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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1902)
? THE SUNDAY OBEGOKIAN, PORTLAND, JULY 27, 1902. 3 rBgmxtcm Entered at the Fcstofflce at Portland. Oregon. as eecond-cln&s matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION RATE3. By Mall postage prepaid. In Advance) Dally, with Sunday, per month Bally, Sunday excepted, per year " w Eftily, with Sunday, per year.: - 2 ?S Sunday, per year 2 00 The 1n11jt, per year ;.... 1 J The Weekly. 3 months To City Subscribers "Oally. Per "week, delivered, Sunday excepted.lSc Dally, per week, delivered. Sundays included 03 TOSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada and Mexico: 10 to 14-page paper le 14 to 28-page paper ...2a Foreign rates double. News or discussion Intended for publication In The Oregonlan should be addressed Invaria bly "Editor The Oregonlan." not to" the name. of any individual. Letters relating to adver tising, subscriptions or to any business matter hould bo addressed simply "The Oregonlan." Eastern Business Office. 43. 44. 45. 47. 48. 43 Tribune building. New Tork City; 510-11-12 Tribune building. Chicago: the S. C. Beckwlth Epedal Agency, Eastern representative. For sale in San Francisco by I. E. Lee. Pal ace Hotel news stand; Goldsmith Bros., 233 Sutter street: F. W. Pitts. 1003 Market street; J. K. CooDer Co.. 740 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear. Ferry news stand; Frank Scott. SO Ellis street, and Ji. Wheatley. 813 Mission street. For sale in lJos Angeles by B. F. Gardner. tCO So. Spring fctreet. and Oliver & Haines. 303 o. Cprlag street. For sale in Sacramento by Sacramento JCews Co.. 420 K street. Sacramento, CaL For sale In Vallcjo. CaL, by N. "Watt 403 Georgia street. For sale In Chicago by the P. O. New Cc. B17 Dearborn street, and Charles MacDonald, E3 "Washington street. S For cale in Omaha by Barkalow Bros., 1012 Farnam street: Megeath Stationery Co.. 1303 Farnam street. For sale in Salt lAke by the Salt Xke Kews Co., 7T W. Second South street. For sale In Minneapolis by R. G. Hears ey & Co.. 24 Third street South. For sale In Washington, D. C, by the Ebbett Bouse news stand. . For sale n penver. Colo., by Eamllton & Kendrlck. DOC-312 Seventeenth street; Louthan & Jackson Book & Stationery Co.. 13th and Xwrenee street; A. Series, Sixteenth and Cur tis streets. TODAY'S WEATHER Fair; slightly cooler; northwest winds. YESTERDAY'S WEATHER-Maxlmum tem perature. 00 degrees; minimum temperature, 60 degrees; fair. . 1 POR.TIAXD, SOXDAY, JULY 27, 1002. j FRAUDS OP THE HALF-WORLD. Friday nlghfs prizefight bears most striking testimony to the falsehood upon, which the whole fabric of scien tific pugilism Is sought to be erected. The fact is that this contest of the ring, like others, ls simply a brutal exhibi tion. In. bruising. There Is no science about it nothing but a fight which is protracted till one man is licked. The theory of prizefighting is that it is a science; but it is not a science, for sci ence Is classified knowledge; and as to the .outcome of these contests, there Is no knowledge whatever and no 'classi fication or generalization is possible where facts do not exist. The expert view of this fight was that 10 to 4 was too great odd9. Granted that Jeffries was the abler man, there was the chance blow, and the possibil ity of overtraining, and other contin gencies, which the professed science of pugilism pretends to take account, some one or more of which might give the battle to Fitzsimmons. Now the record shows that Fitzsimmons was the abler man, and that in a moment of confidence he was taken off his guard and "knocked out" by his apparently defeated adversary. All the mass of expert opinion that has wagged so nois ily for weeks was put to rout in a mo ment. How about the "old man" that couldn't stay? How about this "human monster" that was mysteriously en dowed with some unnatural impervious ness to blows that incapacitate the ordi nary mortal? Behold him In the sev enth round nose broken, mouth bleed ing, cheeks laid open, wild In his blows and distressed in his whole aspect, re sponding with sullen ferocity to the tri umphant leers of his apparent con querorl The best conclusions this boasted "science" could offer were ut terly discredited by everything that happened, and we are left nothing but the naked fact that these two human brutes pummeled each other until one was beaten into unconsciousness. There is just as much "science" about it as there is in a bullfight or in the clash of two savage tribes. Side by side with the world of honest Industry there Is another world of so called sport and gayety whose devotees live by preying upon each other and upon the public. The breakdown of "science" at the San Francisco fight is a faithful indication of the utter falsity of the hypotheses upon which the whole pretentious fabric of the half-world is built up. Prizefighting is not the only pursuit whose innate rottenness is sought to be covered by a veneer of fair excuses. The gambler has a fairy story about the doctrine of probabilities and the similarity of his craft to the chances of business; but It is all Invention. The palaver about "systems" is merely a cloak to cover a thieving pursuit with the guise of Intellectual respectability. The gambler chooses his way because he is too lazy to work. He wants the leisure and the white hands and the good clothes of a gentleman, and he Is morally too inert to earn them in the honest way. It is just so with outcast women. The tales of girls forced Into lives of shame through seduction make Tip an Imposing body of fiction, but they ehed no light but what is false upon the social problem. There is no more need for a betrayed woman to turn prosti tute than there Is for a widow or a di vorcee. Women seek to Justify their ways with the excuse that they are un able to do anything else; whereas the tact is they are unwilling to do any thing else. They prefer the ease of sin to the deprivation of honest toll. They want the clothes and the leisure of la dles without the price of hard work. It is an ominous thing for any race or nation . when these predatory classes ace given countenance by the ranks of hon est Industry and circles of social stand ing and intellectual discernment. Where the gambler deserves execration for his dishonest levy upon the earnings of toll and his corruption of youth, he too often receives smiling recognition. Where the pugilist should get that dis repute which visits the female prosti tute for sacrifice, of the body to base uses, he too often is encouraged by the victims of his laziness and cupidity. Our modem fellowship for these para sites finds its true parallel In the demor alizing practice of the old Greeks, who elevated their courtesans to higher dig nity and honor than they bestowed upon their wives. The premiums demanded for insuring the lifeof King Edward at Lloyd's are still very high. The figures quoted a week ago for an Insurance to the end of July was 30 guineas for every 100 insured, while for policies covering the 5sk to the end of August 80 guineas per 100 are asked. These rates, while suggestive of a most gruesome proba bility, -do not necessarily represent Im minent danger to the King's life. The risk upon a man of CO years Is at best a doubtful one, and, of course, in this case it is increased by the well-known vitiated condition of the patient's blood. While no doubt the King Is as well as could be expected under the circum stances, he is still far from being a well man. The Insurance business, like all others of a successful nature, is utterly devoid of sentiment; hence it may be as sumed that the premium for insuring the life of the King for a few weeks Is a business transaction In which grave risks are declined. GOLD OUTPUT AXD RISING TRICES. When the Alaskan and South African Impulse to the gold output first ap peared, some six years ago, to the ques tion whether an Increase in prices "and resultant boom such as followed the California discoveries of 1849 could be expected again, the general answer of experts was In the negative. The Ore gonlan's opinion Inclined to the affirma tive, and much that has since happened certainly points in the direction of in flation. The most satisfactory Indictment of the quantitative theory of money is that found between the pages of Lord Farrar's invaluable "Studies in Cur rency." His method is to minimize the effect exerted by bullion upon prices. In view of the fact that commodities are exchanged, in ninety-seven cases out of a hundred, for substitutes for money, and that the old idea of a world full of commodities being measured off against the metallic money In exist ence has been relegated to oblivion by the modern development of credit. But the answer of M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, the French economist, to the question of present gold production and prices differs from Lord Farrar's. He .Is dis posed to grant the quantitative hypothe sis, but to palliate Its force in the pres ent situation by reference to the multi plication of commodities which are to be measured against it "Will the 5400,000,000 coming regularly every year into the world," asks M. Beaulleu in the Economlste Francalse, "have the effect of raising the price of ordinary merchandise and the shares of com panies which produce It? In a certain measure such a result is not Impossible, but probably only in a limited degree, for the output In well-known markets usually expands at "such a rate that, whatever the demand, the supply Is rap idly pressing beyond It." The question gains In pertinence and concern. In view of the reopening of the Ramd mines and the Inevitable pro digious accession of gold to the world's circulating medium. After a short pe riod the mines in the Hand, which have been closed during the Boer War, will not only hav resumed the production of $100,000,000 per annum, but will have reached $150,000,000. The mines of Aus tralia, China, Chile, Siberia, India and West Africa are likely to Increase their output to such an extent that in 1905 the total annual production of the world will amount to $400,000,000, as compared with $100,000,000 in 1S85. M. Beaulleu estimates that the total amount of gold now in circulation Is $10,000)00,000. In a quarter of a century if M. Beaulieu's estimate Is accurate, the amount of gold In circulation will be doubled. If there Is anything at all In the quan titative theory of money, and much as new-school authorities have railed against it, there still remains the sim ple fact that gold, the only real money, Is valuable for Its commodity proper ties, this Increased production of gold must certainly tend to appreciating prices, unless offset by compensatory Influences. M. Beaulleu points out that the increase of population in the civil ized countries and the development of Asiatic and other seml-clvlllzed coun tries will create a demand for capital for the extension of present business and the exploitation of new fields. The countries which are now on a silver or paper standard will consume a large amount of the precious metal In the conversion of their currency. There fore, and for the other reason already stated the multiplication of manufac turesthe French authority expects no noteworthy advance In prices. There is no way of Judging of the fu ture but by the past, and in the his tory of the past six years there Is much to persuade the unprejudiced mind that gold production has increased prices, and therefore Is somewhat responsible for the notable business activity that permeates the civilized world from the United States even to the decrepit com munities of Italy and Spain. The fair est test of this matter is in those com modities that consist almost wholly of human labor, unrefined or complicated by credit or manufacturing processes. Here in Oregon, for example, we have firewood sawn end hewn into cord lengths. The farmer gets $4 a cord for it today, compared with $3 In 189G. Salmon taken from the Columbia River sails at 7 cents a pound from the fish erman's boat, as against 3 cents in 189o. The day Bryan was nominated at Chicago Walla Walla wheat was quoted at 49 cents; today it brings 64. Wool has risen from 8 cents to 15, hops from 2 to 20, hogs from $3 to $6, veal from 4 cents to 8. While the gold standard has established confidence, widened credit and multiplied manufacturing and transportation facilities so as to cheapen manyommodltles, the things that represent rough human labor have j Increased tremendously in purchasing power compared with gold. Making every allowance for the increased de mand due to Increasing ability of a prosperous people to pay a demand that will slacken at the first depression and send, these prices of wood and fish correspondingly down It seems impos sible to doubt that the value of an ounce of gold in human labor is less today than In 1896, and by reason of Its great er plenitude. An interesting com mentary on this development could be framed out of Lord Farrar's exposition of the way In which multiplication of credits offsets Increase in commodities. Perhaps Lord Farrar's credits will off set M. Beaulieu's new markets, leaving the gold increase to work Its normal effect upon the rudimentary processes of exchanging gold dust for raw salmon. A significant and timely contribution to this interesting Inquiry is offered by Mr. Bryan in his Boston speech. That picturesque' demagogue never tires of the refreshing assumption that the heavy output of gold since 1895 fully -Justifies the demand of that year for the silver basis. Nothing could be more Idiotic or more Insolent Not more money, but less, would have been the circulation's harvest from free coinage; and instead of gold serving as a sup porter of the silver contention, it is highly probable that the discredit into which silver fell between 1890 and 1896 contributed potently to the search for gold and the consequent enrichment and purification of the currencies of all civilization. WHEATS STRONG POSITION. With July corn making a record over 15 cents per bushel higher thanwheat, and oats selling up to within 2 cents per bushel of the premier cereal, the slug gishness of the latter at this period is certainly remarkable. If we credit all of this remarkable activity In oats and corn to speculation, the fact still re mains that wheat statistics show that cereal to hold a much stronger position than either of the coarser grains. The visible wheat supply in this country is down to 20,000,000 .bushels, the smallest amount since 1898, the decrease in the month of June being the heaviest in that month for the past seven years. Stocks of wheat in the United States and Canada fell off over 11,000,000 bush els last month, following a decrease of 17,500,000 bushels In May and 22,731,000 bushels in April, a total of nearly 52,000, 000 bushels for the second quarter of the year. In Europe-the supplies decreased 12, 000,000 bushels In May and June, com pared with decreases of only 2,000,000 for the corresponding periods in 1901 and 1900. The men who have put up their money to force the price up on corn and oats are confronted with a crop of the former which promises to be a record-breaker, while the oats crop Is also much larger thanusual. With wheat it Is generally admitted that the crop of 1902 is 125,000,000 bushels smaller than that of 1901. and some very reliable au thorities have estimated, the prospective yield as-high as 150,000,000 bushels small er than that of last year. The uses to which com and oats can be put are lim ited in comparison with wheat, and It accordingly became necessary -for the operators who secured control of these cereals to buy on purely speculative ac count much larger proportionate quan tities than they would have been obliged to buy of wheat. In other words, If the same clique which cornered corn and oats had engineered a wheat deal on the same magnificent scale, the great demand for the cereal for other than, speculative purposes would have helped them to lift prices without the necessity for such an excessive outlay, and they would have had no such unwieldy "corpse" on hand as was left after the close of the corn deal. Wheat at the present time Is suffering from a lack cf attention from the spec ulative public The American visible, as announced last Monday, was over 7,000,000 bushels smaller than on a cor responding date last year, 25,500,000 bushels smaller than on a corresponding date In 1900, and 10,500,000 bushels small er than In 1899. With the American vis ible down near low-water mark, and the coming crop estimated at 125,000,000 bushels less than that of last year, a great deal of bullishness might be ex pected from these figures alone. An other and equally Important factor In the situation Is the heavy damage caused by excessive rains. Some Idea of the extent of this damage Is shown by the receipts In Chicago for the week ending July 19, but 5 per cent of which graded. No. 2, compared with CI per cent grading No. 2 on the same date last year. This off-grade stuff may hang over the market for a time and hold prices down, but the foreigners will not take it to sour on ocean passage, and it must pas3 into competition with com and oats for animal food, and thus go out of competition with good wheat, much to the advantage of price In the former. Ninety-cent com Is of but little bene fit to the farmers of the Pacific North west, but if some speculative philan thropist will take advantage of the strong statistical position of wheat and give it a twist, the 40,000,000-bushel crop now coming on here would be worth several million dollars more than It Is worth at the present time. Speculation in food products is not always regarded favorably, but It Is apparently the one thing lacking In the wheat market at the present time. "HIS SOUL GOES MARCHING ON." "John Brown, of Osawatomle," 13 a stupendous subject. That Is to say, his name suggests a stupendous era In our history. In which he appeared upon the stage intermittently for a term of years as, martyr or fanatic, according to the Interpretation of those who witnessed the play and sympathized with or rep robated his part In It, and shuddered or rejoiced over Its tragical ending. If anybody Is inclined to regard the state ment that his "soul goes marching on" as fanciful merely, the fact that the life, character and exploits of the old man pass under review periodically should do much to dispel such doubt Criticism has abated much of Its harsh ness In the more than forty-three years that have passed since the closing scene on the scaffold In Charlestown, Va.. De cember 2, 1859, witnessed the end of John Brown's struggle for life and free dom. As "old John Brown" he has become known to history, though as a matter of fact he had not yet reached his 60th birthday. Old in endeavor, however, he certainly was, since his life had been a strenuous one from his cradle. Sixth in descent from Peter Brown, a carpen ter by trade and a Puritan by intense conviction, who was one of the Bturdy company that landed on Plymouth Rock, December 22, 1620, John Brown, of Osawatomle, was what he was by na ture, environment and training forces which, acting singly, make a distin guishing mark upon human life, but when acting in conjunction govern It with supreme power. Greeley says of him: "John Brown had very little of what Is called education; poverty and hard work being his principal teachers." Redpath, his Intimate follower and ad miring biographer, says of him: "He was no politician. He despised that craes with all the energy of his deter mined nature. He was too large a man to stand on any party platform. He planted his feet on the 'Rock of Ages' the Eternal Truth and was therefore never shaken in his policy or his prin ciples." He was a hard-working, but not an accumulative, man. and, though Intensely attached to his secluded home at North Elba, In the Adlrondacks, to which place his body was borne from the scaffold to the grave, he was for the greater part of his life a wanderer, remaining comparatively few years in any one place. "A fanatic," say some, "In his views upon the slavery question." "A mar tyr to the cause of truth and right," say others. Without stopping to dis cuss these diverse opinions, the bitter ness of which has long since died out. It can truly be said that he was an 1m- practical man, who was personally over whelmed by the fearlessness with which he backed his principles by his effort The pronounced character of his en- deav that or gave such affright to the state a chronicler of the time savs: "Virginia held her breath until -she heard the old, man was dead." Yet the subtle Inference of this same endeavor calm, unflinching, devoid of railing, earnest, determined was a working force In the events that fol lowed, terminating at last In the aboli tion of slavery. The power of this In fluence can hardy be overestimated; cer tainly it cannot be clearly defined. Pos sibly a fanatic, he was yet given a great work to do. This he did In his own way blunderingly, as it seemed at the time; effectively, as It now appears, he did It and passed en. He made no complaint of the hardships of his life, which were often bitter in the extreme, and he gloried In death as an honor, and urged his family not to regard the manner of it as degrading. It meant something to be a friend of old John Brown In the time of his need. Criticism, contempt, ostracism, fell upon those who essayed this role during the time of his Incarceration In the Jefferson County (Va.) prison, and who accompanied his remains on their unhonored Journey to their burial-place at North Elba. For years thereafter none but the more radical of the abo litionists spoke or wrote of him as a God-fearing man, consecrated to what he believed to be duty. But the austerities of those days have dissolved or disappeared In the trail of the years; the gentle Influences of time have softened the harsh judgment that mercilessly fell upon his attempt to In cite the slaves of Virginia to Insurrec tion, and it Is now possible to find In the stern conscience of the Puritan some extenuation of as erratic and Ill-advised a blow as ever was struck in the name of freedom. The peaceful abolishment of negro slavery through an uprising" of those In bondage was a chimera bom of Intense feeling. In the light 'of sub sequent events, how puny and ill-advised John Brown's supreme effort ap pears! Yet, reading closely between the lines of his life and its endeavor prior to this, how Impossible not to see In this wild culmination the logical se quence of a coalition between the con science and determination of a strong and unyielding nature, to which half measures, as applied to principles and purposes, were unknown. And, after all. how impossible in the multiplication of words to add anything to the esti mate voiced In the words: John Brown'3 body lies molderlng in the grave. But his soul goes marching on ' words deemed worthy to be sung as supplemental to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," with the same hallelujah chorus. THE SENATE'S HIGH STANDARD. The opposition to GQyemor La Fol lette, of Wisconsin, vaunts itself upon the alleged impracticability of his pro posed electoral reforms, which are the direct primary and the popular election of United States Senators. Wisconsin discussion is therefore reviving the old question of electing Senators by vote of the people", and the "stalwart" wing are reviving the old argument of Sen ator Hoar, which was recently put In at tractive form by Senator Lodge In an address before Yale University. No stronger arraignment of the direct elec tion of Senators Is apt to be made than the one Mr. Lodge drew up in that ad dress. He said: It the Senate is placed, upon the same basis as the House and la chosen In the same way by the same constituency Its character and meaning Impart, tho states will be hopelessly weakened, the balance of tho constitution will ba destroyed, centralisation will advance with giant strides, and we mall enter upon a pe riod of .constitutional revolution, of which the end cannot be foretold. Senator Lodge ignores the real and obvious evil of the present situation. Today in the State Legislatures the In terests of the people are not seldom sacrificed to the personal ambitions of politicians who aspire to be elected United States Senators. Weeks are de voted to needless balloting for rival can didates whose claims would be promptly settled at the polls. Intrigues for re election to the United States Senate not seldom block the business of half a dozen Legislatures. Delaware today Is without any representation. This is the criticism made upon Senator Lodge's plea for the perpetuity of the present method of elections to the United States Senate. The Philadelphia Press, a conservative paper, a warm supporter of the Administration, re minds Senator Lodge that the Senate, which he has selected for defense, eu logy and praise In his recent address, was most deeply discredited during the recent session. Senator Tillman vio lently assaulted Senator McLaurin on the floor of the Senate, and Senator Bai ley assaulted Senator Beverldge in the Senate chamber, but out of session, even as Representative Brooks, of South Carolina, made his assault upon Senator Charles Sumner as he sat at his desk writing after the adjournment of the Senate. Senator Money, of Mis sissippi, has been before the Police Court for stabbing a car conductor with a penknife, and another Senator only escaped the Police Court by a heavy payment. The Philadelphia Press fair ly says that It Is absurd for Senator Lodge to pretend that a body In which such private and personal lapses are not Infrequent would be In any grave danger of losing in quality, submitting to the hazards of choice by ordinary American citizens In a popular election. But the strongest point in this Indlct ment of the United States Senate is the fact that It was In the United States Senate that Cuba failed of justice, that the National policy which Cuban reci procity represents was defeated without a vote. It was the United States Sen ate which desired to deny the Philip pines a popular assembly, and refused to give the Philippines the gold stand ard which Its government trade, banks and people demand. In the matter of Cuba and the Philippines the Senate was wrong, and the House was right. The Senate is, the notorious engrosser of patronage, the notorious evangelist of personal favoritism; It Is the Senate that Is conspicuous for Its record of In creased expenditure. Nothing but the personal remonstrance and expostula tion of a Republican of commanding in fluence, like Senator Spooner,, prevented Senator Bailey, of Texas, a leader In his own party and a man of superior abil ity, from carrying his assault upon Sen ator Beverldge to a most disgraceful extremity. The point we seek to make Is that the atmosphere of the Senate must be exceedingly low and vulgar, or men of superior natural parts like Eai ley would not venture to degrade It The Tecord of the United States Senate, measured by Its manners, Is as bad to day, relatively worse, than it was In the days of slavery and "'plantation" manners, when sectional hates were bit ter and the whisky habit was far more common than today. Senator Lodge seems Indifferent to the fact that the anti-Cubaif reciprocity cabal In the Sen ate was permitted through the minor ity rule to defeat the passage of a Na tional measure asked for by the Presi dent, by the House, by the- people and by Mr. Lodge himself. How long does Mr. Lodge expect thatrfhe United States Senate's present method of election will survive the destruction of popular re spect for- the political atmosphere and political record of the Senate? The Senate Is responsible, through Senator Hawley and his clique, for the failure of the Army reorganization measurea Secretary Root, a very able man. proposed measures of far-reaching Army reform, which have been beaten by the spite of General Miles and his friends on both sides of the Senate chamber. Of course, the worst sin of all was the Senate's defeat of Cuban trade reciprocity. The President digni fied it by making it the subject of a special message, but the Senate was permitted to kill It There are some fine, patriotic men In the United States Senate, notably Senator Spooner, of Wisconsin, who was a gallant soldier of the Union In his youth, and eloquently resents any mean assault upon the American soldier today; then there are Senators Piatt of Connecticut and For aker of Ohio, who stand up stiffly for the American flag and all It Implies. But there are too many in the United States Senate from the North who were sent there simply because they were successful money-makers, men of no political Intelligence, nor any financial intelligence, either, because a man may be a narrow-minded, sharp trader and have not the slightest knowledge or grasp of a broad question of National finance. One of the most successful and brilliant bank offlclals of- New York City was a rabid "free-sllverlte" and supporter of Bryan. Music, as taught in the public schools of this city, would be a Joke, were It not that In waste of time and generally unsatisfactory not to say harmful re sults It Is somewhat too serious to per mit this classification. As It Is, It Is a common joke among the teachers of the lower grades, who are required to In struct their classes In the rudiments of music, having been compelled to take a course of Instruction themselves for a period cf six months In order to do this wtlh some show of acceptability. Fancy the result Young women who have neither time nor tune, some of whom (without discredit to their necessary qualifications as public school teachers) can with difficulty tell "Yankee Doodle" from "Old Hundred," must go through the squeaking, rasping farce of teach ing their pupils to sing! No wonder the children learn to whang simple ditties through their noses and croak like frogs in attempting notes too high for their vocal powers. No wonder that teachers dread the weekly or fortnightly visit of the superintendent of music (?) and breathe a sigh of relief when It is over, or that mothers at home, who have 6ome Idea of harmony and a wholesome disgust for nasal tones, clap their hands distractedly to their ears when their little daughters sing school songs to their dolls, while their young sons, In shrill falsetto-, 'attempt to drown thejr sisters' voices. Running all children without regard to their natural tenden cies through the drawing .mill is bad enough, but that, at least, Is a silent educational fad, while the fad for music makes itself heard in discordant notes above the cheerful sounds of family life In hundreds of well-ordered homes. As a church that holds fast to the traditions of orthodox, the body known as the United Presbyterians Is conspicu ous among Protestant denominations. Eschewing argument, It meets Intelli gent doubt with denial and reassertlon of Ironclad belief. Higher criticism of the Bible It denominates unbelief under a specious literary name, and It reaf firms Its unswerving adherence to the historical belief of the Protestant church in the verbal Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Scriptures. A position of this kind leaves no room for argument It shuts off all opportunity for the exer cise of reason, and seeks boldly to stifle legitimate Inquiry. The research of scholars Is Ignored and the reverent in quiry of godly men Is stigmatized as unholy. Said John Greenleaf Whlttler, poet, of reverence and humility: I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground Ye tread with boldness shod; I dare not fix with mcto and bound The love and power of God. It Is pleasant to believe that the dank and file of the membership of the churches, no doubt Including tho one above mentioned, indorso the ten der, reverent, humane view of the Qua ker poet rather than the tenets of a stiff-necked theology that seeks to "fix with mete and bound the love" and power of God." Several months since the Port of Port land Commission received bids for a drydock, and found that the lowest was $190,000 or more. All were rejected. Now the contract has been let for $162, 000. So the board knew just what it was doing when It declined to be hur ried. A drydock Is needed, and needed badly; but the public wants the right kind of a dock and the right kind of a price. The latter seems to be assured by the care and prudence of the com mission. We shall know about the for mer In course of time. Bryan Is against prosperity "until It enables the father to educate his fam ily," basing the complaint on the fact that some boys have to sell papera This Is, In effect, his old solicitude that the poor, are not rich. So long as any body could be better off than he Is, our Government Is a failure. The unthink ing nature which Bryan credits his fol lowers with Is one of the wonders of the modern world. The visiting Callfornlan who wants Increased ringing of street-car bells must be the confederate of the eye doc tors, for much more of that sort of aolse would tend to deafen the entire population. The man who drives pell mell across a street-car track without first looking to see if a car la In sight, whether In San Francisco or Portland, has a thing or two to learn about met ropolitan life. And now they say that Liang Chen I3 also very handy with the Interroga tion point Mr. Wu- was unique in this particular, and we delighted, in him, but we had hoped that his successor might give us something nevf. There are questions in regard to our treatment of the Chinese that too frequently and too politely pressed become embarrassing. SPENCER'S LAST WORD. New York Times. "The volume herewith issued I can say with certainty will be my last" So writes Herbert Spencer in the pref ace to "Facts and Comments." The sage has finished his self-imposed task and lays down his pen. To all his innumerable disciples this little proem to his final message to the world will have a touching significance. For many It will deepen greatly the realization of what they owe him. To that debt this volume adds greatly. Fragmentary though It may be said to be. In the sense of a lack of systematic correlutionship, yet it bears everywhere the marks of a mature phi losophy, as complete and as consistent as it is probably given to any human philos ophy to be. It is most appropriate that the very last of these brief essays on a greaf variety of subjects should be one on "Ultimate Questions," thcfe involving the Great Enigma of space, time and ex istence. The aim of all Mr. Spencer's studies. It can be said without denial even by the enemies of -what he taught has been the naked truth of things. That he has al ways been honest in, it is to be hoped, above all sincere question. That he is wrong in the literal logic which he haa applied to the problems of religion any one may believe. If he can. But he was certainly not wrong In presenting his own conscientious conclusions at their best, and In supplementing them, even on the verge of the grave, with a last word, the fruit of supreme inward contempla tion. "It Is commonly supposed," he says, "that those who have relinquished the creed of Christendom occupy themselves exclusively with material interests and material activities thinking nothing of the How and the Why, of the Whence and tho Whither. It may be so with some of the uncultured, but it Is certainly not so with .many of the cultured. In the minds of those intimately known to me, tho 'riddle of existence' fills space far larger than the current conception fills in the minds of men In general." In the course of this essay he makes what he considers the nearest approach that is possible to a definition of con sciousness. Just before It Is the trite re mark: "It ems a strange and repug nant conclusion that with the cessation of consciousness at death there ceases to be any knowledge of having existed." As to consciousness, he continues: "We can only infer that it is a specialized and individualized form of that Infinite and Eternal Energy which transcends both our knowledge and our Imagination and at death Its elements lapse into the In finite and Eternal Energy whence they were derived." That may be regarded as the best sim ilitude of a creed that pure scientific Dhl losophy has ever proposed. It certainly goeo a step beyond agnosticism, unless tho fact that It is Inference and not be lief be pleaded. The thought which he gives us as to space Is awe-Inspiring. Ho says: Thclst and amostlc must agree In recognis ing the properties of space as Inherent, eternal,, uncreated as antecedtng all creation, it crea tion has taken place, and all evolution. If evo lution has taken place. Hence if we could penetrate the mysteries of existence there would remain still more transcendent myste ries. . . . And then comes the thought of this universal matrix itself, antecedlng alike creation or evolution, whichever be assumed, and Infinitely transcending both, alike In ex tent and duration; since both, if conceived at all. must be conceived as having had beginnings, while space had no beginning. The thought of this blank form of existence which, explored In all directions as far as Imagination can reach, has, beyond that, an unexplored region compared with which that part which imagina tion has traversed is but Infinitesimal the thought of a space compared to which our Immeasurable sidereal system dwindles to a point, is a thought too overwhelming to be dwelt upon. Of late yean the consciousness that without orlcln or cause infinite space has ever existed, and must ever exist, produces In mo a feeling from which I shrink After that come the two words, "Tho End," and the volume Is closed. It is closed. It Is like the locking of tho door of exit from life after the entity has passed out There Is undeniable sadness In this In evitable blank wall of nothingness against which exhaustive philosophy must find Itself estopped. And that such sadness should cast Its gray hue over the culmi nation of an existence like that of Her bert Spencer, that it should be the reward of Intellectual labor carried to . the great est pitch of sublimation. Is as Inexplica ble to mnny as a metaphysical problem, as infinity Id in the light of physic.1?. Tho nature of "Facts and Comments" is chiefly that of dropped threads of phil osophic research. Much of it, however, relates to sociology and some portions to the ethics of business and politics. Most of the deep problems of our latter-day civilization are considered. The univer sality of the author'3 studies is most striking. He devotes several pages to fundamental criticism of music, in which many critics whose talents are cast In the stereotyped molds may find much Im plied rebuke. There is nothing more con vincing than tys short treatise on "Feel ing versus Intellect," in which he shows that the former is the chief component of mind. An over-valuation of teaching, he finds. Is necessarily a concomitant of the erroneous Interpretation of mlnfl which undervalues tho emotional nature. The feelings are really the masters, the intellect the servant. The assumption that when men are taught what Is right they will do what is right, is contradicted by everyday experience. "Were it fully understood." he concludes, "that the emo tions are tho masters and the Intellect he sen-ant. It would be seen that little can be done by improving the servant while the masters remain unimproved." What Mr. Spencer calls "rebarba-lz3-tlon" he regards as due to the excessive cultivation of athletics and the exalta tion of war and he showshow Imperial ism Is slavery for the upper as well na the nether classes, for the Emperor as well as the vassal. He marks the British tendency toward more pronounced Impe rialism, particularly in the lessening of the legislative functions of Parliament and In the usurpation of them by the Ministry. He finds the same oppression In the excessive taxation of today as in the corvee exacted from the peasantry by the nobles under the feudal regime. He utters this warning for men who glory in their country's military supremacy: "So long ns they continue to conquer other peoples and to hold them in subjec tion, they will readily merge their per sonal liberties In the power of the state end hereafter as heretofore accept the slavery that goes along with imperial ism." Under the head of "Patriotism" he denounces the methods by which Eng land has acquired over SO territorial pos sessions; her practical annexation of the Soudan and her interference In the Inter nal affairs of the Transvaal, making "re sistance the excuse for desolating, war." Mr. Spencer has a word to say about "use-inheritance" in opposition to the the ory that all the phenomena of evolution may be explained by "the sufficiency of natural selection." The WcnkeMt Thliiff. Which ! the weakest thing of all Mine heart can ponder? The sun a little cloud can pall With darkness yonder? The cloud, a little wind can move Where'er it listeth? The wind, a little leaf above. Though sere, reslsteth? What time that yellow leaf was green, t My days were gladder; But now, whatever Spring may mean. I must crow sadder. Ah, me! a leaf with sighs can wring My llpd asunder? Then Is mine heart the weakest thing Itself can ponder. Tet. Heart, when sun and cloud are pined And drop together. And at a blast which is not wind The forests wither. Thou, from the darkening deathly curse To sjory breakest. The Strongest of the universe Guarding the weakest. Elisabeth Barrett Browning. THINGS LOCAL AND OTHERWISE. Once more a movement Is on foot to establish a public market on the old Mechanics' Pavilion block. If a consider able number of Portland housewives had the "market" spirit a central place for distributing "garden truck" would have been established years ago. The trouble Is that no start was ever made. In early days, Portland lacked the German gardener who, cultivating 10 or 13 acres of rich soil near a city, could win. a competency before he was 45 and send his younger boys to college. Only those Portland women who learned it else where know the convenience and com fort of a well-regulated market Na tives have missed the exertion and the pleasure of "shopping" three timei. a week. Immediately after breakfast, 'lay ing In supplies of perishable food. Car rying the market basket Is one burden that has not been laid on the Portland woman's back. Beginning a generation ago, the Chinese gardener, with a deep, well-filled basket at each end of a pole, visiting the kitchen stoop every morn ing, was a boon to the average house wife, and In later years the Industrious Italian carting his fresh products has been no unwelcome visitor. But In a market you get an "assort ment." If the peas of the first stall look stale you prospect around until you find some whose succulence Is above sus picion. If everything some day Is not up to your standard you can at least make a choice among the second rate. And In every half good market you will always find flowers, not florists offerings, but tho sort that you would like to pick out of your own garden, suited to a slend er purse. There Is a sociability, too, at market that you will find nowhere else at that time of day. You are sure to meet half your neighbors there and to receive and give a good many cheerful greetings, and maybe hear a bit of In teresting news. Women who are able to keep carriages do not consider market ing beneath their dignity and use the vehicle and driver when engaged In the Important morning's duty. Senators' wives In Washington do this, using the foot man as burden-bearer during the journey among the stalls. Maybo Mrs. Senator will meet her colored laundress at the Spring chicken counter. The market house Is a great democracy. v One market is not going to be sufficient for Portland. At least five will be needed: three on the West Side and two on the East I am familiar with an Eastern town of 8.000 people where a market was established by a small effort and Is now one of Its permanent insti tutions. Enough people live within walking distance of the old Mechanics' Pavilion to furnish profitable patronage for, say 30 vegetable gardeners. Whether they will be willing to visit the market In preference to buying at their own doors and ordering by telephone what they cannot thus buy can be determlnel only by trials. If demand for a market in that locality be demonstrated It Is certain others will follow. " There was put on salo last week at the leading book and department stores a pamphlet of 90 pages, entitled "Roses at Portland, Oregon, and How to Grow Them." It is published by the Port land Rose Society and consists of papers and an address by Mr. Frederick V. Holman and Mr. William S. SIbson. As a foreword the society says of the authors: These gentlemen are not merely theorists; they" are practical amateur rosegrowers who, for many years, have cultivated roses for rec reation and pleasure only, and as a relaxation from professional worries and business cares. Their experience In cultivating roses at Port land and lta vicinity will be of great value to every one desiring to grow the queen of flow ers. They have kindly consented that this pam phlet may be published to assist others In this delightful branch of horticulture and floricul ture. Mr. Holman as his share of the pam phlet has done for rose culture what Dr. Pole did for the study of whist, 1. e., made a book for beginners. Nearly every other work on whist pre-supposes that the reader knows something of the game and begins with the refinements. Just so with books on rose culture. The authors assume that they are writing for experienced rose growers. Mr. Holman pre-supposes only a desire on the part of the reader to grow fine roses and then beginning with the a, b. c. of the matter lays a sound foundation for the culture of fine roses. If a second edition of the pamphlet should be Issued I hope It will have a broader title. What is said about rosea at Portland will apply with equal force to roses at any other place In Western Oregon as well as to Seattle, Tacoma and other Puget Sound cities. The price of the pamphlet is 50 cents and It Is sold for the benefit of the Portland Rosa Society. In his talk last Thursday at Boston -on harmony, Mr. Bryan said: "With tho exception of the tariff question, the Republican party has not In recent years honestly submitted a single important Issue to the judgment of the ballot, or even to the judgment of the members of Its own party." If Mr. Bryan will look over the files of the Lincoln Journal for June, 1S36. he will note an Important declaration on the currency question. Let him turn to the November files, same year, and he will note how the ballot resulted. Sometimes it Is not necessary to sub mit an issue formally and await the result of tho ballot. About four years ago a United States man-of-war was destroyed in the harbor of Havana. There was no vote; still the King of Spain knows this country's sentiments. L. Friends in Paradise. Henry Vaughan. They are all gone Into the world of light! And I alone sit lingering here; Their very memory la fak and bright And my sad thoughts doth clear: It glows and glitters In my cloudy breast. Like stars upon some gloomy grovo. Or these faint beams in which this hill is drest. After the sun's remove. I see them walking In an air of glory. Whose light doth trample on my days: My days, which are at best but dull and hoary, Mere glimmering and decays. O holy Hope! and high Humility, High as tho heavens above! These are your walks, and you have shew'd them me. To kindle my cold love. Dear, beauteous Death, the Jewel of the Just. Shining no where, but In the dark; What mysteries do He beyond thy dust, Could man outlook that mark! He that hath found some fledg'd bird's nest may know At first sight, If the bird be flown; But what fair well or grove he sings In now. That Is 10 him unknown. And yet. as Angels In some brighter dreams Call to the soul, when man doth sleep; So some strange thoughts transcend our wont ed themes. I And Into glory peep.