THE SUmAY 0REG02aAN, PORTLAND, fAPElC 17, 1901.
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PORTLAND, SUNDAY, ATRIL 17, 1904.
t 1 3
SEPARATE CITY ELECTIONS.
An agitation has begun in the City of
fit. Paul for transferring municipal elec
tions from the separate time they are
mow held to a time uniform with gen
eral elections. It has been found that
the cost of the separate city election
amounts to something like $35,000 and
It Is doubted whether the alleged gain
of separate elections offsets this ex
pense. This agitation is of interest in
Portland just now, inasmuch as our
new charter proposes to Institute sep
arate municipal elections on the first
Monday in June, 1905, and biennially
thereafter. There is little doubt, how
ever, that amendments to the charter
will be proposed at this "Winter's Legis
lative session, and the probability Is
that the result will be to open up the
whole question of separate elections.
"We shall assume that when the time
comes, the reigning political forces here
will be found in opposition to the
separate elections. Political machines
generally are so opposed, and - the en
actment of our present charter is the
first time that this alleged reform has
ever been able to prevail over the de
termined stand of the politicians against
it. It will be remembered, however,
that The Oregonian has never acqui
esced in the claims of the "reformers"
for the separate election, believing it
one of those specious but empty de
vices by which law is Invoked to make
oitizens good and officials efficient. The
basis of the separate election fad is the
theory that the voter is so helplessly
ignorant that if he hopes for a good
Republican Governor he cannot help
voting alpo for a bad Republican nomi
nee for Mayor. The average voter is
quite capable of this strain on his In
telligence, as the split tickets so often
elected bear witness.
The Legislature will undoubtedly be
asked to rectify certain clerical errors
in the charter pointed out by Auditor
Devlin and to amend the present vexa
tious regime for street assessments;
but if there were no other reason for
anticipating charter legislation it would
be found in the almost certain adop
tion of the direct primary and the ne
cessity for conforming the charter to
that law. It is even open to serious
doubt whether the charter is sufficiently
explicit concerning the election laws
already in force. Perusal of It shows
that the obvious purpose of its framers
was to make it conform to all election
laws past or yet to be enacted, or rather
to make all that class of legislation con
form to the new charter. For example,
we have directions to the County Clerk
about opening and closing the registry
books; to the County Court about the
expense account of the city election.
The Auditor, however, is to receive the
nominations, Instead of the County
Clerk, and the City Council is to dis
charge the functions of the County
Court.
All these deviations from th'e election
laws are doubtless legal; that is, they
can be made legal by proper enact
ment; but it is exceedingly doubtful If
some of the provisions of the charter
limiting and diverting the election laws
could stand the test of inquiry under
our constitutional provision and decis
ions under it requiring the complete re
hearsal of every amended statute in its
altered form. There is a cheerful and
glittering generality, for example, in
the assertion (chap. II, art. 1, section
21), that "the dates fixed in said elec
tion laws are hereby changed as far as
they relate to said city elections, and
the dates prescribed In this charter
shall be substituted for -and take the
place of the dates set forth in said elec
tion laws." These provisions may be
adequate, but It Is not likely the friends
of the charter will forego the opportu
nity the Winter session affords of mak
ing assurance doubly sure.
The separate city election of June,
1905, would occur at a time shortly
after the opening of the Lewis and
Clark Fair, and it is a serious question
whether the distraction would not justify
a postponement of the election until the
succeeding June, when the general elec
tion occurs, with a continuance of the
present city officials in office. The mat
tor is one that should be decided wholly
on its public merits; but unfortunately
there is little reason to hope that it can
be divested of political significance. If
the present Republican organization
should oppose the change. It would
doubtless rest under the charge that it
hoped to get a Mayor more pliable than
Judge "Williams to its will. And if It
should favor the postponement Its mo
tives would be assailed by those who
would have hastened to abolish sep
arate elections if the power had been
put in their hands. The Oregonian does
Tiot believe in ignoring or suppressing
matters of this nature which are In
everybody's mind; and it hopes to see
the subject fully and freely discussed
on Its merits, regardless alike of the de
sires of the "-organization" to perpetu
ate itself, and of the rosy hopes of oth
er ambitious statesmen to avail them
selves of the coming municipal election
to found a new and possibly more ex
clusive dynasty.
ARCHITECT OF HIS OWNjEMINENCE.
The recent great Life of Gladstone by
John Morley has been followed by the
publication of a very Interesting biog
raphy of Gladstone's graai rival, Dis
raeli, by "Wilfrid Meynell. It is a very
Interesting book, because Disraeli not
only was a statesman, who played quite
as Important a part "in the politics of
England as Gladstone, measured by the
permanent mark he made in his time,
but because Disraeli was a far more
versatile and brilliant man in his per
sonal gifts than Gladstone. He was
not so powerful an orator, but he was a
man of astonishing wit and humor, qual
ities which Gladstone lacked, and he
was a man of genius in the matter of
original literary expression, which cer
tainly cannot be said of Gladstone. Dis
raeli's novels, written in his youth, are
a mine of fine political epigrams, to
which more than one public man of our
day has been indebted for the finest
brilliants of his speech. His conversa
tional powers were so great that he at
tracted universal attention in London
social circles before he even won a
seat In Parliament, and his manners
were so polished and attractive that
Queen Victoria, who had been obliged
to meet in official intercourse the Duke
of Wellington, Lord' Melbourne, Sir
Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmer
ston and Mr. Gladstone, always said
Disraeli had the most delightful man
ners of them all. He made her feel that
he was not only her loyal subject but
her devoted personal friend. Our Amer
ican poet, N. P. Willis, who met Dis
raeli in his days of youthful literary
fame, describes him as a most powerful
and impressive talker on any subject
under discussion; he -talked "like a
racehorse approaching the winning
post."
The force of Disraeli's genius is shown
by the fact that he is the only English
Prime Minister since the days of Will
lam IH who rose to be Premier without
being a child of one of the great Eng
lish Universities or being allied by fam
ily connection with the aristocracy or
rich English gentry. Godolphln and
Walpole were both university-bred
men. The elder Pitt was a university
graduate and allied by family ties to
the Temples and the Grenvllles. The
Earl of Bute, the Marquis of Rocking
ham, Lord North belonged, to the aris
tocracy. The younger ITt was a bril
liant graduate of the university and
had large family Influence. Fox was a
university graduate, and the brilliant
son of the wealthy Lord Holland.
George Canning was a brilliant univer
sity graduate, who was a devoted par
tisan of the younger Pitt and at once
pushed by him into Parliament. Lord
Liverpool and Lord Melbourne belonged
to the aristocracy; Sir Robert Peel was
a brilliant university graduate, the son
of a wealthy cotton manufacturer who
had been made a Baronet by royal fa
vor. Lord Palmerston belonged to the
aristocratic family of Temple; Lord
John Russell represented the great
ducal house of Bedford, while Lord
Derby represented the ancient and no
ble family of Stanley. Gladstone was
a brilliant university graduate, the son
of Sir John Gladstone, a rich Liverpool
merchant, who had been knighted by
royal favor. In the history of all these
famous English statesmen we find that
from the start they were planted In
Parliament by family Influence or per
sonal aristocratic patronage, even as
Macaulay in his youth was pushed Into
Parliament by the support of Lord
Lansdowne.
But Disraeli, while not a Jew In faith,
was a man of Jew blood, and he was
not the child of any English univer
sity, nor was she allied by marriage to
any powerful aristocratic family. His
ancestors had abandoned Judaism in
the reign of George II, because the re
scinding of the act extinguishing the
civil and political disabilities of the Jews
had made them feel that there was no
public, career before their children if
they remained Jews in faith Disraeli,
born in 1804, was educated from 1817 to
1820, at the school of the Rev. Dr. Co
gan, a retired Unitarian Minister. Here
he was taught the classics, and with
French literature he was familiar to
the end of his days. His further educa
tion was that obtained very much as
Byron obtained his, viz., by omniv
orous reading. The popular notion that
Disraeli was at the start a political
adventurer is without foundation. He
was far less of an opportunist than his
great antagonist, Gladstone, who en
tered Parliament a most bigoted Tory,
finally became a "Peellte" and ulti
mately became the most radical leader
that the English Liberal party ever
called chief. As early as 1830 Disraeli
made an Eastern tour. In which he
learned to smoke and during the first
year of his Parliamentary life he said:
"I ascribe my popularity In the House
to the hours I spend in the smoking
room." Doubtless he was right; the smoking
room was just the place for a man of
brilliant powers of conversation to fre
quent If he desired to diffuse rapidly
his reputation for unique powers of
mind and expression. Disraeli had a
wonderful command of language, an
unsurpassed gift of sarcasm, a readi
ness of wit, a quickness of perception
and a grasp of mind that enabled him
to seize on all points of any subject un
der discussion; a man of such gifts
would be sure to command an audience
In the freedom of the smoking-room
that would make itself felt on the floor
of the House. The first speech of Dis
raeli In Parliament was a failure only
In the sense that a rude, boorish oppo
sition can squelch the speech of the
orator just as a vulgar, brutal, pro
slavery mob more than once made some
of Wendell Phillips' finest speeches
"failures" in the sense that by noise,
hooting, cat-calls, groans, etc., they
made It Impossible for him to proceed.
Only in this sense was Disraeli's first
speech a "failure." The matter of that
speech, which filled five and one-half
columns of Hansard's Debates, was ad
mirable, but Disraeli had made an
enemy of Daniel O'Connell, and his first
speech was ceaselessly Interrupted by
volleys from the Irish Brigade. In such
a contest of course victory lay with the
strong lungs of the opposition, and Dis
raeli, finding it Impossible to go on,
finally sat down, saying, "Though I sit
down now, the time will come when you
will hear me."
Nevertheless, this first speech of Dis
raeli commanded the warm praise of
Sir Robert Peel and of the famous Irish
orator, Richard tLalor Shell, who praised
the speech as one that was filled with"
the spirit of oratory and predicted that
"nothing can prevent that man from
becoming one of the first speakers In
the House of Commons." Disraeli mar
ried the widow of his colleague In the
representation of Maidstone, Wyndham
Lewis, through whose good offices he
had been sent to Parliament. The
widow inherited a life interest in her
husband's property, a house In London
and some four thousand pounds a year.
But she was 50 and Disraeli was not 35
when they were married In 1839. Des
pite this disparity of years this hand
some, brilliant man appears to have
been devotedly attached to his wife.
What began In gratitude soon ripened
Into love, for his wife was a woman of
very lively mind and affectionate dispo
sition. Disraeli near the close of his
married life said to Lord Ronald Gow
er, "We have been married 30 years,
and she" has never given me a dull mo
ment." His wife was not only devoted
to her husband but she knew how to
amuse him. Disraeli once said of her:
"I do owe to that lady all I think I have
ever accomplished, because she has
supported me by her counsels and con
soled me by the sweetness of her dis
position." In a tribute paid by Sir
William Harcourt to Lady Beaconsfleld
In the Times the day after her death In
December, 1872, he says: "She loved
him with, her whole heart and soul; she
believed In him above all men, and he
appreciated at Its real worth that single-minded,
self-sacrificing devotion."
Whether as a man or a statesman Dis
raeli was at least the peer of his great
rival, Gladstone.
TRAFFIC IN YOUNG GIRLS.
"We cannot help thinking that there Is
some feverish exaggeration In these re
ports of systematized traffic In girls
for Immoral purposes, whether at St.
Louis, Portland or Spokane. The re
former Is never disposed to err on the.
side of underestimates when he is out
lining the dread situation he is about
to correct. High School boys are not
likely to maintain harems of High
School girls In the North End for any
length of time, and such young women
as are permitted to make the Journey
to St. Louis alone In search of work
cannot be blessed with parental vigi
lance and sense sufficient to protect
them long against mischief if they stay
at home.
But making every allowance for ex
aggeration, the residuum of truth Is
awful enough to startle the commu
nity and waken to serious effort every
right-minded man and woman. We
have laws upon this subject, but we
seldom hear of their enforcement. It
Is high time that striking examples
were made of some of the procurers of
both sexes who have come, through
long Indifference on part of public and
officials, to ply their nefarious trade
with Impunity. Somebody must be ar
rested and not released through social,
business or political "pull." Somebody
must.be brought into open court, where
the tale of Infamy can be unfolded to
universal knowledge and the condign
punishment that follows conviction will
strike terror to others.
It Is never amiss to emphasize the
towering Importance of Individual re
sponsibility in these matters, and there
is one phase of parental neglect that
needs special emphasis in these days of
working girls and working women. It
is that girls under 21 years of age, or
at least under 18, are quite as much In
need of parental oversight as those of
much tenderer years. The home pro
cess of careful rearing must extend be
yond the irresponsible period of young
girlhood that can hardly be said to end
with the sixteenth year. It has been
said by those who have taken pains to
investigate the matter that boys who
re,ach the age of 20 years without hav
ing learned to smoke very seldom con
tract the smoking habit, and are almost
certainly Immune from cigarette smok
ing. It is also said triat girls who pass
to the age of IS in modest, womanly en
vironment seldom, relatively speaking,
even under the most trying conditions,
fall Into social sin.
In other words. It Is only boys and
girls who have been safely piloted
through what in plain language Is
termed the "fool age" that may be
trusted to take care of themselves. It
Is during the third period of seven years
Into which human life has been poet
ically and perhaps rationally divided
that the seeds of social ruin and moral
death are most plentifully sown. Men
and women old In wickedness are found
all along the highways and byways of
life, but In very many Instances they
are but reaping the pernicious harvest
of evil whose seeds were planted dur
ing these fateful, fruitful seven years,
when they thought they were old enough
to take care of themselves, and In this
Idea were encouraged by the indulgence
or indifference or neglect of parents.
An enthusiastic believer In the far
reaching power of early training has
said: "Give me a child for the first
seven years of his life and I care not
who has charge of him thereafter."
This Is an assumption at once egotis
tical and at variance with human ex
perience. The first seven years should
be properly guarded, of course, but
equally careful training Is necessary
during the second seven lest the seeds
of good counsel, "having no depth of
earth," wither away. Still more faith
fully and vigilantly should the third
period of seven years be guarded lest
careless handling destroy the promise
of the early sowing. v
THE VENOM OF AGITATION.
John Klrby. Jr., president of the Em
ployers' Association of Dayton, O., in
a recent debate before the Aldine Club
of New Tork, declared the record of
labor unions to be "black with shame,
injustice, crime and defiance of law."
Professor John K. Commons defended
labor unions, and while he admitted
that some mistakes had been made by
their leaders, he added: "The wonder Is,
under the conditions, that the union
forces are as law-abiding as they are."
These are extreme statements, charac
teristic of debates. There is no con
flict in which right and Justice remain
wholly upon one side. The very nature
of a contest forbids this. It Is but hu
man to seize upon and press an advan
tage to the utmost when war is on
between two contending forces. Take,
for example, the. strike in the Cripple
Creek district as It has been waged for
weeks between defiant miners and de
termined state officials. Each element
has marshaled, all the power that It
could bring to bear against the other.
Both have been dogmatic, arbitrary.
The state authorities hold the strongest
hand, but It has not yet aroved a win
ning one. And when It does, If It does,
the victory will be barren of all that
entitles It to the name, since It will be
permeated through and through with
the venom of bitterness and hatred
which only the slow process of the
years can eliminate. If on the other
hand the exaggerated demands-of the
Miners' Union prevail, free labor In the T
( common acceptance of that term will
have been practically driven out or
that great and wonderful mining dis
trict for years to come, or until another
conflict ensues.
Bishop Spauldlng, of Peoria, has de
clared that "a strike Is hell," meaning
not alone the strike in its active state,
but the aftermath of hatred and bit
terness that results. And this good and
conservative man Is a true friend of the
working man and would save him. If
possible, from the poison engendered by
the Inflamed passions of human nature.
In view of tho dire consequences that
follow. the wholesale distillation of this
poison and Its dissemination through
out the Industrial body, It would be well
for representative men on either side
of this great question to take couns.el of
moderation before speaking and to
eschew "debates" the tendency of which
Is to arouse antagonism and settle
nothing. The strike is an evil; the ex
actions that lead up to it are evils, and
they who blow a coal between these
forces with the heated breath of exag
geration are the enemies of Industry
and of the state.
AN ARTFUL ENEMY.
By far the most dangerous because
the most artful nemy of the election of
President Roosevelt Is the New Tork
Sun. The New Tork Evening Post Is
an able but It Is an open. Ingenuous
critic of the administration of Presi
dent Roosevelt; and so are the New
Tork Times, the Brooklyn Eagle, the
Springfield Republican and the Boston
Herald; but the Sun always attacks
Roosevelt with the weapons 'used by
Gibbon against the claim of miraculous
origin for Christianity. Byron describes
Gibbon as .
Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer.
The lord of irony; that master spell.
This Is the Sun's method of insidious
attack upon President Roosevelt. Un
der the cover of pretending to be an
"independent" paper, the Sun is today
by far the ablest because the most art
ful enemy of Roosevelt's election as
President in 1904. Its artfulness is il
lustrated by a recent article entitled
"Democrats Defining Their Objections
to Mr. Roosevelt." In this article the
Sun carefully sums up the reasons
given by the leading Democratic mem
bers of Congress why "Roosevelt must
be defeated." Representative Williams,
of Illinois, charges the President with
retaining In office Cabinet Ministers
"who are responsible- for the malfeas
ance known to exist In the Postofllce
Department, the General Land Office
and the Indian Bureau." Mr. Williams
further added that Attorney-General-Knox
recently Issued a statement which
signified that the trusts had nothing to
fear so long as they "stood pat" for
the election of the present President to
a second term. United States Senator
Gorman Is quoted as denouncing Presi
dent Roosevelt as having usurped func
tions as an executive never Intrusted
to him by the Constitution.
Senator Gorman has denounced the
President as a Czar who. If a law of
Congress does not suit him, changes It
by executive order. Gorman says that
"the President by executive order Is
ready to give the old soldiers more
money; by executive order he Is ready
to amend the interstate commerce act;
that, while he does not dispute the
President's honesty, something more
than honesty is needed to qualify for
the office of Chief Magistrate." Sena
tor Carmack, of Tennessee; Senator
Mallory, of Florida, and Senator Sim
mons, of North Carolina, have united
In an effort to Impeach Mr. Roosevelt's
fitness for the post he alms to hold for
four years more. These Senators de
scribed the President as "a man of
spectacular propensities; rash, hothead
ed and Impulsive; disqualified by tem
perament and character for the exer
cise of the vast and elastic powers that
may be asserted by a President." These
Democratic Senators In derogation of
President Roosevelt lay particular
stress on the following executive acts:
First, his unconstitutional interposition be
tween employers and eiriployed in the anthra
cite coal strike, an interposition not requested
by the Legislature nor by the Governor of
Pennsylvania. Secondly, his Inflexible deter
mination to promote Dr. Wood to be a Major
General !n the Regular Army, with the knowl
edge that such promotion would cause Wood
at no distant day to become practically the
head of the military pystem of the United
States. Thirdly, his illrtual exercise of the
war-making power by the "fifty miles order,"
which, say the Democratic Senators, was an
application of force by the United States
againEt Colombia. Fourthly, tho promulga
tion by Executive flat of the rule that here
after the age of G2 years shall be accepted as
proof, prima facie, that veterans of the Civil
War are "disabled" In the meaning of the
pension law.
The Sun carefully recites this Demo
cratic bill of particulars in the general
Indictment of President Roosevelt as a
man who suffers from a congenital in
ability to distinguish the constitutional
limitations of a President's powers, and
concludes this artful article by saying:
"Such are some of the grounds on
which leading Democrats are preparing
to convince the country that the White
House ought to have a new tenant after
March 4, 1905." No doubt the Sun has
given the Democracy shrewd advice In
urging them to make the peculiar, ec
centric temperament of President
Roosevelt their principal "card" In the
next campaign. It is at best a weak
card, but It Is about the strongest that
Is contained in their dogeared pack.
The eccentric temper of President
Roosevelt; his occasional extravagance
of Imperious speech, may be worked
against him to a trifling extent, but In
any large, broad sense President Roose
velt has nothing to fear on this score.
The general spirit of his administration,
ts solid political results up to date, will
be the test of measurement applied by
the plain people. The mass of the
American people are not concerned
with the eccentric temper, speech and
manners of their President. They will
measure President Roosevelt just as
they did President Andrew Jackson, by
the Integrity of his spirit and the sub
stantial fruits of his government, and
not at all by his personal temper, man
ners or speech.
Outside of the rank and file of the
Democratic regular army and the In
tensely antl-lmperlallst faction of the
New Tork "independents," there 13 no
opposition to the election of Roosevelt
save that which Is recruited from "the
wealthy criminal classes of both par
ties," whose organ, In season and out
of season, Is sure to be the New Tork
Sun. which wares the Southern Democ
racy through an able correspondent
that they "may retire to their tents If
a platform shall be adopted -and candi
dates nominated at St. Louis not sin
cerely representing sound constitutional
opinions regarding the right of Con
gress and the President to interfere
with property in the states." The "con
stitutional opinions" refer to the gen
eral views very recently expressed by
Justice White In the Northern Securi
ties case, and by Chief Justice Marshall
In his Supreme Court opinions, which
have become classic, regarding the gen
eral relative rights and duties of the
Government at Washington- and the
several state governments.1 This corre
spondent concludes hl3 screed In the
Sun as follows:
Were, for example, a platform and candi
dates to be adopted at St. Louis which looked
toward, or tolerated, an ' executive attempt to
criminally Indict under the Sherman anti
trust law Individuals for doing the things tho
defendants did In the Northern Securities case,
and to convict them on the theories eet forth
by Justice Harlan in his opinion in that case,
then Roosevelt will carry New York next No
vember, and for the reason that thqusands of
Democrats will be disposed to avoid the ballot
boxes when It has been revealed to them that
a Democratic National Convention has not only
refused to vindicate the Constitution, but has
allied itself with Its enemies.
"wmpriNa a man of straw.
Goldwin Smith was recently quoted
In The Oregonian as saying In his re
view of Sabatiers "Religions of Au
thority" that the papacy defies science
by its affirmation of the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception. Mr. Smith, In
the New Tork Sun, fairly complains
that his antagonists have erected a
man of straw in their replies to his
criticism by pretending that he, said no
scientists had been born and bred with
in the Catholic Church. He distinctly
drew the line between the papacy and
the Catholic Church. Many men of
great scientific consequence have come
out of the Catholic Church, just as good
has come out of Nazareth. Goldwin
Smith is a scholar, and it Is absurd to
pretend that he does not know the dif
ference between the papal affirmation
of the dogma of the Immaculate Con
ception and the Virgin Birth. Plus IX
in his famous bull of 1854 defined this
dogma as follows:
The most Blessed Virgin was, in view of the
merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
human race, by the singular grace and power
of Almighty God, from the first moment of
her conception In tho womb of her mother,
preserved frco from all taint of original sin.
Goldwin Smith was at this time a
distinguished historical student, and
when he graduated from Oxford the
Oxford tracts written by Newman, Ke
ble and Pusey had surrounded him with
an atmosphere that forbids any suppo
sition of Ignorance In the matter of the
Church of Rome on the part of so able,
so learned and so upright a man. Of
course, he might reach a wrong con
clusion from his knowledge; but it is
absurd to assume that so precise a
scholar and so able a man could possi
bly confuse the dogma of the Immacu
late Conception with the Virgin Birth.
Goldwin Smith is also historically cor
rect in his distinction between the Cath
olic Church and the papacy. Dr. Dol
llnger, famous for his controversy with
the papacy, was a Catholic, but he was
not a papist. Pascal, who was a Jan
senlst, refused to accept the dogma of
the Infallibility of the pope. Galileo
was a Catholic and a man of science;
but the papacy "disciplined" him be
cause of his new and strange doctrine
of the motion of the earth. The same
papacy in the nineteenth century re
buked St. George Mivart, the scientist,
because of certain of his views on the
subject of evolution. Descartes was a
Catholic, but he was so doubtful a
papist that the Jesuits placed his works
on their list of prohibited books.
To publish a list of famous scientists
who were born and bred Catholics, as
an answer to Goldwin Smith's charge
that the papacy by its affirmation of
the dogma of the Immaculate Concep
tion fifty years ago assumed an attitude
of defiance to science, Is absurd. Napo
leon was born and bred a Catholic, and
yet It will hardly be pretended that he
was much of a papist, even If as a mat
ter of state policy he established the
Concordat. Alexander Pope, the famous
English poet, was a Catholic, but he
denied that he was a papist. The com
municants of the Greek Church are
Catholics, but they are not papists.
There was a considerable abstention of
prelates from the Council of Rome
which affirmed the infallibility of the
popes. There was at least one American
Roman Catholic prelate who did not
vote to affirm this dogma. Goldwin
Smith Is historically correct when he
says In substance that the papacy on
the subject of Biblical criticism abso
lutely shuts the mouths of Its scholars,
for Leo XIII In giving permission for
the examination of the Scriptures ex
pressly declared that the authority of
the church had already determined
what was to be believed regarding them
and research must be held within the
limits laid down.
Goldwin Smith In a very able letter
to the Sun takes the ground that even
If the edifice of dogmatic Christianity,
or its dogmatic connection with a
supernatural source, is destroyed, "the
essence of Christianity as it came from
the lips of the author" remains unim
paired, for that essence Is "belief In
the fatherhood .of God and the brother
hood of man." Mr. Smith thinks there
Is a manifest tendency on the part of
the clergy to glide from the work of the
theological pulpit and religious minis
tration Into that of philanthropic lead
ership and to concern themselves less
with the life to come and more with
the life that Is. This union of a spir
itual pastorate on a rational footing
with congenial -leadership In good
works is about what Unitarlanism is
today in the Judgment of Mr. Smith.
Every resident of Portland who ever
drove over the White House road will
be chagrined to learn that the finest
drive In Oregon is likely to be turned
Into a dustway this season. Members
of the Driving Association, which has
taken the initiative and raised the
money for the last twenty years to keep
tlje road sprinkled, have gone on record
with the declaration that they will not
sprinkle this year unless the County
Commissioners provide a roadway
worth sprinkling. There is no reason
why sui provision shotld not be made.
Few If any taxpayers will protest
against the cost. Riverside Drive Is not
only a stretch of picturesque park; It
Is an avenue of traffic from which Port
land derives benefit. It Is the one ap
proach by team to our most beautiful
cemetery- No one will dispute the
proposition that It Is entitled to as
much consideration as a road super
visor would give to a country lane. This
is about all that Is asked of Multnomah
County. The Oregonian Is inclined to
believe that the Commissioners have
been only slow to move and that they
are not yet chargeable with positive
neglect. There Is ample time to put the
roadway Into good shape If a move Is
made at once. Let It be done; then In
dividual residents of Portland will see
that the road shall be maintained In
good shape. y
Mr. Samuel Gompers lately made a
tour of the island of Porto Rico, and
returning tells tales of the unclad
wretchedness and hunger of the people
of that Island that must shock even
the dullest sensibilities. ' He testifies
that he saw everywhere women and
children in rags, and many. Indeed,
wholly without clothing. He found
that the death roll on the island from
starvation alone was from 450 to 500 a
month. People who, In a mild and
equable climate, where the soil Is fer
tile and crops mature quickly and of
ten, cannot manage to live by their own
efforts and to keep decent covering for
their bodies and simple roofs over their
heads, are in a sense objects of pity.
They are, however, so utterly lacking
in energy and thrift that If put upon
their feet, industrially speaking, they
could not stand. Paupers by nature,
sluggards by instinct, they are content
with little and that little they have not
the Industry to compass for themselves.
Gauged by the civilized Idea of living
they are wretched and destitute;
gauged by their own idea they would
be happy If their hunger were relieved
today. But such as they are, these peo
ple appeal through .their helplessness
to the Government that has assumed
charge of them for a policy that in the
course of time will make human beings
out of them instead of the creeping,
helpless, thoughtless creatures that they
are.
The Architectural Record for April
thinks twenty-five stories Is likely to
be the average of the skyscraper here
after. So far as the writer in the Rec
ord has been able to discover, "there Is
absolutely no engineering or economic
limit of height below about eighty sto
ries, provided the area of the lot be
sufficient. Taking into consideration,
however, the ethical or sentimental aide
of human nature, it Is the writer's be
lief that, while many buildings will ex
ceed 25 stories, many mote, sufficient
at least to establish a general practice,
will be kept down to 16 or 20 stories,
if left free from municipal Interference.
On the other hand, the writer belleVes
that the Interests of the municlpallty
would be best served by establishing
height limits In certain districts, so that
the population by day In such areas
will not be too large for easy transpor
tation and wholesome living." A V
form open to the 'south will become, Jt
Is thought, thQ typical plan. There Is,
however, a limit not mentioned by the
Record, namely, the limit of time hi
which a tenant In the top story can get
down to the street In case a fire breaks
out on the first floor. Baltimore's ex
perience is said to be that while the
steel construction saves the owner in
case of fire from 25 to 50 per cent of-
the cost of his building, the tenant's.be
longings are thoroughly destroyed and
he cannot afford to loiter long after the
fire gets started.
The outbreak of plague In Johannes
burg causes the British Medical Jour
nal to recall the fact that "plague has
existed In Cape Colony for some four
years, and although In no town or dis
trict except, perhaps, Port Elizabeth,
has plague assumed any considerable
proportions, yet the continued presence
of the disease in both men and rats in
several towns of Cape Colony and Dur
ban, Natal, rendered the possibility of
a serious outbreak, either within the
Infected area or in adjacent towns or
districts, an ever-present cause of anx
iety. The last plague patient was dis
charged from the hospital at East Lon
don on February 25. Rats, however,
are still reported as being Infected by
plague at Port Elizabeth and East Lon
don; so that although no case of plague
In human beings actually exists forthe
moment, the probability of recurrence
in one or other of these towns has to be
contemplated. Within the year 1S03 the
total number of deaths from plague In
Cape Colony' amounted to 135." The
Transvaal has hitherto labored with
success, says South Africa, to keep the
disease from crossing the border. The
plague there, the journal adds, "Is of
the pneumonic and not of the bubonic
form; and It Is much easier to cope
with It on the Rand than elsewhere, on
account of the existence there of the
much-abused compound and location
system."
Andrew Carnegie, In setting aside
$5,000,000 for dependent survivors of he
roes who lose their lives trying to save
others, has created a new avenue for
charity. This gift does credit to his
heart, but It is worth while to Inquire
whether heroism will be thus stimulat
ed. Brave deeds are spontaneous; they
are not inspired by hope of reward.
Will self-respecting widows accept this
charity? A pension comes with honor;
the Nation simply pays its debt. But
making application to a board of direc
tors composed of strangers who are
managing a fiduciary trust In a busi
nesslike way doesn't this savor of
going before a Board of County Com
missioners? Will Andrew Carnegie's
money be sweeter than money raised
by taxation for the poor? Will the in
come from this fund find its way to the
worthy, the deserving, the modest,
shrinking widow and children of him
who ndbly surrendered his life? Will
Carnegie's trustees be able to carry out
In letter and in spirit the intent of the
giver? Their management of the trust
and the manner of Its reception by pro
posed beneficiaries will be watched with
interest.
The Sunset Magazine for April de
votes several pages to the Lewis and
Clark Centennial Exposition, to the
beauty of Portland and her environ
ment, and to the commerce of the sec
ond Pacific Coast city. These topics are
handsomely treated in text as well as in
illustration. Because the Sunset Is
widely read by our neighbors all the
way from San Diego to Sitka, the arti
cle can not fail to be of material bene
fit to Portland and to the Fair.
That Mr. Frank C. Baker, during his
absence on a sick bed, was selected as
chairman of the Republican State Cen
tral Committee Is not only a tribute to
his qualifications and efficiency, but
an unusual testimonial of confidence on
the part of the committee members.
Mr. Baker's political talents and wide
acquaintance fit him admirably for a
position of this kind, and we predict for
him the successful discharge of his im
portant duties.
The cool weather came just In time to
check the threatened floods in the riv
ers of Eastern Oregon, Washington and
Idaho that feed the Columbia with
their melting snows. For every ton of
snow that went off during the first days
of the present week the settlers on bot
tom lands are duly thankful, since by
this much is the danger of disaster from
an early Summer lessened.
Erskine Nicol, an excellent Scottish
artist, has died in his SOth year. His
pictures of Irish life and character are
his best works. Scores of them have been
engraved, and in that shape were fa
miliar in America. "Donnybrook Fair,"
"Paying the Rent" and "News From
the Crimea" are perhaps best known of
these.
NOTE AND COMMENT.
In Training.
The Rer. Arthur Allen Is getting ready to
attack sin in Independence. Independence En
terprise. Note and Comment's weather forecast
(copyright, 1904): Sunday mixed.
Our naval gunners seem to suffer
from nothing worse than an excess
of zeal.
Be careful which bill of faro you get
In those "fashionable North-End res
taurants "
St. Louis people won't let the Igorrotes
eat dog. This is an unworthy slam at
the sausage-makers.
t Portland has a Chinese firm called tho
Bow Wow Company. Are we going to
the "demnltion bow-wows?"
The war correspondent using wireless
telegraphy will be treated as a spy.
Better be shot than scooped.
Water that has Are In it has been discov
ered In Texas. Ontarj Argus.
It's an old story in Kentucky.
"Lamming the Lama" seems no less
popular with the newspaper paragraphers
than with the British themselves.
If tho Vladivostok squadron doesn't
make Its address known pretty soon, It
won't get in this year's directory.
The Corean Emperor Is afraid of
spirits. With such a failing ho wouldn't
even be a bootblack In Kentucky.
Spokane papers didn't think they
wore carrying coals to Newcastle when
they put up a Job on the employment
offices.
Rather than surrender four bills he
had stolen, a Seattle thug chewed them
up and swallowed them. Quite a nice
little stake. t
Togo Is not well up in the details of
naval warfare. He has so far faired to
say, "You can fire when you're ready,
Gridlikura."
A man went to Salem to buy a piano.
Instead he bought a jag and was robbed.
Perhaps his neighbors considered des
perate measures justifiable.
A Victoria tailoring firm advertises that
its trousers are poems In cloth. Noth
ing Is said, however, about selling them
at market price for poems.
The Kaiser lunched on board the
Vanderbllts' yacht, the North Star.
Some New Torkers will hereafter look,
at the Star with Increased respect.
After a long chase a California Sher
iff succeeded in running down a danger
ous criminal. The Sheriff used an auto
mobile. Hitherto no one but an Inno
cent pedestrian has been run down by
an automobile.
In a few years we shall read epitaphs
like this:
Here Lies
JOHN PITTSBURG SKIBO SMITH
Who Was Born In a
CARNEGIE TOWN.
Educated in a
CARNEGIE INSTITUTE.
Studied In a
CARNEGIE LIBARAY.
At the Age of 30 He Became a
CARNEGIE HERO.
And Ha3 Now Gone to Ba With
CARNEGIE.
This baseball story from the Scattle
Argus might have been told about a Port
land fan.
A "fan" dropped Into Lou Cohen's rope
walk Monday to discuss the baseball situa
tion. The average fan likes to sy things
to Lou when tho team loses.
"Well." said Cohen with a sickly grin, "the
team batted well, anyhow."
"When yesterday?" asked tho fan In as
tonishment. Lou studied tho report and error column
carefully.
"No." said he soberly. "I guess It must havo
been last night."
The Victoria Colonist notes with satis
faction that fow persons attended tho
wrestling contest betweon two women,
held in the principal theater of the city.
Such a spectacle seems more appropriate
for a red-light saloon than for the stage
of a respectable theater, but if the pub
lic had evinced sufficient curiosity to at
tend. Victoria would undoubtedly have
had a series of wrestling matches between
women. As it is, the game has been
killed by neglect, which is the great
lethal weapon against objectionable per
formances. "Ignorance, sir. ignorance," said Dr.
Johnson when asked why he made a cer
tain mistake, and the same thing caused
a mistake recently in this column, Paul
being mentioned as having had a chat
with the eunuch that was treasurer to
Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. It
was, of course, Philip who had the honor
of baptising that official of the Ethiopian
court, a court which has remained Chris
tian to this day. Paul, at the time of tho
Interview, was still known as Saul, and
was "breathing" out threatening and
slaughter against the disciples of tho
Lord," so that tho blunder is all the more
astonishing. We owe Philip an apology.
If there is one popular man on tho
stage It is the liar, and the bigger liar
he is the more the people like him. A
critic in Now Tork calls attention to th3
coincidence that In the two latest plays
produced there the heroes are both liars
of unusual ablliy in their vocation. "Tho
Dictator" Isan American play produced
by William Collier, and "Saucy Sally" Is
an English play produced by Hawtrey,
so that an American and an English
actor are vying In lying. Probably the
explanation of our admiration for the
stage liar is caused by his skill in wrig
gling out of the consequences that we In
real Ufa are unable to dodge.
"Spring poetry." says the Toronto
World, "ought not to be scanned with a
coldly critical eye (most of it cannot bo
scanned at all), nor should the poet bo
held to a pedantic adherence to the reg
ular methods of versification. The writ
ing of Spring poetry Is not a mere literary
performance, but a process of Nature."
And the World goes on to say that writ
ing Spring poetry purifies the blood, anl
that the poet needs no sulphur or sarsa
parillato clean his system. Thi3 Is a
new view of tho matter, and one that
would cause the average newspaper man
to tremble, were it not that the World
deprecates the publication of poetry pro
duced by Nature's process. We have
every desire to encourage the poet who
feels that his blood would bo benefited by
the production of an ode, or desires to
shake off his lassitude with a sonnet, pro
vided he burns the completed poem.
WEXFORD JONES.