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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1895)
SHE SUNDAY OKEGOrSIAK, PORTLAND; JAKT7AB.Y 13, 1895 Watered at the Postofflce at Portland. Oregon. cs second-class matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION' RATES. By Mall (postage prepaid) ta Advance. Dally, -with Sunday, per month.. $ 3ally, Sunday excepted, per year .--....- 10 Dally, with Sunday, per year.. 12 00 Sunday, per year. ...... ..... 2 00 The "Weekly, per year .... . . 1 SO She "Weekly, three months M TO CITT SUBSCRIBERS. 3ally, per week, delivered. Sunday excepted..23o Dally, per week, delivered, Sunday lnclnded..30g DAILY METEOROLOGICAL HEPOUT PORTLAND, Jan. 12.-S P. M. Mazimam temperature, 57; minimum temperature, 47; height of river at 11 A. M., 10.4; change In the past 24 hours, 1.3; precipitation today. 1.17; precipitation from September 1, 1804 (wet sea son), to date, 1S.C0; average, 23.2G; deficiency. 4.C8; number hours eunshine Friday, 1:37; pos sible number, 1:00. Reports from the coast stations are missing, towing to the stormy conditions prevailing on the coast from Central California northward. Rain Is falling at all places in Oregon and "Washington; also In California as far south as Red Bluff. Very heavy rain fell In the western portions of Oregon and "Washington. Continued 3-alny weather must be expected, since there ex ists an unusually low area of barometric pres Bure, with Its center apparently north of "Wash ington. WEATHER FORECASTS. Forecasts made at Portland for the 24 hours fending at midnight January 13: Tor Oregon and "Washington Rain and nearly fetatlonary temperature, with fresh southerly .winds; gales on the coast. For Idaho Rain In the northern portions, fair "weather In the southern portions and warmer, ilth fresh southerly winds. For Portland Rain and stationary tempera ture, with fresh southerly winds. PORTLAYD, SUNDAY, JANUARY 13. THE SPIRIT OP REFORM. Never has there been so auspicious a, time to reform the excesses, the ex travagances and the multifarious abuses that have crept into every de partment of our government, from state to precinct, as now. Never did the needs of the country so cry for this re form. The excesses have grown from year to year, by little and little, till we have come to have, instead of simple and economical government, believed by the founders to have been estab lished, one of the loosest and "worst plundered the country presents. This condition has grown and existed by sufferance when prices were high, prof its large and taxes easily paid. But the depression of the last year which lias swept over the world has made taxpaylng difficult with all, and im possible with many, and the many are Increasing. With every business and every individual in the grip of hard times, there is abroad in the land a resolute determination that these abuses and extravagances shall stop short; that government shall cost no more than It need, and that the hand of of ficial cunning and greed shall be with drawn from the long-time rifled pocket of the hitherto patient taxpayer. This Impulse will be felt by the Incoming legislature and by the new members of the state government, and by their example extended to the counties, towns and districts. If, under these, search ing and sweeping reforms are not now instituted, we may well 'despair of their iver being accomplished. The last legislature made some in roads upon the fee system. They are jwhat should be but a beginning. The system is an abomination, and should be cut up root and branch, legal and Illegal. And it is a vice of the system that more fees are taken without the law or over it than are provided for under It. The offices of secretary of Btate, treasurer, and superintendent of echools are fruitful fields for the knife. JThose who know the new secretary of etate doubt not that he will enter faith fully into this work. Sheriffs, county clerks and recorders have been made salaried officers with more than ample salaries, and yet some of them are left with lucrative fees in addition that should be at once and forever wiped out Let there be no hidden emolu ments, but let the salary acquaint the public with the full amount of the com pensation. And in view of the changed condition of the country, many of these salaries should be reduced, to take ef fect from the passage of the act, not at the end of the term of the incumbent. No officer has vested right to office or fee against act of the legislature. There are sinecures in the state de partments and in the county and city offices ttf$ Should be abolished. The acts under which state, district, county and city officers are enabled to make emoluments beyond the limits of com pensation proper to the service and to he times, should be reviewed by the legislature, and all excesses should be annulled or amended. The state con victs should be put at work and made 'to earn their prison living. The asy lum legislation needs thorough scan ning and overhauling, to the end that' no one should be sent there who does not there belong; that large profits ehall not be made in transporting pa tients there, and that patients and relatives with sufficient means shall pay the expenses of sending and keep ing. Officers of the state should be re quired to pay into the treasury all re ceipts whatever other than the salaries named In the constitution. Bounties to fairs and exhibitions should be dis continued, at least until more prosper ous times. Appropriations to normal echools and state colleges must be re stricted, as must appropriations for all state institutions. There is not one of the expenses which cannot be ma terially reduced. A half score or more of "homes" and "aid societies' have sprung up over the state, some of which seem to have been born principally for the purpose of obtaining appropria tions. The committee-clerk abuse and scandal should be knocked on the head. The state militia should be reduced to a half dozen companies, properly dis tributed over the state, and the out rageous draw upon the treasury pro portionately reduced. The expense of the state printing can be reduced more than one-half, by omitting wholly un necessary printing printing of no value to anybody except the printer. The knife must be Inserted here, sharp and deep. Never before has an Oregon legisla ture had such a summons to duty as rests upon the one that will assemble tomorrow. Our whole official system has become honeycombed with prac tices which to use no harsher terms, are burdensome to the taxpayer and destructive to the state. Offices are sought for their emoluments and "worked for all there is In them." Ex travagance, looseness and reckless ness of expenditure have prevailed in legislative halls and department offices. It should be the business of this legis lature to reform these abuses, and put the state upon a career of honesty and economy such as honored its early years. The voice of the people has called it into life for that end, and their eyes are upon it. There is need of searching inquiry and deep Insertion of the pruning knife Into the administration of every of fice. The general appropriation bills have been made to carry extravagances and jobbery, which could not be trusted to separate bills, and, introduced at the very heel of the sessions, have been carried blindly through. The general appropriation bill should be placed be fore the legislature and the people at least ten days prior to the end of the session, so that its items may be scrutinized. The legislature must not, will not. fail the people now! A VICIOUS MEASURE. Vest's bill means the silver basis, pure and simple. It retires gold and silver certificates, national bank notes and both forms of treasury legal tender, substituting for them all an unlimited issue of new treasury notes, nominally redeemable in either gold or silver. This would give us a government note Issue of about $1,200,000,000, resting upon less than $100,000,000 of gold and less than $500,000,000 of silver. Can any one suppose that these notes would have more than the commercial value of silver? There is a pretense of gold redemp tion in the provision that the notes may be redeemed in gold at the option of the holder when the gold reserve in the treasury is above $100,000,000, and that five-year 5-per-cent bonds may be sold to replenish the gold reserve when ever it falls below that figure. This would be absolutely ineffective. It simply perpetuates the present situa tion, in which the public debt is stead ily Increased to meet a steady drain of gold from the treasury, with no effect except to increase the annual interest charge. Indeed, the Vest plan would increase this drain of gold, and so in crease the compulsion to sell bonds by adding to the volume of notes press ing for redemption in gold nearly $200, 000,000 in place of the present national bank notes and an indefinite amount of new treasury notes issued from time to time against revenue deficiencies. Gold redemption probably could not be maintained for long after this bill became a law. Redemption of the new coin notes would be demanded in gold by the indirect processes that have drained the treasury for the last two years, and constant sale of bonds would be necessary to replenish the reserve. These soon would exhaust the credit of the government, especially as the .question would be raised whether the bonds were to be paid in gold or silver. "While bonds could be sold the wretched see-saw of the last year would be kept up. Speculators in New Tork and elsewhere would buy bonds with accumulated gold, turn around and draw the gold out of the treasury with notes, thus reducing the reserve below $100,000,000 and compelling a new sale of bonds, which they would buy with the same gold, thus increasing the burden of interest indefinitely so long as the credit of the government held out. "When this was exhausted and it could not last long under such a strain we should go to the silver basis with a rush. The plan provides that when ever the gold reserve falls below $100, 000,000, coin notes may be redeemed in silver, the seigniorage to be coined for this purpose. Moreover, it provides for coinage of all silver brought to the mints, the government to retain the seigniorage, for use in current trans actions. This would bring all the visi ble supplies of silver and most of the product of the mines into the mint probably $50,000,000 to $100,000,000 the first year, half of which would be seigniorage. Soon the government would be obliged to pay this out in redemption of coin notes, there being no discretion under the law, the mo ment the gold reserve fell below $100, 000,000. The moment this was done, the mo ment the treasury compelled any note holder to take silver instead of gold, the puchasing power of all the notes would fall to the commercial value of the silver named on their face. Gold would go to a premium and disappeaH from circulation. The value of half the credit money of the country, from $1,200,000,000 to $1,500,000,000 in all, would bewipedoutat once and we should have such a financial crisis as the world never dreamed of. If we are to go to the silver basis, it Is better to go at once than after Increasing enormously both our interest-bearing debt and the volume of credit money to be affected by it. Mr. Vest's bill would simply make a bad job worse. A VIGOROUS ARRAIGXMEXT. "Shirley Dare," one of the most vigor ous writers among the women who contribute to current literature, recently published an article upon what may be called the popular follies of youth that abounds in good sense and timely suggestions. Among the latter is an arraignment, in strong terms, of the "friends and elders" for their share ini the mistakes and follies of young peo ple, through forcing and putting them forward in lives beyond their legiti mate sphere. It is argued in support of this charge that though boys of 15 may be brighter than their fathers, having had a much better chance, they should not be set at men's tasks and given men's responsibilities "before their bones are set;" that, though the ability to see and project may be theirs, the ability to carry out is beyond them. Every business man sees boys of 17 and 20 in their offices as special agents and commission men, and some of them do their work better than he could in that line. But the strain on undeveloped brains and bones that are still in gristle tells on nerves and morals. Overwrought nerves crave stimulus and excitement; the boy is unsatisfied until he is making money to spend freely on the candy-boxes, the violet bunches, the theater tickets and sup per after the play, the swell suits, and I the great athletic contests which de-1 moralize the business boy for two weeks before and after. His brain force goes to speculation before It has time to curdle into cells. It Is weak ness, not vice, that steers many a young man straight for the penitentiary; and for this weakness they must answer who have made his whole boyhood a rehearsal of men's duties and excite ments. The undue proportion of relatively young men, in all of our penal Institu tions, many of whom went there direct from the accountant's desk or from the position of a confidential clerk or trusted employe, is in evidence in sup port of this arraignment. There is not a city In the land scarcely a com munity which has not been shocked at the story of a young man, of good fam ily and previously honorable record, gone wrong, largely because of this forcing process which pushed a boy into a man's place before he had the ballast jot years and the training of subordinate lines of work to give him moral equilibrium. Moreover, every community has its full quota of com monplace incompetent men, "rather bright fellow" withal, who never get beyond yearly rent and daily expenses the victims of precocity that made heavy overdrafts upon their energies and left them bankrupt in the market that is ruled by success. A child in a child's place and a boy in a boy's; a youth in a youth's place and a man in a man's these are the gradations of nature which, if followed, give a sure formation for usefulness in life, and such measures of success as individual ability and Industry can compass. It is well to remember that "steadiness of nerve is a great help to moral steadiness, and strength is es sential for the long, tiresome pull that makes or mars success in life." THE rVDERGROUXD COXDUIT. The bitter war waged in the Eastern cities against the intrcduetion of elec tric railways has not availed to keep them out. The leaders, paragraphs, and cartoons on the "deadly trolley" have not so completely frightened the people that they are willing to endure horse-cars forever. They demand rapid transit, and if they cannot have it without danger attached, then they will take It with the danger. Experi ence has not shown the trolley to be so deadly as to offset the great advant ages of electric railways. Portland people would laugh to scorn the sug gestion that the electric roads through the city streets and connecting them with the suburbs were so dangerous that a return to the horse-car system was desirable. Even the occasional dangling of a live wire, such as killed a horse on the east side of the river a few days ago, and has created tem porary consternation on other occa sions, is not sufficient to cause such permanent alarm, though the deadly nature of these wires and the possibil ity of their coming in contact with peo ple passing along the streets are well known. This exposure is one of the prices paid for the benefits of rapid transit The price Is paid under pro test, however, and just as soon as the advantages of electric railways can be fully enjoyed without the dangerous and obstructing overhead trolley a change will be demanded. It is in stimulating invention to over come this objection that the vigorous war waged by the press of Eastern cities has accomplished the most good. The wide divergence between the theoretical and practical is well shown In the matter of devising a system of underground conduits for electric rail ways. There have been many inven tions, but electric railway companies still adhere to the trolley as being the cheapest and most practical for com mon use. Lines of undergound elec trical conduit railways are in success ful operation in Buda-Pesth, Hungary, and Blackpool, England. "Washington, D. C, has a line, and one is being con structed on Lenox avenue, New Tork, and another in St Louis. It is claimed for these lines that they are more cheaply operated than the trolley lines, though more expensive to construct. At a recent meeting of the New Tork Electrical Society this mat ter was extensively discussed, and the general opinion was that the chief dif ficulties in the way of the adoption of the underground conduit system were the expense of constructing the con duits and the cost of a change of ex isting lines to the new style. It was admitted that the conduit system would be cheaper of operation and more de sirable. It is evident that much prog ress has been made in the direction of the abolition of the trolley. Eastern cities granting franchises to electric lines will, in the main, do so only to conduit or storage-battery lines, and Western cities now criss-crossed with overhead wires and bristling with poles will see that the new systems are good and demand a change. The disap pearance of unsightly poles and ob structing and dangerous wires, and the placing under gound of all lines carry ing electric energy, are matters of time only. Timber-thieves, under the modest guise of homesteaders, have, accord ing to State Land Agent Hickman, of Montana, gotten away with an enor mous amount of government timber in that state since 1S90. The plan pur sued has been to file on a quarter-section, valuable for timber only, and much of it so steep that It is difficult to climb, erect a small hut, call it a homestead, and get the location noted by the surveyor. After the filings are accepted, the tenant at once commences to strip the land of timber its only value the object being to accomplish this as quickly as possible. This done he departs, in many Instances, for the purpose of locating on other lands. What the agents of the government are doing while this open and wholesale fraud is being perpetrated is not stated. If there is no way to put a stop to such proceedings and punish the al leged homesteader for his spoliation, his haste in securing the timber and breaking camp would seem to be un necessary. If there is a way, it should not be impossible to find it, especially as it is supposed to be clearly pointed out by the government. The most opportune and apposite quotation recently made in congress came the other day from Henderson of Iowa. Holman of Indiana, who has sat in congress thirty years, but was beaten last November, has long been known as the watchdog of the treasury. To every proposal involving expendi ture of public money he has been ac customed to interpose his everlasting "I object" unless the expenditure was for some purpose in his own district cr state. Recently one of those Indiana jobs came along, and Holman as usual batted his miser eyes and got ready to reverse his waltz of economy. It wa3 an appropriation for a public building one of that kind of appropriations to which he has been an especial enemy; but this one was for Indiana, and he rose to plead for it. "Mr. Speaker," said he, T think this to be a very meritorious measure." Henderson of Iowa followed, quoting from Byron: 'Tls sweet to hear the watchdog's hon est bark Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home. The quotation, with its allusion or application to Holman's methods and to his coming retirement from congress was so pat and apt that it produced an immense explosion of laughter and completely ruined Holman's appropriation. To have the greatest effectiveness and utility, a board of public works should be wholly independent of the council and responsible only to the mayor. The grand secret of effective municipal government is complete sep aration of the executive and legislative functions and strict limitation of the council to the latter. If a board of public work can undertake only busi ness sent it by the council, it will be helplessly dependent upon that body. No public improvement can be consid ered which has not gained the favor of the council, and it will be difficult for a board so helpless to block improper schemes which have gained that favor. It is certainly important that the board should stand in some relation of coherence and dependence "With the rest of the city government, but it should be united with the executive rather than the legislative branch by being made responsible to the mayor, with absolute initiative, authority and responsibility under his control. If the board were to be made a mere depend ency of the council, all the duties pro posed to be laid upon it might as well be done by council committees, as at present. A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature providing $100,000 as a loan to the farmers of the drouth stricken districts of, the state for the purchase of seeds and other supplies, the same to be repaid in January, 1896. These distressed people naturally catch at any scheme that will insure even temporary relief, and cannot be blamed for wanting assistance, from whatever source it may come. But the question the practical legislator will ask himself when called upon to vote for this appropriation will doubtless be, "Suppose the same dictricts are 'drouth-stricken' next year; how can this obligation be met?" January, 1S96, sounds afar off now, but it will present itself to the pinched debtor with astonishing quickness, and more especially if, as is likely to happen in this case, he has sent good seed after bad crops, only to find a return in the latter. The only real and permanent relief for drouth sufferers is through immigration to some locality where nature is bountiful in the distribution of moisture. The latest fad at the state university is a business college, free of course, like the rest of the group of charity schools. There are two or three better business colleges in the state than can possibly be created a. Eugene, support ed by their owneXertlons., These are as much entitled' ibna state appropria tion as the Eugene university. The house may as well fiddle away its time over private bills and pension claims as anything else. It is incapa ble of any useful legislation. The country is waiting Impatiently for it to die and cares little how it may waste its last ineffective hours. The bank surplus In New Tork has increased nearly $6,000,000 by increase of deposits and calling in of loans, but it is a wholesome sign that all the in crease is in legal tender notes. TOO MUCH PARTIS AXSIIIP. How Each Party Tries to Put the Other "In the Hole." PORTLAND, Jan. 11. (To the Editor.) You quote Senator Vest as saying that undoubtedly a majority of the senate would vote to repeal the differential duty on sugar if they had a chance. If my memory is correct, only a short time ago, upon reconvening of that august body, they voted on the question of striking out the differential duty on sugar, the vote standing 23 to 27 against striking out such duty. Of the 23 thus recorded against the sucar trust, all were democrats ex cept one Washburn of Minnesota. All of the 27 except four Blanchard, Caffrey, Martin and Roach were republicans, and three populists. With such a record be fore us, it may be pertinent to ask. Who are favoring the sugar trust, the demo crats or republicans? The republicans in congress made It possible for this powerful combination to get a foothold, and they are the last ones to strike it down. The handful of democrats who have aided the trust deserve the universal chastising that they have received. While the rules and regulations of that effete body are obsolete and obstructive, it is simply puerile for the almost solid repub lican delegation to seaek to escape re sponsibility for failure to strike down the gigantic monopoly. There will, no doubt. be another opportunity for the Immaculate senators, before the 53d congress expires, to sneak behind the rules or absent them selves and thus aid the trust. The repub lican press cannot cover such action on the part of their senators, and ingeniously endeavor to shift all the responsibility of the trust legislation to the democrats. FRED B. HUGHES. The republican senators ought to have voted to strike out the differential. But the reason they did net was the reason so commonly observed in cases of this kind, namely, that neither party is will ing to help the other party "out of the hole." The republican argument was this: "The democrats have made their tariff scheme. It is not our scheme, and we shall not help them to amend it. When we get power we will make our scheme and be responsible for it Meantime let the democrats be responsible for their scheme." This is putting party policy be fore the public good, but both parties do it, and to an extent always will. The most mischievous instance of it ever known in our history was the steady pressure of the democratic party during many years to put the republicans "into the hole" on silver. This forced the Bland coinage act, and the silver purchase act, and created a false sentiment on the money question throughout the country which it is difficult to hold down. A Recreant Representative. HEPPNER, Or., Jan. 12. (To the Edi torsThe republicans of Heppner are very indignant and have just grounds for their indignation. Representative Booth by was elected not for his ability or statesmanship-, but for the position he took on the financial question. Before the convention which nominated him, he de- i clared for an honest dollar, and for the coinage of only as much silver as could bo kept at a parity with gold, and at a ratio making such parity possible. After he was nominated he stated in a public speech, delivered at the opera-house in Heppner, that J. N. Dolph was good enough for him, and that statement elic ited more applause than any other that he made during a speech of 40 minutes' duration. While he did not positively pledge himself to support Dolph, he did pledge himself as against the free and unlimited coinage of silver. The demo crats and populists made their fight against him on the ground that he was a "goldbug," and he was elected on that issue. If Mr. Boothby persists in voting for a free-silver man for United States senator, he will do so against the will and wishes of four-fifths of his constitu ents, and will find Morrow county a very tropical clime on his return, especially If he should ever again seek political honors in this county. W. W. SMEAD. COXFUSIOX OF IDEAS, Growing Out of the Use of Loose Terms Abont Money. PORTLAND, Jan. 12. (To the Editor.) Meeting two ardent republicans yester day, in a conversation, they expressed the opinion that Senator Dolph was a "gold man," that is, he believed in a sin gle gold standard. In a letter published in your paper on the 17th of May last, Dolph said: "You are right in supposing I favor bimetalism. I stand with the majority of the republican senators, with the repub lican party and upen its last national platform. I favor the largest use of sil ver and the free coinage of silver when ever an international agreement can be secured, under which free coinage of sil ver would not drive us to a silver stand ard." This Is the exact position of Benjamin Harrison, Thomas B. Reed, William Mc Kinley and William B. Allison, one of whom will probably be the republican candidate for president in 1S9G. What sort of a spectacle will we present in Oregon two years hence, if we take the position now that the United States should go alone into the free coinage of silver? We would certainly go on a single silver standard basis. The populists, with Governor Pennoyer at the head, would, and ought to carry Oregon for president. President Harrison appointed as del egates to the Brussels monetary confer ence, in 1891, Messrs. Allison, Cannon, Jones, Andrews and McCreary, all in fa vcr of bimetalism; and every one of them today stands in exactly the same position as Dolph, except Jones of Nevada, who has lately joined the populist party. I totally disagree with The Oregonian in Its position on the bimetallic question It appears to believe in gold monometal ism, which Is as great a mistake as silver monometalism. But Mr. Dolph is not In accord with The Oregonian. He is a bi metalist, just as 95 per cent of the re publicans of the United States are, and this is the position that the republican party will take in its next national con vention. This communication is not written to help any senatorial candidate. Hon. Charles W. Fulton and Hon. Thomas Tongue are both friends of mine, and good republicans. If they are sound on the republican view of the sliver question, if they stand with Reed and McKlnley and Harrison no man should object to them. But it is utterly wrong to misrepresent Mr. Dolph by saying he is a gold man. He is nothing of the kind. He Is a re publican bimetalist, and stands with Reed, MclClnley, Hoar, Allison and Lodge. The usefulness of a senatorial candidate on the tariff or appropriations for river and harbor improvements in this state is of great importance to the people of Oregon, but not so important as to whether he favors the use of gold and sil ver as money. With wheat at 50 cents a bushel, beef down to 2 cents a pound, and cotton at 5 cents, it is high time, if we wouldn't all become bankrupt that money is cheapened and values dearer. J. B. M. This writer is troubled with great con fusion of ideas. Mr. Dolph Is a bimetal ist, and so is The Oregonian; but neither Mr. Dolph nor The Oregonian believes In the contradictory fiction and utter im possibility of "double standard." We have the gold standard now, with large use of silver in conjuncticn with gold, and kept to interchangeability with gold by limitation of silver coinage. We may have the silver standard, and shall have it if we enact free coinage of silver; but we cannot have any such ridiculous im possibility as "double standard," and if we enact free coinage of silver, bimetal ism will disappear, because there will be no gold. The trouble with many is that they are utterly confused by the terms they use, and therefore don't know what their opinions really are. SAFES IX THE CITY HALL. The Fireproof Vaults Snld to Render Tli em Xcedless. PORTLAND, Jan. 12. (To the Editor.) I notice in today's Oregonian that the city hall is to be encumbered with half a dozen old safes, and bids are called for to hoist them through the windows. The new city hall building is furnished with fireproof vaults, which are a better pro tection against fire than any safe made. This fact has been demonstrated time and again. In the great Chicago fire, very few safes protected their contents, but well built vaults generally preserved the papers Intact Would it not be better to store the safes on the ground floor of the city hall, or elsewhere, and offer them for sale at such prices as the committee of whici the mayor is chairman deems proper, or store them with some safe-agent for the purpose of selling? The burglar-proof safe for the treasurer's vault,, is probably the correct move, but the old safes parceled around the city hall will not be in keeping with its finish; therefcre will not add to Its ornamentation, and can serve no visi ble purpose nor meet any wants for record protection, unless it be temporary, await ing the arrival of the metallic fixtures, which can be supplied with rough boards at a less cost than the safes can be placed upstairs, and avoid the damage to the building, as well as realize from the sales, Instead of drawing upon the treasury these times for what seems to be an use less expenditure. JOHN E. DAVIS. PERSOXS WORTH KXOWIXG ABOUT. Edison's great-grandfather died at 102, his grandfather at 103, and one of his aunts at 103, while his father is alive at 90. Charlotte Fowler Wells was the first woman publisher. She has been in busi ness since 1S14, and is still at it in New York. The Critic's "Lounger" says that Mrs. Burton Harrison received Vf cents per word for her "Bachelor Maid." The 60,000 words thus yielded her $4500. Purcel, the most extraordinary musical genius that England ever produced, died at the age of 37 from a cold contracted by being locked out of the house by his termagant wife. James W. Osborne, who has been ap pointed one of the assistant district at torneys, is another Southerner in office in New York. His brother is attorney general of North Carolina. Justin McCarthy, the Irish parliament arian whose novels have been so widely read in this country, is in his 62d year, but even at this age it is no unusual thing for him to sit up all night at work. Mayor William L. Strong, of New York, has been presented with a looking-glass framed in old mahogany, which belonged to Mayor Willard, the first mayor of New York city, who was elected in 16C5. With the publication of "A Mild Bar barian," Mr. Edgar Fawcett's record In point of number of books written and published now stands at 43 a statement which will probably surprise even those who await with most interest the appear ance of a new work from his hands. MiSS Nellie Cushman. of Ariznnn. n tall angular, dark-haired, dark-eyed girl, a rapid talker, and a great reader, has the reputation of being the only woman min ing expert In the world. She Is a Kansas girl, and began her work In examining ore at Tucson, Ariz., nine years ago, wnen sne was a gin or 17. Bishop D. B. Knlckerbacker, of the Episcopal diocese of Indiana, who died on December 31. was a stamn oniietnr- nt universal perseverance. He had collected j,wu,wu or cancelled stamps which he sold ior cnantame purposes, and had ac quired one-tenth Of his second TnllUrm when death put a stop to his energies. A POLITICAL REMIXISCEXCE. And It Is Illustrated "With an Excel lent Story. Yamhill Reporter. This is substantially what Hon. Thomas Tongue said In a speech delivered in this city during the last campaign, or rather, these are the precise words in which his position on the sliver question was re ported in these columns: "The country does not neid more money. The people need work, the opportunity to earn money. Whatever will set the mills and factories to humming and set the millions of Idle mechanics to work earning wages will set in healthy circulation the idle capital con gested in the money centers of the coun try. Free coinage of silver will not do this. The only mission of free coinage of silver would be to enable one class of citi zens to defraud another by paying them in depreciated currency." It was thought to be pretty sound doctrine at the time, and the vast majority of republicans con tinue thinking that way. Nothing so sud den and bewildering has occurred in a long time as the about-face of Messrs. Tongue and Fulton on the silver question. Its only parallel is in a story that comes from the wilds of Arkansas, which is as follows: "A man went oat into the woods to shoot bears, and seeing one standing in the path In front of him, with open mouth and glaring eyes, he put his gun to his shoulder and blazed away. The ball went into the bear's mouth, but so quickly did the animal turn his tall toward the hunter to run that the ball came out at the other end of the bear and killed the man." COXEY IX SPAXISH. WALLA WALLA, Wash., Jan. 11. (To the Editor.) Last summer, during the Coxeyite excitement, I was expectant that among the many appropriate remarks you made on the subject you would draw at tention to the significance of the term as revealed in Meadow's or any other good Spanish dictionary. Hitherto I trink they have been overlooked. They are, to-wit as follows: Coxa A prostitute, a strumpet, lewd woman. Coxcojita Lamely, haltingly. Coxear To limp, halt, hobble, go astray. Coxedad Lameness, limping, hobble, halt. Coxera Lameness, hobble, limping. Coxijo Complaint of a slight injury, an insect. Coxo A lame person, a beast, unsettled weather. Coxlxo Small insect, grub, slight com plaint. Coxin Cushion, large pillow, soft pad. A Protest From Pendleton. PENDLETON, Or., Jan. 12. (To the Ed itor.) We protest against the statement made by J. P. McManus! editor of the Pendleton Tribune, to The Oregonian of yesterday, as an unjustifiable insult to the republicans of Umatilla county. We are, and have been, loyal to our party. We believe 95 per cent of the party in this county favors Hon. S. A. Lowell, for United States senator, and that It should be their unquestioned right to do so with out being vilified. Jas. A. Fee, circuit judge; R. Alexander, ex-mayor; F. W. Vincent, physician; T. C. Taylor, mayor of Pendleton; B. S. Burroughs, county clerk; T. P. Gilliland, county commission er; Wm. Martin, county judge; John F. Adams, county commissioner; J. T. Lam birth, deputy county clerk; J. M. Leezer, deputy county clerk; Fred W. Hendley, recorder of conveyances; S. P. Gould, dep uty recorder of conveyances; H. A. Fax on, deputy sheriff; John W. KImbrell, county surveyor; Wm. C. Kern, county treasurer; J. E. Miller, attorney; J. H. Parks, justice of the peace; Charles A. Frazler, deputy sheriff; H. C. Guernsey, with First National bank; C. B. Wade, assistant cashier First National bank. Money Does Xot Create Business. HILLSBORO, Jan. 12. (To the Editor.) The populist cry is that plenty of money will cause good times, as during the war we had plenty of money and never had better times. This is the populist theory, while the fact is that during the war every branch of industry was pressed to the utmost activity; there never was a greater demand for labor and its product, the payment of which, and also the ex penses of a gigantic war, required a vast sum. Gold and silver were utterly inade quate, and our only resource was flat or paper money, with a promise of future redemption. There never was so small a demand for labor and 'ts product as today, and there are no great war expenditures, hence no great supply of money is required to meet their payment. But the populist theory still contends that plenty of money will create labor and enterprise. The fact, also remains that there is more money per capita in this country today than during the war, or at any other time, and why doesn't it create labor and enter prise, and, consequently, good times? H. S. SHUSTER. The Xew Year's Oregonian. San Francisco Commercial News. The New Year's issue of The Morning Oregonian, published at Portland, Or., has been received. It is a splendid pub lication of 40 pages, and contains, besides the current news of the day, a vast amount of information and statistics that are valuable and interesting alike to those who already reside In the Pacific Northwest, and to those who may contemplate investing there. The special articles have evidently been writ ten by men who are thoroughly conver sant with the subjects they handle, and, while the facts they present are very in teresting, any one who knows the char acter of the paper can feel assured that they are equally reliable. Among the most important articles are those headed "The Port of Portland," and "Portland's Shipping." The former gives an exhaus tive account of the improvements made in the Willamette and Columbia rivers and details concerning the big jetty at the mouth of the Columbia, while the latter gives valuable statistics regarding the shipments of wheat, flour, salmon, hops, wool and other leading industries of our sister state for the past year. The Illustrations are as good as the articles are ably written, and the New Year's issue is one of which The Oregonian's publish ers my well be proud. Destruction of Money. Yamhill Reporter. If, as most people verily believe, free coinage would precipitate the sliver coin of 412 grains to its bullion value, nearly half the purchasing power of the silver now in circulation would be destroyed. It would be necessary to coin $025,000,000 of additional silver before there would be as much actual money in circulation as there is now. Silver would pay debts at its face value only to a very limited extent, for in this state nearly all obligations are written payable in gold coin of standard value. It would take about $2 of silver to pay $1 of indebtedness. Bankers and money-loaners would be the smallest suf ferers, because they are fortified against loss by prudent foresight XEWS OF THE XQRTHWEST. Oregon. Corvailis is preparing a car of provi sions for Nebraska. The hall used by the secret societies of Sclo has been rejuvenated. Yamhill county's Nebraska relief-car will be shipped this week. Sixteen men have been discharged from the railroad shops at La Grande. The sheep inspector of Baker county re ports 24,000 in the county, all healthy. A dog-poisoner is at large in La Grande and valuable animals have been poisoned. A railroad from Clatskanie to the Nona lem valley Is being discussed by the resi-. dents of that region. Baker City, as a matter of protection against bad characters, has decided to close saloons at midnight The Tillamook Headlight chides the farmers of that county for not growing onions enough for the home market Grass valley, Sherman county, will soon have a public hall, capable of seating 1000 persons. It will be 40x70 feet, and two stories high. Aaron Ross, the old Roseburg pioneer, has offered to donate one-half the ground quired for a schoolhouse In the southern portion of the city. Eddie Ness, an Incorrigible youth of OIney, was committed to the state re form school by the Clatsop county court Thursday. The complaint was filed by his father, Elier Ness. C. A. Plummer, of Portland, has bought the Jewett mine, on Old Baldy, five miles south of Grant's Pass. New machinery will be put in, and the mine will' be worked night and day. A Yamhill county-farmer has killed 50 hogs, averaging 409 pounds gross weight Besides hams, bacon, etc., he secured 3350 pounds of lard. He says the hogs netted him more than if he had sold them on the hoof. Plans have been drawn for rebuilding the hotel at Medford for Captain J. T. C. Nash. The front of the first and second stories will be brick, and the third of rol'ed steel. The Hotel Nash will be a fine structure. A city charity society has been organ ized at Hlllsboro. The officers selected are: President, Mrs. J. J. Morgan; vice president, Mrs. Julia Dennis; secretary, Mrs, E. C. Deichman; treasurer, Mrs. D. K. Bill; soliciting committee, Mrs. J. C. Lamkln, Mrs. R. Crandall and Mrs. W. E. Thorn. In the city election held at Newberg Monday, M. Votaw was elected mayor, J. G. Hadiey, recorder; N. C. Christenson, treasurer, there being only the one ticket In the field for these offices. The council men elected were a3 follows: First ward, Allen Smith; second ward, Matthew Ter rell; third ward, E. D. Elwood. The Arlington city election on the Sth passed off very quietly. The election was hotly contested, but the citizens ticket was elected by the handsome majority of 33. L. C. Edwards was re-elected mayor, C. S. Wenner, Ross Beardsley, Dal Reed and A. C. Hawson, councilmen; F. T. Hurlburt, treasurer, and S. G. Hawson, recorder. Boys pasturing cows on the old Watkins farm, near Eugene, have In the past few days found a great many Indian relics in the way of ornamental beads about the size of bird's eggs, and flint arrow-heads. They found over 100 arrow-heads. They are dark fiint and well made. The beads were evidently obtained by the Indians from the Hudson Bay Company. Washington's birthday this year will be observed by the faculty and students of Pacific university as an arbor day. A tree will be planted on the campus at Forest Grove with some ceremony, an oration on forestry will be delivered by one appointed from each class, except the senior class, whose representative will take for his subject, "George Washing ton." The Nehalem lumber mill has passed Into other hands, and will start" opera tions the last of this month. The par ties who control it now expect to put in additional machinery and make the mill capable of cutting 60iCO0 feet per day. The parties who are locating a large mill be low Tohl's, expect to have their mill ready for business by March 1. It Is also un derstood that E. G. E. Wist will put in a large mill at Nehalem. Washington. Troop C, at Yakima, will play "The Confederate Spy," January 25. A civil service examination will be held at the custom-house at Port Townsend January 30. The Port Blakeley mill has begun run ning at night Twelve ships are loading lumber there now. A new receiver Is asked for the Tacoma. Grocery Company by F. S. Biatner, on tho ground of collusion to shut out claims. The treasurer-elect of King county, J. W. Maple, has notified the commissioners that he has been unable to secure suffi cient bonds. In an illustrated article on "Mount Kalama Smokes," in the Kalama Bulle tin, is a humorous parody on the recent Mount Rainier volcano excitement and expedition. A weather prophet at Dayton, who has kept tab on winters since 1862, says the remainder of the winter will be mild. He does not expect a pension from a grateful country. Three carloads of halibut were shipped to Boston from Tacoma Friday, by the Victoria Fishing & Trading Company. The fish were caught in Hlcket straits, 500 miles from Victoria. New Whatcom has a cheap fire depart ment The chief receives $20 a month and the assistant $15. The men, 90 in all, re ceive $1 50 for the first hour at a fire and 50 cents for each additional hour, and $1 for a false alarm. The Kalama Bulletin has been pur chased by two young men, whose names appear thereon as F. Ross Smith, A. B.r managing editor, and T. H. Adams, A. B. literary editor. Cowlitz county may safely count upon the A. B., and perhaps the C of "journalism." PARAGRAPHERS' PLEASAXTRIES. Uncle Do you say your prayers every night, Robbie? Robbie Gracious, no; I got everything I wanted Christmas, an my birthday don't come for three months. Inter Ocean. He couldn't put Satan behind him, No matter how hard he tried For, spite of his earnest endeavor, Auld Nick was still Inside. Cleveland Plain Dealer. Mamma The new little boy next door is so nice and good I want you to go and play with him. Son Pshaw! I don't want to go if he's so awful disagreeable as that Inter Ocean. Wiggs Physiognomists say woman's character is frequently Indicated by her chin. Sinnlck Probably true. Her mouth often tells a great deal about the charac ter of other women Milwaukee Sentinel. She I I think I like you, Mr. Trotter. But I cannot marry you and leave my twin sister alone. Wait until she is en gaged. He Yes but er that's just what she said when I proposed to her. Harlem Life. The fewer clothes the living picture Takes herself to deck The more of flannel on the morn She wraps around her neck. Detroit Tribune. "I don't belong to any of those 'good government' clubs," soliloquized the po liceman; "but one of them belongs to me." Then he sauntered up the alley and whacked a hoodlum over the head with it Exchange. Mrs. Backroads (at the opera, looking askance at the society women in the boxes In pronounced decollete costumes) The brazen creatures! How dare they show themselves In that disgraceful condition? Mr. B. (who has read all about it) Hush, Maria! Don't' show your ignorance! Them's the livin pictures we've heard so much about Life.