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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1915)
TIIE MORNING OREGONTAN, THURSDAY, 3IARCIT 4, 1915. PORTLAND, OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postotflce a econd-clasa mailer. Suoscrlplioa iiatea Invariably In adaucs ir Mail.) Pilr Snndar Included, one year ?SV Xaiiy, Sunuuy Included, six montba.. Xaiiv, Sunday Included, three- montna rkii:v mltl.m Snnriv. ans vMr O.W 1.00 r i .. . ' . ' . . . . - ....... , 'hi.A nirtnthl..x 1- liallv' wittimit Siiiiflav. nnai month. - Weekly, on year Sunday, on year... fcuatiay and Weekly, one year (Br Carrier.) laiiv. Sunda Included, one year 9-29 Ijallv. Kandiav included, one month u . uitsn(l Pmtofiiee money or' tfr, cxprrea order or personal check on your loval bunk, stamp, coin or cij sriidcr rule. Ulvs poatoffice address in lull, iii.-iuriinr .Miuntv and alats. pun Kutre 12 to lo cases. 1 cent; 18 to il pages. - cents; 34 to 48 pages. 8 cents 60 to pages. 4 cents; 2 to 76 pages, i cenu; to vi pages, t cents. Foreign post' agi'. double rates. L n.iinMu nfflr Veree A Conk' J.n. New Tork. lirunswick building; Chicago. lencer bulldinz. Ma Frmnci-K-o Office R. J. Bldwell Com ysny. 1 4 J Market street. ItlRTL.KI. TIUKSDAY, MARCH 4. 18U. TWO "YEARS OF WILSON. President Wilson has today reached the half-way point In his Administra tion, for he has been President two years. It is an appropriate time to look back on what he has done and to measure its value, and to forecast as well the events of his remaining two years, so far as it is possible In this world of the unknown and the unexpected. When Mr. Wilson was inaugurated. he had in an unusual degree the good will of men of all parties, and the general deposition was to give him fair play. The asperities which usual ly mark political controversy were so bitter between tiie two factions into which the Republican party had split that, by comparison, he was regarded with a sort of benevolent toleration by both factions. Many Republicans embittered against one or other of their rival candidates, had compro mised bv voting for Mr. Wilson. The President sought to take advantage of this condition of popular feeling by enlisting the support of some of his opponents, for in his inaugural ad dress he appealed for the aid of '"all forward-looking men" without regard to party in carrying through his pro sranime of constructive legislation. This fact, coupled with his professions of fidelity to civil service reform prin ciples while he was a college presi dent, his high office in the Civil Serv ice Reform League and his relegation of details regarding appointments to his heads of departments, fostered the hope that his Administration would be free from spoils distribution and patronage scandals. At the outset he made some ap proach to living up to the expectation he had raised. His tariff policy was supported by a number of progrcssiv Republicans who, while thinking it by no means perfect and while believing some of its reductions too drastic, hold it to be nearer what the people de ma tided than the preceding tariff. The Income tax, as a measure which had been mado possible und had been art vocated by Republicans, was support cd by men of both parties. The Fed eral reserve law had its inception tin der the preceding Republican Admin istration. but was finally molded by the Joint efforts of Republicans and Icmocrats. The President held Con gress closely to its task of completin tlio revenue and banking laws before the close of 1913 and Congress accept ed his leadership without question and completed the work laid out by him : At no time since his inauguration has President Wilson stood higher in public estimation than at the opening of 1914. His prestige had been height encd by achievement, and he was the unquestioned leader of his party. Yet he had already done certain things which had begun to undermine his power. He had practically intervened in Mexico by giving Huerta notice to quit and had inaugurated the policy of watchful waiting which was Inter rupted only by the seizure and aban donment of Vera Cruz and which has placed the United States in the posi tion of calmly watching a neighbor drown In its own blood. He had per mitted fourth-class postoffices to be thrown to the spoilsmen. Tho Pindell episode showed him to be making po litical spoils of one among our highest diplomatic offices and had brought upon him his first rebuff from the Senate. From that date, as criticism by his opponents has become franker, he has become more of a partisan. He has forced upon Congress measures which have caused acute discord in his own party, and he has added political pro scription of insurgent Democrats to ' that of Republicans. He split his party on the canal tolls bill, and pro voked severest criticism by some of the ablest Democrats for his toothless enti-trust bills. When he tried to punish the insurgents by ignoring them in making appointments, he was forced to back down by a united Sen- tc. Heedless of this warning, he pushed aside his entire prearranged programme of constructive legislation in order to force his ship-purchase bill on Congress. Again his party has di vided, and he has been constrained to acknowledge defeat, though he never w ielded the party whip more unspar ingly. Aside from Mexico, his foreign pol icy in other respects was marred by the spoils-hunting and narrow parti sanship of his Secretary of State, combined with an attempt to put in practice the latter's Utopian dreams of peace in a warring world. The offices necessary to administer our sacred trust for the weak republic of San Domingo have been made into spoils. The Nation is to be humiliat ed and bled by the Colombian black mailers in order to slur the Republi can President who made the Panama Canal possible. Peace treaties are msde with foreign powers which ut terly tfe our hands should a sudden crisis require vigorous action in de fense of American commerce. The latest important domestic act of the President reeks with vengeful partisanship and with other political motives. However competent they may be in other respects, neither of the two men whom he has appointed mh minority members of the Federal Trade Commission can by any stretch of language be held to represent the chief minority party. In all these transactions the Presi dent has descended step by step from the position of National leadership, which he took upon his inauguration, to that of narrow party leadership. Xot content w ith being a party leader, he has constituted himself a despot. Although the Nation entrusts legisla tion to the wisdom of the President, ninety-six Senators and 435 Repre sentatives, Mr. Wilson assumes that he alone is competent to judge of what is best. No bill can pass- with out his approval, and every bill he approves must pass. That is he rule he has tried to enforce, using patron age profusely to hold or win votes and leaving Congress free to empty a shrinking Treasury. The good fortune which stilled criti cism of Mr. Wilson two years ago re turned to silence It again after it had become loud. When his critics both within and without his party were giv ing their most effective thrusts, the great war came to compel the Nation to stand united behind its Chief Ex ecutive. All except those foreign born citizens w ho are Americans only in name agree wjth ex-President Taft that every citizen's duty is to uphold the President in maintaining our neu trality and in protecting our rights as neutrals. The struggle is so wide spread and touches our interests at so many points that the performance of the one duty without neglect of the other is a task of the greatest deli cacy. Forgetting the President's par tisanship and his dictatorial spirit, the Nation is fain to trust his patriotism for guidance amid the hidden rocks and shallows which beset our course of neutrality amid a world at war. i llitlcal nostrum which 'he has once proposed, Mr. Bryan not only ignores the unfavorable results of tests made with his deposit guaranty scheme; he ignores also the sounder and more effective preventives against bank failure which have been provided by his own party. He is a Bourbon,, for on this and other questions he has forgotten none of his errors and has acquired no new- knowledge. SKATTLK"9 PRESENT AND FUTURE. Three new City Councilmen were elected in Seattle Tuesday; and all three successful candidates ran on a platform for municipal -ownership. Their success illustrates strikingly the spirit of Seattle not the old Seattl Spirit, which sought the benefit and advancement of the city through united effort along rational lines, but the radical spirit of theorists and experimenters, who would try scheme only because it is new and different. Seattle has gone into the public lighting and power business, upon the urge of the municipal ownership cult, and is accumulating large annual losses. Seattle has a municipal street rail wav line, which gives neither service nor profit, and which is utterly orphaned as to its relations to the city's general transportation organization. Seattle has spent $4,000,000 or $5,- 000,000 in public docks, which are now losing $300,000 per annum, and it is being importuned to invest mil lions more. Seattle has the highest tax levy of anv- citv on the Pacific Coast. It has undertaken more unpromising and un profitable public enterprises than any other city. It has a greater debt per capita than any other place. Its method of paying old debts is to con tract new ones. Before Portland is frightened into emulation of Seattle in too many mat ters reouirine- the expenditure of much money, it will be well to wait and see whether Seattle is wise in mortgaging the future for the sake of an unrealizable present. BY" OKDKRLI PROCESSES. Governor Withycombe has just re leased" five or six convicts from the state prison on recommendation of the Parole Board. The Governor has a prison policy, and he announced it in his message when he assumed of fice. It is to follow lawful and or derly processes in pardons or com mutations, and to act always with cir. cumspection and moderation. The Governor assumes that when a man has been found guilty by a jury and sentenced by a judge, justice has been done, and he has no sympathy with the foolish and injurious sentiment that the lawbreaker is the victim of social conditions and not of his own criminal follies. If an inmate of prison conducts himself well, and if he seems to be fit material for reform ation, the law Hiitiiort7.es tne state Parole Board to investigate and to act; but there will be no executive '"honor system" independent of the Parole Board and the prison authorities, and there will be no wholesale cmcute from the penitentiary by men who are able to tell a good story about themselves, without reference to their crimes or their character. There are many idle men in prison at Salem, and they have been idle ever since the stove foundry contract was canceled by the late Governor, except that some road work has been done by convicts in "honor" camps. Lately little has been said about honor" convicts or "honor camps. and the men have been left to feed their fattening bodies and starve their intellects in miserable idleness behind prison bars. Governor Withycombe will try to find something for them to do. Humanity requires that he should. POVERTY AND POLITICS. We do not. see our way to join in the chorus of rebuke which President Hadley has brought upon himself by his advice to poor young men to keep out of politics. "It is only the man with an inde pendent income," said the President of Yale, "who can with safety and honor accept a position in Congress A poor man, he believes, will be sub jected to temptation teo severe for him to withstand and will inevitably lose his integrity and self-respect. Of course this will not invariably, happen. There are poor men in Congress now whose integrity is above suspicion and there have always been such. On the other hand there are plenty of wealthy members who seem to prefer a mess of pottage to the welfare of. their country. In Congress as elsewhere poverty and riches form no safe tests of char acter and -we dare say President Had ley knows it as well as anybody,. He must know, too, that a legislative body composed wholly of wealthy men would not adequately represent the country. The laws they passed would in all likelihood be class laws and even-handed justice would be seen no more. Even in England, where class lines are strictly drawn and openly defended, poor men have often been the saving salt- of the House of. Commons. , We think President Hadley had something else in mind when he made the remark we have quoted. He re ferred not so much to the temptations which beset members of Congress as to the unnecessary expensiveness of elections. In states where there are no corrupt practice acts such expenses are apt to be heavy. Of course a man who enters Congress must find some wav to pay them, and it is this neces ity which, more frequently than any thing else, places him at the mercy of unscrupulous tempters. Members sell themselves soul and body before thev'are elected far more frequently than afterward. A corrupt practice act which would cut down election expenses to a moderate figure and any spray that we know of. The yel low-throated "warbler devours as many as 10,000 tree lice, or aphids, in the course of a day. These benefits to the farmers are so obvious and substan tial that they ought to stimulate a kindly feeling toward the birds. The survival power of quacks is as astonishing in science as in medicine. Astrology, for instance, has been ex posed a hundred times, but it still fattens on smiling victims. We have. just received a set of weather predic tions for March based in the figments of astrology. Since any guess about the weather stands about an evoa chance of being right, we suppose these prophecies -will convince many a gull by their partial fulfillment. That proposed American Legion would be a thoroughly unserviceable military force for the important rea son that most of the eligibles have -passed the age limit for hard service in the ranks. A volunteer force of very young men who had never seen service and therefore had no miscon ceptions of the modern military game would prove far more tractable and serviceable in event of war. What is needed at the railroad crossing on East Sixtieth street is a semaphore or an electric boll. When westbound trains do not stop at Gra ham, which is a reporting station a few hundred yards east of the cross ing, the train runs ahead of the sound of tho whistle, as a humorously in clined man observed somewhere and some time. State Press Comment on New Governor of Oregon. Dr. Frank A. Manny, an educational luminary of Baltimore, has come out against city training schools for teach ers. He believes that the employment of too much "home talent" injures the schools and no doubt he is rignt. School authorities should employ the best teachers they can find at home or elsewhere. The University ' of Texas has con ducted a conference upon domestic economics to teach housewives how to manage a budget scientifically and make both ends meet. This is not quite so imposing an exercise as read ing a Greek tragedy, but it may fore stall many a domestic tragedy. The O. A. C. Barometer sings tune fully of a "fair athlete" who could play tennis all day long, but couldn't help her mother 'cause she wasn't open political preferment to upright very strong. Frailty of this sort is men of small means might cure this evil in so far as it "exists. Poor men do not sell themselves after they have achieved political suc cess, but to buy their first entrance into the magic enclosure. not limited to the fair sex. We fear it is quite as common among their brothers. JOINED TO HIS IDOLS. Secretarv Bryan is still following after his false gods, for he continues to insist that the Government guar antee bank deposits. It matters not that the voters and Congress have often rejected hisfad; he shows a fanatic devotion to it. It ha been tried in several states and found to be a tax on good banks to save depos itors in bad banks from loss. Experience has proved that banks need protection against depositors. rather than that depositors need pro te,ction against banks. A bank is simply a co-operative device by which the money of one set of depositors is lent to another set, for the borrowers are almost invariably depositors. A panic occurs when the first set wants ts money sooner than the bank can collect from the second set. The at titude of depositors who run on a bank is: "If you have not got my money, I want it; if you have it, I don t want it. Of course, a bank has not money on hand to pay all depositors; if it had, it would make no loans and earn no interest. It can only pay the money as fast as it col ects from borrowers, many of whose notes mav have some time to run. If a bank forces collection, it may drive solvent men into bankruptcy. The only- course open, in order to meet a run, is to sell its slow, though good, assets and pay depositors until, find ing they can get their money, they cease to run. The Federal Reserve banks were established for this precise purpose mong others. They are designed to provide banks which have good assets with a means of quickly realizing on them by means of rediscount. They mobilize reserves by using as a, basis of rediscount money which formerly lay idle as a dead, useless lump. Un der the new system, no honestly, ably managed bank can be broken by a run. Danger that banks will be wrecked by dishonesty or incapacity has been re duced to a minimum by a more rigid system of inspection. Under this sys tem the supervision is. such that a bank no sooner begins to get into deep water than it is pulled out before the evil has gone far enough to cause risk to depositors. In his blind adherence to any po- IDI.KXKSS AND "KAtiOING The village authorities of Pilot Rock may now reflect, with some pardon able complacency, that as far as "rag ing" is concerned they have done their duty. They have prohibited it. The reader no doubt knows what ragging" means. It is a species, not of dance but of dancing. The per former, of either sex, exhibits agility rather than grace. The gestures inci- of tne wori,. dent to the exhibition range tnrougn a wide field. None are excluded ex ceDt such as indicate modesty. All others are welcomed and encouraged. The synchronous crash of a hundred cowhide boots on the plank floor at old-fashioned dances on the cattle ranch was a kind of "ragging," though lot so rank as that which modern city life has developed and modern vil lages have imitated. The whole per formance tends in ono unmistakable direction. The end and aim of rag ging" is to stimulate unwholesome re lations between the men and women oncerned. For this reason it is feverishly attractive to a certain class of young men whom the Pendleton evening Tribune mildly describes as gilded youths" with nothing to do but amuse themselves Folice regulations may to a certain extent mitigate the regrettable fea tures of the dance halls in town and country, but the efforts of the law and its guardians to make people moral by force have not as a Vulo been bril liantly successful. Sin suppressed in one part of the social organism is only too likclv to break out in another. It is remarkably like boils in this partic ular. Wise physicians do not try to drive boils or measles back into the system. They seek instead to allow them complete expression. We do not argue for the complete or . incomplete expression of sin, but we think there is a more thorough way toeradicate it than by police su pervision, indispensable as this un questionably Ms under current condi tions. But if every young man, rich or poor, were taught some useful oc cupation and obliged to make himself healthily tired working at it every day of his life, except Sundays and holi- Automobiling in South America can hardly get outside the big cities for years to come on account of the miserable roads. In Ecuador there are no roads at all, only bridle paths, and the situation is not much better anywhere upon the continent. Candidates for the next Legislature are making announcements early, dis regarding a whole baseball season. Fourth of July, Christmas and other events too numerous to mention, not omitting purposely death and the end From the Medford Sun. It is a relief to have a -man like Governor Withycombe in the state capital. Instead of staging a moving picture show every time he wants to do some thing, instead of playing continually to the gallery through claims of political heroism, he goes quietly but effectively about his business and unostentatiously bue effectively guides the ship of state into the proper channels. In vetoing the bills providing judges in the Tenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth . and Seventeenth Districts, the Governor again demonstrated his level-headed judgment . and keen appreciation of sound economy. .While there are certain advantages in restricting the judicial territory, there was no justification for the in creased expense at the present time. Instead of using the veto as a club in the political ball game, with which to bluff and bruise. Governor Withy combe uses it as a last resort to pre vent what he considers unwise an-d dangerous legislation from becoming law. It is certain that the session of the Legislature just closed added -material ly to the Governor's prestige and that his first exercise of the veto will in crease the people's confidence in his! Intelligence and ability. Disappointing; His Enemies. From the Eujjene Register. Governor Withycombe's enemies are to be commiserated, for they are suf fering just now the pangs of bitter dis appointment. They have had their guns all loaded and ready to open on him as a spoilsman, a political jobster and a waster of the public funds, but t begins to look as if they would have to draw the loads. He is giving them scant opportunity to deliver their fire effectively. When a Republican Governor starts in by appointing Democrats to office it is extremely hard for ardent Democrats to charge him with building up a per sonal political machine. Yet that Is exactly what Dr. Withycombe has done. He has already appointed two Demo crats to fill new judgeships created by the Legislature, thereby indicating his belief that the judiciary should be non partisan and his determination to do his part in keeping it so. He has also demonstrated his belief in economy by vetoing a bill dividing the second judicial district and creat ing two additional circuit judgeships and another bill providing an addition!. r1 Circuit Judge for the Tenth District. He is evidently convinced that there are judges enough in these districts and that the increased cost is not jua tified. Governor Withycombe really ought to be ashamed of himself for treating his opponents in this cavalier, way. They were fully prepared to denounce him on these points. But he removes the cause for denunciation and thus compels them to find some other charge. It is an unkind trick. Stars and Starmakers BY LEONE CASS BAER. "0 NE of the great objections against acting is the fact that so many good hired girls and per fectly nice jitney 'bus drivers are thoroughly spoiled in making bad actresses and actors." pessimistically remarks Dorothy Shoemaker. A Salem man here on a pleasure trip and making a round of the thea ters bustled into the Heilig yesterday, where "The Whirl of the World"' is playing. '"You gave me a bully fine seat in the orchestra last evening," he ex claimed. "Give me another for to night." "Have you your coupon?" Inquired George Clem in the ticket office. "Yep." "Then I'll see if I can't give you the same seat." "Don't want it." "But you said it suited you." "That isn't It. Consarn it. man, I want to see what the other side of that aisle-chorus looks like." Twenty-five Years Ago Vachel Lindsay and his brother poets who eschew rhyme have time on their, side. Inevitable changes i pronunciation play the mischief with rhymes, but they leave uninjured those rhythmical effects upon which Liud say depends. The blockade of Germany having been declared on again, Germa blockade of Great Britain is next in order. Which takes the situation back to where it was before we cn tered into the negotiations. It is now admitted by Kitch-ener that the story of Russian armies pass ing through England was a hoax. Which must lead us to take all future British War Office bulletins with grain ot salt. Tho Washington State Senate voted to restore the death penalty. If the restoration becomes a law Washing ton residents with homicidal tenden cies will find it expedient to visit Oregon. A Norwegian skipper reports having rammed a German submarine which attempted to sink his ship. That skipper is wasting his talents. He should take up the writing of fiction. A rockplle sentence for a man who fails to support his family will not leave the dependent members in worse condition, nor will it reform the of fender. As to the latest peace move of the churches in America, we fear that our own state of mind can have very little days, we do not believe he would long t do with whether we get in or keep to 'rfls-" nuite so furlonslv as he now I out. often does. The cancer eating out the heart of modern society is idleness. The Germans have decided to per mit distribution of relief supplies in Belgium. Said supplies, of course, to be provided by sympathetic neutrals. Although wheat has slumped again on the strength of embargo rumors, we take it that there will continue to be some slight demand for wheat. The commander of the Baltic, sail ing yesterday from New York, issued his defi to the world and will find a submarine awaiting. BIRDS AND BUGS. Much has been published about the annual loss to the country from insect pests, but the matter does not seem to have been taken to heart by the public as it should. Birds are the principal destroyers of insects and faithful friends to the farmer, but their slaughter goes on with little check from sound economic consider ations. It is only the stern voice of the law that saves them from total annihilation. According to the Federal Depart ment of Agriculture the crops of the country suffered from insects a loss amounting to $420,000,000 in the year 1914. Such a sum is large enough to strike the imagination and awaken the conscience of the dullest, it would seem. The apple-growers lost 12,- culi'o and it cost them $8,250,000 to , The international situation fails to spray their trees against the ravages I clear "P BO far . tne rihta of neu' of other insect pests. Birds properly The Sixty-third Congress dies in peace at noon, and it is not too much to say the Democratic Congress dies in pieces. Germans have retired to a place in Poland that has but one "z" in the name, which is hopeful. trals are concerned. Now for renewal of the German blockade of England, Ireland and Scotland. encouraged would have saved them a considerable fraction of this expense, though of course not all of it. Sprays are used against fungus diseases as tt-oll q tnspct nnH rilrH fnrril.-sri no protection from the former. A" innocent oystanuer win get nun Our wheatgrowers lost in the year some iiigrii m mew s.ui.c.y biuic 1914 about $20,000,000 from the rav- noiaups. ages of the chinch bug. The boll weevil cost the cotton-growers about the same amount. The gipsy moth, which devours foliage, destroyed val ues up to $100,000,000. These large losses might have been greatly dimin ished by protecting birds. It should please the farmers to know that grosbeaks have been un usually numerous this Spring, for they I move over to Sagamore Hill. are eager seekers of the larvae which destructive moths deposit on the branches of fruit trees. One natural ist found by actual count that a sin gle grosbeak fed its young 450 larvae in eleven hours. This is cheaper than A City Hall job will be actuil work with time cards and other efficiency checks. South Dakota joins the list of states to vote on prohibition next Fall. The American Legion would better Oregon is cutting some splurge tho San Francisco Fair. at Hero it is almost Rose Festival tim again. WAR TAX AND DATE FOR PENALTY Glcndale Merchant Tries Hard to Fol low Law, but Must Pay Extra. GLENDALTC, Or., March 1. (To the Kditor.) Will you please give mc some information relative to tho war tax imposed on theaters, tobacco dealers, etc., recently. As I understand the matter, the act imposing this tax was passed October 22. The tax was up po.ed to be paid November 1. Then, owing to the fact that stamps were not obtainable on such short notice, an extension of time was granted to De cember 1. Then, as there were many who could not possibly get their tax ready on such short notice, am in formed that another extension of time was given until January 1, 1915, before any penalty was to be imposed. Will you please let me know if this is a fact? The reason I ask is this: I conduct a theater in Glendale, and, owing to the fact that I could not find out any thing authentic in regard to the tax, I was late in getting my tax paid. 1 wrote the first of December, 1914. ask ing for information from Mr. Milton A. Miller, the collector of revenue at Port land. I received a letter from him December 10, telling me how min-h my tax amounted to. and on the following morning I sent him the money- by cer tified check. I did not receive my stamp or license until the lat of the month, and it was dated December 26. He received my money shortly after December 11, probably on December 12. Now a letter comes from him statinsc that I have had a penalty of 50 per cent, imposed upon me because I did not pay my tax December 1. I wrote to him again explaining matters and received the notice of penalty. Will you please let me know through your columns whether or not this penalty is just, and if so, how it is just to impose such a heavy penalty for failure to pay on time when we were given euch short notice? Also. I might mention that a revenue official, I believe it was Mr. Miller himself, was here in Janu ary and told me that my receipt or stamp was all right. He did not men tion a penalty at that time. Then, too. several of the local dealers in tobacco and owners of poolrooms did not pay until after I did and as yet they have had no penalty, as I have been able to ascertain. Would it do me any good to write to Washington about this matter? J. U. CAMfiirJLiLi. The correspondent Is correct in hl.s surmise that there was an extension of time allowed to pay his war tax until December 1. 1914, but jthere was no further extension to January 1, as was his Impression. Internal Revenue Col lector Miller states that his office is without recourse in the matetr, but must enforce penalties in all such cases as directed, by law. Mr. Miller was not in Glendale and did not talk with Mr. Campbell, the former states. The local office would be e:IaJ to do anything in its power to adjust these matters, states Mr. .Miner, dui wnen war taxes are not paid within the time limit prescribed by the uovernment, ne in nnmnelled to collect penalties. It would, probably, do no good to appeal to Washington in this ease. The amount involved would, not justify it. Says a headline, "John McCoimack in Irish Ballads Crowds Carnegie." Of course he can in Irish ballads. But in Scotch, now, on a fair track, Andy wouldn't be crowded. He'd lead by a length. Unless Harry Lauder "also ran." This, from San Francisco, is either a good praise-agent yarn or else there's something awfully wrong some where. A High Jinks chorus girl i.- going to be married and her husband is not a millionaire. Of course, theye are strenuous times and any old hus band is sometimes better than nono in the way of a meal ticket, but never in the history of theatricals has a damo of the chorus looked lower than a millionaire. The story is labeled "Chorus Girl About to Many." There is nothing remarkable about a chorus girl gutting married. As a matter of fart, it's a habit with many of them; but in this particular instance, the bridegroom-to-be is not even a "wealthy broker." There is nothing about him that would even start the usual stage romance. He is a street car conductor. He bears the uncom promising name of George Smith. The bride-to-be is Estelle Claire, one of the tango girls in "High Jinks," last week at the Heilig. Tho cere mony will be performed In Oakland after the company finishes Its San Francisco engagement. Mayo Methot is to make her re appearance next week with the Baker Players in "The Awakening of Helena Richie." see "Inferior decorations" says a de partment store ad. D'ye reckon it's a misprint or merely honest advertising? e A traveling salesman I know de fined a verbal altercation he had with a sleeping-car porter as "I'ullnianory trouble." - An innovation in theutcrdom wa sprung in Portland this week. Elsi Gilbert, star ot a girl act at the Em press, engaged an apartment fur he whole company and with her ow hands supplies theni with three liuine cooked meals daily and a lunch a midnight. Her girl guests are Sadi Chester, Louise Hrunner, Alice Joida and the star's little sister Nellie. Jud Brady, manager of the act, also gel in on the homey meals and John Ma ginnls, Air. Brady's father, who is ad vance man for the vaudeville com pauy, frequently occupies honor plac at the table. Miss Gilbert and her girls moved into the apartment. stone's throw from Rroadway, las Sunday and the home-Iifo routine wa begun Monday morning at a brcaktasl of ham and cSi's. Miss Gilbert ha had her fellow vaudeville performers as dinner guests, entertaining one a: every day. Bessie Le Count, "male impersonator" of the show, is proud of the distinction of having cairn twice of the like-mother cooking. The plan has worked out so well in Pji t land that Mr. Maginnis, whom the girls call "Daddy," has been instructed to engage an apartment in San l-'ian cisco. From The Oregonian of March 4. 100. Washington. The House committee on pensions lias decided to report fa vorably Mr. Hermann's bill grunting pension to Kcv. R. C. Mnrtln, of rlm-k. anias County. Oreiron. Mai-tin was s member ot Fawillis battalion of tha Missouri Voiunteeis In the Mexican War, but after Ills enlistment the bat talion was directed to protect Immi grants going to California and Orcsen. Washington. The Iiemocrats have agreed to te?t in the courts Sncsier Heed's ruling on the quorum. The ran1 of John O. Pendleton, who was un sealed, will bo used. Sisson. Cal. Work at tuiuirl No. '' is completed and freight and parn uer trains from oreson have arrived in lieddinar, Cal., the first th rough train in 48 days, or since January 14. The line was put out of commission by the storm and l'lood-i uius at that time. London. Hret Haiti' is entertaining here like a lord and lives like a scn tlemnn. lie is. beside, a prodtciou" woi ker. it was thought at one time that his pen had lowt lix cuniiin-. but it was only a lapse into a state of idleuehM that was iiwd for the author. Harte is paid well for his work In the English weeklies and ni.ipar.lnra and he has more orders for stories than he can fill in the next five years. John Minto. who was appointed bv the I'oinona Grange, of Marion Count, to iiniuire Into the feasibility of grow hie Jute and flax in Oregon as a Hen toward establishing convict-labor mills at tho peniti ntlary, has issuetl a repoi I which is published In The Urcsoiilan today. l'tie report shos JulO eultum has not proved a aueceps In Orcson. jut the Department of Agriculture re ported the flax liulustry mtaht heeomi ,i ,nofitable resource In this rtate. rtor.ie. The 1'ope cstcrday. on tin twelfth anniversary of lua corona t ion. received Buffalo Hill's Indiana ami Ilia others of the Wild West Hiow troupa at the Diu-ut Hall. l.onis T. Harln. v ho will qualify i 1'nited States Marshal for Oreaon next Thursday, u ill name .1. F. Gri'.tf., of Salem as bis chief clerk. It I.. niMicr.-tooil Captain P. P. Tutlle will i-eslan his office of Justice ot the Peace for South 1'ortlanjJ precinct and take an opening In other quarters. City Auditor W. H. Wood will rrsUn bis place and tako Captain Tuttlc'a place. Rosc-burg II 14. Miller, ot Joi-phln" County, it is reported, baa cultivated a nice little boom for oiigressnian. lie Is a Republican. Other Republicans lined up fur the race arc: llorruunn, Lcusure and Kills. A contract provldins for a monthly line of steamships between Portland ami Asiatic purts was signed yesterday at San Francisco, A Gurney ch! line will be startui in Portland today. The Gurney cab Is a two-wheeled vehicle with a door epon ins: lit the rear. Tho service has be come popular in other metropolitan ittes where they have been Initialed. Half a Century Ago BUTCHERING" OF SHADE TREES Albert P. Barnes Urges Cttlsens to lie Greater Care In Trimming. PORTLAND. March 2. (To the Ed- tor.) Beautiful shade trees are a great asset to any city. We of Portland seem to have generally underestimated tneir value. A glance down nearly any street In the residential districts snows us trees trimmed without the least thought of their nafural beauty. Is cordwood so expensive that we must sacrifice the tops of our shade trees? In trimming: a tree our object should be to help it attain its natural shape. Only in exceptional cases should a ma tured shade tree be cut back or pol larded. We can spray for the heetle. the moth and scale, but the only way to rid ourselves of the tree butcher is to get him a job in a lumoer camp, where he can earn an honest living. Our city trees have many unnatural conditions to overcome and therefore hould have good, honest, consistent care by intelligent men. Cement side walks and paved streets deprive them of their natural fertilization and mois ture. Sewer gas is their most danger ous underground enemy. While over- ead they have the well-known Irapur- ties of our city air to contend with. The park department gives us a val- able example, but their efforts are nfortunately confined to public trees. Private property-owners must take more pride in their shade-producers, for a healthy, matured city tree excites the admiration of the most hardened traveler. ' ALBERT P. BARNES. Madame Walska, the Pctrograd prima donna; who was to make her first American appearance at llain merstein's Victoria Theater last Mon day night, has just been apprised of the death of her husband, a captain In the Russian army, who was killed In one of the East Prussian frontier bat tles. The singer is prostrated by the news and has postponed her New York opening indefinitely. Madame Walska is a great favorite with the Petro grad aristocracy and has been deluged with cablegrams of condolence from high court officials. She has also re ceived un official report from the gen eral headquarters of the Russian army, commenting on the bravery of her husband. Olga Petrova, who was in Portland in vaudeville last season, has been en gaged to appear next week to substl tute Madame Walska. The last mail from London brings a bit of news regarding the Duke of Manchester, which would cause Eugene Zimmerman to writhe and turn In his damp and mouldy tomb. "Kim" has so far disobeyed the dying wish of his notoriety-seeking old father-in-law, as to have got himself shot in the back. And it was no alien bullet that did the deed. The weapon was held in the hand, if my informa tion is correct, of no less gallant an American than a millionaire shop keeper deeply and most liberally at tached to the tr&in of a vaudeville star who has this Winter scored a big Lon don hit in the legitimate drama, play ing, in fact, the same role created here by Elsie Ferguson in "Outcast," But to return to our Manchester, a few nights ago at the newest and smartest of supper clubs, the renowned off spring of Columella Yxuaga was shot in the midst of his dorsal column by a! heavy charge of soda water In the i hands of the dry goods prince, who I was'trying to illustrate how Miss Ethel I Levy was drenched with stage-soda in her role in uutcast. Tne uuae was cheered for his gallantry, In captur ing his assailant, who was marched away in Manchester's company, to the trenches at Romano's. t---"Ml Th'! ti s-n Ian, March I, t0.'i. laii Francisco A new dally paprr will appear hero tomorrow. Il is calieii tho I -ally Spectator uml will be alio 'it half the size of the Kullctiil. Ulvlti A; CrosseU ale tho publisher. Fort Hopkins, tihio, l'el. IS. One of the companies stationed hern (Company Ei, First Oregon Infaiilrj) was puraibil yesterday fur the purpose of ic- cUliiK a beautiful flaif which the laiiica ol Yamhill County, 1'rcnun, had preparcii and forwarded to them at. tho hands ui Hon. Henry Warren. The company has become, proficient lib drill and few flai; presentations since tho commencement of tho war have been inure neat and imprssive. Wo learn from Mr. Gillette, just ar rived from Astoria, that t'lC persons on the pilot boat saw :t wreck supposed tu be tiie Funny drifting soinc three miles outside tne bar. General Sherman nave a fafr and square answer tu Ihe committee ol Savannah merchants who applied lo him February I"1 to ristoic to lis own ers the eoiton sclacii by the iocrn nicnl. Sherman tobt them thst llic cot ton belonged to tho Government mid that if every fiber of that pialei lal and every brick in Savannah were made, of (fold their possession would not In demnify the Government for Hie lo.-s of blood and trvasuro expended In the aplure of the city. At the rcsriilnr ineetlnu of Orrann l.odo No. :!, I. O. O. I .. Mairh l. re.-o- utions of coiuloleiK were adopted o ti the death of Joseph SwelUer. which occurred February The Rev. .Mr. Schmidt and Kcv. Ms. Schmidt returned by the steamer I'a- Ifie and will prcHch every s-ahbaln mm II III i'.nglisil alio every rmiaiii afternoon in Gcrinun at Third at Mor rison streets. Srriteant 1'alton arrived from Salem a few days since with 2d men for the cavalry service. The death of Aniasa lluwc. for scl eral jears contractor of the Govern ment to carry the malls from tins city to llillsboru, In Washington County. as resulted In a rilsarranaemrnl of the plans entirely. It seems Mr. Howe never received a Just compensation lor his services and there Is no one to h fouinl who" Is willing to fulfill tha agreement at bo great a sacrifice imd so small a remuneration. uur po.-i- master is cndeavorlnn to brine about some Hrrunicement so V. uslilncioii niol Vamht.'i counties will be sercd. Papers In I'lilladrlpkla. WAPRENTOV. Or.. M.rch S.-ll'o ho lvditor.) Will ou kindle Inform me through the columns of your pa pur the names of some of tho leading papers in I'hllntlclpliia, and what tha usual rate per word ia for an "ad" In daily paper. J. VV. The North-American, the Ledger ami the Inguirer are representative papers f Philadelphia. Tlie advertising rat is subject to conditions, circulation. tc. It would be better to writs hi et their rates. Directory of Merchants. PORTLAND. March 2. (To the Edi tor.) I want to get the names of mer chants in California. Could you Inform me throush your paper where I could get the names? KD. SMOOTH V. Apply to R. L. Polk & Co., Reck building, Portland, publishers of di rectories and gazctcers. Suspenders, High Waists, Guimpcs ! Could anything lrt the conception of Art in Dressmaking be more quaintly attractive than the hlgh- wulsted suspender frock of say, dark blue, combined w'Hh the old fashioned, buttoned In the back guimpe of soft white chiffon? This Is one of the new stylea rather a new version of an old style and It is reminiscent of the long ago days of poke bonnets, boop skirts and puffed sleeves. Fashion seems to be going back ward instead of forward, but. lo ths demure Uttli lady of slim propor tions, the particular style of dress above mentioned Is not entirely din tasteful. To keep In touch with fashion's decree, consult the udvcrtisiug col umns of today's Orcaoniaiv They contain information of Interest in this direction.