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THE SUNDAY OEEGONIAN, PORTLAND, MAY 22, 1904.
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PORTLAND, SUNDAY. MAY 22, 1904.
JUST A PEW REMARKS.
"Violent attack is made on President
Roosevelt by the Deschutes Echo. Ore
gon, it alleges, has been most unjustly
and vilely treated by him. His admin
istration has made too rigid inquiries
Into the character of Federal officials.
Into land entries, pension matters, and1
the like; and has made it appear that
everybody In Oregon Is dishonest. Take
a considerable extract:
The reports caused Oregon to be looked
upon as a corrupt state by the whole Na
tion. When we wanted rocnej for a great
National celebration in honor of the Lewis
and Clark acquisition of territory, a contri
bution waa given us abotft sufficient to 6tart
a small World's Fair sideshow, and even that
amount was not Intrusted to us for use, but
was placed in the hands of others than the
Fair's managers. We were not to be trusted,
we were eo dishonest. Even appropriations
for the Celllo canal and Tor Federal Irriga
tion must be contingent upon the state's
bearing a part of the burden, eo that we will
not try to graft the National fund. In spite
of all these things we are to give Roosevelt
an expression of confidence. We are to pay
that personification o wisdom the tribute
which vice Is continually paying to virtue.
We are to how the Nation that it Is really
Impossible to Insult us.
Here is a new kind of criticism. The
usual attack upon an Administration
Is that it Is not vigilant enough In pro
tection of the public interests, that it
doesn't hold officials to strict and rigid
account, and that it allows the public
resources to be wasted. But here Is a
complaint of the opposite kind. It
would have been an amusing thing to
have had it read In Congress last Win
ter, when the opponents of the Admin
istration were making the rafters of
both Houses ring with the accusation
that President Roosevelt was allowing a
the public treasury and the depart
ments to be plundered In all directions,
and was protecting the thieves.
The Oregonlan believes that Secre
tary Hitchcock's administration of the
Land Office has been in many cases un
just to citizens entitled to the benefit
of the land laws. To cure certain
undoubted evils he has taken an arbi
trary course that has borne heavily
on persons who have had lawful right
to enter lands. These things will all
bo corrected In a little time. But Presi
dent Roosevelt could not remove Sec
retary Hitchcock without calling down
upon his own head the most denuncia
tory criticism. It would have been
asserted that the Land Office had been
thrown open to the plunderers at last.
But It Is not supposed that this Sec
retary will continue in office beyond the
present term, and It may be taken for
granted that he will not. He was not
Roosevelt's selection, but McKInley's.
He has an unfortunate Infirmity of
temper, and Is too suspicious In his
nature to have good balance of judg
ment. In these land matters In Oregon
he has been borne with, to an extent,
when wrong, because that, for the time,
was the best way. The time will soon
be when these things can be righted;
and they will be righted. The public
lands must be and will be protected
from plunderers; hut Hitchcock's unfor
tunate assumption that every man and
every woman who attempts to enter
land under the law Is a thief, must be
and will be righted, too.
As to the Lewis and Clark appropria
tion. From the first President Roose
velt declared himself for It He asked
in his message of December last for
recognition of this important historical
event in the expansion of the United
States. He favored the appropriation
that the men of Oregon asked for. At
their request he sent for the leaders
of the House and Senate and urged
them to grant it. At first there was
universal opposition to It, but through
President Rooseveltrand through him
alone, recognition of it was won. All
that was asked was not granted, for
Congress would not do that: but enough
waa granted to make a fine Govern
ment exhibit, which will double the
attraction and value of the Fair. Yet
It was through the President alone that
this was brought about. Had he taken
no interest in It the proposal never
would have got further than a cold and
formal hearing In the committee rooms.
He It was, and he alone, who enlisted
the Interest of the Republican' leaders
In lC Till he had done so nobody was
for it, neither Democrats nor Republi
cans; and at the crucial test, at last,
but a single Democrat (Maynard, of the
Jamestown, Ya District) voted for It.
These are the facts about that appro
priation. It Is wonderful. Indeed, that
anything was obtained; and nothing
would have been obtained had not the
President taken hold of it It ought to
be understood that the-Representatives
in Congress of the great Eastern and I
Southern states by no means place so
high valuation on us or on our states
of small population and political power
as we place on ourselves; and It would
do our simple and self-important folk
some good to mix and mingle there, and
learn It. In this matter Theodore Roose
velt was Oregon's one efficient friend.
But for his earnest action there would
have been no recognition by the United
States of the Lewis and Clark Exposi
tion. The managers of the Exposition at
Portland were not hurt because the
money was not turned over to them.
They wanted no money, nor glory, nor
celebrity, nor notoriety; they simply
wanted the result; and they got It got
it only through the earnest good will
and personal effort of the President.
They would have got more, could he
have Induced Congress to grant it.
As to the Celllo CanaL That, too, Is
in the hands of Congress. It is a work
to be executed through a department
of the public service which Is conducted
on a general scheme. The demands of
no one part of the country are con
sidered alone. Here again dwellers
in a particular district, whos.e vis
ion does not extend beyond their
own horizon, are tempted nevertheless
to think their own locality the whole
thing. But the country at large Is
somewhat larger than their own vision.
There is but a small appropriation
available for the Celllo Canal. Congress
at this time could not be induced to
make another. So the engineers stated
that if Oregon would secure the right
of way It would help greatly. The little
fund on hand could be used by the
engineers to clear the lower approaches
to 'the proposed canal. The work would
be advanced by some years. If the State
of Oregon would secure the right of
way. Upon this Invitation the State
of Oregon proceeded to do It Yet it
Is not an easy matter though the state
In such an undertaking can move much
faster than the General Government
However, the result, as anticipated, will
simply be that years will be saved in
the construction of the canaL For the
Government's engineers to wait for an
appropriation, and after It was had to
wait further till the right of way could
be obtained, might postpone the canal
beyond the lifetime of any one yet
born; so it was a great matter to have
the state proceed with obtainment of
the right of way.
As to Irrigation under direction of the
Federal Government, the state Is not
asked nor expected to bear part of the
burden. There has been some clash be
tween those who claimed rights through
the state, under the Carey act, and the
agents of the Government, who have
been formulating plans for irrigation,
but these difficulties are In process of
solution, and there are now in view
In Oregon the greatest schemes of Irri
gation known in the United States.
It Is so easy to criticise, so easy to
grumble, when one doesn't know what
he Is talking about, and Is perhaps too
careless or too stupid to learn!
GERMAN LIBERALS NOT PRO-RUSSIAN.
Whatever may be the personal senti
ments, of Emperor William, the recent
declaration of Herr Bebel, the eloquent
leader of the Socialist party in Ger
many, who protested in the Reichstag
that the sympathies of most of his fellow-countrymen
were enlisted on the
side of Japan, makes It certain that the
Berlin government will not dare violate
Its professed intention to observe strict
neutrality during the Far Eastern war.
This declaration of Kerr Bebel was
drawn forth in denial of the statement
of Count von Bulow that the Emperor's
telegram to the Czar that "Russia's
mourning was Germany's mourning"
reflected the sentiment of the majority
of the German people. The Socialist vote
really represents the popular masses of
Germany, who love free Institutions.
They are not fairly represented accord
ing to population, but there can be no
doubt that the Socialist party of Ger
many represents the public opinion of
the majority of the German people In
its desire to see Russia beaten.
Germany Is today a constitutional
government, and Germany has not for
gotten that in the great uprising of 1848
in Prussia and South Germany the In
fluence sl the St Petersburg govern
ment was powerfully exerted In favor
of the perpetuation of absolutism. The
Czar Nicholas I, after the French Revo
lution of 1830, which sent Charles X
into English exile, long refused to ac
knowledge the validity of Louis Phil
ippe's claim to call himself King of the
French, and In 1849 this same Czar of
Russia sent an army Into Hungary to
put down the Magyar uprising for inde
pendence, which under Kossuth had
been successful. The victorious Hun
garian General, Gorgey, was compelled
to submit to the overpowering Russian
army of invasion. Twice during the
last century Russia, In the language
of Rufus Choate, "stamped with her
Iron heel upon the radiant forehead of
Poland," and it is of recent occurrence
that Russia violated the guaranteed au
tonomy of Poland and replaced It with
her despotic alien rule.
There Is not, an intelligent lover of
free Institutions in Europe that does
not agree with Herr Bebel In his belief
that the cause of constitutional free
dom would be served by the defeat of
Russia, for "the more Russia is weak
ened by the struggle with Japan the
less likely It becomes that she will
meddle, directly or Indirectly, with the
affairs of Western Europe." Emperor
William is allowed a good deal of li
cense, with his tongue, by the German
people, but in face of the anti-Russian
opinions of the great Socialist party, he
dare not, directly or Indirectly, inter
fere in behalf of Russia. The recent
report that the German government has
secretly agreed to permit Russian war
ships to make Kiao Chou Bay a base
of supplies and operations is incredible,
for such action would at once bring
Great Britain to the side ot Japan. If
Russia's Baltic fleet embracing eleven
Ironclads and seventeen cruisers, can
reach the scene of war before the Rus
sians lose Port Arthur and Vladivostok,
Japan will have to fight for the reten
tion of her present supremacy at sea;
but Germany will never dare furnish
Russia with a harbor of refuge and re
pair, for the whole British naval
power would come to the rescue af
Japan.
If Russia were seriously defeated in
her fight with Japan, it would be the
beginning of the end of absolutism in
Europe. The Russian peasant is an Ig
norant, Illiterate, superstitious, stupid
creature, but the military and naval
failure of his government against Japan
might renew the national unrest conse
quent upon the glaring Inefficiency and
undeniable collapse of the corrupt St.
Petersburg bureaucracy during the Cri
mean War. The humiliation of Czar
Nicholas I was so great that he died of
a. broken heart; indeed, his death, like
that of his brother. Emperor Alexander
I, was attributed by some respectable
authorities to suicide. Russia did not
lose confidence in her government In
her struggle with Napoleon, because
that supreme military genius defeated
all Europe, but the Crimean reverse
was a-far more serious shock, and fail
ure against Japan would repeat it
Czar Alexander H was moved by the
shock of the Crimean reverse to abol
ish serfdom and to inaugurate a scheme
of reform that might have ended in the
institution of a Parliament Because of
this emancipation of the serfs and be
cause of his predilections for a consti
tutional government, it has been as
serted that he was not murdered by
nihilists, but at' the 'instigation of an
enraged, corrupt aristocratic bureau
cracy and despotic administrative circle
of governmental control.
After the fall of Napoleon followed
constitutional royalty, to which suc
ceeded ultimately a republic The over
throw of the Prussian absolute mon
archy at Jena by Napoleon forced it to
buy its further lease of hereditary life
by the concession of radical agrarian,
social and political reforms; and the
revolution of 1843 forced a further en
largement of these concessions to the
people. On the heels of the great defeat
of Sadowa, in 1857 the Emperor of Aus
tria granted Hungary the boon of home
rule, for which the Magyar in 1849 had
battled In vain because of the Interven
tion of Russia. If Russia's transconti
nental railroad should prove inadequate
to the demands of her military trans
portation problem, she will be beaten,
and In that event a constitutional gov
ernment might supplant Czardom at St
Petersburg.
BEFORE THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
The majority of intelligent men know
American history of recent date, but
comparatively few know the history of
"the diplomatic contest for the Missis
sippi "Valley," which preceded the Lou
isiana Purchase, which Is justly de
scribed as "the turning point In events
that fixed our position as the arbiter of
the New World." At the close of the
War -for Independence the United
States held the Atlantic Coast In the
negotiation of the treaty of Paris of
1783 Franklin sought to obtain the ces
sion of Canada to the United States and
the Bermuda Islands, but, while Lord
Shelburne, who represented Great Brit
ain, was willing to concede this,
France and Spain, in their selfishness,
refused, fearing that the United States
would grow rapidly to a formidable
power. France and Spain reasoned that
with Canada remaining in possession of
Great Britain it would be possible with
the valley of the Mississippi remaining
under their joint control to so crib,
cabin and confine the expansion of the
United States that it would never be
come formidable and might decline and
decay of Inanition.
The thought of France was directed
to the formation of an Interior depend
ency In the Mississippi Valley whose
sea power should control the Gulf of
Mexico and thus absorb ultimately the
senile government of Spain in the New
World. At the close of the War of the
Revolution the United States had a few
thinly peopled settlements In Kentucky
and Tennessee. Great Britain held a
military post at Detroit, and at other
strategic points along the Great Lakes,
which she retained In spite of the treaty
of 1783, on the pretense that the United
States had failed to carry out certain
provisions of that treaty, and expect
ing confidently the early dissolution of
our feeble confederation. At this time
Spain held the mouth of the Mississippi
at New Orleans, and from Mobile, Pen
sacola and St Mark's furnished the
powerful Creek Confederacy of South
ern Indians with arms and ammunition.
Spain avoided a treaty with the United
States at the close of the Revolution,
and, refusing to be bound by England's
cession to the United States, she set up
the claim that her victories over Great
Britain in the Revolution had given her
the right to Florida. Spain also
claimed that the eastern bank of the
Mississippi was hers at least as far
north as the mouth of the Ohio. Spain
further asserted the exclusive control
of the navigation of the Mississippi,
which England had promised us by
treaty.
The American settlers on the Ohio,
the Tennessee and the Cumberland
could only find a 'market for their
crops through New Orleans. Spain
tried to detach the West from the
Union by promising free navigation in
return for the acceptance of Spanish
sovereignty by our Kentucky, Tennes
see and Cumberland settlements. When
the old confederation was breaking up,
In 1788-89, these Western settlements
were so disaffected vthat General Wilk
inson, of Kentucky, and Judge Sebas
tian went so far as to accept pensions
from Spain as the price of supporting
her designs. The famous General
George Rogers Clark offered to become
a Spanish subject and transfer a nu
merous colony, if he could receive a
grant of land west of the Mississippi
River. The famous John Sevier, of
Tennessee, also entered into corre
spondence with the Spanish authorities.
James Madison apprehended that the
failure of the United States to open the
Mississippi would throw the West into
the arms of England. Lord Dorchester,
the Governor of Canada, reported to his
government in 1788 that the American
settlers In Kentucky favored declaring
Independence, seizing New Orleans and
looking to England for assistance.
In 1789 Dorchester reported that it
would be for England's interest to pre
vent Vermont and Kentucky from en
tering the Union, and to induce them
to form treaties of commerce and
friendship with Great Britain. Ver
mont, which did not enter the Union
until 1791, came near accepting the pro
posals of Great Britain rather than be-
come merged In the statehood of New
York. Spain and England at this time
were doing their best to disintegrate the
United States by bidding for the seces
sion of all settlements, North or South,
that had not yet become states of the
American Union. In 1790, when there
was prospect of war between Spain and
England, the correspondence of Wash
ington's Cabinet reveals the fact that
England would have met no forcible re
sistance had she sent an army from the
Great Lakes down the Mississippi to
take possession of New Orleans. Had
England ever carried out her pur
pose, a liberal policy on her part
would have obtained for her the
allegiance of the American settlers of
.the Mississippi Valley. In April, 1793.
General George Rogers Clark wrote the
French Minister. Genet, from Louis
ville, Ky., that he could raise 1500 men,
and that he could take all of Louisiana
for France, beginning t St Louis, and,
with the assistance of two or three frig
ates at the month of the Mississippi, he
would engage to subdue New Orleans
and the rest of Louisiana.
When Jefferson learned in 1802 that
Louisiana had been ceded to Napoleon,
he said that "from the moment that
France takes' possession of New Orleans
we must marry ourselves to the British
fleet and nation." The enforcement of
Washington's policy of neutrality saved
the nation in 1794 from war under
French leadership and from the loss of
the Mississippi, Valley. The Jay treaty
with England secured the British evac
uation of the important post3 of the
Northwest Territory, and Wayne's vic
tories forced the Indians to surrender
the present State of Ohio, and in Octo
ber, 1795, Spain conceded our South
western boundaries and the freedom of
the navigation of the Mississippi. But
the victorious French Republic subse
quently demanded of Spain the cession
of Louisiana. At that time France be
lieved that the United States had fallen
under English control, but when Napo
leon came into supreme power he saw
in 1802 that in a war with Great Britain
he must choose between sale to the
United States or surrender to England,
and he sold Louisiana, conscious that
he had planted a thorn in the side of
his arch enemy.
WHERE THE OBLIGATION XESTS.
We have heard a good deal for many
years of the factional fight in Multno
mah County, it is a cry that has served
the Republicans of the state whenever
In any outlying county there was evi
dence of Republican apathy or disaffec
tion. It has been the theme of remarks
at banquets, and speeches In conven
tions ,and countless articles in the Ore
gon press. The protest was more"
strenuous than was right, perhaps, be
cause it seems impossible for outside
Republicans to understand the peculiar
and sometimes painful politics of Mult
nomah County; it was often discredited
by quite as bitter factional fights in the
counties whence the complaint ema
nated; but in the main it was just The
factional fight in Multnomah County,
when not necessitated by the money
question, has been prompted by rival
personal ambitions and has brought
forth fruits meet for execration.
But today Multnomah County Repub
licans present a united front to the
common enemy. The men temporarily
in charge of the state and county com
mittees are running the campaign for
the whole ticket If they are working
harder for one man than another it is
because that man needs it more than
the other. There is not a candidate on
the state, district or county ticket,
wherever his previous affiliation may
have been, whom the Republican state
and county committees are not trying
as hard as they can to elect The re
sult Is that the workers and speakers
who were outvoted at primaries and
conventions are contributing to the
campaign In a way that no outvoted
minority in Multnomah County has
done for years. Of this fact last night's
meeting at the Marquam affords evi
dence; and more will be forthcoming
before the campaign Is over. Multno
mah County, therefore, offers the Re
publicans of the rest of the state an
exhibit In harmonious effort. It has the
right to look to the rest of the state to
follow the example and do likewise.
In another column of today's paper
there Is a statement from Chairman
Baker, of the State Central Commit
tee, which deserves attention. He puts
the case In an unusual light It is his
Idea that the political obligation In this
campaign Is not altogether or perhaps,
mainly upon the committees or the
speakers or the newspapers, but upon
the voter himself. And when you come
down to it, isn't he about right? Why
do we ask the voter to support Presi
dent Roosevelt? It Is because It is to
the voter's Interest to do o. If he
wants prosperity, if he wants Oregon
recognized and helped forward, then the
obligation of June 6 is upon him and he
cannot shoulder it off on any com
mittee or newspaper or other agency.
The topic before the mind of Oregon to
day Is what the individual voter ought
to do. It is what the Republicans of
Multnomah County ought to do, and It
is what the voters of the rest of the
state ought to do.
Every Republican In Oregon owes It
to his own self-interest as well as to
his sense of justice to come out on elec
tion day, at whatever sacrifice, and
perform his public and private duty by
honoring the man who has honored us,
and by rebuking the emanations of
slanderers against honest and efficient
servants. The obligation is with the
Republican voter In every nook and
corner of the state. How will he dis
charge it?
IS OUR LITERATURE BOURGEOISE?
Gertrude Atherton Inquires In the
current number of the North American
Review, "Why is American literature
bourgeolse?" Mrs. Atherton, who was
born and educated in California, finds
only two figures of original genius and
literary, quality in our history Mark
Twain and Bret Harte and both of
them first rose to distinction in Cali
fornia. She holds that even Hawthorne
and Poe and Washington Irving "might
never have breathed the free air of a
young republic. Cooper was American
in nothing but choice of a subject But
when Mark Twain and Bret Harte ap
peared, then indeed we, produced two
authors who could have been born and
nourished nowhere else on the planet"
Then Mrs. Atherton proceeds to de
nounce American literature as, with the
exceptions named, "the most timid, the
most bloodless, the most bourgeolse that
any country has ever known." She
calls our literature "the product of a
great village censored by a village gos
sip." Mrs. Atherton expresses her dis
gust and surprise that a country that
has produced such men as "Roosevelt,
Plerpont Morgan, Cleveland, or even
Richard Croker," should have failed to
'produce any men of original literary
force save Bret Harte and Mark Twain.
Mrs. Atherton evidently means by her
description of "American literature as
"bourgeolse" that it utterly lacks dis
tinction in language and thought, Is, in
fact, Instinct with the manners and
sentiments of the "shabby genteel"
classes of society. Her criticism Is not
new and It is not true. It Is not true
that American literature Included no
native, original force until Mark Twain
and Bret Harte obtained their first
fame In California. As a memorable,
unique, powerful, original literary force
Hawthorne and Poe stand as surely for
the permanent In our literature as
Mark Twain and Bret Harte stand for
the transient. Mark Twain is not pri
marily a great humorist in the sense
that Lamb and Thackeray were great
humorists. He Is a satirist and not sel
dom a brutal, vulgar cynic, and fifty
years from today his readers will be
comparatively few because he is a cari
caturist and satirist of the transient
type, and when his fleeting types of
color, speech and manners have disap
peared Mark Twain will be flat read
ing. His "originaljty" is much of it
mere efforts at oddity and the gro
tesque; "one-half of him genius, the
other sheer fudge."
Bret Harte was a far finer artist, -a
deeper humorist, than Mark Twain. He T
had none df Twain's bnitaL low-bred,
cynical spirit In talking of his fellow
inen. Bret Harte, however, reflects the
Influence of Dickens, even as Dickens
did that of Smollett and Thackeray that
of Fielding. Bret Harte deserved his
fame and will be read when Mark
Twain will be forgotten, but it can
not truthfully be said of Bret Harte
that he was as original a force in Amer
ican literature as either Hawthorne or
Foe," or even. Fenimore Cooper, for
Cooper's "Prairie" is a -great bookand
Thackeray held Cooper's character of
"Leather Stocking" as"an original crea
tion worthy to rank with the best of
Scott's men. Thackeray says: "La
Longue Carabine is one of the great
prize men of Action. He ranks with
your Uncle Toby, Sir Roger de Cover
ley, Falstaff heroic figures all, Ameri
can or British, and the artist deserved
well of his country who devised them."
Beginning the history of American lit
erature with the publication of Irving's
"Knickerbocker History of New York,"
we have not had aXull century of liter
ary productivity. We cannot fairly be
said to have, had any legitimate Ameri
can literature before Cooper did his best
work, about 1825, and Bryant" rose to
fame as a man of superior poetic pow
ers about 1835. Following 1835 came the
famous Boston group of literary men.
Our American literature can hardly
be said to have had a life of more than
seventy years. In this life of our liter
ature Mrs. Atherton, who is one of the
"new woman" sure-thing thinkers, or
rather talkers, would have us believe
that we have had only two figures of
original literary force, Mark Twain and
Bret Harte. Why does Mrs. Atherton
leave out Walt Whitman? He does not
hesitate to "deal with the great pas
sions"; he has plenty of audacity; he
is certainly not anaemic, is not conven
tional, has not been "censored by the
village gossip." Walt is seldom clad
In anything but his nudity; why was he
omitted from the roll of original forces
In American literature? The literature
of England and France and Spain and
Italy had Its beginning in the four
teenth century. The great names of
Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rabelais and
Montaigne belong to the sixteenth cen
tury. The seventeenth century gave
Milton to England, Moliere to France;
the eighteenth century in England in
cluded Pope, Swift, Addison, Burns,
Goldsmith, Gray, Cowper and Fielding,
while Rousseau and Voltaire were the
great moving, original forces In French
literature. The nineteenth century in
England included Byron, Wordsworth,
Shelley, Scott, Coleridge, Lamb, Keats,
Hazlltt, De Quincey, Thackeray, Tenny
son, Carlyle, Macaulay, George Eliot
and Matthew Arnold. Here we have
from, the dawn of great literature In
Italy in the fourteenth century with
Dante to the culmination of the great
literature of the nineteenth century in
the Victorian age a period of over 500
years.
French literature began with Francis
Villon in, the fifteenth century and Its
culmination In the nineteenth century
was reached In Balzac and Hugo about
1850, a period of over 400 years. Before
great literature began In modern Eu
rope there had been a growth of great
art Now, counting the civilization of
England for a thousand years of life. Is
it anything remarkable that Europe,
the inheritor of the art and literature
of antiquity, should stand today for an
excellence In art and literature that
America, In her struggle with a new
wilderness and strange politicaMnstltu
tions, could not possibly hope to attain?
Europe stands for the accumulating
fragrance and color of centuries in her
art and literature, while America is a
little more than a century old and in
active literary life and effort Is not
seventy years old. Measure "the su
perior literary product of France and
Great Britain for the last half century
by our own, and we suspect Mrs. Ather
ton will not find any great original lit
erary forces at work. Outside of sci
ence, biography, criticism, political his
tory and books of travel, not much of
permanent value has been added to lit
erature in Europe or America; but if
Mark Twain and. Bret Harte are the
only two writers of original force in
American history, why, then, a good
many of us have greatly overestimated
the quality of Hawthorne, Irving,
Cooper, Poe and Lowell's "Yankee Dia
lect" poetry.
Charles H. Frye, of Seattle, who
placed several hundred head of cattle
and sheep on Kodlak Island, off the
coast 'of Alaska, some months ago,
while not entirely satisfied with; his
venture, is, It is said, convinced that
these animals can be raised there for
the markets of Alaska. It is found
necessary ,and difficult to protect the
stock from wild animals, sheep espe
cially falling an easy prey to the fierce
and hungry creatures of the wilds. But
as to the cold, if the creatures are
housed and fed, there is no reason why
they will not come out in the Spring
without serious loss in numbers. If it
were possible to stock this and other
islands of the Alaskan Coast with the
hardy breed of cattle that live and
thrive throughout the long Winters In
Norway, there would be np question as
to the success of an attempt to fur
nish the mining regions of the far
North with beef and dairy products
from these Islands. It Is probable that
It will take some years of careful
breeding and close attention to the
business in hand to puroduce from
American cattle a breed that will thrive
with ordinary care on the Aleutian
Islands. The attempt, however, Is one
that deserves to succeed, and If it suc
ceeds, will in time prove profitable. The
resources of Alaska will invite enter
prise and development for many years
to come. Its markets are not of the
fitful mining camp order busy one
year and abandoned the next but of
a growing type the beginning of which
has been barely witnessed.
Excellent reasons are given for the
removal, which has been decided upon,
of the Indian School located at Carlisle,
Pa., to Helena, Mont. In the first
place, the school will thus be brought to
the Indians instead of the Indians be
ing taken to the school a change so
clearly In the interest of economy that
its wisdom is unquestionable. Scarcely
second to this In importance, if indeed
it does not take precedence In utility,
is the fact that the conditions that
govern farm, work in Montana are sim
ilar to those that exist in sections
where the Indian and reservation lands
of the West are located. The Irrigation
problem will have to be studied In con
nection with agriculture In the seml
arid districts from which the pupils of
the Indian schools are chiefly drawn.
This can obviously be studied to much
better advantage in Montana than in
Pennsylvania. Agricultural methods
and products in the Rocky Mountain
region differ in many important re-
spects from those of the Atlantic sea-
board, while homesickness and con
sumption, the scourges of Indians
transferred from the West to the East,
will, to a considerable extent, be obvi
ated by the change in the location of
this school. As an indication that the
ory has given, or is giving, way to
practical methods in the solution of the
Indian Industrial problem, the removal
of the school from Carlisle to Helena is
noted.
A number of people in Bitter Root
Valley, Montana, are again wrestling
with that mysterious scourge common
in and confined to that region, known
as "spotted fever." Government health
officials made an extensive examina
tion last year of conditions supposed to
govern, or possibly governing, this dis
ease, which occurs only at a certain
season of the year and in certain lo
calities. They reported as the probable
cause of the disease the bite of a wood
tick that was perniciously active at the
time and place in which the scourge
made its appearance. Further investi
gation is now in progress at the North
ern Pacific Hospital in Missoula. Tq
aid in the work physicians throughout
the state are urged to collect ticks of
various kinds and any kind procurable
and send them to Dr. Stiles, at the hos
pital, that he may, If possible, prove or
disprove the tick theory regarding the
cause of spotted fever. In the mean
time, the situation in Bitter Root Valley
Is serious. The people are alarmed in
the presence of an unknown and unseen
foe, which medical experts are vainly
trying to locate. The situation is one of
interest to medical scientists throughout
the country, and a report of the find
ings of Dr. Stiles and the Montana
State Board of Health will be awaited
with interest.
A unique distinction was conferred
upon Julia Ward Howe in Boston re
cently, when the Daughters of the Rev
olution dedicated a beautiful bronze
memorial tablet in the music-room of
the public library of that city, to the
seven patriotic song-writers of Amer
ica. Those who were thus honored
were: William Billings, the father of
American psalmody; Oliver Holden, the
author of "Coronation"; John Howard
Payne, who wrote "Home, Sweet
Home"; Samuel Francl3 Smith, who
wrote "America"; Francis Scott Key,
author of "The Star-Spangled Banner";
George Frederick Root, who wrote "The
Battle Cry of Freedom," and Julia
Ward Howe, author of "The Battle
Hymn of the Republc" Mrs. Howe is
the only living member of the tuneful
seven. There Is a rule forbidding the
use of the name of any living person
on any memorial erected In the Boston
library, but circumstances appear to
have sanctioned the suspension of the
rule In this case. Mrs. Howe, vener
able, gentle, cultured, unobtrusive,
awaits In her serene and beautiful age
the coming of the final massenger. No
tablet bearing the names of our patri
otic song-writers would be complete
without her name.
The sad story of the wiping out of an
entire family In a few days by diph
theria is now seldom heard. A few
years ago It was a not uncommon oc
currence. The affliction that lately be
fell a family at Athena, in this state,
from this cause therefore excites sur
prise, as well as sympathy. The only
explanation of the fact that an entire
family Is allowed to contract this dis
ease, one after another, and dying In
quick succession, is that the physician
called to attend the first case was ig
norant of the nature of the disease or
of the modern method of treatment by
anti-toxin, or that he was unable to
procure the necessary means where
with to control by preventing the
spread of the contagion.
The annual reunion of Oregon pio
neers will be held a week later than
usual this year. It will occur on the
22d of June, the date being advanced
in response to the request of numerous
educators who have found it impossible
to attend the reunion during the June
commencement week. Every Indication
points to a numerous attendance and
an enjoyable reunion the present year.
While it is exceedingly difficult tb find
a suitable hall In which to hold the re
union and spread the annual banquet,
the committee in charge will do the best
that it can and trust to the unfailing
cheerfulness and appreciation of the
pioneers to make the occasion a pleas
ant one. .
Mr. Pulitzer, In an article in the
North American Review, in which he
explains the scope and purpose of the
College of Journalism for which he has
provided, disposes of the criticism that
journalism cannot be taught outside of
a newspaper office. He admits that the
newspaper man must be born with cer
tain faculties, but he maintains that
journalistic talent or instinct can be de
veloped by teaching, training and prac
tical object-lessons. Indeed, the only
profession, so far as Mr. Pulitzer
knows, for which a man has all the
necessary equipment when he Is born Is
that of on Idiot For everything more
ambitious there must be training.
Governor Chamberlain's offer of re
wards for the apprehension of the Lake
County murderers and vandals will
tend to put a stop to lawlessness, even
If it does not bring about the capture
and conviction of the outlaws. The re
ward Is sufficient to tempt an accom
plice to confess, and men will hesitate
tb join in murders or wholesale sheep
killings with that Inducement offered
for evidence against them. At any rate,
the offer removes the state from the at
titude of standing Idly by and permit
ting a few desperadoes to terrorize law
abiding citizens who have tried to'bulld
homes for themselves and families on
the frontier.
The meeting of the State Grange at
Corvallis during the present week will
afford opportunity for the usual greet
ings of friends and co-laborers In ag
ricultural lines, and an interchange of
ideas and experiences that are at once
interesting and profitable. The attend
ance will doubtless be large. The year's
work is well in hand, and the lull be
tween planting and haying provides
time for this annual gathering which
Is wisely used in renewing acquaintance
and comparing -notes. May is an Ideal
month for such a meeting, and Corval
lis Is both an ideal and practical place
In which to hold It
Like Old Times.
Philadelphia Record.
Things don't look so bad for the Democ
racy in Connecticut The Hartford Times
says no such spirited convention has been
held in the state since the Tllden days.
Then, too. there wa3 an approach to fisti
cuffs, with the veteran ex-Governor
Tom1' Waller as one of the parties bel
ligerent And the state went head-over-heels,
with instructions, for Judge Alton
Brooks Parker.
" NOTE AND;! COMMENT.
Don't exspltorate.
The Western Union has Port Arthured
the poolrooms.
Don't the Thibetans recognize a. peace
ful mission; when they see it?
"Illinois wants Hitt" announces a dis
patch. Well, maybe she'll get hit
There is one class of people that a
World's- Fair invariably attracts, and
that's the people that blow Qut the gas.
Judge Parker should Jbo nominated and
elected If he makes as many friends by
keeping his mouth shut as Jack Munroe
does.
Seattle dentists are now free to adver
tise. The physicians are in the same fix
as before they may advertise as much as
they can without paving for it
The Montgomery Advertiser thinks that
this season's hats for men would be im
proved by being run through a thrash
ing machine. Perhaps, but the machine
would be ruined.
Henry Watterson thinks that the "pert
paragraph" should be driven from the
editorial page. It's not so much the
pert paragraph as. the impertinent para
graph that should be shoo'd Into oblivion.
American ships are going anywhere in
China they darn well please, is the sub
stance of Secretary ' Hay's reply to the
Chinese protest What a pity the Chi
nese Exclusion Act cannot be made ap
plicable to China.
"George Umbaugh Is keenly alive to
the beauties of Sllets," says an item In the
Toledo Reporter. Does this mean that
Mr. Umbaugh has an eye for the beauties
of Nature unadorned or the beauties that
are millinery adorned?
London critics roast the "Prince of Pll
sen," but the house cheers it, so the man
agers have no kick coming. And Ethel
Barrymore has made a success. Mr.
Chamberlain's protection campaign would
evidently be helped if he were to shelter
the stage behind a tariff.
The breeding of highest type of horses
has received a severe blow by the Western
Union's action in shutting off racing news
from the poolrooms. If you don't believe
this, you've never been in the Portland
Club's poolroom to see the number of
wealthy and devoted breeders that used to
sacrifice their business Interests to help
along the cause of the thoroughbred.
Of course, anyone rash enough to refer
to the race suicide topic "at this time de
serves the condemnation he is sure to get,
but here is a Baltimore dispatch that
seems worth the risk of printing:
Judge Baer, In the. City Court, decided today
that the advent of a brand-new baby in an
apartment rented under the provisions of a
lease that contained a "no children" clause
was a violation of the lease, and that the
father and mother may be legally ejected from
premises so rented.
Now, you husbands and wives, will you
be good.
A cure for gambling that has been over
looked by Portland's reformers is sug
gested by a statement made by Sir James
Duke, lately sued for libel by "Bob"
Sievier, who owned the famous mare
Sceptre. On cross-examination, Sir James
admitted that he had betted on horses,
but to a very small extentsince his mar
riage. "What difference does marriage make?"
he was asked.
"I bet In fivers now, whereas before I
betted in fifties."
"Does your wife object to betting?"
"No; but I've got to keep her."
Marry off the gamblers, and give them
wives that they've 'got to keep" ones
that will let them know about it if they
don't pungle up liberally and regularly.
A wife of this kind is a sort of sea
anchor on the troubled ocean of life.
The establishment of Carnegie's hero
fund has prompted many papers to com
ment upon the American tendency to ex
aggeration. The tendency Is easily seen.
The word hero, for example, is cheapened
by indiscriminate use, as Is the case with
many other words. A football success is
described in terms that would be too
strong for the capture of Port Arthur.
Everything that is done Is a world's rec
ord. Yesterday the battleship Kentucky
was hailed as beating the world's record
for battleships from Hong Kong to New
York, as if battleships were continually
racing over that route. Almost every
time a ship goe3 to target practice she i3
said to have made another world's record.
If a biscuit company takes a cent off its
prices, straightway it is announced that
the "first gun has been fired in the crack
er war." Pretty soon it will be about
as complimentary to be called a "hero"
as to be called a "gent."
This is the cruel way in which an ob
server deals in the New York Press with
girls that are living up to their ideas of
style:
The comical golf girl of the city, with her
straight front, elevated Grecian bend. French
heels, pompadour hair and marsupial shirt
waist. Just now occupies the center of space.
She starts out with a glrafflan stride, and rolls
her sleeves up to her armpits as she makes
for the links. She looks to me as If she la
going out to do a day's washing.
While entirely ignorant of what an
"elevated Grecian bend" may be, like
wise a "marsupial shirtwaist," we must J
admit that French heels seem somewhat!
unsulted for the golf course, although they I
may be just the thing for a day's wash
ing and probably are, for they seeml
to be much affected by that hard-working I
class of girls popularly known as hashers.
However, it is evident that the writer in
the Press, who likens the golf girl's stride
to that of a giraffe, has himself been
emulating that strange animal In another
respect rubbernecking.
Herbert Spencer held that no man de
sirous of doing great literary or scientific
work should marry. His practice, strange
to say, was in accord with his precept,
and he lived a bachelor's life. What a
contrast there is between Spencer play
ing a sober game of billiards in his club I
with Huxley, as described in this ex
tract from John Hawthorne'3 "London lnl
the Seventies:"
The Huxleys at that time were living far
out In St. John s Wood, In a little sober house
with a garden behind It, In which were two
or three city trees and some gooseberry busheo
and an unkempt grass-plot. Inside were a
large drawing-room and a dining-room of the
same sire. In which, at supper-time, the
whole Huxley tribe were wont to congregate.
about a dozen of them, with Huxley at one
end or the table and Mrs. Huxley at the other.
and half a dozen happy guests sandwiched be
tween. The children were from 10 to 25 years
old. What hospitality, andwhat wit and hu-T
mor. and no science at allt The children were
as natural and unaffected as so. many love!
animais, duc none could be cleverer or more
charming. They rode rough-shod over their
smiling, famous father, and gentle, consclenJ
nous, out UDerai mother, and loved them and
and one another with all their hearts. Afte
supper, we would go out and play In the gar-j
den.
WEXFORD JONES.,