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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1906)
6 THE SUNDAY OBEGOXIAX, PORTLAND, JANUARY 21, 1906. m Entered at. the rostofflce at Portland. Or as Second-Class Matter. SUBSCRIPTION BATES. CT INVARIABLY IX ADVANCE. a (By Mall or Express.) DAILY. SUNDAY INCLUDED. Twelve- months f-,2 Elx months Three months 'Zr One month Delivered toy carrier, per year-- Jfs Delivered by carrier, per month Leaa time, per -week - rij Sunday, one year - - : f.f! Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday)... Sunday and Weekly, one year "" HOW TO REMIT Send postofflce money brder. express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency aro at tho Bender's risk. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICE. The S. C. Beck with Special Af-ency New York, rooms 43-50. Tribune building. Chi cago, rooms 510-512 Tribune building. KEPT ON SALE. Chicago Auditorium Annex. Postotfice JCews Co., 17S Dearborn street. St. Taul, Minn. N. St. Marie, Commercial Station. . Denver Hamilton & Kendrlck, 806-01-Scvcnteenth street; Pratt Book Store. 12H Fifteenth street. (oldfleld, Nov. Guy Marsh. Kansas City, Mo. Rlcksecker Cigar Co., C"inth and Walnut. Minneapolis M. J. Kavanaugh, 50 S. Third. Cleveland, O. James Pushaw, 307 Superior Etreet. , Nerv York City L. Joncrr&'Co., Astor" House. Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnston, Fourteenth end Franklin streets. Ogdcn Goddard & Harrop; D. L. Boyle. Omaha Barkalow Bros.. 1612 Farnam; Mageath Stationery Co.. 1308 Farnam; -46 South 14th. Sacramento, Cal. Sacramento News -o.. 439 K street. .-. Salt Lake Salt Lake News Co.. .7 vesi Second street South; Miss L. Levin, - Church street. Los Angeles B. E. Amos, manager eve? Ftreot wagrns; Berl News Co., S2G South Broadwa . Ssinla Barbara, Cal. B. E. Amos. J'nsadcna, Cal. Berl News Co. San Franclhco J. JC Cooper & Co.. 0 Market street; Goldsmith Bros.. 230 Sutter und Hotel SL. Francis News Stand: L. Le Palace Hotel News Stand; F. VI. Pit". 100S Market; Frank Scott. SO Ellis. Whcatley Movable News Stand, corner Mar Vet and Kearney streets; Foster & Orear, Ferry News Stand. , Washington. 1). C Ebbltt House, Pennsyl vania avenue. PORTLAND. SUNDAY. JANUARY 21. 1000. NEW OREGONIAN 'PHONE. The Morning Oregonlan and Evening Tcle feram have stalled ft private telephone ex change, Main 7070. If anyone desire to communicate !' plume with any drpart jnent of The Orcgonlan or Evening Telegram, let him call Main 7070. The office operator nvlll make the proper call. I'or example. If on desire the rlty editor of The Oregonlan. Vail Main 7070. The operator responds Oregonian and Telegram." Then ask for 'City Editor Oregonlan." .1ACOU RHS AS A TROPHET. Mr. Jacob Riis, the New York phil anthropist, is meritoriously known to Americans for high achievements of at Jeast four different sorts. A poor young snan and a foreigner, he has attained distinction and moderate wealth toy his own efforts. This we all admire. WTe do not always withhold our admiration when the wealth exceeds all possible fruits of honest endeavor and the self made man who gains it has failed to endow himself with any striking qual ity except swinish greed; but in Jacob RHs' case we may ipralse without reser vation both the man he has nfalle of himself and the deeds he has done. A benefactor of his kind, he initiated the war upon the deadly tenements of New York and has waged it courageously and persistently, not without a victory now and then, until complete success seems within sight. . He has fought for parks, playgrounds, open schoolhouses. (public roof gardens for children, baths and pure air. Not only has he wrought mightily and well to assuage human misery In Ohe New York slums, but he has also written good books. In one of them he recounts tho details of that grisly woe which grinds the city poor into mere human muck; in another he tells his own story, what ho came from and how manfully he "struggled upward until, like another Franklin, he was found worthy "to stand before Kings." In still another he narrates the life of Theodore Roosevelt, who, he thinks. Is among the bet and greatest of men. The fourth achievement to praise Mr. Riis for, certainly not ihe least in merit, is his conquest of the friendship and confidence of his hero. So far as Ihe public knows, he holds no office and desires none, but no anon stands closer than he to the President or under stands better Mr. Roosevelt's intimate hopes and fears. "When, therefore, Jacob Riis predicts n. class war between the privileged classes and the mass of the American ipeople, it is difficult not to believ.e that he reflects more or less definitely some color of the President's own apprehen sion. This prediction Mr. Riis made ftuite recently in Cleveland, if the re port is true, adding the two interesting jK)Ints that the contest would obliterate present party lines and that Roosevelt jwould be the leader on the people's side. "The fight," he said, "will be against Ihe. money power," which is steadily advancing toward "the enslavement of all human beings and all homes." It rmay.at once be urged in reply that our Reverence for mere wealth in this coun try is sensibly less now than it was a year ago, for excellent reasons, and that the last elections showed the power of predatory capital to be very slight against an aroused public senti ment. All this is true, but one may imagine Mr. Riis to have had in mind, some sin ister facts which lie not quite so open ao casual observation. Let their weight be what it may, it is perhaps worth while to recount one or two of them, since nothing is gained for either os Irichcs or men by shutting the eyes and hiding the head in the sand. Consider this, then. "Workmen, except small Caxmers, no longer own the tools they labor with, the materials they manipu late, or the (buildings that house them. All these things are owned by capital ists, and the -laborer, to get a chance to earn his 'bread, must pay for the privilege of using' them. That is, the laborer must buy of the capitalist the right to work, and for this rlght he pays a share of what he earns. This payment, which is -none the less real because the workman never actu ally handles 11, is of the nature -of rent, and, ftp several reasons, it tends con tinually to increase. In the first place, ihe pressure of want continually tempts Workmen to underbid one another, -which necessarily causes a downward trend of wages. Organization some what counteracts this tendency, but the eat majority of laboring men are not organized and probably never will be. -Now, not to desert our theme, a fall in Vases means nothing less than ran in- jwafwe of the rent p&ld for -tie nem to work with. Remembering that poor families are more fertile than rich ones, that. In fact, fertility is almost in direct ratio to poverty. It will be seen that this downward tendency of wages is some thing like a law of Nature, and that it grows stronger and stronger through the reaction of its own results. Add to this that. Industry has passed under corporate control and that cor porations look only to dividends with out regard to the worker's welfare. There is no hope that they will sacri fice any possible gain to save the la borer's standard of living. As a matter of fact. It is currently notorious that corporations are always ready to sacri fice the standard of living or the sake of dividends. They even force wages downward, or, in other words, increase the rent upon ppportunlty. One way of doing this is by opposing labor unions, another Is by employing women and children. The latter device absorbs the labor of a whole family for bread in stead of conceding it to the efforts of adult males only, and, of course, rap idly depresses the standard of living. Another way to force wages down is by watering stock. This cuts from the workman's pay enough to make up the dividends on the water, ' as President Roosevelt intimated in his reply to the railroad employes. Society thus, by a sort of law of na ture, falls into two classes between which t,he line of demarcation grows ever more distinct. Will there be war between them, as Mr. Riis predicts? "War is impossible. One class, the enormously wealthy, continuously de creases In numbers; the other, the workers, continuously increases. It is a cautious estimate that the Rockefel ler fortune, should he live to Russell Sage's present age. will amount to $8,000,000,000. Practically all the wealth of the country will, as Judge Grosscup has shown, by that time -be controlled by some half-dozen men. The line-up for a war will display six men on one side, the rest of the Nation on the other. Undoubtedly an energetic move ment for freedom of opportunity will be initiated, but it will be very peace ful. What occasion will there be for war? When the apple is ripe, it falls. CARE Or YOUNG GIKI.S. Judge IT. Cx Smith, of Helena, Mont, recently sentenced a man who had been guilt of criminal assault upon a young girl to five years in the peni tentiary. Before passing sentence he took occasion to speak as follows to the throng that always crowds a court room upon such occasions: There Is another phase of this matter that presents Itself to me and that Is the greatest obligation that rceta upon the parent! f young girls. Of all the eacred duties ime.ted upon parents that of protecting their daughters from danger Is the most sacred and important. In too many cases this 1 loet sight of. I am not speaking of anyone In particular, but It is the solemn, bound on duty of parentis to make thoir homes pleasant; to guard their daughters 'from "evil Influence and compan ion;; to prevent their staying out or the pub lic streets and at places of entertainment at all hours of the night with men and boys, to the end that they may nrri ve -at woman's estate pure and unsullied, fit to becomes the wives of honest men and mothers of clean minded children. If the precedent of last season is fol lowed, this advice will be timely In this city when, with the opening of Spring, business is resumed at "The Oaks." It is. Indeed, always timely, but the more so when attractions are planned that lure the young and thoughtless Into paths that lead to shame and dishonor. With the ruin of 100 young girls, as es timated by competent authority, as one of the results of a Summer's "amuse ment," coupled with lack of parental vigilance, it will be well for parents to be jn the alert early and late to pre vent repetition of this appalling record the coming season. A peculiarity in the plea of the Mon tana Judge is that he addresses it to 'parents" instead of to "mothers" only. There is no divided responsibility here, but a joint one, earnest and solemn and which cannot be met by one parent alone. It is often necessary to supple ment maternal admonition by paternal authority, and precede both by parental tact In steering young people away from the most fprmidable rock In the channel of inexperience and awakening Nature themselves. ROOKS TO THE FARM. In city libraries people go to the books. The traveling libraries Installed by the Oregon Library Association take the books to the people. This is not what is intended, but what is actually being accomplished. Farm homes have ever shown hospital ity to the passing traveler. Now their doors are open to Allen and Barr, Mrs. Bishop and Wilklo Collins, Mrs. Craik and Margaret Deland, Anthony Hope and Hawthorne, Tom Brown and Miss Johnston, Mrs. Alice Hogan Rice and Jacob Riis, Sir Walter Scott and Frank Stockton, Mrs. Ward and Booker Wash ington. Choice spirits they are, who go to stay as long as they tare wanted who need no entertaining, but come in swift succession as fast as one or other has given of his best to the little soci ety round the Winter hearth, when the rain beats on the windows but' the backlog burns bright. And It is all almost without cost. A box of fifty-three good books is sent from Salem to the country schoolhouse or literary society at the expense of freight only, and on promise of restora tion of any books lost or badly dam aged. The list before us was published a few days ago in the "Long Creek Ran ger," a Grant County paper. It con tains fifty-three books. The distribu tion is suggestive of an up-to-date knowledge of what suits the average reader. It Is divided as follows: Fic tion, '31; natural history, 2; travel, 5; American history, 6; art, 2; mechanics, 1; sociology. 4; poetry, L and 1 miscel laneous, for It falls under no exact head. . Possibly our grandfathers would have put in less fiction; they surely would have had more poetry, and what we today should call dry books. But let It go without destructive criticism. It is a sure thing that there Is not a book in the entire list to harm boy or maiden. And the life and light nd stimulus to be carried far and wide are good to think of. The next box to our Long Creek friends will contain, it may be hoped, a book or. two on the history and geog raphy, political and commercial, of some other country in the world beyond the limits of the United States. For, after all, history does go back of the Declaration of Independence. And there are "naturalists who arc travelers, whose stories carry more Interest, than the average novel. Then the wonders of science have been told In simple lan guage, easily understood by the com mon people. The poets, too, should have more than one' in fifty represen tation. But those who have made o rood a choice to start with can b trust- Xd tot ee their chance Stnd recimta their responsibilities for the good yet to be done. So will the teaching of the people not stop nvlth the closing behind 'boy or girl of the school door. For the good book is the teacher one chooses of free will. Avhose lesson has been tested by time, and by that common acceptance into the ranks of good literature whose seal is above all -college and univer sity diplomas In" the wide world. Is one satisfied with the passing visit of a new-found friend? No more can one reading of many a good book rec oncile us to close Its pages and put it away. Pass the library books on, clean and unharmed, as. they came to us. Then set In to save money to buy them. Make them your own. In every sense. Intellectual and materiaL Have your friends ready at your call, to see as much of and as often as you desire. A book is a very indestructible posses sion. If, having owned one. you can reconcile yourself to part with It. what better present Is there for your choicest friend? The weak point, of the education of most of us is in the use of the lan guage in which we speak and write. Any words, any sentences, by which our meaning is conveyed are good enough for us. Full of errors, hot with hasty and ill-considered sentences, are both the speaking and writing of most persons. But insonsible correction comes from the language of good books. So the advent of the traveling li brary takes rank with the rural mall and the farm telephone to lift yet an other -burden of dullness from the life of the family on the farm. T.ET HIM 1VORK IT OUT.' When a lad of fifteen or thereabouts "cuts school" and runs aawy from home. It is just s well for his parents to add their blessing and let him shift for himself a while. If he has had proper training up to this time. In his home, he will take care of himself; if not. it is too late to coerce him Into "being good." It 13 well enough to seek him out and keep up communication with him. If possible, but it is the height of folly to attempt to compel him to stay at home or go to school. What the young fellow wants or needs Is ex perience among strangers In the art of making his way In the world. Later on In life he will, like the rest of the world, see where he made his mistake. At present he sees only through the haze of inexperience. "I am letting him work it out for him self," said -a widowed mother of this city a few years ago of a bumptious lad of 17 who had run away from home and school. "I wrlle to him about home matters," she continued, "express a kind interest in him, and send him little birthday and Christmas tokens, but have never asked him to come back," though the wistful look in her eyes and. the nervous movement of her lips told of the effort that It cost her to assume this Indifference. List Christmas the young man invited him self home to dinner, was cordially re ceived, announced that he had secured steady work In the city, and Intimated that he would be very glad to board at homo if his old room was still un occupied. Of course his room was wait ing for him, as It had been all the years of his absence, and he Is Installed there in, a cheerful worker, under .promise of helping his mother and sisters until he has a home of his own. Whether he keeps this promise or not. his mother feels that she did the wise thing in let ting him work out for himself the prob lem of restless, dissatisfied youth, with out futile attempt to coerce him. This incident is recited for the com fort of anxious parents who are seek ing runaway boys resolute, self-sufficient youngsters of from 15 to IS years who have resolved to leave home and school and "do for themselves." Let the boy work out the problem to which he has voluntarily set himself; it will do him good. TO REDUCE RAII.ROAU ACCII1ENTS. A recent number of the Outlook con tains a ""oreful presentment of this subject by Major Charles Do Lnno Hine, a man of West Point training and of practical railroad experience. His view of the subject of railway ac cidents is that of a man who Is well qualified to speak upon the subject, "nothing extenuating and setting down naught in malice." He regards such accidents as largely chargeable to the comparative novelty and. hence, crude ness of railway organization and prac tice. This fact, he asserts, calls for certain broad improvements In general management, which, while they will In volve large expenditure to begin with, will in a few years make full returns to the roads. In the operation of most large railway systems, he says, "good money is wasted through violation of basic principles of organization and ad ministration, sufficient In amount to equip in a few years every mile of rail road with the most approved block sig nals and other safety appliances." If railroads are to avoid governmental regulation, he thinks that their man agers must cultivate a solicitude for human life apart from Its punitive value In dollars and cents. Major Hine does not deal wholly in generalities. Specifying, he finds de moralization among employes as a fruitful cause of accidents on railroads, and this in turn he believes to be due largely to heavy trains. The latter oc casion delays, worry, discouragement and sleepiness, complaint of the latter being often silenced by payment for overtime, which, however, does not suf fice to keep men alert to the point of safety for the train. He therefore urges a reaction in railway operation In favor of shorter freight trains as the first step toward prevention of accidents. Again, he regards railroads- as under staffed with officers. A military regi ment has one officer to every twenty four or thirty men. For the million and a half railway employes there are but about 10,000 general and subordi nate Officials, an average of one to every 150 employes. The insufficient discipline and supervision of this large moving force he finds reflected In "un necessary accidents." Acquiescence by managers In the de liberate disregard for safety regulations In order to "make time" is the third count in this Indictment, and a de served stricture is passed upon the "ad ministrative cowardice" which, when trouble occurs under this violation of rules, "lays all the blame upon the poor fellow at fault." Further immunity from censure at headquarters comes not infrequently from the fact that the same "poor fellow" was Jellied In the accident and his testimony silenced. Turning to labor organizations astthe perpetual thorn in the elde of railroad managers, Major Hine declares that, wlille they are often arbitrary, J. heir MTMiEeti activity, to not infrequently prompted by Insecurity of tenure, which Is preventable. An employe, he urges, "should feel himself enlisted during good behavior in the army of his road, since only when possessed of this feel ing will he do his full duty In prevent ing accidents." It is unreasonable, he contends, to expect the track-walker to be properly vigilant In scrutinizing every bolt and tie on his lonely beat when any day it may be his turn to suffer discharge In order to "reduce the payroll or because the season Is chang ing." The railway accident is one of the great drains upon the commercial life and productive energy of the country. It adds each year thousands to the list of disabled wage-earners and places a heavy burden upon public and private charity. Its loss to the world In- active, useful human life is beyond computa tion. The contention that It can in a great degree be obviated by better methods of railway management in re gard to the points specified deserves earnest attention where it will do the most good among the managers of the great railway systems of the country. As a railroad man of experience, speak ing to railroad men. Major Hine should have an attentive audience. STATE AND NATION. Replying to Mr. W. W. Langhorne, -who writes The Oregonlan an interest ing letter upon the seemingly cndless conflict between the respective merits of Hamilton and Jefferson as states men, some of the facts which he ad duces must be admitted, though It can hardly be allowed that his Inferences from them are correct. The Oregonlan has never asserted that Hamilton's opinions of "the masses" were just In all respects. It asserted that "he was dur greatest constructive statesman," and this he might well have been, though his views of the common people were erroneous. That he did distrust the masses there can be no doubt, but this should not lower our estimate of his political Judg ment. "Up to Hamilton's time the masses had nowhere shown themselves worthy of confidence. Every popular government, no matter where organized or when, had ended In anarchy or des potism. The elective principle applied to rulers had failed utterly in every case. It had failed in Athens, in Rome, and, most disastrously, in Poland. We must believe that Hamilton had in mind, when he opposed elective rluers. the lamentable example of Poland, whose recent ruin had appalled the world. Possibly also he remembered how viciously the elective principle was working at that very time In the "Holy Roman Empire of Germany." Repeatedly tried under the most varied conditions, it had always brought disaster. It had been discarded even in Holland, the classic land of liberty. There was absolutely nothing in all history to Justify con fidence in the plan of an elected execu tive. Everything was against lu How can we blame a statesman for not re jecting those lessons of history which constitute his only possible guide to conduct? On the other hand, while the hered itary principle had conspicuously failed In many cases, nevertheless it then prevailed In every Important nation which had a tolerable government. Such happiness and prosperity as ex isted In the world anywhere had been attained under hereditary monarchs. Can we be surprised at Hamilton's preference? -Moreover, those who ad vocated an elective executive did not wish him to be a ruler In anj real sense. In their view the Federal Gov ernment was to be little more than a shadow: all actual power was to reside In the sovereign states. They believed in the people no more than Hamilton did. What they wanted was a set of almost independent states, each ruled, not at all by the people, but by a petty oligarchy. The contest in the convention was not between absolutism and popular rights. Those who think so 'read history strangely awry. It was between central and state authority; and such the con test continued down to the Civil War. As a statesman. Lincoln did stand with Hamilton, for he stood for the Nation against the state. How cither of them felt toward the common people is aside from the present issue. The American People as sovereign ruler has slowly emerged and Is still emerging. It is a very different thing from what either Hamilton or Jefferson conceived.' Its capacity Is something entirely new in history. Its genius for government con tradicts all precedents and .belles all prophecies. Jefferson, who was really the advocate of state oligarchies, has gained a glory he docs not deserve as the champion of the people. Hamilton, who stood for the Nation, and whose contention has absolutely prevailed, has gained a discredit he docs not de serve as a foe to popular rights. Pop ular rights were not an Issue in the constitutional convention; the question was between the sovereignty of the state and that of the Nation, and,on this question, all-important then and since, Hamilton was right. If Jeffer son's ideas had prevailed, there would now be no such thing as the American people. Our country would consist merely of a wrangling assemblage of petty oligarchies, all weak and all tyrannical. Under the protection of Hamilton's mighty concept the People has grown to manhood and seized the reins of power. Which, then, was the better friend to the masses? STATE SCHOOL IANDS. A statement given out by State Treasurer Moore snbws that In the last seven years the Irreducible common school fund has Increased from 52,000. 000 to 54,550,000. Tho money In this fund is derived from the sales of state school land donated to the state by'tho United States. The lands sold are such as have beea the subject of many fraudulent transactions in the last ten, twenty or thirty years. While all will rejoice that the com mon school fund ias so rapidly in creased, there are many who will de clare that the state has pursued an un wise policy in disposing of its. lands at km figures, and that, if the land had been withheld, either directly or by fixing the price so high that It would have been kept until values advanced, the assets of the common school fund would now be much greater. This con tention is undoubtedly true. Still, a state t hat Is Inviting Immigration, as Oregon has always done, cannot con sistently adopt a policy of withholding land from sale. A consistent course would have been to offer lands for sale to actual homeseekers upon such terms and conditions as would prevent fraud, and then the state would have retained title to the vast areas that have fallen Into the hands of speculators. So loig mi tM .loe are paMtog Iitto the co w- trol of speculators, there is no force to the argument that the policy of the state should be to sell Its lands. If the fands were to be the basis of specula tion, the state might as well have been the beneficiary of the speculation. If they had been wanted by homeseek ers, the state could not have withheld them consistently. Manifestly the state has not pursued a wise course, for the lands have gone, but not to settlers. The increase of population has been due in small degree, if at all, to sales of state land at low prices. An advance of from 50 to 100 per cent will be made on March 1 on all ma chinery, electrical supplies, and other manufactured articles shipped from the United States to Russia. This is the second increase that has been made in the duty by Russia, and it is put in effect partly for the protection of Amer ican and German manufacturers who have located In Russia, and partly to aid her good friend Germany In the re taliatory tariff war which the Germans are about to institute against the United States. We .have better cus tomers than Russia among the foreign ers. Even Germany buys more goods from us than we ship to Russia, but our trade with the land of the Czar last year amounted to $16,000,000. This trade, together with that of Germany, which is worth many times this amount, will now be lost by our strict adherence to the trust-building tariff. Individually, these protests from - our former friends and customers may not be serious, but if every country which has the same Just cause for complaint that Russia and Germany have should decide to fight us with our own weap ons, there would soon be a commercial and political upheaval that would sweep every "standpatter" into obliv ion. The only excuse over offered by the International Association of Sailing Ship Owners for their unfair discrimi nation against Portland was that ves sels were delayed in the river by storms. Nearly every shipmaster who has sense enough to box the compass knows that rare indeed are the occa sions when a ship cannot cross out of the Columbia, providing It is when it is safe for her; outside. That Portland is no worse off than other ports In this re spect is shown by the following from the Tacoma Ledger of January 19: According to advices from Port Crescent, the ship St. Past la still anchored In Clallam Bay. The St. Paul. Tvbeat-Uden. was towed out from Taeoma, a week ago. hut it la evi dent Captain Snow ha been awaiting the abatement of the storm along the coast before venturinf; out. The St. Paul is bound for San FranclMo. The British bark Australia, which left Ta coma. a eottple of days ago, is also at Clallam Bay waiting for a favorable opportunity to pas? out. Since the St. Paul left Tacoma five grain-laden ships have crossed out of the Columbia, bound for Europe, and more than thirty coasters have crossed In or out during the same period. We can imagine the surprise and in dignation of Lieutenant Charles Pen dleton, of the Manila constabulary, when he was sentenced to life Imprison ment for killing a native policeman. Mr. Pendleton comes from Atlanta, Ga., where the "nigger" Is usually required to stay In the stable and curry the horses and engage in other menial oc cupations that do not run counter to the social sensibilities of men like Pen dleton. The particular "nigger" a po liceman that Pendleton killed refused to light a lamp in a vehicle which Pen dleton was driving, and, being decently drunk and having an active apprecia tion of the great outrage that the of fensive policeman had thus committed by his surprising contumacy, Pendleton pulled his pistol and shot him. Now he must go to jail merely for asserting the dignity and social rights of a gentle man and a soldier. Perhaps one might be able to fix things differently If Presi dent Roosevelt would appoint a Var daman Governor of the Philippines, When the thlrteen-spired cathedral of St- Basil, in the Kremlin at Moscow, was completed. Ivan the Terrible is said to have asked thb architect whether he could duplicate the work. With the pride of an artist he declared he could surpass it. whereupon Ivan caused him to be blinded. This masterpiece as well as other wonders of the Kremlin, which have loomed large In the news columns recently, is described In an Interesting article on page 30 of this issue of The Oregonlan. Had the captain of the good ship Martinique required Monsieur Talgny to show a sanitary certificate, covering both health and morals, before allowing him to come aboard, there would have been no cause for surprise. As a man who had rubbc"d elbows with Castro he would have been a proper subject for fumigation. Senator Piles, whose residence Is in Seattle, demands that his town share in the commissary trade of Vancouver Barracks, which he declares Is monop olized by Portland. With this prece dent. Senator Gearin may properly de mand that Portland share in the com merce created by the Puset Sound Navy-yard, near Seattle. Of course Neva will miss its annual blessing, but Its disappointment will be as nothing compared with that of the nihilists who have been planning to pot the Little Father from behind the grandstand on the river bank. The triumvirate now in charge of the spiritual and material welfare of ZIon City announces that outside money will be welcomed. In this respect, at least, the Dowie policy has not been departed from. ,. Let us not Judge too harshly First Mate Hiller, of the whaler John and Winthrop, who playfully harpooned sailors who earned his - disapproval. Perhaps he .was educated at Annapolis. While the news reports on the subject are silent. It Is a safe guess that Joe Gans, newly victorious pugilist, whoso fame was In eclipse for some time, is not on intimate terms with whisky. The Dowie family and the Clan Mc Curdy seem to be in the same boat. Thus on this earth are thrift, frugality and sanctimonious observance of the family virtues rewarded. Next we shall learn, no doubt, that that angel child Midshipman Meri wether was wont to open his hazing seances with prayer. To reach any department of The Ore gonlan editorial, business or mechan ical call up Main Tf7t, which is a pri- vate exchange. PUBLIC SCHOOLS CRITICISED. When the old farmer objected to his boy studying geography, saying that it his boy knew the way to the potato patch that "was enough geography for him. It was thought that his views were very narrow. But were they any more nar row than the views of the professor who teaches his pupils all about the rivers of Zanzibar but omits the road to the potato patch? I may be narrow, too, but I believe I would rather my boy would know the road to the potato patch and no more, than to know all that Is in his book in geography and not know the way to the potato patch. There would . be some excuse for taking the old man's boy and forever spoiling him for hoeing potatoes if we fitted him for anything else. As a rule, what kind of a product arc our schools turning out? No doubt a number of brilliant statesmen can be pointed out as the product of our schools, but we cannot deny tho fact that our schools have spoiled a whole lot of good potato-diggers, and we need more potato diggers than statesmen. It may be a de batable question whether the good that they have done, outwefghs tho harm or not. What are our common schools for? As I understand It. they arc supposed to prepare our youths for the practical affairs of life. They should furnish the foundation, and a good substantial found ation It should be, on which they may erect such a superstructure as meets their tastes and desires, and the schools arc overreaching themselves when they at tempt to add the superstructure. Thero Is a well-grounded belief that our common school course of study has too much In It. and that a3 more and more has been added it has becn at the ex pense of the fundamentals. As new mat ter has been added other and more Im portant matter has been necessarly slight ed. To see the volumes In the form ot text-books that some of our children have to master, or rather go through, con firms one In this belief. Pupils are hur ried on Into algebra and geometry who can hardly add a column of figures and get a correct result. "What shall I do for busy work?" Is a question often heard at Institutes. Sup pose you set for your pupils some sums like those the master used to set for us In the good old days, before modern methods came Into use. That would keep them busy with knitted brows for a while, and would bo good, wholesome practice for them. Instead of that they are drilled for a time on the 13 combinations and almost before we know It they arc study ing logarithms. Are the schools meeting the demand for a practical education? Send soma young graduate to a business man and have him apply for a position. Tho man may ask him some questions. I won't attempt to say what he may ask him, but it's dollars to doughnuts that he won't ask him to explain the blnomlan theorem. Read the columns In tho papers headed "Help Wanted." and sec what the world's de mand Is for. How often docs tho business world advertise for a man who can name tho geological ages or explain the proces sion of the equinoxes? "What do you know about bookkeep ing?" said a buslhcss man to an appli cant for a position. "I've been teaching the subject for ten years." responded the applicant. "That may be, but what do you know about practical bookkeeping?" That question could not be satisfactorily answered, and the position was given to a young man who had begun by sweeping out the store. He had grown ud in the business and was practical, though he had not got beyond the three R's when .he went to school. A man In a freight-house once told me that when he wanted a tally clerk he would rather tako one of the men who had been pushing a truck and give him the position than give It to an applicant from some of the schools. Such a man was not nearly so likely to get to specu lating on the laws of hydrostatics and for get his tally. And he wouldn't expect to be superintendent and general manager Inside of six months. Somo time ago a complaint was made that there was too much In our common school course of study and legislative ac tion was suggested to cut it down. "Tell us what to" cut out," said the superin tendent. If the complainants answered I did not sec the answer. They probably gave up In disgust, knowing that to an swer would require more time and space than was at their disposal. One could not rcry well specify any particular branch of study that could be eliminated but in every branch there is a whole lot of matter that might well be eliminated. If some practical man should go through our text-books and cut out the non-essentials the course of study would be brief enough. "The head of a fish Is 12 inches long, the tail Is as long as the head and half the body, the body is as long as the head and tall; how long Is the fish?" Now, of what practical value Is a problem of the foregoing character? "Oh," says some mathematical zealot, "think of the brain power and mental skill that Is developed by such problems. They give the pupil intellectual power that Is useful to liim In practical life." Tes, about as much as being ablo to turn a back summersault will help a man to be a good mechanic. Are not our schools training a lot of In tellectual acrobats that are about as much use in the world as the clown In the circus? Seems to me there would be more sense In having tho pupil figure out the value of that fish at a certain prico per pound. What's that you say? He was able to do that long ago? Are you right sure he knew it thoroughly? If you arc, you should have graduated him then, for he was then prepared to bo of more use In tho world than he Is now. "I don't like to study grammar; I'm going to be a farmer, and I don't see no use In grammar, nohow"; says some poor, discouraged puplL Bully for you, my lad. Stick to your resolution. I glory in your spunk. We need farmers and .we have got plenty of shyster lawyers, cood-for-nothlng doctors and lazy preachers. Tou will need to know how to figure and read and write, and the more you can learn about the culture of the different cereals and vegetables the better; and there are some business and legal forms that you ought to be posted on, but don't expect to learn them in school. They are too busy with the more Important branches, such, for example, as Nature study, learning whether the apple seed points to the blow or the stem, or how a cow stands up. and lies down, and how a horse lies down and stands up. If you want to learn how to tell the age of a horse by his teeth, don't ask your teacher. Ho hasn't time for such trivial matters. The milky way Is of much more Import ance to him than the way to milk. But stick to your resolution, and you'll make a good citizen. Bring to the world's mar ket fromethlitg. fer which there Is a de Rwnf, aaa yer life will be a success, whetherye know how to eonjwratQ a i vorb w: net, it H. VINCENT". THE SILVER LINING; ' Joking Is a serious business. Jerome and Loo nils have made every body sober up. Did you ever notice that a large propor tion of the beautiful residences in town are owned by physicians? Portland Is not a sick town, but the thrift of Its pros perous doctors is very apparent. . "Whom God hath joined let no man put asunder," But who's to tell whom God hath joined, I wonder? The uninspired might sometimes make a blunder. The reason why I weep Is because I know that tears can't bring her back. I don't want to be consoled. A young man who went through the fortune his father left him was arrested the other day for stealing a dollar. What degeneracy! HLs father never thought ot taking less than a million.' . The reason why he Is awfully giddy 13 that every pretty girl turns his head, and there are many pretty girls in Portland. The chaplain on a certain battleship was giving a magic-lantern lecture, the subject of which wa.o "Notes and Scenes From the Bible." He arranged with a sailor, who possessed a gramophone, to discourse appropriate music between the suaes. The first picture shown was Adam and Eve In the Garden of Eden. The sailor cudgeled his brain, but could not think of anything appropriate. "Play up," whispered the chaplain. Suddenly a large Idea struck the jolly tar. and-to the great conservation of the sky pilot and the delight of the audience the gramophone burst forth with the strains of "There's Only One Girl In the World for Me." Two men were, camping together, and one morning one of the men remarked, at breakfast: "Heard a cow bellow In the swamp just now." Nothing further was said, and they went about their business for the rest of the day. Twenty four hours later, once more at breakfast, the second man said, "How d'you know It wasn't a bull?" Again no comment. Again a pause of 21 hours. Next morning the first man began to pack up. "Tou going?" Inquired the other. "Yes." "Why?" "Because," said his friend, "there's too much argument in this camp!" A new and Interesting point in the study of the occult is being discussed in London. It Is the effect of diet on dreams. If you cat pie you'll dream of your grandmother. If you cat at a res taurant you'll dream of being pinched or subpenaed. If you drink tacks or files you'll dream ot being a hackdrlvcr. If you drink milk you'll dream of beginning life over again. If you cat lightly you'll dream of starving. If you cat heavily you'll dream that you arc listening to tho sermon ot a Presbyterian minister. Senior Partner We had best have that young bookkeeper's books examined. IIe took 12 drinks between here and home yesterday. Junior Partner How do you know? "I was with him. He was treating me." A friend in need is the friend to feed. The dull girl stumbled upon a bright thing. She said that she. had lots" to think about, but nothing to think with. ' The Little Boy's Lament. (Not Original.) Tommy owns a guinea pig; Gcorgic has a barrow, Walter's brother lets him shoot With his bow and arrow. Franklin Jones has got a knife, Willy has a blister, I've got nothing but a new L'gly baby sister! "What sort of a siri to be engaged to is Miss ?" "First rate and square as a die. The last time I was engaged to her she re turned my ring and presents within three days, and got up a farewell dinner in my honor." a He tried several dieting fads, thinking he had dyspepsia and now he has got it. A friend of mine said -that the reason why he talked In his sleep was that it was the only chance he got. "For he wa a married man." "How is this book?" "Oh, worth skipping." Manners arc the debt we owe to others Our enemies hr.te us for our faults, and our friends love us for our virtues that we do not possess. . The cloud of every other man has a sil ver lining, but our own has no opening and io glint on the other side. Moral; cry and shut up, or go to sleep. Prize Dramatic Criticism. When a theatrical company playing "Ghosts" struck Nevada, there was bound to be some sort of explosion. Two such diverse elements were bound to strike fire, and it fell to the lot of the Carson Appeal to set off the first bomb. "The play is cer tainly a moral hair-raiser." says the critic, who describes Mr. Avellng as a "spavined rake." and Mrs. Avcling as a proud beau ty who keeps her chin in the air and who "gives an old tar three hundred plunks to marry (the hired girl whom Mr. Ave llng gets gay with). Oswald, the moth er's only boy, is sent to Paris to paint views for marines, and takes kindly to the gay life of the capital, where the joy of living is the rage, and families are reared in a section where a printer run ning a job office solely on marriage cer tificates would hit the poorhouse with a dull thud." The Incident of Rcgena and Oswald is mentioned. Pastor Mandcrs "has. a spasm," . and "Engstrand, who runs a sort of soldiers and sailors' can teen, sets fire to an orphanage and the boy, who has inherited a sort of mayonnaise-dressing brain from his awful dad, tears about the stage In a spell, breaks some furniture and upsets the wine. He finally takes rough-on-rats. and dies a" gibbering Idiot, with his mother slobbering over him and trying to figure out in her own mind that he was merely drunk and disorderly." The virile, clear seeing Nevada critic thought that the company "handled the sticky mess as well as could be expected," though ho was grieved to note that "Miss Razcto built up her bustle too high." By way ot gen eral comment we are glad to reproduce the critic's last sentence: "As a sermon on the law of- heredity the play is great, but after seeing it we arc glad to an nounce that Haverly's Mlsstrels will re lieve the Ibaen stoem aext Monday- i.