The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, June 21, 1903, Page 6, Image 6

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    6
THE SUNDAY OBEGONIAN, PORTLAND, .JUNE 21, 1903.
(Entered at the Fostoface at Portland. Oregon.
as second-class matter.
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ot any Individual. Letters relating to adver-
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tation. 2o stamps should be Inclosed for this
purpose.
Eastern Business Office. 43. 44. 45. 47, 48, 4
I Tribune building, New Tork City: 510-11-12
Tribune building. Chicago; tbe S. C. Beckwlth
J Special Agency, Eastern representative.
For sale In San Francisco by L. E. Lee. Pal-
j ace Hotel news stand; Goldsmith. Bros.. 239
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Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear, Ferry news
etand; Frank Scott, 80 Ellis street, and IT.
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For sale In Los Angeles by B. F. Gardner.
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For salo In Kansas City. Mo., by Klcksecker
Cigar Co.. Ninth and Walnut streets.
For sale In Chicago by the P. O. News Co..
1217 Dearborn ttreet, and Charles MacDonald.
C3 Washington street.
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iFarnam street; Megeath Stationery Co.. 1303
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ttreet; Jas. H. Crockwell, 242 25th street.
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For tale in Washington, D. C, by the Ebbett
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For sale In Denver, Colo., by Hamilton &
Kendrlck, 000-012 Seventeenth street: Louthan
& Jackson Book & Stationery Co.. Fifteenth
land Lawrence streets; A. Series, Sixteenth and
I Curtis streets.
YESTERDAY'S WEATHER Maximum, tem-
Iperature, 70; minimum temperature, OS; pre
cipitation, O.
TODAY'S WEATHER Partly cloudy; winds
mostly northerly. '
PORTLAND, SUXDAY, JUA'E 21, 1003.
WESLEV AND METHODIS9I.
A phenomenon of such magnitude as
the rise of Methodism and of the im
portance to which it hasggrown in the
world arrests attention upon the bicen
tenary of the nativity of the founder. It
cannot be said that John Wesley has
any title to be regarded as a great
thinker. His mind liad not much orig
inality or speculative power.. But he
was a man of the most Intense convic
tions and the most earnest purposes,
He had, moreover, a many-sided activ
ity, and frequently concerned himself
with political and social Questions, and,
I within his limitations, with problems of
science. In his case, as in many others.
it often happens, however, that the in
fluence of men bears no proportion to
their intellects as compared with others
I abstractly greater, but not fitted to
iwork in the popular or on the human
side of life. Although the founder of
j the largest body of Nonconformists in
I England, a body that has extended its
branches through a large part of
the world, Wesley, during his whole
i life looked upon himself as a cler-
j gyman of the Established Church,
I to which he continued to profess
warm adherence to tne end or his
i life. He had not the ambition of
schismatic nor the subversive instincts
of a revolutionist In the very last year
of his life he published a letter in which
I he wrote: "I live and die a member of
the Church of England, and no one
who regards my Judgment or advice
I will ever separate from it" Tet he and
his coadjutors set in motion forces of
immense scope and power, which could
find satisfaction only in independence
and nonconformity, for the Established
Church was rigid in its rules and the
devotional warmth of the popular re
ligion insisted, through its very nature.
on expressing itself in its own way. It
preached "the new birth," and placed
religion on personal feeling or "experi
ence" a character which It maintains
, to this day, but with an evident refine
xnent of expression and of manifesta
tion, as becomes a people who grow in
general culture away from the limita
tions of the earlier time.
The history of words and of names
j, presents many surprising revelations
few or none more striking than In this
case, where a college nickname became
the accepted designation of a great re
llglous movement and the term that
contains its spirit. For the meaning of
the term Methodist quickly adapted it
eelf to the religious and general char
acter of the people who bore 1L Meth
odism had its rise largely as a protest
on one side against the coldness and
the formalities of the Established
Church, and on the other against
skeptical philosophy whose leading ob
jects at that time were to assert the
claims of reason against revelation, and
to maintain the sufficiency of natural
religion. Strong religious emotion, or
manifestation of it, had fallen Into dis
credit, and Methodism came as a re
vival of "the natural man." Tet It
must not be asserted that the church
had fallen into disrepute, or was indif
ferent to its duties. It steadily culti
vated the decencies of life, and Insisted
on that ordered, practical and measured
virtue which is most conducive to the
welfare of nations. But it needed an
awakening, which It received as Meth
odlsm pushed the "revival" and pervad
ed the establishment with its spirit.
This influence upon the Established
Church is not among the least of the re
sults of Methodism
In his account of the causes predis
posing to Methodism, the historian
Lecky names as the main secret of Its
success that "it satisfied some of the
strongest and most enduring wants of
our nature, which found no gratifica
tion in the accepted theology," and that
"It revived a large class of religious
doctrines that long time had been al
most wholly neglected." There could
perhaps be no better summary, nor
could the distinctive character of the
Methodist movement be more clearly
portrayed. For, as Lecky continues,
"the moral essays which were' the pre
vailing fashion, however well suited
they might be to cultivate the moral
taste, or to supply rational motives to
virtue, rarely awoke any strong emo
tions of hope, fear or love, and were ut
terly incapable of transforming the
character and of arresting and reclaim
ing the depraved.'
Here we have at once the si-cret of
Methodism and the philosophy of it.
Its growth was not a miracle, but was
the natural result of the agitation and
leadership of an earnest few (of whom
John Wesley was chief, though not its
xnoet powerful, preacher), exerted at one
o those fortunate times when the pop-
, -rr. ,., or. ffnf
"Methodism has grown Into a great de
nomination, or group of denominations,
since, through adherence In the main
to the forces that started it. It has
scholars who are not Insensible to the
advanced learning of the modern time,
yet it is hospitable In little degree to
those who would assert the purely ra
tional character of Christianity. In the
metaphysics of theology Methodism
never was strong, and It holds a sort of
middle ground between an extreme su
pernaturallsm on the one hand and an
avowed rationalistic spirit on the other.
Qne easily sees, however, that In many
ways It is yielding something to the
tlme-splrlt, as every phase of religious
feeling and thought must, as the .cen
turies go by.
SHAKESPEARE'S MORAL SYSTEM.
No student of Shakespeare should be
without, and no casual reader of him
can fall to gather pleasure as well as
profit from, "The Moral System of
Shakespeare," by Professor Richard G.
Moulton, of the University of Chicago,
to whom and to whose publishers, the
Macmillans, mankind Is already under
heavy obligation for the "Modern Read
er's Bible." As will appear, we shall
take exception to at least one of the
author's implied conclusions, but this
does not abate the enthusiastic com
mendation with which the work de
serves to be viewed, for Its upright yet
seductive English, for its interesting
compilations of extant discoveries and
original contributions to Shakespearean
criticism, and especially for Its sane and
helpful attitude toward the moral prob
lems that fascinate while they baffle the
deepest and the most superficial mind.
Whoever reads this book will have a
new thought of Shakespeare and a fresh
Interest in the riddle of human life.
The moral significance of the Shakes
pearean drama, to attempt not a logical
but merely a suggestive catalogue of
the results of Professor Moulton's re
searches, Includes the elements of hero-
Ism and moral balance, wrong and ret
ribution, innocence and pathos, wrong
and restoration, the life without and
the life within. Henry of Monmouth,
for example, shows ns the heroism of
the full soul, in perfect equipose; Henry
VI and Richard show us the retributive
principle in varied phase; "Romao and
Juliet" reveals the misery that fate
sometimes suffers to overwhelm the In
nocent, and In "The Winter's Tale" and
"Cymbellne" we have the "unmistakable
Impression of outraged virtue restored
to its own. The most impressive ele
ment In all the exhibit Is that of an
overruling providence perhaps we
should call it the climax to which the
author leads us up that
There's a divinity that shapes our ends.
Rough hew them how we will.
Professor Moulton does not say that
Shakespeare's moral system 13 the true
one. He is content to conclude his book
with the assertion that the Shakes
pearean product, morally considered.
ends with the conception of personal
ity projected to the supreme control of
the universe." But between the lines
of his chapters the discerning reader
will unmistakably derive the Browning
thesis that "God's In his world," and
that Shakespeare's espousal of theism
goes far toward establishing Its truth.
Nothing else could be harmonized with
the analysis of the plays wherein an
overruling providence Is seen to care for
Its own, the plays wherein moral ob
liquity brings punishment ordained by
no human ingenuity, "the providence of
opportunity, that lures the sinner on to
his sin; the not less strange providence
of accident, interposing when of other
salvation there seems no hope."
It Is with this Implied conclusion of
the work that Shakespeare's belief In
virtuous, just and beneficent deity
enhances the probability of such an ex
istence and affords comfort to the de
vout, that we must venture to disagree
most positively. In matters of fact, the
poet Is a very unsafe guide, for his
province Is feeling, and feeling is not
evidence. Most of us are emotional
enough to be comforted with the
thought that Tennyson and Browning
came up through doubt to faith; Just as
we lay greater stress on FIske and
Romanes, who came through science to
religion,, than on Huxley and Darwin,
who did not. All that Shakespearean
study and criticism reveal is that to
that wonderful personality seems to
have been vouchsafed the literary gift
in a greater degree than to any other
personality the world has ever seen.
But a man may have a wonderful
literary gift and be valueless on many
other counts. He may be a great
writer, as Shelley was, and still be an
Impractical and ever-dangerous vision
ary; as Wordsworth was, and still be a
misleading philosopher; as Poe was,
and still be an expert borrower; as Car
lyle. was, and still be a cynic; as Rus
kln was, and still be an unsafe guide In
nearly every field that was illuminated
by his genius; as Froude was, and yet
be a thorough partisan; as Macaulay
was. and yet write judgments which
posterity has been at pains to overrule.
Shakespeare was the greatest of writ
ers, but he was not an exact thinker,
whose opinions on any fundamental
questions of science or theology are en
titled to weight. His errors of persons
and places are no greater than his er
He was
rors of politics and philosophy
an unreasoning aristocrat, .distrustful
of the people as Alexander Hamilton.
The greatest act of King John's reign
interested him nothing. The anti-
Semitic hate of his day was righteous
in his eyes, and he evidently thought It
a Just Judgment that Shylock should be
required to forswear Judaism for Chris
tianity.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson of
the Emerson centenary is pertinent
here, and that is that the poet has no
royal road to truth. What the seer sees
Is true if it can be squared with logic
and common sense; and if it cannot be,
it Is at least valueless, and, what Is
far worse, may be misleading. The path
of humanity is strewn with burned-out
ignes fatul of so-called intuition. If
the word by seer or sybil told has sent
its thousands to success, it has sent its
tens of thousands to shipwreck. It is
the province of poetry to delight and
comfort and uplift; but It is not the
province of poetry to instruct There
is a critical basis of opposition to di
dacticism in art, but there is a still
sounder basis in life. Poetry purifies
I the emotions, but It has no power io
ascertain fact. The passionate adher
ence to the dreamer was the inevitable
part of the race in its Infancy; but
manhood is here with reason and the
laboratory, and it is time to put away
childish things. The anarchy of myth
ology is "superseded by the reign of law.
au. ciouuiaw iuvcauB""" v-
a r i v. nitA cnt.
durlne a naif century is coin on under
Qirecuon ot uarrou u. wrigni, cniei
of the Department of Labor at Wash-
ington. The Wk la eil advanced
direction of Carroll D. WrlrhL chief
1 r, -B-Hi ha -rWiv tLh mttHnr of
Congress in December. It will present
a record of wages and the course of
prices, with comparative summary.
Though the work Is not yet finished. It
is so far advanced that some general
results can be deduced from It, chief
of which is the fact that during fifty
years, and within recent years, there
has been constant increase In the gen
eral run of wages. Each year In every
Industry so far Investigated has found
the worklngman getting more money
for the same amount of work than the
preceding one, and, on the whole, the
cost of living has so decreased that
things deemed luxuries fifty years ago
are in common use as necessaries now.
C03nERCIALlSM AXD. THE COL-
' LEGE 3IAX.
President James, of the . Northwest
ern University, in his farewell address
to the graduating class, among other
things said:
College men ot the present day have been
accused of not having the lofty alms of the
college men of 25 years ago. It is often said
that they now view everything from a money
standpoint. I wish to take exception to this.
The spirit of America Is commercialism, and
the college shares in the spirit, but I believe
we aro gradually slipping away from the-com
mercial Ideal.
It seems incredible that the college
men can be slipping away from com
mercialism when so many college presi
dents and colleges are the slaves of It.
There are a few college presidents
and professors like Dr. B as com and
Dr. Hobson who hold that colleges
should decline money which has been r
morally tainted by the methods em
ployed In its accumulation. This, too,
was the view of Dr. Prltchett, presi
dent of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, who said:
When the acceptance of a gift carries with It
a tacit excuse for past miEdeeds, when it in
volves the placing of a name which stands for
violated law and disregard to tbe rights of men
side by side with tbe names of the great and
of the unselfish, when it Implies the recognl
tlon of a false measure Af success a thing
most common In our American life then tbe
college which accepts such a gift suffers In its
moral leadership; Its action goes far to con
fuse in the minds of men the distinction be
tween right and wrong, and between unselfish
and selfish public policy; or, as George Eliot
so aptly expressed it. such action tends to
"debase the moral currency."
This is a clear Indictment of the ac
tion of the authorities of Chicago Uni
versity who are the beneficiaries of
great sums of money contributed by
John D. Rockefeller, who laid the
foundation of his great fortune by the
Standard Oil conspiracy, whose shame
ful history has been told In McClure's
Magazine. President Harper Is glad
to chain his college to Rockefeller, and
President Andrews of Nebraska Uni
versity, Is not more scrupulous than
President Harper. Dr. Jordan, of Stan
ford University, would probably agree
with Dr. Harper that a sound rule for
colleges would be: "Never look a gift
horse in the mouth.'
Young men who go to college do not
need to be very bright to understand
that when fellows like John D. Rocke
feller, With a genius for swindling, for
robbing their fellows and getting away
safely with the swag, give great gifts
to colleges and churches, they do It In
order to be whitewashed by the respect
able institutions of society, and they
generally succeed. They pay cash to
churches and colleges, and get In re
turn a certificate of sound moral and
religious character. Both sides to the
transaction know what they are about
quite as well as the robber barons and
the priests knew what they were about
when the baron, red with blood and
rich with plunder, paid the priests lib
erally to be reconciled with the church
whose moral code they trampled under
foot. As a mere matter of business, It
may be a good Investment for a college
to accept a gift of money from a noto
rious freebooter In business, but the
trouble Is that a college Is a good deal
more in theory than a place of business;
it is a place where the authorities In
theory promise to train their pupils
how to show forth themselves men.
The acceptance of the Rockefeller
endowment Is inconsistent with this
promise on the part of a college. It Is
a tacit announcement to the students
that the president of the college be
lieves that no very rich man, who has
been shrewd enough to escape the pen
Itentiary, can possibly be unworthy of
the homage of his fellow-men, that it
doesn't make any particular difference
how you won your wealth, so long as
you remember the leading churches and
colleges when seeeking Investment for
your money. The Oregonlan concludes,
therefore, that so longNas the spirit of
sordid commercialism does pervade the
presidents of some of our colleges, it
will be sure to percolate through them
and reach the students under their
charge. And this Is, above all, the re
grettable thing. The country cares lit
tle about President Harper, cares little
about his university, except that the In
fluence of his position as .a leading col
lege president Is evil rather than good,
since the so-called culture of his college
Is grievously tainted with commercial
Ism. The keen-witted students must
view the so-called religious and ethical
teaching of the college with contempt.
The only honest answer that President
Harper could make, if some Ingenuous
student Bhould ask him whether Mr.
Rockefeller was a scoundrel, would be to
say. as Thad Stevens did: "Yes, I be-
Heve he Is a scoundrel, but, then, you
must never forget that he is our par
ticular scoundrel." It was Edmund
Burke who said: "We tremble at the
effect of riches. We dread the oppres
slon of money." Gladstone entertained
a similar conviction; "I am not so much
afraid of democracy or of science as of
the love of money. This seems to me
a growing evil." And thoughtful ob
servers of our American people see that
college life has changed for the worse
in many respects, because of the in
creasing influence of money. College
presidents are no longer chosen chiefly
because of their scholarship and ability
as teachers; they are chosen because
as teacners; xney are cnosen Because
, ., , ... ' . .,.. . ,...
endowments for the college from rich
men who like to pose as philanthropists
when they really ought to contribute
most of their wealth to the "conscience
fund." 4,
Rich men's indolent, sensual boobies
are sent -to college. To please these
creatures, college athletics, which ought
to be merely an agreeable incident of
college life, are suffered to absorb an
enormous amount of the enthusiasm of
the college youth. So far as colleges
have changed for the worse. It is be
cause within and .without the college
young men are taught to "idealize
money, to treat force as the measure
of truth, success as the test of right
and personal interest as the law of ac
tion." Under these circumstances it
cannot be true that colleges are slip
i - .
i t,iti- o-rt-nt- fmm i mmfflorp s meal,
So long as the college authorities open-
ly and ostentatiously worship the
ly auu. osieumuouao wuiawp
golden calf in shape of the architect of
I the Standard Oil Company, how can the
1 students in their, thought and culture
rise above their teachers? Culture
kisses the hand of the Midas of the
Standard Oil Company, who pretends to
Christian belief, but whose real divinity
Is Mercury, the god of thieves, whose
order of nobility would be an aristoc
racy based on wealth, with college
presidents for bellboys.
GIVE IT TO HEPPXEB.
Those excellent citizens who fear the
betrayal of a trust if the Fourth or
July fund should be diverted to the re
lief of the Heppner sufferers seem
sadly wanting In a nice sense of pro
portion. What are firecrackers and
band music, however reverberant and
stirring, compared with the devastation
of dwellings, the sufferings of homeless
hundreds and the Imminent peril of pes
tilence to heroic and worn-out survlv-
Who can "choose to burn money
In spectacular celebration while the
widow and orphan cry for food and
medicine and the dead of Heppner lie
waiting for decent burial?
There Is no need to fear that the
money so diverted will be misappro
priated. All that Is necessary Is for
Its custodians to announce their pur
pose to dispose of the fund In that way.
except such of it as Is specifically with
held by order of the subscriber. The
subscriber's request can easily enough
be heeded, and acknowledgment of the
request, together with the subscriber's
name, can be printed in the papers, so
he will be Insured against mistreat
ment. If this Is the committee's only
cause for hesitation, let It hesitate no
longer. If It Is In any mind only a pre
text, let It be abandoned..
While the miseries of Morrow County
are yet unassuaged, any celebration of
the Fourth which Involves lavish out
lay of money would be, not a commem
oration, but desecration of the finer
feelings of humanity. Independence
day as It Is now, with Its fearful noise,
fearful waste and still more fearful
fatalities, has enough of barbarism in
It already, without making it a savage
ghost dance by the bier of Heppner's
hapless dead and in the very presence
of her sacred sorrow. It is greater to
honor the memory, of Washington and
his associates In the spirit bf sensitive
affection and decent reverence than in
an exuberance of military and civic dis
play.
Are there those of us who prize the
pomp and pageantry ot parade, tin
swords and gaudy epaulettes, the seat
upon a showy charger and the post of
honor at the head of the procession
more than we prize to help the needy In
his hour of need and lighten a neigh
bor's calamity with sympathy and sub
stantial help? If so, let them think
twice before they err In a direction
where no atonement of second thought
is possible. There will be other Fourths
when bands can play and marshals ride
In state, th.e cynosure of every eye. But
there will be, we trust, no recurrence
of the Heppner horror. It is an oppor-
tunity that, In all probability, will never
come again. To embrace it will put the
capsheaf on Portland's week of noble
effort. To let It go by will leave a va
cant spot In fhe city's annals where
might have been written a bright story
of self-sacrifice.
? ? ? ? ?
Is there any good reason either In
logic or expediency why there should be
a distinct department of woman's work
In the Lewis and Clark Exposition? Do
"not men and women, as witnessed in the
family, the schools, the churches and In
society generally, work together har
moniously and effectively? In any one
of these departments of human en
deavor could the one sex or the other
accomplish alone what the two accom
plish together? What is there about
woman's work In the management of
any section of the Fair that man may
not share with profit to the undertak
ing? Or what In Its organization and
general effort that woman may not
share to the benefit of the whole? As
a matter of experience, common sense
and general utility, would it not be a
good, thing to dispense with all of this
fuss and distinction about "lady man
agers" and, In a natural and matter of
course way, place a certain proportion
of women on the board of directors?
Why not make women who are capable
Joint heirs with capable men in this
work? To be plain, why not give them
some authority, not as women, but as
ordinary, common-sense citizens, in
matters pertaining to the general man
agement of the Fair? May we not ex
pect intelligent women to tire after
a while of the attitude of begging Mr.
Man to please to be allowed to do some
thing, and of being told In effect: "Go
on and play, children; we will call you
when we want you"? Is It any wonder
that energetic women are becoming
restive under these conditions and want
to know "where they are at"? Or that
those to whom they appeal-are not able
to answer the question? How would It
do to treat women as persons In this
matter, and not distinctively and con
spicuously as women? And what is
the matter with women, that they do
not ask to be treated thus?
A TRACKLESS TROLLEY LINE.
The public has for some time listened
the announcement of the construc-
tlon of a trolley line operated without
a track, of an electric road the vehicles
of which share with the farmers' wag
ons the bumpty-bumplng of the ordi
nary thoroughfare. The statement that
a trackless trolley Is in operation near
Dresden will, therefore, cause no sur
prise, though naturally it will excite
some interest and not a little curiosity.
The vehicles employed on this system
bear little. If any, resemblance to the
ordinary trolley car. This, indeed, Is
not necessary, since any vehicle adapt
ed to use on the ordinary highway and
properly equipped answers the purpose.
Omnibuses, large open motor carriages
and flat trailers for transporting
uat ""-"
I f-oip-ht ! nprMcsfniiv iicipd on thp
trackless trolley.
the system is economy, and In this it
follows the general trend of transporta
tion development. The first great Item
of expense saved Is tracklaying, and
the next is track repairs. The country
road is good enough for this most dem
ocratic of motors, and It bumps along
over It at a good pace and without
greater wear and tear than that -to
which the farmer's wagon is subjected.
Here again economy enters, as the
trackless trolley vehicles are much less
costly than those made to follow rails.
The Idea has long been considered en
tirely feasible, and It would doubtless
have been worked out In this country
long ago had the condition of our pub
lic highways invited it. Another de
cade may 'see a decided advance in this
I . . .
i line. iurai conaiuons are DarianiuK ui
the general .spirit of development that
characterizes me age. .riurai iree man
-w ,
delivery is a powerful factor in this de-
velopment. Following this is the long-
I aartanca lejenaoct.wioL eemas .sftwiijww"8
ous pace with it in many sections, is
the trolley track, with Its commodious
cars. The bicycle, as the expression of
a fad, has passed away, but as a means
of rapid individual transportation It has
a permanent place in a moving age.
The horseless carriage is as yet mainly
the expensive toy of the Idle rich, but,
shorn of Its objectionable features,
brought within proper control by legis
lation and so simplified In construction
as to be within the means of the ordi
nary citizen, It will become a common
object upon our public highways. The
trackless trolley line will follow In due
time, which will be after the good
roads movement has progressed to a
point that makes travel over country
roads less wearisome and more expedi
tious than it is at present.
WAR ALWAYS IMPENDING.
Secretary of War Root, In his address
to the graduating class at West Point,
among other things said:
History teaches us that we will be engaged
In another war. I pray it may never conic.
but it will come. Prepare your country for
that war. When war comes the regular estab
lishment will be but a small part of It. Pre
pare .for that war by a sentiment of equality
for the Regular, the National Guardsman and
the Volunteer. It Is the latter who fight the
battles.
The Secretary of War Is right In his
conviction that another war Is sure to
come, soon or late.
After the terrible wars waged by
France with all Europe from 1792 to
1815, there was peace In Europe until
the Crimean War of 1S54-55. In that
long term of respite from war, peace
societies flourished In both Europe and
the United States, which, since 1814,
had no war save the short contest with
Mexico In 1845-47. New England was
the home of 'the most famous evan
gelists of peace. Dr. Channlng fre
quently preached sermons against war.
Charles Sumner addressed the Boston
Peace Society on "The True Grandeur
of Nations," In which he. predicted the
reign of peace In the politics of the
future. After the Crimean War came
the Franco-Italian War of 1859; then
came our terrible Civil War; then Prus
sia crushed Austria In 1S66; then Ger
many overcame France In 1S70-71; then
Russia crushed Turkey In 1877-78; then
In 1898 our war with Spain over Cuba
broke out, and fhe next year Great
Britain became Involved In war with
the Boers. Since that date our Amer
lean soldiers have done battle In the
Philippines and in China. Since the
breaking out of the Crimean War near
ly fifty years have elapsed, and" In that
time Europe has been Involved In four
great wars, which have completely
changed the face of Its map, while the
United States has waged a civil war
that has compelled the radical amend
ment of its Constitution consequent
upon the military extirpation of slavery.
In the light of history. Secretary Root
Is justified In his prediction that we
shall have another war. It is not easv
to say now when that war will be or
from what quarter it will burst upon
us. Our war with Spain was precipi
tated by an accident; our occupation
and retention of Manila was a conse
quence of that war. Our enlarged con
sequence as one of the great world pow
ers increases our danger of war in the
future. The situation In China may at
some remote day take on a shape that
we shall be dragged into war because of
that country. Some one of the South
American States may, by an act, of
folly, Involve us in war with one of 'the
great powers of Europe. When McKln
ley was Inaugurated nobody anticipated
war with Spain and the occupation of
Manila, but war came; nobody looks for
war today, but war may come within
twenty years to plague as unexpectedly
as It did in 1898.
PEONAGE AT THE SOUTH.
Attorney-General Knox is taking
steps to prosecute persons In Alabama
for peonage. The facts of the matter
have been unearthed by the United
States secret service, and the United
States Marshals and District Attorneys
are making arrests and preparing pros
ecutlons in accordance with the disclos
ures. The secret service has found out
that there Is a systematic effort to re
duce ignorant or helpless negroes to a
condition ot Industrial servitude not es
sentially different from that of slavery.
Cases of petty offense are trumped up
against a negro, a fine Is Imposed which
he cannot pay, and then he Is turned
over to a convict labor contractor un
der a sentence for hard labor for a cer
tain term, the contractor paying the
fine and costs. Hundreds of such cases
have been unearthed around Montgom
ery, Ala., and elsewhere in that state
and Georgia. Once in possession of the
contractor, the negro becomes a slave,
working without pay, subject to cruel
beatings. Ignorant of the term of his
service, he is often continued in servi
tude long after the term has expired,
or rearrested on some charge and sen
tenced again the moment the old case
against him is exhausted.
A Washington dispatch to the Chi
cago Chronicle says that a regular busi
ness has developed among a class of
men to supply, help to convict farms,
these men having as confederates wit
nesses who are ready to swear to any
thing, and Justices of the Peace who
will Impose heavy fines in order to
lengthen the sentence or prevent possi
bility of escape by payment of the fine.
In case the negro attempts to escape
he Is hunted down by bloodhounds, and
when brought back to the convict camp
he has a trial with the contractor as
Judge and the negro as the accused.
For having attempted to escape the
prisoner Is sentenced to labor for an
other period from one to three years.
One case taken from the records now
In the hands of the Washington author
ities is that of a young negro who had
agreed to work for a cotton buyer at
Goodwater, Ala., for a certain length of
time. One day he obtained a dollar.
, , r .
which was due him, and went off,
He returned as agreed, but was arrest
ed for breaking his contract, arraigned
before a justice of the Peace and fined
$5, which he could not pay. The Judge
then sentenced him to "ninety days to
the county." He was locked np over
night, and the next day sold to a con
tractor for convict labor, who paid the
fine, and he was then compelled to sign
a contract, which he could not read, but
which proved to bind him out to labor
for a year. He worked out the year
and a month or two more, when he dis
covered that the contractor had no right
to hold him further. So he attempted
to escape, using a boat moored near
n i Pffnr "RiondhnnndR wpre nut
ntwiTi hla trail, and in two days he was
caught, brought back, given a severe
. 1 Ir, mln t,.fo V,o. nn
i muiw, wv....
tractor himself, and sentenced to one
year's labor for breaking the old con
' . , ... .
tract and six. months for stealing- the
boat. He was tben compelled to sign
the sentence of -the contractor. This
last contract, as well as the negro him
self, are now In the hands of the United
States Marshal for that district the
negro being held to testify in the case.
- When General Grant was In his last
month of life be gave of. hl3 own voli
tion to his faithful colored body serv
ant, Harrison Terrell, the following let
ter: New . York City. June 2. 1S63. Harrison
Terrell: I give you this letter now, not know
ing what the near future may bring to a person
in my condition of health. This is an ac
knowledgment of your faithful services to me
during my sickness up to this time, and which
I expect will continue to the end. This is alio
to state further that for about rour years you
have lived with me. coming first at (as) butler.
in which capacity you served until my Illness
become so serious as to require the constant at
tention of a nurse, and that in both capaclues
I have had abundant reason to be satisfied
with your attention, integrity and efficiency. I
hope you may never want for a place. Yours,
XJ. S. GRANT.
Terrell was advised, subsequently to
present this letter to President Cleve
land, who at once said that such a
letter was a passport to any place he
could fill, and wrote a personal letter
to the Secretary of the Treasury, which
secured this faithful old. colored man,
born and bred a slave, a humble Gov
ernment p6s!tlon. whlch he still retains.
This old negro attended his young Con
federate master, who was killed in bat
tle, and years afterwards he was the
body servant of the great leader of the
Union Army until his death.
Russia ha3 notified Servla that she
expects the new government will in
flict stern punishment upon the as
sassins of the late King Alexander, and
Great Britain has Instructed her Minis
ter to quit Belgrade, as the British gov
ernment has "no Intention of maintain
ing ordinary relations with persons con
cerned In the massacre." The new King
of Servla Is evidently "between the
devil and the deep sea." The assassins
at present voice th,e ruling public opin
ion of Servla. If the new King urges
the punishment of the assassins, they
will probably upset his throne, murder
him or drive him Into exile; if he does
not urge the punishment of the assas
sins, then the-powers of Europe, under
the lead of Russia and Great Britain,
will dissolve all relations with his gov
ernment, which will force it quickly
Into a state of demoralization and de
cay. The new King cannot afford to
defy the decent public opinion of civ
ilized Europe.
As If there were not living troubles
enough to vex the minds and tax the
philanthropic endeavor and the pity of
mankind, the marital woes of Thomas
Carlyle and his wife are about to be re
vived, or at least reviewed again. The
literary executors of the historian
Froude have been Induced to publish a
pamphlet found among Froude's papers
after his death as a justification of the
historian's treatment of Carlyle In hi3
biography. The publication of the pam
phlet Is condemned, as it should be,
as 111 advised, indiscreet and certain to
provoke a storm. Since the Carlyles
had so little rest together In this life,
it would be the part of humanity and
in the Interest of public decency to
leave them now where, "lying together
in silence, perhaps they may agree."
Major-General Frank Wheaton, of the
retired list of the regular Army, who
died on Friday last, was a gallant sol
dier, who had done faithful service
in the Army of the Potomac from Bull
Run to Appomattox. He Is the last
survivor of the division infantry com
manders of the Army of the Potomac
that, under Grant, fought Lee's army
to a finish from the Wilderness, in May,
1864, to Its surrender In April, 1865, save
Generals Miles, Brooke, Wlllcox and
Webb. Of the cavalry division com
manders. Generals James H. Wilson,
Merrltt and Gregg alone survive. All
the general officers of the Sixth Army
Corps, to which General Wheaton be
longed, are now dead save Brigadier
General Lewis A. Grant, of Minneap
olis. Mining men of Oregon have Issued a
call for a convention to be held In Port
land the first week in September.
Actual miners, not "promoters," have
signed the call. This movement should
commend Itself to every one interested
in the development of Oregon. In re
cent years Portland men with surplus
funds have been timid about invest
ment in mining properties, mainly for
the reason that they could not distin
guish between prospect holes and real
mines, and were unable to secure satis
factory Information on the subject.
The coming convention, if well man
aged, as it promises to be, will do much
toward stimulating a very important
Industry.
The announcement of the sudden
death of Mrs. Robert A. Miller was a
painful shock to her many friends and
to the public generally. She was widely
and favorably known In connection with
educational work of various kinds
throughout the Willamette Valley and
Southern Oregon. She belonged to one
of the most prominent pioneer families
In "Marlon County, her father, Louis
Griffith, having been one of the early
settlers of the Waldo Hills. Amiable,
cultured, sympathetic and of pleasing
personality, Mrs. Miller leaves a mul
titude of friends to mourn with her hus
band and her immediate family her un
timely death.
Sheep-shearing has begun in the
Rocky Mountain States. Fleeces are
being stripped from the backs of thou
sands of sheep dally by machinery. The
wool Is of excellent quality, but the
yield is not as heavy as it has been in
former years. These facts, taken in
connection with a great decrease in the
Australian wool crop, indicates a year
of great prosperity for sheep husband
men. They should be able to protect
tWlr flMk, from hp covotp without
meir hocks xrom xne cojoi.es nnout
to foot the bills.
Telegraphic advices from New Tork
report the seizure of the United States
cruiser Chattanooga, which is nearing
completion at Ellzabethport, .N. J. The
increasing respect with which Uncle
Sam and his cruisers are being regarded
warrants the belief that no one but an
American citizen could seize one of
them, and even the selzer may have
difficulty in holding it
Chief of Police Hunt exercised author
ity wisely when he ordered the police
force. to clear the city of macquereaux.
This should be supplemented by an-
otner manuaxe uruenu6
vagrant3 of the same class to be de
ported immediately.
- All over Oregon towns are giving up
uair- -KVmr-i-h nf Tulv celebrations and
their Fourth of July ceieDrauma mo
turnlngl J ef tf Hfepp-
1 -
. NOTE AXD COMMENT. , ! ;
General Grant will please show his ref
erences. Uncle Sam seems to have found out the
evils of getting boats in hock.
Portland's weather seems to have a.
light attack of nervous prostration Just
now.
The City of Boston Is settling one foqt'
every 100 years. It seems to be a case of'
having one foot in" the grave.
And now the pipe trust Is in trouble. It
didn't have the lead-pipe cinch that it
thought It had.
If we don't have a Fourth of July cele
bration we run a risk of not having our
pockets picked In the crowds, and that
would be awful.
A dispatch from a New Jersey town an
nounced that a trolley car traveled a mllo
a minute, but It neglected to state how
many were killed.
It's a great way the big bugs have. If
they find the people don't like what they
say In Interviews, they can deny it all, and
commence over asaln.
The Great Northern Railway Company
Is to build to Slmllkameen. We don't know
where the place Is, but It must be In Ser
vla, from the sound.
Some automobllists are to race from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. We have
one consolation, and that Is they may be
all killed off before they get here. .
Sir Thomas Johnstone Llpton, who Is
spending $500,000 annually In his efforts to
"lift" the America's cup, is said to be
worth about 530.000,000. Twenty-three yearo
ago he stood behind a counter waiting on
customers. Thirty years ago he worked
In the xice fields of South Carolina, and
was sc poor that he slept with the negroes
in the woods. Today he employs 2000 per
sons In his various establishments and im
the pet of the King of England.
When Whately was archbishop of Dub
lin he once Inspected a school and asked
permission of the master to deliver an ad
dress. His subject was the parable of
the "unclean spirits." After discussing
the parable he began to question the
youngsters as to their view of the matter.
In reply to this query, "What Is to be
understood by an unclean spirit?" one
urchin jumped to his feet and said:
"Plase, Yer Honner, a dirty dlvll!"
(Mrs. Loo Lin, the Chinese teacher, who
had such difficulty In securing admittance
to the country, 13 now lecturing to .her
compatriots.)
O Mrs. Loo Lin,
With your gurgle-y name.
Did you fight to get in?
What a terrible shame!
The officials are hard
In enforcing the laws.
But that you should be barred
There's Ho possible cause. .
So enter our door.
And you'll find us all floclc
When you're taking the floor "
To commend or to knock.
And Mrs. Loo Lin,
Any others like you
We wish they'd come in.
Honest Injun, we do.
The Royal Chlnoolc.
Of the fish In fresh water there's never a doubt
That the best of them all Is the game little)
trout;
He's speckled and brilliant and loved of tha
cook.
But he's only a mite to the Royal Chinook.
With the strength of & Sandow. the- grace .of
a girl.
From the aea the Chinook comes through
current and swirl.
And tough would the line be and well-forged
the hook
That would stay on his Journey the Roya!
Chinook.
In the deeps he Is taught by some wonderful
rune
That the river in spate and the season's at
June.
; And swiftly he flashes for river and brook.
Till Columbia chokes with the Royal Chinook.
His strength and his swiftness there's ndthlng
can let,
Till he meets thwart his passage a wavering
net.
And then it's alas! nor by hook nor by crook
Is there hope of escape for the Royal Chinook.
We regret that Xing Salmon thus ends his
career.
But expectant the palate arrests the salt tear;
And' when to the table we eagerly look
We drink to both fisher and Royal Chinook!
T.he Vandal Tomrlat.
(It Is reported from Manila that a party
of tourists were detected In stealing some
of the bones of the Spanish sailors that
died in the battle with Dewey when one
of the ships was recently floated.)
They fought their fight,
And sank beneath the sheltering sea.
With Bag still flying free.
Not theirs to rest
In proud Castile where kinsfolk weep:
They lone and shroudless sleep:
Nor undisturbed
Strange divers, from the ocean gloom.
Retrieve their sunken tomb;
And coral-bleached.
Still ranged around' the futile gun J
They face the cruel sun.
Grows Honor faint.
And madly Anger's pulses throb
To whelm the Impious mob.
Who swlnellke root
While gallant men for country bled.
And desecrate the deaa.
THE WORLD'S OLDEST COIX.
A Chicago Man's Rare Possession Is
a. Shelcel o King Solomon'i Time.
New York Herald.
What Is said to be the oldest coin In
the world Is a shekel now in the pos
session of Mr. Herman Gottschalk, of
Chicago, who is visiting in Richmond, Va.
This coin was used in the temple at
Jerusalem, in the days ot King Solomon,
as a token. It is the only perfect one
in existence. The characters Inscribed
thereon are as follows: On the first
side, reading from right to left, is "Shekel
Wakadoush." signifying holy shekel.
-Rmhin -wined In the center Is the star
"""--" - .r,', nf -n,vMin
xroidn Dovld or the saieid or uavia in
hom On the otner siae, aiso reaaing om
right to left Is 'Jerusholajlm," signifying
Jerusalem.
The strangest thing In connection with
the coin is that, while the body Is of a
bronze gold alloy about 70 per cent fine,
the raised figures are pure gold. The
assay of the coin was taken by Tiffany,'
of New Tork. and even the clever gold
smiths there were unable to tell how
the union of the letters and the coin was
effected.
The history of how It came Into Mr.
Gottschalk's possession Is Interesting.
From 1878 to 1S82 he was Interested In
collecting money for the relief of the
Jews persecuted in Roumanla. His suc
cess was large, and while on the trip
to Europe to deliver the funds he met
Dr. Leopold Klein, chief rabbi of Berlin.
It was In reward for his enthusiastic
services in behalf of the Roumanian Jews
that Rabbi Klein bequeathed to Mr.
Gottschalk several cherished heirlooms
the gold holy shekel and a Bible among
others.
On the Bible, whlcn is a rare niuroi
ruitirf com of the' Old Testament in He
brew, are imprints of the holy shekel.