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PORTLAXD, SU3TDAY, AUG. 3, 1002.
THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE.
In. one sense of the wordjt would be
puerile to speak of the Bible as in grave
peril; for what it has withstood is evi
dence 'of what it can still withstand;
and when we say that the Bible is in
grave peril, the real danger is not so
much to the Bible itself as to the serv
ice the Bible may render, if wisely used,
to the human racel This being borne
in mind, it is necessary to say that the
Bible is in peril from two opposite
sources Its sagacious foes and Its
ehort-slghted champions. There are
those who would make it a mere bundle
of negligible myth and error, and there
are those on. the other hand who Geem
determined to destroy its usefulness as
an Influence upon character by insist
ing upon the impossible in Its applica
tion. The greatest minds among unbeliev
ers have had no quarrel with the Bible.
In this field of controversy, as in all
others, the Imperfectly understanding
and smaller-motived pupils pursue crit
icism beyond any point ever dreamed.of
or countenanced by the masters. The
unbelieving great mfnd, like Voltaire's,
or Kenan's, or Matthew Arnold's, or
Herbert Spencer's, is not hostile to re
ligious truth and not irreverent to the
Bible. They are wise enough to distin
guish the truth from its erroneous en
vironment, and they are magnanimous
enough to revere the religious princi
ple in man wherever and however mis
takenly it may have found expression,
to whatever unlovely, conclusions it has
been led, to whatever crimes it has been
made an innocent accessory, to what
ever debasing or misleading Influences
its adherents or advocates have com
mitted It
It Is in the hands of men like Thomas
Paine and Robert IngersoU that relig
ious truth finds hostile treatment, and
even then not so much religious truth
Itself, perhaps, as the molds and forms
In which religious truth has been cast
for temporary purposes. The half-educated
critic of the Bible rails against
actions recorded and ideas avowed in
certain Old Testament writings judg
ing them by the standards of our time.
The great mind judges them by the
standards of their own time, and com
mends them as adapted to their time.
The errors of translators and copyists,
the errors even of religious zeal, de
nounced by the half-educated as the
burden of the Bible, are forgiven by the
great mind who sees in them well-meant
if stumbling efforts to protect the pre
cious seed of faith and hope and love
across the ages.
The other hostile camp into which the
Bible has fallen is the camp of .literal
Interpretation. Having failed to estab
lish the Bible as an authority, the
churches are now seeking recognition
for the Bible as literature. Its use in
schools as desirable material for read
ing Is being urged by those who have
been wont to resist the literary view of
the Bible as heretical. This demand is
significant of the change that must
come over the attitude maintained
toward the Book by. its ostensible cus
todians.. If we are to take the Bible as
literature, we must apply to it literary
standards. "We can no longer Ignore
its composite and often unknowable
authorship, the marks which the vicis
situdes of centuries have left upon it,
the sources from which its ideas and
its expressions have been drawn. The
Bible as literature is not the Bible as
a penal code.
"Whether we have, more to gain or lose
in this transformation of the Bible from
a divine inspiration to an Intensely
human book, although the most pre
cious book in the world, is ft hard
question, and one which It is fortunate
ly not necessary to answer. The old
authority is gone, and the new appre
ciation has come. "Worship is succeeded
by admiration, to the manifest impair
ment of a certain rigorous mandate
that compelled a measure of moral rec
titude. But there was no resisting. It
is of no use to say. If it is a delusion,
still let me cherish It for the good it
does me. -Delusion cannot stand against
the consuming spirit of modern inquiry,
There was no choice. ' However lovely
and of good report, however uplifting,
inspiring and ennobling, error has no
chance today with truth. The sword
of. scientific investigation - pierces even
to the joints and marrow and to the di
viding asunder of soul and spirit. There
is no staying psychology, any more
than there was biology, or astronomy, or
geology, or Luther, or Galileo, or Co
pernicus. Studied as literature, the Bible dis
covers to us its infinite .variety of au
thorship, of origins, of points of view, of
transmissions, of gains and losses from
accretion and abrasion. History and
prophecy, poems and dramas, cantatas
and folk-lore, dream?, and rhapsodies,
fiction and fantasy, diversify Its won
derful pages. The learning and the fa
bles of the ancient world-Chaldea,
Syria, Egypt entered into Its early
scrolls. The Ideals of Elohtst and Je
hovist clashed through Its Infant his
tories, the view of death underwent
constant modification in different hands,
a new Isaiah built his subllmer struc
ture on the fabric of the old, Israel
warred against Judah with pen as well
as sword, talented scribes projected
themselves Into the past and wrought
out annals and laws and stamped them
with the date of hundreds of years
agone all with burning zeal for Je
hovah and the salvation of his people.
Hard as it Is to study alone In Its orig
inal or in any modern translation, when
lit up with the light which science and
language and contemporaneous in
scriptions and textual criticism have
shed upon it, its pages reveal them
selves aa the most fascinating and in
structive that human Tecords afford.
The danger in taking the Bible as lit
erature is that In so doing we are apt
to forget its infinitely greater aspect;
for the Bible Is not only a book like
other books, but it is a book unlike
other books, if not in kind yet infinitely
In degree, because It is a force In the
world. It is to read, but much more
than that, it is to act upon. There are
those who advocate the Bible as litera
ture for no higher motive than that in
so doing they hope to tftecredlt it as an
Influence upon mankind. To all sudh
the sufficient answer Is the Bible Itself
as its influence upon history and Its
present Impress on tile mind of man
reveal it No book has so profoundly
moved upon man and still moves. For
whether we take counsel of its worldly
maxlms, or solace in Its sonea of as
piratlon, or Joy in Its promises, or chas
tening in its awful warnings, or ecstacy
in its passionate dreams, one rises from
its perusal with a weighty sense of hav
ing drawn near to the Infinite. And It
is equally certain that in those sacred
pages one Is drawn as near to the In
finite as is possible for the mortal-mind.
Nowhere else in all the archives of hu
man thought, nowhere in all the arch
ives of human thought that are to be.
can the religious principle in man.
which has its seat in the soul's deepest
and most sacred depths, find so ade
quate and satisfying expression as in
this noble monument of the ancient
Hebrew race. They who cling to the old
translations because they awake blessed
memories of childhood, knowing they
are wrong, and they who love them
for their enthrallment of stronc: old
idioms that the language needs
are all In danger of losing the Bible as
a living force in the world, in their de
votion to its superficial qualities of
sound and pleasurable stir of memory.
POETS PERMANENT PLACE.
The "revival" of literary figures of
the Victorian age is something due. no
doubt, to the poverty of recent produc
tion; but even this negative testimony
does not do full justice to the real mer
its of men like Dickens and Whittier,
to whose message the world returns
with new avidity ever and anon be
cause of a perennial need. In all these
periodical revivifications of old achieve
ments there is none more freauent or
compelling than that of Poe, the ship
wrecked life joined so strangely to what
able and dispassionate criticism has
pronounced the most original force In
our literature. Although scarce ten
years have passed since the last wave
of Poe enthusiasm swept over the sea
of literary thought, two many-volumed
emtions of his works are announced,
with still others consisting of -"selections."
An interesting commentary
upon this phenomenon is contributed
by Mr. Alfred Mathews to the current
issue of the New York -Times Saturday
Review, which the Interested reader is
urged to seek and enjoy.
It must have been a source of noltr-
nant if secret regret to every Poe ad
mirer that the popular estimate of the
man's work has shown a curious and
lamentable persistence In clinging to
his poetry to the neglect of his nrose.
His tales and criticism embody his best
thought and the fullest exhibit of his
art, and it is upon them that his per
manent fame must rest. As Mr.
Mathews says in his illuminative crit
ique, it Is only when we pass to a con
templation of his prose that we find the
true poet Poe the' poet In his fullest
freedom, vigor and variety. Paradox
ical though it seem, it is none the less
true that we find this most zealous
devotee of form, and the writer wha
has more than any other affected form
in trans-Atlantic verse creation. hlmRPlf
"only attaining profoundest poetic ut
terance for the almost infinite sea of
poetry that was surging in his con
sciousness, when he cast off poetic form
altogether and employed for his expres
sion the flexible, unfettered medium of
potential prose."
For the blindness of the American
public to this fact there are two rea-
sona One is that Poe'a criticism, with
all its acuteness and its confirmation
by time, made him enemies among the
formers of public opinion, and the other
is that the gospel of pure art and ideal
beauty and unalloyed truth fell upon
the stony ground of Puritanism and
among the thorns of Yankee thrift and
sordldness. when we remember how
hard was the way that Hawthorne's
even less abstracted treatment of New
"World themes fared in his time, it is
easier to understand, the difficulties that
arose for the aesthetic and psychic
aims and processes which Poe called
into being as the discoverer nf a new
world. As for critlcls:n n.vorced from
personal and commercit-. ends, as for
the worship of pure beauty and 'its
creation as an end in Itself, as for the
apotheosis of musical, form and the
weird region of Intellectual mystery-
he was the first that ever burst into
that silent sea."
The American prepossession with ma
terialism and theocracy is. then, the
source of Poe's long eclipse. That la
why he was hardly taken seriously here
when Europe Idolized him. And now
an accomplished critic, whose chief
province has been the observation and
chronicling df the literary tendencies
of his time Edmund Gosse comes for
ward and tells us that not one or two,
but all of the English poets of the time,
reveal the Influence of Poe, and that he
more than any one poet of the past has
affected their technique and resultant
music tone, as well as, to some extent,
their mood. And Mr. Mathews draws
the cognate conclusion that the tiisiorv
of literature, taking constantly a larger
cognisance or those writers who exert
upon an age a formative influence,
must admit as a strong element in tho
making of the fuller and final estimate
or ioes. relative power and place,- the
fact that he made a more marked im
press upon the manner of those British
poets succeeding him than has any
V
other man of his generation. The ser
vice to his own land is not less" pro
nounced, for it is concluded that the
masterful way in which he nreached
the doctrine of beauty not as a dry
pniiosophy, but artistically, poetically,
as was done most of his work marks
this as a service second in Importance
to none that he Uerformefl. and the
fact that he was the first who officiated
In this high service of esthetics in
America accentuates its significance
and emphasizes the 1)bllgatI6n that we
owe the author as one also owed to a
pioneer, who, like the pioneer in all
ages and all provinces, is entitled to
especial honor.
There is not a name in literature
whose eminence in contemDorary
thought could afford a more resistless
answer to the indictment of commer
cialism, captiously brought against
American life today, than the name of
Poe. All that blossoms about us today
in the form of fearless criticism and
entrancing lyric, and artistic tale, owes
a aeot to his dauntless sdItIL All the
half-suDernal beauty uncovered to our
senses in the mystic cadences of sorrow,
and the haunting presence of unavail
ing regret, and the sweet though pain
ful symphony of the bereaved cham
ber and the mldnltrht tomb, are but the
echoes of notes first sounded by his
genius. These various minor chords of
weird and soul-compelling solemnity,
as they .have come to us in the pages of
Bret Harte and Sidney Lanier and
Bourke Marston and Mr. Aldrlch, as
well as in Swinburne and Baudelaire.
were strung by his master-hand at the
terror-girt couch of Llcela. the seDul
chral vault of TJlalume, the halla where
Berenice played, the spot by the sound
ing sea whence Annabel was reft, the
catacombs of Fortunato, the shadowed
chamber that still perchance is visited
by the lost Lenore, the window niche
where Helen stood, the vortex of the
southern pole, the crashlni? towers of
Usher, the lute of iErafel, and the
Grand Canal of Venice "the wide win
dows of whose palladlan palaces look
down with a deep and bitter meaning
"upon the secrets of her Bilent waters."
"Who shall measure and who requite
the obligation of humanity to the har
assed and darkened soul that amid all
Its Imperfection of will and weakness of
moral fiber persevered to people the
imagination of all succeeding time with
these countless Visions of solemn beauty
and unearthly sadness and unutterable
awe? "Who that looks upon the boiling
ocean can fail to hear there the shriek
of Poe's Maelstrom and feel the touch
of the Spirit of Eld? "Who that has
loved and lost, but derives some incre
ment of solace In his melancholy from
the raven's shadow and the legend of
Annabel Lee? Who that sits by the
lone couch of death cannot hear in
fancy the tapestries of the- haunted
chambers and feel the spell woven long
ago by the gifted and unhappy author
who furnished in his life a moral as
Impressive as the artistic splendor of
his handiwork? That there are dis
cerning ones In increasing numbers to
rescue this man's memory from the neg
lect to which ils own Ins and the
coldness of his time had conspired to
consign It testifies to the capacity of
our American insight and the confi
dence in American justice with which
these appeals to the record are submit
ted. The great debt to Poe is that sus
tained by the fields of poetry, criticism
and art. The way is open for it to be
paid by their devotees In crateful
praise and recognition. "What the world
owes to the great man It must chiefly
learn from his disciples, and if he
lacks fitting monument of contempor
ary or posthumous fame, theirs are the
failure and the shame.
SELF-SACRIFICE.
On the 27th ult. Garfield "Wheelhouse
saved Miss Huldah Anderson from
drowning at Jamestown, N. Y., but was
so exhausted by his efforts to keep her
afloat until help arrived that he sank
before he could be drawn on board the
steamer.
This Incident stands for one side of
human nature, but the hideous, selfish
side was displayed at a recent fire in
Philadelphia, where two men saved
tnemseives oy pushing a girl away
from a window and saving themselves
by seizing the ladder she was trying
to reach. One of the men grasped the
girl in his arms and threw her back.
Both of these men savtjd themselves by
the sacrifice of this little girl, accord
ing to the testimony.
In a great steaihboat disaster on Long
Island Sound many years ago there
were a number of frantic brutes who
tore the life preservers from the women
and children In order to save them
selves. Men of thlB sort ought to suffer
the fate that overtook the wretch de
scribed by "Whittier in -his fine ballad
of "Skipper Ireson's Ride." Skipper Ire-
son malignantly left a ship to founder
when he could have saved the crew,
but he never has peace henceforth, for
by night or day, sleeping or waking, he
sees that wreck, he hears the cries and
curses of the wretched sinking crew
tfiat he cruelly refused to rescue. - The
men that in a great marine disaster
leave women and children to drown
ought to see their specters night and
day for the rest of their lives they love
so well that they are 'afraid to risk
death to save drowning women and
children. Such men ought to live a
great while, for they are certainly
afraid to die doing good, and certainly
not fit to die.
It is to the honor of human nature
that while deeds of Impulsive self-sac
rifice are of dally report on the part of
many humble, obscure people, deeds of
brutal selfishness like that reported
concerning the Philadelphia fire are of
very rare occurrence. Bismarck once
put his life In great peril to rescue a
servant from drowning, and to, the end
of his life was prouder of the medal
he received for his courage and conduct
than he was of all the splendid decora
tions he subsequently obtained for po
litical and military service. The fact
that acts of self-sacrifice of this sort
always win admiration Is proof that
the romantic deed, the romantic phil
osophy exhibited in human conduct, has
an Immortal life.
The average man Is a dull, selfish.
non-lnsplrlng creature In thought and
purpose, but for all that humanity al
ways did and always will take off Its
cap to the romantic, unexpected, heroic
fellow, whether in fiction or real life.
The great novels that are sure of more
than transient life are all of this sort
Humanity would rather worship its
own image idealized than look at Its
own image hugging the dirt This is
why a man who Is a great humorist
rather than simply an acrid satirist
catches the ear of the world and holds
Its heart longest.
Few people can read Swift, a satirist
of enormous genius, compared with
those who read Addison, Fielding,
Lamb and Burns, in whom satire and
humor relieve each other. The man of
sentiment, the humorist, rules the hu
man heart, and because this is so the
romantic novel will always Include the
immortal fiction. The heart df human
ity in its best moments aspires to
nobler deeds than the average man ever
does; it is optimistic; It hopes for bet
ter things, and it feels anger ahd dis
gust for the artist who Is always tak
lng snap shots at his fellows and In
slstlng that the. worst man haa ever
done is the best he will ever do.
CHILD BEGGARS.
The streets of Chicago, according to a
recent dispatch, are to be cleared of
child beggars. A beginning in this di
rection, was made a few days ago, w"hen
police officers detailed for this purpose
rounded up and carried to the. HarrI
son-street police annex scores of little
waifs of both sexes, ranging in age
from i to 7 years who are regularly
sent into the streets to beg. Brought
up to beg from their earliest years.
these children become adepts In the vo
cation, and through It they become as
sociated wlth'all of the lower forms of
vice and degradation.
Infantile begging Is the school In
which the tramps of the country get
their first training their first lesaon Itt
moral and personal irresponsibility. It
Is a marvel that it is allowed to be
carried on upon the highways of a great
city unchecked, and even encouraged;
by giving into the tiny hands out
stretched to receive It the dole that
shrill, piping, childish voices have
begged. Recognizing the fact that the
simple arrest and detention for a few
hours in the police annex would not
Trove a remedial measure, the Chicago
officers who have taken this, matter in
hand will hold these little beggars pend
ing an investigation In the case of each
by the Visitation and Aid Society. This
plan will give intelligent, humane peo
pie an Insight Into the workings of a
system of family vagrancy that, from
sending babes to beg on the streets to
the equipment of the youth for the
road or the young girl to a life of In
famy, keep up the supply of Vagrants
and criminals.
"We are accustomed in 'thinking of
child begging and other forms of Ju
venile training in lives of social and In
dustrlal worthlessness and crime, to
regard them as afar off; as belonging
to public and family conditions that
differ greatly from our own. "We hear
of these things shudderlngly, thankful
that we know of them only through
news reports from other and more pop
ulous cities. "Would It be startling to
be told that the germs of child beg
gary have been and are being culti
vated among us, and that the plants of
this pernicious seed have already taken
root upon our streets? Perhaps so; but
this Is Indeed true. A welL-known
woman, having occasion to cross one
of-the plaza blocks a day or two since,
was accosted by a boy apparently about
7 years of age, who in the tone and
with the manner of a beggar who had
had his schooling, demanded of her "a
penny." Pausing, she said: "My little
lad, are you not ashamed to beg? Don't
you know that a boy should earn his
pennies, and not beg them?" His only
reply was to reiterate his demand in
a more importunate tone. Reciting the
incident to a, former member of the
police force, the latter said: "That
must be the son of - ," speaking a
familiar name "a boy about 12 years
old, who has been In the business long
enough to be considered a professional."
To the response that this lad was much
younger, the man, who had had excel
lent opportunities to study children on
the street corners and in the parks.
could only say that the cases were sim
ilar, and that neither case was an un
usual one.
So, it seems, child begging has al
ready gotten a foothold In this city. A
thing monstrous in its possibilities for
evil, it should be checked in its Inclpi-
ency. The tale of the urchin weeping
on the corner because he has lost his
nickel and "It Is too far to walk home"
should not move any mistaken philan
thropist to supply this alleged loss and
pass hurriedly on his way. The boy
last mentioned Is said to have made
money off of this tale every day for
weeks by simply changing his location
and pumping up tears to give color of
probability to his flimsy lie. A little
time given to the Investigation of a tale
of this kind would be well spent. As
for the child who begs outright, stat
ing his desire for candy or firecrackers
or whatever as a reason for asking for
money, means should be taken to dis
cover his parents, and these should be
told of his transgression and warned
by the proper officer to keep the child
off the streets under penalties provided
for the infringement of the statute
covering the case. Let it be stated In
plam terms that child begging upon the
streets of Portland will not be permit
ted, and then let measures be taken to
stop it. The most efficacious of all
means is In the hands of the people
themselves, and can be used without
coming into disagreeable contact with
the parents of the little beggars. It Is
simply to refuse the dole asked, sup
plementing the refusal by a warning
that a second offense will be followed
by disagreeable consequences. "Walf
flndlng wagons," carrying In a single
hour forty children between the ages
of 4 and 7 years to a police station of
a great city for begging, form an ob
ject-lesson In easy-going philanthropy
that should warn the people of a
smaller city, where child begging is Iii
Its Infancy, to throttle the evil while
yet it can readily be taken In hand.
The austerities that are still prac
ticed in the name of religion find their
most severe expression. In this country
at least, In the case of the' Carmelite
nuns, small bands of whom are closely
cloistered in various places. The quar
ters of one. of these bands in Philadel
phia are thus described by the Ledger
of that city:
The nuns bedsteads consist of plna boards
laid on o. trestle a tew Inches above the floor.
Upon this is laid a sack of ztraw and a hard
pillow. The sheets are woolen. They wash
from a brown bucket on the floor. In addition
to this, they have in their room a little table,
a brownstone Jus for drinking water, brown
soap, a brown toothbrush mug and scarcely
anything else. In Europe still, and formerly
in this country, the Carmelites denied them
selves Are in Winter.
"When it is added that these pale-
faced nuns rise at 4:45 In the morning
and spend most of their waking hours
In prayer; that after their cloister Is
formally sealed no one i3 permitted to
enter the cloistered part of the con
vent, and visitors, even nearest rela
tives,, are not able to see or speak to
the nuns save through bars'that sep
arate them perpetually from the out
side world, the dreary., monotonous life
to which they are dedicated becomes
dimly apparent- "While it Ja not diffi
cult to conceive that sensitive natures.
duly wrought up through the emo
tlons, may come to see in thls con
strained and bare existence the very
essence of piety and devotion to duty,
it passes all comprehension that intelli
gent men and women, in touch with the
world and its beauty, its possibilities
for happiness and its opportunities for
practical usefulness, can encourage or
evenpermlt such pitiful sacrifice of all
that raises life above the dead level
qf existence.
Diligent investigation of the recent
mine disaster at Johnstown, Pa.,
brought out much evidence tending to
confirm fhe statements that many min
ers ignore the rules against handling
open lamps in the mines. To an in
fraction of these rules the explosion, so
disastrous to life and property, was in
all probability due. The lesson pre
sented thereby is not a' new one. It
haB, on the contrary, been repeated
again and again, its grewsome illustra
tions drawn from the suffocating
depths of wrecked mines in the black
ened bodies of miners, who have met
swift death because of the heedless
ness of their co-laborers. The story is,
indeed, as old as the indifference or
recklessness of men who, having be
come familiar with danger through its
dally touch, cease to regard It as Immi
nent. No power or device has ever
been found that can be relied upon, at
all times, to protect men from the re
sults of carelessness or Imprudence
when working with the destructive
forces of Nature. A careless turn of
the hand, a moment's lapse of memory,
a brief disregard of the rules that In
sure human safety In handling the
mighty forces that man has harnessed
for his use or placed in subjection In
the pursuit of his plans is sufficient to
release an energy charged with de
struction that before moved in harmony
with his will. Up to this point man.
through his Ingenuity, Is In control.
Beyond it the sway of force is absolute.
It seems that at last there is a law
against hazing at "West Point, that
neither political nor, personal Influence
can subvert. Cadet Pendleton, found
guilty of hazing, has been dismissed
from the Military Academy, though he
was In his last year. The member of
Congress whose appointee young Pen
dleton was, In trying to secure his re
instatement, was informed that the law
covering the case Is very explicit, and
that neither the Secretary of War Yior
the President can turn aside Its pen
alty. This is well. The country has
had quite enough of Booze trials and
their scandalous developments. A law
that would expel without hope of re
instatement even the President's own
son caught In the brutal sport of haz
ing has long been needed for the gov
ernment of "West Point. Now that we
have it, and the assurance that it will
be enforced, the atmosphere of the
Military Academy ought to be much
Improved. Those who conduct them
selves as gentlemen should need have
no fear of It. Those who do not ought
not to have the benefits of "West Point.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Port
land citizens are frequently prone to
subject their town to rather critical
analysis Is that they feel she can stand
it that her Virtues are so numerous
and her strength so unmatchable that
no criticism can do her "harm. A man
occupying an Invulnerable position Is
not offended ty hostile examination;
he whose position Is weak seeks to con
ceal that fact by pretending great
strength and shouting It all the while,
However, it may be questioned whether
Portland is not greatly Injured In the
eyes of those not well acquainted with
her by the free habit of aome of her
citizens to make light of her strength
and to commend ephemeral qualities of
other towns, as if Portland's lack of
them were fatal. The man who
won't stand up for, his own family, his
own town, his own state, his own coun
trythe man who befouls his own nest
what of him?
"With the passinsr of Mrs. Able-ail At-
wood, a woman of gentle, conscientious
life and endeavor has finished her
earthly career. Mrs. Atwood had been
for many years a resident of this city.
Her seat in the Unitarian Church was
seldom vacant on Sunday morning dur
ing all these years never. Indeed, ex
cept by eason-vof Illness. As deDend-
able In other respects as In her attend
ance upon church, her character for
generosity, kindness and svmDathv was
well established and greatly admired.
.airs. Atwood lived to the venerable age
of four score and three years, a model
of cheerfulness in atre as she had been
of energy and thoughtfulness in her
earlier years. Her obsequies, held In
the Unitarian Church this afternoon.
will complete in tender, hopeful, rem
iniscent strain the record of a forceful
yet gentle and blameless life.
The circumstances of General Smith's
arrival In San Francisco are of pa
thetic significance. Others had come
triumphant from the very exacting ser
vice Inthe Philippines and with some
thing of the glory of conquering heroes.
He came to find his long career as a
soldier ended In a dark shadow to re
ceive judgment that he had dishonored
the flag that he had often risked his
life for. He had failed in the test of re
sponsibility, and justice demanded that
failure be written in terms that could
not be misunderstood where others sim
ilarly tempted should see IL The man
must suffer for his mistake because he
earned punishment, because the good
of the service, the honor of his coun
try and the cause of humanity re
quired it.
Count Castellane. son-in-law of th
late Jay Gould, has at length agreed to
pay (out of his wife's inheritance) for
the $400,000 worth of bric-a-brac and
curios purchased from an antiquity
dealer of London, in the first flush of
his suddenly acquired wealth. His sa
gacious brother-in-law. Georue J. Gould.
who Is trustee of hl3 sister's patrimony.
will dole out the amount on the In
stallment Plan out of the Income from
the fund. The Count had his fling, and
It was a costly one. His wife's rela
tives on this side of the water, from
prudential reasons, will see to It that
ne does not have another.
Suppose the President should write
the message the antis want him to
write, denouncing the Army and the
whole people for standing behind it
how would It Bound? "Would it alter
the status of the Philippines or the
Filipinos? "Would it be likely 16 con
tribute to the efficiency of the military
arm of the Government? "Would it in
any sense teach patriotism or self-respect
tp the American people? "Would
It draw respect from abroad? "Would
not the antis themselves be- as d!ssat-
loficd as ever?
STRIKES AND PUBLIC RIGHTS.
This artlcla Is by Samuel Gompers. president
of the American Federation of Labor, who" will
apeak In Portland tomorrow evening-
In connection with every strike of any
moment, though not, we' have" ob
served, in connection with lockouts or
blacklisting, a certain portion of the press
takes up the cry of "public rights."
What, It is asked, becomes of the rlgnts
and interests of the "third party" to a labor-capital
controversy, the great, help
less public? The workmen have the right
to strike for any reason whatever, good
or bad, wise or foolish; and they claim
the right to boycott those who have of
fended them. Employers have the right
to discharge men at will, and thus precip
itate difficulty- Have the byfitanders, the
consumers, no rights that the classes
named are bound to respect?
Thus runs the argument, and it is plaus
ible. As -a rule, those who make it wind
up by advocating some form of compul
sory arbitration or state regulation of
wages, hours and conditions of labor. We
are not going to discuss the general ques
tion of compulsory arbitration, as our po
sition has been made sufficiently clear in
previous articles; but it may be pointed
out in passing that those who advocate
that remedy In the Interests of the 'third
party" are really proposing a radical, a
revolutionary change in the law and poll
cy of the country.
They have a right to their opinions; but
they must not confuse Issues arising un
der existing law3 with Implications and
deductions from principles that are pecu
liar to the philosophy of industrial rela
tlons, principles that have not been ac
cepted or recognized.
"When they talk about public rights, they
must confine themselves to rights under
the present politico-economic system, not
under a conceivable system which has not
been adopted.
From this logical and proper standpoint.
It Is plain that the ."third party" has no
standing in the forum of law, equity and
reason, in any case where neither capital
nor labor oversteps its constitutional
bounds. A great strike entails inconven
lence and hardship; but what of It? Is
the public entitled to insist that a man
shall work on terms that are unsatisiac-
tory to him, simply because it needs his
product?
Men work or engage In business to earn
a livelihood, not from motives of altruism.
They may stop when they please, Just as
the farmer may refuse to raise crop3 witn-
out regard to tho needs of the consumers,
The "public" does not provide for tUe
wage-workers; it leaves them to pursue
their interests as best they may, and all
they owe the public, legally speaking, is
respect for the-law.
But. of course, In addition to legal re
sponsibilities and limitations, there are
the less definite moral responsibilities.
Not everything that is lawful la expedient
and reasonable; "the extreme of law is the
extreme of Injustice," it has well heen
said.
Now, it is certainly pertinent and lm
portant to ask whether organized labor
has shown Itself reckless of these moral
obligations to the public, whether it has
Insisted In any considerable number of
cases, on the letter of the law regardless
of all considerations of propriety and rea
son In a comprehensive snse of these
terms.
"We have had many strikes of late, some
of them of a serious character from the
public Aandpoint.
"Which side was It which defiantly ana
scornfully disregarded public opinion, and
talked about "managing its own business
in its own way?"
"Which side declared that It was impertl
nent and Impudent and outrageous for
the "third party" to make Its influence
felt for peace and adjustment?
"Which side said that the law was all
sufficient, and that other considerations
were mere foolish sentiment and harmful
weakness?
In the strike of the anthracite miners
who said "no concessions, no arbitration?"
The presidents of the coal-carrying rail
roads said it.
"Who offered to accept arbitration of the
strictly Impartial kind? The representa
tives of the 147,000 miners.
The operators and railroads opposed the
efforts of the conciliation committee of
the industrial department of the Civic
Federation; and even the suggestion or
President Roosevelt's intervention under a
supposed statute, discovered to have been
repealed, was resented and characterized
as dangerous and vicious.
And all this in spite of the" fact that
railroads enjoy exclusive and valuable
privileges from the public, and that the
coal-carrying roads were notoriously par
tics in an illegal monopoly, aa shown by
the plain statements of the Industrial
Commission!
If moral obligations are opcratH'e any
where, they are surely operative In cases
where the industry affected by a strike is
a Rational monopoly, where franchises
have removed the natural check of supply
and demand.
In Chicago there was a strike of team
sters employed by the big packing com
panies, which aro under public accusation
of unlawful monopoly. The strikers de
manded recognition of their union, an in
crease of pay, and some other things. The
packers declined to "deal with strangers"
or to recognize the union in any way. The
peoplo of Chicago were practically all
against the packers, and they had to
yield; but they, not the teamsters, at first
rejected arbitration and friendly mediation.
so perverted aro the notions of Illiberal
and short-sighted employers that when the
simplest truth Is stated it sounds like a
paradox.
It Is forgotten that the workman, too.
has his "business" to manage, and that.
to say the least, his part in production is
as essential as that of capital.
when workmen Insist on certain terms.
they are not seeking to control the em
ployer's business, but to lay down the
conditions of their own participation in
that business.
Too many still assume that the em
ployer Is to be thanked and regarded as
a benefactor for paying wages at all and
giving his employes work!
This miserable fallacy Is back of every
arrogant claim put forward by capital.
But for it, everybody would see that if
the workman has something: to arbitrate.
eo has the employer.
In fine, a candid examination of the facta
will satisfy reasonable men that the Inter
ests and rights of the public arc seldom
disregarded by organized labor, and that
the obstinacy, superciliousness and big
otry of certain types df employers are re
sponsible for the number, duration and
character of strikes and labor contests.
Assuredly, no sane man will ask workmen
to accept any terms employers choose to
grant them.
"What more can labor do than to nxree
to accept meditation and arbitration?
what more does consideration for the
"third party" require? "
Let. then, the champions and snakesmon
for the public, address their protests and
appeals to the backward and short-sighted
employers whosi name, also! Is stlii legion.
urgamzea laDor needs no converWcn. It
Is ready to do the right thing at tue right
time
In 18SA. trhen tha nill nilm. ..vu
tion law was under consideration, among other
oblectton vrr Intnmmul ream ik.t t.- vit.
--- -1 - " M.at. um uiu re
pealed the investigation of such labor disputes
as the' on'i nrtTT tinrfpr ffmlftmHMi . .
as wera Iffvestlsated In 1S34. ,
THINGS LOCAL AND OTHERWISE.
The observant stranger in Portland he
is here in large numbers at this season
of tho year usually asks how it happens
that the chief commercial city of Oregon
is situated 110 miles away from the ocean,
and not near It. If he has visited Cali
fornia, he has in mind the geographical
position of San Francisco and Sacramento
and their relative Importance. He sees
these reversed in Oregon, and naturally
wants to know why. Should he put the
question to a pioneer, he would likely re
ceive a correct answer, but few visitors
get in touch with old-timers, and our
feeble guidebooks are silent on the sub
ject. After the visitor learns why Port
land became the commercial city of the
Northwest Coast he is still puzzled to
know why Portland for 50 years has been
the chief seaport, with steadily increasing
ocean trade, domestic and foreign, greater
this year than ever before. "Without at
tempting an epitome of early history, I
shall set down one fact In connection'
with tho founding of Portland. Creation
of a city so far inland was not an acci
dent but the result of Intelligent design.
About 57 years ago. a Yankee doing bus
iness at Oregon City, tho commercial, pc-i
lltlcal and social center of the territory
at that time, bought a claim in what Is
now the heart of Portland; then the dens
est forest in the Willamette Valley. Some
six miles west of this claim, beyond the
hills, lay a considerable prairie which In
that early day was cultivated, and pro
duced wheat. This Yankee. Frank "W.
Pettygrove, conceived the idea of build
ing a wagon road from the river westward
over the hills to Tualatin Plains. A sur
vey made at his own expense showed such
road to be feasible, and from his own
funds he built the road. He established
a wharf and store at what Is now the foot
of "Washington street and diverted to that
point trade which hitherto had taken a
longer route to Oregon City. At the very
start, the buying of agricultural prod
ucts, the selling of supplies to settlers,
the. Importing of merchandise and the ex
porting of grain were carried on prac
tically under the same roof. Trade, river
navigation and deep-sea shipping were In
terlaced here In the earliest days, and
they have grown together since. The
town followed Pettygrove's lead. He first
brought the farmers' product and the
deep-sea vessel side by side.
It was not long beforo steamers suc
ceeded flatboats. They plied up the Wil
lamette and up and down the Columbia.
Portland was their home port. Sailing
vessels, coast and foreign, discharged and
loaded cargo here; so with coasting
steamers. For more than a generation
every pound of merchandise that came
Into Oregon and Eastern Washington, ev
ery bushel of wheat that went out, and
every traveler passed through Portland.
"With tho advent of the railroad, only the
method of conveyance was changed. Com
merce continued in the lines which the
steamboat plfineered, with Portland as the
center. As In Pettygrove's time, products
of the soil and the ship meet side by side
in our harbor today. Another fact: For
four miles In front of Portland, the "Wil
lamette River is a natural harbor with
a minimum depth of 40 feet.
"But Portland surely must have had
rivals." is the almost invariable comment
of the observing stranger. It would take
all your fingers to count them. A shoal
and a bit of swift water at the mouth
of the Clackamas prevented Oregon City
from being the metropolis of this youpg
empire. All the other rivals were llko
Portland, upstarts, but they failed be
cause they had not planned to bring the
products of the man who wanted to sell
into the warehouse of the man who want
ed to buy. This Is what Pettygrove did
for Portland. If he had been less restless
after he laid the foundation and had
stayed here Instead of removing to Port
Townsend, he might by this time have a
public monument.
Notorious May Yohe is breaking Into
print again. Because she happened to
strike the fancy of a fool with a title who
married her, foreign press agencies seem
to regard her as a person of consequence.
Beat for her, for disreputable Captain
Strong, and for the public, is oblivion.
Tracy's flight through the State of
"Washington has served one good purpose.
Everybody reads of his movements, and
these cannot be followed Intelligently
without a map. I Imagine that more than
one family atlas will be opened today for
a study of the geography of the North
eastern section of our sister common
wealth, jj.
Lmsob Taught an Eavesdropper.
Kansas City Journal.
Telephone party lines have their amuse
ments as well as their discomforts. When
the telephone rings for a neighbor across
tho way. it Is the greatest temptation In
the world for some women quietly to take
down the receiver and hear what Is going
on. One woman who has been quite an
noying to the other people on her party
line got a lesson the other day she will
doubtless remember. The telephone rang,
and, as usual, she went to it and quietly
took the receiver down so that tho two
who were trying to talk could hear each
other only indistinctly.
"Hello, hello. Mrs. Brown. Oh, dear,
somebody's got down their receiver. Can
you hear me? Oh. I .wish they'd stop
thatr. Tho woman who was listening
heard her distinctly.
No, I can Just barely hear you," came
the answer, indistinctly. "It's so provok
ing, isn't it? Now, I want you to come"
The rest of the sentence was lost.
"Hello, Mrs. Brown hello! Can you
hear me now?"
"Yes, a little that woman across the
street ha3 got her receiver down-r-that's
Mrs. M.. you know. I guess 6he rushes to
the telephone to hear what I've got to say
every time my 'phone rings."
Indeed, and I don't do any such a
thing." came the third voice, and the
two women who were trylnjr to talk heard
the receiver go up with a soft click.
"I guess she got excited and fcrcot her
self." said Mrs. Brown.
"Yes, I rather think she did," came ths
answer.
The party line of that nelKhborhon
works better since the Incident.
Farewell, I,lel
Thomas Hood. '
Farewell. Life! my senses swim.
And the world Is growing- dim;
Thronging- shadows cloud the light.
Llko the advent of the night;
Colder, colder, colder still.
Upward steals a vapor chill;
Strong- the earthy odor grows
I smell the mold above the rosel
Welcome. Life! the spirit strives!
Strength returns and hope revives;
Cloudy fears and shapes forlorn
Fly like shadows at the morn;
O'er the earth there comes a bloom;
Sunny light for sullen gloom. '
Warm perfume for vapor cold
I emell the rose above the mold!
The Silent Voices.
Alfred Tennyson.
When the dumb Hour, cloth'd th black.
Brings the dreams, about my bed.
Call me not so often back.
Silent Voices of the dead.
Toward the lowland ways behind me.
And the sunlight that la gepel
Call me rather, silent Voices.
Forward to the starry track J
Glimmering up the heights beyond ma
On., and always ont