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THb STOTDAY OKEGFDNIA2V, FOBEELAKD, MAY lo, 1904.
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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.