6
THE .SUSP AY . OREGONIA, PORTLAND, APRIL 23, 1905.
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PORTLAND, SUNDAY. APRIL 2S, 1905.
I
GUIDANCE IN READING.
The Injunction, "Read Good Books,"
cannot be too often or too strongly im
pressed upon the minds of our youth,
by those who have charge of their edu
cation. Parents can see to- it and Im
press it, even better than the school
teacher; for the opportunity is better
and the authority more sympathetic.
Among the first duties of parents Is
direction of the reading to be pursued
by their children. The home is the
place -where books and reading can best
be talked about. But the parents must
take Interest in it; and to this end it is
necessary that they should know much
of good books. For every member of
the family, for every reader,- there is
some well-written book which one can
enjoy if he will, andWhich may serve
as an antidote to ttte noxious effects of
the bad novejsand other trashy pub
lieatlonsof the time. One of the great
est of-'outles to the young is to direct
their way to a literature that will be
both entertaining at the moment and
permanently useful throughout their
lives.
It is a fact, however, that all even
many of good minds cannot read
Shakespeare and Milton and Bacon. Es
say then may be made with Cowper,
Tennyson, Longfellow and Whlttler. If
there are those who cannot read George
Eliot, they may be encouraged to try
Thackeray, Hawthorne or Charles
Reade. It is assumed that If one can
read anything at all, he or she can
read Scott's novels, or the greater num
ber, of them; some half dozen at least
of Cooper's novels, and the essays of
Macaulay. For easy historical reading
Prescott has no superior. The style is
simple and lucid, and the narrative is
excellently managed. By far the best
bf all sketches of English history for
easy reading is "Green's History of the
English People" the longer work in
four volumes, if possible; for the
abridgment in one small voume Is too
short. It would not be possible to say
too much in praise of the usefulness of
this work to the young reader. The
style is a model of simplicity and the
.narrative is so managed as to bring
Into view the leading epochs of a his
tory out of which so much of our own
life has sprung. An admirable little
book, to read which Is almost an educa
tion in English literature, and history.
Is Stopford Brooke's "Primer of Eng
lish Literature" less than 200 pages,
and yet a comprehensive and most en
tertaining survey.
These books and authors are men
tioned "but as samples or examples. The
object Is to point out the fact that there
are excellent books in abundance that
the young will read with relish and
profit. If only guided to them.
We have the authority of Emerson
that "the best rule of reading will be
a method from Nature, and not a me
chanical one of hours and pages." For
hls method, he continues, "holds each
student to a pursuit of his native aim,
instead of a desultory miscellany."
Partly true, but not wholly so. It may
serve for exceptional minds, but not for
those which must be guided and assist
ed;, and these are the vast majority.
Emerson -proceeds to say, further, that
"perhaps the human mind would -be a
gainer If all the secondary writers were
lost say in England all except Shakes
peare, Milton and Bacon, through the
profounder study so drawn to those
wonderful minds." This seems to us a
most mistaken judgment. "For there Is
a vast body of mind that could not be
forced upon appreciative study of these
great authors do what we might to
force it yet 'can well appreciate and
profit by other writers "secondary"
writers. Indeed, and even lower, yet
very good, very entertaining and very
valuable.
Emerson then offers three practical
rules, to-wlt: (1) Never read any book
that is not a year old. (2) Never read
any but a famed book. (3) Never read
any but what you like. The first two
of these rules may be passed without
much dissent. The last one holds much
error; for there are books best books
lhat one -must, read, though he mayJ
not -like them, at the beginning. In his
tory, literature and science there are,
many things that must be "grubbed
out," under taskmasters. Part of the
effect Is stimulation of the Indolent
mind to activity; part of It the acqui
sition of necessary knowledge. Un
doubtedly much time Is wasted In
dawdling and droning over books that
one and another never can understand;
but the possible gain Is worth the ef
fort. As to. light and ephemeral publica
tions, one thing we may be sure of,
namely, that enough of them always
will be read. Such publications seem
destined to appear Indeed in constantly
increasing numbers, and to be read
more and more; for as time goes on
people take more and more interest In
the world they live in. They will read
today's newspaper, however poor much
of Its matter, because it has the breath
of today's life in It. They will give
their attention more readily to a clever
story In the latest magazine than to
Jane Austen's "Emma" or "Persua
sion," because the atmosphere of those
tales is not, and that of the new story
is, their own atmosphere. In spite of
all denunciation of the ephemeral stuff
that comes from the press today, In
greater quantities than ever before. It
is better, we firmly believe, to read this
matter if it be decent than not to read
at all. But what Is wanted Is increas
ing effort to direct the young mind
into channels of more profitable ready
ing. Such effort In the household,
where It should mainly be employed, Is
too "generally neglected.
MISUSE OF INSURANCE FUNDS.
To an onlooker there Is something
grotesque in the condition of affairs in
the Insurance world, now filling every
newspaper in the United States. As a
Illy of the field, tolling not nor spin
ning, Mr. James H. Hyde, son of the
founder of one of the great life Insur
ance corporations, could have basked in
the sunshine the livelong day. Proba
bly neither policy-holders nor agents
would have raised any question as to
his right to enjoy unlimited dividends
on his limited amount of stock to the
end of his idle life. Unfortunately for
him, It seems to have occurred to him
that he had talents as a president, as a
speculator, as an "underwriter," which
It would be sinful to keep burled. ' Con
sidering the atmosphere In which he
was born and raised, he may be partly
excused for the theory on which he has
lived and operated for a few . short
years. The Equitable was to him first
"our." and then "my," estate. The
sense of proprietorship In it all, office,
agents, funds, speculations, invest
ments, betrays itself In every mani
festo, or rescript he has been ill-advised
enough to publish. The worst of
It Is that even now, when the policy
holders are in arms to protect them
selves against him and his following,
there should be so much .fighting
ground on which he can be Intrenched
through the wiles of the shrewdest law
yers In the land.
Does the Equitable belong to the policy-holders,
whose hard-earned premi
ums have created the mighty volume of
its assets, or to Mr. Hyde, and the rest
of the stock-holders, who represent, by
Inheritance or by purchase, the trivial
sum Invested in the original capital on
which the foundations of this greatness
were laid? If It be argued by the policy-holders
that the structure as it
stands today is theirs to direct and con
trol, may not a question be raised as to
how far rights of present policy-holders
may date back to a time before the en
trance of each or any one of them Into
contract relations with the corporation?
Was It not by the surplus store of
honey brought to this hive by genera
tions of workers now .dead and gone,
each carrying home more than he could
Individually claim or use, that this vast
reserve of sweetness has been accumu
lated? May it not be that the stock
holders will present evidence that all
dead policy-holders' claims have been
met, that all present policy-holders'
claims In prospect are more than .am
ply provided for. and that therefore the
surplus of this four hundred millions
we hear of Is the legitimate property of
these present representatives of the
founders of the last generation? "Were
it possible to go back in the records of
the office to past years, and, by labor
unbounded and account-keeping skill
unparalleled, determine how and when
the surplus over each year's due de
mands grew, to whose credit should
such sums be carried?
Such prospective pickings for the De
pews and dhoates who are gathered for
the fray It is to be regretted that it is
not possible for some arbitration to be
vested with unlimited confidence and
unlimited power to cut through this
tangle and lay down the principles of
what should be a final decree. Some
things he would surely do. Every dol
lar proved to have been made by presi
dent, director, manager or confidential
officer, directly or Indirectly, by use of
the society's funds, as either buyer or
seller of securities or property, would
be ordered repaid with Interest. Trus
tees have no business to -profit by secret
and Illegitimate use of trust funds.
Publicity and prompt reparation would
be the lightest punishments. Next the
statutes of a broken law would be en
forced. Each and every one of these
offenders would be evicted from the of
fice he had disgraced and disqualified
from future opportunities of wrong
doing. "Were it urged in their defense
that in spite of the sums they had
gained by their unlawful trading with
trust money, the corpus of their trust
was Intact and the obligations to the
assured provided for, would It not -be
answered that such replies showed that
they either evaded or were blind to the
real gravamen of the charge? "Were it
said in their behalf that they bore un
sullied names, that they were capable
and experienced managers, that the es
sential Interests of the corporation they
served were always deemed safe in
their hands, and that public confi
dence had followed and remarked their
management, what then? The crushing
answer would be. The worse for you.
.Such conditions resulted in opportuni
ties for secret and unlimited self-enrichment.
In using your trusteeship
and the facilities it gave you to fill your
own pockets there is both the essen
tial and the statutory wrong.
It Is a big storm. Electricity Is vi
brating and sparkling in the air. If it
yet blows over, so much the worse for
the Nation. In these affairs the read
justment of the entire atmosphere Is of
the first necessity. The laws governing
these Institutions are not at fault. In
the State of New York in particular
investments of insurance funds are pre
scribed and carefully guarded. That
the directors should interpose a per
sonal profit between the accumulation
of these funds and their investment arid
use seems not -to have "been- foreseen. If
this -pernicious practice be now ended
for good, and, all in cases of the Equita
ble and Its rivals, tie good example will
spread, it is to be hoped, to all other
corporations and societies. So will one
great blot on the National escutcheon
be wiped out.
A PARTY'S FUTURE.
It is a curious manifestation of the
workings of the Democratic mind that
Thomas Jefferson Is the popular fountain-head
of all varieties of true Demo
cratic doctrine. Jefferson has been
dead nearly eighty years. He never
heard or dreamed of many thinss now
embodied In the Incongruous Bryan and
Parker philosophies. He was an indi
vidualist, an expansionist, a protection
ist, an anti-Federalist, a radical and a
conservative, a decentralizatlonist and
a sound-money advocate. Bryan Is a
"radical," but nothing else that Jeffer
son was. Parker is in accord with Jef
ferson in some things.
"Why do both the radical Democracy
and the put-on-the-brakes Democracy
pass over Seymour, Tilden;' Hendricks,
Cleveland and other great Democrats
who were successful leaders of a pow
erful party, in order to canonize a saint
who was consistently and vehemently
opposed to most of the things the latter-day
Democracy stands for, so far as
It stands for anything? Mr. Bryan
proceeds on the theory that, because he
can find nothing in Jefferson's speeches
or writings opposed to Government
ownership of railroads, therefore he
must have been for It Mr. Parker Is
down on the trusts there were" no
trusts in Jefferson's days and proposes
to organize a "party of ideas." It Is in
teresting to recall that in his recent
speech at the New Tork Jefferson day
banquet he pointed directly at the
Bryan wing in tlui following: "
If we are to deal effectively with these va
rious Issue?, whether In opposition or in
power. It will be necessary to have a real
party with real followers, attached to real
and recognized principles. It Is not enough
that it shall have a collection of fads, many of
them useless and 'some of them dangerous and
opposed to the historic position of our organ
ization. Wc have already had too many of
these, because It la safe to assert of a policy
that If -It is radical It Is not democratic; If
It is democratic It Is not radical.
Here is a direct blow at Bryanlsm and
radicalism. The Parker Democracy
wants none of It. It will never be rec
onciled to the Bryan leadership, and
will remain ever In avowed hostility to
it. But the Parker following recog
nizes, as do all others, the strong social
istic tendencies of the party, and pro
tests In vain against them. Bryan Is
going ahead with his great scheme of
reorganization, and the old-liners can
follow or bolt, just as they see fit The
new Democracy found Its voice In the
Chicago banquet, when Bryan came out
for Government ownership of railroads
and municipal ownership of other pub
lic utilities. The old Democracy was
heard at the New York banquet when
Parker and Herrlck talked about lib
erty, corruption, the tariff and regula
tion of railroads and monopolies.
The two wings of Democracy are as
far apart as the poles. They will never
get together, and they do not want to
unite, except on the basis of absolute
surrender of one faction or the other.
Bryan will not surrender and Parker
cannot. The Democracy of the future
the near future Is to be the Bryan De
mocracy, and it is to out-Bryan the old
Bryan Democracy and out-Debs the
Debs Socialists. It is clear, too, that
there Is full expectation on the part of
Mr. Bryan that the Roosevelt policies
will split the Republican party, and
that the radicals there will have no
haven but the Bryan camp. It Is on
this theory alone that Democratic
support, In and out of Congress, of this
Administration's war on monopoly and
the railroads can be. explained. If
Bryan can recruit a large following
from the Republicans, the loss from the
defection of Parker and his conserva
tives will be made up. Indeed, It is
Bryan's only show for final success,
though at best it Is only a hope. If the
proposed legislation for control of the
railroads Is blocked by the United
States Senate, we may look for the
loudest kind of cry from Mr. Bryan
for Government ownership of railroads
Immediate or ultimate and owner
ship of public utilities, whatever they
are. Then the Democratic -party will be
the true Socialist party.
TIMELY BUT SURPRISING.
The so-called medical press exists for
the doctors, "and that Is why It af
fords such admirable reading at times
for the rest of us," as the Saturday
Evening Post puts It. In evidence of
this, the Medical News, in quoting the
advantage of hospital practice for the
newly graduated physician, tells some
plain truths about the inadequacy of
the best theoretical Instruction In
therapeutics, as follows: "This instruc
tion is not a completed edifice. It Is a
mere assemblage of building material
valuable If ultimately cemented to
gether by clinical experience, but little
more than useless rubbish If not sup
plemented by the binding power of
knowledge gained at the bedside."
This expression of duly qualified opin
ion is especially timely just now. Our
medical colleges are turning out gradu
ates whose knowledge of the power of
healing is gleaned largely. If not wholly,
from the text-books. Yet In the face of
this fact young men, and In a lesser
proportion young women, start out in
great numbers with only their diplomas
as -certificates of ability, to gain experi
ence by experimenting upon the sick in
their own homes, practically unsuper
vised by physicians of experience.
Examinations for hospital positions
are necessarily competitive, and more
than half of each year's graduates be
gin a general practice upon what the
oretical knowledge they have gained
from medical lectures. Some, after
much stumbling and many blunders
disastrous to suffering humanity, over
come ignorance and attain real profi
ciency; others, beginning with deeply
rooted misconceptions, are doomed to
perpetual blunders that will cost the
public dear.
This is in substance the estimate or
warning of the Medical News. To this
the Post adds: "The worst of It all is
that the old docfors also are likely to
err through Ignorance of recent ad
vances in a profession that Is rapidly
developing new fields." From these
two statements It seems that the public
is likely to catch it whichever way It
turns. The only,- or at least the safest,
recourse is In regular habits and the
observance of well-known sanitary
rules, and, when sickness befalls, pa
tience, rest and dependence upon the
recuperative powers of the body. There
are times, of course, to quote further
the opinion of the Post, when the worst
physician Is better than none at all.
But it is not at all unlikely that many
people die from too much rather than
too little treatment, mechanical and me
dicinal. The wiest doctors, when they
talk In confidence with one another,
are frank incknbwiedglngJLhe difficul
ties ihVtbeset-' the "art of healing and
the futility of much of what passes for
remedial measures. The surprise of
this criticism of "much that passes for
treatment" Is -In -the publicity given it
by a medical journal of accredited authority.
R05IANCE AND HISTORY.
Ezra Meeker, in his latest historical
work, made a martyr of Leschl, the
Puget Sound Indian, who, In the Inter
est of the white man's civilization and
by order of Governor Stevens, was
hanged nearly fifty years ago. Unfor
tunately for peace and harmony In his
torical ranks, in placing Leschl on a
pedestal Mr. Meeker felt called upon to
make a few poignant thrusts at the late
Governor Stevens. This attempt to
shatter an Idol dear to most Washlng
tonlans provoked a very spirited show
of resentment from Professor Edmond
S. Meany, of the Washington State
University, who Is remarkably well
versed in Washington history. Yet
Meany's attempted climinlation of
Leschl from the ranks of martyrs will
prove distasteful to many who are un
familiar with either side of the contro
versy. In literary circles of the East,
where the book trade finds Its markets,
much liberty with facts can be excused
if a halo of romance can be suspended
over the head of some made-to-order
hero.
And perhaps, after all, this "poet's
license" is permissible to a degree. If
administered In medium-sized doses, for
it has added much to the Interest if not
to the value of history of the Pacific
Northwest. Errors of judgment or
plain, ordinary "guesswork" might
form fairly good grounds on which to
excuse some of our earlier historical ro
mancing. For example: Apostolos "Va
lerlanos, better known as Juan de Fuca,
sailed into the straits which bear his
nom de plume In 1592, and wandered
back to "Venice four years later with a
wonderful story that he had discovered
the mythical "Straits of Anian," the fa
bled Northwest passage, supposed to
connect the Atlantic with the Pacific.
Had the Greek navigator stuck to facts
and reported that he sailed north to
about latitude 48, and then entered a
broad inlet in which he beat around
for many days, he would have made a
fairly accurate report of what actually
happened.
But Juan de Fuca gilded his gold by
stating that this inlet in which he beat
about for twenty days was the Pacific
outlef of the Northwest passage. It
made a pleasing story, but it cost Spain
blood and treasure whenever In after
years she attempted to verify it. Com
ing down to more recent chronicles, we
find the late Washington Irving draw
ing the long bow In his delightful story
of the early settlement of the Lower
Columbia. There was nothing prosaic
about the Ill-fated Astor enterprise,
even had the yarn been spun without
introduction of any threads of fancy
and romance. Another case of roman
tic garbling of history was that in
which the Eastern worshipers of heroes
and martyrs assert "Whitman saved
Oregon." Whitman was a good man,
and his, work with the pioneers of the
Oregon territory won for him a lasting
place in history. But his great ride
across the continent, which formed the
groundwork for the oft-repeated ro
mance that he saved Oregon, was a
feat in which nothing of Importance
was accomplished for Oregon, and no
real history was made. "How Whit
man Saved Oregon" has supplied the
theme for many a thrilling song and
story, but there really is but little more
truth In the story-than In that of "How
Juan De Fuca Discovered the North
west Passage."
Of course, the attempt of Mr. Meeker
to place Leschl In the ranks of the mar
tyrs Is riot In the same class as some of
these earlier historical romances, for
there are still living witnesses who can
testify on both slde3 of the present con
troversy. For the student who will
read history only If it Is sufficiently
colored to make It interesting, prefer
ence will be given Mr. Meeker's version.
Governor Stevens was an unsenti
mental patriot whose place in history is
secure, but he was not a martyr, and to
a certain class of readers an Indian
martyr is a more Interesting character
than a white patriot.
Civilization has moved up well pas't
the era where tradition and "hearsay"
jangled and tangled our early history,
and we now have the records. We may
have eliminated much of the fiction, ro
mance and poetry which cast a glamor
over many of the happenings of the old
days, and, If restrictions were placed on
the operations of historical romancers,
literature might suffer; but from now
on history and romance must travel
separate paths. With the modern news
paper giving the people minute details
of a battle that Is being fought ten
thousand miles away and getting It be
fore them while the conflict Is still rag
ing, the facilities for recording history
are certainly perfected to a stage where
our descendants will not be bothered
by any questionable points produced by
mixing historical history with romantic
romance.
THE BABY HOME AND ITS WORK.
Dedication of the new Baby Home
building, In the Waverly tract, yester
day, was the culmination of years of
self-sacrificing endeavor on the paff of
a few faithful workers, the generous
benefactions of a number of friends of
humanity who have .gone hence, and
the timely gifts of many citizens to
this most tender charity.
The purpose of this organization Is
briefly and simply expressed In its
name. There Is no ambiguity of mean
ing in the two words "Baby Home."
It does not require the play of the
Imagination to Interpret the purpose of
an organization thus named. Through
the Baby Home, in the decade and a
half of Its existence, several hundred
Infants have passed from the early
weeks or months of human helpless
ness on through sheltered babyhood and
happy early childhood Into homes se
cured for them by officers of the Insti
tution, through the public schools, and
are now on the verge of useful man
hood and womanhood.
The work is a beneficent one. Or
phaned, or worse than orphaned, babies
represent human life in its most help
less and pitiful aspect. There have
been under the shelter of the Baby
Home, since It was first opened in nar
row, unsuitable, inconvenient quarters,
infants whose mothers died at their
birth and whose fathers, with the help
lessness of poor men thus situated,
turned to that Institution as al veritable
house of refuge for their motherless
babes; Infants whose mothers had been
cruelly deserted by the fathers of their
babes, and who welcomed the Baby
Home as a place In which they could
leave their helpless ones while they
went Ow to work; infants whose legal
right tp.;be in the worldvyasl nptque
tlined,:hut "both of 'whose parents 'haa
passed from earth; infants worse than j
orphaned, whose parents had "Jarred J
Dirtnright of home and love; and, now
and then, alas, an Infant has been left
upon the doorstep of the Baby Home,
Its abandonment thus suggesting the
shadow of shame that darkened Its en
trance Into life. Of these classes of
homeless Infants, those of cruelly de
serted mothers have been perhaps the
most frequent Inmates of the Baby
Home; next In number come those, one
or both of whose parents have died.
The last class above enumerated has
been the smallest one passed through
the Institution to the care of foster par
ents. This briefly outlines the work of the
Baby Home through many strenuous
years. For obvious reasons the real
work of the Institution, its manifold
details, Its far-reaching influence upon
the lives of Its wards ,lts usefulness to
the community and the state, must for
ever remain unwritten. All thoughtful,
observant people must acknowledge Its
value In these ways that cannot be re
corded or enumerated. To such of
these whose attention has been called
to the matter, the long-needed equip
ment for the work in hand, as presented
In the new Baby Home building, will
be gratifying.
May wheat continued In its down
ward course yesterday, making the
most sensational drop of the season,
the. close being an even 10 cents per
bushel lower than the close on the pre
vious day. There is still an opportu
nity for some "fireworks" In the July
option, but the time Is short for pulling
the wreck of the May deal together, and
there Is strong probability that the
cereal will be permitted to stand on Its
merits, which are based on the law of
supply and demand, until some other
manipulator takes hold of the market.
The work of the bullish operators in
Chicago was highly beneficial to the
farmers of Oregon and Washington, for
this season at least. Had the big crop
harvested been forced to seek the usual
channels to market in Europe, the price
received would have been from 10 cents
to 20 cents per bushel less than was
realized on the stock that was shipped
East by rail. Taking one year with an
other, however, nothing is gained by
the unnatural forcing of the market up
or down, and a return to legitimate
conditions will not be unwelcome.
The late Democratic victory in Chi
cago acted as a tonic to the drooping
spirits of William J. Bryan. The ef
fect was to loosen the long-bounden
tongue of the quadrennial Presidential
candidate and make It give forth gleeful
sounds. Its effects were so exhilarat
ing that the Democratic statesman
even went beyond himself and declared
President Roosevelt entitled to the
moral and substantial support of the
people. He, however, sagely remarked
that it is too far ahead to tell anything
about the men or issues of 130S. He is
wise at least In keeping his hopes in
abeyance and his thoughts to himself In
regard to the next Presidential cam
paign. The present Is not a good time
to air them.
Joseph Jefferson, beloved of thou
sands. Is on the farther verge of life.
Family and friends hope that the
shadow o death now hovering over the
aged actor may pass for a time, but
nothing farther than this is in the line
of human expectation. The world out
side the home where he lies, feebly bat
tling for a brief tenure of life, or quietly
waiting the approach of kind Nature's
messenger of release, can only wait
reverently the announcement that
sooner or later must tell of his passing.
The Hamburg-American Steamship
Company has christened Its new liner
"America." If there's anything in a
name, she ought to make the marvelous
Deutschland look like a canal-boat
when the speed contest is considered.
The dimensions of the America indicate
that "big steamers are still popular in
the Atlantic trade. The vessel Is of
22,500 tons register, with a cargo ca
pacity of 16,000 tons and accommoda
tions for 4000 passengers and crew.
Nearly 10,000 foreigners came into
New York on four steamers Friday, and
the record for the month to that date
was well In excess of 60,000. If this
business is maintained at its present
proportions, the increasing demand for
labor will be Insufficient to take care of
the supply. History repeats, and some
of the men who are now striking for
higher wages may be striking for work
in the not far distant future.
"Where has the money gone?" asks
an investor who Is suing Thomas W.
Lawson. The question is as old as
horsetrading, but it has echoed down
the ages without. eliciting a satisfactory
answer. As well ask where Spring
goes, or youth, or the old moons, or
pins, or much-needed collar buttons.
They all go, just go, no man knows
where.
They say at Chicago that the politi
cians who are forcing "municipal own
ership" are of the same gang that gave
away, corruptly "granted." all the
franchises. Now they are engineering
the scheme to buy everything back, at
enormous cost to the city profiting
themselves by the transactions both
ways.
Let not the brother who got pinched
on the great wheat deal at Chicago
"squeal." Nobody will sympathize with
him. "Ay, 'tis just the fashion; where
fore do you look upon the poor and
broken bankrupt there?"
So many liquor saloons ought not to
have-been licensed near the entrance of
the Exposition. .Indeed, none at alL It
is no pleasant Impression that visitors
will have from running the gauntlet of
the liquor shops.
Roosevelt has been already suggested
as a candidate for the Mayoralty of
New York in 1910, so that it looks as
If he will soon have few dates vacant
between this and the end of the cen
tury. It is obviously one thing for France to
Issue orders for the Russian fleet to
leave French territorial waters, and an
other for the Russians to leave.
Public opinion is a failure as umpire
in the RojestvenskyrTogo game. .
The Igorrotes wear the original
peek-a-boo costumes. ,
The wheat seems to haves' cornered
Mr. Jofih .Wi Gates. " . .
NOTE ANDCOMMENf.
Young Mr. -Hyde, of the Equitable, can
write letters about as well as Thomas
W. Lawson.
Neutrality Is something that a big na
tion may, and a small nation must keep.
Colonel Bill Greene is going hunting In
Old Mexico. His quarry -will not be Law
son this time.
She was a fat little girl, and she went
Into a local store to get a pair of shoes.
"You're a fat girl, aren't you?" said the
salesman. "You shouldn't eat so much."
"What difference does that make?" re
plied the little girl. "The food doesn't go
Into my legs."
In Their Easter Egffs.
Rojestvensky: Togo.
Roosevelt: Grizzlies, coyotes, rabbits,
bobcats, etc.
Taft: Anti-fat. ,
The Czar: A bomb. ' ."
The moujlk: A yolk.
James H. Hyde: Alexander.
McCredle: Angelic scalps.
Inside or an esrjz: is the yolk.
And In this is a bit of a jolk.
For If yolk were spelled yoke
Some would laugh till they'd cholk.
And their-pals the poor punster would sotk.
Some women are so distinguished- that
they needn't wear a new hat today; oth
ers are so broke they can't.
The grand jury in Chicago is investi
gating the manufacture of sausages.
Here, Fldo!
Dear old Tommy Lawson, of Bosting, is
not dead yet. On the contrary, he Is very
much alive, and waits anxiously for Pan
ic that will smash up most everyinlng or
ganic and Morganlc.
It Is strange that some enterprising cor
respondent does not hover over President
Roosevelt's hunting grounds in a balloon.
Hiram Cronk. the last survivor of the
War of 1S12. was 105 last Wednesday, but
he refuses to die, although the New York
Aldermen have voted him a public funeral
when he will accept. With such an in
ducement one would expect a rush for the
tomb.
A Chicago girl, who worked In a drug
store, has sued her employer for $15,000
damages because he hugged her. It seems
grasping to ask money from a man who
merely took an obvious way of express
ing appreciation of his clerk's attention
to duty.
The Garden of Eden from the top of the
apple tree wasn't a marker to the garden
of millinery as seen from the pulpit.
Lawson has boiled over again.
Now that there is a fashion of painting
telegraph poles, and so forth, some one
might put a coat of paint on the two
Igorrote chiefs who are In Portland.
Almost time for the "Is-it-hot-cnough-for-you"
man.
Probably the artful plan of having the
heavy character see the hero's little col
lection of books and thereby judge his
character will never be abandoned. In
two or three recent magazine stories the
sood old scheme Is freely used. Up In the
mountain cabin one finds a tattered Keats,
a well-thumbed Shelley and a dog's-eared
Milton, mixed up with a Complete Taxi
dermist, a Manual of Poker and Lara
broso on Depraved Noses. ,
The President is even stopping to say
"Bully 1" .
What Is wanted at Kamranh Bay Is a
cop to sing. out "Step lively" to Rojest
vensky. Perhaps if the lilies toiled and span
they might hope to compete with the
hats.
The Igorrotes we're having their suits
pressed when they were photographed.
France Is being as neutral as she can
be without being neutral.
Philadelphia wants to be the reatirig
placo of John Paul Jones. Very proper.
Rider Haggard discovered that this is
a big country, and that's something.
WEX. J.
Municipal Ownership.
Astoria Dally News.
By electing Judge Dunne Mayor of
Chicago that city declared In favor of
making the biggest experiment as yet
made in the United States of municipal
ownership of "public utilities." by pur
chasing and operating the street rail
ways. Should the experiment be a suc
cess there will be a tremendous Increase
In the demand for Governmnt owner
ship of railroads. Should It fail Social
ism will receive a deathblow In this
country.
Because municipal ownership of rail
roads works well In Glasgow and Man
chester,. England, Is not a sufficient rea
son for predicting it will work well In
Chicago or other American cities. A gen
tleman who has great reputation as a
careful Investigator of things he writes
about, recently wrote:
"Glasgow Is said to be the best gov
erned city in the world. The same Is
claimed for Manchester, England. They
are well governed, these cities of the
old world, because there is no 'graft'
in their municipal government. The
town of Glasgow is run on the same
basic principle that the Bank of Glas
gow is run. Over there a hobo has no
more voice in the city government than
he has in the deliberations of the board
of directors of the biggest shipyard on
the Clyde. Hero the vote of the most
miserable wharf rat of the East Sido
weighs as much as the vote of Astor,
who pays taxes on 10,000 or more
houses. As long as our city fathers
are chosen by universal suffrage, mu
nicipal ownership will be worse than
lunacy; it will be idiocy. Municipal
ownership will succeed when our af
fairs are run exactly like a bank by
the men who own the city. Municipal
ownership will be a failure as long as
there Is polities In a city election, no
matter how radically you circumscribe
the electorate. There is no more legiti
mate place for politics In a city eloction
than there Is in a church government."
Ditoo, Ditto, Ditto.
Seattle Daily Times.
A few weekly publications In the Pa
cific Northwest, and a very few dally
publications without news service, are
quite disgusted because the publishers
of the Seattle Dally and Sunday Times
do not furnish them with copies of the
Dally and Sunday Times gratuitously
and do tifot fall to whine about the mat
ter about so often an insignificant pub
lication up at Blaine being the last. If
these fellows can give a logical reason
for a contribution of $7.80 per annum
respectively by the publishers of the
Times, then such publishers will con
sider with earn and fairness whether
these small publishers shall be put upon
the Times' charity list. Butuntll some
reason is shown why such contribution
should be made the present method will
be continued and for the simple reason
that these publications depend upon
the great dailies for nine-tenths of
their outside information for which
said dailies pay; very heavy toll
THE TR0UBLES0F A TRUST.
"I'll have the law on ye," shouts the
outraged yeoman at the retreating form
of the trespassing hunter who has torn
down the pasture fence or left the gate
open.
'Til have the law on ye," is the final
threat of the small operator when he
has been fenced in, locked In or frozen
out by his stronger neighbors. Since
memory runneth there have been laws
made and provided for redress of the
former, and just now there is a more or
less concerted effort to back up the
latter In his violent threat. , No less puis
sant authority than' the United States
Supreme Court once upon a time, some
years since, placed a ban upon what it
was pleased to term "unlawful com
binations in x-estraint of trade." Since
then the wisdom of many magistrates
has been invoked to the end that the
meaning of this sounding phrase might
be made clear and such "combinations
in restraint of trade" be brought to
book. It has been a Herculean task
and only recently has the effort begun
to touch upon the edges of success.
An intangible something, convenient
ly known as a trust," variously In oil
or beef or railroads, has met the un
happy fortune of microscopic scrutiny
by courts and Legislatures. Bacon and
kerosene and freight rates touch most
of us Intimately, and it was but natural
that they should come first to the at
tention of those who seek to "right real
or fancied commercial wrongs; but a
commodity which has an important mar
ket Interest to the majority of Ameri
cans is theatrical entertainment; and
this, too, has apparently attracted the
cupidity of the dealers to the extent
of combination in restraint of trade.
The Oregonian has previously spoken
of the efforts of David Belasco. an In
dependent theatrical manager, to "have
the law on" the so-called theatrical
trust. In view of the disclosures
brought about by the suit of Mr. Be
lasco against the firm of Klaw &. Er
langer It seems pertinent to stiy more
in this connection.
Tnere was a period in the history of
the modern drama when theatrical en
tertainments were given in the public
highway, the inn courtyard, or the vil
lage green. Gradually established play
houses developed, crude enough in the
beginning, but making possible our pres
ent theaters and an organized busi
ness of catering to the demand for
theatrical entertainment. The story of
the trend toward the present theatrical
trust reads very much as the romance
which begins with the smith's little
shop under the spreading tree, and ends
with the steel trust and Its mighty
mills. The giving of plays and the
welding of steel and the selling of oil
became profitable. Those men who en
gaged themselves In the employment
waxed prosperous and became greedy.
They sought to restrict tile profit
sharing to a few of the best of them
and they were not over particular as
to the methods of such restriction.
They succeeded so well that we' have
the Standard Oil. United States Steel "
and Klaw & Erlnnger.
Individual effort was . discouraged
and thosn who had the temerity to at
tempt the manufacture of steel, the re
fining of oil or the production of plays
independently of these trusts were
marked for destruction. Llttlfr more
than a decade ago Marc Klaw and Abe
Erlunger were penniless and unknown.
They raked together a few hundreds of
dollars and started an obscure theatri
cal booking agency. Their business was
to supply "provincial" managers with
attractions at a certain ' commission to
themselves. They proved thrifts, for
it was In the golden days of theatrical
profits' In America. Gradually the lim
its of their activity were extended.
They bought, leased or built theaters, a
lew. They made play productions, a
few. They employed playwrights and
actors in considerable numbers, but
mostly they relied on their "five per
cent" to fill their coffers.
They incorporated in syndicate and took
such "representative managena and pro
ducers as Hayman and the Frohmans
into the concern. They needed their
frlondlv offices and ass-eta. There were
others." notably David Belasco and Harri
son Grey P'teke, who did not become a
part of "the system" cither through
choice or lack of opportunity, and these
outlanders proceeded to transact their
business in their own way and without
the aid or consent of the trust. This was
foreign to all trtift plans, and a consistent
effort on the Klaw-Erlanger part was
commenced to punish the "independents."
The trust magnates publicly announced on
one occasion that they would "crush Be
lasco and drive him out of business in 90
duys." They came near doing It. Other
Independent managers were starved out
or forced to enter the service of the syn
dicate in minor capacities. One by one
they failed or fell Inside the trust breast
works, until David Belasco and Fiske
stood practically alone. Then the fight
was- centered entirely on them, partlcular
lv Belasco. and he has been holding hi3
own against terrific odds. It is more than
two years since the doom of Belasco was
pronounced, and he is still In the theatri
cal business: in fact, is said to be enjoy
ing the greatest degree of prosperity in
the history of his career. After being
driven almost to the wall, he has turned
upon the "system" and Is making life
something of a burden for the smug gen
tlemen who have fattened for many full
years on the "5 per cent."
The past season has been a profitable
one for Belasco and Fiske and a disas
trous one for Klaw & Erlanger. To crown
the sorrows of the latter, they have been
forced Into court by the Indomitable Be
lasco, and are daily being asked unpleas
ant questions about their methods. They
have even been subjected to the humilia
tion of showing their books to the curi
ous, and, as the case proceeds, mattera
seem growing worse. The present cause
of action against them is some $50,000 al
leged to have been wrongfully taken by
them out of the profits of one of Mr. Be
lasco's productions, tho $50,000 having
been, their "per cent" for permitting Mr.
Belasco to present his play to the Amer
ican public.
To make matters worsa for Messrs.
Klaw & Erlanger they are threatened
with dimensions within the syndicate.
Charles Frohman, who anon was wont to
figure in large type on the "three sheets"
as "presenting" most of the luorative New
York successes, docs not relish being over
shadowed, bottled up and stowed away
within the syndicate while his theaters
and plays suffer from the common disas
ter which seems to have overtaken all
trust enterprises. He is becoming restless
and having earned the title of "Napoleon
of the Theater," Is likely to make trouble
for the heads of the house. Under his
leadership the thousands of other man
agers who now suffer the trust's dicta
tion, may shortly revolt and crush Klaw
& Erlanger much more effectively than
David Belasco and all the "independents"
could hope to do. The anti-trust tide is
rising around the theatrical syndicate.
The public Is against it almost with the
same unanimity as it is against Standard
Oil. The Equitable has Its Hyde, and It
looks as If very shortly the theatrical syn
dicate were to have its Klaw & Erlanger.
What with dissension on the inside and
Belasco on the outside "having the law
on them," the "system" seems to be lrtkp
hard lines. The weather forecast for tho
RIalto Is for squalls and thunder storms.
Belasco may not, be able to bust the trust,
but all. signs indicate that It will shortly
go to pieces through the mutiny of its
crew.