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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1905)
THE SUNDAY OBEGOMAN, -PQBTLAND, HAflCH 5, 1&05. Entered at the Postoffice &t Portland. Or.. as second-class matter. SUBSCRIPTION BATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVAKcfc. (By Mall or .Exsress.) 13 illy and Sunday, per year. .......... $6.00 Dally and Sunday. r months.......... 5.00 Dally and Sunday, three months. ...... 2.55 Bally and Sunday, tier month.......... -S3 Dally without Sunday, per year 7.50 Dally without 8unday, six months ...... 3-00 Dally -without Sunday, three month .... 1-C3 Daily without Sunday, per month 63 Sunday, per year ...................... 2.00 Sunday, alx months .. 1.00 Sunday, three months ................. .CO BY CARRIER. Dally -without Sunday, per week......r .15 Daily per -week. Sunday Included -20 THE WEEKLY OKEGONTAN. (Issued Every Thursday.) Weekly, per year 1-50 Weekly, six months .............. Weekly, three months 50 HOW TO REMIT Send postoESce money order, express order or personal check on your iocai name stamps, com or currency aro at the sender's risk. EASTERN BUSDfESS OFFICE. The 6. C. Beckwith Special Agescy New Tork: Rooms 43-50 Tribune bnildlng. Chi cago: Rooms 510-512 Tribune building. The Orecodan does not buy poems or stories irom individuals and cannot under take to return any manuscript sent to it "without solicitation. No stamps should W inclosed for this purpose. KEPT ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex: PostoOca News Co.. 17S Dearborn street. Dallas, Tex-Qlobe News Depot. 260 lltln. street. Dearer Julius Black, Hamilton & Kend- rlck, 000-912 Seventeenth street, and rrue- &uTBros.. 605 Sixteenth street. Dea Moines, la. Hoses Jacobs. 300 Filth street. Kansas City. Mo-Rleksecker Cigar Co., Ninth and Walnut. Los Angeles Harry Drapkln; B. B. Amos, B14 West Seventh street: Oliver Haines. MbmeaBoIia M. J. Kavanangh. SO South Third: I Begelsburger. 217 Tim averrao Couth. New York City L. Jones & Co.. Astor House. Oakland. CaL W. H. Johnston, Four teenth and Franklin streets. Ordea V. R. Codard and Meyers & Har- rop: D. Xu Boyle. Omaha Barkalow Broa, 1612 Farnham Hageath Stationery Co., 1308 Farnham. Phoenix, Ariz. The Berry hill News Co. Sacramento, CaL Sacramento News Co. t29 K street. Salt Lake Salt Lake News Co., 77 West Second street South. Sania Barbara, CaL S. Smith. San DIero, CaL-J. DiUard. San Frandsoo J. K. Cooper & Co., 740 Market street; Foster & Crear, Ferry News Stand; Ooldsmlth Broa, 230 Sutter; L. E. Lee, Palace Hotel News Stand; F. W. Pitts, 1008 Market; Frank Scott. 80 Ellis; N. Whf&tley, 83 Sterecson; Hotel St. Francis News Stand. St, Xoois, 2do. E. T. Jett Book & News company, 80S Olive street. Washington. D. C Ebblt House News Stand. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, MARCH B, 1005. 11 DIRECT PRIMARY UPHELD. By unanimous decision, the four Multnomah Judges have upheld the va lidity of the direct primary law in its application to the coming city election. The court took the broad view that the purpose of the act ought not to be de feated by minor lapses or uncertainties as to registration. The County Clerk is authorized, under this decision, to put in motion the machinery of his office for registration of all qualified electors who desire to have voice in the municl pal nominations of their respective par ties. Now we shall know what the direct primary does for the Candidate, the party, the public, and the "machine." we may be uncertain about its work ings in several of these respects, but in the present state of the public mind we may have little doubt that direct nomi nations will at this time seriously ham per the successful workings of the Re publican "machine." Why? Because old methods must be entirely aban doned, new conditions met, and the in dividual voter reached and influenced by some scheme not now obvious. How to beat the primary is an unsolved problem for the boss. A condition a very substantial and dismaying condi tion, indeed and not a theory, con fronts him. What is he going to do? He doesn't know. He frankly says so. It had long been contemplated that tho Jaw could be circumvented with more or less ease by holding a conven tion before the primary, nominating a cull ticket, and submitting it to the pri xnary in the expectation that it would there toe indorsed. Why could not an organization influence the rank and file of the party to nominate as "regular" at a primary the candidates who were known to be stamped with its favor? Concerted effort and party regularity, with a "pull" exerted in every precinct in city or county, ought to count heav ily against the mere Individual enter prise of .the single candidate who would have to depend upon his own personal standing and popularity. But recent painful events seem to have made this convention project impracticable. The leaders will not lead, the followers ap pear to ba -cheerfully, not to say enthu siastically, deserting the sinking ship. Of course we shall have a regular Re publican ticket at the coming primary; but, unless the "organization" changes its mind, or finds its mind, it will be made up of many men of many pur poses who will proclaim their own mer its and submit their names to the Re publican primary for place on the "regular" ticket. Perhaps it is Just as well that we are to have a regular ticket formed in this aulte irregular manner; but regret may nevertheless be expressed that the "or ganization" does not offer a ticket of its own to the primary, bo that all may see, first, what it would look like, and, second, what would happen to it. OREGON HELPS ITSELF. For a railroad into Tillamook, citi zens of that count' have all but sub scribed a $55,000 subsidy and a long promised and much-desired project seems in fair way of achievement If the KilUngsworth car-exchange bill has helped the project along, well and good. Harriman Interests profess desire to build the Tillamook road as soon as convinced it will pay. But very few roads have been bunt that way in Oregon Indeed, not more than one or two. If the promoters of the O. R. & N. and the Oregon & Cali fornia had waited until those enter prises should pay, most of Oregon would yet be a wilderness. Perhaps after the Tillamook road shall have been built, Its absorption by the'Southera Pacific will be deemed advisable by Mr. Harriman. If so, Ore gon' will be a gainer from independ ent enterprise and Mr. Harriman's in terests will profit also. Independent railroad projects have accomplished much for Oregon in fact, they have been Oregon's chief means of railroad progress trom early days until the pres ent hour, and owing to the policy of Harriman interests in this state may be the. "chief means in future. The Klickitat road, built by Portland Jlpital as un Independent project, .has' opened a district In Washington and connected It commercially with Port land. It has been absorbed by one of the great railroad interests. If Port Uand capitalists had waited for the Northern Pacific or the O. R. & N. to build the road, would the whistles of locomotives now be heard In Golden dale? Perhaps npt; probably not. WHO CAN PROTECT tttk BORROWER: Mr. John. Proudflt no doubt accurate ly describes, In a communication made public yesterday.-the pestiferous indi vidua! whom he designates as the 'loan shark." Without doubt also he pre sents truthfully the evil effects of the shark's methods of doing business as applied to young men "about the docks' and elsewhere in this city who are working for wages. These he induces to hypothecate their wages before they are earned, paying for the privilege usurious Interest and a bonus that makes the wage-earner a slave to debt without hope of deliverance. There Is no reason whatever to doubt the statements thus made. What then? A city ordinance to protect these weak lings from the salary-engulfing sharks. suggests Mr. Proudflt. The solution seems easy, since no doubt the Com mon Council could be wrought upon by facts and figures to enact an ordinance that would heavily increase the ex penses attendant upon carrying on this nefarious business. Unfortunately, however, no legislation, city, state or National, has been devised that can. be depended upon to protect a man against himself. Detest as we may and do the "loan, shark" for his peculiar business methods, his victim all of our pity, all of our care, all of our anxi ety, cannot protect. The situation as described by Mr, Proudflt Is the exact counterpart of that in which thousands of illiterate negroes in the South find themselves in relation to their employers. Men who have studied the negro question at close range tell us that debt keeps the colored people In a bondage to their employers as hopeless as that which we were wont to term slavery. The negro. a child in finance, coveting gewgaws that attract his eye and amusements that cater to his rude pleasures, sells his labor in advance to procure these things. He finds himself by this means speedily involved in debt which he can not hope to liquidate, with his earn ings, and still have enough to meet his dally necessities- He cannot, forobvi ous reasons, quit one employer and go to another and begin over again, nor can he by any means within the com pass of his handicapped endeavor get out of debt. Thus his bondage becomes perpetual and his condition that of a veritable slave who works ceaselessly and hopelessly for a hand-to-mouth liv ing. If there is any difference between the chains that Ignorance and childish pan dering to present desires have forged upon multitudes of so-called "free ne groes" of the South, and those that bind the intelligent and really free wage-earners among us, it is difficult to discern it. Something may be done, perhaps, to abate this evil that is ab sorbing the substance of many young men who are wage-earners, but it may be submitted that no law has yet been framed, and no scheme devised, where by men, young or old, white or black, can be protected from the desire to spend their earnings In foolish ways when this spending brings them what they are convinced they want In the way of so-called pleasure whether of dress, gaming, the Indulgence of gross appetites, or any form of amusement. Early training In ways of economy and thrift can alone insure this protec tion. The temptation may come in the form of a "loan shark," bland, smiling, plausible, who offers to advance money on the yet unearned salary; or it may come in any one of a dozen other ways. One thing is sure. It will come, and unless the tempted wage-earner has good common sense Joined to self-restraint, and is thus able to overcome temptation, he will connive with the tempter to evade any law that may be made for his protection in order that he may establish his "right" "so dearly prized to spend his -own money as he pleases. The -writer remembers a careful mother in the long ago who, to prevent her girl and boy, of three and five years, from going outside the dooryard to play, shut the gate and tied -it se curely with a stout rope. This device succeeded (unless she forgot to adjust the rope every time the gate was used) until the children thus forcibly re strained from wandering in forbidden ways became large enough to climb the fence, and fleet enough of foot to outrun the pursuing mother. A barbed wire strung along the top of the fence met for a 'time this new difficulty, though not infrequently shreds of cloth ing attested to Its futility. Tears passed and the protected children went to school, but much of the time they had to be sought far and wide through out the village at nightfall, having failed to come home in obedience to the mother's command. Still later but why pursue the subject to its inevitable conclusion? Suffice It to say, tempta tion came, and, not having been taught to resist it, they went down before its allurements. The story is simple; its moral is plain. He who runs may read, and it would seem that the intelligent in the great army of the tempted might apply it. THE MAN BEHIND THE BATE. Except in the Senate of the United States, there is an overwhelming senti ment all over the country in favor of enlarging the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission so as to include the regulation of-railroad rates. With reference to this big question an East ern expert furnishes an article pub lished in another part of this issue, well worth reading. He asks: "What is an equitable rate?" and then points out that the traffic manager, familiar with every consideration that enters into transporting a commodity is and must be the arbiter. Without taking up the broad princi ple of governmental regulation and con fining himself strictly to the technique of railroading, this writer defines the duties of the man behind the rate, shows clearly that a fixed rate is in compatible with equity, that the Tate system must be a barometer to reflect exactly the commercial conditions of a railroad's territory, and that it must be elastic in order to meet changing condi tions. He inquires pertinently whether a paid Federal employe, even of high honesty and efficiency, would havo the same Incentive toward general excel lence and care for detail as he would if his livelihood and standing depended on his success in individual cases ac quired by special qualification and ex- pertness. Demand for regulation pirates by t2w Interstate Commerce Commission can not long be ignored. The Senate sooner or later will yield to nubile clamor; still it is worth while to learn from the ex perienced traffic man what a. delieaf. intricate problem will present itself wnen the Commission undertakes to de termine upon equitable freight rates BOJIANCE OF TRADE. Few persons would think of turning to the daily reDOrtS Of the'Denartmpn of Commerce and Labor for articles of varied interest and flashes of romance. yet with the spread of American com merce no comer of the earth is too ob scure to be noticed in the Government's daily paper- Railroad progress near ur or tne Chaldees and the aloe, frankincense and myrrh ctods are de scribed in the same number with the plans for a new electric road in Lon don or the damming of an ancient river ror irrigation. American, invention and industry now auects the oldest and the most ad vanced nations as well as the naked peoples of Africa and the Pacific Islands, and the reports of the consular sentinels who are stationed on the out posts ' make interesting reading for every one. In the last four issues are to be found reports dealing with trade matters in Arabia. Mecca. Abresinla. Persia, Syria. Formosa and several other out-of-the-way countries. From three ports in Arabia the United States bought last year skins, coffee, ivory and dates, valued at a little less than $3,000,000. Consul Ravndal tells how the railroad is gradually beintr extended to the sacred and mysterious City of Mecca, whither hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually Journey. Last year on-e-flrth of these thousands suf fered death or wounds at the hands of the Bedouins, whose lands the route of travel crosses, and this despite the blackmail paid by the Turkish and Egyptian governments. Soon the rail road will displace the great caravans, of which some contain 5000 camels, and the faithful sons of Islam will reach the sacred city on American rails. An other Consul reports that Persia offers a market for such dLverse articles as umbrellas, candles, writing naDer and automobiles. From a Consul In Syria comes the story of the first railroad bridge to be completed across the River Jordan, and another official tells of an electric plant which the Japanese In Formosa are completing with Ameri can machinery. Of better-known countries there Is much to be learned from these same four Issues of "Uncle Sam's dally pa per." It is noted, for instance, that Japanese trade has been unusually flourishing during the war. Another report shows how German banks are gradually being consolidated into a few powerful groups, while statistics deal ing with the economical administration of Berlin's municipal affairs Is of inter est to students of city affairs. Other articles deal with such subjects as the sale of American shorthorns In Argen tina, the manufacture of macaroni In tnls country, the test for foreign fire arms in Belgium, American apples in England but enoujrh has been said to show the varied interests of American producers and merchants in all parts of the world. The romance of today cen ters in trade. As Kipling said Romance is dead and, all unseen, Romance Drought up the nine-fifteen. All over the world romance Is bring ing up freight and passenger "nine-fifteens," and usually on American rails. PORTLAND IS NEAR TO NATURE. A few days of warm sunshine last week brought on the first flush of Springtime and sent thousands of peo ple scurrying to the City Park, -the heights and hundreds of other naturally beautiful retreats which have been pro vlded for Portland with lavishness ex traordinary. To the traveled Port lander who has experienced weeks and months in the frozen whiteness of a Winter In the Middle West or East, or in the awful heat of the Summer time. Portland always looks good Summer or Winter, but never so beautiful as in the Springtime. It is a little early yet for the drone of bees and the scent of apple blossoms, but the grand old mountains and the miles and leagues of beautiful country which He .between us and their snow-capped summits loom up more beautiful than ever, now that twilight lingers longer and the sun beams forth with more kindly warmth. Nature has been so prodigal in her gifts to Portland that we are somewhat inclined to underestimate their value. until Springtime awakens within us the "call of the wild," that Indefinable in stinct which centuries of life among men and the works of men have not succeeded in eradicating, and which still bids us wander to the woods. It is only in the surroundings of the new cities of the Far West that it is still possible for the eye and the mind to feast on Nature's pictures unmarred by art. The older-settled portions of the country through which the Jugger naut car of modern civilization and de velopment has rolled for generations will view no more the wild beauties of Nature as they arc still In evidence In the Far West. It is undoubtedly the environment, the close proximity to Na ture and her wonderful works that has broadened the mind and strengthened the character of the Western man. Portland is an especially favored city in the matter of surroundings, for Na ture in all her greatness is ever before us. A few minutes' ride from the heart of the city in any direction will land one amidst scenes of natural beauty sucn as no language can properly de scribe and no brush of the artist trans fer to canvas. From a hundred view points on the hills surrounding the city the world-weary man can rest his eyes on marvelous works of Nature which neither the ravages of time nor the vandal hands of man can mar. Looking out above and beyond the bustling, noisy city which he has Just left. Mount Hood, Mount St Helens and other snowcapped peaks, with their beautiful setting of forest beneath and fleecy clouds above, appeal to him as no work of art ever can. In the contemplation of these masterpieces of Nature, which were looking down on the silvery streams and green forests unnumbered thousands of years ago, and will still be standing guard thousands of years hence, the beholder cannot be other than Impressed with the evanescent na ture of that strange mystery which we call life. A . few minutes by trolley-car will bring the worshiper at this shrine of Nature back to the city with all its wealth and woe, poverty and crime, back Into the mad race for fame and fortune, back to where idols are shattered every hour in the day. and where the pursuit of Mammon draws hard lines In the faces and over the hearts' of men. There can be no j true happiness in t&a ponlemp.lallon of-j the misery that is ever before us in a. city, but there is happiness in commun- t ion with Nature, and it is -while the earth Is flooded with Spring sunshine that life seems brighter for all and we return from these brief pilgrimages to Nature's shrine with a kindlier feeling for our fellow-man and a thankfulness in -our hearts that our lines have been "cast in pleasant places." Nature has been kind to places other than Port land, but for no other city has she spread out such a grand panorama of mountain, river and forest scenery as is ever before the Portlanders. INSIDE OF THE BEEF TRUST. Less than two weeks -since the -relations of the beef trust to the nubile were before the courts and were being held up in full lu?ht of nubile onlnion. Their methods of forcing down the price of cattle and of holding- up the price of beef were exnosed. The alli ance of the six great companies for these purposes was denounced as con stituting the trust. Obviously, it was matter of public Interest to know the net results of these transactions. Nbw comes Commissioner Garfield, of the Bureau of Corporations, and supplies facts and figures gathered by his Inves tigations. Some of his conclusions are remarkable. The six great packing companies are not overcapitalized. There are no exchanges or communities of stockowning, and the great majority of the stocks is held by the packers and their families. The six companies slaughter about 45 per cent of the total of cattle killed In the United States, but suddIv 98 ner cent of the beef consumption of eight great cities of the East, and send a email proportion to the cities of the South and West. But the net profits to Swift & Co. for 1902-03-04 in no case exceeded 2 per cent of the total sales For the Cudahy Packing: Company for jsvz tne profits were 2.3 per cent on the total sales; for 1004, 1.8 per cent The manner or cattle handled is enormous. 2.017,861 July 1. 1902. to July 1- 1903. and 2,013,658 July 1, 1903, to June 30. 1904. Tet the net profit was but 80 cents per head in 1903 and 82 cents in 1904. To Oregon cattleraisers it is of inter est to note that for the year July. 1902. to July, 1903, the average weight of the cattle was 1092 pounds, and the dressed weight of beef 609 pounds. For the year July, 1503. to July, 1904, average weight of cattle was 1115 pounds, and dressed beef 629 pounds. The effects of a better corn crop are thus shown. For the for mer year the cattle cost the packer 48.58 per head, while the cost of oner atlng the plants was $1.90 per head. So the total cost was $50.48. The beef brought them $39.32, and all the by products 511.96. so -the net profit on each animal was only SO cents. Similar flcr- ures for the second year show a net profit of 82 cents per head. If thl3 were the very bedrock of the whole business, who would be a. 'packer? To make an outlay of $50.48 to get a net profit of 80 cents seems noor business. And even on the immense number of cattle dealt with 2,017,864 for that year a net profit of $1,614,291 shows no ex travagant percentage on the capital in vested In the companies, which ap proaches $100,000,000. And yet? In the first place, no mention is made of sheen and hogs. The Chicago and Kansas City yards testify to the immensity of mat business. In the next place, It was stated two weeks back that th nt earnings of Swift Sc Co. on a capital of $35,000,000 stock exceeded $3,000,000. So there must be some gold mine some where. Probably in the refrigerator cars, which, by the same report, yield profits ranging from 14 to 17 per cent on the capital invested in them. But even then there seems a vast blank to be filled up before the total reported profits on the capital stock of the companies is accounted for. An uneasy feellnir ac companies the reading of this report taat the half is not told. THE POWER OP THE CARTOON. The French poet said, "Let me make the songs of the people, and I care not who makes the laws." The death blow to the Tweed ring in New Tork was given by the bitter cartoons of Nast In Harper's Weekly. To be made the target for the pencil of the satirist and the rough scoffs of all classes reduces the- man br institu tion assailed to the plight in which It Is said that ridicule kills. But such ridi cule must to be completely effective. stand on a basis of fact, be kept within the wide margin of taste, and, if the pencil be the means used, must pass muster as a work of artistic skill. Nast's cartoons met all these points, and they were deadly. When the Standard Oil group openly entered the railroad world and threat ened the life of trade and business, in addition to controlling the oil products of all the states, a thrill of anger and revolt shook the whole people. Through this serious emotion runs also a sense of the ridiculous, taking root in the ob vious disproportion of the men and means In action as compared with the enormity of the ends they were in a fair way to gain. Are these the men of importance and strength enough to wage a war against the American peo ple? The cartoonist takes his pencil. In Collier's Weekly one sees the essence of this state of things as E. W. Kemble draws it On the topmost ledge of the temple of the American Senate, clear against the sky, squat a whole row of unclean vultures, iufi from their foul feeding. The center bird, high on the angle of the pediment bears an absurd likeness to J. D. Rockefeller, skullcap on his bald head, an air of satisfied anuteness shown by one or two strokes and dots of the pen. He -bears the legend of the Standard Oil Trust, and stretches his lazy wing over his next neighbor, the Railroad Trust which bird, from under that offensive shelter, looks trustingly and affectionately up Into his big brother's face. Next hlnf comes the Steel Trust with J. P. Mor gan's likeness apparent in -the vulture's visage. Then the Beef Trust with bound-up head, bearing the marks of sore conflict Two or three more birds, fading into distance, sitting there, but not important enough -to- be named. On the other side of the overpowering vulture to the center pit the birds la beled Coal Trust Ice Trust Sugar Trust While they crowd as close as may be to their champion, he is not in actual touch, and. there is a, look of fear on all their bird visages. The legend writ large on the stone of the temple, under these gorged, vultures, is, "Let us prey." The sign on tho "S" of the Seriate temple bears, by the double strokes, the dollar-mark. Hanging be low is the auctioneer's board, hung on the wall, "Seats for sale." The pillars are bound with red tape. Through the murk and darkness o the overhanging- cloud are seen, though indistinctly,' the hpe --of nusafeerlMC jeer tedv & lur rying on ragged wings, to find placa' and home beside their comrades who have taken time by the forelock, fed to the full, and are now trying to digesU He who runs may read. Is this not a most bitter Jest? Tet who shall deny Its application? If it help to stir the people at large to the sense that the un holy powers imagined in this guise are essentially powerless as they are greedy, it will have effected more than a dozen articles on "Frenzied Finance" and the Beef Trust and even the calm history of Standard Oil. For the real strength is In the Nation, and the alarming powers of the trusts can be kept in bounds and even driven alto gether .from the structure of the body politic If the Nation wills it so. Of course the cartoonist Is an exaggera tor. Like the caricaturist, he seizes on the prominent and characteristic feature of his victim. But unless he has grasped a side angle, or even a full face, of truth, his work misses its mark and falls dead. In this, as in every other appeal to the public, It is truth that tells; sometimes It is the truth in the sketch that hurts. THE ATROPHY OF CONSCIENCE. Just as one, by disuse, nezlect- or vio lence to some powers of muscle or brain, loses gradually the powers them selves, so is it in the spiritual life. A process of this nature, more or esa complete, is the only explanation pos sible or the anomalies which disfigure so many lives admirable on various sides. A man is held up to odium, even to execration, for his public acts robbery. fraud, deceit oppression, even murder and violence may be charged against him. Tet his relatives and friends bear willing witness that the private side of nis lire is simply admirable. He is ac cessible to those claims, he admits their force, his conscience rings true on that sme, and he answers to It Is it neces sary to class such an one among the Hypocrites Not unless he be a con sctous deceiver. The atrophy may have gone so far that in relation to the nub ile side of the man he may have lost all feeling. The acts stand for them selves, it is true, and yet the doer of them may be recommended to merer In our private Judgment Custom, lax society, necessity, ambition, have all contriouted to the partial blindness of the 'culprit On the one side, then, pleads mercy for the man. But for the public what danger lies in the setting up of thl3 senarate and diverse standard of right and wrong? xne eftects are every day and hour an parent It Is utterly wrong to steal from the Individual to organize and assist in corporate robbery and onnres- slon is within the limits. To defraud one's neighbor would be Inconceivable to apply false balances In dealing with the Nation or the state can be done. and yet the doer expects to hold hi3 self-respect To multiply Instances Is needless. The public Is no wiser or bet ter than the Individuals who compose it For public scandals and disgraces. which today disfigure nearly every days dispatches, depend on it that there is no remedy excent In the awak ening and recovery to sensitiveness of "the puolic conscience. Fortunately, the process of atrophy is both very slow and Is arrestible in early stages. And the best medicine for the community is in tne influence of the awakened indi vidual upon his fellows. DISEASE IN PAPER MONEY. Congress has recently considered a bill to remove from circulation damaged and dirty paper money. The bill no doubt will be revived at the next .ses sion. The bill Is based on sanitary con siderations that an intelligent legislat ive body can hardly ignore. Dr. Thomas Darlington. Health Com mlssioner of the City of Brooklyn, has secured from an expert bacteriologist a statement concisely coverinsr exnerl ments in germ culture, with metal and paper money. The experiments showed that while disease-breeding possibilities of coins were small, a dirty bill was capable of sustaining 73.000 bacteria, and that this growth could be main tained for periods ranging from a few days to One month. As the Brooklyn Eagle says, there Is "a well-defined in crease of risk" when we come to handle material that has passed through the hands -and been carried In. the pockets of hundreds of people, many of whom live In the most unsanitary neighbor hoods and amid surroundings of filth and squalor." It Is easy to conceive that paner money passing about In this way may become a ready vehicle for annoying and" dangerous diseases. Such money may bear on Its surface, or carry in its crinkles, the seeds of diphtheria, small pox, tuberculosis and minor but no les3 communicable maladies. While it will not be possible to re move all the dirty bills from circula tion, the volume of such currency may be greatly reduced by providing that National banks shall pay out.only new bills and through the Treasury shall re tire all dirty, limp and crinkled paper currency received -by them. SPRING CLEANING ON THE PARM. Within the next week or two the first heralds of the migration will be coming to Oregon, in the shape of farmers from nearly every state in the Union. Invi tations have been spread broadcast, and every inducement that Oregon can of fer has. been published far and wide. The horses will surely be brought to the water, but can they be made to drink? Oregonlans owe it to themselves and to the state that -the first impression on interested visitors is one of pleasure, satisfaction and admiration not of dis appointment and -disgust Thousands of farms in Oregon are for sale. Why this is the case is a curious Inquiry, but it Is so. Now Oregon in herself can be trusted to do her part The visitors win surely be charmed with the main features of the places they visit Beau tiful scenery, good land, excellent transportation facilities generally, abundant water, healthy-looking or chards, plenty of schools, towns and trading points in- abundance, all are signs and tokens of a genial climate. They will have inquired about the op portunities and profits on the farm. They will have been 4old of the earn ings of tho dairy, the orchard, the flock and the herd. They wHI be. they must be, fully satisfied that Oregon farm ing. If inspired with industry and in telligence, shows rising profits smd big opportunity for growth and expansion. Filled with such ideas, the newcomer wif be driven up to the farm. The road from the nearest town may be In fair condition certainly much Improved over the pljgbt of a few years back. How-will the approach to the house look? Will there be a neat picket- fenced yard in front where the rose .Jrees and carnations have been cared for, and the polyanthus and daffodils are Jnst going out of bloom? Will there be a bed of violets under the win dows and the wall flowers In their glory? Will the house have received a coat of paint, say within the last two or three years? The orchard trees near by will be just ready to bloom. Will the trees be clean and uniformly pruned, and the orchard soil fine and free of weeds? As he turns to the barn and outbuildings, will all the planking be in place, with no loose boards bang ing in the wind? Will there be a side walk from house to barn, or will the approach be knee, deep In mud? And the fences to the fields will many gaps be. showing? Now if our farming neighbors would take a leaf from the storekeeper's book and put some work and money Into setting .forth the appearance and ad vantages of what they have to sell, what they expended would come back four-fold on the sale of the farm. Here we do not see ourselves as others see us. If we did, some of U3 would set to work changing- the outsides of our places very quickly before the buyers come round. This, sounds homely talk, but, depend on It the observance of these simple counsels means many thousand dollars In the pockets of Ore gon farmers. Springtime is ushered in with sun shine and swelling buds, and the bor der line of Winter passed beneath the meridian so gently as to leave hardly a trace. Two or three flurries of snow and twice or thrice a freeze such was Oregon's Winter. And, now that Win ter is gone, the weather man reports the rainfall nearly eleven inches short; the stockman exhibits cattle fat and sleek, fed on growing grass all through the Winter period; the dairyman shows a happy bank account, made by steady Industry of his cows; the sheepman points to his herds untouched by rava ges of cold, and the farmer tells of last Fall's sowing unharmed. These mar vels will have evidence at the Exposi tion this year, and Portland's rose bushes, now responding to the sun shine summons, will tinge the tale with beauty. Mount Hood lifts its peak above the mists to say that It, too, has come forth from somnolent' Winter to face tho quickening warmth and to thaw its springs for Hood River straw berries and Portland gardens. The bill prohibiting the taking of sockeye salmon for two years was killed at Olympla the day following the pass age of the Railway Commission bill. Its fate must have been very harrowing to the feelings of Mr. Harry Falrchild. who divided his time at Olympla be tween the Railroad Commission bill and the 6ockeye bill. For a time Mr. Fair child seemed to be making very fair progress in clubbing the Railroad Com mission forces into line with the sack eye bill, and clubbing the sockeye sup port into line with the Commission bilL In the end, however, the same difficulty was encountered as is met by every man who attempts to lift himself by pulling his bootstraps. Had the sock eye bill provided for a commlssloner shlp, it might be alive today and the Commission bill a corpse. The total bonds and stock capitaliza tion of the railroads of the United States amounts to about $14,000,000,000. This amount exceeds by $2,000,000,000 the combined national debts of Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States. The assets of the railroads are greater, according to Henry C. Nicholas In Public Opinion, than the entire Dro- duction of gold since the discovery of America in 1492. This accumulation, together with the Industry that created It, has been the product of less than three-fourths of a century. This is growth as exemplified in the changes wrought by human intelligence and en deavor during the latter half of the nineteenth century. There have been some remarkable changes in transportation since the late Henry Hudson steered for New . Am sterdam or even in the comparatively short time since the original Vander bllt was running a man-propelled ferry out of the present metropolis of the New eWorld. The Long Island Railroad Is not a large corporation in comDarl- son with a number of other New Tork transportation enterprises, but it Is big enough to be able to spend $90,000,000 In betterments for Its Long Island service. This sum does not include $10,000,000 which will be spent for a road to con nect It with the New Tork, New Haven & Hartford. Unsuccessful applications to the Leg islature for public money aggregated $430,000. So it appears the taxpayers were not held up for all that they might have been. This is offered In the face of a $2,629,000 appropriation bill, for what it is worth in the way of con solation to thrifty citizens throughout the state who are scratching diligently to raise their taxes against March 16" and thus save 3 per cent It is evident that there has got to be saving some where, though the discouragement that attends the process of saving- at the spigot while waste goes on at the bunghole long . ago passed into a proverb. Japan has no steel trust with arbi trary power permitting it to hold up the government for armor-plate or, any thing else used In the construction of a warship. A dispatch from Tokio denies the recent report that contracts would be let in Europe for four more battle ships, and adds that Japan will in fu ture construct all her vessels at home. The newest world power is well equipped with yards, shops, gun and armor foundries, and? the people are strongly In favor of government con struction. General Oyama has proved himself a good fighter, but thus far he has failed to follow up his victories after the man ner of the world's great military com manders. For this reason his victory at Liao Tang was without practical re sults. It may perhaps be expected that he will push the victory now gained or promised at Mukden until he forces his adversary to unconditional surrender. Hops are wakening and sending forth shoots to peep at a 25-oent market They have something to grow for with prices at that mark. The crop is sis months distant so' that speculators with stocks under the roof can still view complacently . the effort of the growing sheets to bring-down the price., Oregon statesmen are harried when they burn their letters; also when they don't. Has it come to pass that sly ness availeth not? Whence inherited the sphynx its -.wisdom? Could It be -electafrto office? - ' .- - r NOTE ANDC0MMENTt : Now that the physicians have bad a discussion on professional advertisers how about the preachers, who do more adver tising in a week than the doctors can. hope to do la a year. So the Beef Trust is one of the "good trusts." It Is to be hoped that Commis sioner Garfield's report will not bo taken as an excuse to run up the price of -beef another notch or two. A visiting W. C. T. U. worker. tells us there are only two home cities. .Brussels and Portland. Come to Portland and make yourselves alt home. We warn the women's club3 that, there will be an immediate reaction from tho civic improvement movement if their members persist in speaking of the. "City Beautiful." Ulster's "bloody hand" is being shaken, in Premier Balfour's face. What is a Fair without a strike. "To Encourage the Others;" The editor of the Kurjer Codzienny'has been placed in jail for the sake of the moral effect of his arrest upon others. Warsaw dispatch. Oh. why am I arrested?" The. editor, he cried. As his Bhears vrere rudely taken. And his paste-pot thrown aside "In all my life there's not deed I blush to Recollect" "We don't pinch you." said the Cossack, "because you've done anything wroa- TCe pull you tor effect." "Oh, why am I arrested?" The bee trust masnate said. "I toll from morn to midnight ; . To cheapen beef and bread; In helping my competitors A fortune I havewredt'd" "I Quite agree with your opinion of "your own disinterested motives." replied Cor mlssioner Garfield, "but it's up to mi' To pull you Xor effect." s "Arrest me!" cried a Senator, "An outrage that. Indeed; I serve my country solely, And conscience all my meed. You'd smirch a reputation. With virtue's laurels deckt?" t "We don't like to go for to do it." sald-ths grand Juror, with a weary 'smile, "but we must Do something for effect." The Czar's "rescript" used up quite a lot of nice words, and may mean some thing good for the people. The explana tory diagram hasn't yet reached this coun- try, so comment upon this typical stato paper must be deferred. A Polish editor has been- arrested for "moral effect." Arrest wouldn't have a very good effect upon an American's morals. Next the Government will try to get tha right dope on the drug trust. Maybe Kuropatkln hopes to score', A draw at Tie Pass. In a Chicago court a witness testified that his brother was crazy and had tried; to kill himself by swallowing coat but tons. That was a hard thing to say about a brother. How did the witness know that the crazy man hadn't merely; mistaken his mouth for a buttonhole? Here is a poem that appears in the, cur rent number of the Century: ' MARCH THE EIGHTEENTH. (To G. C.) The silent Fisher eat by Time's wide sea. The troubles Tf his people pondering; Heeding not scorn, nor hate, nor calumny. If he might (onIy do the honest thlar. Now, as he Journeys home -his Mow-trod way. They speak his worth who once spoke naught but blame: His people pray the length'nlng of his dayt And cry the morrow to revere" his name. The key to the puzzle is found in tho "G. C." As Grover Cleveland wa3 born: on March 15, the experienced solver oC riddles at once knows that "G. C." means Grover Cleveland, especially when he-sees something about a Fisher in the first line. Just who "hi3 people" are is not clear nor why they should "cry the morrow to revere his name," Instead of revering it for themselves. But the verses are no doubt very fine. "Czar Fears the Worst" says an ex change. From which it appears that familiarity doesn't breed contempt All the teachers who "got a raise" will now join with Superintendent Rlgler ia singing'T Got Mine." On the other hand, there's nothing in structive about roses or Mount Hood, while a billboard tells one something. Burglars -stole some smallpox blankota from the Butte pesthouse. Here's hoping they catch it from tho police. Knropatkin's left wing Is broken, but his legs appear to be working as well as ever. Colonel Tounghusband reports that, he discovered in Tibet a bed of fossil oysters S0CO years old. Look out for Tibetans on your restaurant bill of fare. In the Bloomington (111.) Pantagrapis the following letter appears: Elkhart, HI. (To the Editor.) Your is sue of Thursday contains In Elkhart corre spondence the statement that ilrs. Trink haus and I are the parents of triplets. Such. Is not the case; our family has not suffered aa Increase. DR. J. T. TRINKHAUS. Doctrine of Roosevelt! "Suffered" aa increase! A St Patrick's day salmon was recent ly taken Inian Irish stream, according to a British paper. Spots on the fish were all in the shape of shamrocks, and the curious specimen attracted so' much attention that it has been placed on ex hibition in Manchester. During a police raid, a New York gaixi bler nearly1 choked to death as the result of trying to swallow mcrunlnatlng racing sheets. The gambler wasn't wise; ho. should have given the sheets to one of his players; they must be able to swallow most anything. ' The tax exemption law should be op erated on for appendicitis. It should not be forgotten that visitors to the Fair will remember the whiff of one garbage heap long after they have forgotten the fragrance of tan thousand roses. Washington had the inaugural parade yesterday, to be sure, but then we had a parade of Uncle Tommers. . Benjamln Tde Wheeler Joins the Osier class by remarking that bachelors - are bandits. Supposing they were, a bache lor has to sequester enough from the pub lic for his own uses; whereas a married' man must steal for a whole family. . An anti-corset bill is before the Wiscon sin Legislature. If it should pasr, there will be a rush for the office of inspector.. Green carnations are' being grown'-In California. Is it another name for sha rocks? . . . - ' WEXFORD JONJUL