The Sunday Oregonian., February 18, 1900, Page 6, Image 6

THE SUNDAY OKEGOIAN, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 18, 1900.
Js uomcm.
SEctared at the fmufci at FarUaad. Oregon,
as ao b4 ataaa saatter.
TSLBPHOKB6.
Editorial JtowM tlW Baatocaa OSce.
,..667
REvifflBD sroeciurnoN ratbs.
Br Kail (peetage prepaid), to Advaace
Dally wltagaaaar. per month... 90 SS
Patlr. Sua ear eaeapted, per year.... 7 SO
Daily with Baal ay. per Tear S 09,
Sunday per year ...............-.... 2 00
The Weekly, per year. .... 1 58
The Weekly. spoatti.. ..-.... .-- 60
To City Safeeartben
Sally, per xreek. eeMvered. geneeys excepted-lBc
Xaily. per weak, dettvered, gaeeays lseluaeZOo
The Oroganeaa dees set bar poena or stories
Xrew Individual, aad Basset aaaertaXa to re
tare aay maawaprieta east te K without eottoita
Uor No ntawpi eaoulfl be inclosed Jar thto
purpose.
News or fltfwunelon Intended for pnhucatlon In
The Oregon! aheald be asreased lavaxiahly
"Editor The Oreconiaa," sat to the same ot
any lndrrldnaL. Letters retetlag- to advertislnB,
aubecriptleaa or to any basteeGa matter should
be addressed atanstr "The Oresootaa."
Pueret Seaad Bareatt Captain A. Thompson,
offloe at 1111 F&eme arenas. Taooma. Bex 853,
Taooraa peatemee.
Eastern Baateeea Office The Tribase build
ire New Terlc cKy; "The Rookery." Chicago;
the & C Bed-wltfe speclel agency, New Tork.
For aale fat Sea Fraaeleee bf J. K. Cooper.
T4 Market atreeC Bear the Fatece hotel, aad
at Goldsmith Btcm.. 286 Sailer street.
For aeie la. Chteaee by the P. O. News Co.
17 Dearborn street.
TODAYS 'RTOA.THBR.-Ooeaatoaal rata and
warmer, wttaeoaitheaat wtada.
iORTTAJn, SATUEJAT, FEB. 17.
COLOKIAIi ADflCnaSTRJLTIOIf.
In a recent number of the Outlook
&Ir. Alleys Ireland, whose articles on
ithe causes of the South African war
2iave obtained wide attention, has an
instructive article upoa the manner in
which Great Britain deals with her
colonial poasegsione. It must be ad
mitted by the severest critics of Great
Britain, eve by her enemies, that her
colonial administration during the cast
ialf century has had h4gh success. Mr.
Imand traces this success to "the ab
feoiute Incorruptibility of British Justice,
ihe swift and strong' executive power
lie hind the colonial administration, and
the almost general honesty and effi
ciency of the British colonial civil
ecruce." The inoorruptiblUty of the
cmrts has never been disputed. The
fcasis of this reputation lies in the fact
that the crown appoints the Judges
end appoints them for life. They are
paid high salaries, and are not allowed
to engage in other work, and even fa
miliar social relatione between them
and the people of the colonies are dis
countenanced, in order that the dig
nity of the courts may be maintained.
There is entire freedom, of speech in
the British colonies, but laws against
cut breaks in action are rigidly en
forced. The government knows no
I lark man and no white man in Its
c urts they are all equal there; but it
adopts different systems according to
the character of the populations to be
affected. All colonies outside the trop
) s enjoy complete self-government.
In the tropics there is a crown colony
atem and also a system under which
here exist representative institutions
Without responsible or virtually inde
pendent gDvetHSttepts. In the former
instances the ooiodles are in the bands
tf trained officials, who are under the
immediate control of the colonial of
ne In the latter the people elect a
legislature which fixes taxation and
arranges the civil list, but whose action
may be overruled by the colonial of-
e which p bob coo cp practically a veto
p ner There is no distinction of race
in the constituency of this legislature,
and in several of the colonies a ma
J nty of Its members are colored men.
It is probable that the beginning of
chll government la the Philippine
is ands, under direction of the United
Spates, will substantially follow this
lat sjstem. But it will be a miserable
failure if the organisation and direc
tion are not placed in the hands of en
tirely honest and competent men. The
Fjstem never can be entrusted, in its
admlnistratioft, to the type of men who
ecek official rewards for their services
t our political bosses in the United
fctatee.
A HBART OCT OP BRAINS.
The wrttfags of Thomas Jefferson,
collected aa&sedited by Paul Leicester
FTd, have been completed with the
publication of the tenth and last vol
ume, which includes "what Jefferson
wrote from Kt to 1SS6, the year of his
uc-ath. In this final installment Jeffer
e n rebukes the Rev. Lyman Beecher,
tt e father v Heary Ward Beecher, in
January, 1SK, for his "plan to establish
a qualified religious instructor over
cry thousand souls in the United
States, the South not excepted. This
ho calls "the most bold and impudent
stride New gfrtajaad has ever made in
arrogating an ascendancy over the rest
ft the Union." If Jefferson's life had
leen preiooged until 18SL he would have
found Lyman Beecher'g daughter au
thor of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a curious
1 terary product for a woman whose
father tried to suppress aatl-slavery
agitation at Lane theoiogioal seminary,
Cincinnati
These later writings of Jefferson are
instinct with the spirit of a politician
and a demagogue rather than of a
philanthropist. In Ms youth Jefferson
stood up maafully with Richard Henry
Lee against slavery la Virginia before
the Revolution, and made it part of
their indictment of Great Britain that
it had despotically Imposed slavery
upon the colonies. But in 1SS6, the year
before his death, Jatfersott's views on
gradual emancipation with coloniza
tion show him to have been, like Henry
Clay at a later period, unwilling to
abate one Jot of the slaveowner's pe
cuniary title to his property in human
beings. At the ttnte of the Missouri
agitation of MM, which was finally
stilled by the famous oompromise of
that year, Jefferson abandoned all the
humanitarian views of hie youth, and
saw only the aoutnern side, consider
ing the toone sectional and partisan,
net moral question, but one merely
of powar." "All know," he wrote, "that
permitting the .staves of the South to
spread Into the West will not add one
I ting to that unfortunate condition
ttfH etttfte the evil everywhere,
na f acMtiate-fcbe means of finally get-
i p rid of it" with a fling at "the
I t in slenders to exdnslve human-
1 I
1 eTt row setntlon of the evil of slav-
hf KhMM ot emancipation and
!e expatriation. Unlike W&shlng-
w he"rn aw to moral jus-
t re JHfemon never for a moment
u ua-ht he outfit to ask consent of
fna, 'nien to report tnem. u iae
i aves numbered in 1821) a million and
a half, he thought them within control"
for colonization. "But six million
(which a m'ajority of those now living
will see them attain), and one million
of these fighting men, will say, TVe
will not go. " It is clear from these
last writings of Jefferson that he was
what Wendell Phillips denned "Webster
to be, "a man with as good a heart as
could be made out of brains." In other
words, had Jefferson been born and
bred in France, in the revolution of
1789-94, he would have been a Talley
rand. THE AMERICAN CONSTIXTTTIOK.
In a courteous and thoughtful arti
cle, the San Francisco Bulletin demurs
to a recent discussion devoted by The
Oregonlan to the federal constitution.
In general terms, The Oregonlan had
said that the constitution Ib a living,
adaptable instrument, and that it can
not be successfully invoked against the
exercise of necessary functions of sov
ereignty. Cases cited in point were the
acquisition of the Philippines, the ex
elusion of Boberts, and the majority
report on Puerto Rico's tariff.
While agreeing in the mala to The"
Oregonian's discussion, the Bulletin is
disposed to make this qualification:
Self-preservation is the highest law known
to nature or human government. Self .preser
vation Justifies homicide, but statute law does
Dot give to the Individual who appeals to it
the sole, power to judstt ot the necessity to re
eort to It. It It to made to appear that the
individual who killed a human being on the
plea of eelf -defense was not in Imminent dan
ger, his plea does sot eavo him from punish
ment. The Bulletin might have reflected
that in the case of sovereign nations
there is no power to which individual
Judgment is referred as is the case of
the man and the state. How vain are
all schemes for such international tri
bunals was shown la the recent confer
ence at The Hague. Governments are
susceptible to the public sentiment of
mankind, but in their acts they must
be the Judges of their own condluct.
The Bulletin's farther suggestion that
The Oregonian's doctrine would rule
out the supreme court entirely has not
much pertinence, inasmuch as the past
growth of the constitution has been ef
fected through supreme court decisions,
and it is supposed) now that the Puerto
Rico and Philippine problems will
eventually find their way to that tri
bunal. The instinct of national self
preservation finds expression through
all departments of the government,
working, almost compulsorily, in har
mony. The development of constitutions,
unwritten like the British, or written
like our own, is one of the most fascin
ating objects that can engage the at
tention of the student. The profoundly
impressive fact about them all is that
in spite of all their external differences
they are nevertheless alike in being
means to ends and, however rigid in
their letter, are adaptable to the chang
ing needs of the times. It could not
be otherwise, for artificial instruments
are only tools with which humanity
works. The stream cannot rise 'higher
than its source, the servant is not
greater than his lord.
Yet The Oregonlan would not be un
derstood as speaking In any terms but
those of respect and veneration for the
constitution, or as encouraging a light
regard, for what it enjoins. The man
dates of the constitution are never to be
approached in anything but a spirit of
reverence and care. But this spirit can
only be seen at Its best in those who
know through study what the constU
tutlon is not, as Gladstone called It,
"the most remarkable document ever
struck off by the mind . of man at
any given time" or words to that
effect but the product of centu
ries or iuuropean civilization car
ried on through 150 years of experi
ence in colonial government. Scientific
study has done for the constitution
Just what it has done for the Bible,
and Nature. It Is only the knowledge
of their history that enables us to ap
preciate them at their true worth.
CHANCE FOR LEGITIMATE INDUS
TRY. Three years of big crops, andi fair to
high prices for them, have again start
ed this country on the high road to
prosperity, and the outlook for a con
tinuance of this prosperity Is excellent.
The dally report of the course of the
New Tork stock market throws an In
teresting side light on this pleasing
condition of affa(rs. For example, we
were told on Thursday that "the buy
ing demand came almost altogether
from professional sources, with the pur
pose of Inviting outside demand." The
outside demand failed to materialize,
and eventually "the professionals grew
tired and sold to realize, when the fu
tility of the attempt to attract outside
buying was perceived." Again on Fri
day the report stated that the profes
sionals were the only ones who took
any part in the trading, and that "the
general public persisted In keeping out
of the stock market, and this continued
indifference had not a little to do with
doubt of the professional speculators,
some of whom sold stocks before the
close of the day, prompted by their
disappointment over the failure of any
general demand for stocks to develop."
Such reports are In strange contrast
to those of a few months ago, when
new records were being established
dally In stock fluctuations all through
the list. Apparently the "outside de
mand," which the professional misses
fully as much as the gold-brick seller
misses the avaricious purchaser, is now
engaged In other business which is of
more benefit to the general public. Re
cent issues of the New Tork "bank
statement have frequently shown an
enormous loan expansion. In fact, for
many weeks the banks have been put
ting out more money than they did
when stock exchange transactions
reached high-water mark, several
weeks ago. This money Is flowing into
industrial channels, where it will pro
duce a direct and positive benefit to all
classes of trade. The ramifications of
the Wall-street system ot stock-buying
and selling extend throughout the
United States, and there is hardly a.
city of any importance but is levied on
for contributions to the support of the
professionals, who just at present 'are
bewailing an absence of "outside de
mand." Fortunately for the country, the men
who have made money by the good
crops and their attendant benefits in
other lines of legitimate industry have
apparently "had their fling" in Wall
street, and in similar forms of alluring
but uncertain speculation, and are now
turning their Attention to sometimes
slower but always surer methods for
making money. All over the West are
scores and hundreds of mining prop
erties in need of capital to place them
on the list of producers. Exclusive of
the "undeveloped prospects, which are,
perhaps, as uncertain a form of invest
ment as some of the sensitive stocks
in Wall street, there are plenty of low
grade mines which will return a fair
profit on the money invested. This
profit will not equal that sometimes
made in a single upward turn of the
stock market, but it has the advantage'
of being assured, and while the capital
ist who supplies the money for the en
terprise is receiving a fair rate of In
terest on the investment, he is giving
work to a large number of men in the
mine, creating a demand for mining
machinery, smelters, wood and provis
ions, and- indirectly in a hundred ways
bettering the industrial condition of the
country. Keep the "outside demand"
away from the stock market for a suf
ficient length of-time, and even the pro
fessionals will be obliged to go into le
gitimate business in order to make a
living.
When all the money that is now used
in uncertain, and in a measure illegit
imate speculation is again diverted
into industrial enterprises which can
create wealth from natural resources,
this country, and especially the West,
will enter on an era of unparalleled
activity and prosperity. Portland real
estate will not pay 520 per cent profits
per year, as was advertised by the de
funct Franklin syndicate, which ab
sorbed over ?5,000,000 of the working
capital of the country, neither will it
pay 100 per cent, as was guaranteed
by a local concern run on similar lines
to the Franklin fraud. Fortunately,
however, this feverish desire to get
something for nothing has about run
its course, and when it is finally elim
inated from the business situation, real
estate values in city and country alike
will increase in value. Labor will al
ways produce wealth, and with the
evils of a pernicious stock speculation
removed, the most natural field for In
vestment of the few dollars of the la
borer, or the profit of the mlneowner,
farmer or manufacturer, Is In real es
tate, which will always have a tangible
value.
IMMORTALITY THROUGH OPPORTU
NITY. Our Eastern exchanges are full of
speeches delivered on "Lincoln day" by
orators of all sorts and sizes, from
Chauncey Depew down to United States
Senator Burrows. There is nothing fa
these speeches of discriminating eu
logy; nothing but a ceaseless wash of
Indiscriminate panegyric, which makes
Lincoln almost as wooden and fanciful
a historical figure as Washington was
in our literature fifty years ago. Lin
coln was a great man, but he was not
the kind of so-called great man that
Is pictured by the vast majority of his
eulogists. He was as great a man, as
immortal a figure In the history of our
country, as Washington1; but, like
Washington, he became a great leader
and statesman not because he com
pelled circumstances, but through op
portunity. In. peace or war, Franklin
would have been a leading figure; for
he was a man of many-sided mental
ity, and he was an intensely practical, I
organizing, bustling, hustling business
man, who to wordily wisdom joined a
mind of scientific, political and philo
sophical grasp. Of the statesmen of
our colonial and. Revolutionary history,
Franklin is the only man who would
have been a great and leading figure in
any civilized country. He was the only
man of our Revolutionary history who
impressed both the leaders of the Brit
ish and French governments with the
great superiority of his native powers.
Alexander Hamilton and Marshall are
the only other great figures In our his
tory whose minds by original power
would have made them as conspicuous
in either France or England as was
Mlrabeau in one country or Fox in
the other. Lincoln did not be
long to the , class of men who
are born great; he did not belong to
the class that ira any clime or any time
would be sure to achieve greatness; he
belonged, like Washington, Jackson,
Grant and Sherman, to a class of men
who become great through happy op
portunity. This is no impeachment of
the superior moral and intellectual en
dowments of these truly great states
men and soldiers. It Is only saying
that In addition to great natural gifts
of brain and character, the great ma
jority of men are indebted chiefly to
happy opportunity when they achieve
greatness at a mature period of life.
Lincoln was 51 years of age when he
was 'nominated for president. He was
known to be on able man, a man of sin
gular probity, a man competent to
meet so brilliant a man as Stephen A.
Douglas in political debate; and yet he
was not a man of national fame as a
lawyer or a statesman. He was a con
servative Henry Clay whig recently
become a republican, who was nomi
nated for his. avalla'bllity and capacity
to carry the old-time pro-slavery states
of Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania,
rather than for any general belief that
he was anything more than a safd man,
a "good family horse." The republican
party bullded better than it knew In
1860, for it selected a great man, who
had within him the dormant power of
great political leadership and master
ful .statesmanship, but neither the
party nor Lincoln supected In 1860 that
he was the superior of Stephen A.
Douglas In capacity for public life. In
the ordinary piping times of peace
Douglas would have made a more in
delible mark upon the political history
of the country than Lincoln, for he was
Lincoln's equal in intellectual but not
in moral quality. Had the South sub
mitted peacefully to Lincoln's election,
he would have made a respectable
president of about the quality of Ben
jamin Harrison; would have been suc
ceeded probably by a democrat; but the
passion and political folly of the South
ruptured the Union, forced civil war,
furnished Lincoln with his opportunity,
and he Instantly rose grandly to the
full demands of a new and searching
situation. He woke up one morning
and found himself famous, just as
Grant woke up after Donelson and
found himself famous aftef being an
obscurity until 40 years of age; just
as Sherman had no historic fame until
after the Atlanta campaign; Just as
Washington was 43 years Of age before
he commanded an army; just as Crom
well was obscure until 40 years of age,
and would have had no more place in
history if ho had died sword in hand
at Marston Mioor than his brilliant
enemy, Prince Rupert
Suppose Napoleon Bonaparte had
fallen tn the bridge of Lodi; suppose
he had been born in the reign of Louis
XTV; there would be today no Napo
leonic literature. Happy opportunity
helped all these men, for It is the ex
ceptionally great man who would be
conspicuous Inevitably in peace or war,
like Burke, or William Pitt, or Fox, or
I Canning.
The panegyrical picture of
Lincoln is false, for it is- that of good
natured, humorous humanitarian, ab
normally gentle vand kind. In temper.
Lincoln had great capacity for self
restraint In speech and action, but his
salient quality was absolute Justice to
every man, a far rarer quality than
gentleness, kindness and generosity of
temper. Lincoln hanged slave-traders,
hanged spies, hanged Confederate fire
bugs, refused to pardon bounty-jumpers,
was a very stern man where pub
lic justice was concerned; and he had a
most imperious and masterful temper
of his own. The true life of Lincoln
remains to be written in the spirit and
historic method of Napier, whose "His
tory of the War In the Spanish Penin
sula" left no room for a subsequent
history In the mlnda of intelligent men,
whether they fought with Soult and
Massena or with Wellington. The best
life of Lincoln yet written Is that of
Herndon, the intimate friend and part
ner .of Lincoln for twenty years. The
time will come when Lincohi will ap
pear, like Cromwell and Washington,
divested of panegyric; when he wll
stand as a man who became a true
hero and statesman, not by birthright,
but by struggle, aspiration, but also
by happy opportunity. The attempt of
a Portland orator to picture Lincoln
as a great v lawyer recently was ab
surd. Nobody ever thought of calling
bim a great lawyer before he was
dead. He was something far better
and rarer; he was a great political
leader; and a great man. A great law
yer is not necessarily .a great man, or
Lord Mansfield and Lord Eldon would
be greater men than1 Burke.
DESERVING OP SUPPORT.
A great conflict is on at Washington,
the dispatches say, between the high
tariff republicans and the administra
tion. The Issue at stake is fair treat
ment for the dependencies. Senator
Cullom Is leading the campaign of
enlightenment in the senate, and
Representative LIttlefield, who suc
ceeded Dlngley of Maine, is joining
hands with McCall in the house. "The
position' of a number of leading repub
lican papers throughout the country in
favor of this same contention is sus
taining the republicans, who are follow
ing the president's lead."
This announcement of statesmanlike
determination on the part of the pres
ident and of hearty support of him on
the part of men like Cullom, Llttle
fleld and McCall is an omen of great
promise. It discovers a capacity of
greatness hitherto unsuspected in Pres
ident McKinley, and it indicates a
higher order of civic conviction in our
public men. The Independent action of
these republicans can be likened Only to
that of the noble band of gold demo
crats by whose aid we escaped cur
rency debasement in 1896. Justice to
the dependencies and regard for the
approval of posterity requires the most
liberal possible policies toward Hawaii,
I Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines,
Better that the $20,000,000 we paid to
Spain should be lost without recom
pense and beyond recall, better that
our sacrifices of blood and treasure In
the Philippines should stand unrequited
and unavailing, than that this repub
lic, heroic In its history and its tradi
tions, should forget its high calling to
justice and liberty, to play the tyrant
and oppressor of these struggling peo
ples whom we have delivered from
Spanish rule.
If the president stands firm for free
trade with the dependencies, he will do
well. He has taken the right stand,
but it has a'dvlsedly been doubted
whether he could muster the courage
to maintain it. His message to con
gress said in distinct terms: "Our
plain duty Is to abolish . all customs
tariffs between the United States and
Puerto Rico, and give her products free
access to our markets' And Secre
tary Root, doubtless with the approval
of the president, Included In his re
port this:
The highest considerations of Justice and good
' faith demand that we should not disappoint the
corindent expectation of sharing In our prosper
ity with which the people of Puerto Rico eq
gladly transferred their allegiance to the United
States, and that we should treat the interests
of this people aa our vown; and I wish most
strongly to urge that the customs duties be
tween Puerto Rico and the United States be re
moved President McKinley ought to have
the support of every right-minded citi
zen in this conflict, if conflict It really
la He has had the discernment to take
men like Mr. Hay and Mr. Root for his
advisers, and they have committed him
to high ground on the neutralization
of the Nicaragua canal and on the
treatment of the dependencies ground
in advance of his party, and, It Is to
be feared, in advance of the public
sentiment. Hay and Root have done
for him ih these matters what Secre
tary Gage has done for him in cur
rency reform. It Is devoutly to be
hoped he will screw his courage to the
sticking place. He can land a victory
here that will shine brighter In history
than all the other achievements of his
eventful career. It Is a triumph, if he
wins it, more worthy the praise of fu
ture generation than all the exploits of
the war with Spain.
TEACHING, AND OTHER THINGS.
Pupils In the Park school sent a re
quest to the principal that they be dls
missed at 2:30 o'clock on a day when
they particularly wanted to get out and
have some fun In the tmusual snow.
The principal proceeded to assume that
2:30 A. M. was meant, he says,- and
granted the request on that under
standing. Is it any wonder that people
criticise the superficial, hypercritical
tendencies of the teaching in the public
schools?
In a certain well-regulated newspa
per composing-room In one of the large
cities this notice is displayed conspic
uously: "Every worker here is pre
sumed to have common sense." Of
course, it would not do to place such
notices on the walls of the school
rooms, lest they encourage Independ
ence and Insubordination among the
scholars. But the teachers, at any rate
the principals, might be presumed to
have a measure of common sense with
out undue violence to the contract by
which they are hired to serve the pub
lic. And more of the broad sense that
is called common, In place of the petty
technicalities and whimsicalities that
shatter sensitive nerves and break am
bitious spirits, would redeem our public
school system from many of the Incon
gruities It Is- now loaded with. Atten
tion tp details need not be lacking
because of the presence of a whole
some purpose to broaden and uplift on
rational lines. The teacher who thinks
it "smart" to wither a child by cap
tiousness may do more harm than good
in the schoolroom.
Between the negligence and selflsh-
ness of parents and the witless grind
of the school machine,, the way of the
rising generation is hard. Parental
selfishness is chiefly manifested in dis
inclination to correct offspring, to en-"
force obedience and teach the whole
some authority of the home, because it
is pleasanter to the parental heart to
see Johnny or Jenny go ungoverned.
Many who set about sacrificing them
selves on the altar of parental duty
are simply burning incense to a mon
umental personal selfishness. And the
children suffer from it and the progress
of civilization! is hindered and the world
is much awry because of it. One who
reflects on these things will find 'much
to warrant Buskin's forceful exclamation-,
"Damn moderns, who eat their
children young!"
CREMATION OP THE HUMAN BODY.
The proposition to dispose of the
bodies of the dead by incineration,
when first brought close to a com
munity, is received) with a sbuddar of
aversion. A little thought, however,
suffices to pave the way for a tolerant
hearing of the reasons that support the
proposal, and later on prejudice Is ln a
degree overcome through the simple
statements of sanitary science, which
dogmatically Insists that this is the
onlyu clean, innocuous, rational means
of disposing of organic matter that has
served Its purpose as a citadel of hu
man life, and, according to the decree
of nature, must be returned to its con
stituent elements. Whether this disso
lution is to take place by the slow
and loathsome processes of decay, as
in ordinary earth burial, or through the
swift, clean and wholesome processes
of incineration, is the question that In
telligent people are called upon to de
cide. And though, so strong are the
shackles of custom and so binding the
fetters of a natural but unreasoning
affection, 'the purer, more wholesome
Idea of cremation has made relatively
slow progress against earth burial, it
has made substantial advance in recent
years, and gradually people are becom
ing more reconciled to It.
The arguments In support of crema
tion are familiar to all thoughtful, ob
servant people. They are those of pur
ity, which shrinks from the subjection
of the tenantless clay of a beloved one
to the revolting processes of decay; of
sanitary knowledge, which forbids the
return of the human body to Its con
stituent elements through processes
that in thickly populated communities
load the air with impurities and per
petuate the germ3 of deadly diseases;
of economy in space and expenditure,
which in very many instances is of
great moment to the living. Opposed
to cremation are custom, sentiment of
a peculiarly unreasoning type; the be
lief still perhaps unconsciously enter
tained of the literal resurrection of the
body and a shrinking, which It is diffi
cult to reason away, from committing
anything greatly prized to what seems
utter destruction by fire. These oppos
ing forces are not amenable to reason.
They will be overcome only by the
unresting, unhastlng processes of time
and growth. The establishment of
crematories in many of the large
cities of the country, together with the
fact that so many men and women of
intelligence and prominence have or
dered the disposal of their mortal bod
ies by cremation, are In evidence of
the progress of this idea and of. the
line along which it travels.
In 1897 the railroads of Nebraska un
dertook to change their charge for car
rying livestock from a rate per carload
to a rate per 100 pounds. The state
board of transportation ordered them
to maintain the charge per carload.
They have recently changed again to
the rate per 100 pounds, and there has
been a hearing on the subject before
the board. The complaining shipper
did not appear, but another shipper was
present, and complained that the ef
fect of the change was to increase the
charge from $10 to $12 a car for a haul
of ten miles. The affidavit of the gen
eral freight agent of the Burlington
road was to the effect that the charge
per 100 pounds was more equitable be
cause the shipper paid for the amount
that he shipped, while the charge per
carload encouraged overloading, which
was injurious to the cattle and unjust
to the railroad. He said the charge by
weight amounted to less than the
charge per car on thirty-foot cars; on
thirty-six-foot cars there was an in
crease, as there was 20 per cent more
space, and the charge per car was only
10 per cent more. The shipper who
complained of an Increase of $2 a car
maintained that overloading was bet
ter for cattle than underloading. Gen
eral Manderson, who appeared for the
Burlington road, one of the three rep
resented at the hearing, against which
three the attorney-general of the state
has begun suit to recover $60,000 on ac
count of the change in rates, treated
the change simply as ai increase in the
charge, which he justified on account
of the advance in rails, ties, .other ma
terials and labor.
Roland B. Moiineux, convicted after
a trial that cost the commonwealth of
New Tork $250,000, of the murder of
Mrs. Adams, takes up the coward's
snivel of "Injustice" and blames the
public press for his conviction. The
evidence goes to show that he com
mitted a most cowardly crime. With
out intending to kill Mrs. Adams, whom
he dJd not know, he reached her
through poison intended for another,
against whom he held a grudge. Of
course, the state is not done with him,
nor Is there any reason to suppose that
the sentence of death passed upon him
will be executed the week of March 26.
Not because there is any reasonable
doubt of his guilt, but because he can
marshal sufficient influence to insure
another trial. Such criminals come
high, and when one is developed, there
Is nothing for the weary taxpayers to
do but pay the bills with what grace
they can muster, hoping lni a blind way
that out of the tangle justice, may at
last be evolved.
The burdens of empire are strikingly
exemplified In England's guardianship
of India. Three years ago last month
1,250,000 persons In India were on the
relief lists because of the famine, and
the viceroy said the disaster was un
paralleled. Now there are 3,500,000 per
sons on the relief lists. By March 31
the relief disbursements of the Indian
government will have exceeded $15,
000,000. Mr. Ibbetson, of the vice-regal
council, says that the true famine area
covers 300.Q00 square mlletf three times
the area of Oregon with a population
of 40,000,000, and there Is a great scarc
ity and suffering in an additional area
of 145,000 square miles, with a popu
lation of 2L000,0Ca. In Bombay and the
central provinces official reports state
that the crop failure Is the worst ever
known In Berars the cotton crop and
the food crops are" almost total fail
ures. In other sections of the famine
region the extent of the crop failure is
quite unprecedented. With the end of
March the suffering may be somewhat
mitigated, but there can he no very
general relief until another crop is
grown, which would be harvested next
fall. Wheat, millet, rice, cotton, every
crop has suffered most severely, and in
most sections beyond any record.
Meanwhile, British charity is busy
with Its own bereaved and wounded,
and war news relegates the famine to
obscurity. Appeals are made mostly
through American churches, and every
mission station in India is a relief
agency. This is a form- of aid to the
heathen that reveals the hollowness of
much alleged scruple against the mis
sionary cause.
Our special dispatches from Wash
ington show that through the eow
ardlce of members of congress there is
to be no action this session en the Nic
aragua canal, on the army hill, on the
treaty about the Nicaragua canal, or
on any other subject that would cause
debate or afford matter for discussion
In the electoral contests of the present
year. The cowardice of members of
congress Is the most contemptible feat
ure of our political life. Few have
courage to stand up for anything, lest
they lose votes In the ensuing elec
tions. An amendment of the constitu
tion, making every senator and rep
resentative ineligible for re-election is
the only thing that would put any
backbone Into these weak and time
serving creatures. With them the
needs of the country are wholly sec
ondary. What they want is re-election.
'
Ex-Speaker Reed, In the Saturday
Evening Post, writes:
Let these aggtoareratloaa of wealth take one
step In prices beyond what is warranted by the
business condition of the world; just let it be
known that there are huge profits being- grained;
then, as all history show, not only will coca
petition arise, but over-competition, which wlU
make that business which appears the moat
profitable the least profitable on the Hat.
This plea in defense of- monopolies
and trusts is not true. Here is the
Standard Oil trust. Its dividends last
year amounted to 80 per cent of its
capital; its profits exceeded 586,600,000;
and yet It so completely controls- the
sources of supply and the means of
manufacture and distribution that no
competition can possibly arise. The
same Is true . of the s.teel and wire
trust, "the copper trust, and many more.
The ex-speaker writes for the trusts
like a, man who holds a fee.
An evidence that the growth of Port
land's population is of a permanent,
substantial character, Is seen in the
steady growth of the school attend
ance. An increase of more than 400
over the number of pupils in attend
ance at the beginning of the second term
of school last year tells a story of In
creased population and prosperity, the
significance of which cannot be mis
taken. The pressure upon the seating
capacity of the schoolrooms Is likely to
be severe, making It clear that upon
this basis alone It was high time that
the rule against free tuition for non
resident pupils should be enforced. Tfi
question of excluding non-resident pu
pils altogether may soon have to be
considered upon the same ground.
It cost the city $80 for protection
against the spread of smallpox within
its limits last month. The menace of
an epidemic waa not great, and perhaps
this was all that the service was worth,
as reckoned upon the dollar-and-cents
basis, for the actual labor performed.
However, an expense of this kind is one
which no Intelligent citizen grudges,.
since it stands between the city and
possibilities which have proved sad re
alities in Spokane, Baker City and other
points in the Northwest that art in
close touch with Portland. It repre
sents the ounce of prevention, the value
of which prudent people are quick to
see and acknowledge in cases of this
kind.
The prohibition ticket is a "back
number" In most sections of the coun
try. Not so, however, in Josephine
county, where the prohibitionists have
just placed their first county ticket In
the field. These people have but two
demands to make first, the prohibition
by state and national legislation of the
manufacture and sole of intoxicating
liquors, and second, the election of
United States senators by the people.
They might as well have asked abun
dantly while they were about it, since
the pleasure of asking Is air that they
will get In return for their trouble.
Are we to have free exchange of
commerce with our new possessions, or
are we to obstruct such exchange by
tariffs to "protect" private greed? The
"open door in "the Philippines, In Puerto
Rico and in China, and the neutrality
of the Nicaragua canal, are necessary
and logical parts of that new policy
which Is to place this country in the
front rank as a world power.
It is an inadequate defense for Clark
that whatever bribery was done with
his money was .done without instruc
tions from him. When a man puts
$100,000 Into a senatorial fight, It is his
place to know what Is done with it.
And a man who has no other qualifica
tion than great wealth and willingness
to spend it Is not fit for the senate of
the United States.
Dr. Leyds, the agent of the Boer
states in Europe, says the campaign is
going well. He says the Boers' have
got General French in KImberley, just
where they want him. "I held down
my antagonist," said Derby, "with my
nose, which I had inserted between his
teeth for the purpose."
We trust there will be no outcry in
Boston over the death by torture of
three Massachusetts soldiers at the
hands of Filipinos. That is their Idea
of self-government, and we must not
interfere with their pursuit of happi
ness In their own way.
The war In The Oregonian's columns
between correspondents, over the war
In Sduth Africa, is getting too hot for
the laws of neutrality. It looks as if
we should be compelled to lay an em
bargo or declare a blockade.
Sons of the most aristocratic families
of England are going out to South Af
rica as privates and corporals. This Is
the same sort of fellows of whom Wel
lington said at Waterloo, "The young
rascals fight welL,"
M&SUBRPIBOBS OP tlTERATURB-t
Funeral Oration of Pericles Overthe Dead
of the PcJopoonostan Wnr Re-
portcd by TbucydWos.
"She, Fetaaeaaeertan w (tH-i X. O narks
tbe tiaaattlan hi Ore attdry ftoa ttta aeaand
eaey of Athens to the Moilmay at Sparta and
the Laaedaamoalaa. Tbla wae ale Uw close of
the "saMetfeage af PattelesT (M t 4S9 B. C
AtheaJaa saprecaacy AM Joltow the gtorteaa
viatory of Satamto. and th ratreat of the great
Xerxaa. ad the aouoaal dwatoaavint that fol
lowed produced the Partlwaon and otkar cate
brateJ worts. Perfcfea fctaeett ?-! .
CO was tae atost amuuianUuid ptartetaaan of
aaeteet Oreees Hie fatbar waa tkat Xan
tWppw w -won. th victory orar Ifce Pwwlana
at MyeaK 4.19 B. C. and Mb asottfer, Agar
lete. was niece of the great Atlanta nftaw
Ctetataoaooi Farleies raaetve an atefeera4e eda
eattoa.? bat f all bta taaahwo the oae he most
reveraaeed aad tram whom ha received moat
basest waa tbe pMloeopber Aaaaaeoras. At
the ttaae of this ovation, the peattton of Atfeeas
was am aadtatarbed In Oraeea Timaydldea
eesarlbes the caetoma Incident to puMlc raaeraia
of the Athenian dead who dtod tat her ware.
At this solemn eecaetaA. Pericles waa the
orator, and. after d-wanfng- on the sieaPiueu of
Athena and the aaercaa of bar sapreaaaay, ha
went aa:
. . . The etaetnr scene of these bma
appears nm n supply an iltnstamttoa of
human worth, whether a affording us the
first tefecmstlon Meeeettar it, er its final
cenftrra&ttoH. Tor even In the cast eC men
who have bean In other leapMte of an
inferior character, K Is but fair for them
to held forth as a aereen their military
courage in their country's basalt, for.
having wipe out their evil by their
geod, they end more service cotteettvery,
than harm by theh- htdtvMoal offences.
But of these men there was none that
either was made a coward by his wealth,
from preferring the continued enjoyment
ef it; or shrank from dancer through a
hope suggested by poverty, namaiy. that
he might yet escape it, and grow rich,
but concetvtna; that vengeance on their
foes wag mora to he desired than these
Objects, and at the same time regarding
this as the most glorious of haaards,
they wished by risking- it to be avenged
on their enemies, and so to aim at pro
curing those advantages, committing to
hope the uncertainty of success, "but re
volving to truat to action, with regard
tb what wag visible to themselves; and
In that action, being minded rather
to resist and die, than by surrendering
to escape, they fled from the shame of
a discreditable report, while they en
dured the brunt of the battle with the r
bodies; and after the shortest crisis, when
at the Very height of their fortune, they
were taken away from their glory rather
than their fear.
Such did these men prove themselves,
as became the character of the country
For you that remain, you must pray that
you may have a more successful resolu
tion, but most determine not to have one
less bold against your enemies, not in
word alone considering the benefit of
such a spirit, (on which one might des
eant te you at great length though you
know it yourselves quite as well telling
you how many advantages are contained
In repelling your foes), but rather day by
day beholding the power of the city as It
appears in fact, and growing enamoured
of It, and reflecting, whan you tntnic it
great, that K was "by being bold, and
knowing then duty, and being alive to
shame in action, that men acquired these
things; and because, If they ever failed
in their attempt at any thing, they did
not en that account think it right to de
prive their country also of their valour,
but conferred upon her a most glorious
joint-offering. For while collectively they
gave her their lives, Individually they re
ceived that renown which never grows old,
and the most dtstingMebed tomb they
could have; not so mush t&- which
they are laM. as that in which their glory
ht left behind them, to be everlastingly
recorded on every occasion for doing so,
either by word or deed, that may from
time to time present Itself. For of 'llus
trtous men the whole earth Is the sepul
chre, and not only does th inscription
upon columns in their own land point it
out, but in that also which Is not their
own there dwells with every one an un
written memorial of the heart, rather than
of a raaierial monument. Vieing then
with these men in your turn, and deem
ing happiness to consist in freedom, and
freedom in valor, do not think lightly of
the hazards of war !or it is not the
unfortunate, and those who have no
hope of any good, that would with most
reason be unsparing of their lives, but
those who, while they live still incur the
risk of a change to the opposite condition,
and to whom, the difference would be the
greatest, should they meet with any re
verse. For more grievous, to a man of
high spirit at least, te the misery which
accompanies cowardice, than the unfelt
death which comes upon him at once, in
the time of his strength and of his hope
for the common welfare.
Wherefore to the parents of the dead
as many of them, as are here among you
I will not offer condolence, so much as
consolation. For they know that they
have been brought up subject to manifold
misfortunes; but that happy te their lot
who have gained the most glorious death.
as these have sorrow,. as you have, and
to whom life has- been so exactly meas
ured, that they were both happy in it,
and died in that happiness Difficult,
indeed. I know it is to persuade you of
Lthte, with regard to thwua of whom you
win often he reminaea oy tne gooa roriuuo
of others, in which you yourselves also
onee rejoiced; and. sorrow Is felt, not for
the blessings of which one is bereft with
out full experience of tham, but of that
which one loses after becoming accus
tomed to it. But you must bear up in
the hope of other children, those or you
whose age yet allows you to have them.
For to yourselves- individually those who
are subsequently born will be a reason for
your forgetting those who are no more;
and to the state K will be beneficial In
two ways, by Its not being depopulated,
and by the enjoyment of security, for It
Is not possible that these should offer any
fair and Just advice, who do not incur
equal risk with their neighbors by having
children at stake. Those ot you, how
ever, who are past that age, must con
sider that the longer period of your life
during which you have been prosperous Is
so much gain, and that what remains will
be but a short one, and you must cheer
yourselves with the fair fame of these
your lost ones. For the love of honor
fe the only feeling that never grows old.
audi in the helplessness of age it is not
the acquisition of gain, as some assert,
that gives greatest pleasure, but the en
joyment of honor.
For those of you, on the other band,
who are eons or brothaas of the dead,
great, I see, will be the straggle of com
petition. For every one is accustomed to
praise the man who is no more, and
scarcely, though even for an excess of
worth, would you be esteemed. I do not
say equal to hem, but only slightly In
ferior. For the living are exposed to envy
in their rivalry, hut those who are in
no one's way are honored with a good
will free from all opposition. If, again,
I must say anything on the subject of
woman's excellence also, with reference
to those of you who win now be in widow
hood. I wilt express H an h a brief ex
hortation. Oreat win be your glory in
not failing short of the natural character
that belongs to you, and great Is hers,
who Is-least talked of amongst the men,
either for good or eviL
I have now expressed ht word, as the
law required, what I had to say befitting
the occasion: and. Indeed, those who are
here interred, have already received ?art
of their honors; wmle, for the remaining
part, the- state will bring up their sons at
the public expense, from tfaht time to thetr
manhood; thus offering both to these and
to their posterity a beneficial reward for
sooh contests, for where the greatest
prizes for virtue are given, there also the
most virtuous men are found amongst the
citizens And now having finished your
lamentations for your several relatives,
1 depart,