Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1903)
- THE SUNDAY .OKEG.ONIAN, PORTLAND, MARCH 1903. he regxmtcm XBtcrtd at the PostDtco at Porttaai Ow.; a cecond-class matter. P.CVJSED EUBSCRIPTIOX RJLTE3. Br Mall (postage prepaid. !n advance) gJJr. J-lth Eusday. per month JO.S5 Dally. Sunday -excepted, per year 7.50 IHly. with Sunday, per year .... -00 Sunday, per year 2.00 fae Wwitir. per year ; 1.50 The Weekly. 3 conths- . .50 o aty Subicrlbers gaily, per vrrek. delivered. Sunday excepted.Wo Bally, per week, -dellvrred. Sunday Is eluded .TOc POSTAGE RATES. Jla,t-wl Etics. Canada and Mexico: JO to l-page caper ......... .Ic J to 38-pase paper. .To Foreign ratei double. Xtt" or discussion Intended for publication la lie Oregonlan should be addrezsed tararla Wy "Editor The Oregonlan." not 'to the same ; ay individual. 3tters relaUst to avet iInr. subscription or to any business matter fiouid be addressed simply "The Oregonlan." The Oregonlan does not buy poems or storiea from Individuals, and cannot undertake to re turn any manuscripts sent to It without solici tation. Xo stamps should be Inclosed for this Eastern Business OSlce. . U. 45. 47. &. 40 Tribune building. Xew Tork aty: 010-11-12 Tribune building. Chicago- the S- a Beckwlth Epecltl Agency. Eastern representative. For sale 1c- San Francisco by X. E. Lee. Pal ace Hotel news stand: Goldsmith Bros.. 238 Sutter street: P. Yf. Pitts. 1003 Market street: J. K. -Cooper Co.. 748 Market street, near the Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear. Ferry news aland; Frank Scott. SO Ellis street, and J. Wheatley. 813 Mission street. For Kale in Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner. S59 South Spring street, and Oliver & Haines. S05. South Spring street. Pot sale la Kansas City. Ma, by Itlckseclcer Clear Co., Ninth and Walnut street. For sale in Chicago by the P. O. Kews Co, 217 Dearborn street, and Charles MacDonald. C3 Washington street. For sale in Omaha by Barkalow Bros., 1612 Farmo street: Megeath Stationery Ca. 130S Famam street. For eale in Ogden by W. O. Kind. 114 25th ttreet; Jas. H. Crockwell. 242 25th street. For sale h Salt Lake by the Salt Lake News Co.. 77 "West Second South street. For rale in Washington. D. C, by the Ebbett House news stand. For sale In Dearer, Colo., by Hamilton & Kendrick, 900-912 Seventeenth street: Louthan & Jackson Boole and Stationery Co.. Fifteenth" and Lawrence streets; A. Series, Sixteenth and Curtis streets. TODAY'S WEATHER Partly cloudy, with probably showers: southwesterly winds. YESTERDAY'S WEATHER Maximum tem perature, 54; minimum temperature, 48: pre- -PORTX.AXD, SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 100.1 THE POST OF HOXOIU It is with eminent propriety that the first dignitary of the Catholic Church in. America has been assigned a prominent part in the ceremonial which is to in augurate the great exposition at St. Louis. For be it remembered that the beginnings of civilization In the coun try involved in the Louisiana Purchase, which the event at St. Louis is designed to commemorate, were under the aus picesthe direct inspiration and pro tection, in truth of the Catholic Church, and very largely at the hands of her devoted and undaunted eons. No historic picture of the American Continent is faithful or complete which does not represent the labors and achievements of the fathers of the church, beginning at Quebec with the occupation of the continent by white men, spreading to the west, to the north and to the south, and finally gaining for France a hold upon the great central basin of the continent. The story of this great movement the story of the French race In America covering nearly three centuries in point of tlmo, is one of the most brilliant, and at the same time one of the most tragic and pathetic, of the world's Tecorde. It is brilliant because it exhibits human character in splendid and noble phase?; it is tragic because it is a continuous tory of human suffering and martyr dom; It is pathetic because all its effort, ts courage, its sufferings, its triumphs, appear to have been expended in vain, leaving little more to later generations "of men than a heroic story and the eakitly names which marked the prog- ''reas and the temporary triumphs of the Lilies and the Cross. Wo say that all this great cost of effort, courage and suffering appears to have been lost. There is merit in the limitation. It appears to the world to have een lost because the political purpose with which it was associated came in the end to shipwreck. It ap- ' pears to have been lost because the In dian tribes which it sought to bring to tho Cross and to civilization have per- ' tehed from the earth; because the very regions in which it was expended have - passed from the dominion of the church and measurably from its influences. But in the larger sense it must ever be true that such sublime examples of Christian character as are afforded by 'the records of the Jesuit fathers in America cannot be lost to a world which retains the capabilities' of human and religious sympathy. So long as the minds of man respond to the appeal of su preme sacrifice and fortitude in the cause of love for humanity, there will be a noble inspiration in the story of Le Jeune, Gamier, Jogues, Breesanl and the supreme martyr Do Brebeuf. "No change of political circumstance can rob human nature of the dignity with -which the sufferings and the fortitude of these men and others of their de voted faith have endowed It It was the misfortune of the Catho- t lie Church in its pioneer career in North America to be associated with political systems Incompetent for the work of occupying and organizing the country. The Frenchman has everywhere failed as a practical colonizer; the Spaniard, Tor many centuries a mighty conqueror, lias not the qualities which sustain and maintain political power. To the north and In the great Mississippi Valley the . country was marked by a thousand, con didtions for the empire of the non-Cath-ollc races. The struggle was long, but the odds were on the side of those who have established in North America the systems of political, social and religious life which have so enriched, and blessed it. But the day which commemorates the foundation of civilization In the central part of the American continent is a day of distinction and honor for the Catho lic Church. Her sons were the pioneers, lier sons were the martyrs and the he roes of that splendid record of fortitude and achievement. Their virtues, if we may borrow the thought of a great his torian, shine amidst the rubbish of po litical error and failure like diamonds and gold In the gravel of the torrent And by right the Catholic Church, In the person of Cardinal Gibbons, will hold a place of honor in the ceremonial which signalizes the greatness of the present age and Its gratitude to- an age past. The public is promised more of the early letters of Charles Darwin. Samples of these that have been furnished in advance- show that as a boy Darwin made ' no profession of the specific virtue that has caused Washington to be held up as a shining example to the boys of the generations that have succeeded him. He was, oa the contrary. Just a plain, IjHdfeuLgivJscpk ftstvex&xnple, la one of the letters written in his early youth he compared himself to the small boy lnj one of Leech's sketches, who wasaefced If he knew whtft a lie was, to which 'he replied: "Don't J, though! I've told' lots of them:" - ASPECTS OP. SOCIAJ(JLIPJE. Society is fuir of Burdlcks and Peo nells whose stories never chance, to be made public. There is little to "commend in any of them, men or women, and much to condemn. The public's con cern in these exhibits of depravity is to prevent their repetition, little, ob viously, can be done with the adult sin ner but to pray ior his speedy removal from the air he dothcontaminate. The " preventive of- jth&z soc!aLv evils, .and -their corrective in the long run, is with the younger generation. Nothing but home training in childhood can put moral fiber Into the grown man or woman. Girls who are properly reared do not suffer themselves to be bundled back and forth from one man to anoth er. Boys with the proper-notions of right and wrong do not "value the mar riage relation so lightly that they be come principals or accessories to a wife's shame. Parental neglect takes many forms, and it would be hazardous to array them In order of their importance. They who err on the side of indulgence are no whit more culpable than they who deny their children innocent pleas ures at home and fail to'stiidy and sac rifice .for their enjoyment. Boy or girl is quite as likely to rush into perilous gayety from a barren as from the in dulgent home. Perhaps many of the most dangerous errors of parenthood are comprehended under Inattention to the possibilities of comradeship between pa rent and child. The wisest and most seldom disappointed mothers seek to be the chums of their boy or girl. The boy that grows to manhood with his mother entirely In his confidence is an almost impossible drunkard or gambler pr lib ertine. It Is the temptation of the mother to neglect her girls. She falls to enter into their youthful dreams, she omits to Im part knowledge they will later find nec essary, she lets them bloom Into wom anhood without habits of industry and self-control. She doesn't want her girl to do the hard work she had to do, or soil her hands in the kitchen, or be Identified with the humble tasks of the household. It is a sad mistake. The young woman who Is Ignorant of the domestic routine, practical as well as theoretical. Is on the broad road to fail ure as a wife and mother. She Is apt to be the victim of extravagance and self gratification, and the prey of tempta tion when it comes along. Self-control is a habit which must be acquired from childhood up. Idleness Is the chief cause of women's fails. The assaults which Nature permits upon the affections, for good ends in the aggregate, can- only be resisted, when they ought to be resisted, by rock-rooted 'conviction and firmly seated habit, built up through slow and careful years. Perhaps some day we shall conclude also that our passion for secularism In education has run to seed. The teacher must have some responsibility here, and some large sphere, in view of the long time children spend in his presence-, under his influence and In unconscious assimilation of his ideals and moral purposes. In divorcing church' from state, end religion from education, have we not come near to eliminating the moral element in the child's life? Book-learning is a welcome grace for good character, but it only enables the mortally untaught to sin more skillfully. Education is a failure If it imparts -information merely, and not character. Tills truth is but dimly apprehended, it is to be feared, by the average school board. Is there a lesson for our pub licists in the Increasing vogue of de nominational schools? FINLAND AND HER FATE. After a vain contention against fate for generations, Finland has been prac tically absorbed by Russia. It only re mains for the Finnish language to be eliminated from the schools, as It al ready has been from the official life of the country, for the Investment of Rus sia to be complete, so far as outward forms of life in that troubled principal ity are concerned. From this time for ward the national life of Finland will be as that of Poland has long been but history. Those of the Finnish people who cannot escape from the conditions that have been Imposed upon them by all-absorbing Russia through emigra tion will act the part of wisdom In ac cepting them without show of resistance that can only make their humiliation in their subjugation more complete. For more than seven centuries Fin land has occupied a more or less un stable situation in the presence of her enemies. It was in the tenth century that the Swedes, then little more than stalwart savages. Invaded Finland, and after a struggle that lasted for many years, subdued It. Under the dominion of their conquerors the people lost many of the distinguishing traits of wnlch national character is made up. The language of, the invaders became that of the country, and in half hopeless, half defiant attitude they worked and waited full 500 years while Sweden and Russia waged pitiless warfare for the control of the state. The latter at length pre vailed, and promise was given that the conditions of the people should become more tolerable by the change. Some special privileges were allowed them. Instruction In their schools in their own language was permitted, though not en couraged, and the acerbities of the Russian military system were softened toward them to the extent that they were not to be required to bear arms outside of their own home defenses. Latterly, however, this relative mild ness has abated. The heavy hand of Russia has been laid upon the 'liberty of the Finnish people, pressing out its life. Protest has been unavailing; re sistance by force is worse than useless and cannot be thought of, and now, to complete the sum of their miseries, their crops h'ave failed and pitiless hun ger, if not gaunt famine, confronts them. Though a home-loving people, the Finns who have voluntarily exiled themselves from their native land are the happiest of their race. Large num bers of them have sought homes in America within the past five years. where, homesick but hopeful, they have set themselves .to the task of beginning life over again. Those of the better class among them are industrious and thrifty; though, with ideas pf living that do not approach the American standard of comfort. Alien In language, with strained ideas of liberty, unused to the conditions and requirements of West ern civilization, the Finnish colony will be a misfit, so to speak, in an American i coramunltj-focl9etterj?art of a sea- eration. It is doubtful, Indeed, whether the middle-aged among theae immi grants will ever feel at home with us. "It Is to the young and those born upon our soil that we must look for the fbenefits in loyalty to our institutions. affiliation with our customs. Interest in our schools and the adoption of our lan guage. In the meantime we can do no less ih&n T)ld them welcome as home seekers and prospective citizens. To this end they should be encouraged to learn our language -and adopt our cus toms, and required to send their chil dren to our schools. Having forsaken old Finland, they should be content to enshrine it tenderly In memory, and not hope or strive to establish "a new Fin land In. the land that gives them asy lum and. offers them the blessings of ilberty. "ENGLISH VIEW OF AMERICAN PROBLEMS. ' The day when Englishmen visited America and returned only to express their 'contempt for our present civiliza tion and utter gloomy predictions of our future Is long past. This season er peri odical abuse of our Republic by Eng lish tourists did not cease until our Civil War had convinced the world that we were a great people, whether in the business of war or the victories of peace. In the first half of .the nineteenth cen tury our critics were Captain Basil Hall, Mrs. Trollope, Captain Maryatt, and Dickens, who abused us roundly in his "American Notes," published in 1843. "Who reads an American book?" was the sneering inquiry of Sydney Smith. After our Civil War came men of a dif ferent type, like James Bryce, and his able analysis of our form of government and description of our people enlight ened the English public so thoroughly concerning the United States that when writers of the ability of Matthew Ar nold and Rudyard Kipling undertook to belittle our country and Its people they simply succeeded In drawing upon themselves a vigorous rebuke from the leading English press. Andrew Lang In the London Dally News told Mr. Kipling that he could not convince anybody that there were not other things in America worthy of attention besides the "pom pous hotel clerks, shrill-voiced women and spittoons," which Mr. Kipling re cords as the permanent institutions of our country. Since the publication of Kipling's splenetic "American Notes" there have been a great many books on America written by able Englishmen, and not one of them treats our country or its people with disrespect The educated Englishman who has most recently written of our future Is W. R, Lawson, who, in his "American Industrial Prob lems," presents the matured views of an intelligent man who has striven ,to be accurate in his information and to be as falrmlnded as is possible from the British point of view. Mr. Lawson be lieves that the export of American food products, which. Including tobacco, amounted In 1900 to $540,000,000, is des tined to diminish rather than expand; that home, consumption will become relatively more and more predominant until the food exports sink into com parative Insignificance. This he re gards as Inevitable unless the food pro duction of the United States should grow much faster than the population. If the other powers of Europe should follow the lead of Germany and Impose stiff Import duties on American food stuffs, American export trade would surely suffer a decline. Three-fourths of our cotton Is shipped to Europe In the raw state; so small a percentage of our wool leaves the country that our Repub lic is regarded as an importer Tather than an exporter of wool. Even In lum ber our country has but a small foreign business compared with the immense quantity produced. While Mr. Lawson thinks there are limits to American competition' as re gards agricultural produce, he confesses It is far otherwise with minerals and metals, in which Americans have made the most startling progress and exhibit the greatest possibilities of future growth. Our output In minerals alone was valued in 1900 at $672,000,000, and our metal production at $524,000,000. Of the latter, about one-third was export ed, but of the former only a seventh. Mr. Lawson records the prediction of well-informed Americans that in the field of minerals and metals our output of raw material and our manufacturing capacity Is for the future of boundless expansion. Mr. Lawson grants that the United States has both abundant raw material, and has the industrial skill to work up the raw material. Thls'ad vantage lie grants would give us vic tory in the industrial battle of the future were it not for the fact that in international trade politics may become a dominant factor. If Great Britain should "prefer American fiscal doctrines to American produce, it might no longer be so easy for' the United States to maintain a flatteijtnfe balance of trade." What Mr. Lawson says concerning the limitations of the area adapted to cereals Is a powerful argument for the application of irrigation on a great scale to the arid districts of the United States. Statistics show that the area under cereal crops does not keep pace with new land broken up, for between 1895 and 1900 the new land has done little more than counterbalance the wasting of the old. Much the same thing may be said of cotton, for since 1S94 cotton planting has made but little progress either in area or weight of crop. Mrl Lawson thinks that Hew Orleans is one day to be the principal seaport of the United States, its largest ocean gate way; he argues that the trunk roads from the West to the Atlantic cannot cope much longer with the growth of the Mississippi Valley, .and that relief must be sought by railway extension to the Mexican Gulf at New Orleans, which today is next to Chicago as a railroad center. Is a cotton port for the Southern States, a grain port for the whole of the" corn and Winter wheat belts, a Truit port for Central America and the West India Islands, a transit port for Mexico and the Pacific Coast, and one of the great ccean gateways for international trade. New Orleans, Mr. Lawson points out, dominates the Gulf of Mexico, whose commercial world includes Cuba, Jamaica, the Caribbean. Islands, Mexico and the coast of Central America, and a tremendous impetus will be given to the growth $)f New Or leans when the Panama Isthmus is cut by an lnteroceanic canal. Mr. Lawson grants that In the United States a man may learn his business where and 'how he pleases, and In con clusion he says-that "If the Englishman, the German and the Frenchman would settle down to a thorough study of the arts of organization and supervision, as these are practiced In the United- States, Europe might produce organizers and captains of industry to match any that are produced in Chicago or Pittsburg." He evidently does net believe that Eu rope will do this, and confesses that the United States, with Its industrial army or twenty-two millions of men, all more or leas trained, with Its vast command of capital and financial skill, with the best-known organization both lor pro duction and distribution. Is become a most -formidable rival of Europe for the control of the world's trade. THE FAMILY TABLE. Not the old-fishloned board, at the head of which sat the father, and at the foot oi which sat the mother with the sugar-bowi In her lap, to prevent incur sions from chlldi3h fingers flanked on either side by a row of children, with shining faces and eager appetites; not the family table from which the chil dren took turns In, "waiting" when the grandparent!? came to occupy seats tem porarily at the board, or when other "company" same;, notthe table at which "a blessing" was asked three times dally for 365 days in each year,, at which chil dren were taught to mind their man ners and wait until their elders were served. The, fatally table, popular at this time, la one of figures compiled by the care iul statistician. It concerns the alleged decreasing size of families, and Is spread tn this wise: Average slxe of family, teen New England 4.8 4.6 jNew York 4.9 4.4 Pennsylvania 5.1 4.8 fcoatn Atlantic states.,.., 5.2 5.0 Ohio i. '. 5.0 4.4 Indiana ....... ., 5.1 4.4 Illinois....... -.,..5.2 4.7 Michigan i.. 4.9 4.4 Wisconsin 5.2 4.9 Minnesota, S.2 6.1 Iowa ,. o,2 4.0 Missouri , 8.4 4.7 North Dakota 4.3 4.9 South' Dakota 4.3 4.8 Neoraika 6.1 4.S Kansas 5.0 4.0 There Is a scanting of averages In this, it is true, but It Is not very serious. Not so serious, indeed, but that any one holding this table in his hand and watching the children pour out of any one of a number of schoolhouses In any city in the land is able to subdue his ap prehension that the Tace, from lack of recruiting agencies, is likely to run out. According to this table, New England does not show either the largest de crease In ten years nor the smallest av erage size of families. In point of fact, this decrease in New England Is but two-tenths of 1 per cent a decrease in quantity that, If It Is not made up in quality, much educational effort has been wasted In the past decade. In New Tork the decrease is five-tenths of 1 per cent; In Pennsylvania, three tenths; in Ohio, six-tenths; in In diana, seven-tenths; In Michigan, five tenths; in Wisconsin, three-tenths; In Iowa, six-tenths; In Missouri, seven tenths; In Kansas, four-tenths. That is to say, the average size of families In New England is larger than In Nqw York, Ohio, Indiana and Michi gan, and equal to that In Iowa and Kansas. This reckoning represents a labored process, but It is relatively valueless. It Includes all races and con ditions, and has no bearing upon the relative size of families of long estab lishment in the country and those of later Immigration. It Is a modern fam ily table, nothing more. Any one good at figures and diligent In delving into census returns can spread It, and all who are curious' or apprehensive In the matter can come to it and go away satisfied that the American family 'Is not rapidly dying out. THE SPECTER OF SOCIALISM. The specter of socialism, if It ever ma terializes Into a formidable political movement lc this country, will owe its organized existence chiefly to the folly of the plutocratic combinations of capi tal that pretend to fear its agitation while they stupidly multiply socialists by their reckless action. The specter of socialism was before the eyes of Macau lay when he prophesied the ultimate failure of the American experiment, saying that when we became as thickly peopled as Europe, when there was no more cheap land to settle upon, and population became congested, then the battle between the American plutocracy and the American proletariat would begin and our Republic would be fortu nate if It survived the struggle without the advent of a military dictator of Na poleonic quality. There Is nothing In the thought of Macaulay that Is not found suggested by Chateaubriand In his "Memoirs'," which were written many years before Macaulay printed his horoscope of our fate. Chateau briand was born in 1768, and did not die until 1848, so that he had seen the great social and political changes which had been Vitneseed in Europe between 1789 arid 1830. He had spent two years of his young manhood In the United StateB; he had lived several years in England as a French royalist; he had served Napoleon for a time, and then repudiated him; he figured in political life under the Bourbons until the revo lution of 1830, and was a conspicuous figure under Louis Philippe. In. the final chapter of his "Memoirs" this gifted Frenchman, who had been a political observer and actor for more than fifty years, expressed grave doubt whether the principle ' of individual property would be maintained, and was disposed to .believe that It would be superseded by socialism. He "-said: ''Given a political state of things In which Individuals have so many mill Ions a year, while other individuals are dylrfg of hunger; can that state of things subsist when religion Is no longer there with its hopes beyond this world to explain the sacrifice? One roan sees his many furrows ripen; another will possess only the six feet of earth lent to his tomb by his native land. With how many ears of corn can six feet of earth supply a dead man?" Chateaux briand saw clearly that the drift of the century was toward religious latltudi- narianlsm; that with the consolations of religion and its hopes extinct, the diffusion of education would promote social revolt. The poor man, who becomes intelli gent and is emancipated from religious content With his hard lot, will never consent to submit with resignation to the inequalities of life. He will never again endure patiently every sort of privation while his neighbor possesses superfluity a thousand times told. Chateaubriand warns his country that the only resource which will be left an aristocracy or plutocracy under these circumstances will be to meet the de mands of the poor man, or as a last re source to IclU him. He predicted that in the future the individual would crow less; that we may become Industrious bees, occupied in common with the manufacture of our honey; and he an ticipates the practical and moral results that would follow the adoption of the tenets of socialism, .the substitution of collective ownership of all property, real and personal, for the principle of Indi vidual ownership. He did not himself J believa la soci&lisza ot &n. sort put held that without indiridHal awnersbJp nobody ie free. "Hereditary and in violable property ip the safeguard of man's personality; property is nothing else then liberty. Absolute equality would reproduce really the form of servitude." Chateaubriand was clearly, troubled by the mere sight of the" specter ot so cialism more than sixty years ago, and be lsxat pains toset forth its innate-barrenness of good' results- The specter of socialism Is more clearly visible today than it was In 1S40. Its wfirthiesenes's as a working- theory of government is so clearly understood by the leading thinkers of our time that It would have small standing among the people, were It not for the reckless greed of the plu tocracy, whose organized selfish and ex tortionate policy in public action prompts an increasing number of Americans to consider state socialism not as a desirable thing, but as a bet ter choice than government by plutoc racy, which at present loses no chance to make of the public a patient ass for the transportation of its sack of gold. The people admit that the Ideal state of society Is Individualism and free com petition, but the plutocratic combina tions of capital are approaching mo nopolistic control so rapidly that the only choice will be between monopoly for the benefit of the few, which we have today, or monopoly in the name of all, which we should have under state socialism. The government of New York City is moving for a municipal llghtinff plant, because the gas and electric- light company, by squeezing the public to pay for returns on Its inflated capital, has forced- the city to appeal to the Legislature for relief. The recent Increase In the Socialist vote In New England has alarmed cer tain Republican Senators, Including Senator Hanna, who think a campalim of education should be undertaken against the spread of socialism. No such campaign would have any hope of success so long as some of the Repub lican leaders In the Senate are conspicu ous guardians of monopolies and mega phonic defenders of trusts. The Paw tucket (R. I.) Times calls. Senator Aid rich "Senator from Rockefeller," be cause, as the father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., he is one of the defend ers of the trusts In the Senate of the United States. This man Aldrlch is de scribed as "the real boss of the United States Senate," and absolutely controls Rhode Island. In face of such a situa tion, of what value would a campaign of education against socialism be In New England? The object-lesson of Senator Aldrlch, a very rich man, boss of the Republican Senate, boss ot the State of Rhode Island, and defender of trusts In the Senate, would completely nullify all oratorical argument against state so cialism. And Just here lies the danger for the future. The people, theoretical ly, are not weary of Individualism in government, but they are very tired of seeing it warped from Its moorings by a plutocratic combination of capitalists so that it is becoming a government by monopoly for the benefit of a few. When a plutocracy Is permitted, to be come the monopolizer of Industry and of public service, what wonder that the people begin to give a tolerant hearing to the evangelists of state socialism, which Is monopoly In the name of all? Municipal ownership may stand for some degree of waste, but private own ership of public utilities, when it be comes a monopoly, means perennial plundering of the people. The passion that, when thwarted, in duces a man to shoot, not infrequently lands Its possessor upon the gallows after a tearful protestation made by him before a Jury that he really did not know what made him do it. The hang man's noose Is a severe penalty for lack of self-knowledge and self-control pushed to this, point, but the law pre scribes It, and the community Justly de mands that It be inflicted. One may properly pity the youqg man, Arm strong, who shot and instantly killed, without knowing why, a young woman of Baker County, at Christmas time, but Intelligent sympathy in the case Is due to the victim and her shockingly bereaved family. The verdict on the evidence could have been nothing less than what It was murder In the first degree. There was no evidence of pre judice at the trial, though popular feel ing against the prisoner ran high at the time the crime was committed. The fair and impartial trial and earnest de fense, so far as defense was possible, proved that In disallowing the plea. for change of venue the court estimated correctly the Judicial temper of the citi zens of Baker County. As an index of Pacific Coast business movement, the appended table of bank clearings for the week ending March 14, In four years, may be of some signifi cance: Portland. Seattle. 1900 $1,733,305 $1,963,695 1901 2.15C.G41 2.670.099 1002 2,944.153 3.478.708 1003.. 3.9S8.00X 3.S00.963 When we remember that Portland's balances are paid in cash, whereas Se attle carries the balances over to swell the next day's totals, the showing at least presents food for reflection. The interests of labor are likely to suffer serious wounds from the pro claimed friends of the worklngmen. It was against such a- factional war as Is now brewing In the camps of organized labor with, it Is said, Oregon for its battle-ground that President Gompers warned labororganizatlon a few months ago. The truth of the old declaration, "A house divided against Itself cannot stand," is proven as often as It is put to the test Admiral Dewey has recovered his mental balance. The' Jolt that he suf fered shortly after his return from Ma nlla unsettled him on some points tem porarily. This was in evidence in the self-made announcement ot his candi dacy for the Presidency. His return to his "normal condition, of sound common sense Is recorded in his recent declara tion that the office of President of the United States should be filled by a man In the prime of life. The rain that has fallen throughout the Willamette Valley In the past two days has been of Incalculable benefit to farmers. Gently falling, But copious and persistent, the showers have set tied the March dust, started the. grass In meadows and pastures, freshened the early garden provided grain fields with needed moisture, and given promise of Harvest abundance. Portland's bid was lower, but the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company gets the 4,000,000-foot lumber contract. Sen ator Foster and two or three others are the St, Paul & Tacoma Lumber Com pany. This Is at least a considerate Administration MR. DEYOUNG'S OPINION. Mr. M. H. DeYoung's opinions respect ing the organisation and administration of expositions, quoted at length in this column yesterday, are not the outcome of one but of many experiences. Besides belns the president and director-general of the San Francisco Fair, Mr. DeYoung wa3 one of the commissioners ot Califor nia for the Colifinbla Exposition; ho was also officially associated, as a representa tive ot the United States Government with the last Paris Exposition, He was the author ot the classification lists of the , Columbian Exposition and he has had more or less to do with every exposition which has been given in this country or Europe during the past 20 years. In brief, he has come to be one of the world's au thorities In matters ot this sort, hts views having everywhere, the weight which "at tach to experience and eminent success in exposition management It will be recalled that la yesterday's writing Mr. DeYoung was quoted as con demning the principle of divided authority In the organization and administration of expositions. He was practically the "whole thing" at San Francisco, and to that fact It Is universally conceded that the financial success of the enterprise was due. Ho counsels the centralized system of management esijeclally In small fairs, and would carry It to such an ) extreme as to delay me appointment or suDoramate omciais to the last possible moment. In our Midwin ter Fair at San Francisco, he says. I Insisted upon having the .appointment of department heads in my own hands and then I delayed action until the time ar rived for actual department work. There were several reasons for this, the first and meet Important being that the minute you name a subordinate official there arises a demand for money. Salaries are to be considered, of course, and, worse still, the Incidental expenses of organiz ing and maintaining department staffs. Of course every department head must have his office, his stenographic secreta ry, his more or less numerous corps of clerks, his stationery and telegraphic ex pense account; and when a half dozen or more such officials get to going actively there Is a big output of money. I had seen great waste In this way at Chicago and elsewhere and I made up my mind that the best way to avoid It was to hold down the administrative organization to the lowest possible limit. Possibly some work that might profitably have been done was not done, but certainly much money that would surely have been spent by an elaborate organization was saved. I com mend to your people at Portland, he said. the plan of holding down your depart mental organization to the least possible number of persons who have occasion to spend .money, and of delaying your ap pointments until the time comes when actual and essential work Is to be done. " Asked about a woman's department and woman's work at the fair, Mr. DeYoung smilingly said that so far a3 he had ever been able to see there was no such thing as woman's work as distinct from man's work. Work, he said, Is work, and It makes little difference who does It A woman's department at an exposition, he declared. Is Inevitably a source ot bother and ill-feeling and a veritable sink-hole of money. "Women are not accustomed to financial administration on a large scale; they always make a mess of expense; thoy invariably fall Into contention among themselves, and they get appropriations on the basis oxf sympathy or gallantry far out of proportion to the Importance or the necessities of the work in their hands. We had no woman's committee at San Francisco, and as I have observed other expositions, I have never ceased to con gratulate myself that we had the good fortune to avoid that particular pitfall It Is true, he added, that the women of an exposition city may prodigiously help by social organization and through the manifold offices of hospitality. The several Southern expositions were immensely pro moted In this way; but organization for social purposes ought not to be extended to any administrative department of the fair and it ought to find its own financial resources. The great popular feature of every ex position, said Mr. -DeYoung. Is its de partment of amusements. This fact must be recognized at the beginning and pro vision must be made for keeping things moving on the Midway. In this respect, Mr. DeYoung continued, you will be great ly aided by tho St. Louis Fair, for it is -bound to do the best part of your organ izing for you. It will bring the best side show attractions from the ends of the earth and when they are done at St Louis many of them will be ready to come for a season at Portland. The Midway show people are difficult to deal with a hard game truly but they are worth all the trouble they give you, for they are in very large measure the making of your show. They must be dealt with by every device known or possible to be invented by a skillful and patient diplomacy; they will amuse, annoy and confound you and turn your hair gray; but they are a neces sity and you must recognize It from the start and be prepared to deal with them Much of your promotion work, said Mr. DeYoUng, will have to be done at St Louis, for you will find there better exhib its than you can possibly organize origi nally. Dealing with the foreign exhibitors you will find a curious business. You will have to cet some man of tho Cairo type who knows all languages and understands the foreign temperament He will prob ably be both a cheat and a liar, but you will have to have him or several of him and at every point there must be watch fulness and restriction. He will get for you exhibits which could not possibly be had by American methods of dealing; but you must reserve to your own director- general the business of signing all forms of pledge. The foreign agent who will serve you well as a diplomatic agent must not be trusted to sign the firm name. In all your dealings, whether at home or abroad, let there be but one authorized and responsible man privileged to make contracts in the name of the exposition. Otherwise you are certain to work at cross-purposes and to find that too much has been promised. It is .largely In minor details that money is wasted in the organization and admin Istratlon ot an exposition, Mr. DeYoung continued. You have cot to do a lot of Jobbing, dickering and close trading or you will let looee large sums unnecessa rily. Why, In the matter of electric lamps alon. I saved several thousand dollars for the Midwinter by declining all bids and havins the things made by di rect order. It made a difference of some thing near two dollars to the lamp a big sum in the aggregate when it Is remem bered that the number ran into the thou sands. And so with a thousand other matters of detail. You have not merely to be on your guard against dishonesty; there are sharp ers and grafters enough, to be sure; but the specialists and enthusiasts are nearly as bad. Each wants to make a hit with hSa specialty to blow In money on senti mental things which yield no return. Lett to their own way they would and with the best intentions In the world run you to the devil and back again. They muoi often be dealt with with a rough band, for nothing makes a man more insistent and persistent than an artistic purpose. NOTE AND COMMENT. It strikes the -Bee that some of the stu dents of the High, School of Sacramento need far less "bigher education" and far more of a good hickory switch. The same conclusion has struck" people in various other localities from time to time. An Army officer in Washington swears he read the following epitaph on a tombstone- at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.: Here lies he body ot Elizabeth Gordon. Mouth altmshty. and teeth according: Stranger, step lightly over' this wonder. If she opens her mouth you're gone, by thun der! At a public banquet In Baltimore a few nlshts ago Mayor Hayes, bachelor, made the' statement that if he Is re-elected he will marry. He seems to have no doubt that he can find some worthy woman to accept his hand and help him to spend his salary. If anybody had doubt about the candi dacy of the oleaginous Clackamasian for tho Congressional nomination, that doubt may be cleared up by reading this morn ing's new3. The voters of Clackamas County aecm to have taken their states man at his word. There must be some mistake about that report that the railroads of Washington are going to get out of politics. We had the most solemn assurance of Mr. James J. Hill and other railroad leaders in that state that the railroads were not In poli tics in the least And certainly nobody knew better than Mr. Hill. Captain Wilson's report from Alaska doesn't give much comfort to the anti canteen party. "The present regime is an era of blind drunks and pint bottles In garrison," he says in his official statement. He also adds that red whisky in Alaska "runs 16 fights to the pint." Then be ex presses the (opinion "that the sale of beer In the canteen promotes temperance and sobriety." Mount Airy, a Maryland town SO miles east of Frederick, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, was saved from annihila tion by fire recently by the railroad. A special train took tho -Frederick fire de partment to Mount Airy, and the progress of the flames was checked. Four freight locomotives each holding 7000 gallons, hauled water from nearby stations to sup ply the steamer. Those Chicago women who will "dare to print anything and everything exactly as it really Is" will have a merry time of it In the first place, they can't come within 40 rows of apple trees of agreeing among themselves as to how anything "really Is." Then, if they were to print every thing, they'd soon get In Jail. If there Is anything this giddy old world doesn't want and won't have, it Is the whole truth. It is reported in Boston that Lieutenant General Nelson"" A. Miles will again make that city his home upon his retirement from active service in August next He was a clerk in a store in that city from his 17th to his '22d year, and left there for the South as Captain of a company In the Massachusetts Twenty-second In fantry under commission Issued by Gov ernor Andrew at the outbreak of the war in 1SSL The piety of a Huntsvllle, Neb.,, banker caused a run on his bank tho other day. He posted a notice that "This bank will be closed for the next 15 days at 3 o'clock pn account of the revival at the Methodist Church." The first five words were more conspicuous than the others, and the de positors began calling for their money. When the source of the trouble was dis covered and explanations made, the money went back in the bank vaults. Attorney-General Webb, of California, has Just rendered an opinion that the read ing of the Bible as a religious exercise or Its use as a textbook is prohibited by the constitution of the state. Similar opinions have been rendered In Oregon and Wash ington. In Kansas and Nebraska recent opinions permit the use of the Bible in the public schools as literature. It may be necessary some day to draw the line be tween the Bible as "religious exercise" and as "literature." The other day one of the Hearst papers quoted John C. Chase, of Birmingham, Ala., for an elaborate encomium on W. R. Hearst as "the people's champion." who had fought the cause of the laboring man with untiring energy, etc This did bring Mr. Chase to the front, but with a some what different statement, to this effect: This entire matter is a hard-finished lie from start to finish. I not only did not say what the Journal and American claims, but did not even mention Mr. Hearst or his paper. If I had, it would have been tor the purpose of branding- him as the most unscrupulous liar and faker in America. When Miss Anne M. Lang was nominat ed for tho Receivership of The Dalles Land Office, there were two other women holding similar offices In the United States. One was Miss Martha C. Brown, at Gun nison, Colo., and Mrs. Minnie Williams, at Lander, Wyo. Miss Brown's term ex pired several montbs ago, but she has not yet been superseded. Last week a man succeeded Mrs. Williams In the Gunnison office, leaving Miss Brown at the present moment the only woman land official In the United States. Both those offices were of minimum pay, however $1500 a year while Miss Lang, who will assume official duties at The Dalles In a few days, will receive the maximum salary of $3000. During his forthcoming Western tour President Roosevelt will be preceded a few days by an officer of the secret Berv-? lee, whose duty it is to go over every foot of ground the Chief Magistrate will cover while In the cities visited. The track on which the Presidential train will arrive Is selected and the route from his car to the carriages that will be wait ing for him and his party Is mapped out It Is known exactly where the Presidential car will stop and how many steps he will have to take to reach his carriage. The secret service man points out where ropes are to be stretched to keep the crowd at the proper distance and where the police men are to stand; also the stations for carriages of the reception committee. Recent discoveries in the excavations near Babylon confirm the Biblical story of Abraham. A tablet found In the ruins of the great temple of Baalrat Nippur, dating back to the year 2G50 B. C, con tains a brief reference to the Father ot the Faithful and his migration southward. The tablet was Inscribed on both sides Dy a Parthian engraver, with such distinct ness that it can be read without the slight est difficulty today. It tells us that Abra ham, with his family, left that region be cause the Elamltes had turned the pas tures into a desert and made the gardens and groves camping grounds for their armies. The temple In which this tablet was found dates back to 3S0O B. C. The original structure was evidently destroyed and rebuilt about 1300 B. C. by the King of Babylonia, as a votive offering to the rhlef goddess of "Nippur for the preserva tion of his uXe. 4