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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1901)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, POKTLAJND, DECEMBER 1. 1901. he regomcat Entered at the Postcfllce at Portland, Oregon, as sccond-clas matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATES. By Mail (postage prepaid), In Advance Dally, with Sunday, per month $ 85 Dally. Sunday excepted, per year......... 7 SO Dally, with Sunday, pr year 0 00 Sunday, per year ... 2 00 The "Weekly per year..... ....... ......... 1 50 The Weekly, 3 months W To City Subscribers Dally, per week, delivered. Sundays excepted.ltB Dally, per week, delivered. Sundays Included.20c POSTAGE RATES. United States Canada and Mexico: 10 to 14-page paper... ....................... lo 14 to 23-page paper. ..................... ....lie Foreign rates double. News or discussion Intended lor publication In The Oregonlan should be addressed Invaria bly "Editor The Oregonlan," not to the name of any Individual. Letters relating to adver tising, subscription or to any business matter should- be addressed simply "The Oregonlan." The Oregonlan does not buy poems or stories from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscript sent to it without solici tation. No stamps should te Inclosed for this purpose. Eastern Business Ofllce. 43. 44. 45, 47. 48. 43 Tribune building. New York City: 4C3 "The Rookery," Chicago: the S. C. Beckwith special agency. Eastern representative. For solo In San Francisco by L. E. Lee. Pal ace Hotel news utand; Goldsmith Bros.. 23G Sutter street: F. W. Pitts. 100S Market street; J. K. Cooper Co., 740 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear. Ferry news stand. For sale In Los Angeles by B. F. Garuser. 259 So. Spring street, and Oliver & Haines, 100 So. Sprlntr street. For nale In Chicago by the P. O. News Co.. 217 Dearborn street. For sale in Omaha by Barkalow Bros., 1C12 Farnam street. For eale In Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co., 77 W. Second South street. For sale In Ogden by W. C. Kind. 204 Twen-ty-flfth street, and by C. H. Myers. On file in the Orecon exhibit at the exposi tion, Charleston, S. C For Eale in Washington, D. C, by the Ebbett House news stand. For sale in Denver. Colo, by Hamilton & JCendrlck, 000-012 Seventeenth street. TODAT'S WEATHER Occasional rain, with brisk to high squally southerly winds. YESTERDAY'S WEATHER Maximum tem perature. G2 minimum temperature, 40; pre cipitation. 0.41 inch. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1. GREATER THAN THE LAW. "What signifies, on the part of the Northern-Great Northern directors, this sudden rush to cover? Why do they announce that changes will be made more in conformity to the desires of "Western States, as expressed through existing statutes, utterances of Gov ernors and threats of special sessions? The amalgamation professes to be within, or at any rate beyond, the reach of the law. Its principal men laugh Governor Van Sant to scorn, and assure themselves that they are legal ly impregnable. Why, then, this trepi dation? The answer is that, while the North ern Securities Company may circum vent the law, it cannot circumvent a force greater than the law, and that force is the American people. All the laws and all the Governors and all the decrees of all the courts of the United States will avail these stock manipu lators nothing if the $400,000,000 of their securities about to be thrown on the market hit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with a dull thud, and nobody so credulous as to "buy them. Capital is very sensitive. Though the combination may be within its legal rights, it cannot afford to encounter public hostility in a move like this, which is successful only to the extent that it can command the confidence of the investing public. Thus the "strong talk" of the Governors may defeat the new combination as effectually as a de cree of court by causing the public to view it with suspicion. It is scarcely to be expected that the plans for com munity of interests will be broken up, but it is entirely probable that the ob noxious "trust" will fail to accomplish the object for which it was organized. There is also the well-defined prospect, through this amalgamation, of a re vival of Grangerism. It is certain that the State Legislatures have great power over railway rates and general control of corporations larger powers, indeed, than they have yet exercised. And the 'authority of Congress over them, tthrough. Its right to regulate commerce ibetween the states, is vastly larger than has yet been asserted through legisla tion. The great combinations have pro duced an unrest which will very cer tainly exert itself through political ac tion. There are many signs of it. Not unlikely this question will be forced to the front in the form of a demand" that the General Government shall assume the ownership and proceed to the opera- tion of the interstate railroads, with the corollary that the shorter lines, wholly within a single state, shall virtu ally become state railways. These ideas have been thrown out widely already as affording the only remaining resource through which the 'railroads may be controlled by the peo ple. Instead of controlling them. It is the fault of the great railroad dictators that this feeling against the roads Is starting up again. It is undoubtedly True that any investor can buy stock 'in as many roads as he pleases, and may become a director in them all. Nevertheless, these vast combinations may move the people to more vigorous -actioa for control or regulation of the railroads than they have yet taken. LOST OX THE AIR. The strenuous life which our Presi dent has apotheosized invades some times even the sanctum sanctorum of the most self-contained newspapers. Meditation has this disadvantage that. while normally conducive -to calm, yet when too long persisted In it evokes wrath. Here is the sweet and solemn Springfield Republican. So long It has brooded over the harrowing case of Miss Stone that its discontent arises on this wise: The long delay In accomplishing the rescue of Miss Stone Is Injuring the prestige of the United States In all parts of the world. ... The ransom policy must succeed in Its Imme diate "object in order to be Justified. Would that its tone could reach the State Department, and Mr. Dickinson and the American Board and the bloody bandlts In the Bulgarian wilds! But ebullitions of this order seem destined by unkindly fate lo stir no wider ripple than in the editorial breast, or per chance in the consciousness of some steadfast and sympathetic reader. The clarion blast is blown, but all Is still and none responds. The alarm goes forth, but comes back unheeded. The bandits will enjoy their ill-gotten gains tomorrow as well as today, perhaps with added zest for the delay, and Miss Stone will welcome release, even at the eleventh hour. There is no way to reach the delinquents whose contribu tions to the ransom did not arrive, and as for public opinion, it Is nearly as stable and trustworthy as the waves of the sea. How often has the agitated sanctum slopped over on the sea of public opin ion, to be discredited, or, even worse, to be ignored. We call upon the peo ple to rebuke the Money Power, or the awful specter of Militarism, or the Ad ministration's policy of criminal aggres sion, but they do not hear. In vain we shout to them about the awful trusts, the dread specter of Intemperance, the laxity of parental training, the growing irreliglon, the fading Influence of the home, the desexing of woman, the evil3 of bossism, the corruption of politics, the failure of education. We call upon them, but they cannot come. They are marrying and giving in marriage, buy ing oxen, mending nets. The prophet stands in the market-place, but he can not be heard for the din of trade. How ever, ihe prophet will not mind. He I will go on trying. He will have done his duty, and that's some comfort. IDOLATRY I?f AMERICA. The demand for tariff revision swell ing up from all over the country has reached the ears of the tariff worship ers. Their answer, voiced by Senators, manufacturers and newspapers, is that the tariff must not be touched. To do so would be to imperil business, and more yet it would precipitate a general tariff agitation, and possibly readjust ment. Confessedly there are grave in iquities and no little Injustice in the present schedules. The steel trust, for one thing. Is charging more at home than it sells for abroad, and it does this through the aid of the tariff. This Is a case of protection admittedly run to seed; but we must not alter the steel schedule, they say, because if we should, others would come in to point out other errors and wrongs, and we should be dreadfully embarrassed. When, then, may the tariff be safely revised? Obviously, never. For the time will never come when some cor rections will not suggest others. The longer we wait, the more changes will be to make. The question is accord ingly removed from anything like log ical or reasonable consideration. Should sugar pay 1 cent a pound duty, or 2 cents? S-h-h! the tariff must not be touched. Is the duty on hides an in cumbrance on all, and a benefit only to the packing-houbes? Breathe not a word against protection. Is the tariff on tea no longer needed for revenue, a burden on consumers and a clog on trans-Paclflc trade? Tea, but if you re move the duty on tea, somebody will want changes on shoes or steel billets or Imitation jewelry. The tariff, that Is to say, is sacred. It is not a means to an end, and that end the general welfare, but it is a god in itself, to be venerated and re ferred to only In tones of religious awe. Surely this sort of Idolatry cannot pass current for statesmanship. Surely we have not altogether lost the art of con sidering measures with a view to their merits. We cannot possibly be ready to abdicate both reason and common sense in favor of a sort of blind fetich worship more fitted for the Dark Ages than the twentieth century. These pro tests say in effect that, ro matter how unjust or injurious the tariff Is, it must not be disturbed for fear that in right ing some wrongs we shall be impor tuned to rlghtothers. A defense of this sort does nothing but excite suspicion. It is the resort of rogues, who must stand together, be cause if one is apprehended all must go down. It is the resource of those who fear a single ray of light upon their work. Jest unsuspected blemishes may be disclosed. Such is not the wise course for true conservations of busi ness and trade. Far better for Ameri can laborers and capitalists that the tariff should be revised by their friends rather than that its Inequalities and mischief should be allowed to grow and grow until It is overthrown in reckless and unreasoning wrath by hostile the orists, bent only upon realization now of the ultimate dream of free trade. OX THE ALERT. In the general stir in Portland In regard to matters of public moment it would be strange indeed were the public-spirited women, with whom the city abounds, to remain stationary. That they have no thought of thus remain ing; that, on the contrary, they are already up and doing, is attested by the echoes of vigorous intent that have fol lowed recent meetings of the Woman's Club. For some months leading women, not only of this body, but of the com munity in general, have had in mind the possibilities that await develop ment for beautifying the city. A number of earnest women have raised their voices In defense of our menaced shade trees, pleading eloquent ly in the name of beauty for their re tention on the park blocks and resi dence streets, or their replacement in cases where unslghtliness or decay has followed the injudicious use of the saw and prunlng-knife. Reaching out be yond this, the Woman's. Club has be come interested in civic improvement, and has appointed a committee to con fer with other committees representing the newly awakened interest in Port land's advancement, the object being to beautify the city In the wholesome sense designated by clean streets, Im proved parks, the abolishment of un sightly alleys, the proper planting and care of trees and shrubbery, the culti vation of odd nooks and comers wher ever they exist, etc Effort has not been confined to parks nor to cities. It has touched school grounds barren and unsightly and made them places fair to look upon. It hag Invaded the official domain and made courthouse and jailyards and the spaces, large or small, surrounding Gov ernment buildings, green and clean and shady. It has reached out over our eminent domain and given us a Tellow stone Park; It has made of our Na tional cemeteries gardens of beauty and given to many of cur villages certifi cates of thrift and taste and culture which all who pass may read and in dorse. Oregon has not stood still while this development has been in progress, al though little comparatively has been accomplished. Its capital city shows many evidences of advancement along the byways of beauty In the artistically planted and kept grounds of the State house, the Asylum for the Insane and other public institutions; and who, passing through Oregon City, the old pioneer town by the falls of the Wil lamette, has failed to notice the smoothly-shaven lawn and pretty beds of scar let geraniums that surround the County Courthouse there located? Portland has not been behind in these matters, as the City Park, the grounds surrounding the High School building and some other school buildings show. But too little regardhas been paid to this feat ure of our urban life, and active sys tematic effort in this direction is long overdue. It seems now, however, that the days of careless, half-hearted effort in this line are nearing their close. It will be well, indeed, if events prove this to be true. Men may be, and to some extent necessarily are, prime movers In such work, but women are valuable as aux iliary workers. Often, indeed, they have taken the lead and carried to suc cess plans that have made the streets of cities clean, wholesome and beautiful where before dirt and disorder held unsightly and malodorous sway. The women of Portland are awake upon this question. As before stated, the Woman's Club .proposes to extend or ganized effort into the domain of civic improvement; in a few days a special meeting will be called to see what the women of the city can do toward mak ing Portland presentable in the best sense for the Lewis and Clark Exposi tion. Every effort in this line should be encouraged, both by men and women. There la work for all to do, and active minds are busy with plans whereby It will be systematized and pushed for ward looking to the best results. With beauty and utility as the rallying cry, the following of this movement should be large and Its achievement a source of pride, health and pleasure, to our citizens, and of appreciation and de light to the strangers within our gates. WILL IT BE A BARREN CEXTURYT Leading thinkers in both Europe and America predict that our century will be barren In the sense that It is not likely to add much to the body of great literature or original scientific knowl edge; that the work of the century will be exhibited in the triumphs of the genius of commercialism and the va3t extension of the domain of applied sci ence. This prediction is likely, from the present outlook, to prove true, but even If It should prove true, It would not Im peach the Intellectual power of our epoch; it would only Indicate that hu man thought has been forced to find or accept new channels for its expres sion. It has become a truism to say that It is the age forms the man, not the man forms the age. Macaulay points out that Dante was but the enor mously gifted child of a time of po litical convulsion, that Shakespeare was In a great measure produced by the Reformation, even as wag Wordsworth and Coleridge by the French Revolu tion. We might go further and point out that the best poetry of Byron, Scott and Shelley owed much of its spirit and currency to the Influence of that tre mendous time. Dante was a fierce po litical partisan, a man of turbid and melancholy spirit. Had he lived in our day, he would have been a conspirator and revolutionist of the rare quality of MazzinL In exile he was as stern and melancholy as Puritan John Milton was in the days of the Restoration, and like Milton his voice In exile is that of a cross between a priest like Savonarola and a great poet. John La Farge, the artist, takes the same view of a far greater and more versatile man, Michelangelo, whose name Is fairly enrolled among those who were kindled someth'ng by the suc cession or collision of great events. His birth took place about the time when "amid the clash of resounding arms was heard the click of type." The culture of the Renaissance had just begun; in his early youth came the discovery of America; the breaking up of the polit ical system of Europe followed, and in his old age he saw the great religious dissensions which through the Reforma tion changed the very definitions of Christian thought. Like Dante, Michel angelo became a political exile; like Dante, he had a melancholy, haughty and bitter spirit; like Dante, he be lieved profoundlj' in God and in the Church of Rome, and, like Dante, he was so much the child of his age that he would not have voiced himself as nobly, -powerfully, as he did In any other time or circumstances which in volved less passionate faith In a per sonal God or less fervent faith in the Christian religion as expounded by his church. The production of great poetry requires "not an examining, but a be lieving mind," and because this is true Macaulay says that Italy will never pro duce another "Inferno" or England an other "Hamlet"; that the environment, the atmosphere, of England and his age contributed enormously to the supreme inspiration of Shakespeare. After Shakespeare there Is no decent name until we reach Milton, and Milton clearly was suckled on Shakespeare, for his "L'Allegro" Is written completely in the spirit and expression of Shakes peare's songs that are sprinkled throughout or added to his plays. But Milton is a Puritan as well as a poet, and in his days of spiritual exile after the Restoration he writes in a loftier mood, which, like that of Dante and Michelangelo in exile, is colored some thing by his religious melancholy and his political despair. Out of the Res toration no great literature could be ex pected through its legitimate children save the literature of wit and satire, which plays round the head, but comes not near the heart; for it was a time of soulless, conscienceless men and characterless women. The quarrels of Kings, fomented often by their angry mistresses, with their consequence of ruinous wars, fill up largely the history of the eighteenth century. The literary forces that convulse its conclusion are those of Voltaire and Rousseau. To the great Revolution whose seeds they sowed the nineteenth century owed its poetic literature. Its so-called humanl tarlanlsm in society and politics dates from Rousseau; its inquiring, if not ir reverent, spirit dates back to the influ ence of Voltaire. Rousseau and Vol taire were not great men, but they were certainly great writers in voicing the suppressed thought of their time. When the Influence of the French Revolution was spent in England, her day of great poetry was over with the passing away of Byron, Shelley and Keats. All of Coleridge that is immortal was written before 1S00, and after his radical youth was over Wordsworth wrote not seldom like , , ' An old half-witted sheep Which bleats articulate monotony. And indicates that two and one are three. That grass Is green, lakes damp and mountains "steep. The age of reform in England lifted Tennyson to a level of high poetry; the age of reform in America drew forth from Lowell, Whlttier, Holmes and Em erson some fine lyrics. But since the close of our Civil War it cannot be said that either in America or England has there been any notable addition to the body of poetic production, nor to that of fiction of permanent quality. We have greatly added to the body of valu able history, biography and scientific literature, but wc have exhausted our sentimental humanltarianism. We have greatly outworn our popular supersti tions, both in religion and politics. We are about done with Rousseau, but not altogether quit of Voltaire, for we are still Irrovorent nniiob. to l-westltrate in order to understand. We are disposed to be agnostic concerning matters of pure faith that are subjects of specula tion. A century that has become too Intelligent for blind faith in or rever ence for anything that does not rest on reason and fact for Justification will cer tainly not be a poetic age, and the work of our century will be the extension of applied science to the commercial civ ilization of the earth. Our literature of new poetry and fiction will be small, but our historical and political litera ture will be large. Like all busy peo ple, we shall care for books that In struct or amuse. We shall still read our Shakespeare, Burns and Byron with zest; we shall still read Scott and Thackeray, George Eliot and Stevenson, but we shall not puzzle over Browning or revel In Hall Caine. We shall have less sentimental religion, but not less rectitude. PURGIXG TUB LIST. President Roosevelt ha3 made another noteworthy manifestation of his deter mination to purge the live body of the Army of all dead matter by forcibly retiring Colonel Henry E. Noyes, Sec ond Cavalry, from active service. Au thority for the retirement of an officer against his will after reaching the age of 62 Is expressly vested in the Presi dent by act of Congress, but it has only been resorted to a few times within the last few years. Colonel Crofton was retired by President Cleveland; General E. A. Carr was retired by order of President Harrison; Colonel E. C Balnbridge and Colonel Charles E. Compton were retired by President Mc Kinley, and so was General Charles P. Eagan. In the case of Colonel Noyes the Pres ident has made no mistake. His pro motion to Colonel of Cavalry was held up by the Senate, with the result that he was jumped by several officers. Colonel Noyes was charged at one time with being in debt to enlisted men of his command for borrowed money in considerable amounts, and It was re cently necessary to convene a court of Inquiry regarding certain proceedings at the post which he commanded in Cuba. Colonel Noyes graduated from West Point in June, 1861, and he was twice brevetted for gallantry In the Civil War, and he became Colonel in May, 1S98. The President evidently thought that an educated officer whose record at 62 was by no means creditable had been on the active list long enough, and bo retired him to make room for a more meritorious soldier. The .President and Secretary Root are determined that the older'offlcers who are Incapable or phys ically unable to exercise command in the field shall be forced off the active list at an early date. Napoleon at St. Helena said that an officer was worth less in the field for any important serv ice after 60. There have been a good many brilliant exceptions to this rule, like our own Scott and Taylor in the Mexican War, and Generals George S. Greene and Isaac R. Trimble In the Civil War. There have also been some English Generals, like Lord Roberts, Lord Gough and Lord Clyde, who displayed great military energy when consider ably past 60. But as a general rule to go by, Napoleon was right; for the vast majority of officers are unfit for effi cient field service after 60. Napoleon himself was physically broken down In his 46th year. After the 'campaign of 1S14 his physical energy was so ex hausted that, while he could plan as well as ever, his hand had lost its power of prompt execution. Napoleon quoted Massena's failure in Spain in 1810-11 a3 due to the fact that he was prema turely old at 52 through rheumatism, and could no longer ride his horse and personally enforce his orders. DEBTORS AXD THEIR DEBTS. It is a sad and suggestive story that comes from Constantinople anent the Sultan's birthday. The hours hung heavy on his hands, the cable says, and It was a time of sadness and gloom, be cause of the humiliation visited upon Turkey by France. Alas for the woes of the poor persecuted and belabored debtor! When one has borrowed from every available source, and when upon the day of maturing paper all avenues of relief are closed against him, how dark the face of Nature seems, how hollow Is all amusement, how vain all mirth! "Adrian da Maupre, you must pay your debts." "Very true, my lord, but where am I to bor row tho money with which to pay them?" Is a comfblnaticn of demand and hope less response that has worried men of less worldly pomp than Abdul Hamid owns, and others of even greater finan cial resources. Roughly speaking, everybody is in debt, and debt may be a crown of glory as well as an instru ment of torture. Debts that can be paid when due, or refunded with a smile from the mortgagee, need take sleep from no eye or whiten no hair. It Is only when the crop parches under the farmer's very gaze, or the market soars when we are short, or the ship comes never to land, or sickness Incapacitates or flame devours, that debt becomes a nightmare and the once benefactor an enemy. The Sultan Is a bad debtor, but it may not be entirely his fault. Doubtless he could save money on his allowance If he had the will, but who is to give the in vertebrate a backbone? Who can make the profligate economical, or the im provident thrifty? When the leopard can change his spots, and the Ethiopian his skin, then will all our spendthrifts become misers, and cur bankrupts will have money to lend. Fortunately the honest and prudent debtor need never lack for friends or a place to discount his note. Fortunately the way to finan cial comfort lies, as a rule, In right conduct. Be wary of the man who Is In debt and cen't get out. Somewhere In his round of life he has slipped a cog. Uncontrolled pas .Ions, of lust or avarice or evil temper, have sent his ship far out of Its course. His own mis takes, and not the hostility of fate, have made him the prey of ruinoug re insurance and salvage. The Sultan doubtless would enjoy to be out of debt. But it is equally certain he could not bear to pay the price. Nothing worth having comes without self-denial. In these days of gigantic transporta tion schemes there is occasion for a lit tle surprise in the new route said to have been projected for trans-Atlantic travel. It Is no less than changing the American seaport from New York to Sydney, on the Island of Cape Breton. A bridge costing 54,000,000 Is to be built across the Strait of Canso, thus con necting Cape Breton with the Nova Sco tlan peninsula. This is said to be alto gether too large a project to find war rant In local conditions, and the ambl- tious scheme of turning all trans-At- lantlc travel that way Is presumed to He behind the undertaking. The time between New York and Liverpool by the present route is six days; by the new line it would be reduced to four and one-half days, and the sea voyage would be reduced from six to three and a third days, the European landing being at Londonderry, Zreland, instead of Liverpool. Between New York and Sydney the distance by rail Is a little more than 1000 miles, and the railroad connections are already reasonably di rect "While the shortened sea voyage would undoubtedly contribute to the popularity of the new route. It is not to be forgotten that navigation in that latitude is fraught with dangers not en countered further to the south. Fogs and icebergs are not yet controlled by the transportation magnates. Charles Algernon Swinburne has launched the full proud sail of his great verse against the enemies of England in Germany and elsewhere who are ac cusing his country and its soldiers of inhumanity in South Africa. He as serts that, as compared with the Boers and the Germans, the English are mod els of humanity in war. Of Colonel Ben son, recently killed In battle, who had been accused of cruelty to non-combatants, Swinburne writes: Nor heed we more than ho what liars dare say Of mercy's holiest duties left undone Toward whelps and dams of murderous foes, whom none Save we had spared or feared to starve and slay. In thlB vigorous way he out-Chamberlains Chamberlain in reply to German critics: Alone as Milton and as Wordsworth found And hailed their England, when from all around Howled all the recreant hate of envious knaves. Sublime she stands; while, stifled In tho sound. Each lie that falls from German boors and slaves Falls but as filth dropt In the wandering waves. Here, Indeed, Ib a man who "slings English." ChamberlaIn'sword3 are but as sweet milk to Swinburne's vitriolic declamation. Swinburne is the man who can "hurl back" at the enemies of his country. Sir Thomas Lander Brunton, a great English medical authority, In a recent address on "Apparitions and Visions," declared that nearly every one of these phenomena la traceable to mental causes. Visions are traceable to a pe culiar class of diseases, notably epi lepsy. In his opinion the seer of bib lical history was only an epileptic In Sir Thomas' opinion, if Mohammed had been dosed with bromide of potassium when he had visions, there would have been no Koran and no Mohammedism, for there seems to be little doubt that the visions were the result of physical disease. Sir Thomas Brunton tells nothing that Ib not familiar to anybody who ever saw a case of mania a potu. Given a case of badly disordered, disor ganized nervous system from any cause, whether alcohol, overwork, sleeplessness or anxiety, and there are always visions about. This explains Luther's vision of the devil, explains the ghost of Caesar that appeared to Brutus the night .be fore Philippi, explains all the so-called historical ghosts. These ghosts are all like the sights and sounds that plague the victim of delirium tremens; nobody 6ave the victim of the delusion sees or hears anything. Ghosts like that of Hamlet's father, which are visible to everybody within the range of vision, only exist in fiction. The saloon-keeper who sells or gives alcoholic liquor to a minor is a man lost to all moral sense, and should be ferreted out and the fullest penalty of the broken law be visited upon him. When the minor is a boy of tender years, the helnousness of the crime is Increased, unfortunately, without the possibility under the present statute of increasing the penalty. Atrocious as Is the crime of plying minors with drink, it may be said to differ In degree, and surely its most abhorrent stage is reached when a mere child Is the vic tim of the liquor vender's cupidity or diabolism. The statute forbidding such an act and fixing a penalty therefor might well be amended by doubling the penalty when the victim is under 12 or 14 years of age. Public opinion would support the most stringent law in re gard to. this matter, which Is to say that the enforcement of such a law would not be difficult. The careless reading of a train dis patcher's order resulted a few days ago In one of the most frightful and deadly railway collisions on the Wabash road in the recent history of railroading. Human carelessness or lapse of atten tion is one menacing factor that the managers of railroads have not been able to eliminate from their service, though they have striven with dili gence and persistence to counteract and overcome it. Eighty lives are forfeit to the latest failure in this attempt, the engineer who misread or misunderstood the order having been one of the vic tims. A similarity in the sound of the names of the stations, Seneca and Sand Creek, led to the fatal misunderstand ing that caused this wreck, and sug gests at once a danger and its compe tent remedy. The community may be congratulated on the compromise of a breach-of-prom-ise suit that has been pending before Judge Frazer's court for some weeks. The details of a case of this kind are both disgusting and demoralizing, and should be confined to the "love letters," so-called, of the parties interested, and the burned, as In a sense, pestilential matter. The opening war-whoop of the Demo crats in caucus at Washington leaves little room for timorous Republicans to hope through silence to suppress the tariff question. It Is the one topic be fore the country. It will not down. He who runs from this fight will confront It again, and in worse case. Through its prompt subscription to the Lewis and Clark Centennial, Port land has gained the good-will of the surrounding country. Some of our crit ics will perhaps conclude that the en terprise was here all the time, and only needed some trial to bring it out. Winners of medals at Buffalo can have them by paying for their making. This Is well enough for firms with goods to advertise, but a trifle hard on state exhibits that have already been main tained largely through the self-denial of exhibitors. Cuba can be "free" if she likes; but the customs unison of the United States does not extend to other independent nation. TOO ENGLISH, DON'T YOU KNOW America has always been a butt for ridicule for prominent men of letters in England. In the middle of the past cen tury British writers could not wrack their brains for enough derision. Dickens, Basil Hall. Mrs. Trollope. Harriet Mnrtl neau, Lyell, Ampere, Mackay and even Thackeray found material for more or less captious criticism. De Qulncy wrote: "The United States a great bulk of a continent, that the very moon finds It fatiguing: to cross produces a race of Barnums on a pre-Adamlte scale, corre sponding in avidity to Its own enormous proportions." These writers little dreamed that in half a century opportunity for ridicule would be reversed. They little Imagined they were heating the furnace of de rision so hot that It would singe them selves. In Just CO years American energy, which they cast the banter at. Is In the lead of British pride. Is England going down hill? Are the jibes of neighbors and Its own pessimism valid? Decadence of the nation has come to be a mournful subject at home and an exulting one abroad. Magazines and newspapers are full of it. European writers on the Continent rub their hands with glee. But In America, a Nation bound to England by ties of common language and of common political and social sympathies, the deca dence of England. If it has be gun, awakens regret. We have never been able to desist from quarreling with England, but today we think more of the nation than ever. A people which has given to the world the precept of indi vidualism has solved the greatest riddle of human progress. Our fault-finding Is a test of our friendship. We don't treat France, Italy or Spain so well because we don't care to take the trouble. The apparent decadence of England comes not from deterioration of the na tion, but from its falluro to keep up to date. The reason for this may be found In British pride. Pride has made the British mind all-sufficient. What ever Is not Anglo-Saxon Is not worth while. The British mind Is cooped up within Itself and almost as isolated as its 'island. Its individualism that has saved the world seems to be going to seed. Its methods of business and In dustry are far behind the times because pride has kept it from seeing anytnlng better. English methods, which 50 years ago led the world, are now outdated. The wide-awake, far-seeing spirit of half a century ago is succeeded by myopic con servatism. Constant vigilance, the price of British supremacy, has been largely relaxed. Decline of a nation begins when It can not learn from others. Ideas sterilize unless fertilized by foreign contact. China has received tho punishment of insularity. British Chauvinism has left nothing outside England. But whatever praises Itself but In the deed sometimes devours Itself In the praise. In the past half century England had peace. The rest of the world had periods of war. British prosperity was unprece dented. The nation had no rivals for su premacy. It seized Its opportunities. It became the workshop of the world, and the first nation In Industry, commerce and wealth. AH the world paid tribute and London was the mart of nations. But now, British spirit, before so buoy ant, sinks in pessimism. The nation no longer Is dominant in the world's mar kets. Parliament is no longer the same exalted body. Public men no longer command the same public confidence. The canker of a bad world and a long peace seems to have blighted the national spirit. Conservatism born of success and pride Is inadequate for new problems. America and Germany are dividing spoils which once were the individual property of England. Living In a fool's paradlso the British people did not see the com petition building up around them. Now that thoy see it, the century opens gloomily for them. Reformation of old methods Is the requisite. The old systems of war, di plomacy, education and business that have come down from a past generation do not meet modern tests. Machlnery and transportation are far behind the times. The nation has neglected up-to-date science In sanitation and methods of dealing with pauperism. Colleges cling to the old curricula. The passport to political preferment is wealth or fam ily distinction. Even trade-unionism has crystallzed to a degree where production Is restricted, by reduced hours of labor, lessened Initiative, and lack of direction by employes. Insularity Is shown also In the fact that English current literature is little known beyond the Channel. The Conti nent has ceased to find Interest In Eng lish writers. The literary intercourse between the Continental nations is in strong contrast to this. As a writer in a late magazine says. Continental Europe seems to have broken down ethnological barriers to found an intellectual com monwealth. Twenty-five years ago Intercourse be tween England and the Continent was common. But In the last 10 years the English ditch has been widening. A cen tury ago English students, from Coleridge and Wordsworth down, were following German Ideals. But now England has shut Itself up within Itself. Tho Continent Is reciprocally closing Itself to England. Europe used to draw its chief Inspiration from the "seagirt isle." When searching In the space of knowledge It regularly turned its intel lectual telescopo on England. British secluslveness may mean not that Eng land Is all-sufficient by itself, but that other nations can afford to get along without British lessons. Each year England is more Impervious to foreign Ideas. Its Increasing insular ity allows les3 and less to percolate from the outside. "We don't care what for eigners think, and If they wish to talk to us let them learn English." But for eigners have a world of their own. They don't have to learn English. Such provincialism deprives English thought of variety and fertility. Mind to progress must expand. Intellectual protectionists who confine themselves to their own little worlds lose the power of critical judgment. No organ or function of the body can be exercised along con ventional lines and remain unimpaired. England is, however, far from a de crepit nation. Tho wail of pessimism from its shores Is a reaction from optim ism. Great Britain still has the great est external and carrying trade and a strength that defies the envy of every na tion. The British character is plastic It will no doubt adjust itself to new re quirements. It can retrieve itself If It can get over Its fault of provincialism, of hfilncr too English. SLINGS AND ARROWS. Tlie Deutrnctlon of the Giants. The eleven came down like tho wolf on the fold. With their arms stretching out for a strong strangle hold. With a scowl on each face and a gleam In each eye. Foreboding that some one must weaken or die. Like the crest of a breaker that curls dark and green. That team In Its pride ere the scrimmage was seen: Like a breaker that scatters In spray on the shore. That team went to smash when the scriraraago was o'er. For tho angel of Death butted Into the game. And. to Judge from his haul, ho was glad that be came. For the halfback In several sections was found In various parts of tho red battle-ground. And there lay the quarter and guards in the ditch. But no one could tell Just which one was which. While, carrying baskets, the streaming-eyed friends Collected the remnants of centers and end. And tho rooters were silent, the maidens maae moan. The 'banners were drooping, the fish horns unblown. Tro!, t.Tl flfrirt fff 1,ifl n loll- Tfllt '1 Twice eleven fond mothers are weeping and pale. And twenty-two harps have been fitted with strings. And St. Teter has bousht twenty-two pairs of wings. Getting? Used to It. Hamlet lounscd on the parapet of the palace, puffing tentatively at a large, fat cigar. Horatio stuck his head up through the scuttle to see what had become of the Prince, and, observing' his occupation, gave a well-bred ejaculation of surprise. "Here, Ham," he said, "you have no business to be smoking that cigar. You are committing a shocking anachronism. Don't you know that tobacco will not be discovered for three or four centuries?" "Can't help It, Rashe," replied Hamlet. "I just got a tip from a soothsayer that I am going to be played by William Gil lette eoiae time in the future, and I might as well get used to It." Having no desire to request the Inev itable to go "way back and sit down, Ho ratio said no nore, but strained his eyes peering Into the fog from which the ghost was about due. A Prairie Legend. Out on the billowy plains, where the voice of the pensive coyote Sounds In a triplicate wall when the sun slow ly sets o'er the prarle, Sarah Mebitanel Jenks. a maiden of singular beauty. Lived on her grandfather's ranch, and was worshiped by Hannibal Hawkins. Plain of feature was he. unskilled In the arts and the- graces And tricks of flattering speech that make such a hit with the ladles. Whenever he came to woo the charming and beautiful Sarah His manners were those of the clam, but men were so scarce on the pralrlo That Sarah forgave him his face, and accepted his silent attentions. Tct there grew up In her heart a void of gi gantic proportions. And she sighed for the accents of love like the kind In the works of the Duchess: Whispered beneath the pale moon or down by the murmuring river. Words full of "tender appeal: and full of "en raptured emotion." Archibald W. Briggs. direct from a fresh water college. Landed one day on the plains In quest of a new constitution His had been broken by toll of an arduous kind In the classroom, Digging with laudable zeal la the works of the classical poets. Soon he discovered the maid, who was driving tho cows to the pasture. And struck by her beauteous face, he said to himself; "See your uncle Win this unqualified peach with the latest ap proved style of wooing." So he courteously lifted his hat, took a shy at the state of the weather. Remarked that he loved to see cows engaged In such deep rumination. Then soulfully looked In her eyes and said they were mellow and liquid. Having thus launched on hi theme, he fairly banked up his quotations. Spoke words full of "tender appeal," and load ed with mighty emotion. Used all tho persuasion of speech which Sarah had so often longed for. But somehow she failed to be moved, and. when, out of breath, he concluded. She shifted her lovely dark eyes till they nut his own passionate optics. And murmured In haughty disdain: "Be you sellln" plctur frames, mister?" Miss Sarah Mehltabel Jenks was married to HannPnl Hawkins For the accents of tender appeal and the words Had looked simply great in the books, but 1 when they were earnestly spoken They sounded so utterly strange that she had no choice but to class them With the eloquent words of the men who alone talk thus on the prairie. All of which yarn goes to show that If you would win out a maiden. The -safest way to proceed Is to talk right down to her level. The Origin of That Q,narrvl. The young Queen of Holland sat at the breakfast table and proudly passed a euchre deck of wheat cakes to the Prince Consort. "Henry," she asked, while eager hope trembled on her lips, "don't you think thy are Just lovely?" Henry set his teeth Into one of them and bravely sought to look pleasant. "Very good, my dear," he answered, "but, of course, they are not quite equal to those my mother used " "You horrid thing!" snapped the Queen. "Leave the palace Instantly!" For this manly retort, gentle reader, i3 not for use when the lady happens to bo at the head of the house. Got to Have It. Fallln on tho river, Fallln' on the plain. Days an days together. Rain nn rain an' rata. Wind a sadly slghln'. Clouds a hangln' low, Drenry. rainy weather. Got to have It, though. J. J. MONTAGUS. Chlcapo. Hnstle and Slouch. Henry B. Fuller in The Outlook. In general, we live beneath a sky within a sky, and our funeral pall, while it oc casionally lightens, seldom lirts altogether. Whether the newcomer approaches along the bluffs and ravines of the North, or through the swamps and marches of the South, or over the wlde-stretchlng pralrlea or the West, the dun trappings of the Great Horror show from afar. As he rat tles along through perky suburban settle ments, or honest truckfarms, or hair-dried swales and disheveled swamps, the horror grows. Across the wide ttelds gay with this year's llowers or somber with last year's weeds separating the raw huddles of workers' cottages, tangles of telegraph poles and of trolley wires, lead on the eye toward ugly, shapeless hulks looming above the dingy horizon foundries, elevators-, machine-shops, breweries, facto ries, Icehouses detached notes that pre lude the great discord to come. Then ave nues of tracks, shut In by the shameless backs of things and spanned by grimy via ducts; arrays of mean streets doggedly curtained against the sun and resolutely lighting off the sweet country airs. The heart sinks, the stomach revolts, as, through dirt, dust, grimo. soot, smoke and cinders the trembling neophyte bumps and jars along toward the besmirched shrine of the two-faced goddess of Bustle and Slouch.
