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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 1906)
6 THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, 'JUXE 10, 190(5. Entered at the. Postoffica at Portland, Or., as Peeond-Clasa Matter. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. IXVARIABTT IN ADVANCE. ."CI (By Mall or Express.) DAILY. CUKDAX INCLUDED. TweWe months... .$8.00 Fix monlhi.i.... 4. 25 Three months 2.25 One month .75 Delivered by carrier, per year 9.00 Delivered by carrier, per month .75 Dene time, per week 20 Funday. one year 2.50 Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday)... 1.50 Sunday and Weekly, one year 8.50 . HOW TO REMIT Send postofflce money order, express order or personal check ou your local bank, stamps, cola or currency re at the sender's risk. EASTEKX BrslXESS OFFICE. The g. c. Beck wit h Special A-cncy New Tork. rooms 43-50. Trlbuna building. Chi cago, rooms 810-512 Trlbuna building. KEPT ON BALE. Chirac a Auditorium Annex, Fostotflca. Kews Co.. 178 Dearborn street. M. Paul, Minn. N. tit. Marie. Commercial Station. Denyer -Hamilton Kendrlck. 908-91 Seventeenth street: Pratt Book Store, 1214 Fifteenth street: L Welnstelu. (ioldfleld. Ne Frank SandstromL Kansas City, Mo. Klckaecker Cigar Co., Ninth and Walnut. Minneapolis m. J. Kavanaugh. 50 South Third. Cleveland. O. James Pushaw. 807 Su perior street. New York City U Jones Co., Astor House. Oakland, Cal. W. H. Johnston. Four teenth and Franklla s'reets: N. Wheatley. ' Oirden D. L. Boyit Oniaba Barkalow Bros.. 1612 Farnam: Mageath Stationery Co.. 130S i'arnaoj; 246 fcoulh Fourteenth. (arramento. Cal. Sacramento New Co., ! K street. fait ljke Salt Lake News Co.. 77 West J-econd street South; Miss L Lavln. . 2 Church street. V Los Angeles B. E. Amos, manager seven street wagons; Ben News Co., 32liV4 South iiioadway. Jan llicsro B. K. Amos. lu.adena. Cal. Berl News Co. han Francisco Foster & Orear. Ferry -fws Stand. Wahhingtnn. D. C Ebbltt House, Penn sylvania avenue. rOKTlAXD. SINDAY. JINB 10. 1906. A GOOD HALF-WAY HOUSE. Our Legislature next session should not be the scene of factional strife, which hitherto has characterized every session for many years when a Sena tor was to be elected. By the consen sus of the people, Jonathan Bourne, Jr., has been named as the man whom the Legislature is to elect. Happily the popular vote and the po litical composition of the Legislature are not at variance on this point. The real test for "Statement Number One" will come when the candidate of one of the parties for the Senate has the. popular vote and the other party has elected a majority of the members of the Legislature. That comedy of errors may not. Indeed, ever appear on the hoards, but it possibly may, sometime; indeed, probably will. Provision ought to be made against it by modification of the statement; but perhaps will not be. Forethought In such matters Is not common. It is our habit to proceed In a haphazard way. This time it is set tled. Another time there may be more virulent conlntlon over the election of Senator than any that has yet occurred. Hut this time there will be easy go ing. The Legislature may attend to any business before it, and the election of Senator will not be a disturbing fac tor. The designation by the popular voto Is in accord with the choice of the people in the election of almost all the members of the Legislature. Con sequently the election of Senator will take care of Itself, in the way appoint ed by the law of the United States. It will be settled by a single ballot in either house. Deliverance of the Legislature from this strife is a great gain. The strife however is likely to recur unless the possibility of it should be removed by amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The method we have adopted is but an uncertain expedient. It will go well enough so long as there is no clash between the popular vote and the composition of the Legislature. That may not, indeed, occur; and yet it may occur any time. It was some what near in our state in this election, but just now. We Jo not expect to see our system adopted in other states. The conditions that have brought us to it do not pre vail so strongly in them. But we have adopted the method as a means of es cape from an intolerable abuse, and shall adhere to it, hoping, however, and striving for amendment of the Consti tution of the United States so that each of the states may elect the Senators by direct vote of the people, without the intervention or ratification of their Leg islatures. The step Oregon has taken may be followed by other states, and thus may prove a good half-way meas ure, leading up to the true method of election of Senators, by direct popular vote. This, however, will not soon be brought about. Large bodies are slow of motion, and it is hard to get the initiative and referendum on amend ment of the Constitution of the United States. Meanwhile let us he thankful ihat we are promised peace at the next fession of the Legislature of Oregon. CHRISTIAN SCIKNCE. The dedication of a church in Boston, built at an expense of some J2.000.000, calls public attention to the flourishing fortunes of the Christian Scientists. The growth of this denomination has ooeu something wonderful. It was in 1S66 that the apocalyptic vision was vouchsafed to Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Glover. Nine years later she recorded the substantial principles of the new faith in "Science and Health" a book which, in spite of ridicule and angry vituperation, has .held its own among revelations and shows no sign of yield ing today in the struggle" for existence. The average number of accessions to Mrs. Eddy's religion for the first thir teen years of its militant career was two annually. In the next decade it gained forty-five members a year. Now it has a 'million Communicants, who are gathered in a. little less than 1,000 folds. History may be searched in vain for a parallel to this development. If the mere number of Scientists astonishes us, their character and material cir cumstances are still more extraordi nary. Considering that the faith has met with nothing but unsparing ridi cule from the learned world; that Mark l waui ana most otner men oi letters have taken a shy at it; that few preachers have failed to denounce and few doctors to malign it. is it not mar velous that the great body of Scientists are people of high intelligence and comfortable fortune? The new faith, unlike many religions, has made its first appeals not to the poor and lowly, but to those of the middle class. We can not help wondering whether it will ultimately convert the multitude, as it already has the elite, and become one of .the worldwide cults. Christian Science is founded on the philosophy of idealism which Par menides, Plato, Spinoza, Berkeley, Hume, Kant and their compeers have elaborated and which has victoriously combated materialism on the arena of modern thought. Whoever thinks to day upon the fundamental problems of the world, must think in the concept of idealism. The crass materialism of Haeckel is vanquished. Mrs. Eddy did not, therefore, discover idealism as a system of philosophy, but she did dis cover it as a rule of life. Berkeley taught that all reality Is in thought. Hume accepted his teaching. "In my study," he said, "I can not refute it: but when I go out upon the street I can not believe it." Mrs. Eddy's fol lowers hold to Berkeley's teaching, not only in the study but also in the street. Here is where they diverge from the philosophers. . "The world," say the latter, "is pure thought. Nevertheless, it appears to us in all respects as if it were material; therefore we must act exactly as if it really were ma terial. Our belief cuts no -figure." Mrs. Eddy holds that the idealistic be lief does cut a figure. We must not only believe that the universe la pure thought, she teaches, but we must also act as if it were. What would be the practical consequences if we should all attempt to apply this dogma to the business of everyday life? Would the world survive and flourish or would Its memory become in a short time a mere affection of mortal mind? IN MEMORY OF JASON I.EE. The interment of the remains of Jason Lee will be accomplished next Friday at Salem. The place chosen is the Lee Mission Cemetery, in the vi cinity of which was the Methodist Mission with which Jason Lee was Identified away back in the shadowy years of its incipiency. In what is ten derly called the early pioneer era. Jason Lee did not survive this period many years, but about it has hung, and oyer it still hangs, much that is of romantic and historic interest. Central episodes of this interest, even at this late day, are the coming of Miss Maria Pitman, "tall, dark, some what gifted with poetic genius, fervent ly pious and full of enthusiasm for the missionary life." as a bride for Jason Lee; the marriage of these two In a beautiful grove, near the mission house, June 16, 1837; the departure of Lee for the East in March following, leaving his bride an expectant mother; the death of Mrs. Lee and her burial with her infant son on June 26, 1838, "among the firs that had overshadowed her when her marriage vows were taken" a year before. The return of Jason Lee two years later with another bride; his further labors in the Oregon country; his dis appointment and return to the East; his death and his sepulture . there for sixty years; the disinterment of his remains " and reburial in Lee Mission Cemetery the public will hear reviewed on Friday of this week. Facts of his tory .will blend with the romance and the pathos of this story. Plain tales from the records of those times will be re called; the purposes and efforts of the early missionaries will be presented and with eulogy, song and prayer, the dust of Jason Lee will be again given to dust and the final chapter in the history of an adventurous life of an adventur ous time will be written. Lee's missionary zeal did not accom plish the results he hoped for with the Indians, whom he came to convert and save; this part of his work failed. But as the forerunner of the settlement of Oregon, he holds a lasting place in the annals of the Oregon country. THE INVINCIBLE KQl'lNR. The automobile was coming, but had not reached us, in its present gorgeous state of perfection a few years ago when Flying Fox, the winner of the English Derby of 1899, was sold for $187,000. Even then, the automobile factories were working overtime, in or der to fill orders for the machines which were expected to mark the coming of the horseless age and the wisdom of Edmund Blanc, the purchaser of Fly ing Fox, was questioned. His judg ment on the value of horseflesh has been vindicated, however, within the past month by the sale of Jardy, a four-year-old son of Flying Fox, for the enormous sum of $150,000. It does not follow, of course, that there will be an extensive demand for the sons of Flying Fox at $150,000 per head, for most of them will probably fail to de velop the points of merit which made the buyer see a $150,000 value in Jardy. Some persons will even argue that no horse is actually worth such a tre mendous sum as has been paid for Flying Fox, Jardy, Ormonde, Arlon, Sceptre. Hamburg and a few other particularly bright stars of the equine world. Opinions of this kind on horse prices are, of course, valueless, as they come from men who by nature and environ ment are prohibited from looking at the matter from the standpoint of the horse fancier. For pulling a dray or plough or dragging a stage over mountain or plain, there is a certain nominal value, beyond which the price of a horse can not be forced, for the reason that there are thousands and hundreds of thou sands of horses which can do work of this kind equally well. But the Jardys and Flying Foxes -of the equine world gain their great value from sentimental as well as commercial reasons. The modern race horse is the result of generations of scientific breeding and development, and there are cases with out number in which it has been dem onstrated that the mind or reasoning powers of these "bred-in-the-purple" animals have also developed to an acute degree, . The Intelligence of this noblest of the brute creation has established between the norse and man a feeling of affection andi reverence, which is one of the greatest factors in running up the value of a particularly fine horse, and is a guarantee against the automobile or any other inanimate creation ever sup planting it in the affection of man. The automobile as a vehicle for pleas ure or utility is a valuable addition to high pressure twentieth century life, but it can never greet its chauffeur or owner with the whinny that establishes a bond of sympathy between man and the horse. The racing automobile, working up to its maximum of power, can do nothing further for its driver when the ominous hum of a pursuing machine if heard in the stretch. The racing thoroughbred, with its blood tingling with the Joy of life and sport, hears in the hoofbeats behind him a challenge to greater effort, and his limbs respond to the demand' of his brain for increased speed. The almost human intelligence displayed by the thoroughbreds, in scoring and jockey ing for position before a race, is con clusive evidence of the high degree of their reasoning powers. In all im portant wars since the beginning of history there have been notable cases of these powers, where not infrequently horses would respond to the bugle calls long after riders had been killed. Man has been attending horse races for thousands of years and will prob ably continue to do so centuries after the antomobile shall have been suc ceeded by some other wonderful inven tion. The horseless age will never ap pear, if its coming is dependent on the automobile or any other inanimate in vention, supplanting the horse in the affections of the people. The beauty of his lfmbs, his arched neck and quiver ing nostrils, his haughty movements, all appeal to the eye today, even as they did thousands of years ago. Men with sufficient funds to gratify their pleas ures will- continue to pay fabulous prices for horses until the end of time. A DUBIOUS APPEAL. The June number of the North American Review contains a temperate and thoughtful article entitled "An Appeal to Our Millionaires." It has literary charm, partly from its ironical tone, partly from a deep sympathy with those who earn the bread they eat by the labor of their own hands, which informs and vitalizes Its style. A threefold purpose may be discerned in the article: to recall to our pluto crats their sins of omission and com mission; to demonstrate to them the unstable foundations which their power rests upon, and to suggest a method whereby the rising tide of unrest and hatred for Iniquitous wealth may be diverted from the destructive methods of revolution. In the words of the writer himself the object of the article is "to endeavor to persuade the pos sessors of surplus wealth to assist in maintaining a conservative administra tion of our common government." He points out that the tone and methods of a government like ours must, in the long run, conform to the wishes of those voters who work with their hands, for our laws depend upon manhood suffrage and the handwork ers outnumber all other classes com bined. To these men our present sys tem of legislation is ' not acceptable, because it encourages the accumula tion of wealth In a few hands. This fact is too notorious to need discussion. Everybody who knows anything of so cial - tendencies admits it. Our laws appear unjust from the point of view of the handworkers, and as their infor mation Increases and their reflections become more thorough-going their dis satisfaction grows more bitter. "The freest government, if it could exist, would not be long acceptable if the tendency of the laws was to create a rapid accumulation of property in a few hands." This the author quotes from Daniel Webster, who adds in the same paragraph that it would seem "to be the part of political wisdom to establish such distribution of property by the laws which regulate its trans mission and alienation, as to interest the great majority of society in the support of the government." The un deniable tendency of our present laws governing wealth is to make the great majority of society hostile to the gov ernment. Not only the laws thomselves but many current interpretations by the courts also have this tendency. Such in particular are those decisions, which annul statutes regulating hours of labor, on the ground that they in terfere with a "freedom of contract." that workingmen do not desire. To the same effect are court decisions which declare wholesome laws for the protection of life and small property holdings "unconstitutional." The ulti mate result of these cases is to create a popular belief that the courts are biased and to establish a conviction that constitutions are bulwarks of in justice. Of what value to the commonwealth is a fundamental law which system atically blocks the public welfare and promotes the interest of a special class? The growing hostility to dishonest and predatory wealth necessarily involves,1 therefore, hostility to the laws which foster it and to the government which makes the laws. The conduct of the plutocrats seems to be deliberately studied to exasperate the ill-feeling toward them on the one hand and build up a debased electorate on the other. The anonymous writer in the Review cites passingly the char acteristic disregard' of the lives and rights of common men by the million aires in driving their motors on the highways. They ride In motors so large that they cover nearly the whole width of the roads and drive them so rapidly that footmen travel in peril of their lives. . The millionaires, he says, "actu ally kill other people on the highway" if they cannot run fast enough to escape. He quotes from the morning paper, on the day he wrote, that two workingmen on their way to work and a Catholic priest on his way to church were run down by automobiles. "There is nothing novel in this form of show ing contempt by the rich for the rights of the poor on the highways." he says, and ominously recalls the story of the French Marquis who' ran down and killed a child in the streets of Paris a little while before the revolution broke out. . "What has gone wrong?" inquired the serene Marquis. "A child has been killed." The high-bred lips curled in a sneer. "It is queer that you people can't take care of yourselves. Tou are forever .getting in the way." and he drove on to his grand chateau. In the morning he was found dead with a knife through his heart. This is one way the millionaires have of exasperating the people upon whose votes the safety of their wealth de pends; but it is far from being the worst. Does anybody believe that the families and friends of persons burned to death in railroad wrecks, as offer ings to the plutocratic Moloch of cruel ty and greed, do not remember? Is there rio recollection of those who are maimed and killed by unprotected ma chinery in mills? These things are not forgotten. They are cherished with bitter curses and the expectation of a day of vengeance. It is a. costly tri umph for a millionaire when a Judge denies damages to a maimed workman on the theory of "contributory negli gence." Is it anything but insanity for mil lionaires to debase the voters whose integrity and conservatism are their only protection? How they do this by tax-dodging, buying votes, corrupting legislatures, grabbing franchises, issu ing passes, by graft in transportation and in Congress, need not be detailed. To our author's mind these circumstances suggest that the. American millionaire lacks foresight and practical intelli gence. He does not understand the world he lives in. The query has in deed been raised whether our captains of industry would be a match for those of other' countries in a fair field with no favor. So much of their success has depended upon partial laws, upon spe cial favors from railroads, upon trick ery, deceit, corruption, that it may be seriously questioned whether many, of them would have succeeded at all un der just legislation and with no assist ance. The author appeals to the millionaires to Join In an effort to secure a code of laws which, on the one hand, will discourage dangerous accumulations of wealth and on the other will distribute those which already exist. One can not but wish his appeal might be heeded, but that is riot likely. The "singular stupidity of capitalists," which Wayne MacVeagh laments, is too characteristic of the genus to be overcome by ad monition. CONCERNING OREGON INDIANS. To the literature of Oregon there was added last week a series of sketches on the Indians of t'ns Lower Columbia, by Thomas N. Strong. A small part of them were published a few years ago in The Sunday Oregonian, and at tracted no little attention andi favor able comment. Such interest was awak ened in the subject that Mr. Strong, in leisure hours, devoted himself to fur ther details, with the result that he has produced a volume of 119 pages, with the title "Cathlamet on the Co lumbia." It is well that these sketches have been put into permanent form. They will instruct and entertain the present generation and will be especially valu able to those who come on the scene after the last of these Indians have been-gathered to their fathera As a child Mr. Strong learned 'the aborigines. by residence among them in the most populous village on the Lower Colum bia. His pictures of them are based mostly, on what he himself observed. What little outside, information con cerning hem he has employed came first hand, from reliable witnesses. He doesn't idealize. The bucks and squaws in his book wear no halos, nor do they have the aspirations and ambitions of their white neighbors. Neither do they think white man's thoughts, though they have some of the white man's vices. Mr. Strong does not make them cleanly in their houses which, in the absence of elementary tools, were marvels of architectural construction. He points out their physi cal development and notes the contrast between canoe Indians of the West and' horse Indians east of the Cascades. The author is charming all the way through; he always keeps to the fore the human side of the red man. . These stories are very well told. They have a distinct grace of diction that makes them unusually attractive. Whether the reader Is familiar with the scenes or not, the literary quality will appeal to him. Some of the sketches are certain to find their way into future school books, where they deserve a place. Not the least fascinating feature of the book is a glimpse of earliest pioneer life, with Indians as neighbors, half a century ago. It is to be hoped that other Ore gonians will follow Mr. Strong's lead. The Valley of the Willamette is quite asvgood a field; Southern Oregon, where the Indians; Jfought, is a much better field, while Eastern Oregon, where war chieftains contended against the best commanders in our regulary army, fur nishes' material for n epic In prose. The facts can still be gathered from those familiar with them. Putting them into literary form Is no easy task; yet there are sons of pioneers equal to it. WHERE THE OLD' SURVIVES THE, NEW. The yearly convention of the Old Ger man Baptists of America was in session last week near Dayton, Ohio. This quaint religious sect, commonly called "Dunkards," from "dunk'ers" or "tunk ers" a nickname meaning "dippers," from the German "tunken," to dip was first established in 'this country in Ger mantown, Pa., in 1729. Its members formed a community by themselves and gradually extended their numbers through settlements in New England, and later in Maryland, Virginia, In diana and Ohio. Their ranks have been diminished greatly in recent years, though this convention discloses a fol lowing larger than was supposed at the present time, the delegates and visitors numbering about 15.000. Camping in the woods and being fed, or feeding themselves on the grounds, severely plain in their dress and guard ed in their conversation, these people represent in their beliefs and their sim plicity the survival of the old in the midst of the new, the placid in an age of restlessness, the non-progressive in a century of progress. In the "swim ming hole" of the stream near which they pitch the tents for their annual gathering they still administer baptism by immersion; they still take the "Lord's Supper" only in the evening, with feet washing and the apostolic "love feast" as accompaniments of the ceremonial, and. putting literal inter pretation on James v: 14, they still practice annointlng the sick w ith oil for the purpose of healing. Non-progressive, impassive, plain in the most rigid interpretation of these terms, these people have managed to keep up the traditions and practices of a peculiar religion in this country for nearly two centuries. Originating in Germany in 1708, the sect was soon driven from that empire by persecution and for a time found refuge in Holland, coming thence to America. Though a century behind the Puritans in reach ing the shores of the New World, they were as distinctly refugees from re ligious persecution as were the Ply mouth colonists. But there the simi larity ends. The Puritans were aggres sive; the Dunkards, like the Quakers, were submissive or at least non-combative. Plain in dress and speech, de testing war and refusing to serve in the army, keeping up through a commercial age an unpaid ministry of bishops and teachers and a serving company of deacons and deaconesses, these people, a steadily dwindling but faithful band, still maintain an organization of which the principle of equal rights is the cor ner stone. In the early history of the sect the sexes dwelt apart and marriage, though not forbidden, was discouraged. But nature could not thus be defied, and the sect, even in dwindling numbers, sur vived the inroads of time; hence mar riage came to be recognized as a grue some fact a solemn necessity. The holding of private property was dis couraged, but the home instinct assert ed itself and the ban upon individual holdings was in time lifted. It was J considered unlawful to take interest for money, but this view was displaced by the desire to accumulate. Barring these changes, the Dunkards maintain their footing upon the basis of beliefs formu lated by Alexander Mack of Schwartze- nau, two centuries ago, making quaint demonstrations of the possibility of the human mind to perpetuate itself in a condition of stagnation amid a world of motion. These people are said to be the em bodiment of happiness, a living ex ample of contentment, the exemplifica tion of freedom from anxiety and worry. If this estimate is true, a world of weary strivers may well regard the lowly estate of the Dunkers with a passing glance of wistfulness and withal of surprise, a showing the at tainment of the unattainable, amid the shifting forces of modern life. vox porui-i. The outside world cared a great deal about the national significance of the late election in Oregon and very little for the purely local questions which it decided The -' local issues had, of course, somewhat of a. national inter est.' No man llveth unto himself and no state can decide any question for itself alone. When Oregon votes upon woman suffrage or local option the whole Union takes note of the result because it indicates a tendency and sets an example; but, after all, the out side interest in these matters is con fined to sets and coteries. .This is not said in disparagement, for it is sets and coteries which initiate movements and set reforms going. They do the pre' Ilminary thinking. Sometimes the coun try follows them; sometimes it does not. Comparatively few people cared how we might decide the qusetlon of woman suffrage; scarcely any intelli gent person in the country was indiffer ent to the light which the Oregon elec tion might throw uport the state of pop ular feeling toward the President. Has Mr. Roosevelt's determination to en force the laws against the trusts and obtain more effective legislation to con trol them increased his popularity or diminished it? Do the people approve of a resolute and thorough-going ap plication of the principle of the "square deal," or not? Is the trend of popular feeling in favor of special privilege, or against it? To all these questions the Oregon election was expected to furnish an answer. Not a conclusive answer, of course, but one which might afford a basis for forecasts. The almost complete triumph of the party of the President indicates that the people of Oregon are satisfied with his course. His popularity has not di minished. His activity in favor of equality before the law is approved. Even tire election of a Democratic Gov ernor cannot fairly be construed to sig nify dissatisfaction with the President, for Mr. Chamberlain has announced his enthusiastic support of Roosevelt in every speech he has made during the campaign. The election in its national aspect is a strong indorsement of the Republican President and a mandate to him to continue the work which he has begun. Its local aspect has no partisan significance, because the questions voted upon were not party issues. They stood or fell upon their merits alone. They were studied without factional prejudice and decided, we may fairly suppose, solely with reference to the public good. It is one of the greatest merits of the initiative and referendum that it makes possible a clear separation between lo cal and national issues. Under the older system, which still prevails in most of the states, the people could ex press their opinion upon such a matter as the Barlow road purchase only by their choice of legislators. In deter mining this choice, numerous other questions necessarily played a part. Which party the candidate belonged to, how he stood on the local option ques tion, upon woman suffrage and many other matters, would all unite to con fuse the mind of the voter and he could never express himself clearly.- directly and exclusively upon any particular point. The method of the initiative and referendum permits each voter to ex press his individual opinion upon every question standing entirely by itself and without admixture of personal or parti san bias. It absolutely separates the business department of legislation from the personal and partisan side. Sup pose, for example, that a certain Re publican voter was opposed to the Bar low road purchase, while, the Republi can candidate for the Legislature from his district was In favor of it. Under the old system he could not vote for his opinion upon this matter of pure busi ness without voting against his party. This was a real misfortune, and it greatly contributed to dishearten the common man with politics. It made poli tics seem to him a hopelessly complicat ed game baffling, ineffectual, . futile. It was all promise and no performance. Under the Oregon system the voter acts directly upon results. The individual citizen feels his manhood as he could not under the purely representative method. The heavy vote upon the questions submitted to . the referendum and the decisive majorities by which they were accepted or rejected prove that the Ore gon system has solved the problem of interesting the voters in the dry details of government. Hitherto they have shown little interest in those matters because their opinion was only of indi rect and doubtful consequence. In this election the vote upon abstract laws and matters of pure finance was quite as large and enthusiastic as upon the Governor. The referendum bills and the amendments were disposed of by majorities ranging from 10.000 to 3(1.000. showing that the people had studied them and definitely made up their minds. A small, scattering, indifferent vote might well have discouraged the advocates of direct legislation and would have indicated that the task of Interesting the plain people in govern mental details was hopeless. The oppo site result is proportionately encourag ing. These large majorities also, indi cate that the people enjoy the genuine article in self-government; and their acceptance of the amendment facilitat ing constitutional changes, the one re quiring the referendum in cities and the most excellent one bestowing com plete local government upon municipal ities seems to show that they are deter mined not to be satisfied with less than the whole. The tendency is well marked. In these matters Oregon is a pioneer. Genuine democracy has been more highly developed in this. state than any where else in the country. The results of the last election give no ground to fear that the experiment may fail. .The more completely the voters trust them selves the more worthy they find them selves to be trusted. What could be more heartening to those who believe in government of, for and by the peo ple? It is announced that Sir Thomas Lipton may enter the meat packing business in this country, and that a site has already been selected near Cary, Indiana. If Sir Thomas is as fair and honest in his meat packing operations as in the yacht racing game, he will be welcomed to this country. The Chicago dispatch, announcing his possible advent in the field, says that the report is discredited in stock yards quarters for the reason that the -Van-derbilts and other large railroad mag nates are too closely allied with the Armours, Swifts and Morrises to ad mit any rival to the field. In view of the present anti-trust agitation it is not at all improbable that by the time Sir Thomas shall be ready to begin packing, he will find that some of the "alliances" of the railroad with the beef trust and other trusts have been rudely smashed. It is sad that two young women of this city should have been given liquor; sadder that they should have accepted and drunk it; saddest of all that they are not held equally responsible with the young men who gave them to drink. Girls and boys who are old enough to be upon the streets unattended know better than to drink Intoxicating liquor, in saloons or out of them. Knowing better, they should be held personally accountable for the flagrant indecency of the act. The saloonkeeper who passes drinks to such persons should be held to a strict accountability, as provided by law, but headstrong, way ward young people should not be ex empt from the penalty imposed for wrongdoing. The Kingdom of Sweden will stand upon its dignity and refuse to send a representative" to the coronation of King Haakon of Norway. In thus re fusing to sanction, by pretense of cordiality, the disaffection of the Nor wegian people and the loss of Norway to the crown of Sweden, King Oscar rises above the easy hypocrisy that is usual upon an occasion of political de feat, and by his action says simply that there Is nothing In the occasion of Haakon's coronation that he cares to recognize as pleasing to himself or his subjects. This sincerity is a virtue all too lightly prized by men and mon achs. i The petitions asking Congress to pass a bill in the consolidation of third and fourth class mail matter is signed by four ex-Postmasters-General, by the faculties of Columbia University and Barnard College and by numerous pub lic men, who have given the matter careful attention. The bill in question was recommended by Postmaster-General Cortelyou In his annual report and Is championed by the Postal Progress League. The purpose is, of course, to increase the income of the postal de partment by decreasing Its running ex penses. The movement for Summer band con certs in Portland, headed by Charles L. Brown, merits the help of public spirited citizens. The plan has been approved by the Park Board and city money has been appropriated for it. This money is to be increased to a larger fund, by public subscription. The concerts are to be given in public places, on both sides of the river. They will be an additional source of edifica tion for the people and of pride in their city. The best allies of Br'r Amos, Br'r Paget and Br'r McKercher have been the liquor forces. The Prohibition party never has better success than when its foes get into politics. Prohibitionists thrive in liquor politics: that's the rea son they have been trying to get there these weary long years. Eight coun ties in Oregon are "dry." That's "go ing some." sure enough. Mr. Armour claims the President has knocked the beef trust out of some thing like $1.50.000.000 with his little Big Stick. Not long ago Mr. Armour and others proved by the Garfield report that ther profits were not more than 2 per cent per annum on the amount of capital invested. Somehow the two statements don't seem to fit. Indianapolis seems to have solved the problem of gas supply by formation of a' company, whose stock is to be wide ly distributed. The maximum charge is to be 60 cents a thousand. Oil is as cheap on the Pacific Coast as in In diana. Can not Portland, following the Hoosier plan, have 60-cent gas? Governor Chamberlain will have plenty of time between now and Jan uary to consider which two of the four normal schools he would abolish, and which two preserve. But, of course, we shall receive enlightenment on the subject from his message to the Legis lature. "Jointist" is a word coined recently by the Kansas City Star for the keeper of a "blind pig." Oregon is likely soon to have use for it or its equivalent in eight counties that "went dry" last week. . What's the sense of pretending to be non-partisan when yDu're a can didate for the Democratic nomination for the Vice-Presidency or to the Presidency, for that matter? Mr. U'Ren's anti-pass law may fall for want of an enacting clause. If Mr. U'Ren and the rest of us ever enjoyed railroad passes this omission might do some good. If the woman suffragists before last Monday's election had threatened an other campaign two years hence, they might have got what they wanted. And there are still more men In Ore gon resolved to let politics alone. How Country Editors Get Rich. Morehead, Ala., Coaster. After a good deal of study and work we have at last figured out why so many country editors get rich. Here is the secret of success: A child is born in the neighborhood, the attending physician gets $10: the editor gives the loud-lunged youngster and the "happy parents" a sendoff 'and gets $0. It is christened; the minister gets $10, and the editor gets w.. It grows tin and marries; the editor publishes an other long-winded flowery article and tells a dozen lies about the "beautiful and accomplished bride"; the minister gets $10 and a piece of cake and the edi tor gets $000. In the course of time It dies, and the doctor gets from $25 to $100, the minister perhaps gets another lo, the undertaker gets from $50 to $100: the editor publishes a note of the death and an obituary two columns long, and lodge and society reso lutions, a lot of poetry and a free card of thanks and gets $0000. No wonder so many country editors get rich. How Have the Mighty Fallen. Forest Grove Times. One of the unexpected results of the election was the defeat of George C. Brownellj who was the Republican nom inee for State Senator in Clackamas County. For years he has dominated the politics of that county in spite of un numbered charges that ought to kill any man, politically, if true. He even aspired to state or National office, and might have won a nomination if the Federal grand Jury had not indicted him as being concerned in the land frauds that com promised other politicians. It is a creu.i to the aroused public conscience that he is defeated. THE PESSIMIST. A noted English writer has said that America will produce a Shakespeare. One can throw a brick in almost any news paper office and hit a Shakespeare: and not a man will dodge when h sees it coming. Not long ago a lady In Omaha became very hungry hungry for diamonds and swallowed one worth $200. The diamond was not hers. An X-ray examination a few days after disclosed the fact that she was still In possession of the dia mond. The owner of the gem, a local Jewelrj- firm, has vigorously insisted that its property be disgorged. Not able to do this, she has languished In the Omaha bastile, pending the determination of the question as to who would pay a doctor for relieving her of her only tangible as set. The lady had no money, and the jewelry firm knew that a surgical opera tion was cheap at any price. The firm knew also that $250 would be about the price: and' so the lady languished on anil on. The situation was finally relieved by an eminent surgeon, who said that he would do the act for nothing. The doc tor s generosity has been commended on all sides, nevertheless the firm will have a representative on hand to receive iU property when it leaves the lady's Inside. . . . While America has been eating sausage composed of slaughter-house refuse and rope, England has Its troubles too. It has been licking poisonous threepenny stamps. According to the London Lanjjct. 14 stamps will kill the strongest man. - s Machnow, the Russian giant, who is S feet 3 Inches tall. Is on his Vay to Ameri ca. There was some little difficulty in per suading him to go aboard the ship at Cherbourg. . Once before he arrived at that French port ready to embark, but the sight of the ship and the scell of the salt air caused him to be very Homesick, and he didn't come. On the present oc casion, however, his scruples were over come by the ship's crew. They seized him In the north, east, south and west by convenient parts of his anatomy and dragged him aboard. At the present writ ing he is on the briny deep, far, far from home. 'Though Machnow, the Russian giant, Was large and fiercely defiant. He had to embark i On that swaying ark. Now he's so seaMck he's pliant, The recent conflict between Japan and Russia seems to have left an impression In the minds of most people that the sub jects of the Czar are. not much on the fight. However firmly this Impression may be grounded in fact, the following item of campaign news from the local organ of Democracy shows what a Rus sian can do when supplied with the prop er stimulants: Henry Tpackl. a Russian, ' went on the warpath in a aaloon at the corner of Third and Flanders street last nl&ht and. slnjrle handed, licked four men.- He then made hi escape. The mm were drinking- tOR-ether when some argument arose between them. T packl attackod all four at once, and laid them out on the floor. Simon Kolonowakl sustained a broken nose. Joe I'arker had hie. cheek laid open. Felix Bacc-kal Buffered a ecalp wound and two black eyes, while the fourth man. name unknown, was put down and out for the full count before the end of the first round. This Slav, whose name is Lepackl. Licked Joe, and then with a crack he Did up Kolonowskl; 'Broke his nose Off ski. And mussed up his best friend. Bacckal. . ' ' Answers! to Correspondents. v STUDENT "Kindly explain the differ ence between 'concrete' and 'abstract.' " Concrete is a building material, and Is supposed to be a mixture of cement, sand, and gravel in certain definite proportions. These proportions are sometimes known as specifications. The word "abstract." in this connection, refers to the vague ness of the idea, or hope in the mind of the man, whose money goes Into the job, that these specifications or proportions have been complied with. "Abstract." also, is a term applied to the act of the contractor when he takes away a barrel or so of cement when the inspector or architect Is not looking. NEWCOMER. "I wish you would tell me the name of a good lawyer. The peo ple in the flat above us keep throwing things down on our washing, when it is hung out to dry, and they 'have a phon ograph; and, besides, the landlord Bays he will raise our rent if our daughter doesn't stop practicing on the piano. We have a lease, and we don't make any more noise than that dog of theirs that hasn't a license. If that is the kind of town this is. I want to know it. Where I came from a man had some rlghU." You do not need a lawyer. What you want is a wagon. I do not think your landlord would chase you very far, if you should happen to move out before your lease expires. This is a free country and there is lots of room on the East Side. JIMMY. "I saw one of them Pomeran ian Spitz you told about last week, and I wouldn't have one. I guess I will get a ferret or a goat. A kid that lives down In the next block says that he would get an equinox if he was me. They have long tails like a pony and horns. He would be just bully to take down to the beach." I never seen one and- thought perhaps you had." I am afraid, James, that your youthful companion whom you call the "Kid" has been stringing you. An "equinox" is not, as you seem to assume, a cross be tween a horse and an ox; neither does it resemble a goat. It Is an astronomical term. It ifl one of two points where the sun, in Its seeming annual course,- crosses the celestial equator. It has no reference to any animal, although the sun at the vernal equinox enters the Zodiacal sign Aries. Aries means the Ram. You will know all about these things when you go to the high school. In the meantime I would advise you to get a chicken. When it grows up, it will lay eggs; and these you can throw at the Kid, if he gets too fresh. JENNIE. "You do not know how your letters do my heart good. I am 13 years old. We live in Northern Minnesota. Wc are 24 miles from a railroad, but they are building another one next year. Last summer I had a garden and raised 200 bushels of potatoes. We have been here seven years. The country is all timber big spruce trees- poplar, tamarack and birch. There are lots of animals lions and tigers, and jaguars. Lots of nights we hear wolves howl round the- house." I do not doubt It, Jennie. They are howling because they cannot get at a lit tle girl who will tell such yarns as that. You should move away from the Liar's Belt, and come to Oregon, where there are no lions nor tigers, and where all lit tle boys and girls tell the truth. M. B. WELLS.