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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1904)
THE SUNDAY OKEGCXNIAN, BOKTLAIND, HAECH 13, 1904. Entered at the Postofflce at Portland, Ore con, as second-class matter. REVISED 'SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Br mall (portage prepaid In advance) Daily, with Sunday, per month ?0.S3 Dally, Sunday excepted, per year 7.50 Daily, -with Sunday, per year 8.00 Sunday, per year.. 2.00 Tee "Weekly, per year 1.50 The "Weekly, 3 months -50 Dally, per week, delivered. Sunday excepted. 15o Dally, per week, delivered, Sunday Included .20a POSTAGE RATES. United States. Canada and Mexico 10 to 14-page paper.... 'a 10 to 30-page paper Jo 2 to 44-page paper ...83 Foreign rates double. The Oregoninn does not buy poems or stories from individual, and cannot under take to return any manuscript sent to it without solicitation. No stamps should be Inclosed for this purpose. EASXERX BUSINESS OFFICES. (The S. C. Bockwith Special Agency) New Tork: Rooms 43-49. Tribune Building. Chicago: Rooms 510-512, Tribune Building. KEPT ON SALE. 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C. Ed Brlnkman, Fourth and Pacinc Ave, N. W.; Ebbltt House News Btand. YESTERDAYS WEATHER Maximum tern perature, 40 deg.; minimum, 30. Precipitation, 0.50 Inch. TODAY'S WEATHER Showers: south to West winds. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 1004. ETHICS OF THE BAR. In the obituary addresses on the late Frederic JR. Coudert he was described as -a fine type of the old-fashioned law yer, who, despite his great professional ability and learning, died possessed of no great amount of personal property because he was one of those who con stantly refused retainers the accept ance of which involved the preparation of some plan by which corporations might avoid the' law. "jump over it. creep under It. or get around it." EUhu Hoot, in his tribute to Sir. Coudert, said he greatly regretted the passing of the old-time practitioner, llk Mr.-Coudert who refused to aid men to evade the law. This degradation of legal ethics dates back to the day of Aaron Burr in America and to Lord Brougham in Eng land, but it never obtained large ac ceptance m America until the day of Jay Gould, who boasted that he was ready to pay large sums to lawyers who were able to tell him how far he might go and how he might accomplish his railway wrecking and railway rob bery without violating the laws. Jay Gould's lawyer was David Dudley Field in all his piracies upon the property of the Erie Railroad. Field was at the head of his profes sion, and in the days of the Tweed Tammany ring the ring Judges, who were subsequently Impeached and driven off the bench by the Legislature, were part of the crew of the Erie pirate ship, were members of both the Tweed and the Erie ring. Field knew per fectly well that these "ring" Judges had the retainer of Gould in their pock ets whenever he asked for an injunc tion to prevent robbed men from re gaining their property; he knewthat these Judges stooa reaay to raury ju diclally any piracy that Gould might commit Field's code of legal ethics wa3 that of Lord Brougham, who de clared that a lawyer was justified in doing anything and going any lengths to win his case for his client. This Im moral code of Lord Brougham was long ago publicly repudiated and denounced by the great English jurists, and after Aaron Burr's day it had no eminent support in America until David Dudley Field revived it in America, when he defended notorious rascals before no toriously venal Judges. After these venal Judges had been driven off the bench by the New York Legislature, Field had become rich enough to retire but his code of legal ethics was eagerly accepted and adopted by the late Gen eral Wager Swayne, and Is practiced today by railroad lawyers of his qual ity. Swayne persuaded asenile United States Judge, when the victims of the robbed Wabash system asked for a re ceiver, to appoint the Gould robbers receivers of the very railroad they had wrecked and plundered. The late United States Circuit Court Judge Gresham Interfered to prevent the con summation of this bit of judicial out rage, but it was subsequently repeated in the case of the Reading Railroad system and other wrecked railroad properties at the East. When the Broadway Railway boodle Aldermen were tried. a number of years ago In New York City, it came out In the tes tlmony that David Dudley Field was in the habit of telling the scoundrel manager of this corrupt ring how he could rob the city and corrupt Its gov ernment and yet shelter himself be hind a technical defense so as to escape the penitentiary. That Is, this dlstln gulshed lawyer, after his client had unfolded his scheme of public robbery. accepted a large fee to tell the robber in advance how he could steal effect ively within the law and escape by a technical defense all legal punishment for his conspiring to swindle the city and corrupt its government; that is, this eminent lawyer knew in advance that his client was plotting to rob the city, and was willing, like his great prototype. Jay Gould, to pay liberally lor legal Information as to how he could execute his swindle and theft and yet escape legal punishment Another Illustration of "legal ethics' was the action of the late Judge May nard. of the New York Court of Ap peals; who stole an election return In order to steal the New York Leglsla ture, and boasted that It was the proud est act of his life. David Dudley Field educated a class of so-called "great lawyers in this country who are largely responsible for devising the vast system of legal wreckage of great railroads and other great corporate trusts, and the nephew of Field, David J. Brewer, now of the united states supreme Court, did not hesitate when he jwas United States Circuit Judge to sign all the orders presented by General Wager Swayne, under which the "Wabash was wrecked by Oould. Sage and Dillon. One of the graduates of the David Dud ley Field school of "legal ethics" or ganized a legal conspiracy to pirate. wreck and rob a great trust, and. he was able to persuade another graduate of the same school of "legal ethics," the nephew of its founder, to give this con spiracy his official blessing; No wonder plain people utterly dis trust the moral sense and public con science of so-called "great" lawyers. No wonder they rave about the enor mous inequality in the operation of laws when a wealthy convict can com mand an army of lawyers to save him from punishment while an ordinary, ob scure, friendless, impecunious offender is railroaded to the penitentiary. No, wonder plain people howl when a wealthy man, or a man at least who has wealth behind him and social. influence. can rob a bank as president from within and suffer not more than three to Ave years' .imprisonment,- while an ignorant horsethlef gets seven or an ordinary clumsy highwayman gets from fifteen to twenty. The popular verdict is that a man with money enough In his pocket to make, him a bird worth picking es capes the law or obtains small "punish ment, with a pardon In the near future, while the Impecunious, ignorant crim inal is snt up for the full limit, not so much because he was a criminal as that he was a penniless thief. Wendell Phillips said of Rufus Choate: "Thieves anxiously inquired after his health be fore they went forth to steal," and so Jay Gould and his successors anxiously inquire after the health of the so-called great railroad or great corporation law yers before they go forth to steal. SEATTLE AND PORTLAND. Seattle has two advantages over Port land. One is the united spirit of Its people, the other Is the natural depth of Its harbor. In other respects the two cities stand on even terms. In still other respects the advantage is with Portland. Seattle seems to be the nat ural point of contact with Alaska; and until the mines fall, as those of" Cali fornia have failed, this northern trade will be of large and steady volume; but this is offset by the greater productive ness of the territory surrounding Port land. There Is a solidity and perma nence about communities built up on agricultural Industry which cannot be claimed by the more feverish and pre carious activities of mining, lumbering and handling of goods In transit We have been accustomed to regard the railroad resources of Seattle as su perior to those of Portland. Perhaps this difference has been exaggerated. The Hill interests have done much for Seattle, but the Harriman Interests have done much for Portland. The Great Northern's tunnel and terminal undertakings at Seattle are matched by the O. R. & N.'s outlay for better ments. One Is as potent aid to a city's commerce as the other, as will be re alized from a recollection of the recent lumber troubles on the Southern Pa cific, primarily due to the inadequate roadbed. Mr. Harriman shows a dispo sition to grant such concessions as Portland's commercial Interests unite in demanding. But they must unite. And herein lies the most important thing for the men of Pbrtland to Teallze today, so. far as Seattle Is c6ncerned. If Seat-' tie passes Portland, It will be merely through the force of more effective concerted action. Individually, Port land business men can take care of themselves. Portland jobbers are not menaced by Seattle jobbers. Port land drummers swarm everywhere, to Montana on the east and British Co lumbia on the north; while Seattle drummers are few. The big men of Se attle are lightweights In the commer cial and financial world, compared with the big men of Portland. The earnings of Seattle's buildings go East In the form of interest to add to the wealth of New York and Boston. The earn ings of Portland's buildings remain to add to the wealth of Portland. Singly, the men of Portland have no reason to fear the men of Seattle. The danger Is In those aspects of commer cial progress that are carried forward by united action. A bundle of tightly bound twigs can compete with a solid stick of timber. In Seattle there Is a welcome for newcomers a desire to help each other, a determination to stand together, which have become pro verbial. If you can assure a Seattle man that an enterprise is for Seattle's benefit, he will help It, promptly and to the limit of his power. If you can assure a Portland man that" an enter prise Is for Portland's benefit, he will be apt to Inquire, "What Is there In It for me?" Portland has the power. The only question Is as to whether It will use It The game is football, and the victory Is won by team work. Nature has put into Portland's handB an instrument which it can employ successfully against any and every rival. That In strument Is the Columbia River. The one thing that will clinch and perpetu ate Portland's pre-eminence in four states Is the maintenance of a channel from the sea to Portland docks, ample for ocean-going vessels with safety and without delay,' and the opening of the obstructions between The Dalles and Celllo. This done, everything else Is easy. Not done, everything else Is problematical. The commerce of the world will not be guided by empty boasts here or envious sneers else where. Its motto Is "Show me." If the water Is here, the ships will come. If not, not The report of the Secretary of State upon the status of the Red Cross Soci ety abroad, which was prepared for the Information of Congress, was recently submitted to the United States Senate. It shows that Great Britain gives no financial support to the society. In France none is given, but in war time an Indemnity of 20 cents Is allowed for each sick and wounded soldier cared for. Germany gives no government aid; the Netherlands pays the salary of the society s secretary, and makes al lowance for certain expenses. Belgium gives support in time of war; Denmark contributes $1000 annually to the funds of the society; Austria gives $2400; Switzerland, $5000; Japan, $1250. Russia gives no fixed sum, but in time of war the government pays the society for the care of the wounded. It is remarkable that Switzerland, with- the least likeli hood of needing the ministrations of the society, contributes more liberally than, any other European country to Its treasury. .Not having to face even the possible wastage of war or maintain an extensive military equipment, the little republic can perhaps afford to be generous In the care of the wounded and sick of nations that maintain them selves' by force of arms. The belief has been quite prevalent in this country In t recent years that money expended by the Red Cross Solcety was not always prudently or wisely disbursed, hence the demand for the report which was lately transmitted to the Senate through the office of the Secretary of State. GENIUS AND MARRIAGE. Mrs. Kate Upson Clark, of Brooklyn, N. Y., In a recent lecture before the North End Art Club, of Chicago, on "The Relation Between Art and Mor als," argued that the way to be happy for a genius Is neverto marry. Among other things Mrs. Clark said: The genius should not marry- A woman wants her husband not his art Genius ' la Insanity. In order to be genius It lives most of the time In a world of -deep emotions. It is hard for people of artistic temperament to conform to ordinary rules. Thus divorce. 6uic!des, drunkenness and Impulsive vices art- found among people of genius. The irre pressible temperament seems to be absolutely necessary to art Mrs. Clark has evidently not read the history of the lives of men of genius very carefully or she would know that the facts do not bear out her assump tion that they find marriage more of a failure than the majority of persons of equal intelligence and good breeding, who are not men of genius. Nor is It true that divorces, suicides, drunken ness and impulsive, vices are found more common among people of gen ius than amonfe- their social peers who are not. possessed of genius; nor Is it true that "genius Is insanity," or that the "irrepressible temperament is es sential to art," meaning by "the irre pressible temperament" the tempera ment that is prone to find or make mar riage a failure. Selden, ' a profound English scholar, wrote: "No man is wiser for his learning-," meaning that mere learning has no necessary con nection with great wisdom in the con duct of human life. And so of men of genius; they are neither, better nor worse morally "because they are pos sessed of what Is called genius; men of genius as a rule have reflected in their conduct within or without the married state the dominant social atmosphere and moral standards of the public and private circles to which they belonged. The majority of men of genius have never been below the social atmosphere of their times and the society they moved In. Many of them have been above the social atmosphere of their times as husbands and fathers, and few of them have been below It. The ex planation of the" aberrations of the few men of genius who have not adorned the married state is not found In their genius or their "art" at all, hut in the same infirmities of moral character and temper that are offered and accepted for other men of high Intelligence and good parts who have not been men of genius. To illustrate: Shakespeare at 18 married a woman eight years older than himself, and before he was 21'was the father of three children. It was probably not a judicious marriage. It may have been akin to what wefcall "a shotgun" marriage, but no man of sense will pretend that so. common an act of folly was due to what Mrs. Clark calls "the Irrepressible' temperament that seems absolutely necessary to art" Nothing Is more common In life than for a boy of 18 to be captivated by a woman older than himself. It Is not a peculiar characteristic of the artistic temperament at all; It Is one of the most common Infirmities of human na ture, If it be an infirmity. From this time forward Shakespeare, if not a devoted husband, was a devoted father. He was as sane in all his ac tlons as a man could be. He was a sound and thrifty man of business; he retired early to country life; he was, In the temperate and wise conduct of his life, not below .but above the atmosphere of his time, and so for that matter were Spenser .and Sir Philip Sidney. No argument against the artistic temperament, against men of genius as peculiarly unfit for the married state above other men of their social environment and level of Intelli gence, can be drawn from Shakespeare, for his youthful folly, If It needs any explanation, was due not to what Is called "the Infirmity of genius," but to the passions and rash judgment that are characteristic of human nature in youth, and not the peculiar weakness of "genius." Milton surely cannot be quoted in support of this view, for while he had a foolish young wife who In a tantrum went home to her parents, she was glad to come back, and nobody who Is familiar with the life and char acter of John Milton will believe for a moment that his daily life and speech were discreditable to the married state. He was a stern Puritan and his relig ious acceptance of the Pauline philoso phy regarding the submissiveness of wives to husbands may have made him too exacting, but this error was not a moral Infirmity due to the temperament of genius; it was due to his Puritan re ligious belief. In our own New England colonial life there Is abundant evidence that the Puritan was a reserved man, a stern head of the household for conscience' sake. Dryden In the most dissolute court of Charles H was above rather than below the morals of his time In the dally conduct of his life; a man of dignity and good sense, with none of the qualities that make a bad husband and father. Addison was married In his 43d year to the Countess Dowager of Warwick, a woman older than him self, an arrogant, imperious virago; but he bore his domestic vexations with the patience arid good temper manifested by Socrates to Xantlppe. He was man of deep piety and sweet temper and pure life; he made an error of judgment In marrying out of his social class, a rich, aristocratic, comparatively old woman of large wealth, -but this error surely was not due to his "art1 temperament, for excellent men have made the same mistake In all times. It was not a weakness peculiar to men of genius. Dr. Johnson, a rough, boorish man among men, was a very kind, af fectionate husband to a very weak, ugly woman, much older than himself, and always spoke of her in life and long after her death as "pretty creature. Thackeray, Tennyson, Scott and Words worth were the best of husbands and fathers. Mrs. Clark has championed threadbare popular notion, for the rec ord shows that In modern times men of genius have as a rule done credit to the married state. There is not a name- of distinction in the annals of American literature that stands for a had hus band save Edgar A. Poe, and he was an alcoholic and deficient 'In moral honor, not because of his genius, but In spite of It, for Hawthorne, Poe's equal In the endowment 01 the poetic, artistic temperament, was an exceptionally happy husband and father all his days, and he was as poor as Poe when he married; his wife was equally poor, and she was not a woman of genius at all; she was just an intelligent, lovable. loving woman. Wendell Phillips, who had the pe-- cullar poetic, artistic temperament and all the tastes It Implies, was the loving and hatiDV husband of a hopelessly In valid wife for more than forty-five years, but, he did not find marriage a failure, and If he had it would not "have been due to his genius; it would have been only, a common weakness of hu man nature to which men of genius are not an exception, but of which they fur nish relatively no more examples than other men who are not endowed with the "art'' temperament Shelley made a schoolboy and schoolgirl marriage at 19, which turned out sadly, as such marriages often do, whether negotiated by, men with or without genius; but the marriage of his maturity with Mary Godwin was a true marriage and was as happy and loving a union as possi ble. There Is no man of genius In the Victorian age in England who made a heartless husband, save Dickens; there is no man of genius in the United States who made a bad husband save Poe; and within 150 years there Is no record of a man of genius who made a bad hus band for whom his genius can be of fered as an explanation. Coleridge and Hazlltt are not explained by their gen ius. Goethe lived happily for thirty years with a humble-born woman of no culture, who was his mistress for eighteen years before he married her in 1806. Heine was married happily to a similar woman who had no culture but loved him In his last years of paralysis and suffering. Balzac was a good hus band, and so was Zola. Napoleon was very good and long-suffering hus band- Even in the roll of great com posers, musicians and actors, it will be found that they do not make marriage a failure more than any other class of people of Intelligence who are without the so-called "artistic" temperament No man or woman adorns the married state or disfigures it because of the "ar tistic" temperament. A NEW WHITE MAN'S BURDEN. The Island of Santo Domingo Is in a condition politically, socially and mor ally that mocks at civilization a con ditlon well designated "a state of chronic deviltry." The Dominicans seem to be a .counterpart, done in ebony, of the Filipinos, weak, treacher ous. vengeful and cruel even among themselves, to a degree that almost passes the comprehension of civilized man. William Thorp, an Englishman who has spent the past five years In the West Indies, where through connection with the press he had wide opportuni ties for gathering information, pub lishes an article In a late number of the New York Independent In which he gives an Insight Into the life of these people that Is at once Interesting and revolting. He finds a key to the trouble that has arisen between the United States and the mulatto Republic of Santo Domingo In the deeprooted anger and- hatred that the half-caste nurses against the superior race, which is re sponsible for his invidious position In the world. This hatred, mingled, with contempt, is also felt by the negro for the mulatto, as being neither the one thing nor the other. As Behazln. the deposed King of Dahomey, in his exile at Fort- de France, Martinique, ex pressed it. "The white Is a race and the niacK is a race. Each Is good, but the mulatto he Is neither good milk nor 6pu tine kuia juu&iiicui ia iwcu ujf jjrtyuuice, it gives one a giod Idea, says Mr. Thorp, of the hatred and contempt which the average negro cherishes for the brown man. This feeling the latter duplicates by hjs hatred jof the white man as being raaHsasjorp ior ins anqciaious position in the J world. This aftipathy In the view on the writer quoted Is resnonsible for three-fourths of the offenses against Americans and Europeans, both ' in Hayti and Santo Domingo, and, so far from being surprised when an outbreak occurs, similar to that between the in surgents and American marines, Febru ary 12, men who are fully informed In regard to conditions that prevail there are surprised that a general massacre of the whites In that "Isle of unrest' has not long ago taken place. It is safe to say, says Mr. Thorp, that such catastrophe has only been averted by the constant patrolling of United States and European warships between the principal ports. A curious and almost ludicrous evl dence of the hatred of these mongrel Islanders for the whites Is found in the fact that in the cathedrals and churches of both Hayti and Santo Domingo the Savior, the "Virgin Mary and the saints are almost always represented In pic tures and statuary as negroes or mujat toes. This falsification of sacred his tory is explained, if not justified,,, in the declaration that "otherwise there would be no congregations." While these people fight among them selves relentlessly, treacherously and brutally, they would make common cause against an Invader: While, as In the case of the Filipinos, their ar mles as armies are practically worth less, they are adepts in the type of warfare that finds expression in guer rilla methods the only type that at the present stage of military and naval -de velopment Is likely to lead to tedious and troublesome campaigns. Utterly without moral sense or physical prow ess; unknown factors In the world of Intellectual and Industrial progress, the gulf that separates these people from Western civilization is so wide that the prudent nation, though lying just at their gates, will be chary of its deal ings with them in the vain hope of bet terlng their condition. There is sqund advice without offlciousness In the fol lowing opinion touching this point, with which Mr. Thorp concludes his article As the United States- Government seems to have no Intention of conquering or annexing the country. It would be advisable to con hne military operations to the ports and points in touch with the sea coast Otherwise, the matter may become far more serious than the Administration contemplates or cares for, But it Is conceivable to those who, like my- self, are well acquainted with the Domini cans that once embarked In the enterprise. the Administration will be carried by force of circumstances beyond its. original inten tion. This Is proeclsely the view with which thoughtful Americans at first inclined to regard our experiment in the Phil ipplnes. It Is not improbable that In the West Indies, as In the East, fii inclinations will be 'overruled by c cumstances, necessity and larger con slderations of destiny. The "white man's burden" is heavy and vexatious but It Is Often imposed without chance of escape by those who are compelled to assume It Civilization will not for ever endure that fertile spots of the globe, be ruled by unproductive and murderous barbarism. William C. Dreber,-' in -his. ''Letter From Germany' to the current num ber of the Atlantic Monthly, says that under the hew 'German tariff Germany is certain to withdraw from the United States trade advantages given to other countries under treaty. It was an nounced nearly a . year ago in the Reichstag that the most-favored-nation clause no longer exists as between Ger many and the United States, because our action in making special conces sions to other countries In order to se cure reciprocity arrangements amounts to Its suspension. This decision has been strengthened through our ratifica tion of our Cuban reciprocity treaty, which will give the deathblow to Ger many's sugar trade In the United States. Nothing short of a radical re- islon of our tariff law In the direction of giving the President large discretion to reduce duties in return for equiva lent advantages will enable him to se cure to American farmers and export ers their due place In the German mar kets. The German government says that it cannot hope again to succeed in negotiating good commercial treaties with Russia and Austria if those coun tries know in advance that the United States can have, without the asking. all the trade advantages that they themselves must haggle and barter for. The stress of home and foreign politics will oblige the German government to apply to our goods, In absence of treaty. rates of duty which it regards Itself as excessive. Only the action of the United States will enable the German government to dispense with applying these excessive legal rates of the new tariff against us. In support of the bill Introduced by Representative McCleary, providing for an increase in the pay of free rural delivery carriers, it Is urged that since the Inauguration of the service over 2000, of these carriers have voluntarily given up the work It is alleged, though necessarily without proof, that those who have continued with the service have done so in the hope that after a time they will receive better pay. The provision that 5600 shall constitute the minimum and $850 a year the maximum salary of the rural mallcarrlers Is not unreasonable. No man can work for less than the sum first named, main tain his equipment for the service, which he Is required to do, and have anything left of the fruits of his en deavor at the end of the year, while at the maximum salary even a frugal man with a small family would be abie to save very little. Rural free, delivery has developed into one of the most beneficial and popular institutions of the country. Efficiency, dependent to a considerable extent upon a minimum number of changes in the service, can only be secured by paying wages at which good men can be secured. Noah Raby, who died last week In a town poorhouse near New Brunswick, N; J., claimed to have been born In North Carolina in 1772, which would make him 132 years old at his death. His age Is as well authenticated appar ently as that of "old Parr," of England, who claimed the age of 152 years. This claim of Noah Raby rests on quite as solid ground, for it is known that he had been an Inmate of the poorhouse for nearly fifty years, and he was an old man when he went there. He was born of an Indian father and white mother, and claimed to have heard Washington speak at a gathering in Norfolk, "Va., and to have served on the United States frigate Constitution be fore the War of 1812. This remarkable case of longevity, while confessing that he had drunk all the whisky he could get and smoked without cessation from boyhood, stoutly maintained that he was never intoxicated but once In his life, which Is an exceptionally good record for 132 years. It is doubtful whether Methusaleh could equal this temperance record, and old Father Noah surely could not. While China has prudently declared her Intention of "looking on with her hands In her sleeves" while Japan struggles with Russia for supremacy in the Far East, her task will not be an easy one. She is too closely in touch with Russian interests In Manchuria to maintain absolutely the passive attl tude Indicated by this declaration. Ac cording to the proclamation of Vlcerdy Alexleff, whose word, needless to say, is law in tne premises, to tne umnese of Manchuria, "the Interests of China and Russia are Identical in that prov ince, and the Chinese merchants and farmers must .continue their usual vo cations and supply the Russian troops with provisions and assistance." It Is scarcely necessary to say that this sort of neutrality is not the kind that Japan is looking for. There Is, however, no appeal from the words of the Viceroy, which, declare that "If the people treat with enmity the Russian army, the gov ernment will exterminate them without mercy." The situation Illustrates ford bly the predicament described as being "between the devil and the deep sea.' Copper has become a great necessity of modern life in the development of mechanics. In the matter' of supply the United States leads the world. The total production of copper last year was 1,110.000,000 pounds, of which 714.000,000- pounds were mined In this country. This represents an increased output of about four-fold since 1884. Spain and Portugal come next In line as cop per producers, but they are far behind their total being -hardly more than one eighth of that of this country. Mexico ranks third, but her yield also is small as compared with that of the United States. With the development of elee trlcal science and the growth of applied electricity a demand for copper arose which only the most tremendous energy has been able to meet American skill and enterprise rose to meet the demand and the copper output has Increased by leaps and bounds, and Is still forging ahead. The copper mines In Mexico are being worked by American capital and labor, but the output is, of course, ac credited to the country that produces it The Orchardlsts Association of Pa jaro Valley, California, recently voted down the question of asking the market supervisors of San Francisco to pro hiblt the sale of wormy apples in that market The vote was on the basis of one to each acre of orchard owned by members, and there was a substantial majority against the proposition. This is a very suggestive advertisement of .the apples that are grown in the Pajaro Valley. Fancy the orchardlsts of Hood River voting "no" on a resolution tq shut wormy apples out of the Portland market! Wise applegrowers are the first to insist upon restrictions that bar out wormy fruit, and tbo- that are most progressive insist upon this point even if trees have to be uprooted and burned in order to enforce it Wormy apples are not only disgusting, but they are a-disgrace to the man -whose or chard Is allowed to produce them year after year, and who is so shortsighted J as to throw them upon the market. INTOLERANCE AND AGNOSTICISM PORTLAND, March 12, To the Editor. Last Sunday an article appeared in the editorial column on the inconsistencies of agnostics. I- shall not enlarge on the merits of the editorial page of your paper tor it speaKs ior itself. .However, I think every Intelligent reader will agree with me that though the average is high, there Is, nevertheless, now and then a leader that falls below, and Is unworthy as sober a journal as The Oregonlan. The article mentioned falls Into this category. The premise is that since all human be ing are very much alike fundamentally, they necessarily would act alike under the 'same circumstances. That this is false Is asserted by the author of the tory of the Good Samaritan. There we have three ways of regarding-an unfor tunate. As all mankind Is of one nature, and as we know that at least in Christian lands and by those professing a Christian creed those in power have terrorized the few who would not accept the beliefs of the many, so it must follow, that were those who in our day are called agnostics In power, so would they be certain to tor ture and burn those who believe In the tenets of churches. History does not bear this out The rack and fagot are eminently Roman means of persuasion Roman pagan or Roman Christian, and in those Dlaces where Rome, pagan or Christian, has held sway. JEven the Protestants were not heretical on this point for a century or two. Pagan Japan is free from this charge, while Christian Russia still per secutes the nonorthodox. Perhaps here lies the secret of 'the sympathy for -the iormer nation la the present war. In Ceylon, India and Slam the neoDle are free to worship either Allah, Brahma or any other deity. In Buddhistic countries freedom Is and always has been enjoyed. King Asoka, who brought the latter reli gion to the banks of the Jordan, did not do so behind an army as did later fanatics with later religions. Every human belne undoubtedly has a dark side to his nature. Dut that It Is fundamentally evil I deny. and leave It to every reader of your paper- Are not tne days of innocent childhood the happiest because of la Innocence. because of Its divine 'proximity, because not vet befouled bv a vicious Hf? An would not, could not each individual retain that happiness through life if he did not depart from it? Ts not the depression of old age one of divorce from the childlike Innocence? I believe the child is born In the very image of God and that oftenest he departs from it during life. This Is more reasonable to me than that he is born totally depraved and must get some blood of some one Innocently slaughtered to restore him to whiteness, eta That obsolete profession that dealt .in racks, fagots, stakes, thumb-screws and dozens of other equally esthetic appll ances, worked In the Interest of creed. It does not follow that those who have no creed (at least none to force on their un willing neighbors) would use these tor tures for the sake of giving vent to their pent-up, born-in-sin natures. While I may not be classified as an agnostic, I do de fend them against the charge, because It Is unjust When history produces the first Instance of an agnostic pouring liquid lead through a man's ears for a faith he denies, then will I recant the last sen tence. I would rather trust my life and honor in the hands of Huxley, Spencer. Wal lace, Darwin, Ingersoll or Draper than with the Borglas, Loyola, Torquemada, uaivin or Cotton Mather. This Is not say ing that all who are creedless are good men ana preachers are scoundrels. Far from It. I have many friends who preach for a living and some of them are as lib eral toward their friends as any agnos tic certainly more so than some who pretend to live and breathe and have their being In material science. To be free Is the first necessity. Then can man make a start in search of light and feel sure that no effort 13 in, vain. ERNEST BARTON. The superstition that underlies this let ter Is the Idea that religion makes a peo ple. The truth Is that every people makes Its religion. Tho religious rites of a. bar barous people are barbarous, those of an enlightened people are refined. In a cruel age ecclesiastical discipline is cruel, whether it is in pagan Rome, Mohamme dan Islam or Canaan under the conquer ing Jews. In this day we do not burn at the stake; we merely hold our heretics up to scorn as Dr. Barton does the Chris tian believer. Catholicism prevails in Spain and also In the United States; but its manifestations are different The reli gion does not make Its people; the people make their religion. The doctrine that the child is born "in the very image of God" must be accepted if at all with im portant reservations. He is just what the legacies of heredity have made him, not forgetting his brute ancestry with its remnants of beastly passions. Those who have traveled In Russia like Henry Nor man, Senator Beverldge and Burton Holmes, say that antagonistic creeds are not interfered with by the Russian church or government, and that this liberal ity accounts for the easy reign which Russia holds In the vast Asiatic coun tries that have come under her rule. It Is a piece of statesmanship reminding us strongly of the Roman method, or that of Great Britain in India and Africa. A WO&AN'S GRAVE. (There is a lone grave In the sandhills in the Western part of Nebraska, near the route of the overland trail. Campinr close by. It some years ago the rough draft o these lines was written the next morning.) The tall .grass waves on the sandhill's side A coyote crosses the sand flat wide With hungry eyes on his destined prey A prairie dog orr his porch'at play Crosses and scatters beneath his feet' The wind-blown folds of a winding sheet I stopped to study with curious ialr The lonely grave that was hidden there; A headstone, scarred by sand and flame. Still recorded a woman's name And the legend carved in rude design "Died. April. 1S49. "Aged five and twenty years; "To the Mount of Life from the plains of tears." Was she a wife? It does not tell. A mother? Perhaps. We know as welL For on the gravestone above the mould Simply a woman's name is told. . A woman's name, but let it rest TIs better not to be hera exprest; Let the desert claim her for his bride, Sleeping softly upon his side. Long I paused in the evening, dim And gazed at the headstone black and dim Black; with the Area of many a year. Sweeping the sandhills far and near. The coyote's cry came thro the shades, A lizard troubled the spear grass blades. And a light gray cloud passed overhead. Dropping a tear for it knew the dead. I mused and wondered the more I thought -Who she was wno lay in that lonely spot Was she slender and fair to view With, a soul to dare and a hand to do? A hero's heart In her woman's breast Beating with passion to know the West, Yet soothing with ways that never fall The long, wild leagues of the Overland Trail With a woman's vision of faith and hope Viewing the mountains western slope Till the setting sun on the western sea Beckoned her on to its mystery? Tho. cactus grows on the drifting, mound; The wolf and the sandstorm scar the ground; The wolf and the wind may wail and sweep Above the bed Where she lies asleep Not the wind, .nor the wolf 'shall disturb the rest Of the woman hero who loved the West A. K SHELDON. Nek. NOTE AND- COMMENT, The Black Man's Pathway. Coolies have been prohibited' from using the sidewalks in Johannesburg. cable dispatch. Now this Is the sons: of the white man, the Mn; of the conauering race, ' Which holds In fee the nigger folk- by God'i KinM-lal Trace: This Is the song of the Saxon, whom God has riven the land Of all the simple peoples that smite not-with Iron hand: 'Come, listen, ye foolish peoples, and hark. tQ the boon we eive In the land of your fathers fathers we grant ye the rleht to live: Te may live and work for your masters for the fruits of toll are-sweet But oft from the white man's sidewalk the place for brutes Is the street Now this Is the way of the white man, from Manila around to the Band. He plies no more cn the nigger than he thinks the nigger can stand, For 'twere folly, egregious folly, to make the laborers few When there's any amount of work to be done, far more than the niggers can do; So he lightens the laborers' burden, and fur nishes straw for the bricks, And calls, 'em uncivilized ingrates for kicking against the pricks. Ke feeds them as well as his cattle and the bread of toll is arweet But he kicks them off from his sidewalk the place for brutes Is the street Now this Is the grace of the white man, to cheriah the nigger's soul; He puts them to work at building a church and paying the parson dole; If they're good in this world, eaya the preach er, above they shall surely go, Where even niggers are welcome and have skins that are whiter than snow. And to gain all these wonderful blessings they've only to do aa they're told. To work like the devil for white men, who'va got to have lots of gold But up at the gates of heaven will" Saint Peter still repeat: "Get off from the golden pavements you nig gers must walk m the street!" At the Seat of War. Corea. is the Land of Morning Calm, Afternoon Ructions and Midnight Hades. "Yalu"' does not mean "yellow," nor is it part of the chorus of a coon song. Ping Tang is Corean for bing! bang! The mountains in Corea are quite hilly, and the plains, as a rule, are level. The rivers run Into the sea, and the people run Into the rivers. The roads in Corea are easily traversed by airships. The climate of Northern- Corea is Ilka that of Oregon when the forecast says, "Fair, with occasional showers;" that Is to say,, it freezes and rains at the same time, with a little sleet on the side. The Coreans are an Interesting people. They wear such high headgear that It is rare to find a native that talks through his hat Cuss words are unknown in Corea, the worst thing ever said being, "Oh, go to Fengwangchengl" The Russians lost their grip on Tallen wan by renaming it Dalny. New Chwang is the same place as Old Chwang. Wlju Is an important strategic point in Corea, and has had more puns fired at it than any other town in the Orient No Vulgar Fractions. "I hired ten chorus girls in five minutes this morning," remarked Julian Mitchell, who wanted to show how busy he had been.- "Geewllllklns!" exclaimed Jack Flaherty, manager of the Majestic Theater, "you are quick at figures." New York Times. Thank heaven for web feet A long wet spell Mississippi Bristow stirred: up. the anlr-l?. Why the fuss over impure j-ilk aoes It not help to eliminate the unfit? The censorship at Tellurlde has been abolished. Russia beat Colorado by a few weeks. A non-combatant suggests that the suc cessor of Admiral Alexleff intends to Makaroff house with the Japanese navy. The Ladles Club at Vladivostok is mak ing sandbags for the defense of the port This Is quite a change from the custom many club members have of sandbagging one another; Mr. Hlmes and the "son of a pioneer" are arguing about the date bees were first introduced into Oregon. It is safe io bet that the first male settler brought an office bee along. PORTLAND, March 12. (To Note and, Com. ment.) What is your estimate of the popula tion of heaven? HOMESKEKBK. You would better" wait until after tha Oriental war, as a new census will proba bly be taken. Efforts to revive interest In the two tailed comet will be futile. It Is mora of a has-been than Patti.-and, unless it can grow a third tall, will never again get on a front page. The country papers are full of such at tractive paragraphs as this from the Chehalem Center correspondence of the Telephone-Register: "It is nearing Spring, as the flowers are blooming and the frogs are croaking." The flowers are blooming. And the frogs are blooming. And the Spring Is at hand. And the soft chlnook. From Its farthest nook Drives the snow from the- land. The flowers are. springing. And the frogs are singing, And cheering country fellows; While here in town The rain comes down. And raises but umbrellas. This Is how the young man from ths Victoria Colonist begins to tell who won the wrestling match between the Indian, "Two Feathers," and McMillan, of Nanaimor One- giant alabaster, muscled like Antinous, model such as often stirred the sands of the Circus Maximum Flavianus; stripped to the ridgy waist and thereunder clad in dun worsted trunks. The face of him harsh with racial harshness of the stubborn Scottish Highlander, bristly black moustache and with the pro sna th ous jaw that advertises grip In the lay hold anywhere. In his moves the hint ot the llgb toes that make sword dance and sheas trulbhas the wonders of terpsichorean art The, other a bronze giant with face as ex pressionless as stone; one eye masked with a felt of midnight locks waving free from th Medusa crop over the crown. The other eyj calm, dark, but alert as the eagle's. Aquiline nose and lank Jaws, and a chin like a sab sweep but the mouth of a woman. The Jawi busy with a quid of perhaps gum. Anna ot prodigious length; a -torso not muscular, but sinewy like that of the long Montana- woli that nibbles the bait at the Winter traps; plenty of bone and that sort of gliding muscle, that seems to move sleepily but arrives with the eye at the spot Slender bands that do not make much In the way of a fist The shining bronxe trunk does not strike th critical as herculean; lndee3, rather out of proportion In Its, sllmnesa to the helg&t; but in action all that was rectified and the great strength bound up In the bronze skin cams forth mightily. The lower limbs of thenoble red man were massive and "trained to do helpful things la the grim efforts of thr actio. Which of them won the giant ala&uttt or the bronze giant? That doesn't wet ter much anyway, bat the wlsaer lm an nounced at the foot of the columa. WEXFORD JOKE.
