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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1900)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, MARCH 11, 1900. t&iw xzQoxaw& Entered at the Fostofflce at Portland, Oregon, as escond-class matter. TELEPHONES. Editorial Rooms .-166 I Business Once. ...COT REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. By Mall (postage prepaid). In Advance pally, with Sunday, per month.. ..-..-. ...$0 S5 Dally, Sunday excepted, per year.-.. ....... 1 50 Dally, with Sunday, per year - 8 00 Sunday, per year .......................... 2 00 The Weekly, per year .....-....- 1 W The Weekly, 3 months...........- - 60 To City Subscribers Dally, per -week, delivered. Sundays excepted.l5c Sally, per week, delivered. Sundays lncladed.2Cc The Oregonlan does not buy poems or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to It without solicita tion. No stamps should be Inclosed for this purpose. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonlan should be addressed Invariably 'Edltor The Oregonlan," not to the name of ny Individual. Letters relating to advertising, subscriptions or to any business matter should be addressed s'mply "The Oregonlan." Puget Sound Bureau Captain A. Thompson, office at 1111 Pacific avenue, Tacoma. Box 953, Tacoma postofllee. Eastern Business Office The Tribune build ing. New Tork city; "The Rookery." Chicago; the S. C Beckwlth special agency. New Tork. For sale In San Francisco by J. K. Cooper, 76 Market street, near the Palace hotel, and lit Goldsmith Bros., 236 Sutter street. For sale In Chicago by the P. O. News Co., 17 Dearborn street. TODAY'S "WEATHER. Occasional raln;,falr in afternoon; southerly winds. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, MARCH 11. BAXKS AXD THE PEOPLE. In certain political quarters where, perhaps, such thing Is to be expected, attack Is made on the new currency hill, on the ground that it will afford new or additional facilities for bank ing. This, to some extent, may be a result; though many are in doubt about it, and, as statements made by local bankers through Interviews published in The Oregonlan have shown, it is altogether questionable whether the new act will effect 'any important change in banking conditions, beyond the new security given by it to the gold standard. But if it should create con ditions under which there would be ad ditional facilities for banking, why should that condemn it? Banks are a useful, not to say indispensable, agent of modern civilization, like railroads and telegraphs. But they are a prod uct of civilization as well as an aid to its advancement, and like other agen cies and Inventions they are the out growth of a need. The right granted to a class of banks to issue notes is the thing against which complaint is mainly directed; but the object sought is a substitute currency which will do the work of money without requiring the treasury to maintain conditions ot redemption, and at the same time to supply notes that will always be per fectly sound. The profits of note Is sues, it has often been shown, are too small to make it an object to the banks to keep up the amount to the limit, and it remains matter of conjecture whether there will be any increase of bank notes under the new law. There are a great many more farm ers in this country than bankers; there are a great many more mechanics. Some of the farmers and mechanics have been talked into the notion that the bankers are their natural enemies. There were demagogues before Andrew Jackson's time, who, for their own pur poses. Industriously cultivated that no tion. The field missionaries of Bryan's party are Industriously cultivating it now. It Is wretched nonsense, never theless. In the United States of Amer ica all classes of citizens engaged in honest callings are useful to each other. It takes all of them to make that great co-operative enterprise known as the American people. The idea that the banks would like to make hard times for the men on the farms and in the mills, and actually do it when they can, is a very silly idea, and the propa gation of it is one of the lowest phases of our oolitlcs. The greater part of the capital em ployed by the banks of the country Is the property, not of the banks, but of the creditors of the banks. These cred itors are people of all parties, classes and creeds, and of all conditions ex cept those of thrlftlessness, Idleness and extreme poverty. At the recent meeting of the American Bankers' As sociation it was shown that nearly E.400,000 depositors own over $2,000,000. 000 deposited in the savings banks of the country; and that, while the capi tal of all the banks amounts to $991, 000,000, the deposits amount to $5,700, 000.000. That Is, the "plutocracy" own ing most of the money handled by the banks is very democratic, and it owns nearly six times as much of the money which goes to supply the needs of bor rowers from the banks as the bankers own. Such facts, as has been pointed out very often, prove pretty conclusively that the bankers, so far from being the remorseless blood-suckers that cheap agitators declare them to be, en Joy the confidence of the masses of the people who Intrust the bankers with their money, as well as that portion of the public which is employed in carry ing forward the activities of our indus trial and mercantile life. They show, too, that the people fully believe that the bankers on the whole deserve the confidence they enjoy as custodians and managers of circulating capital; else certainly they would not be trusted with everybody's money. And under the safeguards provided and enforced by the national banking system, the failures are extremely few and the losses small. Under the new act we shall get uni versal recognition of the gold standard and provision of means for maintain ing it. Our banking and currency will then be on unassailable foundations. General Buller's forces are reported at Helpmakaar. As the Boer are in trenched at Biggarsberg, south of Glen coe Junction, the movement of the British is probably to turn the left of the Boer position in the Biggarsberg Mountains. Helpmakaar is about fifty miles east from Ladysmith, and about thirty-five miles south of Glencoe. The Boers have intrenched in this position in order to prevent the important rail way pass of Glencoe from falling into the enemy's hands. The natural move ment to turn the Boer line would be to move down the Rorke's Drift road from Ladysmith and the road which connects it with the main road, from Greytown to Helpmakaar. General. Buller naturally seeks to repossess him self of the railway from Ladysmith to Newcastle, from which he could threaten the Transvaal. From Lady smith, General Buller, with the rail ways in his possession, could quickly threaten the Orange Free State on the left and the Transvaal on the right. "The Boers have intrenched south of Glencoe, at Biggarsberg, because it is the strongest position from which they can hope to stop Butler's occupation of the railway line from Ladysmith via Newcastle Into the Transvaal. AX ABLE STATESMAN. In the death of E. J. Phelps in his 78th year, the country loses a very able lawyer, an eminent diploma'tlst and statesman, a man of versatile scholarship and literary accomplish ments and unblemished personal and political integrity. When we remem ber that Mr. Phelps In all his busy life had been a man of intense political con victions, but never in any sense a party politician; that for the best years of his life he was bitterly disliked by the republican party and dreaded even by the democracy when he sometimes acted with them, it, is high testimony to his great ability and high personal character that he has been honored highly with the confidence of both par ties. Mr. Phelps was born and bred in Mlddlebury. VL His father was chief Justice of the state supreme court; was for sixteen years United States senator from Vermont, a man of great ability as a Jurist, a devoted political and personal friend of "Webster, who deemed him the strongest mind In the senate. United States Senator Phelp3 was a man of intellectual courage of conviction, and defied the anti-slavery sentiment of his party In 1S50, standing stiffly by Webster through good report and evil report. This quality of Intellectual courage and devotion to his honest convictions In defiance of his party, which was so marked a quality in the leonine char acter of United States Senator Phelps, was inherited by his able and accom plished son, who, at the close of a long and busy life, could fairly say that he deliberately threw away the highest political honors In the gift of his state in order to be true to his honest per sonal convictions. "Vermont, from the formation of the party, had always been a whig state. New Hampshire was early converted to democracy, but Vermont was stiffly whig, even as late as 1852, when the democracy swept the country, or, as a bitter Vermont whig put It, "took a pollywog out of a New Hampshire mud puddle and made-him president." Not only was Vermont al ways a whig state, but it was anti-slavery whig, and on the organization of the republican party following the great whig defeat of 1852, 90 per cent of the leading whlgs became republicans. Among the few able and accomplished New England whlgs who refused to accept the republican party, with its platform of non-extension of slavery, was E. J. Phelps. He had been second controller of the treasury at Washing ton in President Fillmore's administra tion; he had become the personal friend of Thomas F. Bayard, afterwards United States senator, secretary of state and minister to England, and through Mr. Bayard he became strong ly Southern In his personal associa tions and political sympathies. He had sat at the feet of his very able father foi many years, and accepted his po litical philosophy. So E. J. Phelps, when the great mass of New England whlgs became republicans. In 1856, re mained a Webster whig and voted for Fillmore; and In 1860 he was still a "Webster whig," and voted for Bell, and so stubborn was he In his tenacious political prejudices that even after the firing on Sumter and all through Lin coln's administration Mr. Phelps was opposed to the prosecution of the war between the states, and neve. hesitated In public or private speech to express his contempt for Lincoln's personality as a statesman as well as his hostility to his policy. It was a very bold thing to do at that time in New England, and no other man of equal ability and personal character dared do it. There were plenty of "illustrious obscure" copperheads in New England who sulked in their tents, but the only man of great abil ity and culture and high personal char acter In New England who signed his own political death warrant by openly espousing the cause of the South from 1861 to 1865 was E. J. Phelps. The sac rifice made by Mr. Phelps of his per sonal political career was clear to him nt flint fllTIP lint Via lallhm-ntAltr'inai'a' it in order to be true to his convic tions. He was a man of fine personal presence and address; a man of culti vated and refined manners; he stood in the first rank of his profession at 33 years of age, in 1S61; his family history linked him to finest Connecticut stock, the famous founders of Litchfield, from whose blood so many eminent men have sprung. His state was proud of him, and when he refused to join the republican party, and even when he lashed the noble Lincoln with vitriolic tongue, his state viewed his attitude with sorrow rather than anger, for it recognized and respected the intellec tual and moral courage of the man that would make so great a sacrifice for the sake of his convictions. After the civil war, Mr. Phelps, as the bitterness of the memories of the war abated, became himself calmer In political views, finally changed some of his old-time opinions, and confessed his change of heart with the same cour age that had prompted him to defy the public opinion of his section in 1861-65. He was always a conspicuous cham pion of honest money and a contempt uous denouncer of Bryan as a charla tan. In his fine oration delivered at the Vermont centennial, at Bennington in 1891, Mr. Phelps quoted the fact that in November. 1777, when a slave woman and her child fell into the hands of Captain Ebenezer Allen, a brother of the famous Ethan Allen, that original abolitionist gave her a writing to set her free, and in the same noble ora tion Mr. Phelps eloquently eulogized his state for having sent 34,000 of her 350, 000 people to the defense of the Union, and congratulated her that she was the first to constitutionally prohibit human slavery. Thirty years of observation from 1861 to 1891 had convinced Mr. Phelps that he was mistaken when in 1861 he sided with Vallandlgham, Hen dricks, Voorhees, Franklin Pierce, Fer nado Wood and George H. Pendleton. Mr. Phelps did not need to make his confession of change of faith In 1891, for he had nothing to make by it. He had already served as minister to Eng land with great ability under Cleve land's first administration; he subse quently was appointed by President Harrison one of the American counsel to present the question of our sealing rights before the Paris tribunal. When Mr. Cleveland issued his Venezuela message, Mr. Phelps, with character istic intellectual honesty and courage, took issue with, him in. a memorable1! article contributed to the July Atlantic for 1895, holding that Mr. Cleveland had stretched the Monroe doctrine wantonly beyond the views of Webster, Clay, John Quincy Adams or Calhoun. Mr. Phelps was the ablest and most accomplished man that Vermont has contributed to public life in her whole history. In versatility, solidity and breadth of intellect, in historical and political learning. In legal acumen and impresslveness as an advocate, Mr. Phelps had no peer among the public men of his state, and he had no su perior in all New England. Tnn CAXAIi TREATY AMENDMENT. The wording of treaties between great powers is an unsatisfactory and often an unprofitable object of study. Turns of a phrase, over which anger may rise and bloodshed seem imminent, often appear in time of no moment whatever, and on the other hand, ex pressions used without serious thought may in a distant generation form the subject of controversy and even war. When the British and Russians negoti ated the Alaska boundary they under stood their purpose of guaranteeing Russia a zone parallel with her ports so perfectly that they neglected to make their purpose plain, and on that neglect is based the Canadian claims. Who could imagine today that if the future had been foreseen by British diplomats, the conventions with the Transvaal would have been left so sus ceptible of dispute? The power of words to control men or races, how ever, is limited at best, and so it has often proved. So it may prove regard ing the controversy now on at Wash ington over the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. It is easy to understand the reluctance of the Administration to see a work of which It is justly proud taken up and patched; but, aside from this, there does not seem to be any adequate rea son for opposition to the proposed amendment. The amendment has been misrepre sented in the dispatches, for it is not a direct provision for fortification of the canal. It stipulates concerning Nica ragua just what Is stipulated in Egypt's favor concerning Suez; that is, that nothing In the treaty shall apply, pro .hlbitlvely, ""to measures which the United States may find it necessary to lake for securing by Its own forces the defense of the Interests of the United States and the maintenance of public order." This would need a strained construction to authorize fortifications on the canal, especially in view of the plain language of article 2 of the Hay treaty, which says: "No fortifications shall be erected commanding the canal or the waters adjacent." The natural interpretation of the amendment, in deed, would be as explanatory of the clause in the Hay treaty immediately following the one just quoted, which provides that "the United States, how ever, shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder." The fact stands out that the foreign relations committee of the senate, which includes Davis, Frye, Cullom and Lodge, Is desirous of safeguard ing xn tnis matter tne present inter ests and the future rights of the United States. Mr. Hay is able and acute In diplomacy, but so are these. We are on friendly terms with Great Britain, but the day may come when our rela tions with her will be unfriendly. It is well to treat her with courtesy and justice, but it Is well to remember also our own interests and rights. Friendly as she may be, she will not look after our welfare. That we must do for our selves. Just this, apparently, the for eign relations committee has sought, through this amendment, to do. It is hard to see now what material benefit Is likely to be secured through the amendment; but time may demonstrate the wisdom of the precaution. The de fense of the canal Is a necessary means to its neutralization; and as for our enemy in war, it is upon the sea that he must be met and overpowered. The neutralization of the canal is the great achievement of the Hay treaty, and this 'the amendment does not disturb. The portion of the committee's report that touches this aspect of the treaty is admirable and unanswerable, em phasizing, as it does, the fact that an open canal may some day in time of war prove the salvation of our coast .wise trade. . THE ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY. There is a great deal of malignant criticism lavished by ignorant or un scrupulous folk upon what Is termed England's aristocracy, but intelligent men know and truthful men confess that England's aristocracy has for at least a century been recruited from the ranks of able men, who have conferred great honor upon their country by their services in war, in statesmanship, or have won great eminence in law, sci ence or literature. Lords Lyndhurst, Erskine, Eldon, Stowell, Mansfield, Brougham, St. Leonards, Beaconsfleld, Macaulay, Tennyson, Kelvin.1 Playfalr, were none of them hereditary aristo crats. With the notable exception of Wellington, who was the younger son of an Irish peer, few of the great sol diers and sailors of England of this century have been hereditary aristo crats. Lord Clyde was of Scotch peas ant parentage; Lord Nelson was the son of a poor country curate; Sir Henry Havelock was of middle-class parent age; and so were Sir Henry and Sir Jqhn Lawrence. Sir John Moore, Sir Ralph Abercromble and Sir Henry Hardlnge were not of aristocratic stock. The famous heroes of Indian warfare from 1840 to 1857, Sale, Pollock, Neill, Chamberlain, Edwardes, Outram, Gough, Rose, were all men who had won their way up to military fame and title by distinguished services as sol diers and military administrators. The father of Lord Roberts, General Sir Abraham Roberts, won his title by nearly forty-seven years of distin guished service, and owed nothing to family influence, and his sou. Lord Roberts, earned his title by over forty three years' service in India, Afghanis tan and Burmah. The best stuff in the so-called British aristocracy has been recruited from the ranks of law, statesmanship, literature, science and war, during the present century. The report that Lord Roberts Is to be made a Duke f6r his recent brilliant services recalls the fact that since the days of Marlborough no Eng lish soldier has won his way to Duke dom, save Wellington, through his mili tary services. The Duke of Cambridge, who commanded a division in the Eng lish army during the Crimean war, was a Duke through his royal blood, being a grandson of George. HI and first omiK'n tn Oueen VIctor!n Frnir nt the British ..Dukes are descended irom the natural children of Charles U, and to this fact alone owe their dukedoms. Lord Roberts, measured by his military brains. Is the best soldier England has produced since Wellington, for he Is the only English soldier who has won fame fighting a well-armed, scientifically led white foe of notable courage and skill in the use of the modern magazine rifle. A DRAWBACK IN SALARIES RE SENTED. The persistent attempt of the Board of Education of Philadelphia so to su pervise the earnings of teachers of the public schools that these persons will not be left destitute when old age over takes them doubtless comes from praiseworthy motives. Notwithstand ing this, however, the compulsory beneficiaries strenuously object to the proposed supervision of their earnings in this interest, preferring, like other responsible people, to manage their own affairs. The first attempt In this line was made through a Teachers' Annuity Fund Association, but it was found impossible there being no compulsion in the matter to attract thereto as members one-fourth of the great army of public school teachers. Hence the association speedily found itself in ur gent need of funds wherewith to sup port Its title, and It became clear that the Idea of pensioning teachers as pro posed after a stipulated number of years' service must be abandoned, or some scheme, not wholly voluntary, for raising funds must be devised. In- this stress the ways and means committee appointed by the Board of Education recommended that the teachers' sala ries be reduced 3 per cent and the amount thus scaled from their pay be put away as an old-age annuity fund. The first plan was received with Indif ference and treated with neglect by the Intended beneficiaries; the second was met by a storm of indignant protest, the fervor and extent of which will, no doubt, cause the committee to consider farther before coming to a final conclu sion. It might be a good thing for the teachers if all of them could be brought to join cheerfully, in the effort to in sure them from want when they be come superannuated, but it in plain that compulsory methods are neither wise, just or legal. Every teacher who does not subscribe to the plans devised for their benefit presumably has a rea son for not doing so. It may be a good or a bad reason, but It is an Individual reason, and as such Is entitled to rule the actions of the individual. There are those who think that teachers, be ing an intelligent body of people, should be at least as capable as other wage earners of disposing of their savings in a manner that will provide against want or pauperism when their work ing days are past. There are numerous devices, soundly based in finance, whereby this can be done. To suppose that teachers do not know this Is to discredit their intelligence; to suppose that they wllf not apply thls'knowledge to their own possible needs is to dis credit their prudence. That they con sider the well-meant efforts of the edu cational authorities in Philadelphia to supervise their savings as an Imperti nence Is evident both from their atti tude toward the annuity fund and their protest against a 3 per cent bold-back on their salaries to feed this fund. Teachers are not different from other wageworkers In their ability or oppor tunity to provide in their productive years for the winter of life. There Is no reason, except In the clamor about pensioning them, to suppose that they as a class are not as considerate In this regard as are other intelligent la borers. This being true, they may justly resent as an Impertinence all attempts of educational boards to with hold a percentage of their earnings for an old-age fund. A GENERAJL IS AS OLD AS HE FEELS. The fact that Lord Roberts Is 68 years of age has renewed the discus sion of the comparative merits of old men and young men in war. It is true that the vast majority of great soldiers have won their brightest laurels In their youth, but this is due, we suspect, rather to the fact that old soldiers who have won great fame by middle life do not care to resume their armor even when their old age is like a lusty win ter.. Men who have won great wealth do not care to surrender the evening of their life to the tireless pursuit of busi ness that absorbed the best energies of their youth and maturity. An old sol dier, who Is sound in body and .mind, can' make war as ably as he did In his prime, perhaps, but, like an old man whose youth and maturity were sur rendered to the successful pursuit of, wealth, he does not hanker after active service. Napoleon was wont to say that "at 60 a General was no longer good for anything," but Turenne, whom Napoleon voted the greatest soldier of France, was considerably over 60, and was at his best when he fell In battle. The Russian General Suwaroff was an aged man when he beat Moreau, Macdonald and Joubert at Cassano, the Trebbla and Novl. The Russian General Kutusoff, who proved himself at Borodino a formidable antagonist, for the' victory cost the French 30,000 men, was an aged man. The Austrian General Melas, who surprised Bona parte at Marengo and fought with ex traordinary energy and ability during a hot summer's day, was a very old man. Massena, the oldest of Napo leon's Marshals, was by far his ablest General. Lord Clyde won his famous campaign of Lucknow when he was over 65; Lee was 68 when the Civil War ended, and Joe Johnston was 56. Albert Sidney "Johnston, who was mortally wounded leading a charge at Shlloh, was 59 when he fell. General C. F. Smith, who led the victorious charge at Fort Donelson, was about 56; Von Moltke was 66 at Sadowa and 70 at Se dan, and Blucher was an old man at Waterloo, but a terrible old man in his fiery courage and bodily energy. On the other hand, Sheridan was but 33 when he won Cedar Creel?; Grant was 40 at Shlloh, and Sherman 44 when he began his Atlanta campaign. Napo leon was 27 when he. .won his first great Italian campaign, and Wellington was but 34 when he won Assaye, where he utterly defeated the Mahratta army of 50,000 at a cost to himself of 2500 killed and wounded out of his little army of but 7000 men. Marlborough won all his fame when he was between 55 and 60, and Vlllars won a great victory when he was 80. The truth Is, Napoleon felt old, and he was old at 46, for he was clearly Impaired In body and mind, but where the Intellectual qualities of a great commander remain unimpaired there Is no reason why an old General should not be better than a young one. In other, words, a General,is always as old as hV feels. Lord Roberts is evi- dently a well-preserved man In mind and body; a man of that short, sturdy physique, and iron constitution that characterized Wellington, who lived In good health until he was past 83. Our own soldiers, Scott and Taylor, were at their best when considerable past 60. Preliminary steps in the organization of the fruitgrowers of the Northwest have been taken by a considerable number of men engaged In this indus try. An -earnest effort will be made to secure the membership and co-operation of at least 75 per cent of the fruit growers of the section covered, as nec essary to the full success of the organ ization and its purposes, protective and otherwise. The men who have taken the initial steps in this matter are rep resentative men of the industry, and they proceeded in the task with much care and deliberation in the Interest of harmony and justice, without which associated business enterprise cannot succeed. The fruit Industry in Oregon is of yearly Increasing Importance. The extension of our markets beyond the seas and the growing demand from the mining regions to the .north and east will make demands which can only be met through an Intelligent comprehen sion of conditions of growing, picking, drying, packing and shipping fruit. To learn all these things Individually, through experiment, is wasteful of time and resources. Indeed, In very many instances this course Is not to learn at all, but to blunder through years of discouragement and finally reach the settled conclusion that "there Is nothing in raising fruit in Oregon." There Is, without doubt, profit in thi3 industry, if properly handled in Its various details, beginning with soils and their proper adaptation to the fruits which it is desired' to produce and ending with marketing the product in such shape that inquiry for it will bo developed. The steps being taken to secure intelligent, co-operative effort must, if persistently followed, lead to the desired results. The public deconstratlon In London Thursday, caused by the appearance of the aged Queen, clad in black, heavily veiled, and accompanied by two of her black-robed daughters, was as touching In Its spontaneity as it was suggestive of the loyalty of the British people to their aged sovereign. Viewed from a standpoint of cheerfulness and of con sideration for her subjects, the Queen should have passed unveiled., through tho streets, as at best a woman swathed in crape is a most melancholy looking object, and thousands of the British people are heartsore just now, even though rejoicing in victory. Vic toria, however, has lived to an age at which few people take a cheerful view of life. She is, moreover, a mourner by habit, having clung tenaciously to her widow's weeds for nearly forty years and burled in the interval several chil dren and many relatives. Her fre quently expressed hope that England would not have another war during her lifetime suffered bitter disappointment in the breaking out of war in South Africa, and, though the responsibilities of government do not rest upon her in the slightest measure, she is anxious and troubled In a degree that, consider ing her age, is pitiful. A little bunch of"a woman, bearing not the slightest resemblance to the petite youn Queen of sixty years ago, she yet holds a warm place in the hearts of her people, and the prayer, "Long may, she reign over us," is voiced not less sincerely now than when her reign was young and she in her girlish beauty was a familiar and unveiled presence in pub lic places. Rev. J. F. Ghormley and the First Christian Church in this city accepts the invitation of the Christian Scien tists to hear expounded at the Mar quam today the "religion of Jesua Christ," interpreted by Mary Bakci Eddy. In doing so, he Invites Christian Scientists to come this evening to his church and hear him present "Christian Science not the religion of Jesus Christ." The controversy will develop a multiplicity of words, but it is not likely to conduce to the public enlight enment. Religion is too much a mat ter of tradition and opinion to be dog matically placed as a fact or catalogued as a "science." It was erroneously stated In The Ore gonlan that the plague-Infected steamer Nanyo Maru, detained In quarantine at Port Townsend, was a vessel of the Nippon Tusen ICalsha Steamship Com pany. The Nanyo Maru has no connec tion with that company, or ever had. The vessels of the Nippon Yusen Kal sha Company are those of the Great Northern Railway connection, to which the Nanyo Maru does not belong. Tomorrow a School Director will be elected. The interest Mr. D. P. Thomp son has taken in the public schools of Portland is part of their history. His ability In the work is well known. It should not be necessary to say more. The Boer collapse may not be so panicky as depicted. It will be money in the pockets of the burghers to give up soon and let peace resume her sway. Perhaps this is the method in their ap parent madness. The Puerto Rlcan Question. The Chicago Tribune's Washington spe cials say that the opinion Is gaining ground that the Senate will ultimately voto for free trade between Puerto Rico and the United States, and that the House will back down, accept this and admit Its blunder as gracefully as possible. The Tribune's reports say, further: Not only at the capltol, but In the executive department the reports received are all of the same general tenor. Trusted members of the Administration have come from Chicago, from New York, from Boston, and other cities, and the eentlxnent, as they find it. la all one 'nay. The. people, they say, do not care much about the constitutional question, and do net care whether Puerto Rico does or does not bscome a precedent for action. In regard to the Philip pines. They merely declare that, 'as Puerto Rlcans received Miles' army with flowers In stead of with bullets, they must come Into the Union. If at all. "on the ground floor." c The President and Puerto Rico. New York Times. Our readers are aware that we have not been grudging In toe credit awarded to the President for many acts of cour age and wisdom. Nor have we hesitated to make all possible allowance for the difficulties by which he has been sur rounded, or to give him the benefit ol doubt due to insufficient information. We have thereforfc the right, and we feel It to be a duty, to say plainly that his course in this matter cannot be explained on the known facts In a way creditable to him, and consistent with the standard of conduct that he has himself set up. So . fary as his pergonal reputation, is In- Ivolvod, it is a small thing compared with the honor of the Nation, which is directly affected. It Is a misfortune, a very grave misfortune, that the high purpose pro fessed by the President in the name ot tho Nation can be exposed to suspicion by such substantial contrast between' pro fession and performance. a NOW OR NOVBJTBER. Apparently No Other Alternative for Republican Party. Chicago Times-Herald. Senator Davis, of Minnesota, has raised tho true standard of American obligations to Puerto Rico around which ail Repub licans can rally for the salvation of the party from the amazing blunder of the 15-per-cent House compromise with our duty. Mr. Davis' free trade amendment to tho Senate bill comes not a day too soon, nor goes a step too far, to save his party from the direful consequences of that unaccount able aberration from tho straight path of National justice and honor. There Is one thing our Representatives In Washington should understand. The American people are not sitting up nights studying whether the Constitution applies In whole or In part to territory coming Into our possession by conquest or treaty. They have seen the TJnltedi States grow from the original 13 by "purchase," by "annexation," by "cession" and by "treaty" against every sort of constitu tional protest, and In splto of every terri ble prophecy of constitutional collapse and National disaster. Tho people of the United States have the highest veneration for tne Constitu tion, which they believe was ordained to "establish Justice," to "Insure domestic tranquillity," "promote the general wel fare" and "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." And they have never hesitated to extend the bless ings, security, liberty and Justice they en joyed under that Constitution to peoples less capable of appreciating them than the Puerto Rlcans or to territories further re moved in timo and distance from the Na tional capital than the Island we have res cued from. Spanish misrule and extortion. The Constitution did not forbid our pledging American faith and tho advan tages of American citizenship to the Puer to Rlcans, and the Constitution will not prevent our redeeming our pledges. From every section of the Union Repub licans have called upon their Republican representatives to undo the great wrong contained In the tariff provision of the Puerto Rico bill. We In the great West know that that demand Is almost unanimous throughout the Republican party In this section. We know, too, that if it is complied with if the Republicans In Washington act upon Senator Davis amendment promptly that In two weeks' time the mistake will be for gotten in thankfulness that It was rem edied. But if that wrong Is persisted In if the Republican party in Congress, through false pride or In obstinate servility to the mysterious power behind the House bill, enacts its Puerto Rico tariff Into law. It will become the overshadowing Issue In the Presidential campaign. Wo do not know what they think In Washington would be the result of such a campaign. But hero In the West we know that such a tidal wave of popular Indig nation would sweep across the prairies that the Democrats would capture the House of Representatives, even if they did not defeat President McKInley. o False and Dangerona Position. Chicago Tribune. As it is evident that the people prefer some other mode of raising revenue for Puerto Rico than that devised by the House and favored by the Republicans on the Senate committee. It will be politic for the latter to return to their first love and vote for free trade between the United States and Puerto Rico. There Is no ques tion of principle Involved so far as they are concerned. They need not feel ashamed to bow to the wishes of their constituents, and by doing so rescue their party from a false, dangerous position. t a When March Winds Blow. Indianapolis Journal. "Pa, why Is Spring called Spring?" "Don't bother me, Johnny." "I know, pa." ' "Well, why Is it?" "Soze folks won't go round thlnkin'-it's Winter." o Not Enough Pin Money to Go Round. Chicago News. Ostend Pa, I want a dollar to buy a set of tenpins. Pa Well, you Just don't get It! It's all I can do to keep your mother in pin money. o Th Cnlpahle One. Tonkers Statesman. Church Who Is responsible for most of the mistakes which appear In the newspa pers? Gotham The weather man, I think. mi Great Social Forces. Atchison Globe. We believe It will be found that, next to electricity, flattery la the greatest force In the world. t c A Massacre Averted. Denver Evening Post. Every face vrss streaked with war paint. Every eye with hate was gleaming. Every red hand grasped a weapon. As the devil-featured warriors Swarmed around their startled chieftain Clamoring for blood and carnage. Crying out that he must lead them. Gainst the unsuspecting palesfclns Dwelling in the fair Durango, To ange a deadly Insult Blood alone could blunt the eting oft One of them of highest standing. Known as Jlm-That-Never-Washe. Had been steered against a tln-hora In a quiet game of poker. And had bet a half a dollar On a pat queen full of deuces. And had been quite neatly beaten . With a flush of bobtail species And an overgrown six-shooter. William Penn Groundhog, the. chieftain. Was a man of peaceful habits, For the paleeklns gave him whisky And the white squaws gave him dougbnuti And the bread they spoiled In bakng. Now he faced that angry tumult. Told the warriors to scatter. Begged them to corral their passion. Even quoted Scripture to th?m. But they only howled the louder. Blood alone could satisfy them, Blood in bucketful, yet steaming With the warmth of those who'd shed It. Round the chief they danced the war dance. Did the dreaded battle cakewalk. And hla red heart sank within him Till It crouched down In his stomach. For he knew that all his pleading Could not save tho doomed Durangans From Involuntary baldness. Mid the din of the commotion. 'Mid the savage songs and warwhoops, Freckle-Nose, the chieftain's daughter. Standing on an empty soapbox. Called the house to come to order. Then, with bow preliminary. She began to entertain them. Ees which erstwhile widely gUstened With the Are of hate grew frightened. Naked backs were turned toward her. Ears were stuffed with thumbs and flngero. But her keen voice never flickered Till the mob In abject terror Fled precipitately from her. All their hostile passion smothered. And until the last red nigger Had hot-footed from her presence Freckle-Nose kept on reciting ,.'! Kipling's "Absent-Minded Beggar.' MASTERPIECES OF LITERATURE IV "Two Lights Arc Put Out" Thackeray "Vanity Fair." That second-floor arch In a London house, looking up and down the well of the staircase, and commanding the main thor oughfare by which the inhabitants ara passing; by which cook lurks down before daylight to scour her pots and pans In the kitchen; by which young master stealthily ascends, having left his boots In the hall, and let himself In after dawn from a jolly night at the club; down which miss comes rustling in fresh ribbons and spreading muslins, brilliant and beautiful, and pre pared for conquest and the ball; or Mas ter Tommy slides, preferring the banisters for a mode of conveyance, and disdaining danger and the stair; down which the mother Is fondly carried, smiling. In her strong husband's arms, as he steps stead ily, step by step, and followed by the moth erly nurse, on the day when the medical man has pronounced that the charming pa tient may go down stairs; up which John lurks to bed yawning, with a sputtering tallow candle, and to gather up before sunrise the boots which aro waiting him in the passages that stair, up or down which babies are carried, old people are helped, guests are marshaled to the ball, the parson walks to the christening, the doctor to the sickroom, and the under taker's men to the upper floor what a memento of Life. Death and Vanity It Is that arch and stair If you choose to con sider it, and sit on tho landing, looking up and down the well. The doctor will come up to us, too. for the last time there, my friend In motley. The nurse will look in at the curtains, and you take no notice and then she will fling open the windows for a little, and let in the air. . Then they will pull down all the front blinds of the house, and live In the back rooms then they will send for the lawyer and other men In black, etc. Your comedy and mine will have been played then, and we shall be removed, O, how far, from the trum pets, and tho shouting, and the posture making. If we are gentlefolks they will put hatchments over our late domicile, with gilt cherubim, and mottoes stating that there Is "Quiet in Heaven." Your son will new furnish the house, or per haps let It, and go Into a more modern quarter; your name will be among the "Members Deceased," in the lists of your clubs next year. However much you may bo mourned, your widow will like to have her weeds neatly made the cook will send or come up to ask about dinner the survivor will soon bear to look at your picture over the mantelpiece, which will presently be deposed from the place of honor, to make way for the portrait of the son who reigns. Which of the dead are most tenderly and passionately deplored? Those who lovo the survivors the least, I believe. Tho death of a child occasions a passion of grief and frantic tears, such as your end, brother reader, will never Inspire. Tho death of an infant which scarce knew you, which a week's absence from you would have caused to forget you, will strike you down more than the loss ot your closest friend, or your flrst-born eon, a man grown, like yourself, with children of his own. We may be harsh and stern with Judah and Simeon our love and pity gush out for Benjamin the little one. And If you are old. as some reader ot this may be, or shall be old and rich, or old and poor you may one day be thinking for yourself. "These people are very good round about me; but they won't grieve too much when I am gone. I am very rich, and they want my Inheritance or very poor, and they are tired of supporting me." The old man clung to his daughter dur ing this sickness. He would take his broths and medicines from scarcely any other hand. He loved her with more fondness now, perhaps, than ever ho had done since the days of her childhood. One night when she stole Into his room she found him awake, when the broken old man made his confession. "O, Emmy, I've been thinking we were very unkind and unjust to you." he said, and put out his cold and feeble hand to her. Sho knelt down and prayed by his bedside, as ho did, too, having still hold of her hand. When our turn comes, friend, may we have such company in our prayers. Perhaps as ho' was lying awake then. hi3 life may have passed before him his early hopeful struggles, his manly successes and prosperity, his downfall in his declining years, and his present hopeless condition no chance of revenge against Fortune, which had had the better of him neither name nor money to bequeath a spent-out, bootless life of defeat and disappointment and the end here! Which. I wonder, broth er reader, is the better lot, to die prosper ous and famous, or poor and disappointed? To have, and to be forced to yield; or to sink out of life, having played and lost the game? That must be a strange feel ing, when a day of our life comes and we eay, "Tomorrow, success or failure won't matter much; and the sun will rise and all the myriads of mankind go to their work or their pleasure as usual, but I shall be out of the turmoil." Yes. I think that will be the better end ing of the two, after alt Suppose you aro particularly rich and well-to-do, and say on that last day, "I am very rich; I am tolerably well known; I have lived all my life In the best society, and, thank Heav en, come of a most respectable family. I have served my King and country with honor. I was In Parliament for several years, where, I may say, my speeches wero listened to, and pretty well received. I don't owe any man a shilling; on tha contrary, I lent my old college friend. Jack Lazarus, 50 pounds, for which my executors will not press him. I leave my daughters with 10.000 apiece very good portions for girls; I bequeath my plate and furniture, my house In Baker street, with, a handsome Jointure, to my widow for, her life; and my landed- property, be- sides money In the funds, and my cellar of well-selected wine in Baker street, to my son. I leave 20 a year to my valet; and I defy any man after I am gone to find anything against my character." Or suppose, on the other hand, your swan singe quite, a different sort of dirge, and ycu say, "I am a poor, blighted, disappointed old fellow, and have made an utter fail ure through life. I was not endowed either with brains or with good fortuno, and confess that I have committed a hun dred mistakes and blunders. I own to having forgotten my duty many a time. I can't pay what I owe. On my last bed I He utterly helpless and humble; and I pray forgiveness for my weakness, and throw myself, with a contrite heart, at the feet of the Divine Mercy." Which of these two speeches, think you, would be the best' oration for your own funeral? Old Sedley made the last; and In that humble frame of mind, and holding by the hand of his daughter, life and disappointment and vanity sunk away from under him.