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.
Chicago Auditorium Annex; Poatofflco
News Co., 217 Dearborn street.
Denver Julius Black, Hamilton & Hend
rick, 006-912 Seventeenth St: Louthan &
Jackson, Fifteenth and Lawrence.
Kansas City Blcksecker Cigar Co, Ninth
and Walnut.
Los Angeles B. F. Gardner, 259 South
Spring; Oliver & Haines, 203 South Spring,
and Harry Drapkln.
Mln 11 capo 111 1L J. Kavanaugh. 50 8outb
(Third; U Begelsbuger, 31T First Avenue
South.
New York City I. Jonas &" Co, Astor
House.
-Ogden W. C. Alden. Postofflce Cigar Store:
r. R. Godard: W. G. Kind. 114 25th Sts C.
H. Myers.
Omaha Barkalow Bros. 1612 Farnam:
SIcLaughlln Eros., 210 South 14th: Megeath
Btationery Co, 1S0S Farnam.
Salt Lake Salt Lake News Co, 77 West
Eecond South St
St. Louis World's Fair News Co.
San Francisco J. K. Cooper Co, 74Q Mar
ket near Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear,
Ferry News Stand; Goldsmith Bros., 230
Butter; L. E. Lee. Palace Hotel News Stand:
T. W. Pitts, 100S Market; Frank Scott, SO
Ellis; N. Wheatley, S3 Stevenson.
Washington, D. 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.