduced to
ten days, with say 200 Vice-Presidents
to replace Presidents who die of that
quick malady characteristic of Mexi
can politics.
YVUKNOE COMETH THEIR HELFf
Words of solemn admonition are ad
dressed by the Nework Evening Post
to any Democratic Senators who may
dissent from their party on the tariff
bill and to the leaders in the Senate.
The Post calls for a firm attitude on
the part of the leaders to overcome re
calcitrancy on the part of those who
Insist on protective demands in the in
terest of their own constituencies. It
continues:
For any tariff bill tbat haa obtained, after
full deliberation, the authoritative approval
of the Prealdent and of the leader in Con
greaa. It la now clear that, with ordinarily
strong and a&aacloua party management,
enoush votea can be had to aecure It paa
eage In both house. Tboae who are going
to fight for conceaslona of a protective na
ture will have to reckon with this aituation
from the start, and pitch their note accord
ingly. There will be a hearing for dissen
tients, bnt there can be no coercion by them,
unless the men at the helm are weak, or un
faithful, or Incompetent. The only danger,
point ilea in the aa yet unknown character
of the party leadership in the Senate. And
those entrusted with that leadership should
be nude to understand from the outeet that
upon their shuuWlers rests a responsibility
of the gravest kind. The party la in no
extraordinary situation, but in the normal
position ot a party in full control of all
branches of the Federal Government and it
must give a good account of Itself or suffer
the penalty of failure.
This Is a warning to the leaders to
stand pat against the demands of pro
tectionists within the party ranks. It
is a hint to the protectionists that, if
they persist in their demands, the
leaders will find votes elsewhere to
pass the objectionable provisions in
face of their opposition. Where does
the Post expect to get these votes?
The answer seems "to be: From the
Bull Moosers and the Progressive Re
publicans. If the Louisiana Senators and those
from the beet sugar states should bolt
on free sugar, enough Republicans and
Bull Moosers might be won over to off
set the loss. Free raw sugar was a
Republican policy until 1897, when the
party went wild on protection, and can
consistently be taken up again now
that Republicans have regained their
senses. To do so would not only be in
accordance with party policy, but
would be good political tactics. Re
publicans could then claim a share of
the credit for relieving the people from
oppressive tariff taxes. The Democrats
would be driven to impose a stiff in
come tax in order to All up the hole in
the Treasury caused by free sugar, or
to curtail expenses most carefully.
Either course would not redound to.
Democratic popularity.
It is extremely doubtful whether
appeals to party loyalty will make any
impression on the sugar Senators.
They have more to gain politically by
caring for what they regard as the
interests" of their states than by main
taining party solidarity. Perhaps the
Western Democratic Senators will take
the same view of free wqol. Then we
shall have another demonstration of
the truth of Hancock's saying tha the
tariff is a local issue.
AS THE TWIG IS BKNT.
Pointing across the street at the
town drunkard, "There but for the
grace of God," exclaimed the great
New England preacher, "goes Jona
than Edwards." In his dialect the
phrase "grace of God" was the symbol
of something exceedingly complicated.
It Included the Instruction and exam
ple of his parents and teachers, the
companionship of his boyish friends,
the precepts which had been fixed in
his memory as soon as he could speak,
the Ideals that he had been taught to
look up to, the habits he had been
led to form long before he knew what
a habit was. All these things and
many more were included in the
"grace of God" as Jonathan Edwards
understood it. He had been saved
from the miserable fate of the town
drunkard because in his youth he had
enjoyed good home training in a fa
vorable environment. A writer in
the Outlook quotes from Paul Dubois
a passage of the same import. "If
you have the happiness to be a well
living man," he says, "take care not
to attribute the credit of it to your
self. Remember the favorable condi
tions in which you have lived, sur
rounded by relatives who loved you
and set you a good example. Keep
a grateful remembrance for all the
teachers who have influenced you, the
kind and intelligent schoolmaster, the
devoted pastor. . Realize tha all these
multiple influences have made you
what you are." Had the early influ
ences been different they would have
produced a different man.
The intelligent world is at last
wakening to the Importance of edu
cating children properly. Education
is rising to the dignity of an Imperial
problem. Everything else begins to
look a little dwarfed in comparison
with it. The world is becoming con
scious of the tremendous fact that
we could once produce a thoroughly
well-educated generation of human
beings the perplexities of civilization
would melt away almost of them
selves like dew before the morning
sun. And with this thought goes the
other, which is equally momentous,
that all education begins and centers
In the home. This is true in spite of
all the regrettable facts that seem to
point in other directions. There are
thousands of children, some of them
highly gifted, who have no homes.
Vice, divorce, misfortunes of various
sorts, have sent them out in childhood
to fend for themselves in the hard
world. Thousands of mothers are
obliged to leave their dwellings daily
to help earn bread for their families.
To talk of their homes is mockery.
Still the fact abides that the homeless
child and the child, whose home is
defective can never be educated as he
ought. He loses something by his
misfortune that he never can regain
no matter how long he lives, and so
ciety loses more by the dwarfing and
perversion of his powers. The first step
in public education ought to be to ste
that all children have homes. It is
as important as to see that all calves
have good shelter. When this funda
mental step has been taken we may
cheerfully pass on to other considera
tions. We may ponder, for one thing,
upon what is called by modern peda
gogues "the law of psychological de
terminism." According to this law
everything that a mature person de
sires or thinks and every act that he
does flow from his previous acts, de
sires and thoughts...
The mental states of early chi'd
hood are more powerful than any oth
ers in determining later conduct inti
standards. It has been truly said that
every man's ideal woman is his moth
er. From her, or the woman who
took her place when he was in his
cradle, he acquired images of woman
hood that will go with him to the
grave and charm him to his 'as:
breath. Almost equally enduring are
the ideals of honesty, bravery, fidelity
to truth and friendship, of patience
under grinding tasks, that the child
forms as soon as he can look around
him and understand what is going on.
If he lives In a family where bicker
ing, deeelt, dishonesty are the dally
order of life he will in later years
practice what he has thus tteen'taught
to believe natural and right. The law
of psychological determinism tells us
in learned language that the "thoughts
of youth are long, long thoughts."
They are the habitual thoughts of our
lives. If they are bad they will be
lifelong enemies. If they are good
they will be lifelong friends. This
portentous psychological law tells us
again that there" is no influence in
the world so strong as the "sugges
tions" imposed upon us by our sur
roundings when we are children.
They give us what Bergson calls the
"elan primitif," the original impulse
of our course through the world. And
not only that, they renew the impulse
from instant to instant as long as we
live." The wise parent cannot forget
that tremendous scene in "Jane Eyre"
where the forlorn governess resists
Rochester's plea for an Illegal union.
All the desires of, her soul, all her
hopes of happiness said "Yield.' She
was saved by harking back to the
solid rock of youthful principle. No
present strength of her soul rescued
her. It was the strength of those old
suggestions rising from the past and
summoning her to righteous Judgment.
What is education but forming hab
its? All else is but splashes in the
memory which perturb the child for
a little while and then die away. But
habit endures forever. Habit is char
acter. It Is rectitude. It is practical
skill. Even sympathy for the unfor
tunate is a habit. Pity that does not
end in action is a sort of debauchery
It may even disintegrate the moral
nature so badly that all practical ef
fort for others becomes impossible.
The classical tale of the Russian
Countess who iwept over a heroine's
sufferings in the theater while her
coachman froze to death in the street
embodies a world of warning to par
ents. It is worse than useless to
preach to children about their duties
to others. The only effective teaching
comes from making them go and do
their duty until the habit is so se
curely linked that it will never fail.
After all Mr. Squeers had the right
concept of education. "We tells them
how and then they goes and does It"
was his maxim. .Who ever found a
better one?
One of these days an indignant citi
zen, somewhat of the build and tem
perament of Colonel Wood, win saiiy
forth in an ironclad automobile and
court calamity (to the other fellow)
for the hilarious glory of the dire con
sequences. A Pannsvlvania man will walk 2800
miles to Portland just to show what
a sober blue-ribbon man can do. Still,
many a track-walking toper nas
tramped as many thousand miles.
Paris laughs at the mishap of the
German aviators whose dirigible land
ed within her borders. The Kaiser,
however, will file the record in the
card index, handy for the next war.
Since California will have no exhibit
at the Panama-Pacific- fair, visitors
will have to tour the state in order to
learn what it has to show. This will
not leave much time to see the fair.
Kanrllne- Mrs Pankhtirst to DriSOn
for three years is a miscarriage of
Justice. She should have been sent
to an insane asylum, where her mal
ady could be scientifically treated.
The record of the Chicago man with
four wives, all living in the same sub
urb, is unparalleled. How did the
neighborhood gossips let such a mor
sel get away from them?
nn nf th first thlnes American
women need to learn after getting the
suffrage is to mind their own business.
Then they would keep out of English
Jails and hunger-strikes.
It must not -be assumed that the
pretty Canadian waitress who mar
rteH a. count twill not have to work
any more. It may be that she will
have two to support.
St. Louis women refuse to draw
the color line at a suffrage confer
ence. Women are learniftg the sub
tleties of the political game with
amazing rapidity.
A cigarette dropped carelessly yes
terday caused a $100,000 fire in an
Alberta town. It is little, however,
the smoker of them cares for such
consequences.
Even the gloomy, gray stones of the
Old Bailey must have shuddered at
the scenes created by the suffragettes
when the Pankhurst was sentenced.
Mrs. Washburne's success at making
West Hammond walk the chalk line
furnishes a hint as to who will be boss
In the Washburne household.
At the rate exploration of the polar
regions goes on, we shall soon know
as much about them as we know
about our own back woods.
France has caught the English fear
of German war balloons. Both na
tions will need straight-jackets if
these phobias persist.
If President Wilson can line up the
Senators and keep them lined up, he
will prove himself a master-hand at
managing men.
AVhat will the Colonel say to the
backsliders who returned to the Re
publican party at the municipal
elections?
Astoria, with an Astorian, also has
a paper called the Astorite. By and
by she will likely have an Asterisk.
Cnstilinrt nride must receive a se
vere shock when we recognize John
Chinaman, but fail to see Mexico.
Japanese are active in the Mexican
border disturbances. Time for the
yellow-perlllsts to have a chill.
Strawberries from the far South
are in the market for people who can
not afford to buy them.
Theodore Edison, like his dad, is
no quitter, though his first invention
did blow up.
Being a small state, hatpin points
must hereafter be covered in New
Jersey.
Rains like these local showers would
elsewhere cause panic.
A census of the Presidents of Mex
ico should be taken.
IOW WAGES AXD VICES PROBLEM
Writer Fanciea That Something la
Gained Wateat Girl Goea Wrons.
PORTLAND, April . (To the Edi
tor.) It is true that low wages are
not the sole cause of prostitution. But
when the editor says, "To set on the
theory that girls will follow the
straight path at a higher wage, but
will fall at a lower wage. Is to make
female purity a, matter of mere dollars
and cents. Such virtue is no virtue at
all," girls who have had to work and
support themselves and sometimes help
support others as well, just laugh, be
cause they know a man who could Bay
such a thing as that about women has
never needed money as bitterly as they
have. He has never been hungry nor
seen others for whom he was respons
ible in need of the comforts of life.
Oh, be may have missed a meal or two;
that would only sharpen his appetite.
But to be hungry, week after week
never have a meal that satisfies the
stomach's craving does he know what
tbat means? To know that in one's
youth the body is being so impover
ished that perhaps healthy, normal
womanhood will be forever denied her
to live In the midst of the good
things of life good food, good clothes,
amusements, friendly people (only not
friendly with her), and not to reach
out and take any of these good things,
but to remain cold and lonely and bun
trrv. thousrh ever so Dure and virtuous
it isn't a very attractive outlook, is it?
Purity is a very fine thing; but after
all, is it the one-and-only, the abso
lute, the supreme good In a girl's life?
Must the girl who works for the
meager wage which is all she can com
mand forego all the rest of life to re
main pure? If she parts with her chas
tity in order to obtain more food, bet
ter clothes, some of the pleasures of
friendly companionship in short, a
little more life. In whatever form she
most keenly feels its need, is she to
be utterly condemned as one who "has
no virtue at all'
Rheta Childe Dorr, writing in Every
body's a few years ago, said her Inves
tigation of the living conditions among
working girls convinced her that the
great pity was, not that some of them
had resorted to prostitution to lighten
the misery of their existence, but that
more of them had not done so. Lire is
the great, the supremely desirable
thing, for working girls as well as for
other people. Not existence, but life,
free from the haunting fear of where
tomorrow's dinner is to come from, and
what would happen In case of illness,
accident, or an enforced lay-off from
other cause. Pay us living wagee not
just enough to buy bread and tea, but
enough to live on; and then tacKle the
causes of prostitution which remain.
You will find your work wonderfully
lightened. When we are no longer
hungry, when we can afford to live in
some other kind of home than a hall
bedroom or an overcrowded flat, we
won't have to meet our friends on
street corners and in dance halls, and
we won't be half so liable to tempta
tion by "immoral men." Men know
they can buy the hungry girl: they are
more careful how they approach the
girl who looks as If she did not need
money.
Then, when you pay our fathers and
brothers wages enough so that our lit
tle sisters won't have to go out and
work before they are grown, you will
find your task of seeking "but . the
causes of prostitution will be very easy
indeed because most of the prostitu
tion will have disappeared.
As for vice and Immorality outside
of actual prostitution or the sale of 4he
body for money that is another and
very different story.
W. M. L.ISSNER.
It is so common a form of argument
that it is perhaps useless to protest
against the selection of an isolated
sentence as the text for a criticism.
This Is what the correspondent has
done. The Oregonlan has very plainly
stated that low wages have their in
fluence on the prevalence of the social
vice. But it has protested against the
apparently growing assumption that
chastity in general is maintained or
lost as the result of the difference of a
few dollars a week In income. In the
exceptional instances the correspond
ent mentions higher wages would tend
to prevent sin, but downfall of girls
Is accomplished In larger part by the
offering of "pleasures" which would
be beyond their means virtuously to
enjoy even If they received the most
liberal conception of the minimum
wage..
The Oregonlan again admits that the
payment of a living wage would lessen
the social evil but it protests against
the correspondent's assumption that
there is more "life" in the existence of
the prostitute than in that of the Im
poverished girl In a respectable hall
bedroom. To imply that there is is a
base encouragement to wrong doing.
The pleasures of the fallen woman are
necessarily brief. Nature If outraged
will exact a penalty. Loss of health,
looks, youth, deprive the degraded
woman of her resources. In 99 cases
out of 100 her life ends in a degree of
misery and poverty unknown even to
the Hi-nourished, meagerly clad work
lng girl, and, moreover, ends there
quite speedily. There are as distinct
stages of poverty In the underworld as
elsewhere and the prostitute, almost
without exception, descends ultimately
to the lowest level, there to have her
suffering augmented by disease.
"Cant."
PORTLAND, April 4. im tne Edi
tor.) A. says there is no word spellfcd
"can't," meaning cannot, etc. Will you
please settle the argument?
OLD SUBSCRIBER.
The word "can't" is given in the
Century dictionary and is defined as
a "colloquial contraction of the word
'cannot.' " The word "cant" spelled
without the apostrophe has several
meanings.
Trimming Leo
By Dean Collins.
Though Leo, in the City Park,
Bo much In need of manicuring,
There are, methinks. but few who hark
The call, or think the Job alluring.
So Leo's nails, day out, day -in.
Make him more like a mandarin.
Breathes there no man with soul so
stout
That he can enter, calmly smiling,
Old Leo's cage and set about
The task of polishing and filing?
Is there no damsel fair, whose smiles
May soothe the lion while she files?
Df""air not yet. O Keeper Man,
Though none accept the Job you men
tion; I've figured out a way we can
Employ for Leo's circumvention.
And working it, when all else falls,
Get rid of Leo's sprouting nails.
Let park frequenters, each and all.
While gazing at his kingly features.
Sniff and with scornful accent drawl,
"I hate such poor, moth-eaten crea
tures!" And Leo, writhing on his shelf.
Will bite his nails all off himself.
S1XGLE DEFEAT DOES JfOT WRECK
Republican Pnrty to Get Renewed
Strensrtb. From Procreaalve Control.
PORTLAND, April S. (To the Edi
tor.) A few and only a few of Roose
velt's admirers, now Indorse his conduct
in refusing to compromise at the last
Republican convention and Join in nom
inating as the head of the Republican
ticket a real Progressive, Hadley, of
Missouri. His courage failed him and
he could not take defeat: he could not
see the principles he claimed so, dear
to him represented by a nominee unless
that nominee was "me." Why could he
not subordinate personal interest to the
success of progressive principles? His
desire to head the ticket was so strong,
that he was not governed by his better
Judgment.
Colonel Roosevelt did more during
his two terms as President ' than any
other President in many years to
awaken the public conscience upon
economic questions, but failed ut
terly as a constructive execu
tive. In fact, all remember at the time
he so strongly indorsed and recom
mended Taft as his successor be stated
that Taft could accomplish more as
President than he himself could, which
was true, xtoosevelt, with his "big
stick" tactics had so antagonized Con
gress that it was almost impossible for
him to fqree constructive legislation.
Of course, Roosevelt made it possible
for Wilson to be elected, not by any
thing he did while President, but by
splltlng the Republican party. Had he
stood by and assisted in nominating a
real progressive at Chicago, and not
defeated him, as he did. be would Dave
shown to the world that he was not
governed altogether by personal mo
tives. But before this defeat he was
never a progressive, and while he was
President was continually fighting La
Follette In the Senate and other lead
ing progressive Republicans. It was
the popularity of Roosevelt that gave
the Progressive party such a wonderful
vote last Fall, not that they had adopt
ed a platform of radical progressive
measures not at all. Most of the fol
lowing of the third party were men
and women who are at heart Repub
licans, and were temporarily carried
away from the "grand old party by
admiration for and loyalty to Theodore
Roosevelt. Many really thought If the
people had half a chance to vote for
Roosevelt that he would sweep the
country, but he was defeated, and car
ried a larger vote than he ever will
again, for it is always easier to defeat
a man who has once been defeated.
Of course Wilson does not quote
Roosevelt and call La Follette to his
counsels, for the reason Roosevelt was
and is a progressive for office and La
Follette Is now and for many, many
years has been a stalwart progressive
Republican. With La Follette, Cum
mins, Hadley, Borah and other real pro
gresslves In the lead and control of me
Republican party the next convention
will nominate the next President of the
United States. Because once defeated
by an accident there is no use in Being
discouraged, and no reason to think
the party annihilated.
C. B. A. FOLLETTE.
63 East Glisan street.
HOW SOCIAL EVIL IS SUSTAINED
Men Make Girls Go Wrong, and Women
.Make Them Stay So.
PORTLAND, April 3. (To the Edi
tor.) What makes girls go wrong?
Men. Where there Is one girl wrong
there are 20 men who are so delighted
with her wrongdoing that they readily
and joyfully pay her for wrong.
What makes girls stay wrong?
Women nice, moral, cultured, virtuous
women. When, as a girl,' I made my
first misstep. Immediately it was
known I was ostracised; while trre
young man responsible, who had spent
half the Summer maneuvering and
pleadinir for my downfall, was still in
vited to social gatherings, and was as
popular as he ever was, though his
participation was fully known, and I
was not the first girl with him, nor
the last.
While unhappy. I was shut out from
everything, and scorned on the street.
I fled from the village to the city,
where I found companionship and sym
pathy among the demimonde, who said
"StOD your crying. What's the differ
ence, anyway? They'd send you to the
'home for the lost,' whose stigma wouia
attach to you if you lived to be a nun
dred, while they'd likely do the same
thing themselves, if they had your
chance."
If I had received humane treatment
mv first sin would have been my last.
It's about like this: "Why. how do
you do, Mr. Rake? Come In and sit
down. O, you naughty Doy: now dso
vou treated poor little Stella! Tou
ought to be ashamed of yourself. 1
saw her on the street yesterday, but
of course I didn t speak to her. And
she used to be such a nice girl so
helnful in our charitable work. Don't
go, my daughter will be right down.
You won't fail to be at my party u nurs
dav. will you?"
I have had men tell me not one. but
many how they have visited young
girls at their homes or taken them for
walks, and spent hour after hour,
sometimes -for weeks, coaxing and
pleading with them, trying to persuade
them to wrongdoing. And perhaps they
would "end by saying of some girl who
had yielded after resisting for a long
time, "She is now a common courte
san. Oh, well, If it hadn't been I. It
wnuld have been some other man."
How are people going to manage, if
certain courses are all right tor men
and utterly, damnably wrong lor worn
on. when the men require female par'
tlclpants? Will not some women, of
necessity, have to go "wrong to Keep
men "right"?
p. s. Why do men go wrong?
M. J. B.
New Road Laws.
BE AVE RTON, Or.. April 2. (To the
Editor.) Kindly publish the substance
of the laws passed by the late Oregon
Legislature relating to opening new
county roads and assessing the dam
ages? The bills are as loiiows:
S. B. 41, 143 and 196.
H. B. 220, 367 and 524.
Of If it is too much to publish, would
you please tell me where I can get the
desired Information? .
J. S. BROOKS.
Road laws complete In pamphlet form
will be published by the Secretary of
State and may be secured about May 1
or shortly thereafter. Typewritten
copies of laws may be secured from the
Secretary of State at the legal rate of
25 cents per 100 words or. If desired, 2
extra for certification.
S. B. 41 relates to method of reach
ing by road land not already accessible
by a road. S. B. 143 amends the present
law, so that in districts containing less
than 12 freeholders on petition of a
majority of freeholders In such district
roads may be laid out, altered, straight
ened or restored. S. B. 196 relates to
the manner in which corporations men
tioned in section 6838 of the code may
take portions of a road by constructing
a similar road parallel or nearby. H. B.
220 gives the Railroad Commission
power to pass on the question of a rail
road crossing the line or right of way
of another. H. B. 367 allows the County
Court to pay damages from the gen
eral county road fund In the case of a
road laid from one county road to an
other when all parties adjacent have
the full use and benefit of such road.
H. B. 624 is shown on the records as
having failed to pass.
The Son ot a Gentleman.
Life.
"Remember. Arthur, you are the son
of a gentleman. Try to behave like
one for just one day."
"All right, mother, but it will spoil
the whole day fox me."
Twenty-five Years Ago
From The Oregonlan of April 5. 18S8.
Pendleton, April 4. The Democratic
state convention today adopted the
platform. E. D. McKie presented John
M. Gearin for the Congressional nom
ination. Huston, of Washington, pre
sented A. S. Bennett, of Wasco. Smith,
of Clatsop, presented J. K Weather
ford, of Linn. Collins, of Baker, pre
sented T. C. Hyde. Weatherford asked
that his name be withdrawn. The bal
lot stood: Gearin 106, Bennett 25. Hyde
17, Weatherford 9. The nomination was
made unanimous. For Supreme Judge,
Judge John Burnett, of Benton, was
nominated by acclamation.
San Francisco, April 4. At the an
nual meeting of the stockholders of
the Southern Pacific today the follow
ing were chosen directors: Leland
Stanford, C. P. Huntington, Charles
Crocker, Timothy Hopkins, M. V. Hun
tington, F. 8. Douty, W. E. Brown, S.
T. Gage. Ariel Lathrop. E. H. Miller, Jr.
San Francisco, April 4. Tyler Wood
ward, of Portland, manager of the
Multnomah Street Railway, is in town,
buying material for more street rail
way.
San Francisco, April 4. Colonel
Robert G. Ingersoll, his wife and two
daughters, leave New York on the 10th
for California.
At Oregon City a plant for the manu
facture of cement is being put in at
a cost of ,40,000.
Polk County Institute The teachers'
Institute was called to order by State
Superintendent E. R. McElroy at Dal
las Tuesday. Hon. J. D. Lee, of Dallas,
delivered the address of welcome, to
which Superintendent D. D. Vincent,
of Washington County, responded. Pro
fessor Van Scoy, president of Willam
ette University, delivered a lecture.
Rev. J. Q. A. Henry, pastor of the
First Baptist Church, arrived at -his
former home, near Chicago, last even
ing. The Reach Tract Sold. Yesterday
Mr. W. M. Killlngsworth purchased
the above tract of 36 acres, near Al
bina, for J35,000.
Last evening the Republicans held
primaries to select delegates to the
county convention.
The East Side. When the improve
ment of N street, now in progress, is
completed, it will be one of the finest
in East Portland. It leads directly,
out from the Willamette bridge to the
cemetery.
Half a Century Af o
From The Oregonlan of April 6, 1863.
Dr. H. H. King, of Jefferson, Marion
County, lately had one of the fingers
of his left hand entirely taken off and
the remaining fingers frightfully lacer
ated by contact with a circular saw.
The Natchez Courier says the Hart
ford, with Admiral Farragut on board,
anchored in front of that city on the
16th and sent a boat with a flag of
truce ashore, with a note to the Mayor
stating that if the United States gun
boats were fired, on by the people of
Natchez or the guerillas he would bom
bard the city.
San Francisco, March 30. Informa
tion has been received of a plot con
certed by Napa secessionists to capture
the Government works at Mare Island.
Two hundred men were to take the
Bteamer Guadaloupe on Napa Creek,
cross to Vallejo and seize the Govern
ment works and vessels in that harbor.
The vessels were to be armed and
bi ought down to use against San Fran
cisco. At a meeting of the citizens of Port
land, held at the Courthouse on Satur
day evening, the following nomina
tions were made for city officers: For
Mayor, J. B. Congle; for Recorder. Levi
Anderson: for Marshal, F. M. Arnold:
for Treasurer, H. B. Morse: for Assess
or, F. C. Pomeroy. H. W. Corbett,
chairman: E. W. McGraw, secretary.
In the First Ward Messrs, Schuyler,
Cook and R. R. Thompson were nomi
nated for the Council: in the Third
Ward Messrs Graydon, Silver and Estes.
The real estate property of the lata
Buell Woodward, sold at auction last
Saturday by Mr. Richardson, brought
the following prices: Lots 1, 2, 6 and s
in block 9, with Improvements, Including
the residence and garden, were pur
chased for $5000; south half of lot S
In block 3, and fractional part of thi
rear of north half of lot 5 In block 3,
25x30 feet, upon which is situated the
store of Mr. DeWitt, sold in one par
cel for 13400. We believe this prop
erty was sold cheap.
1
The Roosevelt
Autobiography
Incidents of Boyhood Days
In the second installment of
his Chapters of a Possible Auto
biography, Colonel Roosevelt
gives a further account of the
early part of'lris 'Kfe. Do not
miss any part of this remark
able story.
A New Science It has been
fonnded and would codify the
whole universe.
Cabinet Women A glimpse
at the wives of our new Cabi
net members, and an interview
with Mrs. Bryan.
The Brightest Boy At 18 he
will shortly receive the degree
of doctor of philosophy at Harv
ard University.
America's First Christians
Were they the mound-builders 1
The question is gone into by an
eminent authority.
Children at Play These mod
ern times it. really is necessary
to teach the young folks how to
play.
$20,000 for Dress That is the
sum per year the Trench Presi
dent's wife will spend.
Good-Bye, Seasickness De
vices have been perfected which
do away to a remarkable degree
with the rolling and pitching of
ocean liners.
Wild Wheat It has been dis
covered in Palestine and will be
transplanted to America, with
results of the most important
character.
The Compromise A domestic
comedy by the noted author, W.
Hodgson Burnett.
A Romeo of the Orient An
illustrated short story by Wil
lard Holcomb.
An Array of Other Features.
Order today of your newsdealer.