OME SUNDAY OBEGONIAN, PORTLAND, AUGUST 14, .1904.
again. Only In Ireland Is matched the J not visible, the one to the otner, almost
Ifre iS&fr VMtt VFTT green of this verdure: and here the hint of the miraculous and supernat-
II JD Vl JLll U I W VVV harp might wake songs of love and pa- uraL
j&f ' triotism. But we have not reached the Only sixty years have gone by,
excellence within mir cn.rB.c!tv riecause since-the first successful experiment in
Entered at the jPostoffie At Portions, or, I ... . v..-- T v, tAior-winhlnir whlln the first successful
as secona-ciass mattter. - ttu cto 4. i;i A-finntlc on hi a -ecru finished bv Cvn&
-- . ...HW 1 UUitCU fcJ WWW UiU lilOL 'UCUi DCLUCU4 - - -
kisvabed subsckis-xiu; . a e, va w -cM0irt Tniv 97 iRfifi. On the 24th of
By mall ( postage prepaid la advance; , ' , -icm e-,.i Ttc Mn-rsa
r-iM o n,k sn ss i 11 au me iiew xnKionu we Know, wiuu i iMji uouiuci .t-.mw -
Daily, with Sunday excepted, per year 7.50 its hard conditions making stern and sitting in the United States Supreme
Ifr' vntn sunaar- per rear oq faithful men, in whose eyes ease was a Court at the National Capital, teie-
The Weekly, per yearl'II". i-0 crime. graphed to his assitant, Alfred Vail, at
The Weekly, a months Baltimore, a Quotation from Numbers
"S&eS" .TCCK! a6Ur.?rr..!:: 15c B : T TO1W xxiil:23. Three-score years later, more
Dally, per -week, delivered. Sunday In- - J reverentially, may the world repeat
wuaea what was heralded as a Byronic re- wltll Morse: "What hath God wrought!"
postage KA'i-M. vlval has laded out into an unaertaK-
trnlted States. Canada and llexlco jng m explanation of why Byron failed.
16 to" 30-paio pipr"..r.I-"---"".2o The interest that two sumptuous and
22 to 44-page- paper!-l- ....3o rival editions of his works was expected
Foreign rates, double. to arouse has been hardly noticeable.
The Oresonian does not buy poems or And though strenuous effort has been
etories from individuals, ana cannoi unuer- , . gather consideration about
wfthou? ToTtSsuldbo Byron's name, the inevitable outcome
inclosed for this tmroose. of every such enterprise has heen the
EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICES. I disneartenmg inquiry into causes ior
(The S. C. Beckwith Special Agency) declining interest, nowever nigmj .me
New Tork; rooms 43-50. Tribune Building, panegyrist or critic has eulogized the
Chicago: Booms 510-512 Triburie-Bulldlng. poet or the man.
KEPT ON SALE. Some of these opinions are interest
Atlantic City, N. J-Taylor & Bailey, Hartley Coleridge, the edl
Slews aeaiers. z -ueeui. x--e. . i fri n. Tjr-rj.av tlon ,.nH nrl-
Chlcago Auditorium annex; yostomce - T , I Vi ,7
xw rv 17R Dearborn street. aressea me xioyiu aacieiy ut leiuiuio
Denver JuUus Black, Hamilton & Jiena- on tne poet. Jie COntenaea mat to ob
rick, S00-912 Seventeenth street. an Englishman and to bo unfamiliar
Kansaa City, Mo-Blcksecker cigar -o, ltn Deauty of Byron's
Ulnth anQ WamUC . I Totwt mnn laotra rt fha qtmnPW and
T. arnlM Tl V OaWtaer. 259. BOUth I k" ' " w " w w
TTrrv Orftnkin. I.the alien the fruition of a great inherl
jOnneapolIs M. J. Kavanaugh, so souin tance. ur. ixarnetz, wno spoite iw tnu
Third; I Begelsburger, 217 First Avenue same subject," probably typIQea tne
Bouth. 12nirlL;h attitude toward Byron, when
Kcw Xoric aty Jones w., . . nflmirPfl the noet. but
iuLU,D I At A . Vim Ulr srmimanf was
n t t- i.i -o . ictin Vftr-nnrnt I tyint wnui shtnun rAnniren more or tneir
.uzzuumr otuuuuw Jji wo- . '.o-"""''" v
McIauEhlln Bros 210 South 14th; Megeath rioets than was expected abroad
Stationery Co.. 1308 Farnam. thought, revelation of truth, and spirit
Bolt IMalt Lake NowB Co.. 77 West moral consolatIoru
St louls World's Fair News Co., Josepn uiu uiJa.1.Sc:iucu i -
coneiand. Wilson & Wilson, 217 N. 17th st.; Puritanic and provincial grounas, nas
Geo. I. Ackermnnn. newsboy. Eighth and passed into deserved oblivion; for If not
Olive sts. la Doet in the sense that Milton and
San Francisco J. K. Cooper Co.. 746 iiar- c!V,oVoc.T,, - -Rvrnn vena at least
Bet. near .Palace ioiei: rosier cs wii, - - j
t- cfonfl. nmaith Bros.. 230 Sut- tne mosj magnmcent versiner ouisma
ter; It B. Leo, Palace Hotel News aiana; i tne very xugnest raius. ajater uiuusut
T. w. Pitts. 1008 Market; Frank Scott, 80 inclines to find his limitations along
JEllls; N. Wheatley, S3 Stevenson; Hotel inster saner lines. Thus. J. M.
FrancU aew fatano. Tt,-.viny wt-ltino- rnm Tmdnn tn the
Washington, D. O ETbbltt House fcews I " '
Murray edition has done nothing to ex
testerdays weather Maximum tem- tend the number of Byron's readers in
perature, 83 deg.; minimum. 59. Precipitation, Q.reat Britain. Byron, he says, prac
noae- tically remains a foreigner for the Eng
TODAY'S -WEATHEK-B-air; not so -w, , ---it- rnhpn he nrncees to teU
, Aluua- , why. He argues that the principal ob-
xxT.ww.aicn cm-nAv aTrnTTKT 14. 1901. Jectlon to Byron in the mind of the av
erage isriton lies ur ma ua-nus"B"
characteristics, both as a man and a
WHEEE NATUBE IS LAVISH. noeL cumuiative effect of the- un
it is a very important thing the Ma- savory character of his antecedents, hl3
camas propose to mane systematic own escapades, and the subject-matter
provision for showing Mount Hood to o much of his verse has been greatly to
visitors to the Lewis and Clark Fair, nreiudice the British reader against
The scenic wonders of Oregon consti- -Rvron. The facts taken together seem
tute a resource which must not be neg- to indicate a touch of corruptness-
lected next vear. for they are as mar- I Anna nnt cVinclr the reafler.
velous as any display of man's ingenu- doe3 not attract him, and BTon seems
ity the Fair will have to show, ana QUite unabie to outlive it
they will interest many to whom expo- Society is very thoroughly persuaded
eitlons have hecome a familiar story. or its duty to humiliate and chastise
"We must find ways, If possible, to sys- rh man or woman of irregular life.
tematize some arrangement for bring- ona illustration of this Is seen In the
lng many things beside Mount Hood to cruel persecutIon visited upon lllegitl
the attention of our Eastern visitors; mate children. It Is manifestly unjust.
for here is the Ideal pleasure-ground for no faUit can attach to the child, but
for the Summer vacations of dwellers we can easily see where we should soon
in the heated East land if Illegitimate children were as
We are apt to forget, sometimes, how kindly treated as those born In lawful
lavish Nature has been In this beautl- -wedlock. Another illustration Is the
f ul . region, and perhaps do not urge reelect of Byron. To appreciate him.
sightseeing as we snouia upon visitors anrues Mr. Bulloch, one must have a
of a day. No one should come to Ore- reai Eense of artistic detachment. In
gon, for however short a stay, with- other words, Byron is too bizarre for
out taking the steamer ride up the Co- his countrymen. They seem entirely
lumbla River, with its magnificent unable to separate his personal char-
panorama of palisades and flood, water- j acter from his poetic and philosophic
fall and verdure-covered mountains, outlook. So in the land of his birth the
wooded Islands and snow-capped peaks Byron "boom Is burst" 'T should
In the distance. No one should visit fancy it was quite different In Amer-
Portland, even for a day, without look- iCa." concludes Mr. Bulloch, "which has.
lng once upon the prospect which a larger international spirit in its re-
stretches out before the eye from any ceDtion of any art product than ' is
of the hills west of town; without gain- shared by the little island in the North
ing the bluffs at Oregon City and look- sea.
lng down on the falls and the winding Byron will he read as long as the lan-
xlver and valley. Yet, while these views miaee endures; and In other lands than
are Inspiring almost beyond surpass- nis 0-nrn his vogue shows little if any
ing, it Is not possible for "the casual and diminution,- especially with romantic
hurried tourist to get the best out of natures. But he is not the expression
nature in this wonderful region. He at any nolnt of the genius of his race
can only hold its cHarms at arm's ne Is rather the poet of Rome and
length, as It were, and loses the zest Greece, of Venice and Constantinople;
and freshness which may be acquired 0f the Sunny South and the languid
more near to Nature's heart Probably East. Nothing could be farther from
the great majority of Oregonlans, even, the British complacency and optimism
merely scratch the surface of their pos- than the melancholy and misanthropy,
sible enjoyments. The beaches are vis- the sardonic view of life and virtue.
ited in a solemn, business sort of J the depressing reverie, the sorrow for
way, and there Is a certain state, and misspent youth and the requiem over
perfunctorlness about such outings as the dead past, that lie at the basis of
the Mazamas take wnicn almost make Byron's most Impressive and imagmat-
work put of them. 1VG work. Popular though he has heen.
Perhaps the finest possible form of therefore. It Is possible that Byron may
outing for thos,e who enjoy Nature and become the poet of the few of those
odd nooks of civilization ls'to be had In -who -can dissociate the man's work
out-of-the-way places along the Lower fr0m the man. the dream of the hour
Columbia, or Eome of Its Indentations, from the convictions of the life. This
in the foothills of the Coast or the iq no mean distinction. One might wish
Cascade Range, or at the small settle- to be no more popular than Dante or
ments along the Oregon coast. There Shelley. If that were to insure the
Is probably no place on earth where the homage of the rarest souls,
delights of camping are more keen and 1
numerous than In Oregon. Game and
fish are plentiful, the air comes from
the ocean fresh and invigorating, and
the balsamic odors of the firs have a
peculiar quality both of solace and of
stimulus. The Lower Columhla Is peo
pled by a hrave and hardy set of men
and women, whose puhsults and mode
of life are as picturesque as anything
found in flctlom Travel is mostly ef
fected by means of boats, and there Is
no more lovely or suggestive picture
than that afforded In Wahkiakum
County settlements of a Sunday even
ing In the Summer time, when the boats
of the worshipers are moored at the
meeting-house, when the sunset's red
light rests on the ruffled water and
the shadows are settling down on the
hills and valleys. Another happy and
contented people, whose vocations are
simple and honest " and whose very
name Is hospitality, one meets along
the Inlets of the Oregon seacoast; In
the bays where the' little schooner
marks, a great event in its entrance;
along the rivers where produce is car
ried to market and merchandise
brought home by the farmer's scow,
which is carried on the flooding or the
ebbing tide.
The charms of Nature's faceJn Ore
gon the hurried visitor and the camper
can see, one to admire and the other to
love. The climate and the scenery
combine to give life a zest and a
delight which few who have once lived
here are ever afterward content to go
without If we adopt the Ptolemaic
philosophy of life, which makes the uni
verse turn about the Incidents of man
kind, we might w'ell ask ourselves what
achievement and what attainment are
contemplated for the dwellers In, a re
gion so blest If there Is any Inspira
tion In bay and ocean sunsets, we ought
to have Italian painting and sculpture;
if heroism In crags and peaks, the free
spirit of the Swiss mountaineer; if
music in river and vine-clad hills, the
Columbia should reproduce a Wagner
end Beethoven; if chivalry In fruit and
owers old Spain should here breathe
when Nature sleeps;" The sunny, after
noon and the soft night and the break
ing storm are very popular, and it may
be that the novelists know from experi
ence that the weather Is the best topic
to Inspire the reader with confidence
and stimulate his curiosity. Possibly
thousands have read "The Millionaire's
Son" to learn if the storm that broke
shortly after & o'clock was repaired by
6 o'clock. Others may have read "The
Sherrods" to trace the soft night into
hard moraine:, and "The Castle of
a uu.ru morning, ana xne tasue uj. ' : , y- y, . s
Twilight" to discover the fate of the Prove Portland's supremacy In the flour Ing grounds which by a ship-channel
sunny afternoon. Did It grow cloudy
towards evening? Read the book and
learn.
"WHAT HATH GOD WBOUGHT?"
How have electricity and human sym
pathy bound together the civilized
world! Before they sat down to the
evenlne meal Friday, probably five-
sixths of the enlightened men and
women who Inhabit the globe rejoiced
over the birth of an heir to the Russian
throne. In the capitals of Europe, Asia,
America, Australia and Africa the
happy event was known at practically
the same .moment that thirty-two guns
of St Peter and St Paul fortress
belched forth the announcement to the
ivaltlne populace at Peterhof. Not
faster did the news travel throughout
the Russian Empire than It spread over
the United States, until In Isolated
farming districts, remote mountain
mines and distant seaports in the
bleak tundra of Cape Nome and the
wilds of frozen St Michaels, as well as
in commercial and news centers, mil
lions of mothers held spontaneous In
formal thanksgiving service over regal
maternity. In that moment the world
with one accord forgot war, perpetua
tion of dynasties, nihilism, national
greed, cruelty and oppression. A new
born babe was the touch of nature that
made the whole world kin.
That part of the world which must
wait for its news nowadays upon slow
malls Is inconsequential. All Its Indus
trial, political, educational and social
activities have been brought into In
stantaneous touch by the genius of
Franklin. Morse, Field, Bell and Edl
son, and the chief agency of communi
cation is the Associated Press united
with the dally newspaper. To the five
pioneers in electrical Invention and In
dustry the name of Marconi must be
added. It would oe interesting to learn
how many persons received news of the
birth of Alexis Nlcholaevitch while they
were sailing the seas hundreds of miles
from the nearest wire. Even In these
days of startling scientific, achievement,
when the mind has been trained to re
ceive and believe, not to sneer and. re
ject, accurate messages between shins
CURIOSITIES OF MODERN FICTION.
First impressions, if not everything,
are at least Important. That is a tru
ism applicable to books as well as to
persons. When we meet a stranger we
are Impressed by his appearance and
dre,ss, and his first sentence is likely to
be a factor in our estimate of his pos
sibilities as an entertaining companion
So with the novels that offer them
selves as the companions of an Idle
hour. ' The appearance and the cover
design attract or repel us; the frontis
piece, now so frequently In colors, as
a bid for approval, adds to the general
effect, and then the momentous first
sentence In the- story nails our atten
tion or provokes us to throw the book
aside.
In the circumstances one would ex
pect writers to exercise all their inge
nuity upon the opening sentence of
their tales of love and war to turn lit
erary window-dressers, in fact No
such attention, however, appears to be
paid this Important branch of the
writer's business,' - An examination of
the 'season's numerous novels discloses
little of novelty In- this respect, at least
among the. rank and file. It may be,
indeed, that all the" writer's care Is lav
Ished upon the last sentence, which Is
said to be the first thing read by the
"young person" who is the novelist's
main support That Is another story.
Just one opening sentence from several
score of novels is remembered as an
instant challenge to the attention.
'Araby," by the Baroness von Hutten,
begins .this way:
A string. At one end of the string- Fluffy
Daddies, at the other end Araby!
"Just a little bit of string" draws one
along, and before the reader is aware of
It he Is half-way across the Atlantic
with Fluffy Daddies and Araby a dog
and his mistress who are having a
great time aboard one of the mail
steamers. Ex pede Herculem. "Araby"
Is a "Smart Set" book. Another book
by a writer of a similar type Is "The
Middle Course," by Mrs. Poulteney
Bigelow. Like many another story
dealing with the society that dines,
"The Middle Course" begins at a din
ner table.
Many dramas, both tragedies and comedies,
begin at a dinner table, though they seldom
end there, unites one of .the principal actons
be choked by a fishbone or die of a "surfeit,"
like one of England's early Kings.
The dinner table, with the "soft can
die light," and all the rest of It, lndl
cates the setting of the Btory; the cur
tain goes up on Scene I, dining-room
in Castle Soandso. And here it may
be remarked that the dramatist has one
advantage over the novelist He has
no need to worry over his first line,
His audience is trapped; cinched for at
least one act, and If he can Interest
them within that time his play will be
a success. The novel, on the other
hand, is liable to. be shied into the
corner, or used as a missile to disturb
the cat.
Of the more prosaic openings two
kinds predominate. In real life, most
strangers open the conversation with a
reference to themselves or jl sage ob
servation, upon the weather "we have
no conversation nowadays," recently
declared a writer, "we talk, about the
weather and our ailments and call that
conversation." So in novels we find
that most of them are long on weather
and personal details from the hero
Here Is one of the personal kind from
"Florestane the Troubadour," marked
by preciosity:
I, though the least of eingcrs, and no poet
at all by my own .device, may yet be ac
counted worthy to chronicle the deeds of the
poet Florestane, who. In his first youth.
caused great marvel by his songs, so that the
fame of his graceful conceits went forth while
ho was yet a stripling.
That tells the reader a whole volume
about the story of "Florestane the
Troubadour." Then there is the per
sonal opening to the aetective story.
The unraveller of mysteries Is usually
possessed or a pseuao modesty tha
leads him to belittle and magnify his
deeds at the same time. The wily man
of "The Darrow Enigma" begins this
way: M
as tne part i piayea in tee ev-? i am
about to narrate was rather that otr passive
observer than that of an acUve parUclpant,
need say little of myself
"Look, to your knee your baby brings
the oldest tale since earth began," !
says Kipling "Once on a time there
was a man." G. P. R. James, in his
day an Industrious writer of novels,
was famous for the "solitary horseman"
that "might have been seen wending
his way" In the first sentence of each
of his stories, and here is a similar be
ginning from "The Career Triumph
ant," by Henry Burnham Boone:
Once upon a time there came walking down
last year's corn-row a young girl with
very blue eyes ana very black hair, which
hung in a long braid down her back.
Another solitary makes his appear
ance in the first sentence of "The De
liverance," by Ellen Glasgow:
When the Tusquebanha stage came to the
dally halt beneath the blasted pine at the
cross-roads, an eldorly man, wearing a. Happing
frock coat ana a eott slouch hat, stepped
gingerly over one of the muddy wheels, and
threw a doubtful glance across the level to
bacco fields, where the young plants were
drooping In the Juno sunshine.
It is only the weather that can bring
all novels together. The - adventure
story, the melodrama the Introspective
novel, all of them, are as likely as not
to begin with something about the
weather. When man lived In a cave
or a tent the weather was the great
topic All depended upon the weather.
Now that stout houses and cities shel
ter us, the weather has ceased to be of
such Importance, hut the hahit of dis
cussing it survives, and the habit Is re
flected byy the novelists. Notice the pre
cise statements In the first sentence of
"The Millionaire's Son":
The storm which had threatened the sultry
September afternoon broke over the city short
ly after 5 o'clock.
And the suggestion of mysterious
wealth in the beginning of Phillips Op-
penhelmer's melodramatic "Yellow
Crayon":
It was late Summer-time, and the perfume
of flowers stole into the darkened room
through the half-opened window.
Margaret Horton Potter begins "The
Castle of Twilight" with the statement
-that "It was mld-Aprll: a sunny after
noon' and George Barr McCutcheon
begins "The Sherrods" with "Through
the soft Summer night came, the
sounds of tho silence that Is heard onlx
creating an enormous demand for mill
feed at prices far In excess of those
prevailing before the industry attamea
Its present proportions. The dairying
Interests, supplying by far the largest
demand for mill feed, will always make
Portland a much better market for that
important product of the industry than
can be created where the possibilities
of the dairying business are limited, as
they ,are In the country tributary to
Puget Sound.'
Argument is unnecessary, however, to
tween the Oregon Commissioner and
Alexander Grant, a." seiner holding the
land under a title from both states, but
a -seining license from the Washington
Commissioner only. The ship channel
is supposed to mark the dividing line
between the two states, and above tide
water, where it is less subject to
change, the boundary thus established
Is generally respected. In the vicinity
of Astoria, where the most of theseln-
lng grounds are located, the ship chan
nel changes quite frequently, and sein-
CHANGE OF NAME PROPOSED.
We are told that Superintendent
Looney, of the State Reform School,
will recommend In his report to the bi
ennial session of the Oregon Legislature
that the name of the institution over
which he at present presides be changed
to the "Oregon Industrial School." In
support of this idea Mr. Looney de
clares that the present name is a
stigma of disgrace upon the Inmates
of the school, and that- It Is thcr pur
pose of the state to encourage and help
lads who have gone wrong rather than
to brand them for youthful misdeeds.
The truth of this last statement no one
will undertake to deny. It is conveyed
In the name of the Institution through
which the state, at great expense, car-
Ties out its purpose to help and encour
age derelict youth. It may be doubted,
however, whether It is wise completely
to sugar-coat the pill which it 13
necessary to administer to these boys
in order to purge them of their wild
and unruly ways. A plum may answer
as well as a pill in such, cases, but par
ents who have wrestled successfully
with the problem of juvenile correction
do not approve wholly of the Idea of
penalty made easy.
Furthermore, Is It Just the thing to
confound terms in this matter? An
Industrial school" Is an Institution to
which honest, orderly, energetic youth
find their way, either by their own ef
forts or by the aid of their parents, to
prepare for an honorable vocation in
life. Is It well to strain a point In be
half of the unruly, incorrigible or crim
inal boys who are in an institution
solely by compulsion, to the discredit
of orderly, obedient" lade of the class
that is found In Industrial but not in
reform schools?
It is Just as well to proceed slowly
In a matter of this kind. "Reproach
naturally follows misdemeanor. This
is a feature of transgression that it is
not wise to eliminate entirely, even if it
were possible to do so. The prodigal
son Is not the only one whose feelings
are entitled to consideration in the
household. His brother, who has pa
tlently and obediently plowed and
sowed while the other has been given
to idle and vicious ways, is entitled to a
degree of consideration. It is one thing
to treat unruly and vicious boys kindly
and justly and quite another to make
heroes out of them or to set them up
as special objects of consideration. The
stigma Is not in the name "Reform
School," but In the fact that the boy
finds himself committed to It It will
be hard by merely changing the-name
to make the institution one which he
will feel It an honor to have attend
ed. It Is just as well to call things by
their right names.
trade of the Pacific Coast Facts speak
for themselves. The Portland Flouring
M1113 Company, of this city, is the larg
est milling concern on the Pacific
Coast. It owns and operates the larg
est mill In Tacoma, and also the larg
est mill In Portland. -Both of these
mills have been in operation for nearly
twenty years, and their owners are per
fectly familiar with the advantages of
both Portland and Tacoma as milling
points. The capacity of the Portland
plant Is now being increased from 2400
barrels per day to 4500 barrels per day.
The capacity of the Tacoma plant will
remain the same as it has been, al
though the warehouse system by which
this company supplies Its Tacoma mill
is more extensive than ever. If Ta
coma possessed any advantages, over
Portland as -a flour milling center, the
Tacoma and not the Portland plant of
the Portland Flouring Mills Company
would have been enlarged.
division of the territory were in Wash
ington a few years ago are now in Ore
gon, and vice versa. Under such cir
cumstances it is doubtful If a satisfac
tory solution of the trouble can be ar
rived at until the authorities of the two
states agree on a plan of concurrent
jurisdiction over both sides of the river
and the intervening seining grounds.
MINNEAPOLIS OF THE PACIFIC COAST,
The construction by the Sperry Mill
lng Company, of California, of a moder
ate-slzed flour mill at Tacoma has sup
plied the Tacoma newspapers with a
text for some amusing predictions as
to the future of the milling business in
that port. The Sperry people are com
plimented for their' excellent Judgment
In recognizing advantages which the
Ledger assures us" "practically insure
Tacoma the control of the grain trade
of the Inland Empire and the largest
share of the flour milling industry, and
the export trade In wheat and flour."
Continuing, the Ledger Imparts the
strictly new information that "Tacoma
has for some years been the chief flour
milling city In the state, and for some
time past has ground more wheat Into
flour than, the older city of Portland."
From these statements, which cannot
truthfully be termed facts, the Ledger
makes the deduction that "in due time
Tacoma will become the Minneapolis of
the Coast." Of course every one in the
milling trade knows that Tacoma does
not grind any more flour than is ground
at either Portland or Seattle.
The Ledger has confused its figures,
and has included as flour ground at Ta
coma a large amount that has been sent
there from Portland and other milling
points for shipment to the Orient Even
with this flour included, "Tacoma's for
eign shipments of flour last year were
smaller than those from Portland. Se
atle's shipments were S20.000 bushels,
Tacoma's 894,864, and Portland's 917,193
barrels. The City of Tacoma will al
ways be a fairly good milling point It
has tributary to its mills the wheat
from a great district that is untouched
by any road running into Portland, but
there are natural reasons too plain to
require argument for their demonstra
tion why Tacoma can never become as
great a "wheat market or as great a
flour milling center as Portland. To
begin with, every wheat crop in Oregon,
Washington and Idaho that reaches
maturity under normal conditions will
turn off more of the cereal tributary to
Portland than is tributary to Puget
Sound. There are, of course, excep
tions to this rule, when drouth, frost
or other unfavorable climatic condi
tions cut down the yield in Portland
territory and leave the crop unscathed
In Puget Sound territory.
Normal conditions, however, are the
only ones that can be relied on in es
timating the division of the crop for a
term of years, and these give Portland
access to more wheat than can be
reached by the millers of both Seattle
and Tacoma combined. This advan
tage was illustrated in the wheat ship
ments for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1904r Portland shipping twice as
much wheat as was shipped from all
Puget Sound ports combined. The ex
cess of flour shipments from Puget
Sound not Tacoma, the self-styled
Minneapolis of the Pacific Coast, but
Tacoma, Everett and Seattle combined
over those of Portland alone was
largely due to the Inability of millers
in Portland territory to secure space on
Portland steamers for their heivy flour
offerings.
This was a handicap which will be
removed within a short time as soon
as Huntington railroad methods are
superseded by something more up tQ
date. Another and perhaps the strong
est point in favor of "Portland's su
premacy In the flour trade -lies in the
rapidly increasing market for mill
stuffs. The Willamette Valley has
.practically abandoned the business of
wheatgrowlrig, and Is engaging In
. dairying on an extensive scale, thus
THE STEERAGE EBB AND FLOW.
Contrary to general belief, the estab
lishment of a $10 rate for immigrants
coming from Europe to this country
has not resulted in an influx of un
desirable foreigners. It failed even to
stimulate travel among those who were
desirable additions to our population,
and proved that the foreigner who
could raise $10 for passage to this coun
try could raise a little more, for Instead
of there being an Increase in the num
ber arriving from Europe for the first
seven months of the year, there was a
decrease. The undesirable element
which it was feared Would be sent us
from abroad, because In many cases
the country from which they sailed
would willingly advance the price In
order to be rid of them, were prevented
'from coming by the vigilance of the
transportation companies themselves.
When a passenger Is carried nearly 4000
miles and supplied with food and lodg
ing for the voyage, all for ?10, the men
supplying the cheap transportation will
take but few chances on being obliged
to carry their $10 passenger back to
Europe for nothing. Accordingly, but
few of the foreigners coming in under
the cheap Tate were ordered deported.
Official statistics show that the ar
rivals at New York for the first seven
months of 1904 were 427,937, compared
with 568,166 tor the same period in' 1903.
For the greater part of the seven
months the cheap rates were in effect,
and yet there was a decrease of 140,000
in the number as compared with the
same period In the preceding year,
when rates were higher. The cheap
rates from New Tork to Europe were
not in effect until long after those from
Europe to New York, but the statistics
show that 178,674 emigrants departed
from New York in the first seven
months of 1904, compared with 102,996
for the same period last year.
Cheap rates were responsible for a
portion of this Increase In travel, for in
July alone the steamers took out of
New York 66,059 emigrants, but a con
tributing factor has been the. labor
troubles in the East. Mention has been
made in the news dispatches of the
large number of employes Involved in
the Chicago meat strike who have pur
chased emigrant tickets to Eurooe, and
It is probable that the unsettled condi
tion of labor In other parts of the East
has aided In the movement to the old
country. These figures on the ebb and
flow of the "steerage" passenger traffic
present an Interesting phase of the
labor supply and demand. Had the
economic conditions in this country In
1904 proven as favorable for labor as
those of 1903, the remarkably low rates
across the Atlantic would have attract
ed a much larger number of Immi
grants than came over in 1903. With
plenty of work at satisfactory wages,
a cheap outward rate from New. York
would offer but small inducements for
the ex-foreigner to return to the land
of his birth, where living Is cheap,
while at the same time his absence
improves the chances for some other
member of the union.
There is undoubtedly a- necessity for
a little more stringency in tne laws
governing the admission to this coun
try of any kind of an Individual who
has the price of a ticket. At the same
time the comparative statistics here
with mentioned indicate that under
certain conditions liberal immigration
laws are not wholly harmful. If the
restrictions were too great, the foreign
laborers who have come here in flush
times wuld not go home when times
were hard, for fear that they would not
be permitted to return.
It Is said that the Czarina of Russia,
In her frantic desire to give an heir to
the throne, denounced the religion (the
German "Lutheran) which she reluctant
ly renounced at the time of her mar
riage .to the Czar, but In which she still
secretly believed, having been persuad
ed that this was a necessary prelim
inary to the fulfillment of her great
desire. If this is not a newsmonger's
fable, It indicates with pitiful plainness
the terrible reproach upon which this
yomg woman has lived, and its weak
ening effect -upon her fine and sensitive
nature. The Inquisition in other days
won "converts." Its methods as prac
ticed in Russia today may be equally
efficacious. The Czarina's older sister,
Elizabeth, wife of Grand Duke Sergius,
sought to retain her religious belief and
still be a Russian Grand Duchess. She
was a determined, highmlnded and
brilliant woman, and kept up the un
equal contest for conscience sake
against the priests of the Greek Church
and the orthodox imperial family for
half a score of years,' only to succumb
at last. One can readily Imagine the
greater pressure that has been brought
to bear upon the Czarina to compel her
to forsake, forswear and denounce her
religion, and it is not a matter of sur
prise if she has yielded, and now be
lieves that a son has been given to the
empire as a recompense for her surren
der. When superstition and fanaticism
are given full sway under the name of
religion, there is no limit to the ab
surdities that they may incorporate
Into "belief" and proclaim as facts.
The general public has sympathized
with Mrs. Bennett in her contest for
$50,000 of her late husband's estate
against W. J. Bryan, who claimed that
sum as a gift conveyed by a letter left
by decedent, "to be opened after his
death." This sympathy was largely if
not entirely impersonal, being based
upon what, in popular opinion, was the
merits of the case. Prosaic, practical
men could see no reason for a gush of
affection or 'admiration on the part of
Mr. Bennett toward Mr. Bryan that
would divert $50,000 from the widow of.
the former Into the coffers of the latter,
The claim set up through the sealed let
ter looked like a cheap or bold scheme
to get something for fiothlng. Few will
be sorry that the claim has been dis
allowed by the Supreme Court of Con
nectlcuL Mr. Bryan is no doubt dlsap
pointed by the decision, but he is not
impoverished by It Though defeated
in his chief ambition by the people of
the United States, he has made the po
litical notoriety which he has acquired
quite profitable, and Is still In the arena
well equipped to make money. Con
gratulations are due the widow Ben
nett. As for Mr. Bryan, he neither de
serves nor asks sympathy In this mat
ter. He will doubtless accept the out
pome of his suit philosophically, as be
comes a man who is used to defeat. '
A dispatch from Des Moines, la.,
states that Letson Balllet, the Oregon
mining shark, who found so many shin
ing marks in the East, Is to be again
tried for swindling in connection with
the sales of stock In the White Swan
mine. The postal authorities are after
him, and a strong effort will be made
to land him in jail. It is not improb
able that mining stock peddlers in vari
ous localities in the state have sold
consderable stock that possessed an in
trinsic value no greater than that which
was sold by Balliet Fortunately for
their liberty, they conducted their op
erations on a much smaller scale and
used better judgment in the selection
of their victims. Usually it is the
wholesale operator who escapes while
the small fry are brought to book. In
the White Swan case the Government
seems to have landed a pretty big fish.
and apparently does not intend that he
shall wriggle back into deep water.
If Samuel Gompers, president of the
American Federation of Labor, can ac
complish anything looking to a. settle
ment of the packers' strike in Chicago,
his presence, has long been overdue In
that city. Wise heads and cool heads
are needed in this crisis, 'which is not
only one of labor and capital, but of
public convenience and health, and of
humanity that is broad enough to take
In the dumb creatures that by thou
sands await slaughter. And these
heads ' should be and practically
must be on "the shoulders of
men in wnom tne restless laoor ele
ment as well as the men whoe Invest
ment of capital gives labor its oppor
tunity has confidence. Such men can
be found. Perhaps Mr. Gompers is one
of them, and there are others, as. the
settlement of the great coal strike by a
commission appointed for that purpose
two years ago abundantly proved. It Is
clear that the principals In the present
contention will not come to an agree
ment. Stubbornness meets stubborn
ness and arrogance meets defiance
every time a council of representatives
of ,the contending elements is called.
The oil of peace must be poured upon
these troubled waters by men able to
Judge the case upon its merits. Vio
lence stands ready to strike with its
red right hand at any time. If Mr.
Gompers can avert the general
strike it Is certainly in the line of his
business to do so. In any event, he
should make the effort, as he Is the man
of all men to whose suggestions the
strikers would be likely to listen ap
Well worth reading Is an article on
page 39 of this Issue, from the Journal
de St. Petersburg, an Influential Rus
sian paper, reviewing a book, "The Fu
ture and Power of the United States,"
by M. Hanotaux, member of the French
Academy. He views with wonder and
no little fear the growth of the country
in the past fifteen xears, saying: "Here
there is a vast army armed to the teeth
for the arts 'of peace and even for the
arts of war, lifting Itself beyond the
oceans, not a month from the ports of
the Old World, but a week. Tomorrow
this colossal empire, master of the Pan
ama Canal, will interfere In some way
between Europe and Asia. It will con
trol the commerce of the West and the
East, for It will hold the principal way.
Such, then, is its power." It is rather
refreshing to listen to a foreigner who
does not disguise his admiration of a
country which in his view Imperils the
Old World.
;note and comment.
The girls- now have their shoulders tanned,
xnrougn wearing mesuy lace;
The boys, poor lads, are also tanned.
But on the same old place.
Revised Proverb.
Neutrality is the better part of valor.
The Czar promised Russia a constitution
if he had a son. That's more than ha
could promise the" kid.
, Elijah Dowle has saved three women
from drowning Still, that Is no guarantee
that he can save souls. v
The Japanese display the same energy
in going after Port Arthur and the Lewis
and Clark Fair grounds.
The breaking of a trapman's rib by a
Jumping Chinook salmon sounds like a
joke to every one but the trapman.
A Kansas City -woman has sued for di
vorce because her husband yields to all
her wishes. He might win her hack by "
opposing the divorce.
Ten to one the British officer, on enter
ing L'Hassa, which has been a sealed
city for countless generations, remarked,
"What a beastly hole."
Now that the church has blessed and .
aided the saloon, why doesn't the saloon
send an occasional keg of beer to the
churches on a hot Sunday?
Of course It was a- Butte girl that held
up a swindler at the muzzle of her revol
ver and compelled him to disgorge his
plunder. A Portland girl wouldn't have
done such a deed, because she wouldn't
have let herself he swindled in tha first
place.
The monument on Plymouth Hoe, where ,
Drake was playing bowls . when the Ar
mada was sighted, bears a Biblical in
scription referring to the dispersal of the
Spanish ships by storms: "He blew with
his mouth and they were scattered." Tha
Russian Armada scattered without even
a blow.
In Lowell, Mass., a man got 90 days in
Jail for offering a girl 25 cents for a kls3.
Perhaps the magistrate thought the
scoundrel was bulling the market, or that
a man must bo crazy to bargain for
something that's no good unless taken.
To buy a kiss is on a par with fastening
a trout on your hook hefora beginning to
fish.
Elections aro on in Paraguay. As in
this country It Is essential that a candi
date for the presidency should be able
to run well. Indeed, Paraguayan candi
dates usually run better than ours, as they
are spurred on by the bayonet points. The
best runner gets out of the country the
other electa himself and Is assassinated.
St Louis still has time to get tha
Dalai Lama for the Pike.
New York already has the 'Potter cock
tail," and one of the papers tells how it
is made:
"No dinky little glass, but a long one,
with a good-sized piece of Iceln it No
chopped ice, mind. Now, then, a good
hooker of gin. That will about do.
Squeeze in the juice of a lemon and don't
add any of the rind. Now then, a dash of
raspberry syrup. Fill her up with car
bonic, and there you are."
It sounds good enough to he named
after a bishop.
Perhaps the best story told about Lord
Kitchener's single-hearted zeal to have
work accomplished, to the exclusion of all
other considerations, concerns a young
subaltern, who, during the progress of
some construction work In Upper Egypt,
had tha misfortune to losa some native
workmen through the accidental explo
sion of some cases of dynamite. He tele
graphed to Lord Kitchener, then Sirdar:
"Regret to report killing 10 laborers by
dynamite accident"
In a few hours came this laconic dis
patch: "Do you need any more dynamite?"
A gang of Seattle footpads were polite
enough to return their victim $1 out
of the 26 they found In his pockets.
If "the rebate system grows, it will
take away all the profits of robbery.
Competition will lead to a ruinous In
crease of rates, and Seattle citizens may
he confronted with signs like this:
GO HOME BT 3ROADWAYr-10 per cent re
bate on all we get from you. De Gang.
PIKE STREET AFTER MIDNIGHT S per
-cent on all sums over ?10. Young, Tracy.
THIRD AVENUE AT ANT HOUR. Tha
swell road. Handling the highest class of
trade only, we are able to offer 15 per cent
discount on all transactions; which must be on
a strictly, cash basis. The Push.
The Pittsburg Dispatch has discovered a
"startling similarity in meter- and
thought" between Kipling's "Recessional"
and Sir Walter Scott's "Hebrew Maid,"
and a correspondent asks "whether or not
Kipling got both the suggestion and the
inspiration from Scott's lines." One of
the stanzas from Scott's poem is as follows:
Our harps we left by Babel's streams,
The tyrant's Jest, the Gentile's scorn;
No censer round our altars beams.
And mute are timbrel trump and horn.
But thou hast said, "The blood of goat,
The flesh of rams I wUl not prize!
A contrite heart, an humble thought.
Are mine accepted sacrifice."
Nothing very damaging to Kipling's
reputation in that
This is a red-letter day in the history
of Brown's Park Band. A special con
cert will be tendered beneath the cool
lng shade In the City Park to those
public-spirited citizens who have con
tributed so handsomely to the band
fund for the current season. Every
person likes to see that he Is getting
value for his money. It is human na
ture. This special concert and the con
certs that have preceded it will demon
strate that Brown's reed band is
worthy in every way of the thousands
of dollars that have freely been poured
at Its feet by public-spirited citizens
This year the band is better than ever,
and Bandmaster Charles L. Brown; by
his executive ability, thorough knowl
edge of music and command of His men.
has demonstrated that he is Portland's
premier band leader.
Salmon come and salmon go, -but the
old dispute as to where the jurisdiction
of the Oregon Fish- Commissioner
ceases and" that of the Washington
Commissioner begins goes on forever.
The latest contest hinging on the exact
location of this imaginary line is be-
Joseph Qannon, Speaker of the lower
house of Congress, Is an apostle of the
morality of industry. He views his
country with the enthusiasm o youth.
Seldom does a public man talk so freely
for publication as he did to Frank Car
penter the other day in an. interview at
his home in Danville, 111. What he
said is published in another part of this
paper. The brief recital pf his early
struggles ought to be an inspiration to
every poor boy who reads 1L
Being a Czar has some compensations.
If Nicholas has to wear amor-plated
pants and sleep in a steel safe, hi3 domes
tic life must be rendered happier by the
custom of painting, engraving, carving
and embroidering the .imperial initials on
buildings, ships, uniforms, flags, and other
things. To save the great expense of
altering these initials, it is necessary to
christen the heir with names beginning
with the same letters. What worry and
wrangling is saved by this accident of the
Imperial life. Should the Czarina wish to
call the youngster Montmorency de Pey
ster Marmaduke, the Czar has but to
whisper that Montmorency doesn't begin
with an A. tfhe young Alexis must have
been named after less wrangling than has
been caused by many a Tom or Dick.
A New York letter devotes some consid
eration to the story of a kleptomaniac
said to be at large among the "Four Hun
dred." Several thousand dollars worth of
jewelry, it appears, has been stolen re
cently at receptions in New York and
Newport, and detectives are now scat
tered about among the guests at all fash
ionable functions. The people without
fabulous-ly-priced jewels appear to have
the better time. They don't have their
guests watched by cops, and they are not
made the victims of similar espionage by
their hosts. , ,
Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?
O sweet content!
Art thou rich, yet Is thy mind perplex'd?
O punishment!
Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vex'd
To add to golden numbers, golden numbers?
In theory we all .agree with the poet,
but in practice we all try to add to golden
f numbers, golden .numbers.
WEXFORD JONES.