8
THE SUNDAY OKEGONIAX, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 28, 1906.
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rXlRTlAXD, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1906.
DISARMAMENT IMPOSSIBLE.
In the National Review (liondon) an
essay appears, which Is written in cen
sure and disapproval of the disposition
of the British government to halt In
construction of its armaments by land
and sea. The writer disclaims jingo
ism. He argues that tho danger to the
British Empire from failure to maintain
its armaments is immense; for the oth
er countries of Europe will not, cannot,
disarm, and Great Britain, therefore,
muot always be prepared for emergen
cies of war.
Germany, it is shown, holds the key
to the situation in Europe, and aspires
to leading influence in the affairs of the
world. France is no longer a match for
Germany, and balance of power in Eu
rope id lost. The disposition of Ger
many, since the days of Bismarck, cor
responds with the growth of her power.
She has sixty millions of people against
forty millions in' France; her army is
60 per cent larger though France is
training all her available men. At pres
ent rate of progress Germany's naval
strength, moreover,, will soon exceed
that of France. Dependence of France
on Russia, for help in an emergency
would yield nothing; for the results of
the war between Russia and Japan vir
tually nullified the Frapco-RusIan al
liance. It is. therefore, to England that
France must look for help, both on sea
and land. At any moment, it is ar
gued, Germany may make a fresh move
in Holland; and to gain Holland in a
war by sea and land would be a project
well worth the risk to Germany. Ad
dition of Holland to the German Em
pire would be an immense peril to Eng
land, as well as to France: and both
England and France, it is insisted,
should always be ready to meet the at
tempt and to foil it. In the face of ad
equate preparation to meet her aggres
sion Germany would not risk disturb
ance of the peace of the world; and
such preparation alone, Jt is asserted,
will be the only bridle to her ambition.
It is old argument, applied to one
situation after another in Europe, dur
ing these 200 years. It is an argument,
too. of continuing force and effect, in
spite of all projects of peace conference
nnd International arbitration. Though
euch projects are entertaining, In that
they give rise to sentimental feelings
Jind propositions and enable the world
to talk about international brotherhood
and the federation of the world, practi
cal judgment is able to see little or no
promise in them. Every nation, in the
last resort, is its own arbiter or judge.
No power in Europe at this time could
afford to disarm without running ex
treme danger from Germany; because
Germany now, as was the case with
France a century ago, feels her own
strength and capacity, and is possessed
of tho instinct of domination that goes
always with it. In our own country
there is a profound conviction that not
only we cannot afford to disarm, but
that some increase of armament is con
tinually necessary, so that we may not
be taken by surprise and without prep
aration; yet nothing in the affairs of
the world, that we are aware of, is a
present menace to us.
The English writer clenches the ar
gument he addresses to his own coun
try with these remarks: "To ignore the
facts as to the German character is the
common proceeding of the British Rad
ical, who, with characteristic want of
imagination, assumes that all people
are as sentimental and irresolute as
hlmelf. But it is a mistake which
should never be committed by respon
sible statesmen. In charge of a nation's
destinies If it should be committed, it
is like to be punished as terribly as was
Napoleon Ill's failure to grasp the true
intentions of Bismarvk." He quotes
also from the leading organ of the Ger
man Socialists their . Socialistic Mon
atscchrift that "it is of the first im
portance to the German working man
that Germany should be armed to the
teeth, and should possess a strong fleet.
In the fight for markets German work
ers may have to choose between" the al
ternatives of perishing or forcing their
way into those markets sword in hand."
The aggressiveness of Germany is a
natural fact, indeed, based on her po
sition, her strength, her aspirations and
her knowledge of her power. But if
Germany were not in this position some
other power would be; so there is small
chance that the world will be able to
reduce its armaments.
Hardworking women on farms can
almost be excused from censure on the
basis of race suicide. If they refuse to
follow the example of Mrs. Anna Mc
Donald, who recently applied for a di
vorce from her husband in Oregon City,
on the ground of cruelty. This woman,
the mother of eleven minor children of
whom she bravely asks the custody,
milked the cows and performed a field
hand's duties during the long years of
their farm life, and was rewarded for
these and her conjugal and housewifely
duties by the cruel and inhuman treat
ment of herself and children by the
husband and father. It would take a
more stolid man than our excellent
President to look upon this group of a
toilworn mother and her eleven children
and say that this was not carrying to
excess the idea that It is commendable,
under all circumstances, to bring a
large number of children into the world.
HERDS OF A FEATHER.
The first families of Portland run a
Hearst newspaper. Their newspaper
imitates the Hearst newspapers. In all
possible ways. It imitates their poli
tics, their conceptions of social life,
their notions of moral (or immoral) ob
ligations. Even at this distance, where
a single vote can be made, one way or
another, the local organ contends for
the election of Hearst in' New York.
"Editorial page of the Examiner,"
"Editorial page of the American," is
imitated here, with dally fidelity.
We think the people of Oregon do not
approve, will not approve, the sort of
journalism, the sort of morality, repre
sented by the Hearst papers, imitated
by the organ of the first families here.
William Ladd, are you not ashamed of
it? Everybody in the United States,
except the imitators of Hearst, is
ashamed of it. But perhaps William
Ladd is not ashamed of it, since all he
hag to do is to put up the money; and
Portland and Oregon know how he got
the money.
It is because The Oregonian speaks
for those who are ashamed of it, be
cause it can speak for them, because it
is its duty to speak for them, that it
speaks thus plainly.
The devotion of the organ of the first
families of Portland to Hearst and to
Hearstism is a. spectacle for gods and
men. So we find now that the morals
of the first families, their conception of
public duty,, civic, social and political,
is on the Hearst basis. Such is not the
conception of the people of Oregon. Let
no one suppose it. It would be treason
to Oregon to suppose it; treason to
every principle of the moral life of Ore
gon. The whole efTort of the country,
is to spew this thing (Hearstism) out.
And it will spew Hearstism out, now or
later; surely and at last.
AX EXTREME MEASURE.
The New York Sun, glancing at the
debate on churcfc and state in France,
says It should not be Impracticable to
hit upon an arrangement by which
Catholics can worship in France, seeing
that theiF coieligioniste are able to do
so in Protestant Prussia. There is this
difference, however, between the regu
lations of the separation law and those
which exist in Prussia. The associa
tions cultuelles prescribed for France
by the statute are to be independent of
ecclesiastical authorities, who are en
tirely ignored by the law, and to be
completely under the hand of the civil
power. In the Prussian associations
the parish priests and bishops retain
the place which tielongs to thorn under
the constitution of the church. Under
the circumstances It is not surprising
that Bishop Touchet, of Orleans, should
have told the French government that
if it would only offer Catholics ' the
counterpart of the Prussian associ
ations the Pope would undoubtedly
consider the proposal.
The reason given why France is so
extreme in her new legislation is that
the church has assumed so much in
France in former ages, that now it is
to be shorn of its power over property,
which is to be amenable wholly to the
civil law. Hence the clergy are to be
deprived of the right to hold In trustee
ship any property of the church. In
this country, where we have been free,
mercifully, from controversy between
church and state, this would seem
harsh and not necessary to mainte
nance of civil authority and peace.
EVOLUTION AND THE TRUSTS.
Arguing before the National Associ
ation of Underwriters at St. Louis the
other day in favor of amending N the
Sherman Anti-Trust law, Mr. Charles
G. Dawes made the -point that not all
combinations in restraint of trade are
injurious to the public. Some of them
are incontestably .beneficial. The Sher
man law, according to Mr. Dawes, con
demns all alike. He seems to believe
that an agreement among merchants
not to deal in adulterated goods would
be criminal under its provisions. This
must be doubted.
The courts would probably interpret
the prohibition of combinations in re
straint of trade to refer solely to those
which, obstruct lawful and proper trade.
As Mr. Dawes understands the law, the
anti-saloon leagues which have sprung
up over the country are all combina
tions in restraint of trade, namely, the
trade in liquors, and are therefore crim
inal. The agreements formed among
themselves- by the members of the Con
sumers' League to patronize only mer
chants who treat their employes hu
manely, are also criminal, if Mr. Dawes
understands the law aright, for they are
in restraint of trade of a certain sort.
In fact, Mr. Dawes, in his remarks
upon the Sherman law, forgets a prin
ciple of interpretation which is as an
cient as courts of justice. The prin
ciple is this, that no part of a law will
be interpreted so as to injure the public
If any other meaning Is possible. To
interpret the Sherman law as forbid
ding agreements not to sell adulterated
goods is a clear violation of this prin
ciple, and no unbiased judge would
therefore adopt it unless he had no way
of escape. But in this case there is a
way of escape.
The criticisms which Mr. Dawes
makes upon the Sherman law are all of
this unsound character. They resemble
quibbles more than the mature thought
of a statesman. That many agreements
in restraint of trade are for the mani
fest good of the public nobody can de
ny, and that the Sherman act forbids
some things which it ought to permit
is also true. The act is defective, but
it is not silly, as air. uawes wouia
make it out to be.
It is possible to argue with some ap
pearance of logic that all of our current
legislation against combinations in re
straint of trade is unpbilosophical; that
it attempts to counteract a plain and
irresistible tendency in human evolu
tion; and that it will therefore neces
sarily come to naught. The reasons for
thinking In this way are vastly more
convincing than any that Mr. Bryan
offers for believing that these combina
tions can be destroyed by legislation.
Mr. Roosevelt's view that they can, at
most. b regulated k much more con
sistent with sound principles; but are
we entirely certain that they can even
be regulated?
The results of the attempts to regu
late them contain some elements of en
ouragement and many grounds for de
spair. Mr. Roosevelt himself has point
ed out the tremendous vitality of the
trusts which seems able to survive
every shock. He has also spoken of
their exceeding elueiveness. Both these
qualities are indications of a career for
the trusts longer than any of us desire
and different from what most of us im
agine. Evolution conceals its secrets
so skillfully that they always take the
world by surprise.
THE WOOD FAMXX1C.
Price of wood is high, because wood
is scarce. Wood, in a wooded country,
ought not to be scarce;, yet here it is
scarce. The reasons are numerous.
They relate to all conditions heretofore
and now in Oregon.
Men have not been willing to cut
wood cheaply as formerly. There has
been more demand for labor, and men
have felt they could do better. They
could do better. Formerly woodcutters
got SO to 90 cents a cord. There was
barest living in it; for it Was good work
to cut two cords a day, one day with
another. And the man had to find his
own tools and cook his own food in
his lonely hut or camp. This writer
has been there.
But there came more demand for la
bor. The man could get $2 or $2.50 a
day. He could work in a logging or
railroad camp, where he could have
the association of his fellows, and after
paying his board, $1.25 to $1.50 left. It
is a more desirable life; but not the
most desirable in, the world, take notice
all you who have genteel places to
work, and soft hands at the end of the
week.
Hence very little wood has been cut
during the past year. Again, as the
forests are being cut away, owners of
timber begin to realize its value, and
stumpage costs more. Then the dis
tance is greater to reiver or rail. Horses
and forage rise in value. The
hostler and the teamster want more
wages. The boatmen likewise. Then
the price of lumber goes up, and all
logs fit for lumber are worth two or
three times for lumber what they are
for wood. This reduces the wood sup
ply. People want straight wood, if
they can get it, of clean split and free
from knots; and these sticks will make
lurrfber, worth so much more than
wood.
These are supposed to be "good
times." Everybody wants and expects
more money for every service only the
price for The Oregonian is not in
creased. The newspaper does not have
to make money. It never has been ac
customed to making money, and
wouldn't know what to do with it. But
fuel costs more money. Coal is scarce.
and the price is advanced. Means
must be employed for getting larger
and steadier supply of coal. It is con
centrated fuel. To haul it does not call
for so many care. We shall depend
less and less on wood for fuel, even
in this country, where there is more
wood than anything else.
We are told that fir wood is now
costing $5 a cord at Portland. If it
were any comfort, we might remind all
whom it concerns which means every
body that this price has been paid for
wood at Portland often heretofore. We
paid even more, when trees stood in our
very streets.
GIRLS MUST BE TAUGHT.
Incompetency in household duties is
as great a hindrance in securing help
in the domestic realm as is the disin
clination of American girls for domestic
service. Housekeeping, like every oth
er vocation, has been modernized. The
implements of its service are In evi
dence in every home in the land, the
members of which have kept step with
the march of improvement In other
lines. Homemaking is an evolved type
of living, of which housekeeping is the
intelligent handmaiden. Sixty years
ago It was at a very primitive stage in
the then pioneer Middle West. Tooth
some viands were brewed and baked- in
ponderous black kettles that hung on
the crane over the fire of walnut or
hickory coals and in the covered oven
In the corner of the wide fireplace. But
cookery as an art has been developed
since that period, end the implements
of tne art are no longer clumsy and
crude, but light, convenient and adapt
ed to every want of the skillful house
wife. The heavy black iron pots and
kettles that belonged to that time were
first modified to meet the requirements
of cooking on a stove and later were
superseded entirely by lighter, cleaner
vessels, until now the modern kitchen
is as well equipped in its was as is the
parlor, the bedroom, the pantry and the
bathroom.
All of -this means special or developed
attainments in the housekeeper and her
helper. It was formerly supposed that
the single, fact that a girl was born a
girl would make her a cook and house
keeper, when she grew older. Special
instruction in the intricacies of these
arts was not then thought of. There
are places in which this fallacy still
prevails in many country homes, and
not a few in the city, and it is from
these that many girls go out to house
work. Perhaps It would be more nearly
correct to say that it is from these
homes that girls did go out to do house
work, until that honorable vocation was
brought or fell into disrepute among
American girls. Tiiey did not know
how to do what they engaged to do,
and were hired to do, and the work be
came hard for them and impossible un
der an employer who had perhaps been
no better taught in the art, except in
its finer touches than they, and who
was impatient and cross under the
double infliction of her own lack of
knowledge and her helper's incompe
tency.
Granted that a woman or girl must
be taught housekeeping before she can
keep house acceptably; that she must
be taught to cook before she can pre
pare palatable viands; that she must
be taught to wait upon table before she
knows how; to take care of silver be
fore she can keep it bright, and to
handle china before she can do so with
out chipping it: and taking into consid
eration that these and kindred things
are distinctly woman's work and must
continue to be so, if the American peo
ple are to continue to live in well-or
dered homes. What then? Is it not
plain that much of the so-called edu
cation of girls is utterly foreign to the
duties that fall to them as home-makers
and housekeepers? Of what avail is
the High School girl's smattering in
Latin when, married to a young man in
her own station in life, she is utterly
incompetent to bake a loaf or broil a
steak? And of what use in the art of
modern housekeeping is the girl who
goes out to work for wages in another's
home without knowing how, properly,
to sweep and dust a room, cook and
serve a simple meal, and use without
defacing the implements with which the
modern kitchen and dining-room are
equipped?
It follows that the industrial school
with its basis in kitchen kindergarten
up through a simple course in domestic
science is necessary to equip a girl for
her life work as a hme-maker. Time
was when the mother could and did
.furnish all the instruction necessary in
this diversified branch of knowledge.
But that time seems to have vanished
with other conditions of a past era.
Housekeeping has developed into an
art, and cooking into a science, and to
become proficient in either or both com
petent instruction is necessary.
Whether this question will be solved on
a broad basis by the institution of a
course in domestic economy in connec
tion with our public schools, beginning
with the kindergarten, or will remain
unsolved while clumsy and awkward
girls from over the water clog the
wheels of American housekeeping with
brokenchina and soggy food and the
untaught daughters of American moth
ers go from disorderly homes into ill
paid service in department stores and
offices, is a matter that must be ad
judicated before the open court of
common sense.
The name "industrial school" wheth
er its course of instruction goes no far
ther than teaching a little girl how to
thread her needle expeditiously, wear
her thimble on -the middle finger of her
right hand, darn her stockings 'neatly,
dust a chair properly, sweep without
raising a cloud of dust or strike a
match without defacing the newest ar
ticle of furniture is a name well ap
plied and represents an effort that
looks to the solution of the most im
portant question In the industrial life
of the Nation the peace, comfort and
orderliness of the American home.
PRODIGIES.
The story of The Precocious Youth
which, like the Phenix, alternately dies
and revives, is again enjoying a brief
existence in the newspapers. This time
it tells of a New England baby who
can speak the classic tongues and solve
problems in the calculus, to say noth
ing of a facile acquaintance with Her
bert Spencer and Emanuel Kant. To
this' gifted, but apocryphal youth, New
ton's Principia is but a jest and Hegel's
Philosophy the pastime of an idle hour.
He lisps Plato and goo-goos the Vedas.
His earliest toy was a table of log
arithms. When his mother takes him
to the bargain counter in a perambu
lator she gives him a copy of the San
scrit grammar to keep him quiet. His
unparalleled intellectual feats recall the
accounts which abound in biography of
others less amazing, but aso, one may
guess, less imaginary.
Zerah Colburn, who was born in "Ver
mont in 1804, is perhaps the most noted
genuine prodigy who has ever appeared
in America. At the age of six Zerah
could multiply nine figures by nine oth
ers in his head and recite the correct
answer instantly, and so rapidly that
ex,pert writers could scarcely take it
down. Those who know how painful it
is to multiply one figure by another and
get the answer anywhere near right can
appreciate this accomplishment of the
infantile Zerah; but it was by no means
his greatest. He would come down
stairs in the morning in his nightgown,
computing an eclipse on his slate. He
calculated a table of logarithms and
solved problems in his head so compli
cated and difficult that the most expert
mathematicians gave them up. One
sometimes surmises that perhaps Mary
Wilkins had him in mind when she de
scribed that charming character, "An
Old Arithmetician."
This woman, one of the most perfect
creations of a gifted author, found the
sole delight of her life in "working ex
amples." Like Goldsmith's school
master, "Lands she could measure,
terms and tides presage," and there
was not the least question that she
"could gauge" and do everything else
with figures. On a certain critical oc
casion, however, her gift deserted her
and thereby hangs the lovely tale.
Zerah Colburn's gift never actually de
serted him; but it gradually, faded, as
it were, when he approached manhood,
and in spite of the wonderful things he
couuld do with figures as an infant, he
accomplished nothing worth while 111
mathematics. He died at almost the
same age as Byron, a pitiful confirma
tion of the common belief that precocity
is the usher to death. Still, the belief
is sometimes mistaken.
The poet Bryant, in some respects
thebest of all the singers In our some
what inharmonious National choir,
could read the classics at 9 and he
wrote "Thanatopsis" ten years later.
From almost every point of view
'Thanatopeis" is a great poem. The
thought is stately and profound, with a
deep religious import. The music of
the lines approaches the best in Milton.
The conclusion is a grand burst of the
highest optimism. Bryant never after
ward equaled this precocious effort,
though "The melancholy days are
come" is a pastoral lyric which ex
presses the sweet sorrow of Autumn as
no other poem ever did. Certainly
Bryant's- precocity was no premonitor
of early decay. He lived to a good old
age and kept his powers unimpaired to
the end. The poet Pope wrote divine
verse at 10 years of age at least as di
vine as he ever wrote afterward. Per
haps the adjective "divine" is a trifle
out of place applied to Pope, who had
little kinship with celestial affairs, and
whose poetry Is more like college rhet
oric and plaster of paris birthday cake
than anything else. Still, he experi
enced no early decay, such as his pre
cocity might have seemed to foretell.
He sang with uniform correctness and
insipidity to the close of his career. His
first poem and his last would have en
titled him equally to a niche In the
American Hall of Fame.
Precocity is not confined to intellec
tual matters. Cecil, Lord Burgleigh,
Queen Elizabeth's great counsellor.
whose mines were deep enough to baf
fle Philip of Spain and the Inquisition,
was a father at 14. His experience is
altogether in favor of early marriages
and leads one to question the wisdom
of those statutes which interpose ob
stacles in the path of youthful love. It
may plausibly be surmised that such
laws perceptibly augmentthe sum total
of evil in the world and increase the
difficulty of solving some perplexed so
cial questions. At any rate, his prema
ture parenthood did Cecil no harm, and
the family which he first distinguished
has flourished and ruled in England to
this day, and is likely to keep on ruling
for a long time to come. If marriage
is a good thing, why not encourage it?
Why not reward the young man who
desires to enter the holy estate rather
than burden him with fees and legal
ceremonies? Why not help him to es
tablish a household rather than hinder
him by extorting a part of his savings?
The most famous exmple of, all-round
precocity is that of James Crichton, a
Scotchman, surnamed The Admirable,
on account of his physical and intel
lectual perfections. His skill in philos
ophy almost equaled that of the Boston ,
baby whose mythical career now en
gages the newspapers' attention and
imperils the souls of space writers.
Without having to study it, he defeat
ed all the most profound professors of
Europe In metaphysical debase, while
in feats of arms he had no rival. His
death was characteristic. He became
tutor to a Mantuan Prince in the course
of his adventures and his pupil, doubt
less enraged at the constant spectacle
of so much perfection, attacked him
one night with a band of comrades.
Crichton put his assailants to rout, but
perceiving that one of them was his
pupil, he loyally gave up his sword.
This was adding insult to injury, and
the outraged youth plunged the weapon
into his preceptor's too accomplished
heart. In this world it does not pay to
be either too good or too nearly perfect.
FRESH AIR FOR THE SCHOOLROOMS.
It is scarcely necessary to state, in
this day of enlightened sanitation and
development of the germ theory of dis
ease, that fresh air is -a prime requisite
of health in schoolrooms. For some
years past strict attention has been
given to the ventilation of the public
schoolrooms in this city, not always
with the best results, but with such
effect that it is believed that the air
which the 10,000 or 20,000 schoolchildren
of the city breathe is more wholesome'
than that which many and perhaps
most of them breathe in their own living-rooms
and sleeping-rooms at home.
Of the devices installed to insure this
ventilation it is not for a layman to
speak. Suffice it if they answer the
purpose and give the children fresh
air and an abundance of it during
school hours.
In this case the schools of Portland
are more fortunate than those of
some of the older but less progressive
cities of the country. A leading med
ical journal, for example, recently
gave testimony regarding the poor
ventilation of Chicago schoolrooms and
the failure of mechanical ventilation
devices installed therein. Citizens
aroused to the danger thus disclosed
visited some of the schools and fully
indorsed this testimony. Of course it
is an expression of the commonest of
plain common sense to say that the
first requisite of health in the public
schools is pure, fresh air throughout
the buildings. Medical inspection,
nurses, email dispensaries, etc., are
well enough in the overcrowded schools
of the poorer districts wherein the
home surroundings are unsanitary.
But these things deal with pisease af
ter it has been bred and disseminated
in the close air and by the flying dust
of the schoolrooms. It is manifestly
absurd to breed disease first, through
ignorance or false economy, and then
call upon medical and sanitary science
to cure it, or try to cure it, at great
expense.
The question of sweeping schoolrooms
is one with that of ventilation. Dry
sweeping is condemned as the great
est disseminator of disease. It fills the
air with germ-laden dust, and children
with latent tuberculosis, or whose sys
tems furnish the good soil necessary
for the germination of its baleful seeds,
are forced to spend their school hours
in an atmosphere and environment
highly favorable to the development of
that justly dreaded malady. Soap and
water used liberally once a week on
the floors of schoolrooms would be effi
cacious both- in effecting cleanliness and
in destroying the dust and air-borne
germs of tuberculosis, scarlet fever,
diphtheria and other baleful diseases.
And it' may well be believed that
money paid to scrubwomen to apply
these efficacious though old-fashioned
agents of cleanliness would be money
well spent. It would be in the nature
of prevention, an ounce of which, ac
cording to a wise old adage, is worth
a pound of cure.
THE BEATEN SAJOEL.
Mrs. Blodgett, of Kalispell, Mont.,
whose -husband now lies In jail in this
city under conviction of murder, his
victim being a woman of the under
world for whom he forsook his wife
and children in the Montana town
some months ago, is anxious, it is said,
to come here to visit her errant spouse.
She is now driving a rural mail route
for the support of herself and children
and trying to save enough from their
necessities to pay her way to this city.
while Blodgett, the unspeakable, has
taken up knitting to help raise the re
quired sum.
The elements in this case would le
ludicrous were they not revolting;
Think of a man waiting the execution
of sentence for the murder of his mis
tress taking up knitting work in jail
while his deserted and outraged wife
drives a mail cart through all weathers!
This complete exchange of vocation
begets utter contempt for the man
and would engender pity for the woman
but for the fact that she is straining
every penny of her hard earnings for
a fund that will enable her to visit in
jail the husband who has violated every
claim of decency, duty and humanity
which could possibly bind her to him.
It is this pitiable weakness in women
under such circumstances that makes
it easy for men to ein against them,
being certain of reward of affection
rather than penalty of contempt for
unmanly transgression and despicable
abandonment of responsibility. There
is in the. pity felt for a woman under
such circumstances a mingling of con
tempt for her lack of proper self-respect.
"The beaten spaniel's fondness
not so strange."
THE MOCHA AND JAVA FRAUD.
Among the articles in. common use
by the American people that Is capable
of imitation and adulteration, coffee
holds a prominent place. An expert
who has given much time to the inves
tigation of the matter places the"i
amount of coffee sold under this brand
at the enormous bulk of 600,000,000
pounds, which he declares did not con
tain a bean of either Mocha or Java.
Instead of being genuine, it is a Bra
zilian coffee separated from the smaller
beans or berries by a sifting machine.
This contention is supported by sta
tistics of importation, which show that
2,000,000 pounds of Mocha and 10.000,000
pounds of Java were brought Into this
country in twelve months. From this
comparatively small importation fifty
times as much Java and Mocha were
dispensed through the retail trade t6
coffee-drinkers.
According to the Tribune of that city.
the inhabitants of Chicago consume
about 13H pounds of coffee per capita a
year. This makes a total of about 27,-
000.000 pounds. If les3 than one-half
of this amount, about 12.000,000 pounds.
is .sold as "Java and Mocha" blended
in the usual proportion of one-third of
the latter and two-thirds of the former.
then Chicago dealers sell each year to
their patrons a million pounds more of
Mocha than are imported for the whole
country, and within a million pounds of
the entire American receipts from
Java.
' The utter absurdity of this assump
tion appears at a glance. But this is
by no means the extent of the fraud
perpetrated under the name of "Mocha
and Java." The combination thus pre
pared from the Brazilian berry com
mands a much higher price than the
plain Rio, which is. in reality, its chief
component. The dealer finds it very
profitable to sell an article of South
American production at a higher price
because of its Arabic or East Indian
name. At the usual retail price of 40
cents a pound, the difference in favor
of the coffee merchant easily foots up
an amount that can hardly be ex
pressed in seven figures. This indi
cates a fraud upon the pocketbook of
the consumer that is of great magni
tude.. The "blend" is probably not
more deleterious to health than many
of the combinations of bran and mo
lasses, peas and chickory, cassia seeds
and the pulverized roots of the dande
lion, carrot and beet, acorns and vari
ous cereals, and sp-cal!ed health cof
fees. But the profits accruing to the
coffee dealers from this Mocha and
Java fraud are enormous and of yearly
Increasing magnitude. A rigid pure
food measure rigidly enforced might
check this fraud, but otherwise it will
continue- to be swallowed helplessly,
though not without some grimacing,
by a coffee-drinking multitude.
The brief appeal made by a corre
spondent in The Oregonian yesterday
for a lowering of the steps of streetcars
for the benefit of elderly women who
carry a superfluity of avoirdupois is
at once earnest and timely. If there is
any reason why the high steps of our
democratic vehicles should not be low
ered six inches, let the managers of the
streetcar company declare it; if there
is no reason why this should not be
done, let the steps be dropped as sug
gested, for humanity's sake. Elderly
women of stout build are not the only
patrons of the streetcars that would
welcome this change. The elderly man,
ruddy-faced and of great girth, often
reaches the waiting car panting and
breathless and pulls his avoirdupois
up on the high step with painful effort
that for a moment seems to threaten
apoplexy. Then comes the young
woman, unfashionably bearing a baby
in her arms, and leading that modern
nuisance, a two-year-old, by the hand.
The conductor with lofty contempt for
a woman thus handicapped stands
with hand upon the bellrope while the
mother with a baby upon one arm
manages to lift the other baby up the
high steps and then to drag herself up
by the handrod. If there is any ex
cuse for this cruelty to these gentlest
of domestic creatures old and young
and to the sturdier animal who Is
neither long of breath nor light of foot,
out with it, Mr. Streetcar Superintend
ent! And while you are about it, if you
dare to brave the possible wrath of the
walking delegate of the Car Conductors'
Union if there is one insist that con
ductors, under penalty of discharge
from service, lend a helping hand to
women who with young children seek
to board the 6treetcars.
Over in Montana, not so very far
from Oregon, they are suing the bonds
men of three State Treasurers to re
cover the sums of money which the
State Treasurers received as interest
upon state funds deposited in banks.'
The Attorney-General of that state
thinks the public treasury is entitled to
something like $240,000 which has been
pocketed by incumbents of the Treas
urer's office in' the last few years.
What strange Ideas some attorneys
have of their duty to the state in whose
service they have enlisted! Hasn't the
Montana Attorney-General any sense
of official courtesy?
New York manufacturers of silver
ware have announced another advance
in the prices of their goods, and it is
remarked in the dispatches that this
will be felt by people who buy holiday
presents. We won't care out here in
Oregon. Silver will do all right for
cheap guys to give to their friends, but-j
the more generous people of this state
will make presents of something that is
costly a cord of wood or a ton of
coal, for example.
The Dalles Chronicle says: "And
here the whole State of Oregon is howl
ing for fuel as though the timber
thieves had carried it all away, when
the truth of the matter is that no true
Oregonian will cut wood and the newly-
arrived citizen hasn't got time." Just
the reverse. The newly arrived will
not cut wood, and the old-time Orego
nian hasn't time; never did have time.
The National Liquor League, in ses
sion at Newark, N. J., adopted resolu
tions declaring that "the anti-saloon
agitators promote evasion and disregard
of law, and indirectly the commission
of crime." No need to send a copy of
the resolutions to Oregon. We can
adopt some of our own on the subject
of evasion and disregard of the law.
The recent seismic disturbances are
not a circumstance to the shaking up
Bay City grafters are on the verge of
receiving, regardless of heroic measures
for protection. It's a short "lockstep"
from boodled opulence to San Quentin
with Mr. Heney as pathfinder.
President Roosevelt doesn't want to
have trouble with the Little Brown
man. He doesn't want trouble with
anybody. However, no one ever heard
the President say he kept the Big
Stick handy only for the looks thereof.
Mayor Sch-mitz informs the awe
struck Europeans that they are build
ing a San Francisco that will be all
right 200 years hence. Mr. Ruef is also
willing to let posterity have Its innings
200 years hence. Meanwhile
Cost of living has increased chiefly
because everybody wants better living
and sees a chance to get it. Cost of liv
ing, on the basis of pioneer life, would
be cheaper now than in those times.
Ruef has one advantage of Puter,
Mays, Williamson et aL He could have
Heney discharged from the office of
Deputy Prosecutor while they could
not. But he won't stay discharged.
There seems to be uncertainty how
the election in New York will go next
week. Naturally, you can't tell. Now
and then the people make fools of
themselves, but it doesn't last.
Happy the man whose public and pri
vate life is euch that he doesn't care
who occupies the office of Prosecuting
Attorney, either in Portland or San
Francisco.
After his trip to Europe, possibly
Mr. Clark, of Montana, does not feel
he can afford the luxury of further Sen
atorial honors.
Langdon does not seem disposed to
'Let 'er go, Gallagher."
THE PESSIMIST.
News From the Liar's Belt.
On account of the rumor that Hearst
and Hughes of New York were about
to enter into partnership for the pur
pose of publishing a religious weekly
and owing to the storm of unprece
dented violence that has been raging
along tho shores of the Gulf states,
the Minnesota correspondent of the St,
Louis Republic has been unable o
make himself heard. Nevertheless. Jy
has not been wholly inactive. It seem,
according to that earnest newsgather
er, that Casey Marique, a French gen
tleman of Irish extraction, will be left
in undisturbed possession of the little
home that a hard-hearted capitalist has
been trying to get away from him.
Laying aldc the question as to wheth
er our correspondent has been trifling
with the facts in the case, this is the
way it happened:
Casey, at the time the story opens,
was tile honest and efficient employe
of Monsieur Estellette, the hard-hearted
capitalist mentioned. Other actors
in this humble drama of real life were
three roobers, who were killed at an
opportune moment, Herr Graubert, a
fat Justice of the Peace; Isaac But
tinski Doddridge, the owner of the
land where the meteor fell, and Mrs.
Marique, the wife of Casey, who did a
thinking part in the first act.
One dark and dreadful night Casey,
accompanied by his wife, was return
ing from Nicklethorpe, carrying in a
sack $5000 in gold that his rich em
ployer had sent him for. In the dark
est spot in the woods they were set
upon by three robbers. In their wild
dash for freedom and safety he (Casey)
was impeded by the bag of gold, and
Mrs. Casey couldn't run because her
hair kept coming down. As a conse
quence they were soon overtaken, but
not before faithful Casey had thrown
the money in a convenient brook that
was flowing by.
Mr. and Mrs. Casey were thrown
down and bound, but the efforts of tne
robbers came to naught, because Casey
maintained a complete reticence as to
where he had left the money and Mrs.
Casey had fainted away. The robbers
cut some whips nd thrashed Casey to
malre him tell what he had done with
It. but he would not. They then built
a small bonfire, removed Mrs. Casey's
high-heeled French shoes and began to
warm her feet, hoping that in her an
guish as thoy (her feet) became hot
ter and hotter she would Insist upon
Casey giving up the dough.
All would have been lost but for
an all-seeing Providence which pro
tects the brave and the true. At this
crucial and exciting moment but let
our correspondent tell the story: "Be
fore the fire had begun to give off
much heat, a huge meteor fell to the
earth with a terrific roar and amid a
blinding gleam of light, and killed all
three of the robbers dead, btft fortu
nately not injuring Mr. and Mrs. Casey
In the least, and the leader of the rob
bers, on being struck dead, fell into
the fire, and put that out. In the morn
ing they were bound tight and didn't
get loose until then Casey put the
meteor and the money into a wheel
barrow and trundled them into town.
He gave his employer his money, but
said nothing about the meteor, and
later sold it for $1500 and invested the
proceeds in a small farm."
The scene of the second act Is placed
In the courtroom of Squire Graubert.
Estellette is suing Casey for the value
of the meteor, claiming that Casey was
working for him and that therefore
the meteor was his. Doddridge did a
light comedy act, butting in with the
idea that the meteor fell on his ground
and that he wanted it. To the great
delight of Casey and our correspond
ent, the court decided that the home
stead laws of Minnesota protected
Casey In his purchase of the farm; alBo
that Estellette was a geezer, and that
Doddridge could go' and chase himself.
Surgery and Ethics.
A syndicate story published recently in
the Sunday papers tells us of the wonder
ful results of a surgical operation on lit
tle Spurgeon Welty. of Philadelphia, and
how it made him good.
Spurgeon. it seems, was a very bad boy:
bad even for Philadelphia, which is noted
for its easy-going elders and the thor
ough depravity of their boys.
"He whipped every one who was any
where near his own age." quoting the
syndicate article, "and a number too big
for him he threatened with weapons."
"But that was not all," to quote again.
"Spurgeon stoned chickens, cut the tails
off cats, tied tin cans to dogs' tails," and
otherwise disturbed their serious reflec
tions. When this annoying youth rested
from his labors, he sat for hours at the
window of his little room upstairs, but
even then he was loaded for bear. He
usually jirovided himself with a bucket
of water with which to irrigate the
thirsty who happened to pass below.
Spurgeon's playful antics finally led to
his being turned over to the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Parents.
The society in turn passed him up to a
group of thoughtful physicians, who cher
ished the idea that all badness Is due to a
disarrangement or malformation of the
brain. Looking him over to see if his
disposition could be improved, they dis
covered on his head symptoms of serious
moral decay. The seat of morality, ac
cording to these earnest gentlemen, is
just beneath the topmost spot of the
head.
It might be noted in passing that this
spot is where the dandruff grows most
thickly. Nevertheless, one should not as
sume from this that dandruff and im
morality are in any way synonymous, or
even contemporaneous, for many bald
headed, and, therefore, dandruffless, men
are famed for their righteousness and
good works. Among these, the sainted
John D. Rockefeller might be mentioned
as a shining example. However, there is
a wide gulf between that great and good
man and Spurgeon Welty, the bad boy
whose case we are considering.
Once upon a time, as the story goes,
Welty was a good boy. This happy period
was before he fell from his father's hay
rick on his head( on his own head, not
his father's), broke his arm and Berlously
ruptured the ethical principles of his
yellow dog, "Jack," who was standing
near.
"After that," quoting once more the
syndicate article, "the boy was possessed,
seemingly, of a dual nature. At times as
docile as could be desired, he frequently
had fits of anger, which took the form of
perverse acts of various sorts. He be
came a Jekyll-Hyde In miniature.
"Only one object was sacred to him his
yellow dock. Jack. He and the dog be
came the terror of the countryside, for
the animal appeared to have contracted
the nature of his master." Gloom and
distress followed their wake wherever
they went.
Something had to be done to Spurgeon
and the clog. The doctors strapped him
(Spurgeon) down and securely shackled
him to a bed for a day or two until they
were ready to lessen his evil tendencies
by means of surgery.
This is how it was done:
With a trephine auger, the operator cut
from the lad's head a circular piece of
skull, removed through the aperture some
loose bits of bone, and let the light of
heaven in.
When Spurgeon came out from under
the anesthetic he remarked: "I feel like
a new boy. I'm going to become a good
man."
When he was discharged from the hos
pital he was mild-tempered and had lost
his taste for dime novels, whisky and
cigarettes.
"And the dog what became of the
dog?" some one may ask. The regenera
tion of the dog was eaaily accomplished.
Spurgeon did it with a club.
M. B. WELLS.