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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 1901)
THE SUNDAY OBEGOfllAy, , PORTLAND, JUNE 9, 1901. Jh rggomotu Jfelered at the Postofflee at Portland. Oregon, ' & second-class natter. - TELEPHONES. Editorial Rooms ICO i Business Office.. .607 ", REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. "13y Mall (postage prepaid). In Advance Pally, with Sunday, per month $ 83 Dally, Sunday, excepted, per year 1 60 Dally, with Sunday, per year 0 00 Sunday, per year 2 00 The Weekly, per year 1 60 The Weekly. 3 months .... GO To City Subscribers Sally, per week, delivered. Sundays excepted.lac Pqlly. per week, delivered. Pundas lncludcd.20c POSTAGE RATES. United, States, Canada and Mexico: 10. to 16-page paper...., .-Jc 16 to 32-pase paper 2c ..Foreign rates double. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonlan should be addressed invaria blr "Editor The Oregonlan," not -to the name of any Individual. Letters relating to advertis ing, subscriptions, or to any business matter ehould be addressed simply "The Oregonlan." The Oregonlan does not buy poems or stories rdm Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to it without solici tation No stamps should be Inclosed for this purpose. Puget -Sound Bureau Captain. A. Thompson, office at 1111 Paciflc avenue. Tacoma. Box 955, Tacoma Postofflce. Eastern Business Office 17. 48. 49 and 50 Tribune building. New York City; 403 "The .Rookery," Chicago; the S. C. Beckwlth special agency. Eastern representative. For sale In San Francisco by J. K. Cooper. 746 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Gold smith Bros , 23G Sutter street; F. W. Pitts. 1008 Market etreet; Foster & Orcar, Ferry news stand. For sale In Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner. 259 So. Spring street, and Oliver & Haines, 106 So. Spring street. t Tor sale In Chicago by the P. O. News Co., EI7 Dearborn street. For sale In Omaha by Barkalow Bros., 1612 STarnam street. For sale In Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co., 77 W. Second South street. For sale In Ogden by W. C. Kind, 204 Twenty-fifth street. On file at Buffalo, N. T In the Oregon ex hibit at the exposition. For sale in -Washington, D. C by the Ebbett House new-stand. For sale In Denver, Colo., by Hamilton & Kendrlck. 006-912 Seventh street. TODAY'S WEATHER, warmer; wlsterly winds. -Probably fair and PORTLAND, SUNDAY, JUXE O, 1001. A TIME FOR, ACTIOX. Hitherto the Union Pacific has not looked properly after Its interests in the Northwest. For a long time it was not In position to do so. It was entangled In various ways, from which it was un able, during many years, to extricate itself. But conditions have changed, or are fast changing. The Union Pacific Is now a consolidated system. It pos sesses the Oregon Short Line and the O., R. & N. It is associated with the Chicago & Northwestern. Joined with it is the Southern Pacific. Unity of purpose and of action Is now to be pur sued by great interests which 'formerly? Were separate and divergent, each tak ing its own course. The Union Pacific is now getting into position to do for the Northwest what we of the North west have long been waiting with great impatience for it to do. It has already established a line of great steamers be tween Portland and the Orient. It has connected the two parts of the Oregon railroad, by a cut-off line from Wallula to Riparia. It has surveyed and estab lished a route along Snake River from Riparia to Lewlston, and has occupied With its surveys the only practicable route from Lewlston Into the Upper Clearwater country. It Is true that it has thus far been held back from con struction eastward from Riparia by the opposition of the Northern Pacific; but recent events in New York lend prob ability to the belief that the North ern Pacific's veto will not be so pow erful henceforth as it has been. It is believed the Union Pacific is getting ready to do in the Northwest certain things that it could be wished it had seen its way to do years ago. "We re print on this page from the Lewlston Tribune an article to which we now desire to call attention. Its headline Is, "Alleged Decadence of Portland." The handicap that Portland and the O. R. & N. have suffered and still suffer in doing business in Idaho Is well shown in this article. Yet In spite of that handicap Rqrtlattd still does the bulk of the business. It Is done, however, through a circuitous and expensive route, with long delays. The natural avenue of this great business Is the Una by which the water flows to Port land; but it is Interrupted because the Northern Pacific has forbidden the con struction of the O. R. & N. further east than Riparia. "The avenue," says the Lewlston Journal, "Is there to bind the country lndissolubly to Portland, yet Portland has been willing to keep the avenue' dosed and let Its trade be taxed to cross barriers to reach It." But Portland Is not willing. She has chafed for years under these conditions, imposed by the veto of the Northern Pacific The Union Pacific has been unwilling to make the fight that never theless was inevitable, and rather than enter it has allowed the Northern Pa cific's bluff to prevail. So there is no railroad "along the natural route -east of Riparia. Such road must, however, be built, and there is reason to believe that the "Union Pacific will no longer allow the Northern Pacific to forbid or prevent it. Extension of the O. R. & N. from Ri paria to Lewiston southeasterly Into the great Clearwater region would have great meaning for the trade and devel opment of the country and for the busi ness of Portland both mercantile and shipping. The traffic of a very great country, both ways, would then have unobstructed course. It always has been preposterous to suppose that the great traffic of Northern Idaho, and much of that of Eastern Washington, could be permanently cut oft from Its natural and easy course, and sent round about oyer a ridgy country, circuitous routes and high mountains. Lewlston Is but a few hundred feet above the sea level. It is reached by a Northern Pacific branch road, which descends a long and crooked canyon, for many miles. The products of the great country that flow into Lewlston must be pulled out of this canyon, up a grade on which wo en gines can with difficulty draw six cars; and then the course is around over the ridges, up and down by long cir cuits to "intersection with the main line of the Northern Pacific. Then the great barrier, of the Cascade Mountains is btilf to be encountered. All this busi ness, both ways, can be done direct, upon a line that follows a great river, practically without any grade. Con struction of sixty-five miles of railway from Riparia to Lewlston will open the way.. Here is by far the most important of tile railway undertakings that remain in 'the great valley of the Columbia. Every influence that Portland can exert should be brought to bear on the Union Pacific to Induce it to construct this road, and to construct It now. No rail road should be permitted to "bottle up" a country, as the Northern Pacific has done. In this case. Direct connection by the natural route, the line by which the great river and Its tributaries flow, Is the rightful demand of the upper country, as It Is also the rightful de mand of Portland. The Union Pacific Is In position to execute this demand. It ought to do it. It must do It. The demand Is natural, rational, necessary. There can be no greater wrong to a country than obstruction of Its natural routes of transport In this matter the Northern Pacific for years has been committing a wrong against the interior country and a wrong against Portland. The Union Pacific has not wished hith erto to enter into the controversy; but the "unpleasantness" at New York last month made conditions to which the construction of this link from Riparia eastward, so long delayed out of com plaisance to the Northern. Pacific, would scarcely add new materials of irritation. The Oregonlan desires to repeat, with all possible emphasis, every influence that Portland can exert, through its or ganized trade bodies, through popular assembly, through Individual citizens, ought to be directed to'the effort of" urg ing the Union Pacific to put the O. R. & N. Railroad Into Lewlston from Rl parla. and Into the great productive country beyond. The long-continued "bluff" of the Northern Pacific against this extension Is immoral. It Is an out rage upon the interior country and a wrong to Portland, that ought no long er to be treated with any kind of con sideration OREGON'S FRUITFUL ROMANCE. Two women and one man have re cently made contributions of great In terest and value to the literature of early Oregon history. The three books are: "Stories of Oregon," by Eva Emery Dye. Whlttaker & Ray. San Francisco. "Lewis and Clark." by W. R. Llghton Houghton. Mifflin & Co.. Boston. "The Story ot Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark." by Nellie F. Klngsley. Werner Company, Chicago. No one can doubt that these works will uncover to large numbers of peo ple the heroism and romance In which the early annals of this region were formed. Mrs. Dye's book Is the most fascinating of the three, its every page being invested with that peculiar dra matic charm which promises to make her the literary apostle par eminence of Oregon among the masses. No one who has once fallen under the spell of her spirited and moving romance Is likely to neglect anything that comes from her pen. o to fall to recommend her writings to acquaintances near and far. This "Stories of Oregon" will serve a useful purpose if it introduces the gen eral reader to Mrs. Dye's far more worthy and useful "Dr. McLoughlln and Old Oregon," a historical romance brought out last year by A. C. McClurg & Co., of Chicago, which should be read by every Oregonlan. In "Stories of Oregon." no connected plan Is held, but fragmentary Introductions are given to the effort of navigators for .Northwest" and Southwest passages to India, discovery of the Oregon and "Washington coast, and points of Inter est; Lewis and Clark's expedition; As tor's enterprise at Astoria; Dr. John McLoughlln; Captain Bonneville; the missionaries: the Cayuse "War and "Whitman massacre; Ben Holladay, Jo seph Lane and General Summers, with the Oregon Volunteers in Luzon. The two books on Lewis and Clark have not the excuse for dlsjolnted ness that Mrs. Dye's simple stories have, and despite the skill with which they bring points of Interest Into prom inence, they leave a painful impression of incompleteness, perhaps we should say of hurried preparation and Insuffi cient care. Most grievous of all, neither Mr. Llghton nor Miss Kingsley seems to have become saturated with the sub ject so as to treat it out of a full knowl edge and a full heart. They have, ap parently, hastily pawed over the mem oirs and set down what caught the eye and "let It go at that." Yet the mer its of their work are considerable. Each has Important details of the expedition that are omitted by the other, and Mr. Llghton has made especially Interest ing use of the original and imperfect English In Captain Clark's journal. The estimates are truthful and appre ciative, not only of the explorers them selves, but of Jefferson and other actors In the great Oregon undertaking. The appearance of the books Is timely, In view of the Lewis and Clark Centennial of 1905, and ways should be found to utilize them In 'connection with the commemorative celebration and com mercial exposition It Is designed to hold at Portland In that year. In all this considerable body of early Oregon history that Is appearing we are reminded of the romantic element In our annals, too long neglected. The historical novel of Revolutionary times, so greatly in vogue within the last few years, owes Its success to Its appre ciation of the romance of that early time. It Is In the drama and the novel that history shines In its most attract ive light. Memory loves to dwell on the exploits tradition has bequeathed of "Mad Anthony" "Wayne and Nathan Hale and Marlon's band, Decatur and Paul Jones, Philip and Massasolt, Fron tenac and La Salle, PIzarro and Cor tez, Franklin In France, Washington at the Forge, Paine outlawed In Eng land andthrown Into prison at Luxem bourg by Robespierre, or Ledyard, es corted to the Polish frontier by stern soldiers of the Empress Catharine. It is through the medium of romance that Oregon's wonderful story must be brought to the attention of the mass of readers. It is known already to the studious few, but few only are they who can be reached with fact, un adorned and dry, however, true or im portant. What Is wanted Is some one who can seize upon the romantic ele ments In our history and set them out in attractive and impressive guise. Mrs. Dye has made a beginning In this di rection, so noteworthy that It might be difficult to set bounds to her ulti mate success. The beautiful rpmances she has spun about Fort "Vancouver and the Willamette Valley missions, old Astoria and the Lewis and Clark expedition, are literary gems. She seizes upon the human interest of her narratives and unfolds It with thrilling interest, rapidity of action and pathos of moving power. While we are dredg ing channels and digging for coal and entertaining visiting statesmen, we shall leave a most Important work for Oregon, undone if we do not read these excellent books of Mrs1. Dye's and then send them to some Eastern friend who will talk about them and pass" them on. There is a power in affection no other force can supply; and In these J romances the heart is profoundly y stirred. No one can read them .and n.bt love the names that are Identified with Oregon's early years. y yf US. NO POETRY FROM PROMOTE Chauncey Depew justified his reputa tion for inaccurate knowledge and su perficial thinking in his address at the opening of the Hall of Fame, when he argued that our present material de velopment Is the necessary prelude to Intellectual and spiritual expansion in art, in letters and in the higher Na tional life. Senator 'Depew says that our Tennysons, Longfellows, Haw thorn'es, Emersons. Michael Angelos, Shakespeares and Raphaels are at pres ent engaged In planning tunnels, con solidating railroads, manipulating the markets of the world and expanding trusts. Mr. Depew appears to think that when this day of intense tempo tary absorption of the American intel lect In material development Is over this same American Intellect will flower in the higher form of the noblest aft and the finest literature. Our utilita rian men of genius will find both time and inclination to paint Sistine Ma donnas and portray poetic figures as noble as Hamlet, Othello or Prince Hal. This notion of Mr. Depew Is not new, and It is certainly not true; It is contra dicted by the experience of history; It is totally out of line with the moral and spiritual development of mankind. More than seventy years ago" Macaulay in his essay on Drydea traversed this ab surd notion of Mr. Depew and showed by ample historical proof that the Na tion which gives itself to material ends will produce material fruits. From the Greek who worshlped beauty came the natural fruits of in comparable art, poetry and literature, but utilitarian Rome had no literature except what was merely a continuation of the literature of the Greeks. Julius Caesar called Terence half Menander, which Macaulay says was "sure proof that Menander was not a quarter Aris tophanes." The essence of Macaulay's argument is that it is the law of utili zation as it is the law of nature that our judgment ripens; our imag ination decays; that in. the progress of nations toward refinement the reason ing powers are improved at tfie expense of the imagination. "The sciences Im prove rapidly, but poetry In the highest sense of the word disappears. Then comes the dotage of the fine arts, the age ot critical poetry, of poetry by cour tesy, of poetry to which the memory, the judgment and the wit contribute far more than the Imagination." The conclusion of Macaulay is that "Italy will never produce another Inferno or England another Hamlet." In Greece the Imaginative, creative school of poetry gradually faded Into the merely critical; It was a steady decline from Aeschylus and Pindar to Theocri tus and the Alexandrian versifiers. The Romans were In art and literature mere pupils of the Greeks; they began where Greece left off; they had almost no period of original Invention; Lucretius and Catullus alone had notable vigor of Imagination. The poetry of France, Italy and Spain has undergone the same change; the drift 'from imagin ative creative poetry down to critical -verse. In England the change was still more abrupt, for Macaulay points out 'that the same person who, when a boy, had witnessed the first representa tion, of Shakespeare's "Tempest" might have lived to read the earlier works of the critical school of Prior and Addison. As knowledge is extended and as the reason -develops itself, the Imitative arts decay. The .few. great works of imag ination" which appear in a "critical , age are the works cf uneducated persons, like Bunyan and Burns'. The difference between the age of Shakespeare "and the age of Tennyson is the difference "between sublime Invention and agree able Imitation." This, stated with nec essary brevity, Is" the substance of Ma ca'ulay's argument that we cannot look to civilization, whose glory, like that of Rome, Is that of great genius for the production of material prosperity and colossal works of utility on an enormous scale, to give us the aright, consummate flower of the noblest poetry or the finest art. Rome had a brief day of critical poetry and imi tative literature, taking the Greeks for masters; but the strength, the orlglnal ity.of Rome was Its utilitarian genius. It could form a splendid army; It could build a bridge, a military road, an aqueduct, a sewer; It could make a sys tem of jurisprudence that Is Immortal; It could govern ably; It could both con quer an empire and rule It after" con quest. But In Rome this genius for utili tarian Invention and production, was not associated with the Greek genius for apprehending the spirit cf beauty in man and nature so perfectly that, to use Wendell Phillips' fine phrase, Ath- ens may be said to have "invented" art and been the mother of all great literature. We have had our brief, brilliant day of literary development. With the ex ception of a few names like those of Hawthorne, Poe and perhaps Emerson, our best literature has been nothing but the continuation of the literature of England, even as the, literature of Rome was but the continuation and imitation of that of Greece. There is no American poet, or philosopher, or novelist, living today who deserves to be classed as the peer of Emerson and Hawthorne. We are not without the presence and the further prospect of an excellent literature, but It will not be a creative literature in poetry and fic tion; It will be 'an excellent literature of the critical rather than the creative school. It will be a literature of books of science, of criticism, of travel, of po litical history; the natural expression of the taste of a people who"have little time to dream and every disposition to do In this world. It Is utterly absurd to assume, as Mr. Depew does, that a nation can be greatly given over tb passionate utilitarianism and produce i other than material fruits. We do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of this tles. Of course we shall have plenty of rich men, like Morgan, buying costly paintings' and tapestries In Europe, but that Is no assurance and promise of a coming day of. original productivity Ln American art, for rich men buy costly works of art just as they do costly race horses; just as a successful Ethio pian minstrel or gambler Is sure to wear diamonds. v ' . Just so long as the great mass of the people look on material success as the end of life, we need not expect that any new period of American letters of the creative quality of Hawthorne and Emerson will come. A man with, a brain fine enough to write .''The Scarlet Letter" will not be" content with the" business of consolidating railroads, building- tunnels, manipulating stock markets or watering 'trusts. A man who is artist enough to-recall Raphael' work Is In no danger of burying his genius in a mining shaft. The Amerl- t 3 Ife.a.Vi-&t-i can people' today are doing just about what they 'are fit to do; they are not itolng today a great work in art and llt- erature fo'r the same reason that the Romans didn't equal the Greeks In thftSR resneets. They simply could not do more than be pupils of their Greek master; they could do a great many grand thfngs that the Greeks were never equal to, but the particular ex cellence of the Greek In art and litera ture was the despair of the Roman. So we Americans are a great people, but we do not promise in the near fu ture a great literature or a noble art. OUR COUNTRY IX PROPHECY. There Is nothing startling, nothing sensational, nothing at which to cavil, in the assumption based upon the facts of history that the Republic known as the United States of America is not an everlasting political entity. It is not nec essary to go over the facts In the rise, decline and fall of the Roman Empire to prove that nations are not made of everlasting stuff, or that history re peats Itself, with some modification as to details, but with utter fidelity as to fact, as the ages roll on and on. Change Is the general or4er. yet the history of mankind as recited In the lives of na tions and of individuals repeats Itself with stubborn Iteration, scorning to give a reason, yet with reasons so plainly apparent that he who runs may read. Underlying' this great fadt Is the other fact which declares that human nature Is the same the world over, and has been the same through the age3. The triumph of a principle the princi ple of liberty, perhaps hotly contested and dearly won Is prone to beget arro gance and self-sufficiency. Prosperity following the lines of humble endeavor is prone to desert the tents of econ omy and thrift, and In espousing ex travagance lay the foundation for a brood of weaklings that are catalogued as vices or follies, as the case may be, but in which, whatever the name, are the seeds of weakness and decay. Ris ing to balance the account, the sturdy elements of human nature appear, turning National or individual disas ter aside! If sufficiently powerful If not, to go -down to temporary d.efeat, pending a reorganization of forces and the rising of the new In the place of the old both ever new and ever old. These facts are known of all men, hence when Elder Jones, of the Seventh Day Adveritlsts, tells us, as he did last Sundav. that our Nation as a Nation will not live forever; that It has within Its body social and politic the elements of decay; that these are potent forces in Its destiny, and that It will stand or fall according to the balance that is maintained between the forces that build and the forces that destroy, he does not need to quote from the an cient Hebrew prophets to substantiate his story or give weight to his words. The great law of cause and effect holds In the universe and governs the affairs of .nations and .of men just as it did during the rise, decline and fall of Rome. It is but a shallow spirit of boastfulness, Uhe voice of the ego in man piping shrilly or babb.ing foolishly, that makes the American laud his country as above all others and pro claim his belief that Its government Is everlastlngrthat causes the German to Indulge in a like belief in regard to r his nation, and the Englishman and even the Chinaman to echo the senti ment, takipg-,.cara to apply it each to his own. Patriotism, in Its narrow sense, "ierTsut a sublimated forn of self ishness, running naturally Into bpast fulness, and likely to merge Into pal try self-seeking. The good elder, who declared In effect that. the United States as a Nation Is rushing madly upon the "bdssy shield of the Omnipotent" in Its management of the insular problem with which It has been .unexpectedly confronted, discloses the bias of the political anti-expansion-Ist rather than the prescience of the prophet of goodf and evil, as based upon the teachings of the Scriptures. There fs the threatening tone of eccleslastl clsm in his prophecies, the voice of one whose wish Is -father to the thought, that. weakens the force of his warning and, the vigor of his arraignment of our National sins. He furnishes a gleam of consolation, however, in the sugges tion that, while our Nation will, no doubt, eventually go the way of na tions. It 'Is not upon the Immediate Verge of Ignominious extinction from the cause which he assigns the ac quirement of the Philippines and the attempt to bring the Inhabitants thereof Under our National jurisdiction. The Georgia Sheriff who resolutely defended his prisoner against a lynch ing party confirms the view expressed some years ago by Chief Justice Blecklev. of Georcrla. who in an address t before the State Bar Association said that a resolute Sheriff, who was deter mined to do tys duty, seldom failed to stand off a mob, who were as a rule cowardly, if they were satisfied that the officers of the law were In earnest in their decision to defend their prisoner. Sofue ten years ago an Alabama Sheriff made a vigorous and successful de fense of hlB jail against "the mob, be cause he shot down the ringleaders without hesitation the moment they at tempted to storm the jail. We do not remember an Instance when a Sheriff haB hpt promptly to kill, that he has lost his prisoner. In -Windham County, Vermont, forty Federal liquor licenses are annually issued to dealers in spirituous liquors, and Windham County .has fewer In proportion to Its inhabitants than some other counties In the state. The fact that ln an ironclad prohibition state there are forty persons who confess that they are Illegal sellers of liquor uhder the state law by taking out a Federal license to sell liquor furnishes the opposltltm to prohibition with suf ficient argument for a state license law. Of-cdurse, we shall have some red-hot stories from Vancouver, Port Town send and other Puget Sound points of wars and massacres along the interna tional boundary. The vounsr gentlemen I of1 the press up that way are tireless In manufacture and Irreproachable In effro'nteryr Their imaginations cannot be equaled outside of San Francisco. So, J3overnor Rogers will socn have a. Legislature on his -hands. Considering that It is the same outfit from whose crazy legislation the state is now trying to escape, the Governor is a brave man. A good many women have committed-1 murder of late, and perhaps one reason Is the injudicious sympathy shown female murderers by maudlin jurors. , If' exceptions prove the rule, It Is welL enough to xobserve that Fred j Grant's utterance about Aguinaldo -is I bothTpdirited andsenslble. -fiHifr VK '-AltiU V ii i.fri nlrltattS-?K-T'j MATTHEW ARNOLD ON MIRACLES Eplphanlus tells ue that at each anni versary of the miracle of Cana the water of the springs of Clbyra In Carla and Gerasa, In Arabia, was changed into wine; that he himself had drunk of the transformed water of Clbyra, and hie brothers of that of Gerasa. Fifty yeais ago a plain Englishman would have nad no difhoulty in thinking that tne Cana. miracie Was true, and the other miracles were fv.bies. He is now irresistibly icd to class all these occurrences In one cate gory as unsubstantial tales of -marvel. Scales seem to drop from his eyes in re gard to miracles, and If he is to hold labt hid Christianity, It must no longer depend upon them.- It was not to discredit mir iracles that Literature and Dogma was written, but because miracles are so wide ly and deeply discredited already. And It Is lost labor, we repeat, to be arguing for or against them. Mankind did not originally accept miracles because it had formal proof of them, but because Its im perfect experience Inclined it to them. Nor will mankind now drop miracles De cause it has formal proof against them, but because Its more complete experience, detaches it from them. The final refault was sure; as soon as ever miracles began to embarrass people, they began to be relegated especially the greater miracles to a certain limited period long ago over. Irenaeus says that people In his time had arisen from the dead, "and abode with us a good number of years." One of his commentators, embarrassed by such stupendous miracles occurring outside of the Bible, tries to explain away the remarkable allegation, but the most recent editor of Irenaeus points out. with truth, that the attempt Is vain. Irenaeus was as sure to want and to find miracles as the Bible's writers were. And sooner or later mankind was sure to see how universally and easily stories like this of Irenaeus arose, and that they arose with the Blble-wrlters Juet as they arose with, Irenaeus, and are not a whit more solid coming from them than from him. A Catholic Imagines that he gets over the difficulty by believing, or professing to believe, the miracles of Irenaeus and Eplphanlus as well as those of the Blble wrlters. But for him, too. even for him, trie Time Spirit Is gradually becoming too strong. As we may ,say In general, that, although an educated Protestant may manage to retain for his own lifetime the belief In miracles In which he has been brought up, yet his children will lose It; so to an educated Catholic we may say, putting the change only a little further off, that (unless some unforseen deluge should overwhelm European civilization, leaving everything to be begun anew), his grandchildren will lose It. They will lose it Insensibly, as the last century has seen the extinction, among the educated classes, of that belief In witchcraft which, In the century previous, a man like Slr Matthew Hale affirmed to have the au thority of Scripture and of the wisdom of all nations spoke of, In short, just as many religious people speak of miracles now. Witchcraft Is but one depaftment of the miraculous; and It was compara tively easy, no doubt, to abandon one de partment when men had the rest of the region to fall back upon. Nevertheless, the forces of experience which have pre vailed agalnot witchcraft will Inevitably prevail also against miracles at large, and that by the mere progress of time. The charge of presumption, and of 'setting one's self up above all the great men of past days, above "the wisdom of all nations," which is often brought against these who pronounce the old view of our religion to be untenable, springs out of a failure to perceive how little the abandonment of certain long-current be liefs depends upon a man's own will, or even upon his sum of powers, natural or acquired. Sir Matthew Hale was not Inferior In force of mind to a modern Chief Justice because he believed In witchcraft; nay, the more enlightened modern who drops errors of his fore fathers by help of that mass of experi ence which his forefathern aided In ac cumulating, may often be, according to the well-known saying, "a dwarf on the giant's shoulders." His merits may be small compared with those of the giant. Perhaps his only merit Is that he has had the good sense to get up on the giant's shoulders. Instead of trotting contentedly along In his shadow. Yet this Itself, sure ly, is something. We have to renounce Impossible attempts to take the legendary and miraculous matter of Scripture as grave historical and scientific fact. We have to accustom ourselves to regard henceforth all this part as poetry and legend. In the Old Testament, as an Immense poetry growing round and In vesting an Immortal truth, the "secret of the Eternal." Righteousness Is salvation. In the New, as an Immense poetry grow ing round and Investing the secret of Jesus: He that will save his life shall lofe It, he that will lose his life shall save It. PORTLAND'S ALLEGED DECADENCE. Remarkfl From Northern Idaho ou the Rnllrond Handicap. Lewlston Tribune. With any actual or Imaginary decadence of prestige attributed to Portland the gen erale public has nothing to do beyond hoping that the statement Is in error, but as to the misuse and neglect of a great commercial highway that should be a po tential factor In Improving Industrial con ditions for a vast region having Its com mercial outlet at Portland, the public has a great deal to do. All statements to the contrary notwithstanding, Portland Is still the distributing point for the Northwest, but on account of Insufficient and Improp er transportation facilities traffic Is bur dened with unjust and unnecessary charges that are now borne by the coun try doing business with that port. North Idaho, for Instance, buys much ot Its bulk merchandise ln Portland, but in stead of being transported by the natural water grade route It goes up to Puget Sound and Is hauled by a circuitous route over the Cascade Mountains, up and down, around and across all the Irregu larities of a mountainous country. The Idaho purchaser can buy ln Portland and ship by this route more advantageously than he can do otherwise, yet his busi ness Is Improperly taxed because he Is deprived of the cheap route to and from market with which Nature has endowed the country. It may bo said that Port land has done Its part In being able to undersell competitors to an extent that enables traffic to be hauled this way at a profit to the purchaser, but If Portland Is content to look at It that way, as now seems to be'the case, the end of Its com mercial supremacy -Is within plain view. The advantages It now has cf great capital, heavy -stocks and the strong In fluence of long associations are only tem porary and are being rapidly overtaken by the young but aggressive cities of the Sound In the nature of things these Inequalities must soon reach an approxi mate level, and the nearer this condition Is approached the more of Portland's 'old territory will fall away from It. The avenue Is there to bind the country lndis solubly to Portland, yet Portland has been willing to keep the avenue closed and let Its trade be taxed to cross barriers to reach It. As long as this condition re mains, while all that Portland's enemies say of It may not be true, they are bound to become true. Portland may argue that It can afford to lose the Idaho trade H It can continue to make profits with no material exertion on the business that cannot get away from It, but as a matter of fact It cannot afford to maintain the establishment of a commercial power !r It Is content with a policy that permits the Idaho trade to go elsewhere in spite of the physical affinity that draws- the. two localities so closely together. NEW PHASE OF LIBRARY QUESTION Since the butcher delivers his beefsteaks at the door of his customer, the baker his loaves, the groceryman his potatoes and turnips, the storekeeper shoestrings toothpicks and carpets, and the mflllnsi rose-aureole hats, why should not tn' I library also deliver Its books at the doors of Its readers? The logic Is simple and unanswerable, as Seymour Eaton and his confreres are just now proving to the world. The topic of the hour In professional and book loving circles of the East Is the extraordi nary success of this new library venture that is sweeping over the country with such unprecedented rapidity. It has rather a characterless name the Book Lovers' Library. But this has not pre vented the enterprise from reaching co lossal proportions. Philadelphia was the starting point. New York, Boston, Chi cago, St. Louis, Washington, Brooklyn and Newark Joined the ranks. Others quickly followed, until now several hun dred cities and towns are Included. South ward to New Orleans, westward to Den ver, the movement Is now speeding toward the Pacific, with the sure and re sistless energy of fore-ordained success the success that springs from a public want until now unsupplled because un recognized. The project Is an Ingenious one. and Is being carried out with boldness and aplomb. In essence It Is nothing more nor less than a huge circulating library, with branches extending into every well-populated district of the United -States; but with this difference: the catalogue com prises only the newest books. Orders are taken for these, and the volumes are de livered to the members hot from the press, sometimes on the very day ot pub lication. To all appearances whole editions are likely to be swallowed up as soon as they Issue from the publisher's hands. At first glance the whole scheme appears to be merely a clever ruse of the pub lishers to advertise their books, or a new sort of trust perhaps ln masquerade. But this suspicion is quickly put to rout by the reflection that the plan seems quite as likely to ruin the publisher as to benefit him, since It undoubtedly deprives him of many purchasers, and loads the market with whole editions of second hand books; for as soon as the volumes become worn or soiled they are with drawn from circulation In the Book Lovers' Library. Suspicion Is still further put to flight by the air of dignity and good faith that clings to the book committee. Professor Carpenter, of Columbia University: Lewis Gates, of Harvard: Albert S. Cook, of Yale, and other university worthies from Princeton, Cornell and Ann Arbor, are not men to lend themselves lightly to a scheme that Is going to work 111 to the public. Their names give weight to the assertion thtft the library has no mone tary Interest whatever ln any book or books, and therefore Is perfectly free to select only those books which are good, and to offer opinions and sug gestions that are frank and unbiased. This It does by means of carefully pre pared and attractive bulletins, Issued weekly, which aim to supply the latest and most trustworthy Information con cerning new books ln fiction, literature, history, biography, science, etc. In addition to these there are special catalogues for physicians; catalogues also for clergymen and other specialists, to gether with lists of the best French and other foreign publications. The delivery coaches call once a week to receive or ders and deliver books, members being privileged to keep the volumes any length of time from one week to S2 weeks without fine. A Portland man much In terested In library methods, who has re cently enjoyed an opportunity to study the workings of this new system ln East ern cities, was greatly Impressed with the excellence of equipment and of service rendered the members, and Is of opinion that this Is the secret of the library's as tonishing success. But not In any real sense of the word Is this a library for the masses, the mem bership being confined to the professional, the dilettanti, the busy ones and the Idlers of polite society, who already have the lion's share of culture. In Boston,.. for example, It has won a large clientele among the residents of the Back Bay district, which is the pivotal point of Bos ton's culture and wealth. Over a thou sand members were gained ln a few weeks time, notwithstanding the fact that any one of these members Is ln four minutes' walking distance of Boston's splendidly equipped public library. This is a highly significant feature of the enterprise. The aim Is to have the books circulate only ln refined homes. Hence there Is a library committee whose sole duty is to pass judgment on names recommended, and prepare a list of desirable families In each community to whom are offered the priv ileges of membership. All others are barred out. The ostensible object of thl3 plan is to Insure perfect service by thus limiting the membership, and to protect the public against the promiscuous cir culation of books. It will be Interesting to study the effect of this new Impulse toward upheaval of all the time-honored library traditions, its Influence is already being felt ln the great centers of library activity. The free li braries, and those supported by endow ment are congratulating themselves upon being relieved of much of their work. But the private libraries that depend largely upon personal subscription for support must feel the change very keen ly. These are sure to be greatly crip pled by this sudden onset, for It is al most sure to deprive them of the fiction gourmands who, however light they may be In their taste, make a heavy showing when it comes to the balance sheet. Whether these libraries will bo forced to adopt the same methods as their rival, re mains yet to be seen. , It Is not improbable that this new move ment may usher ln an era of specializa tion ln library work. s(nce It deals only with books fresh from the press, it. Is, In essence, a successful effort to sepa rate the more or less ephemeral literature that deals with current thought the pas sions, the reforms, the discoveries, the autocratic judgments of the passing day from the time-sifted and enduring books of a by-gone age. It is curious to note that a somewhat similar Idea of differentiation was ad vanced at the International Congress of 1 Librarians, held In Paris last September. M. Henri Martin, the well-known French librarian. In what was perhaps the most notable paper read before the congress, proposed the establishment ln all the great cities of llbrales" devoted exclusively to newspapers and periodicals, which have so much Increased both In number and ln bulk during the last few years. He re gards the presence of newspapers ln li braries very much as he regards the plebeian motor car in the Palais de Tri anon. Yet there Is a constantly growing need of newspapers and magazines prop erly Indexed for reference. The proposi tion was held to be one for Immediate discussion and action, and as such It cre ated no little stir, winning the entire approval of the librarians present. Other suggestions were made at the congress which tended conspicuously toward the same end specialization. The need of greater promptness and quicker service was also dwelt upon. But dt the very moment Frenchmen were ar guing the pros and. cons of the case, the Americans across the Atlantic were bring ing these points to a practical Issue. And why not? Are not we, more than all other peoples, a Nation of omnivorous readers? Have wc not the best equipped public libraries on the globe, the most In genious library systems? And have wc not reached the climax of distinction, that of being scolded by alarmed peda gogues who fear that the reading habit imong Americans Is becoming a National 1 vice? SLINGS AND ARROWS. Vncntlon. When. bursUng from the pale and amber east. The sun rides radiant through a cloudless sicy. And, each succeeding day, goes up agaUst And beats toe record ot the day before. Wa ti'o tYiat Ti-nrb la Irksome, and that W I r..c in.a ... .ifo unit Millflrpn and tho d0 ., ... v, , m fnrth UVII Vf w v .. k, - - To list to Nature's teachings by the sad And rythmic rumble or the lashing surf. Or. where the rocking pines sigh musically. And falling needles tapestry the earth. In some forlorn and mountain wilderness. So, drawing out our balance from the bask. "We purchase tickets to a far retreat. Wlthfomesuch name a3 Whulevllle-by-the-ca, Or Mountalntlale. or Evr!e-of-the-PIns; We bid a long farewell to city life. To downy beds and thick beefsteaks and Ice. To all the comforts of a home, ln sooth. And soon ar speeding on a crowded train. Forsaking pleasured that are real sure things To lly to others that we know not of. Three weary weeks we live ln eille drear; We sleep on beds consisting most of slats. And canned corn beef, dried apples and pruno pie Become the substance of our dally fare. We take long walks beneath the scorching sun. And blisters rise upon our neck and face. While lank mosqultos. hungry and keen-billed. Bespangle all of our anatomy Thcsun has left unslnged. with smarting welts. Wc play croquet God save the mark, croquet! Because there's not another thing to do: We read light noel3 from The Duchess oen. And other elevating Action ot that kind. And all the while the memory of things Wo left behind us such a: beer on draught. And cool gin flz-c1?. and goo J, who'csi'ne meals. Comts up within us and we "ce ourselves As others ought to see us as blank fools. Why thlnsrs are thus, why we should leave our homes. And all the comforts dear to mortal men. To spend good money on bad blR and feci: To wear our bodies out with tedious tramps. And dull our brains with lack of oxerl-.e. Is something that no man has yet found out. The Xnmc TlsntN Never Left Ont. Skamokawa, June S. Ah Sing's wash house burned down last night. We un derstand that Sing once washed a shirt for J. P. Morgan. Berlin, June S. In conversation with a member of his household today, the Kai ser Is said to have mentioned the name of J. P. Morgan. Shanghai, June 5 (delayed In transmis sion.) Hon. LI Hung Chang, ln a speech today, said that if J. P. Morgan bought all the railroads ln China he would prob ably own them. Greenland's Icy Mountain. June S. An Eskimo who died at this place yesterday owned a newspaper In which the name of J. P. Morgan Is mentioned. Snohomish. June 8. J. P. Morgan has never visited here. Carlsbad, June 8. An American now taking the waters here Is said to have once known the third cousin of J. P. Mor gan. Constantinople, June S. The Sultan said yesterday that he never had seen J. P. Morgan. Manila, June S. Aguinaldo Is reported to have written a letter to a friend of his ln Bayombang, ln which he alludes to J. P. Morgan. Terra del Fuego. June 4. There is no truth ln the report that J. P. Morgan Is going to build a Summer residence here. Buffalo, June S. It Is possible that J. P. Morgan will visit the exposition on his return from Europe. Woodstock. June 8. When your cor respondent asked ex-Governor Pennoyer, at his ranch, near here, yesterday. If he did not think J. P. Morgan will return from his European trip when he comes f back, the ex-Governor replied: "Who the Is J. P. Morgan?" When Sura Tiny Romeo. Sara Bernhardt Is to play Romeo next season to Maud Adam's Juliet. Press dis patch. When Sara plays bold Romeo to Maudle'a Juliet. We'll see the other mummers hump to keep the pace they set; As old Jack Falstaff. Edna May will trip across the scene. And staid Dick Mansfield must tog out as dear, petite Arllne; Nat Goodwin as La Tosca would go thirsting for revenge; As Toss could Irving, hunted, flee for shelter to Stone Hence. The fad will beat the book-play craze, 'twill be the greatest yet. When Sara's playing Romeo to Matidlc's Juliet. Blanch Bates would mako a brave Prince Hal, as Topsy could John Drew Achieve a hit; and how Jean D'Arc would do for Kyrle Bellew! As Portia, Joseph Jefferson could hardly fait to score. Gillette as Cleopatra would be well worth pay ing for. And Mrs. Flske as big BUI Sykcs would crowd ed houses draw. While Frederick Warde would mako the best Nell Gwynn we ever saw. They all must git ln lino or And they're left out in the wet. When Sara's playing Romeo to Maudle's Juliet. When. Francis Wilson makes his bow as Lit tle Eva, we Will see Modjeska's Uncle Tom. a thing worth while to see; And Ada Rehan, when again she choosoa to appear. Will wear a white and flowing beard and ravo and storm as Lear. May Irwin would be great as Wang, and H. Clay Barnabec , As. Dosdemona couldn't fall to be 'way up ln G. There'll bo things doing on the stage next season, you can bet. When Sara's playlns Romeo to Maudle'a Juliet. Modern Proverb. Too far to the good Is a long ways to the bad. As goes the main guy, so goes tho whole push. A knock from a knocker Is as good as a boost. He who puts his faith In hunches never gets off right. Look out for the man who plugs his own game. A 1'lr.ii. My mashe say? I ain't no use. Says I'm always underfoot. Says she'd like a little boy That 'ud stay where he wuz put. She says other little boys That she knows Is good as gold. They ain't never ln the way, N they does Jus what they's told. Guess I'll run away some day. Far as far as far as far can" be. P'raps I'll And some lady that Ud like a little boy like me. Mcbbe then my ma she'd be Sorry I wuz gone, becuz Then sho'd know her llttlo boy Wuz better than she thought he wus. She might get another boy. But I Jus am sure that he Couldn't seem to my dear ma Jus' ezzackly same as me. Anyway, I'll Jus run off. N hide close by the house, 'n then Pretty soon my ma'U come T ask me to come back again. J. J. MONTAOUEj. Anpliodcl. Wllla SIbcrt Cathcr ln The Critic. As some rale shade in glorious bottle slain. On beds of rue, beside the silent streams. Recalls outworn delights ln happy dreams; The play ot oara upon that flashing main. The speed of runner, and the swelling vein. And toll ln plcaant upland field that teems With vine and gadding gourd, until he seems To feol wan memories of the sun again And scent the vineyard slopes when dawn Is wet. But feels no ache within his loosened knees To Join the runners wh r the course fe set. Xor smite the billows of the fruitless ueas So I recall our day of passion yet,