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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1900)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, MARCH 18, 1900. itS XZQ&XtiGXU Eatered at the Pcetofflce at Portland, Oregon, es econd-cl&es matter. TELEPHONES. Editorial Room.....lC6 I Business Office.... 6OT REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Br Mall (postage prepaid), in Advance Dally, with Sunday, per month ....$0 S3 Dally, Sunday excepted, per year......... 7 50 Dally, with Sunday, per year -. 8 00 Sunday, per year 2 00 The Weekly, per year M...i... ...... 1 50 The Weekly. 3 months. ........ ............ CO To City Subscribers Dally, per week, delivered. Sundays excpted.l3e Sally, per week, delivered. Sundays lncluded.20a The Oregcnlarr does not buy poems or stories Xrom Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to It without solicita tion. No stamps should bo Inclosed for this purpose. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonian should be addressed Invariably "Editor The Oregonian." not to the name of any Individual. Letters relating to advertising. subscriptions or to any business matter should be addressed simply "The Oregonian." Puget Sound Bureau Captain A. Thompson, ofllce at 1111 Pacific avenue. Taooma. Bex 853, T&coma postofllce. Eastern Business Office The Tribune build in. New Tork city: "The Rookery." Chicago; E a Beck-W'uh epeclc.1. agency. New Tork. Tor sale In San Francisco by J. K. Cooper. T4C Market street, near the Palae hotel, and at Goldsmith Bros.. 236 Sutter street. For sale In Chicago by the P. a New Co., gli Dearborn street. TODAT'S "WEATHER. Fair; winds south to eouthwest. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, MARCH IS, 1000 MR. MITCHELIS STATEaiEXT. The Oregonian today prints a Ions statement from ex-Senator Mitchell. Since this Is a public matter. The Ore gonian has not felt at liberty to refuse to print the piece, for it is a newspa per; and inasmuch as it had printed 21r. Simon's speech and Mr. Corbett's telegram it felt that It was only fair that it should also print this reply, notwithstanding: its vast length though much of the matter it contains has been printed heretofore. This is Mr. Mitchell's version of a course of events in which he was deeply con cerned; but The Oregonian feels bound to say that he has not, with all the space he has taken, touched at all upon the true reason why the Legislature did not organize and why he was not elected, at the session of January 1897. The Oregonian will not undertake to epeak for Mr. Simon, for Mr. Corbett, or for any other person or persons. It will briefly give its own version. The reason why Mr. Mitchell was not elected was that he was not in accord with the principles and purposes of the Republican party on the gravest of the questions then uppermost, and was not therefore entitled to Republican support. Yet the Legislature, chosen before the severe logic of the Presi dential campaign had drawn Issues to very close lines, had been "set up" largely for him through the activity of his supporters, among whom were not a few of the most strenuous silver men of the state. Many of those who had been pledged to Mr. Mitchell didn't care whether he was for gold or silver. Their object was personal success, pub lic office, "the main chance," which they believed could be had through nlm. Several, however, from whom promises had been unfairly extorted, or who, after issues became clearer, did not approve his position, were very unwilling to vote for him, and employed "various excuses to avoid doing so. Not nearly all, therefore, who were on the list he gives wanted him elected. His actual support, consequently, was much less than his list shows. Yet, through the methods Mr. Mitchell has known so well all his life how to employ, a majority of the Republican members were com mitted to his support. Neverthe less, the Republicans of the state did not want him elected. The chief reason was their positive disapproval of his position on the great question or Issue of the time. He had always been a supporter of free coinage of silver, and he obstinately refused to say that he would not continue that course. Yet the Republican party had declared for the gold standard, and just now, after the struggle of manyyears.it has given its platform of 1S96 the force of public law. Had Mr. Mitchell come out plainly lor the gold standard, The Oregonian would have been entirely willing to see the controversy In which the Re publican party and the state itself had become involved through him, termi nated by his election. m Many others felt the same way. But Mr. Mitchell gave no sign, and, as he had always been a silver advocate, it was a fair and indeed necessary inference that he would so continue. He had no right, therefore, to ask for Republican sup port, and no Republican member of the Legislature had any right to vote lor him. The Demo-Populists, on their part, did not want him elected, be cause at the critical time In the history of the issue he had spoken and voted against their candidate for the Presi dency, contrary to what they felt they had a right to expect from his record as a silver man. But the Legislature had been "set up" or largely set up for him by active politicians many months before. In the effort to re-elect him all principle was disregarded. Whether he was for silver or gold, his active supporters cared not. They were seeking the usu fruct The Oregonian was among those who thought that this demoralization of the Republican party, and this gen eral juggle of politics through the sil ver mischief, should cease. Yet it be lieved that the Legislature had been so set up that if it organized Mr. Mitchell would get a majority. Therefore, it did not want the Legislature to organ ize. It said so at the time. In this it speaks for itself alone. It does not undertake to speak for others. And yet it fully believes that the Republi cans of Oregon are well satisfied with the main result, namely, t!iat the state now has a solid delegation in Congress voting for the legislation that has put tne gom stanaara ueyona present peril or dispute. Here is the core of the matter. All the details presented by Mr. Mitchell are but the limbs and outward flour ishes. The Oregonian does not doubt that it was disapproval of Mr. Mitch ell's own position, and desire to prevent Ills election, because of that position, which kept Republican members out of the House organization. The Populists were kept away by their resentments against him because he, always a sil ver man, had refused to support their candidate and platform at the supreme crisis of the silver cause. What Mr. Simon, Mr. Corbett or oth ers did, or did not, The Oregonian knows not. But it does know first, that a man with Mr. Mitchell's political and official record had no right to ap pear before a Republican Legislature, seeking election; and second, that mem bers calling themselves Republicans had no moral, political or representa tive right to vote for him. To refuse to organize the Legislature was a grave responsibility, an extreme act; and yet it was apparently the only remedy against a worse consequence. Besides, there was justice in this punishment of Mr. Mitchell for his long advocacy of fallacious, mischievous and dangerous doctrines, at variance with the general sentiment and purposes of the Republi can party, and for his devious courses towards other parties, who had been led to expect his full and earnest sup port on the final Issue. This justice had a poetic element In It, from the fact that It was administered by men of both parties at last. Mr. Mitchell was caught in the entanglements of the many nets he had so Industriously spread. People of Oregon, men of each and every party, were entitled to fair dealing on these great subjects from representatives of the state in Con gress. Mr. Mitchell failed to compre hend this great political and moral fact, and failed because he did not comprehend it. His thlck-and-thin followers were as morally and politi cally blind as himself. In his long state ment he has produced sundry poetical quotations and many moral reflections, but they miss the whole point, namely, that he was not frank, open and fair with the people of Oregon; and gold men and silver men alike were unwill ing to" be paltered with further, on questions of supreme interest and im portance to the country. Mr. Mitchell's support in the Legis lature had been worked up largely through the silver element, under direc tion, chiefly, of Jonathan Bourne. Mr. Bourne was Mr. Mitchell's principal campaign manager. He was immense ly energetic and resourceful; it was through his work, mainly, that the pledges had been secured for Mr. Mitchell, and his devotion to Mr. Mitch ell was due to the tetter's constant and earnest support of free coinage of silver, of which Mr. Bourne was a most enthusiastic and untiring advo cate. The supporters of Mr. Mitchell in Multnomah, recognizing Mr. Bourne's ability and force, nominated him for the Legislature. In the divi sion of parties he was elected by a plu rality vote elected not as a Republi can, as Mr. Mitchell asserts, but dis tinctly and avowedly as a "Mitchell Republican' The unequaled services of Mr. Bourne entitled him to the sup port of the Mitchell party for the speakership; but, as the Presidential campaign, occurring after the June election, had drawn lines closely on the vital issue, Mr. Mitchell found that he oould not fulfill his obligation to Mr. Bourne and at the same time retain the necessary Republican support; for Mr. Bourne had continued to support the silver cause as earnestly after the June election as Mr. Mitchell and him self had supported it before that event Mr. Bourne lacked Mr. Mitchell's ver satility. He could not support McKIn ley on a gold platform, and go rail roading to the planet Mars on the airy subterfuge of a promise to seek inter national bimetalism; so he supported Bryan, as of course Mr. Mitchell should have done. By reason of his strong convictions, powerful individ uality and persuasive eloquence, Mr. Bourne had great Influence with his fellow silver men in the Legislature; and Mr. Simon is unquestionably right in this, that one of the great factors in prevention of the organization of the House was Mr. Mitchell's course toward Mr. Bourne, who had been his most effective champion. Mr. Bourne, who had been the chief Mitchell leader, in support of silver, naturally took his place at the head of those who felt ex treme resentment at the course which Mr. Mitchell had pursued In the Presi dential campaign; and this was the underlying force that held the Demo Popullst members from participation in the House organization. The Re publican members who kept away were men of similar convictions on the op posite side men firmly for the gold standard and resolved to tolerate no further artifices or Impostures in deal ing with it. Moreover, among thOEe unfortunately pledged to Mr. Mitchell, before the Issue had become acute, were several earnest gold men, of high char acter, in Senate and In House, who, though on his list, did not want to be forced to vote for him; and from that source, throughout the whole contest, there emanated a subtle yet powerful Influence against organization pf the House. The Oregonian is unwilling to write with severity about Mr. Mitchell. It Is simply telling the truth, as it sees the truth, about that political fiasco. Mr. Mitchell was the victim of his own contrivances. He never has stood on principles. His ways In politics are those of subtlety and Indirection to wards great questions, and of steady appeal to private and selfish interests of Individuals, as a means of obtain ing personal supporters. It did not occur to him that there could be any great question of national policy which could not be overborne or set aside, so far as might be necessary for his inter est, by diligent application of these methods. Here was his mistake. His many contrivances came to naught, or returned to plague their Inventor. Mr. Mitchell, though a Senator eighteen years, never was elected on his merits as a public man, but always through appeals to the private Interests of his supporters. That system succeeded, till a great question came uppermost, that would not be trifled with. Of the importance of this question, of Its in exorable nature, of the absolute and Immovable resistance it presented to jugglery and compromise, he had no conception. In "monkeying with it" ha went down. Tho suggestion that little Fritz Hep fur, an infant of 7 years, whose body was found In shallow water under the dock after he had been missing from his home two or three days, was vi ciously pushed from the dock to his death by a young "tough" of 13 years, is another striking arraignment of parental responsibility. It is clear that the little boy would not, if he had been properly supervised, have been down on the dock; nor would the big and cruel bully have been what he was and is, had he been taught the commonest precepts of justice and humanity at home. The test "by their fruits shall ye know them" . can be with perfect certainty applied to parents of boys who, at an Immature age, are known as "young toughs" and are dreaded In the neighborhood and In the schools for their vulgar and profane language and their cruelty to younger children and animals. The boys of dareful, conscl- entious parents may, as men, stray Into paths forbidden of honor, sobriety and compassion, but If boys are neighbor hood terrors in their early boyhood, the parents are remiss In their duty. That is the whole of It. THEY DIED FOR 'IRELAND. The celebration of St Patrick's day in London, and throughout the British Empire everywhere, may be taken as the end of that anniversary's peculiar bitterness. Irreconcllables we still shall have, until another generation occupies the stage, just as in this coun try we still have fire-eaters in both North and South. But to the mass of Irishmen as well as Englishmen, St Patrick's day will hereafter awake feel ings of pride and heroic memories, in stead of acrimony on the one side and. derision on the other. It Is a revolution in human senti ments, where change is brought in with the greatest difficulty. Nothing is so hard to eradicate as traditional racial animosity, sectional strife and religious prejudices, for these conflicts take their rise deep down In the springs of human nature the cohesiveness of family and tribe, the battle for self-preservation, the worship the finite mind has always paid to the Infinite. All these ele ments have entered into the ancient feud between Irish and English, Irish and Scotch. In the war between the orange and the green, lives have been sacrificed every year, even in the New World, far from the scenes of the orig inal causes, where Old World hatreds are supposed to be laid aside. We seem to be within hall of the close of this distressing conflict, And the victory Is noteworthy and far-reaching. Mighty War has done this, and It is one of the tremendous revolutions war only can accomplish. The horrors of war make a familiar story. Authors are fain to dwell upon the brutality of carnage, the anguish of the bereaved, tho distress of Interrupted labor, the Impoverishment of industry, the legacy of pensions and disordered finances. These evils are real, but they are measurably counterbalanced hy the great ends that are reached through war, and war only. It is through war that this nation has achieved its Inde pendence, cemented Its union and ex tended its borders. Nothing but the war with Spain when Blue and Gray tolled side by side up San Juan Hill and served the guns of the new Navy, and faced the Insurgents in Luzon, buried forever our sectional hate. A reunited country here, dates not so much from Appomattox as from the night the Maine sank in Havana Bay, or the day that Bagley was shot to death before Cardenas, or the day that the blood of North and South mingled on the soli of Santiago de Cuba. So it Is with unhappy Ireland. The blood of her brave sons, shed for the Empire in many a gallant charge on Boer intrenchments, has put out the fires of aspersion and hate that have long been burning in British hearts, and the royal recognition accorded their prowess has broken down the barriers of injured pride, which all the friendly measures of Parliament could not overcome. Over the graves of these heroic fallen it is fitting that British and Irish should own a common srrief and pay a united homage. The sham rock becomes the badge not of mourn ing, but of joy, the wearing of the green can be a universal tribute to Irish valor, and St Patrick's day be celebrated as a national festival. In dying for the Queen, the volunteers have died as truly for Ireland as did the "boys of 9S"; for in their death they have earned for her more liberty and honor than they could have wrested In a generation of rebellion against the Crown. PRANCE IN A WARLIKE 3IOOD. Will there be war between France and England? The leading articles in French military magazines, written by officers of high professional ability, are devoted to the discussion of the coming war with Great Britain. These educated soldiers do not stop to con sider whether there will be war; they express no doubt on that point; they devote their brains to pointing out the surest way to success and to urging important measures of preparation. These French officers profess to believe that the boasted superiority of the British battle-ships will not endure the test of conflict with the French navy; they insist that the French ironclad vessels are entirely superior to the British battle-ships In the complete ness of their armor and the efficiency of their naval batteries. The French critics Insist that France need not fear successful bombardment of her princi pal seaports by the English Navy, and cite the failure of Admiral Sampson to reduce the Morro at the entrance of Santiago harbor as proof that floating batteries are no match for land de fenses armed with high-power modern guns. The French military critics argue that the successful Invasion of England would be a thing of easy accomplish ment, and that the French Navy is strong enough to protect transports carrying 50,000 men from destruction by the English cruisers. The Invasion of Egypt is also part of the French mili tary programme. The French military scholars evidently believe that France is fully able single-handed to beat England In war, but of course expect that Russia would not hesitate to be her ally In war against Great Britain. It is reported that not a few English statesmen, including Sir Charles Dllke, are apprehensive that war with France and Russia is not far distant Are these prophecies of war likely to be re alized? Probably there will be no war, for the reason that neither France nor Russia can afford a great war. France Is well-nigh bankrupt; Russia needs every dollar she can raise to complete her great railway undertakings In Asia, and, while France might rush Into war in a fit of popular excitement, such as prevailed in 1S70, when all Paris went mad and marched to and fro shouting "On to Berlin," Russia is not likely to be hurried into a great war without calmly counting the cost Russia has not a single coaling sta tion between St Petersburg, on the Baltic, or Odessa, on the Black Sea, and Vladlvostock; and in time of war the Czar could no longer rely on friendly states to provide his fleet with coal. Great Britain, In war, would have tha Russian navy and superb ocean steam ships at her mercy. If Russia con trolled the Dardanelles, or the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Sea, her naval situation would be greatly Improved; but until she has a naval base at these points Great Britain would have an enormous advantage. The English railway Is still distant eighty miles from Kandahar and about 170 miles from. Cabul, but the lines to these cit ies have been surveyed and the rails are ready to be laid". With troops in Kandahar and Cabul, an invasion of India would be impossible. Until her vast system of projected railways Is completed, It is not likely that Russia would Incur the burden of a great war, whose outcome might prove most dis astrous to her progress and prestige in Asia. France has a stupid race hate for Great Britain that might betray her into a mood of reckless belliger ency, but there Is no race hate between Russia and Great Britain, for outside of the Crimean war of 1854-56, Russia and England have not come into con flict Their rivalry Is commercial; there Is no blood feud between them, as there. Is between France and Germany. France Is the hereditary foe of both Great Britain and Germany, and still is stirred Into a fit of sentimental rage when she thinks of Waterloo or Sedan. Finally, the chief reason for believing that there will be no war between Great Britain and France, backed "by Russia, Is that the Emperor of Ger many, who Is really the arbiter of the peace of Europe, would not permit It as a matter of national self-Interest Germany does not love England, but Germany positively hates and distrusts France. The peace of Europe broken by a great war between France and Great Britain would be ruinous to the business prosperity and tranquillity of Germany. Emperor William could not afford to see the peace of Europe seri ously broken, and before he will allow France to regain her lost military pres tige by successful war with England he will Interfere to keep the peace. A WARNING FROM EXPERIENCE. Nowhere does Imperfect knowledge work more grievous havoc than in the study of religious truth; and the bane of Biblical Interpretation, as of so many departments of research, is the activity of the half-educated. It Is the hope of our present-day higher education that it may, through impartment of thor ough information, destroy financial her esy and economic error, and show the people the dangers of socialism. It will fall of its highest privilege, however, if it does not provide the world's moral and religious forces with a scientific basis for faith and works, in place of the old foundations of superstition and legend that are crumbling away. The meaning of the present conflict between faith and science escapes most of the combatants on 'either side. Each falsely Imagines science and religion to be Incompatible with, if not positively exclusive of, each other. The material istic scientist, or, more correctly speak ing, the scientist's half-educated ma terialistic followers, conceive that dem onstration of Nature's methods is itself confutation of religion; and the churchman Is apt with equal pervers ity to reject the conclusions of physical science with cheerful alacrity, If so be they do not square with his denomina tional creed. Now, the battle-fields of science with faith are two one over the history of creation, the other over the Bible. There Is the war with material science over evolution, and there Is the war with literary and historical' sci ence over Scriptural Interpretation. The latter of these is the more press ing today, and the erroneous view just referred to is accurately typified in this paragraph from the,lew York Sun: The great Issue between faith and scholar ship as to the intrinsic authority of the Bible as the Infallible Word of God' must bo met squarely by all Christendom at some time In the future, and probably at no distant day, for It Is a question vital to all Christian theology. In this brief sentence are gathered up the cherished but vain hopes of both unbeliever and Christian. The believer looks forward to the day when the in fallibility of the Bible will be univer sally recognized, and the "higher criti cism" rebuked a day that can never come. The infidel looks forward to the day when matter will bo recognized as all in all, the religious principle In man overthrown by sheer force of natural laws, all religions demonstrated frauds and all religious teachers demonstrated charlatans. And that Is a day that can never come. Scientific study of the Bible as a product of man's religious nature, moved upon, perhaps, by the Infinite, and assuredly moving towards the In finite, has been far behind scientific study of the records of creation In the globe -itself and the celestial universe. The reasons for this it Is not neces sary to pursue, except to say In gen eral that scientific investigation of ma terial phenomena was a necessary pre liminary to the philosophic understand ing of the unity of knowledge and the evolutionary method as the uniform principle at work in all known develop ment To extend this discovery to the productions of the human mind in all ages was a further work of time and trouble. So that mankind Is just be ginning to Interpret Its sacred litera tures in the light of modern science. It is time to recognize, then, that sci entific study of the Bible Is to do for the Bible just what scientific study of Nature has done for our conceptions of Deity. The last generation revolted from evolution as an aspersion upon God; but the educated theologian of today sees clearly that the God of evo lution Is infinitely higher and nobler than the God of special creations. Nature, struck off in a day, is not to be compared, for grandeur and for up lifting study, with Nature, an orderly and beautiful process, moving stead ily by ordained laws, through millions of years, to a predestined goal. And so it Is to be with the Bible. The Ten Commandments, brought down from Sinai, traced in an hour with Jeho vah's finger, are less worthy our ad miration, less enlightening to the awak ened mind, than the Ten Command ments, proceeding from God as their source, but built up by slow degrees as man emerged.from his lowly begin nings and advanced toward the full stature of his intellect and the full sublimity of his soul. There is a warning here for the pre cipitate on either side. The evolution of the material world has given us a diviner God; the evolution of our sa cred literature will give us a grander Bible. The believer may learn cau tion from the futile struggle that was made to set aside the records of crea tion. The materialist may modify his prophecy as to the approaching doom of religion, when he remembers that Christianity still makes shift to sur vive, .notwithstanding the destruction that was to come upon it In the day evolution was received Into general be lief. Whether we are in the church or out of it, we shall lose dogmatism and arrogance as we advance in knowl edge. "It is mere child's play," says Billy Mason, In regard to his resolution of sympathy for the Boers, "for U3 to sit here and not be ablo to get a vote on It" And it would be fool's play at the very least for the United States Senate to meddle in the British-Boer contro versy to the extent of taking a vote on an officious resolution of declared sym pathy for one side and Implied censure for the other. The Senate may not be the most sagacious and statesmanlike deliberative body on earth, but it shows wisdom In- treating Senator Mason's crack-brained views on Intervention and other matters in regard to our for eign policy with official silence. "AN EXPERIMENT IN RHAMTW Walter A. Wyckoff, assistant profes sor of political economy in Princeton University, has given, in a book enti tled "The Workers," glimpses from the actual life of the unskilled laborer that have brought thousands of cultivated minds In closer touch with the labor problem as applied to this class of workers than could have been possible without the aid of what the author call3 "an experiment In reality." Having been brought to feel the differ ence between his slender, book-learned lore and the vital knowledge of men and the principles by which they live, Professor Wyckoff. conceived the idea of going among these people the hew ers of wood and drawers of water of the world In the capacity of a penni less but honest man dependent solely upon the work of his hands for his daily bread, and ready to take any task, however menial, whereby he might earn his livelihood. In this book, "The Workers," he presents the results of his endeavor in the narrative style, depending for its value upon careful adherence to the truth of actual ex perience. As a further passport to the honest consideration of the reader, the author states in reference to his atti tude in the experiment itself, that' he entered upon It. with no theories to es tablish and no conscious preconceptions to maintain. As tho reader journeys with Profes sor Wyckoff through the details of hi3 experiment he finds himself In actual touch with unskilled labor and In such sympathy with Its representatives as Its surroundings bring. As a wanderer through a well-to-do farming region in Eastern New York, chopping wood or doing any "chore" that he was permit ted to do as the price of a meal; sleep ing in the hay and sharing the fare of the farmer folk, he has given touches of rural life, poor In the midst of abun dance and narrow as the breadth of sky that is shut in by the closely press ing hills; largely void of the luxuries which are easily within the reach of thrift, and are not matters of poverty or riches, but simply of the knowing how to live. Kindly In the main, but uncouth, and withal a self-satisfied host, vexed by no graver problem of existence than that propounded in the daily recurring question, "What shall wo eat, what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?" On to West Point we go with him, where he secures a "job," and as "No. 6" in a gang worked by a "boss" toils five days in helping to remove the debris of the old academic building and re ceives $5 So, of which all but 10 cents was due and paid for his board and lodging; on again to the Highlands, where, as hotel porter, he worked three weeks on the basis of $8 a month "and board," and so on through the various experiences of a hired man at an asy lum, a farmhand and a logger, we go, getting a new understanding at every step of the life that is pulsing and striving round about us. Summing up at one stage, he says, speaking of himself and his fellow laborers: The salient features of our condition are plain. We are unskilled laborers. We are grown men without a trade. In the labor mar ket we stand ready to sell to the highest bidder our mere muscular strength for so many hours each day. "We are In the lowest grade of labor. We are here, and not higher In the ccale, by reason of a variety of causes. Some of us were thrown upon our own resources In childhood and have earned our living ever since, and by the line of least resistance we have simply grown to be unskilled workmen. Opportunities came to some of us of learning useful trades, but we neglected them, and now we have no developed skill to aid us In earning a living, and must take the work that offers. Thi3 is but a meager part of the les son conveyed in the recital. Remedial measures are suggested along lines, not of revolt, but of growth and Intelli gence. No hapless picture of the "Man With the Hoe" is given, albeit the pre sentment is sometimes dreary enough, but helpful suggestions abound. "Our ambition must be fired, our sense of re sponsibility awakened and enlisted in our labor, our Intelligences quickened to the vision of our own interests In the best performance of our duty," says this practical observer, classing him self with the host3 of unskilled labor, adding: "Life will not be rendered frlctionless thereby. Work will still bo hard, but to it will be restored its dig nity and Its power to call Into play the better part of man, and so build up his character." The book commends itself to the perusal of all classes of Intelli gent men, not more for the plain state ment of facts too little understood by 'the masses, but for Its helpful, hopeful tone and its graphic revelation of the surroundings of the men who throng the labor market, "ready to sell ito the highest bidder their mere muscular strength for so many hours each day." The habits of life of these camp-followers of unskilled labor, their tempta tions, their rough exterior as expressed in the shocking degree of profanity to which many of them have attained, and their kindliness toward one an other In Its rough setting of brusque ness, present an Interesting Btudy In economics which it is well worth while to pursue. Announcement is made that the eleventh annual meeting of the so called Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress is to be held at Houston, April 17-21. Heretofore It has been lit tle more than a free-silver gathering, though Its political character has never been stated In its announcements. This year the chairman of the executive committee says he "wishes to empha size the fact that the congress does not discuss partisan politics, but deals only with questions of general import ance." Heretofore, the silver question has been deemed the question of para mount Importance, and the gathering has quickly resolved itself Into a base money congress whenever it seemed that it could "help the cause of 16 to 1." Governor Geer has had some experi ence at one of these "commercial con gresses," and walked out of the con gress at Salt Lake when It resolved Itself Into a Populist convention. Pos sibly there has been such spread of knowledge of money that the delegates will not this-year repeat the folly of adopting a free-silver resolution, but persons who have noticed the proceed ings of the congress during ten years past will be excusable if they are skep tical on the point till the next session of the congress shall have passed with out a cheap-money declaration. Building activities are greater at the present than at any time" in many years. A most encouraging feature of the situation is in the fact that even the most optimistic promoter of pros perity has not referred to it as a "boom," it being generally conceded to be a growth as natural as that of awakening Spring. House-hunting is in progress with a vigor unknown to March in any former year, thus prov ing that house-building comes In the form of a supply that is rising to meet an urgent demand. It proves, indeed, more than this, as it indicates an abil ity and desire to own the family domi cile, both of which were checked by the financial depression of a few years ago. The growth indicated Is, therefore, along lines Indicative of substantial, permanent progress, and it shows that our people are no longer either "afraid or unable to invest money in houses. The special Providence that Is popu larly supposed to watch over drunken men nodded, as it seems, in the case of Indian "Louie," a familiar figure to summer visitors at Clatsop Beach, who was found dead upon the street at Seaside a few mornings ago. The coro ner's jury called in the case violated both precedent and tradition by de claring that, to the best of its knowl edge and belief, the noble red man "came to his death through suffocation by falling face downward en the ground while intoxicated." There are many who, notwithstanding this official opin ion, will still believe that Indian "Louie" died from natural causes rather than from a common mishap from which thousands of men in a state of Intoxication have arisen, unin jured, thirsty and defiant of fate. Women all over the country are re sponding with zeal and warmth to the arraignment of Cardinal " Gibbons of "woman's rights and society women," in which he classes these as the "worst enemies of the female sex." Without stopping to enumerate or discuss the points of difference between His Emi nnce and the social and political lead ers among women, It may be submit ted that, in the very nature of things, there are subjects which Cardinal Gib bons Is better qualified to discuss than others, and that this time he seems to have made a mistake in his choice of a subject Vereeniging, where the Boers are re ported to be Intrenching, is on the rail way in the Transvaal, just north of Viljoen's Drift, on the Vaal River. It Is about 210 miles north of Bloemfon tein, and about 55 miles distant from Johannesburg, and 80 miles from Pre toria. When Mr. Simon says that the Leg islative hold-up was caused by Mr. Mitchell himself, the statement Is per fectly true in this, that it was caused by Mr. Mitchell'3 devious ways In poli tics. Of that there can be no question. The people of the United States are expansionists, but not Imperialists. Hence they oppose the legislation pro posed for the new insular possessions of the United States. Vindication Promised for Becclier. Boston Transcript. Rev. Dr. Storrs has recently, through the columns of the Brooklyn Eagle, brok en the silence of 25 years with referenco to Henry Ward Beecher. He has pub licly defended Mr. Beecher from the at tack of that ranting Southern divine. Dr. Broughton, who asserted that Mr. Beech er was a destructive Influence in Brook lyn's religious life. Dr. Storrs declared that he believed that Mr. Beecher had wielded a powerful Influence for good In his own city. A prominent member of Dr. Storrs'- church said: "It will not be a great while before the last speck of mist on the name of Henry Ward Beecher will be dispelled and his memory will stand before the world as that of a man almost divine. This intimation that the last refuge of the scepticism and cynicism that have mocked at the character of one of the most distinguished divines in this or any other country is to be removed will make a profound sensation in tho religious world. It la to be hoped that if there is anything which has been kept from tho public it will speedily be mado known. A Brooklyn correspondent of the Congregationalist says: "The story of the renewed fellowship between Plymouth Church and the Church of the Pilgrims Is a striking one. All that there Is behind it will on the one hand astound and on the other electrify the world when the time Is ripe for the facts to be told. But tho fullness of time has not yet come." I o Is Not Puerto Rico Onr OtvnT The Evangelist (Presbyterian Organ.) Some commercial degenerates are said to have used tho argument with the President that Puerto Rico sugar and to bacco will compete with tho American product. We must protect our own growers. Our own growers! 13 not Puerto Rico our own? Are not the Puerto RIcan growers our own? What kind of absorp tion is this? ? What kind of Americani zation of our new dependence does it portend? It would leave Puerto Rico worse off than It was under Sn,iln nr,A would Impose on the people of this gen erous ana justice-loving Republic the harder lot of exchanging places with Spain and coming down from our ideals to the level of that one proud and magnani mous people. 7 - "Would Unnlsli Whisky Bottle. Philadelphia Press. "I was very glad, Mr. Wheeler." said the Rev. I. Drinkwater, "to hear you quoted as saying you hoped to see the day when the whisky bottle is banished from the land." ,.?ha!"'3 riSht." replied Mr. Wheeler. There s nothing so likely to puncture your tiro as broken glass." a Strategy "Wins. New,, York Weekly. Mrs. D'Avnoo (indignantly) What! Move out of the city and live In the sub urbs? Indeed, I won't eo there! Mr. D'Avnoo My dear, a pretty woman like you never looks so charming as when sitting In a phaeton at a suburban rail way station waiting for her husband. She went m A Useless Adjunct. Detroit Free Press. "Louise, what has become of your French poodle?" "Why, Harry made the dealer take him back; he didn't understand a word of our French." o- . Not Surprising-. Washington Star. "Mr. Shrlckeno says ho Is always nerv ous when he gets up to sing." "X don't blame him." answered Miss Cayenne.. "He has heard himself be fore." i! e i Utterly Reckless. Indianapolis Journal. When a man is really In love he doesn' 11 care wnetner nts marriage shows any business ability or not. MASTERPIECES OF LITERATURE Y Three Immortal Odes of John Keats. Jo a fliijbtingale My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemloclc I had drunk. Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Letbe-wards had sunk; "Tls not through envy of thy happy lot. But being too happy la thtne happiness That thou, light-winded Dryad of the trees. In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberlesij, Slngest of summer In full-throated eaoa. H O for a draught of vintage! that hath beea Cool'd a lon? age In the deep-delved earth. Tasting of Flora and the country green. Dance, and Provencal eoag, and sunburnt mirth! 0 for a breaker full of the warm South, Full of the true, the blushful Hlppocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stained mouth: That I might drink, and leave the world un seen. And with thee fade away Into the forest dim: -r. m Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget "What thou among the leaven has never known. The weariness, the fever, and the fret -Here, where men alt and hear each other groan; Where palsy shakes a. few. sad. last gray hairs. Where youth grows pale, and specter-thin, and dies; Where but to think Is to be full of sorrow; And leaden-eyed despairs. Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes. Or new Love pine at them beyond tomorrow; rv Away! Away; for I will fly to thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards. But on the viewlB wings of Poesy, Though the dull brain perplexes and retards Already with thee! tender Is the night. And haply the Queen-Moon Is on her throne. Cluster around by all her starry Fays; But here there Is no light Save what from heaven la with the breeze blown Through verdurous glooms and wlndlnB mossy ways. V 1 cannot see what flowers are at my feet. Nor what soft Incense hangs upon the boughs. But, In embalmed darkness, guess each sweet. Wherewith the seasonable month endowci The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine; Fast fading violets covered up In leaves; And mid-May's eldest child. The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine. The murmurous haunt of flies on sumxne; eves. VI Darkling I listen; and. for many a. time I have been half in love with easeful Death CaU'd him soft names In many a mused rhyme, To take Into the air my quiet breath; Now more than ever seems it rich to die. To cease upon, the midnight with no pain. While thou are pourlns forth- thy soul aboard In such an ecstacy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears la vain To thy high requiem become a sod. VII " Thou wast not born for death. Immortal BIrdI No hungry generations tread thee down; The voice I hear tht passing- night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown; Perhaps the self-same song- that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, Blck for home, She stood In, tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, In faerr lands forlorn. VIII Forlorn! the very word Is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well Ab she la fam'd to do. deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream. Up the hillside; ami now 'tis burled deep In the next valley glades; Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled Is that music; Do. I wake or Bleep? a .Or; a Qrecian, tin) Thou still unravlsh'd bride of quietness. Thou foster-child of silence and slow time. Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme; What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both. In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstacy? II Heanl melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear. but, more endear" d, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone; Fair youth, beneath the treesv thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can thcoa trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss. For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ill Ah. happy. hajSpy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And. happy melodist, urvearled. For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd. For ever panting, and for ever young; All breathlnr human passion far above. That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. IV Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar. O mysterious priest. Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies. And all her silken flanks with .rarlands drest7 What Uttle town by river or seashore. Or mountaln-bullt with peaceful citadel. Is emptied of this folk, this pious mora? And, little town, thy- streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou are desolate, can e'er return. V O Attic shape! Fair attitude with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought. With forret branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, doit tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste. Thou shalt remain, fn midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man. to whom, thoa sayst. "Beauty Is truth, truth beauty" that Is all 1"c know on earth, and all yo need to know. - a . 5o iutumn Season of mists and mellow frultfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bleaJ With fruit the vines that round the thatch eves run; To bend with apples the mops' d cottage trees. And All all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more. And still more, later flowers for the bees. Until they think warm days will never cease. For Summer has o'ercrlmm'd their clammy cells. II Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may And Thee sitting careless on a granary floor. Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap'd furror sound asleep, Drowsd with the fume of popples, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers; And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady- thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cider-press, with patient look. Thou watchest the last oozlngs hours by hours. Ill Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music, too While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day. And" touch the stubble-plains with rosy huo; Then In a. wailful choir the small gnats mourn, Among- the rivers sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; H . Hedge-crlckcts ring; and now with treble cof The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering- swallows twlttvr In the eklcs.