THE SUNDAY OKEGOtflAN, PORTLAND,. JU&E 2, 1901.
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rORTLAVD, SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 1O01.
IGXORANGE AS A 3IOTIVJ3 POWER.
If the men who rushed to arms on
either sldeof the great struggle of 1S61
65 had known more, they might not
lave rushed so eagerly to the fray. In
the South they did not know that they
"were being played upon by skillful con
spirators, or that free labor was bet
ter for them than slave, or that some
day they were yet to rejoice in the
preservation of the Union. Numbers of
Northern men, moreover, were re
strained from radical action because
study and reading had led them into
grave doubt of the constitutional
power of the Federal Government
either to coerce the South into the
Union or t& interfere with slavery. We
have the thirteenth, fourteenth and fif
teenth amendments now, but the
amendments were not there in 1S61. If
every man In the North had thor
oughly apprehended the constitutional
arguments of Calhoun, our armies
would not have been so numerous, per
haps, and It is certain they would not
have been so religiously zealous. The
brave fellows on each side saw only one
side of the shield therefore they were
unhesitating as well as unreasoning in
their devotion.
Patriotism. , Itself is largely com
posed of elements that tend to dissipate
before the rising sun of scientific study
-end. social cultivation. In practice we
are familiar enough with the phenom
enon, and there is-sound basis for it in
reason. One of the elements of patri
otism is race prejudice. Science teaches
us that all men are brothers; that they
are what they are as the result of
heredity and environment working
upon them. Science teaches us why, if
we are a Northman, we like strong
drink, and why, If we are a Southron,
"we prefer the milder wines. Science
teaches us why some of us are fair and
others dark, why some of our throats
open in warm air to soft sounds and
why others will barely open for harsh
consonants and gutturals. Science
teaches us how our languages and cus
toms have grown up, from the peculiar
coll whence we sprang, oceans that
aved about us and airs that blew upon
tis violent or soft. At length we see
that all those racial distinctions that
were wont to fan us into rage against
the alien are not his 'fault that we
should have at him with the handiest
weapon, but his inexorable necessity,
morally the equal of our own peculiari
ties, and deserving of our friendly in
terest If not even sympathy.
How social cultivation tends to soften
the stern qualities of patriotism is a
lamlllar story. What becomes of the
patriot when he has Imbibed the poetry
of all lands, sat at table with all na
tionalities, studied all the philosophies,
end familiarized himself with the
dress, manners and ideals of his coun
try's rivals? Hie .admiration, once
ifervently fixed upon- his native land, is
spread out over all that is good in
every land. Loyalty merges into cos
mopolitanism. The fine frenzy that
once set Rome against Carthage would
jbe Impossible for a Jewell to feel
against England, a Bayard Taylor
against Germany, a Washington Irving
against Spain. Our naval officers are
splendid fighting machines when the
decks are cleared for action, but the
glorious ire that hurled barbarians and
liGreeks against each other in the old
pays they cannot feel, since in the ports
of every power they have told stories,
drank, toasts and made love by the mu
sic of the ballroom. The contemplative
let. ike cosmopolitan artist, the gentle
philosopher are the very antithesis of
the warrior nursing nis wrath against
his country's enemies,- and out of their
ranks the peace society constantly re
cruits its members.
It would be a pleasant thing to con-
! elude that much learning tends only to
mitigate the horrors of war, but the
; debilitating effect of enlightenment is
j shown in an entirely opposite direction.
This Is in the sphere of religion itself.
In proportion as a .church gains in cul
tivation it loses In aggressive evangel
ism. With the Unitarians and Congre
gationalists, for example, what prose
lyting and missionary zeal can be
Jound at all to compare with that of
the Catholics and Methodists, whose
strength has always been among the
masses? Religious conviction, in fact,
frequently, if not as a rule, obtains in
inverse ratio to advance in knowledge.
There are no difficulties in the way of
unlettered faith. The father of doubt
Is fresh Information. See how study
of fossils and of embryos has discred
ited the ancient theology which nerved
the fathers to put unbelievers to death
with torture in Its most revolting formB.
Bee how inquiry into Confucius and
Buddha has imperiled the old convic-
ion that all religions outside Chris-
tianlty are inventions of the devil and
altogether wicked. See how education
has set aside the traditional revivalist
with his thousands of yearly converts,
and the temperance apostle with his
pledges by the carload. The more a
man knows the less he knows what he
knows. The less the light that has
streamed in upon his ignorance the
firmer his convictions, the greater his
enthusiasm, the more unflinching his
purpose. When every man has become
an Emerson or a Shakespeare, where
shall we go for our Generals and ex-horters?
PRICELESS TREASURES OP LITER
ATURE. No department of the modern world
of books bears a more impressive as
pect than does that of selected readings
and literary studies for the use of
schools. The various series submitted,
for example, by publishers, for inspec
tion of the State Text-Book Board dis
close a wonderful wealth of material,
In the form both of original discussion,
explanation and criticism, and of choice
readings from the best authors. One
naturally feels a sentiment of loyalty
to the old books in which persons of the
present adult generation were formed,
but in point of use and attractiveness
there is simply no comparison between
the barren compendiums of a former
day and these tasteful and illuminative
publications. Within the lids of any
one of many small volumes on English
literature may.be found ready garnered
and threshed for the student's inquir
ing mind a harvest of knowledge and
understanding that has taken the ma
ture man of today years of diligent
search and hard labor. The work done
In this field is, in short, exactly of a
plane with that brought into the indus
trial world through improved labor
saving machinery. It is thus possible
for the High School or academy gradu
ate of today, if he has been properly
guided in his reading, to know more
about the best thought of the world
than the ordinary man of good educa
tion knows, who has had to go over
the ground painstakingly by himself in
the old way.
The new method is thoroughly sci
entific, because it reduces to a mini
mum the element of chance in putting
the student in touch with the literature
best suited to furnish his mind. The
average man knows a good deal
about one or two authors, whom
chance threw in their way, but
knows nothing about the rest of
literature. Perhaps he has read
Scott and Dickens, but not Thackeray
and Lytton. Maybe he knows Longfel
low and Whlttler well, but practically
nothing of Emerson, Lowell and
Holmes. In the new system this one
sldedness is impossible. The student is
introduced to all the eminent names in
English literature, and the thing that
best suits his mental constitution is
certain to arrest his attention. There
is a mountain mentioned in one of Poe's
fascinating tales, that "trembled only
to the touch of the flower called aspho
del." Every mind has its asphodel
the note of poetry, history or philoso
phy that is exactly suited to set in
harmonious vibration all the chords of
its finer nature. In many a one that
note Is never Btruck, that finer nature
Is never aroused because it has never
happened to be brought to its own. If
Keats had never come across Chap
man's Homer; if the Rubalyat had
never found Fitzgerald, if Shakespeare
had preceded instead of followed the
craze of translation of Italian master
pieces into English, if chance had never
led Macaulay to the golden mine of
Athenian literature, how different
would this world have been today
how darker, how inexpressibly sadder!
And what limitless capacity for fine
impulse and gracious benediction re
sides in these cleverly devised prompt
ings to a higher plane of thinking!
What single agency for good can at all
compare with the acquisition of wise
and beautiful thoughts from all the
ages? For him into whose nature has
entered and found lodgment the melody
of Shakespeare, the majesty of Milton,
the contemplative melancholy of Job
and Jeremiah, the grace of Dante and
"Virgil, the high thoughts of Burke
and Macaulay, the appealing cry of
Tennyson, the prayer of Whittier for
him life can never be so dreary or pur
poseless a thing as before it was thus
touched with living fire from the altar
oft literary genius. Their maxims in
vigorate for toil, their faith sustains
in the day of disaster, their musings
solace In the hour of gloom. Their
friendship never fails, nor aspect
changes. And it is mostly in youth
that these treasures must be laid by,
for only then is the heart susceptible
to their tenderest impressions. Before
the man is 25 he has formed the germ
of his intellectual make-up, which later
years can do little more than' expand.
The songs that live are those that touch
the soul of youth, when its windows
are open to every passing air, before
the days when it can truly say it has
no pleasure in them, before the cares
of the world and the deceltfulness of
riches have choked the passion and the
aspiration, before the radiance about
our early years has faded to the light
of common day. They have done well
who "have gleaned in many fields for
these winsome compendiums of literary
truth and beauty. They have brought
to the rising generation a precious gift
of treasures no moth or rust can cor
rupt nor thieves break through and
steal. '
Our civil conflict, says Spenser Wil
kinson, the famous British war critic,
"had its origin in conditions of long
and gradual growth, rendering an ul
timate explosion inevitable." On the
other hand, Professor Macy, in his
"Political Parties In the United States,"
condemns the view that whatever has
happened is in the nature of the case
inevitable. He regards our Civil War
as by no means Inevitable, and says:
"It Is an undeniable truth that the
Civil War occurred as the result of a
series of political crimes and blunders."
Professor Macy holds that Webster and
Clay committed a fatal blunder In their
compromise measures of 1850, which
contained the seed of all the evil legis
lation that followed in 1854-56. The
Whig party, Professor Macy holds, had
only to stand fast In 1850, instead of
framing the compromise measures, and
they would have been the conservative
anti-slavery party of the country, a
party that in its simple opposition to
the further extension of slavery would
have retained a very large following at
the South among the old-time South
ern Whigs. Professor Macy holds that
the compromise measures of 1850 in
volved a fatal concession which
estranged from the Whig party all the
conservative anti-slavery forces of the
country so completely that at the next
Presidential election it was absolutely
routed beyond rally and became ex
tinct. Had Webster and Clay simply
stood fast and refused to ruin the Whig
party by adopting the compromise
measures of 1850, there would have
been no Republican party, for there
would have been no need for it, no room
for it. But Webster and Clay signed
the death-warrant of the Whig party,
which -up to this time. had retained the
sympathy and confidence of the con
servative anti-slavery forces of the
country.
THE SMALL COLLEGE.
Herbert W. Horwlll, in the current
number of the Atlantic Monthly, makes
a forcible and thoughtfu.1 plea in be
half of the small college, as clearly dis
tinguished from a university, like Johns
Hopkins, which alms not so much at
general culture as the production of
specialists, and seeks directly to pro
mote investigation and research. Of
course, the small college, however In
flated, does not pretend to compete
with a university. Nor does It seek to
compete with the technical school,
which Is organized for the training of
a man for the definite breadwlnnlng
occupation of his life. Theological sem
inaries, normal colleges, dental Insti
tutes, medical colleges, schools of en
gineering, schools for the training of
electricians and law schools, all have,
of course, a high educational value, but
culture is not the primary aim of the
curriculum of the technical school,
whose- purpose is not the training of
the man, but of the clergyman, the
physician and the engineer. President
Stryker defines the difference between
the function of college education and
that of technical training and post
graduate research at a university: "The
one process should make Iron Into steel
and the other makes steel Into tools.
Specialization which is not based upqn
liberal culture attempts to put an edge
on pot iron." Liberal culture which en
riches the life of man and multiplies
Its sources of the highest pleasure has
been given best In a small college, and
will continue to be because the small
college approximates more nearly than
the large to the true type of a place
of liberal culture.
In the small college the personality
of the teachers has a much greater
opportunity for wholesome influence.
Every professor may become directly
acquainted with each student. The
small college allows and directly in
vites friendly Intercourse between tu
tors and undergraduates. In a large
college the undergraduates split up Into
cliques or create artificial associations,
while the small college itself is the true
fraternity. The list of distinguished
men who have been produced by the
small colleges of the country Is a re
markable one. From Dartmouth came
Daniel Webster, Salmon P. Chase, Ru
fus Choate; from Bowdoln, Hawthorne,
Longfellow, John A. Andrew, President
Franklin Pierce, Jonathan CHley and
William Pitt Fessenden; from the Uni
versity of Vermont came Jacob Colla
mer, Henry J. Raymond, Frederick
Billings, Rev. Dr. Calvin Pease, John
A. Kasson, Bishop Blssell, of the Epis
copal Church, Rev. Dr. W. G. T. Shedd,
the famous theologian, John Gregory
Smith, Judge Charles L. Benedict, of
the United States District Court; the
late E. D. Shattuck, of Portland, Or.,
and Sidney H. Marsh, the first presi
dent of Forest Grove College. William
H. Seward was a graduate of Union
College; Ellhu Root and United States
Senator Hawley, of Hamilton College.
James A. Garfield, of Williams College,
and James Buchanan of Dickinson Col
lege; Rutherford B. Hayes of Kenyon
College; Chester A. Arthur of Union
College; Benjamin Harrison of Miami
University. When John Adams and
John Qulncy Adams graduated at Har
vard It was a very small college; so
was Princeton, where Madison gradu
ated, and so was William and Mary,
which includes Presidents Jefferson,
Monroe and Tyler among its alumni.
The first President Harrison was ' a
graduate of Hampden;Sydney, and
President Polk was educated at the
University of North Carolina. Edwin
M. Stanton, James G. Blaine and Cush
man Davis were all graduates of the
small college, and so were all the
Southern statesmen of college training,
for Yale College In John C. Calhoun's
day was a very small affair. E. J.
Phelps, Minister to England in 1S85
89, was graduated at MIddlebury (Vt.)
College, and so was the late Colonel
Aldace Walker, of the Atchison, ToReka
& Santa Fe Railway board. United
States Senator George " F. Hoar was
graduated at Harvard in 1846, when it
was a small college, and all the shin
ing names on Harvard's roll, Emerson,
Holmes, Parkman, WInthrop, Joslah
Qulncy. O. B. Frothlngham, Lowell,
General Devens, Edward Everett, Sum
ner, Wendell Phillips, Edward E. Hale,
E. R. Hoar, Thoreau, were all gradu
ated in the years when Harvard was
a small college that devoted itself solely
to purely academical training and gen
eral culture as distinguished from tech
nical training and natural sciences.
When Webster made his famous ar
gument In the Dartmouth College case
before Judge Marshall, ho Bald: "Dart
mouth is but a small college, sir, but
there are those who love It." Nearly
all the eminent men in old England
who received any kind or degree of aca
demic culture received it in small col
leges. When Jowett went up to Balllol,
that college had only eighty undergrad
uates on its books, but they included
such men as Dean Stanley, Lord North
cote, Archbishop Temple, Lord Coler
idge and Arthur Hugh Clough. These
men are some of the fruit of the in
tense culture of the small colleges.
Goldwin Smith, a distinguished gradu
ate of Oxford, wrote several years ago:
My acquaintance with universities wh'ich
have no colleges has confirmed my sense of
the value of these little communities, not
only as places for social training and for
formation of friendships (no unimportant ob
ject, and one which a college serves far bet
ter than a students' club), but as affording to
students personal superintendence and aid,
which they miss under a purely professorial
system.
A striking illustration of the truth
of this view Is found in the fact that
the great naturalist, Darwin, was res
cued from a life of intellectual indo
lence and social dissipation by his pro
fessor, who In dally walks with him
perceived that Darwin, who had been
born with a silver spoon in his mouth,
was wasting in social recreation great
natural powers of observation and in
ductive reasoning which were meant for
mankind. The personal appeal of this
professor persuaded young Darwin to
abandon his life of dinner parties and
social recreation for severe study, and
to accept an appointment procured for
him on a government vessel whose mis
sion was to make scientific exploration
of the .islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Darwin was gone two years, and his
study of the flora and fauna of the
world, from Patagonia to Australia and
Borneo, had converted him into a pas
sionate devotee of science. The close
contact of that student of genius with
his keen-eyed professor would only
have been possible in a small college,
and Darwin might otherwise have lived
and died a meredabbler in literature,
music and art. The business of the
small college is to Increase its power
by compression, not to dissipate and
attenuate it by idle efforts at Inflation
and competition with the so-called
great colleges. The small college should
devote Itself almost exclusively to
teaching In languages, literature, his
tory and philosophy, which are ample
for the cultivation of the scientific habit
of mlrtd; the habit of attention; of thor
oughness and accuracy, the knowledge
how to read and. think. This is what
the small college can do better than
the . large college, both In scholastic
training and social culture.
ORATORY.
George F. Hoar, In the current num
ber of Scribner's Magazine, argues that
the gift of eloquence Is the single gift
most to be coveted by men. With the
exception of Patrick Henry, Fisher
Ames and Daniel Webster, Mr. Hoar
holds that the number of American
orators who will live In history as ora
tors can be counted on the fingers of
one hand. Mr. Hoar does not name
them, but he would be compelled to
Include among them Henry Clay, Ed
Ward Everett, Rufus Choate and Wen
dell Phillips. Mr. Hoar seems to think
the great orator must' be a man of ab
solute sincerity, and then quotes Sheri
dan's great peroration in the impeach
ment of Warren Hastings as an exam
ple of the finest oratory, so fine that It
reads well today. And yet Sheridan
had not any sincerity about him; he
was a great artist and a 'great actor, a
master of the art of elocution, but a
man utterly without moral sense.
Burke, who made a speech of masterly
eloquence on the same occasion, was a
man of absolute sincerity, a man of
moral earnestness in thought and ac
tion; and yet Burke was not a great
artist nor a great actor, like Sheridan;
he had not a fine presence, a noble
countenance, a charming voice, so that
he frequently spoke to empty benches,
despite the fact that his thoughts were
so noble and their expression so elo
quent that everybody eagerly read the
next day the speech they had refused to
listen to the day before.
Lord Chatham, outside of his remark
able spoken eloquence, which was of
the theatric, declamatory sort, was In
ferior to Burke in imagination and
moral earnestness, and. yet Chatham
could rule the House -of Commons by
his voice, eye, gesture, as Burke never
ruled it. The secret of Chatham's
power was that he had the impas
sioned dramatic temperament, while
Burke was a profound political philoso
pher with the imagination of a poet.
Fox, who has been called the English
Demosthenes, was a truthful, honorable
man, but his private morals were very
bad; he was both a rake and a gambler.
He had nothing of the artist or actor
in his oratory; he was rather a great
debater than a great orator, In the
sense that Chatham, Sheridan, Patrick
Henry, Mirabeau or Kossuth were great
orators. He was a powerful reasoner;
not a man of Imaginative quality or
dramatic temperament.. He did not
join to his powerful understanding the
historic imagination of either Burke or
Webster, and he could not have been a
great orator outside of a great Parlia
mentary debate, for he dealt solely
with the reason of his audience. Mr.
Hoar's diptum that a great orator
"must be a man of absolute sincerity"
will hardly hold good; he may or may
not be; he needg only to be a great
artist and a great actor. A bad and
mean life is behind many a great ora
tor. Demosthenes was a coward, was
corrupt and was of bad morals; Cicero
was a synonym for Insincerity, vanity
and moral cowardice.
Mirabeau, the greatest 'orator of the
French Revolution, was venal and sen
sual to the, last degree. Kossuth, be
hind his splendid eloquence, had no no
bility of private character, no states
manship; and Castelar was a kind of
Spanish Kossuth in standing for no
statesmanship; he, was, like Vergnlaud,
the great orator of the Girondists, an
eloquent voice and naught beside. Dan
ton was the only man of the great
French Revolution, save Mirabeau, who
joined powerful eloquence to executive
and administrative vigor and courage
in "action. John Bright, rather than
Gladstone, was England's greatest ora
tor of the last half-century, but he
lacked Gladstone's talent for finance
and business. Canning was an admira
ble speaker; he had the logical faculty
joined to extraordinary powers of wit
and humor, and Disraeli In his methods
perpetuated the tradition of Canning
rather than that of Peel.
Webster, our greatest orator, was
weak on the moral side, and was doubt
less a man of less sincerity than Clay.
On the whole, It would be as difficult to
hold that a man to be a great orator
"must be a man of-absolute sincerity"
as It .Would be to hold that a great
poet must be a man of absolute sincer
ity, whereas great poets, like Goethe,
have been distinguished for nothing so
much as complete moral insincerity of
character. The 'great orator needs a
fine personal presence, a speaking eye,
a thrilling, sympathetic voice; he needs
to be a great artist and a great actor,
but he does not need to be a man of
absolute sincerity, any more than Na
poleon needed to be when he wrote one
of. his eloquent proclamations to the
army of Italy, at which he probably
laughed privately when he wrote it.
REDUCTION OP ROYALTY OX YUKON
GOLD.
The Dominion Government, as re
ported by John L. Bittinger,, Consul
General at Montreal, has decided to
reduce the royalty on gold mined in
the Yukon district from 10 to 5 per
cent, thus abating at least half the
grievance that American miners have
had against the exactions of Canadian
authorities in recent years. This 10 per
cent royalty was Imposed during the
first outburst of excitement over the
discovery of gold in the Klondike re
gion, while yet the government, as well
as the people, were ignorant of the
great difficulties attendant upon pros
pecting, mining and treating ore In that
far northern' latitude. The general Im
pression, as stated by Consul Bittinger,
wa3 that the 'gold was In "pockets" as
easily opened as a silo on a farm.
When, however, the labors, rlsk3 and
prlvatlonB of miners Incident to secur
ing gold in the Klondike became fully
known, It was acknowledged that a 10
per 'cent royalty was so onerous an
Impost on gold secured under such con
ditions that it tended to discourage
mining operations. Self-interest there
fore clearly demanded a reduction of
the royalty, and at length an order to
this effect has been made. In the opin
ion of Consul Bittinger, the reduced
royalty should be regarded as an equi-
table tax upon Yukon gold. The gov
ernment has, he says, been to great ex
pense In opening up the district, and
the cost of administering the laws of
the Dominion in this region is neces
sarily large. The government is there
fore commended for the reduction,- as
well as for its efforts to establish law,
maintain order and facilitate transpor
tation in the Klondike region.
That American miners have had just
cause for complaint that, Indeed, they
have been most grievously taxed In
the Yukon district, Is a matter of com
mon knowledge. The devices of the
Dominion Government for the exac
tion of tribute upon American endeavor
have equaled In ingenuity and execu
tion those against which our fathers
rebelled In colonial days. The first pur
pose was to levy tax upon American
enterprise; the second was to collect
it, and between the two an American
could not strike a pick into the frozen
earth without answering to the tax
gatherer for his temerity. Nor could
he engage In any otheV vocation inci
dent to mining operations, or to the
growth of a mining town, without giv
ing an account of his endeavor in good
American coin or Its equivalent In vir
gin gold. There was protest, of course,
but when did individual protest ever
avail against the levy or collection of
taxes? So matters stood until, through
the slow methods that -characterize
auch movements, the Government at
Washington spoke to the government
at Montreal on the matter, and the
latter, taking Its time, as becomes a
grave, deliberative body with a repu
tation for keeping, taxes up and ex
penses down to maintain, has finally re
duced the royalty on gold mined in the
Yukon district one-half; taking credit
to itself therefor, for wide-minded gen
erosity. And now, if Citizens of the
United States still regard this impost
upon gold taken out in Canadian terri
tory as too heavy, they 'have a rem
edy. Let them confine their mining
operations to Alaskan American terri
tory, the vastness of which is but dimly
comprehended and the richness of
which is practically unguess'ed.
The, Naval board of experts- has un
der serious consideration designs for
the largest and most powerful battle
ship ever attempted In this country,
and oyer 1000 tons heavier than the
greatest war vessel 'ever v constructed
anywhere. As a result of these delib
erations, It is probable that plans will
be submitted to Congress next .Winter
for at least one 16,000-ton battle-ship
mounting a battery not equaled by any
vessel ever built. Such battery would
far surpass the combined batteries of
almost any two armored cruisers, and
with a speed of 21 knots would min
imize the value of the heaviest shore
batteries. It would seem that the limit
in size, speed and power in the con
struction of warships would speedily
be reached at this rate. A floating
fort 450 feet long, moving at the rate
of 21 knots an hour and belching forth
solid shot from the muzzles of twelve,
eight and three-Inch guns at every turn,
ought to fix the limit of daring in naval
architecture and power In battle-ships
without further attempts in this line.
The cost of operating this tremendous
machine "and the labor and skill re
quired to take care of It will make
war "a game which nations will hesitate
to call. In Its capacity of "peace per
suader," therefore, this monster of the
sea will be worth all it costs, and more.
Number 5 of the quarterly of. the. Ore
gon Historical Society, just issued, is
notable for the excellence of its con
tents. The leading article is the paper
prepared by the Hon. George H. Will
iams and read before the Legislature
when It celebrated the fortieth anniver
sary of statehood, two years ago last
Winter, reciting the political history of
Oregon from 1853 to 1865. This is a
most valuable record. It covers an Im
portant era in Oregon history, and puts
in accessible form data not easily
found elsewhere, and It Is written by
a man who was an active participant
In the political events of that time and
whose scholarship and judgment pe
culiarly qualify him for the narrative.
Under the caption, "Flotsam and Jet
sam of the Pacific," Mrs. Frances Ful
ler "Victor sketches the story of those
early trading ships, the Owyhee, the
Sultana and the May Dacre. Joseph
Schafer gives a survey of public edu
cation in Eugene, and H. S. Lyman
tells the story of the Aurora commu
nity, the historical accuracy of which
Is vouched for by Emanuel Kell, son
of Dr. William Kell, who organized the
colony. All these papers are prepared
with great care, and they make an
unusually Interesting and valuable
number of the quarterly, which should
be widely read in Oregon.
The great City of G.lasgow, with a
population of at least 650,000, is trying
to bring Its saloons under better regula
tion. A private corporation, a public
house trust, seeks to control all the
saloons, and promises In return to see
that saloon surroundings are respecta
ble, to supply other attractions than
those of liquor, to limit its profits to 4
per cent, and to turn over the excess
for the development of the social side
of the saloon, or for other civic purpose.
The manager of each saloon makes his
personal profits solely from the sale of
food"an& non-lntoxlcatlng drinks, and
has no Interest In encouraging the sale
of alcoholic liquors. The Glasgow plan
differs from the Gothenburg plan in
this respect, that while the Swedish
system regulates only the sale of dis
tilled liquors, the Scottish plan makes
no distinction between distilled and
fermented. The licensed victualling
houses in Sweden have the sole right
to sell ardent spirits; any one may sell
beer and wine. The practlcalresult of
this policy has been to reduce largely
the consumption of spirits, but not to
reduce drunkenness in any satisfactory
degree.
And now certain captious persons are
finding fault with Mrs. Eddy's Chris
tian Science because it ooldly declares
that "If the science of life were under
stood, the human limb could be re
placed as readily as the lobster's claw."
The objection perhaps comes from un
reasonable jealousy of the lobster be
cause he got first at the root of the
science and goes calmly on working the
trick while benighted human beings
continue to hobble about on crutches
or sport empty sleeves In evidence of
their stupidity, after having had to
pay roundly for surgical attention-
The bishops of the Anglican Church
do not want the death penalty abolished
and have all replied in the negative to
Dr. Joslah Oldfleld, who wrote all the
bishops, asking their opinion as to
whether they thought the time had not
come when this barbarous penalty
could not at any rate, experimentally
J be suspended.
POISONOUS PLANTS OF OREGON.
V. IC Chesnut. of the United States De
partment of Agriculture, who spent the
month of April among Oregon farmers
studying the stock-poisoning plants of this
state, has just issued a report dealing
with the poisonous plants of Montana.
This embodies a good deal of informa
tion that will in all probability be Incorpo
rated Into the forthcoming report on Ore
gon. For although Montana differs ma
terially from Oregon in climatic condi
tions, It nevertheless contains some of our
most troublesome plants, such as the
death camas, the larkspur, loco weeds,
lupines, and water hemlock.
One of the most fatal of, these In Its
effects Is undoubtedly the death camas.
Zygadenus venenosus, which is found in
Oregon meadows and in wet ground gen
erally over the state, though apparently
not In such abundance as In Montana. It
Is a near relative to the well-known food
plant of the Indians, which, while harm
less enough, possesses rather remarkable
qualities, judging from the naive descrip
tion found in the journal of Lewis and
Clark. "Some of these roots (camas) seem
to possess very active properties, for after
supping on them this evening we were
swelled to such a degree as to be scarcely
able to breathe for several hours."
The death camas is a smooth, simple
stemmed plant with grass-like leaves, yellow-green
flowers, and a coated bulb,
similar to an onion. Both the leaves and
bulbs are poisonous; the latter particu
larly so. The greatest danger exists Im
mediately after a heavy rain storm, when
the soil Is softened, and the bulb Is easily
pulled up and eaten with the leaves. It
is found in moderately moist places where
grass starts earliest In the Spring, and
as its leaves closely resemble grass, even
the oldest and wisest ewe is apt to be
deceived by it. During the season of 1000
over 3000 sheep In Montana were reported
as poisoned by this one plant alone, most
jot these between May 5 and May 20.
But death camas. In Oregon, Is probably
not responsible for so much loss to our
stackralsers as the larkspur, owing to the
greater abundance of the latter In this
state. Of the poisonous species common
in Montana, the tall larkspur, from four
to seven feet high, with pale blue flowers
(Delphinium glaucum), does not appear to
give us much trouble. It Is never eaten
by sheep, owing to Its rank coarseness of
growth. Horses also refuse It, but It may
cause more deaths among cattle than has
hitherto been realized.
The purple larkspur (D. blcolor) In
Montana is apt to be' found growing in
the same localities with the death camas;
here, according to Thomas Howell's "Flo
ra of Northwest America," It is found in
dry ground on the mountains of Eastern
Oregon. The poisonous properties of the
plant are not entirely understood as yet,
but it causes more trouble among sheep
and calves than among cattle and horses,
particularly In its early stages of growth,
before flowering. This must not be con
fused with our common blue larkspur (D.
trollifollum). which is brighter in color,
and In this state is particularly abund
ant, probably producing more deaths
among cattle and sheep than any other of
our poisonous plants. It is not mentioned
in the Montana report, but will no doubt
be described in the forthcoming pamphlet
upon Oregon.
Considerable trouble Is caused to stock
raisers by the water hemlock (Clcuta oc
cidentalls), otherwise known as wild pars
nip or cow bane, which Is apt to be fataji
In its effect. According to the Montana
report 76 per cent of the sheep and 83
per cent of cattle that had eaten it died;
and during the year 1900, four out of
five human beings. This grows In wet
places throughout Oregon; the root, which
contains a virulent poison, has a char
acteristic musky odor; the flowers are
very small, of a dull, greenish-white color,
loosely clustered. Our Western species
seems to be quite as dangerous as that
of the Eastern States. In some cases of
cattle poisoned by this plant the vic
tim died within 15 minutes after the first
signs of poisoning appeared. Death has
been found to occur In SO per cent of the
cases. Remedies seem to be of little avail,
and the only hope lies In extermination of
the plant. This is not so difficult as it
seems, if only the herders can be trained
to recognize the plant In Its various
stages of growth, an end that is slowly
being reached through the descriptions
and illustrations contained In the agri
cultural reports sent out broadcast over
the land each, year by our United States
Government.
The loco weeds (astragalus), that are
the source of so much 103s to the farmers
of the Pacific Coast, are as yet but Im
perfectly understood, as they offer many
difficulties to the Investigator. The Mon
tana report apparently does not throw
any light upon our own species ot astra
galus, which number 30 or 40, and doubt
less include some that are poisonous. No
doubt valuable data concerning these will
be given In the report on Oregon. The
genus Is one of the largest known to
botanists, no fewer than 150 species being
found In America: most of these grow
west of the Mississippi River. A careful
study of them Is therefore of the utmost
Importance to "Western agriculturists.
As everyone knows, a horse that Is lo
coed 1b, in a sense, crazed; he jumps at
Imaginary obstacles, Is unable to walk
straight, and sees and hears but Imper
fectly. No specific remedy has ever been
discovered for the loco disease. It seems,
curiously enough, to be a depraved ap
petite for the weed on the part of horses,
sheep, and more rarely cattle, and In
this respect Is comparable to various In
jurious habits of men, such as drunk
enness and the morphine habit. "For
chronic cases it seems hardly reasonable
to expect that any remedy will be de
vised." says this report. "Their treat
ment must apparently proceed on the
same principles as the treatment of vic
ious habits of long standing in man." In
certain parts of Montana the habit became
so widespread among horses, through
Imitation, that the raising of them was
abandoned until the locoed animals were
disposed of, and other horses which had
not the oco habit had been Imported. It
has been found that sheep more fre
quently form the habit of eating the loco
plant when not regularly supplied with
salt than when abundantly furnished with
this substance. The vicious craving,
therefore, can to some extent be prevent
ed by supplying sheep with a sufficient
quantity of salt.
The poisonous lupines (wild pea) de
scribed In the report on Montana are
found also in Oregon. We have altogether
some 30 species of lupine, their showy
racemes of bluo flowers and beautiful
leaves being a conspicuous feature of an
Oregon landscape. Many of them are
valuable forage plants, growing on both
the Coast and Cascade Ranges. Dairymen
living .near the mountains prize this fod
der very highly In the production of choice
butter and cheese. In the earlier stages
of growth, lupines are harmless; but ac
cording to the Investigations made In
Montana, where lupine hay Is extensively
used, death has been traced to eating the
ripened seeds: many thousands of bheep
have been lost by this means, 1900 out of
one flock of 3CO0 within a period of three
days.
Montana, in tho value of its sheep hold
ings, leads every state In the Union. Or
egon falls behind it several paces: but
that, we thank God, Is because she can
raise other things besides sheep. Yet
when one remembers that today this state
has over 55,000,000 worth of sheep graz
ing on Its mountain pastures. It will be
seen that our farmers can 111 afford to
neglect a study of the weeds upon which
these helpless creatures must thrive or
die.
SLINGS AND ARROWS.
Farewell to Sprlngr-
When the
Gentle vernal showers have been drunk
by thirsting flowers.
And the
Shady sjlvan bowers all are gaily blos
soming: Then wo
Know the time is coming when the bees
will be a humming.
And the
Hobo out a-bummlng steaks or cakes or
anything.
When the
Brlsht-plumed birds are nesting, and fair
maids in hammocks resting.
Find that
Oulda interesting visions of fond love
can bring;
When mos-
Qultos are a-biting and the ice-cream
man's inviting
You to
Banquets most delighting If from heat
jou're suffering;
When the
Dust is thickly flying and there's no
use of denying
That the
Heat Is very trjlng; when the birds no
longer sing;
When the
Air around Is stifling, and the Summer
maidens trifling
v 1th joung
Men their hearts are rifling whllo young:
Cupid's arrows sting:
When tho
Price of ice l rising, at a rate that's
most surprising.
And tho
Housewife'' realizing that It costs like
eer thing;
When the
City's population sets out on a long va
cation In a
Search for recreation where the billows
roll and swing.
Then we
Sigh a little sadly, for we loved tho sea
son madly.
And we
Cannot very gladly say farewell to balmy
Spring.
The Echo.
Silently the hero stole through the
wings and lcross the grass which grew
luxuriantly In spots on the stage floor.
The villain, engaged In preparations to
blow up the aged capitalist with dyna
mite, marked him not. At this moment
the orchestra cut in with a bunch ot
tremulous music composed for the oc
casion by one of the stage hands, and
the hero (for this vab his cue) observed:
"Villain, desist! I hive discovered
you!"
"Foiled again," muttered the stage vil
lain. Then he hissed.
The hiss came back from the gallery,
with redoubled volume.
"Lookahere, Jones," said the villain to
the hero when the curtain fell, "there'3
altogether too much of an echo In this
shack." For having played "heavies" for
23 years he didn't see where the hisses
came In If they were not echoes.
Moril: Trust a villain to be chesty.
June.
The violets look from the dewy grass
Like specks of a cloudless sky.
And the patches of golden sunlight pass
Through tho trees when the wind goes by;
Tho pungent smell of tho wilting fern
Hangs oer the tinkling rill.
Where the green-roofed, mossy pathways tura
To follow along the hill, .
And bright In the deep, surrounding gloom.
Beneath the dark fir tree.
Shines forth tho tender, waxen bloom
Of the starry anemone.
Tho wind and brook, the birds and bees
Aro singing the same glad tune;
And you hear It whispered among the trees,
Tis June, 'tis June, 'tis June!
Not Cinnllfled.
"I cannot sing the old songs." sighed
the man with the red-spotted vest.
"Then you don't get a job with my
minstrel show," replied the portly gen
tleman with the two-ounce diamond shirt
stud, and the man with the red-spotted
vest went forth Into the black night, on
his weary search for a chance to make
$250 a week.
Yolamln Mnrfrherltn.
ROME, June 1. Queen Helena was ac
couched of a daughter at 9 o'clock this
morning. The Princess will be named
Yolanda Margherlta.
There Is considerable disappointment in
the infant's sex, though the King Is un
derstood to have expressed contentment.
Salutes are being tired throughout Italy.
The infant's nurse will get $2000 with
the baby's first tooth, another $2000 when
the child Is able to speak, and a similar
sum when the little Princess walks unsup
ported. Oh! Yolanda Margherlta, even though you're
not a boy.
You're a dear, delightful baby, and your coun
try's pride and joy.
You shall havo a golden rattle, and a sllvqr
trundle bed.
And a silken cap shall cover up your red and
hairless head;
Noble dames shall hover o'er you, and fronv
out a Jeweled cup
You shall drink the hottest water when the
colic cnarls you up.
And jour nurse shall guard you closely, as sho
ough to do. forsooth.
For she'll get ?20OO when you cut your first
small tooth.
Oh! Yolanda Margherlta, jou're no common
baby; nay.
You're a royal little cherub, and may be a
Queen some daj
But. Yolanda Margherlta. with jjfouBi Princely
retinue.
Do not grow up in the notion that the world
was built for j-ou;
For a thousand other babies, just as small
and round and red.
Came "from heaven when they found you in
that silken-curtained bd;
Came to learn to laugh and prattle and to play
thnir little narts.
As th'ey Journey on the pathway to their doting
parents hearts.
Some abide In dingy shanties, 'mid surround
ings dark and drear,
But they're just as sweet as you are. Just as
darling. Just as deer.
And. Yolanda Margherlta. it Is very, very
true
That there's not a single baby that It s mam
ma'd trade for you.
So. Yolanda Margherlta, just proceed to cut
j-our teeth.
And to teach your rojal parents that the first
come underneath,
Show them that they've never, never known a
pleasure half worth -virile
Till they bent down o'er your cradle and be
held your first wee smile;
But rentember. gentle baby, that each small
and toothless elf
Who came down from heaven with you Is as
lovely as j-ourself.
Do not think there are no others in the world
with you, because
Every baby that la born is Just the dearest
eVer8' J.J.MONTAGUE.
An EnBlHU View of Morgan.
London Express.
One poor planet will soon scarcely suf
fice for the Morgan concerns. By means
of his billion dollar trust and a few other
trifles, Mr. Morgan Is one of the un
crowned kings of the United States; Ni
agara Is bis humble servant with the elec
tricity It generates: he Is going to spread
far down Into South America by means
of railways: he has begun to annex the
Atlantic; the recovered Galnsboroughs
and large holdings In the new loan are
only Items of his British programme; and
now the canals of Europe are to be In
struments of his In the international
steel war. Napoleon said that Europe
would eventually fjill to Russia or re
publicanism; he could not foresee the
third possibility, Mr. Plerpont Morgan.
Mr, Morgan may yet go down to history
as the man who at last made the power
of the private purse Intolerable.
1
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