-i rj, -y- t2-"p--f- JO' -5 - ,,- .1 - X THb STOTDAY OKEGFDNIA2V, FOBEELAKD, MAY lo, 1904. r f Entered at the Postofflce at PortUxC. Or.. as second-class matter. REVISED SUBSCRIPTION BATES. Br mall (postage prepaid in advance) Dally, with Sunday, per month -.... 0. 83 Dally, with Sunday excepted, per 7ear 7.50 Sally, with Sunday, per year 8.00 Sunday, per year ... 2.00 The "Weekly, per year 1.50 The Weekly, 2 months 50 Dally, per week, delivered, Sunday ex cepted 15c Dally, per "week, delivered, Sunday in cluded 20c POSTAGE TtATES. United States, Canada and Mexico 10 to 14-page paper ............ .........lc 10 to 30-page paper ...................2c 82 to 44-page paper ...................So Foreign rates double. The Oreconlsn does not tray poems or stories from Individuals, and cannot under take to return any manuscript sent to It without solicitation. No stamps should bo In closed for this purpose. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICES. (The 8. C. Beclcwitb. Special Axesey) Utw York: Rooms 43-49, Tribune Building:. Chicago: Rooms 510-512 Tribune Building. KEPT ON" SALE. Chicago Auditorium annex; Postofflce 2?ews Co., 217 Dearborn street. Dezrrer Julius Black, Hamilton & Kend zick, 903-012 Seventeenth street. Kansas City Rlcksecker Cigar Co., Ninth end Walnut. Los Angeles B. F. Gardner, 250 South Bpring. and Harry Drapkln. f HlnneapoUs M. J. Kavanaugh, 50 South Third; I Regelsbuger, 317 First Avenue South. Hevr York City I Jones & Co., Astor Bouse. Ogden F. R. Godard. Omaha Barkalow Bros.. 1C12 Fars&m; McLaurhlln Bros., 210 South 14th; Megeath Btatlonery Co.. 1308 Farnam. Oklahoma City J. Frank Rice, 105 Broad Tray. Salt Lake Salt Lake News Co., 77 West Second South street. St. Louis World's Fair News Co., Lousl ena News Co., and Joseph Oopeland. San Francisco J. K. Cooper Co., 740 Mar ket, near Palace Hotel; Foster & Orear, Ferry News Stand; Goldsmith Bros., 238 Sut ter; L. E. Lee. Palace Hotel News Stand; F. W. Pitts. 1003 Market: Frank Scott, 80 Ellis; N. Wheatley, 83 Stevenson; Hotel Francis News Stand. Washington, D. C. Ed Brlnkman, Fourth and Pacific Ave., N. W.; Ebbitt House News Stand. TBSTERDAT'S WEATHER Maximum tem perature, 61 deg.; minimum, 60. Precipitation, .01 Inch. TODAY'S WEATHER Fair and warmer; westerly winds. 1 PORTLAND, SUNDAY, MAY 15, 1004. t -, , :, , I "OUR XXDXAX WARDS." The time has not yet passed beyond the memory of the living when It was Imagined the day would come when the Indian would be prepared to take care of himself and cease to be "the ward of the Government." The ensuing: disap pointment Is a consequence of the fun damental error which lies In the suppo sition that the Indian can be advanced to a condition in which he will take up "the white man's burden" of labor and rejoice in it. The Indian, it may be supposed, did not participate in "the fall." The curse was not passed on him that in the sweat of his face he was to eat bread. Certainly it is Very contrary to his nature to get his bread that way. He sticks to the original paradise, and it seems there never Is to be a "Para dise Lost" for him. He doesn't want to go out to make his own way, with "the world all before him." It suits him to be a "ward." But, since this is hlB nature, what good reason is there to complain about it, any more than to inveigh against the particular nature of the bear or of the buffalo? The Indian prefers to live In a shiftless manner, on nothing, rather than to live in plen ty by exertion; and even to die rather than be "enslaved to labor." However, It must be admitted that there are some, not Indians, who are much in the same case. But as the Indian's objection to labor is racial and fundamental, there prob ably is no road to his amendment. "What occurs to The 'Oregonian to say Just now is that certainly there Is no road to his amendment by continuing forever to treat him as a ward. There ore a few excellent and unselfish friends of the Indian who, knowing him as a majority of the people of the United States do not, and having his ultimate welfare always in view. w lthout regard to present appearances, have steadily Insisted that till the Indian was thrown finally on his own resources, till the last acre of land had been taken out of the reservations and put into an individual farm, and till the last dollar in the Na tional Treasury to the credit of a tribe had been distributed, the Indian would make no progress. Not very many are sure he would then. But so long as he is coddled he certainly will not. The Indian, if he is to do anything at all has got to begin where the white man began, and where Booker "Washington is trying to make the negro begin at the ground and build up; not begin in the air, with academic training, and try to find his underpinning later. No white man is naturally too good to yield to the pauperizing influence of constant coddling and wardship; so why -expect It of the Indian? He will not take to labor till he knows what hunger means If even then; nor will he incline to provide for the morrow till he gets into a position to reflect on what it means to wast his substance today. It is probable, how ever, that thi3 whole problem as to the Indian is insoluble or soluble only by practical extinction of the race. There is little or nothing to support the notion that they ever can become a self-supporting people, with a tenee of that personal dignity and responsibility that alone makes life worth living. BIRD HELPERS. . If one season of he year is more timely than another in which to put In a few words for the birds it Is the Spring season, when nesting Is In prog ress in our orchards, meadows, groves, fields and gardens. It is well, there fore, here and now to call attention to birds as auxiliaries to agriculture, hor ticulture and floriculture. Farmers have learned to their dis may that the Improvement in agricul tural methods and the diversity of crops have been followed "by the increase of Insect pests. Relatively few of them, however, have learned that birds are their most valuable coadjutors in de stroying these pests. There is in prog ress a systematic effort, beginning with the Department of Agriculture and reaching out, through horticultural so cieties and schools inany localities, to disseminate knowledge upon this sub ject, that will cause farmers and farm ers boys to recognize the value of the aid that the birds render them, and to recompense it with such methods as are necessary to the protection of their feathered friends. A recent writer upon this subject says: "We believe that not only Is the success of our fanners dependent upon the help of the birds, but we believe that without them man would have to yacate the land." The robins, the spar- rows, the grosbeaks and most of the thrushes destroy -vast quantities of pests, while the goldfinches and other seed-eaters are of almost equal use in destroying the seeds of noxious weeds. The swifts and the nlghthawks, who sweep the air of moths and troublesome Insects, are of equally fixed value." This is a presentment of common facts that is entitled to wide publicity. A late bulletin of the Department of Agriculture calls atteption to the fact that 90 per cent of existing legislation for the protection of birds is in behalf of game "birds instead of song birds; yet the latter make up more than 80 per cent of our most useful birds. If farmers, who lay aside the duties of their vocation periodically to become legislators for a brief space of time, would awaken to their own interests in this matter this one-sided legislation would speedily be corrected. The necessity of an alliance with the birds is becoming more necessary every year. It is a fact that those blrds.that are the most valuable aids to the farm er In the North go South in the Winter and are slaughtered for food. Among these are the bobolinks, the horned lark and song sparrow, bullfinch and robin. It is desired, says the New' York Independent, that legislation be so broadened out that our songsters can be as sure of a safe retreat In the South as are the game birds, and as safely return to us each Spring. It may be added that this is not only desirable but necessary If we would extend to our bird allies the protection to which they are in justice entitled. METHODISM'S STRENGTH AND WEAK NESS. Of all the divisions into which Pro testant Christianity has fallen, none is more Interesting and profitable for study than the creation of John Wes ley, now in session at Los Angeles. Though the Congregatlonalists date from the earliest Colonial settlements in America, and the Presbyterians run back to 1557 and the Baptists even far ther back, while the antiquity of the Episcopalian faith and practice is. lost In confusion with Middle Age Catholi cism, all these have lived to see the modest society founded by the Wesleys In 1729 lead them all In numbers and perhaps In evangelical activity. The sources of Its power are as deep as the heart of man, as Ineradicable as any expression of emotional religion and ap parently as stoutly proof against the 1 materialistic tendencies of the time as any creed in Christendom. We said the other day that the Metho dists would be clearly malapropos In a prosecution of heretics because of their own heretical origin; and the remark has displeased at least one reader ofs The Oregonian, whose protest is print ed on another page this morning. But an inspection of Wesley's life and times will show that not The Oregonian but its critic is wrong as to the heretical origin of Methodism; for in the begin ning the sect was spurned by the theolo gians of the time, disciplined by the authorities, cruelly maltreated by ec clesiastical powers, and by thinkers and society personages of both sexes held in supreme contempt They were for bidden the communion, taunted with insanity and Indecency, branded as marplots against the established social, political and religious order, and their unsavory repute Is embalmed in their very name, which was applied to them by their enemies as a term of reproach. Now the creation of these very ene mies is one of the proudest laurels on the brow of Methodism; for what the society of that day most cordially re sented In Wesley's enterprise was his rebuke not only to the formal and heartless religion of the time, but to the lax manners and morals of society and even of the church. The na ture of the protest which an ear nest, simple soul Hke Wesley felt It necessary to make is to be Inferred from the extremes to which the de nomination has leaned In its hostility to so-called worldly amusements and to all formal, rigid and exclusive systems of faith and practice. The car dinal tenets of Methodism, such as con ditional election, free will and falling from grace, are palpable protests against some eccentricities of Calvin ism, and its articles abound with mili tant references to such traditions of Rome as have notably lost caste with the scientific thought of the modern world. Why, then, does heresy-hunting ill become the Methodist, and why Is it likely to be an unprofitable pursuit in that body of all others? Because, from its origin down, the life of Methodism Is not In Its creed at all, If by creed we mean a certain system of Intellectual dogma, but In its informing spirit of emotional and evangelical religion. Like the Salvation Army, the modern recur rence of the Wesleyan mood, the true Methodist is not so concerned about the sinner's intellectual belief as about the attitude of his heart. The modern spirit of literary criticism and scientific dis covery has much to do with a church like the Presbyterian, where opinion is a test of fitness, but now as in the past the Methodist Church should have a welcome, at least on probation, for the repentant sinner who thinks of his sins with groans and of salvation with transports of pious ecstasy. The fact Is that the tests of logic and reason are things which emotional reli gion and in one sense all true religion is essentially emotion should be very reluctant to invoke. Every department of human activity has its own peculiar realm In the mind, and transgresses those bounds at grave peril. In mathe matics, or In any science, for example, we must beware of sentiment and en thusiasm, which will prove utterly un safe as guides. In politics we cannot get on at all without the. unchallanged domination of worldly good sense. And In the field of religion It Is well nigh fatal to the doctrines on which evan gelistic or sanctifying zeal Is based, if we venture to submit them to the test of historical fact or scientific demon stration. The peril of such proceeding has been shown In the history of the Presbyterian Church the past 20 years; and If it is chilling to the dogma of pre destination and the fall of man to bring them alongside the measuring rule of material fact, how much more so must it be to offer the simple faith of Meth odism to the test of manuscripts and the panorama of the human embryo or the scientific reading of Babylonian myths! - And yet If one were Inclined to hope for greater relative power with Meth odism than with other sects, because of Its closer confinement to the proper sphere of religion, and Its greater free dom from theological subtleties so Ill equipped to survive the tests of rational Inquiry, he would be deterred by there flectlon that human nature and propen sities continue about the same from age to age. There Is no symptom of our time but lias its faithful prototype. In the society of Wesley's time. Then, as now, complaint was 'general against J'Sabbath-breaking." Then as now un belief was fashionable In educational and social circles. Then as now the for mality and holowness of services and sermons formed the common theme of all thoughtful observers. Not only this, but the world of two centuries ago was passing through precisely the experi ence our time has felt as the resultant of scientific activity. We have had our Darwin and Spencer; but they had their Locke and Bacon. Precisely as evolution now threatens the old faith in the supernatural, so then the new discovery of gravitation had threatened the vitality of religion and had been accepted in many eccle siastical quarters as a fight to the death against theology which, must be crushed at any cost. The religious history of the early years of the eighteenth cen tury fits perfectly the early years of the twentieth century. Perhaps It would be hard today to surpasse in cogency and finality the body of scientific and historical refutation of current super stitions reared In that day by Bacon, Locke, Hume and Gibbon. But reli gion survives and especially In Meth odism it survives not by virtue of any evidence or syllogisms which Wesley was able to adduce against the teach ings of science, but because of the fine spirit and true instinct with which he addressed himself to the heart of man, which has not greatly changed soice the voice of an angry God called to Adam in the Garden. Methodism is the emotion of religion; it is not the critical spirit; and every theological creed per ishes under'critlclsm. The Christian church will get on bet terwe shall all get on better when it is more generally realized, as Wesley realized, that the appeal of religion Is not to the intelleot through an iron creed nor yet to the understanding with thrifty proverbs of wordly prudence, but to the emotional side of our nature, melting the stubborn to tears, rousing the better angels of the soul, minister? lng in gentleness and love to the fath erless and widow In their affliction and offering consolation In the dying hour. These are functions for which the strongest among us feel little need and have little use; which perhaps some day the race as a whole will have ceased to need because it will have out grown; but how far that day is in the future one would hesitate to guess who marks the rise and sustention of Meth odism through 200 years of modern thought based on the discoveries of Isaac Newton and formed on the sci entific method of Francis Bacon. WOMAN IN INDUSTRX A MENACE. It is a very able woman, not a cap tious, critical man, that in the current number of the North American Review tells the truth about woman in Industry when she says that the effect of the practice upon economic interests "is to lessen efficiency and to Increase the cost of production." The effect upon the woman herself is to impair her phys ical fitness for the maternal function, and to subject her to a false system of education, which mentally and mor ally unfits her for her economic office In the family. The effect upon society is to promote pauperdom, both by in creasing the expense of living and by robbing men of the responsibility which gives them force and success In their natural office of dispenser of wealth to the family." This able woman, Mrs. Flora McDonald Thompson, who has for years written much upon the condi tions, alms, work and prospects of women in the modern world, closes her powerful argument by saying, "The truth about woman In industry is, she is a frightful failure." The essence of her argument is that woman as a child-bearer and child-edu cator has no proper place In the sphere of men's work. There are upwards of 3,000,005 women wage-earners In the United States, who have entered aTl classes of occupation. These facts are popularly quoted as indicating the eco nomic progression of the sex, but Mrs. Thompson shows by statistics that the woman wage-earner is under one aspect an object of charity, under another an economic pervert, under another a so cial menace. The law of the business world demands the greatest production at the least cost. Business has nothing to do with philanthropy; It has nothing to do with the individual save as a necessary cog in the wheel; and women, like men, are necessarily ground under the inflexible rule of business law. Nu merically women wage-earners. Includ ing all above 10 years of age, are about 17 per cent of the industrial population. The ranks of women wage-earners are constantly depleted by marriage. At an age when maturity gives the laborer most productive power women are withdrawn to the domestic sphere. Because woman work3 "as a makeshift pending marriage," her drift is to a level with unskilled labor. The con veniences required for women working In factories and business houses in the matter of toilet-rooms, lunchrooms, prove that as a class women workers not only increase the cost of produc tion but diminish its efficiency. The cheapness of woman labor offsets some what the Increased cost, but the de mands of marriage and the physical un reliability of the sex is such that to substitute cheap woman labor for men is to substitute for a greater efficiency a fluctuating for a constant force In production; it is, In short, mere money saving, not economy. When women engage in men's work they withdraw an Indispensable force from household production, which has the effect of in creasing the cost of living while at the same time debasing the value of labor. The wages of women being fixed without reference to the cost of living, they tend, in competition with men, to reduce wages below what it costs to live. Thus, both directly and Indirectly, woman in Industry operates both to in crease the cost of production and to di minish the efficiency of labor. By vir tue of the legal provisions of marriage, precedent in the family relation, women can afford to receive less wages than men, because, as a class, It costs them less to live. The failure of some Indi vidual husband to support his wife, the utter domestic isolation of a friendless individual girl, does not alter the fact that "the wages of women are fixed by the privileges they enjoy under the marriage law, the family precedent and their natural skill in feeding and cloth ing themselves." In a report of a spe cial committee appointed In New York to inquire into the condition of 100,000 families dependent In each Instance on a woman's average earning1 of 60 cents a day, it was stated that "the prevail ing low wage, inadequate to the sup port of labor, is due to the fact that in the establishments employing woman labor a great majority of the workers are only partly dependent on their earnings for a livelihood; that Is, these 100,000 women were outnumbered and their wages were fixed by the normal woman the woman wholly or in part supported by others. The effect of cheap woman labor is naturally to displace men. The man remains liable for support of the family, even though his wife and daughter, competing with him In business, should lower his wages to the starvation point. Woman labor is an economic element as abnormal as convict labor, and, like convict labor, Is pernicious because le gitimate labor Is taxed for its support. This Is the essence of Mrs. Thompson's argument against the Intrusion of women into the industrial callings of men. It has secured for woman a com petence less than $1 a day; it has under mined her health; it has unfitted her for the labor of wife and mother in a family; it has taken her out of the home. The investigation of the relation of men's work to the health of women wage-earners, both In Massachusetts and in France, shows that the human race deteriorates in consequence of woman's Impaired physical ability to perform the maternal function, when she has been,. Injured by the strain of men's work. The design of nature, the destiny of Woman, is wifehood, mater nity. "This unavoidable natural office In life determines woman's economic office." Mrs. Thompson concludes her powerful article with these vigorous words: That chlld.-bearlng should be a reproach to a woman follows logically upon economic in dependence of the sex. The woman who alms to be a producer of wealth. Is justifiably to be blamed for bearing children. Maternity Inter rupts her "career," and the demands of busi ness are such that chances are against her making a success of her children. Very rea sonably. In the modern scheme of economics for women, maternity Is ridiculous a fault, an error, even almoet a crime. GLORY OR THE QRAVE. Tennyson's "Northern Farmer" al ways hears his horse's galloping feet talking to him as he rides home from market: "Propputty.propputty.says my nag." This cynical picture of the aver age trader, In country or town, -fairly stands for the fanatical money-getter, the miserly man of insane acquisitive ness in the whole circuit of the civilized globe. Of course this class of Insatiate money-getters, of tenacious money holders, are never warriors, because they love riches and all they Imply too well to risk death; a merchant state, a trading state never makes war except when it can hire mercenaries to defend its gold or capture additional gold. Eng land Bas always been a great trading state, but your average Englishman has always been a great fighter and Eng land never sank to the level of Venice because England has always been a battleship, and never sank to the level of a mere fleet of rich argosies whose wealth incited the pirate attack of braver races. In short, a great merchant state can never afford to be other than a great soldier state. During our Civil War. If the salvation of the Union had rested upon the patriotic action of the great mercantile classes of our great cities there never would have been a shot fired in defense of the Union. The Civil War was a fight by the farmers, me chanics and artisans of the land for free institutions, whose symbol was the Stars and Stripes. So on the Confed erate side, the rank and file of the Con federate armies were composed of small poor white farmers, who did not own a slave or raise a bale of cotton, who were treated with ill-disguised con tempt by the rich slaveholders and their Imitative black cattle. . Nevertheless, these poor whites, owning little land and no slaves, made the most heroic fight of the nineteenth century for a cause in which they had no interest be yond that of sectional honor and man hood. When the rich merchants of New York and Boston saw thousands of Northern country boys go forth to fight for the flag for small pay and no con spicuous honor they probably thought that the American farmers of the North had better have joined hands With the merchants of the great cities in buying out of a great Civil War on any terms that could be obtained, and probably the great slaveholders of the South deemed the Confederate armies heroic masses of valiant ignorance for putting up their lives In a cause in which they did not own a negro and in which their stake In acres was too small to justify the expenditure of their blood. But the great merchants of our Northern cities and the great planters of the South were no wiser than Tennyson's "North ern Farmer" whose horse's gallop never said anything to him but "Propputty, propputty." These Northern merchants and South ern planters, had they been men of high .Intelligence and intellectual power, would have known that patriotism Is the fundamental security of property; that a mere trader state is sure to be the prey of the first well-armed pirate state that is loaded with a warrior crew. The pirate state will either con quer the trader state or place it under contribution. Venice, a mere rich mer chant ship, Is ultimately plundered and scuttled by the pirate fighting states of Europe, but England, which is and al ways has been not merely a merchant man but a battleship, has defied as sault The reason Is that the English ideal of eminence, with all their trading spirit, has never been great wealth but the capacity to do something nobly which led either to glory or the grave in its Indifference to wealth and its willingness to stake life for high and enduring success. This Is hereditary In the English nation, for the old Norse sagas are full of this wild chant of con tempt for death compared with the cap ture of military glory which might in volve the loss of life. Then welcome war to brace her drums; The charging cheer; Though death's pale horse lead on, the chase Is dear; To lire In hearts we leave behind Is not to die. In these famous lines the poet Camp bell but reiterated the whole refrain of the old Norsemen's song when thes.e splendid pirates" ravaged France and Britain. Contempt for death has been the breath of progress in the modern world. Whatever may be said In de preciation of Napoleon, he was not a man of sordid genius. He was one of Plutarch's men, worthy by his Indiffer ence to the sordid rewards of this life and his recklessness of the life he lost to stand up with Hannibal and Caesar. So with England's naval Napoleon, Nelson, he went into battle with the old Norse war cry when at the Nile he said, "Now for a peerage or Westminster Abbey." And it is this popular standard of emi nence in England, which counts the man who puts his hand on his sword and risks his life in a charge under the British flag, clear above a man who Is heir to a peerage or a great fortune that keeps England not only a great merchant vessel but a formidable bat tleship. Out of this English spirit that always grasps at glory even at the nfeuth of a yawning grave has come this breed of true-born Englishmen who have dared to1" do great, things pf -which other na tions have only ventured to dream. Tour great man in history ha3 never worried about riches, has never felt anything but -contempt for the miser's vulgar dread, of death that breaks his grasp upon hs gold. Shakespeare makes Claudlo, a weak, frivolous volup tuary, fear death; he makes Falstaff, coward, thief, rake, liar and drunkard, fear death, but he does not make a great, able bad man like Richard HE or Macbeth or Shylock fear death. He does not make Othello or Prince Hal or Hot spur fear death. Why? Because the hallmark of a really able man is that he always grasps at glory even when his gloomy alternative seems to be the grave. MUSIC FOR THE INSANE. With the declaration, "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast," all are familiar. Nor are intelligent and fairly observant persons unfamiliar with the effect of music, especially of singing, upon the emotions of an audi ence composed of civilized human be ings. Moody and Sankey were the great modern demonstrators of this fact, while the Salvation Army, as is well known, depends for ite preliminary work of "winning souls" upon the lusty lungs of its leaders that play the part of the organ bellows m bringing out the exultant spirit that finds expression in song. Additional testimony of the power of music was given In an address deliv ered recently before the Men's Club of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Chicago, by Dr. V. H. Podstata, a prominent alien ist of the East, in which the salutary effect of music upon Insane persons was specifically set forth. These effects Dr. Podstata declares are many and pro found. The first evidence of this cura tive or soothing power Is seen In the relaxation of special nervous tension, while later the "harmonious sound wave reduces the horrible inhibition and the mental agony of the melan choly patient, liberates the pent-up en ergy and diverts the association of Ideas." This Is not mere assumption or asser tion on the part of the alienist. The view on the contrary Is supported by more than a presumption of reason ableness, and, indeed, with such clear ness and plausibility that it may well command the attention of those who have charge of persons of diseased or perverted mental conditions. "In the maniac," says Dr. Podstata, "the flight of Ideas and motor restless ness is moderated and often checked by the waves of harmonious sound; In the purely deluded the attention Is wholesomely diverted, while the de mented patient is stimulated and. aroused to activity." To those who have not been brought in personal contact with diseased minds insanity is Insanity, and is only classi fied as violent or morose. To those who have had the care of the mentally un balanced, and especially to the alienist. the phases and characteristics of the malady are distinctly marked. In no other field of human endeavor and re search looking to the welfare of human ity and the amelioration of suffering, not even in that of surgery, in which such gigantic strides have been made has human intelligence scored a more decided advance than has been noted in the care and treatment of patients suf fering from mental disorder. And it may be added, In no other field has the need more nearly kept step with the en deavor. The rapid pace at which the world Is going under the name of civilization is shown In the Increase of Insanity, often preceded by physical exhaustion, as shown in the reports of the numerical increase of the insane from year to year In every country that cares specifically for this unfortunate class. The two methods of caring for these Insane, even In later times, consisted in 'restraining the violent by such 'mechanical means as were necessary to accomplish this end, ana by treating the demented or simply deluded with a toleration drained of all sympathy but for the most part devoid of actual brutality. This being true, the addition of "harmonious sounds" to the course of, treatment of patients in asylums for the Insane marks a distinct advance in methods looking to the restraint ot the violent, the awakening of the apathetic and the diversion of the deluded. The idea may not be an entirely new one, but the attention which has been called to it by Dr. Podstata, together with his lucid presentment of the effect of the treat ment upon the several types of insan-' ity, can scarcely fail to produce grati fying results. In the current number of the North American Review Professor Goldwln Smith, of Canada, analyzes the argu ments for and against the Immortality of the soul. Professor Smith concludes that the revelations of the Scriptures cannot be reconciled with the teachings of science. Evidently he attaches more Importance, to what he considers scien tific demonstration than to religious faith and the universal yearning for existence beyond the grave. The only hope he holds out to mankind is that It Is impossible for any human being to know whether there is something or nothing behind the veil of death. There may be something, he suggests; but the whole weight of his argument Is against the presumption that there is anything. Assuming that death ends all. Profes sor Smith remarks that when slcence has succeeded in convincing mankind that the immortality of the soul Is a delusion men will take better care of themselves. Having only one life to live, they will avoid perilous enterprises and vocations. For example, he thinks that when belief in the immortality of the soul has vanished wars will be less frequent Men will not be inclined to risk their lives in battle If they feel that death means annihilation. The Interstate Commerce Commission is looking Into the matter of switching charges In Chicago to see if there has been a violation by the railroads of the Elklns law. Where the switching charges on some of the roads were formerly 52 or 53 per car, they are now, in the cases of the large shippers, as high as 520 per car. As the railroad companies allow the switching charges to shippers, it is claimed that these amounts practically are a rebate which is given to the large concerns. It Is noticeable that the railroads against which the charges are made are the so called industrial roads, which are owned by the large shippers and which are paid for performing services for themselves. A cargo of goods goes out of Chicago on one of the, lines of the Industrial road for shipment to New York. The receiving company allows 1 the industrial road 25 per cent of the freight charge for the switching seryrce performed at the Chicago end of the line, and this goes back to thel shipper, wlio is ah owner of the road. The small shipper, of course, who does not owrt stock in the Industrial Toad, does not get this rebate. There seems to be a fruitful field for inquiry in the matter, and the Interstate Commerce Commis sion may well take up the case with a preconceived notion that there Is a plain attempt to evade the Elklns law. In approving the findings of the N val Board of Inquiry in the explosion on the battleship Missouri, April 13, Rear-Admlral Barker. Commandex-ln-Chlef of the North Atlantic Squadron, takes occasion to say that "smokeless powder as a power is not fully under stood by those who use It on American warships or those who manufacture it." More valuable than this sugestion, how ever, is the further declaration that un der existing- circumstances the limit in quick firing of great guns has been reached because of the danger of "flare backs'' like that which caused the death of thirty men and officers on the Mis souri. The lesson thus sadly illustrated is one that should not require repeti tion. If the limit of safety In rapid firing has been reached, let the limit thus fixed be declared. There Is no point, either in peace or war, in taking chances of explosion that will put the ship out of commission and needlessly endanger the lives of brave and highly useful men. The lesson, like most of the valuable -lessons of history, was written In blood. .Negligence had no part In presenting it. It had to be learned at great cost. It should not be forgotten. i . Colonel Marchand's resignation from the French army has been accepted by the authorities, and another "hero" has passed into oblivion. Colonel Marchand made a notable march across the des ert, but on his arrival at Fashoda, where the International limelight fell upon him, he appears to have lost his head and to have threatened Great Brit ain with annihilation if she did not make way for him and his Corporal's guard. Had France backed up her er rant son, Colonel Marchand's name mighthave been fixed In theFrenchmind for years; but as France didn't regard Fashoda as a prize worth fighting for the name of Marchand had but a brief vogue upon the boulevards. But March and could not forget the limelight nor that he had been a hero, and the duties of peace grew more and more irksome. Finally war broke out between Russia and Japan. Colonel Marchand demand ed that he be sent as French repre sentative. The War Office refused his request; the hero forwarded his resig nation, and the authorities accepted It Now Colonel Marchand Is free to rave of the Insolence of office and its Ingrat itude. There have been several calls lately In a financial way among business men and others to provide pleasant recrea tion jtor the wage-eafners of this city. And one of the most public-spirited of these is the endeavor of Park Commis sioner 'Meyer and Bandmaster Charles L. Brown to secure from $6000 to $7000 to provide funds for the Summer con certs by Brown's Park Band. Last year the excellent concerts given by this band in different parks on both sides of the river were attended by thousands of people, and gave every satisfaction. This year the band is stronger than ever and ought to be liberally support ed. It Is a public duty to keep this band in Portland and to make It second to none along the Pacific Coast. Calls for subscriptions for the park concerts will be made within a few days, and should meet with generous responses. It Is a hundred years since Lewis and Clark made their great journey of ex ploration across this continent A re markable discovery of original docu ments by these explorers has just been unearthed. There will appear in Scrib ner's Magazine for June copies of the original letters between. Lewis and Clark and President Jefferson at the in ception of this project, and also ex tracts from four of the diaries in which the records of the journey were kept. These four have been missing from the otherwise complete series. The docu ments have been In the possession of Clark's granddaughter, Mrs. Julia Clark Voorhls, of New York City, and her daughter. Miss Eleanor Glasgow Voor hls. It is reported that Mr. Veatch Is mak ing speeches In Southern Oregon, In which he Is-proclaiming Mr. Hermann a corruptionist, thief and scoundrel; an associate of thieves and a participator with them in the proceeds of robbery and other villainy. If Mr. Veatch has any grounds for support of these ac cusations It would seem to The Ore gonian that he would do well to be specific In his statement of them; for nobody else has the information. Mr. Hermann may challenge Mr. Veatch to make good his statement, or stand forth as an Irresponsible revller and cowardly calumniator. From Berlin comes a report that Rus sia would give up the war If Japan agreed to maintain the Independence of Corea and fall In with the Idea of leav ing Manchuria under Chinese control. There can be little doubt that if Japan would agree to such terms Russia would be glad to abandon warfare for diplo macy once more. The only thing likely to dispel such a dream of peace is that Japan would be giving up everything she has gained, and would have to fight Russia again In a few years, as the pressure of the seas would increase. The bishops advice to the brethren: "Preach the word and not your doubts about the word." Which may be Inter preted as follows: "Accept the opinions of the doctrinaires; do not presume to air any that you mayj happen to have of your own." Port Arthur hasn't been captured by the Japanese yet, but it may be some time. However, to those who prefer fake stories to actual news, the an nouncement that it has been captured, amid great slaughter, may serve as well. When Mr. Campbell, of the Eugene Guard, writes that the Oregon building at St Louis is in an obscure place and can't be found, the indications are that he is lost himself. He would do well to come home and get his bearings. A woman is suing her husband for divorce in the local courts because he goes for days together without speaking to her. This may be one of the in stances of a man's being able to look daggers but speak none. A'OTE.AND COMMENT. In the Beleaguered City. The last train to iearve?Port Arthur brought out aslate.copy ot theTNovlkrai, which is still being Issued, as the editor announces, "at the old stand.'' The "Empress of China" brought over sev eral copies, and the following items have been translated for-The Oregon1 by il. Plevke: Band concerts on the plaxa continue. Yes terday was somewhat spoiled by a spent shot, Tyhlch put the bass drum out of action half way through a medley of "rag-time" alrs General, Stoessel'a rooster,- which had Its leg broken by the explosion of a 12-tnch shell. Is progressing favorably under the care of. Surgeon-General Knlfcroskut. The Novlkral has frequently called the at tention of the Poundmaster to the disgraceful manner in which cows are permitted to wan der around the battlements. To say nothing of the bad Impression, such a rustic dis play will give visiting fleets, the cowa spoil the aim of our gunners. We know one who has vowed to send a ehell Into the first bovine that appears before him, and we hope to see a milk shake that will prove a warning. Port Arthur is at present a closed town, yet we notice the religious element Is kick ing as much as ever. Reports from Toklo Indicate that the Jap anese are much Impressed with this locality, and a large number will soon visit Port Ar thur, with the Intention o settling us. Wo are Informed on reliable authority that the' cork, will be pulled in time to allow our citizens to visit St- Louis-. We understand the City Council will pass an ordinance against the use of toy pistols. This is a step in the right direction, as these toys are a menace to life. The atrocity crop is ripening in Ar menia. Bryan's speech is silver and Parker's silence is probably gold. i Chicago's Two-MUHon Club Is evident ly at work. Boys In Chicago on the Fourth will be given free fireworks. There is now an Order of Founders of America. Pretty soon we shall have an Order of Prehistoric Americans. A Chicago girl suffers from the halluci nation that she Is dead. Probably she looks round and thinks she's In Heaven. J. M. Barrle gave a dinner In London last week, and his guests were Kipling, Howells, Thomas Hardy, Maurice Hew lett and Maarten Maartens. It was prob ably a dull affair. If things keep up at the present lick, pretty soon we shan't be able to buy a drink or a spool of thread without run ning the risk of being awarded a ticket to St Louis. A .suit for divorce in the local courts Indicates that there Is a husband In Portland who doesn't speak to his wife for days at a time. Can't he be per suaded to become a barber? The scoundrelly Thibetans are using modern rifles. Can it be possible that the British are mistaken and that they have been trying to gild refined gold In civilizing a civilized people? Lots of people would be glad If Bryan and Hearst formed a party of their own and kept in it They could nomi nate one another In turn, and every thing In the other parties would be lovely. Natives of the Admiralty Islands have eaten a few more adventurers and have had their villages burned in conse quence. It is always the luck of the weaker races to butt right up against It when they try benevolent assimilation. In a long editorial on -the war the New York Times says Jhat nowadays no army would dare to slaughter or starve Its prisoners. There is truth in this, and it suggests a splendid plan of cam paign that the Japanese appear to have overlooked. Why not send a couple of hundred thousand men against Mukden with Instructions to let thems'elves bo captured without resistance? TSe Rus sians would have to use all their fight ing men as guards and nurses for their prisoners and would also find their stock of provisions dwindling away at a great rate. In a few days they would be starving and the rest of the Jap anese could come up and end the war with one stroke. "The Singular Miss Smith," a book which has just been published, is de scribed as a "clever skit on various phases of social life and women's clubs." It was written by Mrs. Florence Morse Kingsley. There Is nothing very strange In this, but when we read that Mrs. Kingsley has been on the staff of the Ladles' Home Journal since 1902, we are conscious of a faint shock of surprise. Sure Mr. Bok cannot counterance any thing so unladylike as a skit upon any thing, and must find a skit doubly dis tasteful when upon matters that he ha3 made peculiarly his own province. We prefer to think that the publishers have erred, and shall refrain from criticism until their advance notices are confirmed. Rev. George W. Brownback, of Read ing, Pa., is a Congregational minis ter who has won some notoriety in the East by his search for a wife. Mr. Brown back advertised for a wife, and his list of requirements waa exacting. For Instance, the woman of his choice must be not less than 16 or more than 30 years of age, must have good looks, piety and "some mjney." She must be a good baker of pies and cakes, "a lady In calico as well as in silk," of even temper and of sound health. Above all she must be "unburdened with one w ho would prove a troublesome mother-in-law." About a thousand replies came to the ad., and Mr. Brownback rejected and sifted until he came down to seven. Then he went on a tour of inspection. None of the seven suited him. He adver tised again. Finally he found a woman that met every requirement, and, strange to say, she was "wlllln." So Rev. Mr. Brownback has "the perfect wife" and also, presumably, "some money." Not the least of the troubles that the war in the East brings upon us Is the out pouring of historic reviews and criticisms of Japanese literature. Russia- either has no literature or the lingo In which It Is couched Is too hard a nut for even the scribblers In the Bits about Books magazines. The Japanese tongue 13 bad, but not bad enough, for by dint ot scattering a few O Miniosat Sans and Geishas and other words In italics through some dope about Oriental imagery and cherry blossoms the scrib bler Is enabled to produce an article that is full of powerful appeal to the Bits about Book3 editor. Worse still, Japanese authors are writing in English about Japanese literature, and we are held up at the point of qn uncertain pen and commanded to admire a 17-syllable poem about a lone leaf on a plum tree. Let the war be ended soon, we pray. and let us get back to books in the English tongue, or at the worat in thel dialect of Maine or of Scotland. WEXFORD JONES.