THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, NOV
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PORTLAND, SUNDAY, NOV 11, 1906.
A MOVE IN THE GAME.
' Of the plutocrats It has often been
said that as to the general trend of
public opinion and the significance of
popular movements they are incredibly
blind and stupid; and the charge is
true. But with respect to their own
financial Interests they cannot be ac
cused of shortsightedness. Here they
eee a long way ahead, and they 6ee
clearly. If they had not public opinion
nd the Inevitable demands of general
Justice to reckon with, nothing could
be shrewder than their plays, and the
game would be in their own hands for
ever. Some 6Uch reflection as these inevit
ably occur to one who observes the bold
and unscrupulous" efforts of the pirati
cal powers which are included under
the name "Standard Oil," and whose
field captain Is Mr. Harriman, to obtain
control of the railroads trending south
ward. These' powers already control
most of the transcontinental Vines.
These roads were for the most part
built without expense to the owners
by Government subsidies and land
grants. They have all been manip
ulated, wrecked, reorganized and
"watered by well-known methods, and
finally gathered under the protec
tion of Standard Oil as a hen gath
ereth her chickens under her wings.
And now that they are safely
lodged in this secure haven whither
tendeth all the wealth of this Nation
with more or loss speed, they turn out
to be immensely profitable.
One may compare these transconti
nental roads to rivers along which
ships sail both east and west, but the
current of the rivers, the stream of
profits, runs in but one direction, and
that is toward No. 26 Broadway. All
the value of the vast donations of pub
lic lands, all the Government loans and
subsidies, and the major portion of the
wealth produced by the populations
who inhabit the imperial domains
which the.e railroads traverse, flow
without cessation into that vast and
cavernous maw. The Kings of ancient
Persia sat at their capitals and drew
into their treasuries the gold and pur
ple, the grain and fruit of all the Asi
atic world; so that when Alexander
filially brought ruin down upon the
ancient dynasty of plunder he found
stored in the palaces wealth beyond all
the power of his secretaries to count.
So sits the ruler at the commercial
capital of this Nation, in New York, a
ruler who Is nothing but an immeas
urable paunch with a mouth forever
open and 'sucking, and down his gullet
swirls whatever the labor and intelli
gence of the country produce. And
with keen eyes he watches for every
sign of danger to his rule.
The most threatening sign is the
Tanania Canal. As long as fighting
availed in the least, the allied powers
of plunder fought the canal. Now that
fighting can no longer help them, they
proceed, as they always do, to control
It. In the same way they fought the
Interstate Commerce Commission until
It grew powerful in spite of them.
Then they set about owning it. So far
the predatory interests show no intent
to grab the canal, though that is by no
means impossible should they once se
cure a complacent Congress and Presi
dent. They purpose to control It by
owning every means of access. Once
In possession of all the roads which lead
southward, they can shut the Nation
off from Its canal, except on their own
terms, and they will thus secure all the
benefits of ownership without the ex
pense. Possessing the roads which lead
southward, the piratical interests can
"equalize" rates by way of the canal
and the transcontinental roads. They
will equalize the rates, not by reducing
railroad charges to the level of water
charges: heaven forbid that they 6hould
be guilty of such unbusinesslike folly.
"What they will do will be to raise rates
to the Gulf high enough to make the
balance swing even. Thus the people,
after all their expense and effort, will
get no benefit from the canal. What
ever profit results from it will flow
smoothly and unbrokenly into the
pockets of the "interests." as heaven
decreed from all eternity that it should.
The principal move in the game is to
get hold of the Illinois Central road,
the most important of the southward
lines, and hitherto the best managed.
Mr. Stuyvesant Fish is a sort of lsh
inael among railroad magnates, owing
to his peculiar habit of managing his
road for the stockholders, instead of
using it to, steal from them. Under
his control, the Illinois Central was
conducted honestly. A man of high
principles and inflexible integrity, the
pirates found that they .could not use
him in their scheme to reduce this
road to a part of the Standard Oil
system. This scheme would, of course.
Involve an issue of watered stock,
wresting the control from the stock
holders, and a grand orgy of robbery,
with the final result of making the
great property, or the wreck of it, a
mere connecting link in the 6yetem.
The first step has now been prosper
ously taken. Mr .Harriman, acting for
his masters, has control of the Illinois
Central road.
Thus the principal move has been
made In the game of blocking the way
of the American people to the Panama
Canal. The large southward system
which President Spencer represents is
already "harmonized" with Standard
Oil. The proposed line cutting across
the plains from Dakota to Galveston is
yet but a proposal,, and before it is
worked out Mr. Rockefeller's captains
will have seized it. The Mississippi
River, nature's great highway to the
Gulf, has been virtually ruined by the
timber pirates. Their depredations
have transformed it into a Winter tor
rent obstructed by shoals and sand
bars throughout the Summer. With
out an enormous expenditure by Con
gress, It can scarcely become useful
again, and uch an appropriation the
"interests" will effectually hinder.
The plutocrats can smile serenely at
the progress of the canal, as we now
perceive. One may even believe that
they will cease to bribe and steal and
lobby to block its progress. What do
they care? Controlling every access to
the canal, they control the canal itself.
The vast undertaking thus becomes es
sentially another donation from the
meek and long-suffering American peo
ple to their divinely appointed rulers,
Mr. Rockefeller and his dynasty.
WATER INJUSTICE IX PORTLAND.
Widespread disapproval of the water
management of Portland, on account of
the present charter system and . un
equal apportionment of rates, is forc
ing itself on the attention of citi
zens. This protest is not . of sudden
outburst; it has been gaining strength
a long time, and, though allayed by
appointment of two new members of
the Water Board to succeed W. M.
Ladd and G. W. Bates, it is demanding
changes in the management and the
charter, toward fairness for small users
of water poor families and humble
home-owners and rent-payers.
Two changes from present methods
are urged one to make land pay for
new pipes; the other not only to make
land pay for new pipes, "but also all
taxable property to pay for distribu
tion of water. Either of these alterna
tives will require charter amendment,
which could be accomplished by the
voters of the city at Jhe next June
election, i
The second plan would" give water
free for family use, and impese light
rates for other uses; the first would
liberate water-users from the expense
of laying new mains. The free-water
method is urged by an association
formed for the purpose and by the
Federated Trades Council.
It is plain that the Injustice of the
existing system is arousing strong
criticism. This should serve as a warn
ing to the "landed" interests, which
profit from the methods now employed.
For if they shall attempt to stay a
change, they may find themselves, in
the end, burdened with the cost of sup
porting a free-water system.
But Portland is not ready for free
water. Mr. Lamson's objection to it is
based on sound reasons. It is an ex
treme remedy. An intermediate would
do better that of charging new pipe
cost against benefited property. This
city is not prepared to supply any serv
ice to its citizens free of cost to them.
Somebody must pay the bill; nothing is
free. It Is no injustice to consumers
that they pay for water. It is injustice
that they be compelled to pay for pipes
which they do not use. That is the
source of the present criticism. It can
be corrected without radical change to
free water.
Water rates have been kept high, in
order to supply funds for new mains,
for which consumers generally feel that
landowners should pay. New mains
run past vacant lots and large unoc
cupied tracts, whose values are im
proved many thousands of dollars at
the expense of consumers. In the com
pact city water-users get free water
for fire protection. In the suburbs, a
few speculators and holders of big es
tates have obtained valuable pipe privi
leges, paid for by thousands of poor
householders, who are pinched by even
so small a payment as $1 or $1.50 a
month.
The most glaring example of the in
justice of the present method is that of
the new Highland main, more than ten
miles lqng, costing $250,000. This main
is paid for by water consumers, and
many owners of vacant land, bordered
or traversed toy the pipe, are enriched
thousands of dollars by the .added
value of their holdings, yet they pay
nothing for the pipe.
This injustice rankles in the bosoms
of consumers, and with good reason.
It takes from the earnings of the poor
to enrich wealthy or well-to-do land
owners. It is an abuse that cannot
long endure.
" 'CO', DOSS, CO'."
Oregon is a dairy country. Behind
this simple statement stands an im
mense herd of high-bred kine, and
proudly pointing at their achievement
stands State Dairy and Food Commis
sioner Bailey. The items 1 in this
achievement for 1905 are 10,000,000
pounds of butter, valued at $2,500,000;
about 4,000,000 pounds of cheese, esti
mated to be worth $48,000, and 300.000
cases of condensed milk, worth $195,000.
The basis of the manufactured prod
ucts which added nearly $28,000,000 to
the wealth of the state was a bulk of
milk comprising 82,500.000 gallons suf
ficient, as estimated by the Dairy Com
missioner, to fill a reservoir 740 feet
square and 30 feet deep! Best of all,
the record shows the dairy industry in
Oregon to be a growing industry, the
gain of the past year being 40 per cent.
As every consumer knows to his cost,
the market for dairy products has not
been overstocked at any time. The de
mand has been steady, and almost for
the first time in our history as a state,
the supply met it full-handed but with
out an overplus to run the price down
below a profit to the producer and the
seller. Just now butter is higher in
price than the growing dairy industry,
in a state where conditions are exceed
ingly favorable to dairying would seem
to justify. The early Fall rains started
the grass in every pasture and on
every range. The dairy Industry is
well established. At the v call of the
milkmen there are milkm.aids no
longer except in song and story thou
sands of cows come trooping home from
rich pastures to be milked. Prosaic as
is the dairy industry, vexatious at
times, and always laborious as it is in
Its every-day and twice-a-day exac
tions, those who know It only in mem
ory or at a distance from the farm
yard find it pleasant to hear in imag
ination above the Dairy Commission
er's presentment of solid facts and fig
ures, the milking song so quaintly sung
by Jean Ingelow:
Cusha! Cusha! Cusha! Calling
For the dews will Eoon be falling;
Leave yon meadow grasses mellow,
Mellow, mellow!
Quic yon cowslips, cowslips yellow;
Come up, Whltefoot! Come up Lightfoot!
Quit the stalks of parsley hollow,
Hollow, hollow.
Come up. Jetty! Rise and follow;
From the covers lift your head.
Come up, Whltefoot! Come up. Lightfoot!
Come up. Jetty; rise and follow
Jetty, to the milking shed.
Or, still in imagination, we may
stand toy the lowered pasture bars, and
with a hand shading the eyes from
the slant rays of the setting sun,
hear the unforgotten call, now and ever
instinct with melody: "Co boss! Co'
boss! Co', co'!"
MR. BRYAN'S INGENUOUSNESS.
Mr. Bryan has something ' to say
about the results of last Tuesday's elec
tions, probably because he thought he
was .expected to say something. He
finds much in the situation to console
the Democracy, and he thinks Mr.
Hearst ought to feel good because "his
heroic struggle brought victory to the
rest of the ticket. As the rest of the
ticket stood for the same principles for
which he contended, it Is evident that
he has been vindicated on the position
taken, and this must be more gratify
ing, to him than any personal victory
could be."
Mr. Bryan has had a great deal of
experience in explaining away defeats,
and in demonstrating that what ap
pears to everybody else to be a crush
ing political disaster is in reality a
great triumph of principle for the los
ing party or candidate. He has ex
plained so much and so often that he
is able to shut his eyes to the most
obvious facts and to open his mouth to
interpretations both ridiculous and un
true. The result in New York was a
distinct and unquestionable repudiation
of Hearst and the Hearst methods anfl
principles, otherwise known as Hearst
ism. There was practically no other
issue. Indeed, Hearst was the sole is
sue. The people of New York, or a
majority of them, did not believe in
him or in his professions. On the con
trary, they were frightened into an
open rejection of the whole scheme of
Hearstism. To be sure, Hearst pro
fessed to stand for certain reforms in
which the great body of the public is
profoundly interested, and is deter
mined shall be carried out. But Hughes
by his personal character and his rec
ord for achievement gave better guar
anty than his opponent that they would
be carried out, and he was elected.
Every intelligent man knows what
the issue was in New York, and how It
was determined. Why does Mr. Bryan
pretend that he does not, and say that
Hearstism was triumphant while
Hearst was beaten?
CONSIDER THE HEX.
". Eggs. 35 cents, a., dozen at wholesale,
with probabilities against early decline
in price, and Portland letting go of
about $2500 a day for poultry-yard
product Imported from the Mississippi
Valley, make pertinent the inquiry,
What's the matter with the Oregon
hen? The frugal housewife who pays
out 40 cents a dozen, and 5 cents extra
for "guaranteed" quality, is interested
equally with the farmer in a satisfac
tory answer. No section of the United
States is better adapted to the culti
vation of hens than is Oregon. Good
hens mean wholesome eggs, the best of
all foods, and the most profitable of all
agricultural industries.
Cannot hens be trained to lay during
seasons when eggs are scarce and high
priced? This question answered in the
affirmative would spell increased
wealth to the producer and toothsome
food to the consumer. Dr. Louis Dech
mann, a Portland man of science, in
recent issues of The Sunday Oregonian,
set forth the result of many years' ex
periment and published free his formu
las for the hen's daily ration. He dem
onstrated that the breeding of superior
domestic fowls depends entirely on in
telligent feeding, and that the season
for strong laying can be regulated by
the same means. Why not put his
teaching to practical test on the farm?
The cost is next to nothing, and years
are not required for the unscientific
man to prove whether he can accom
plish what Dr. Dechmann has achieved.
Consider the hen. She boasts not;
neither is she lazy, and every year she
contributes about $30Q,000.000 toward the
agricultural output of the Nation. She
is more profitable, several times over,
than all the gold mines. WTe have made
know to the world our Oregon apples,
our hops, strawberries, cherries and
prunes, to say nothing of wheat and
flour all the result of culture. A first
class article of food is self-advertising.
Let's turn to and cultivate the hen.
' r
ANNUAL RANGE SQUABBLE.
The preliminary exercises of the an
nual squabble between the sheepmen
and the cattlemen are now in progress
at Sumpter, Or. More than two hun
dred representatives of the sheep and
cattle industry have assembled at
Sumpter for the purpose of securing
range allotments on Government land.
News dispatches from the seat of con
flict state that "the only matter on
which the two factions are a unit is the
fight to keep out all who were not in
the range last year." It is also stated
that the owners of private timber lands
amounting to more than over 100,000
acres are getting two and three times
as much per acre as is being secured
by the Government. As the land is
owned by the Government, and the
Government is supposed to treat all
men alike, it is not clear that either the
cattlemen or the sheepmen have any
legitimate grounds on which to ask ex
clusion of men who were not on the
range last year.
There has never been a peaceful di
vision of the grazing territory since
the herds of the cattlemen and sheep
men became crowded for room, and
there have been tout few seasons when
the old law of "might makes right"
was not Invoked with attendant slaugh
ter of dumb brutes, and occasionally
human beings. It- would seem that
Oregon had reached a point in the on
ward march of civilization where this
annual squabble and carnival of law
lessness, which accompanies the prac
tically free use of the Government
range, should be guarded against by a
more satisfactory method of parceling
out that range. A suggestion of a new
and perhaps more satisfactory plan
than that now followed might be found
in the statement that the owners of
private lands were receiving three
times as much for the use of their
lands as was being paid the Govern
ment. The fierceness with which the graz
ing concessions are squabbled over
every year proves conclusively that
there is a distinct value attached. In
order to ascertain just what a fair
value would be for the grazing privi
lege, It might be put up at auction and
awarded to the highest bidder. It is
a certainty that. If the Government in
creased its rates threefold, to equal
those of the private owners of land,
there would be a slackening in the de
mand. If the rate established by this
method of ascertaining values should
prove, too low to lessen the demand, it
might be gradually Increased until the
exact value of the concession would be
ascertained by the old law of 6Upply
and demand.
The special privilege has already been
worked to the limit in the Government
land districts of Eastern Oregon, and,
if the Government will stand on its
rights, and demand full value for the
grazing privilege. It will' be much
easier to silence the fierce warfare that
has . disgraced the Eastern Oregon
range country every time the cattle
men and sheepmen have got too close
to each other.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
Great expectations have been excited
in the agitated breasts of many Port
landers by the news which comes in
lately of extensive gifts of land to the
public by citizens of neighboring towns.
Thus, J. M. Frlnk, a prominent mem
ber of the first families of Seattle, has
donated some twelve acres of valuable
land for a park. Mr. Charles Cowen, of
the same city, has rivaled his generos
ity by a similar gift. From the Oregon
town of Eugene comes the news that
Mr. T. G. Hendricks, a well-known
citizen, long a regent of the State Uni
versity, has bestowed a considerable
area upon the community where he
has resided for so many years.
These acts are an agreeable varia
tion from the common practice of some
of our own social and commercial mag
nates, which consists in plundering the
city rather than making gifts to it;
but since the fashion has been set by
men of social eminence, it is believed
that it will in time extend to Portland.
It is expected by some very enthusi
astic people that here and there a scion
of our own first families will slice off
a bit from one of his farms lying in the
middle of the city and donate it to the
public.
These exalted and pious individuals
have fleeced the public so long that
they have tired ; of the sport, so the
story runs, and they are now going to
try how It feels to give back a fraction
of their accretions. It is not expected
that they will carry the experiment far
enough to impoverish themselves. No
anticipation of that sort prevails, we
hasten to say; at least it does not .pre
vail outside of the insane asylum. A
plutocrat might cut off a hundred
acres, say, from his farm in the heart
of the city and make a public park of
it. Some little tiny kickshaw like this
is the utmost that any reasonable per
son looks for; but thus much we do
expect, and we cannot persuade our
selves that the expectation is unreason
able. AMERICAN SCHOOLS.
About this time some 500 British
teachers are1 expected to arrive in this
country to make a more or less thor
ough study of American schools. They
will toe personally conducted toy Mr.
Alfred Mosely, the noted philanthro
pist, who is fairly well acquainted
with the advantages and defects of
our public schools. It is a tribute to
their solid merit that with this ac
quaintance he finds them worth study
and imitation at home. The fact of the
matter is that British lower-grade
schools might imitate those of almost
any other civilized country with ad
vantage. The education of the masses
is a matter which the government of
Great Britain has never approached
from the common-sense side. Schools
they have had, after a fashion, but
more in the nature of charities than
an established part of the national pol
ity, and what is called "religion" has
played the major part in their curric
ula. What passes toy the name of
"religion" in the British schools for
the lower classes is of course nothing
more than formal instruction in the
verbal treasures of the established
church.
What we prize in this country under
the familiar phrase of the "three R's"
has never been thought of much con
sequence in England for the masses of
the people. It has been deemed much
more important to teach them respect
for their superiors and contentment in
the station of life where it has pleased
Providence to place them. The result
is that the masses of the British popu
lation are relatively illiterate; of those
subjects which the average American
has mastered fairly well they are
densely ignorant. They know nothing
of the modern, or scientific, turn of
mind; they are ill informed upon the
most common topics. Not only has the
education of the masses been sadly
neglected in Britain, but the whole field
of scientific and technical learning has
been made subordinate. The universi
ties of Cambridge and Oxford are not
seats of science. In classical learning
they hold a certain eminence. In
mathematics they have done good
work, though not by any means the
best of modern times. But scientific
work in England has generally been
achieved outside the great universities,
and, in many cases, under the shadow
of a very perceptible hostility from
them.
In partial consequence of this neg
lect of science in British education,
the empire is slowly losing jts prestige
in manufacture and trade. For mod
ern manufacture is based on chemistry,
physics and the other laboratory sci
ences, and those countries where these
branches of knowledge are best pur
sued are the ones which are forging
ahead in the world-wide contest for
markets. Germany, for example, .reaps
today the reward of her devotion to
pure and' applied science toy driving
English goods out of the English mar
ket. The steady decadence of British
supremacy in trade has the effect of
throwing work people out of employ
ment, and thus makes the problem of
the unemployed doubly distressing in
England. There, more than in any
other modern nation perhaps, it takes
the aspect of hopelessness.
The education law enacted by Parlia
ment under the ministry of Mr. Bal
four was a reactionary measure in
tended, not to advance Instruction, but
to keep the control of the schools In
the clergy of the established church.
Clergymen never have been good edu
cators. In both schools and public of
fice they have been conspicuous toy
their mistakes and failures. The bill
now before Parliament will introduce
radical changes for the better should
the Lords permit it to become law; but
England has a long and difficult road
to travel before she attains to a thor
oughly modern system of public
schools. Study of American schools by
English teachers will, of course, help
the matter along. Our schools have
their defects, but they are established
on correct principles, and they contain
In themselves the saving salt of an ir
repressible self-criticism.
It is true of our public schools as of
almost no other institution that they
show no trace of dead self-admiration.
The tone of the American teacher has
been always one of fault-finding with
what has been achieved. They display
sometimes too much eagerness to dis
card the good and seek the better.
This spirit is, of course, above all
praise, but in some of its lesser mani
festations it occasionally leads our
teachers astray. Too much eagerness
for what Is new may degenerate Into
a hospitality to fads. We are perhaps
a little too ready to try experiments
in our schools. But, after all, this is
a fault on the right side. Anything in
education is better than the dull com
placency which will not admit the pos
sibility of improvement.
Mr. Mosely's remark that we surpass
the English In our devotion to practical
studies is true enough, for in the Brit
ish schools practical Information is al
most ignored. Still in this particular
we are by no means perfect. Instruc
tion in the really modern and practical
studies is just beginning in our
schools. Some County Superintendents
are timidly introducing agriculture as
an innovation. Sewing and cooking
are as yet rarely taught. Freehand
drawing is almost unknown in country
schools. In these matters we can
show a good example to the British,
but it Is on account of their defects
rather than our own perfections.
OUR HEREDITARY TRAITS.
A subtle thing is heredity much
speculated upon, but little understood.
There is among thoughtful men who,
like Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, have
given the matter intelligent attention,
a feeling awesome though lightly ex
pressed, that
Shape our actions as we may,
Our future lies behind us.
While, as stated by a writer in the
Review of Reviews, "the question of
the Inheritance of exceptional talent or
marked peculiarities has always ex
cited great interest, comparatively lit
tle attention has been given to the
broader subject of the mission of the
general characteristics and every-day
qualities that make up the personality
of the rank and file of humanity. Even
when, after long cogitation, we con
clude that exceptional talents are an
Inheritance, a Lincoln springs from a
lowly ancestry, and becomes a "true
born king of men"; a Napoleon emerges
from ancestral obscurity to astonish the
world with his military prowess, and a
Millet from a simple peasant stock that
was content to dig and delve without
lifting its eyes from the ground. Still
intelligent thought returns persistently
to the subject, and finds in studying it
proof of hereditary traits that cannot
be ignored.
The field is a wide one, and has been
much explored. Lately two scientists.
In order to draw Information from as
wide a field as possible, sent out printed
lists to all the physicians of the Neth
erlands and requested them to co-pp-erate
in the work by filling out the'an
swers from their observations on their
own circle of relatives, friends and ac
quaintances, describing the characteris
tics of families and extending their ob
servations over as many generations as
possible. The object was not to select
cases of evident heredity, but to find
out from general observation of the
best families whether there is a regu
lar relation between the characteristics
of parents and children, and to what
extent it may develop.
An exceedingly interesting account of
the results of this inquiry was recently
published in a Leipsic psycological and
scientific journal, contributed by two
noted German scientistE". The findings
were voluminous and exhaustive, and
bristle with points of interest. The
chief interest, however, centers around
the inquiry as to whether the traits of
children depend more upon the influ
ence of the father's or the mother's
personality. Observation supported
the belief that the ability to compre
hend quickly is hereditary, and may
come from either parent, while inde
pendent thinking, which is also hered
itary, the sons follow the characteris
tics of the father, the daughters those
of the mother. Somewhat contradic
tory evidence, however, is adduced in
the finding that 44 per cent of the
sons of men who had a talent for
mathematics inherited the same, while
in families where the mother was
strong in mathematics and the father
was not 100 per cent of the sons in
herited the -talents, but none of the
daughters shared the inheritance.
Among other transmitted tendencies
noted is a roving disposition, or the
opposite tendency, in girls, inherited
from the mother, while boys inherit
like tendencies from the father. A ten
dency either to be irritable or good
natured, and the sensitive nature that
feels hurt over trifles, is transmitted;
the father's influence here being the
stronger over both sons and daughters.
The inclination to criticise or to idealize
people, industry or the lack of it, are
traits that boys Inherit from their
mothers and girls from their fathers.
The father's- influence preponderates
in transmitting a spirit of self-satisfaction
and superiority, or the oppo
site trait of self-criticism, combined
with recognition of the superiority .of
others. A tendency to alcoholism is
transmitted from father to son, while
this baleful inheritance is less marked
In the daughters. In mania, melan
cholia, paralysis, imbecility, epilepsy,
hysteria, etc., the father's influence is
the stronger. The mother's influence
Is stronger in transmitting a talent for
music and speaking foreign languages
the father's In transmitting literary
ability. Of more than one hundred
psychic characteristics, only 2.4 per
cent were not, according to these find
ings, absolutely within the domain of
heredity.
After all, the matter lies still largely
in the realm of mysticism. Character
istics easily, traceable in one instance
are in another utterly obscure, where
conditions seem to be Identical as in
children born of the same parents, un
der the same roof and surrounded by
the same environments. Why this
should be so, no one knows or pretends
to say. Summing up the evidence ad
duced, even the puzzled If not wholly
baffled scientist is fain to acknowledge
that individual personality Is a curi
ous mosaic of ancestral traits, the fit
ting of which seems to follow certain
laws or Influences, the breaks in the
general scheme proving nothing but
man's inability to account for them. The
study is an interesting one, but the
conclusions of its students are toy no
means absolute.
The Needlework Guild of America, an
active branch of which is at work in
this city, gives satisfactory evidence
of its usefulness in the annual distribu
tion of garments, new and neatly made,
to the various local charities for re
distribution to the poor. It was a sight
fair to see the long tables set out in
the chapel of the Unitarian Church
during several days last week, literally
loaded with garments suited to the
common wants of the various classes In
need of such assistance. There was
everything in stock, from the warm
nightdress for the grandmother who
has found shelter In the Home for the
Aged, to the infants' slips always In
request at the Baby Home through all
the Intermediate grades of need and
endeavor. Unsectarian, unselfish, broad
as Is the humanity to which it minis
ters, is the work of the Needlework
Guild. Its membership In this city is
large; it should and doubtless will be
larger after the "exhibit and distribu
tion made last week.
The war that is being waged against
men who so far forget the first princi
ples of cleanliness and personal de
cency as to expectorate In and around
the Union Depot in this city should and
doubtless will succeed. It is upheld by
city ordinance and backed by the sim
plest of all sanitary considerations. No
one doubts that an honest, persistent
effort to enforce this wholesome re
striction would succeed, not only at
the railway station, but throughout
the city. The patient or the careless
public tolerates many disagreeable
things that it need not endure, and of
all of these the vulgar, unhealthful,
filthy, clownish habit of spitting in
public places is the worst. Since rep
rimand is but wasted breath, and con
siderations of health and cleanliness
have long been urged against this
habit in vain, let those who are prone
to Indulge it be subject to compulsion.
Success to the officials of the Union
Depot in their new crusade against this
disgusting vice.
An entirely new type of engine, cal
culated to do away with the locomotive
and confine the steam-generating power
of railway trains to a small compart
ment in a coach, has been adopted by
the Michigan Central. The invention
promises to revolutionize the motive
power of boats, trucks, automobiles
and railroads. It has been subjected
to severe tests, and, after thorough
trial and investigation, its adoption
was recommended by the .Assistant
Chief Engineer of the Michigan Cen
tral. Plans are being matured where
by it will be put into service as soon
as possible. No noise, no smoke, no
shoveling of coa, and a saving to the
railroad company by the use of gaso
line, kerosene or alcohol are among
the benefits promised. The invention
is only another development of man's
desire and determination to "fly with
out wings," and there is no reason to
suppose that It will not take Its place
and have its day in the march of
progress.
The President will see for himself the
conditions that prevail upon the Isth
mus. Hearsay upon this matter, as
upon all others wherein private inter
ests struggle for gain against the pub
lic weal, is conflicting. The people will
hear from the President, through his
forthcoming message to Congress, what
they have long wanted to know in re
gard to the progress that has been
made, and the methods that have been
and are being pursued in the construc
tion of their big and costly ditch. And
hearing they will know that the truth
as a responsible, energetic man sees it
has been told. May the good battle
ship Louisiana, with her convoys, the
cruisers Tennessee and Washington,
have speedy passage to Colon and safe
return to American waters.
In a suit against a railroad company
for damages for loss of a trunk, Ihe
plaintiff, who is a Seattle woman, sets
forth an incredibly long list of articles
she had in the trunk. The railroad
company might provide a collection of
similar articles and challenge her to
pack them in a trunk of the same size
In the presence of the jury. Still there
is the danger that she might accom
plish the feat, in which event the jury
would quite likely award her punitive
damages. Mere man, even though he
toe a railroad lawyer, can't even guess
how much a woman will pack into a
trunk.
The main obstacle to the operation
of a mill for making Jute bags at the
penitentiary lies in the fact that the
material is wholly controlled by a trust
in Calcutta, which has nearly doubled
the price within a year. This has
stopped work at the bag factory of the
State of Washington, at the Walla
Wall penitentiary. The Jute crop is
wholly in foreign hands, and the grow
ers and speculators may be expected to
make the most of it.
It was the hottest campaign New
York ever saw, and yet the people were
all settled down to their ordinary voca
tions within twenty-four hours after the
polls closed. The American people fight
hard and bitterly, but forget the con
test quickly.
The President Is to take a "flying
trip" across the Isthmus, in four days.
That's what a number of correspond
ents are said to have done, to get a
smattering for magazine and newspa
per articles.
Four days after It is all over Mr.
Bryan emerges from his Nebraska cy
clone cellar, and tells everybody that
it wasn't much of a storm. It's noth
ing when you're used to it.
In advocating free water in Portland,
the esteemed Federated Trades Coun
cil probably does not mean the large
quantities of liquid in the stock of
public-utility corporations.
Mr. L. M. (Larry) Sullivan, on return
ing to Portland this morning, finds
himself a bigger man than If he had
been elected Councilman. 'Rah for re-
0rm ' '
At any rate, we never had so much
Interest in apple culture before, and
we can stand some quarreling if it will
accomplish that result.
After others have had a chance in the
Democratic party, it is seen that Bryan
does pretty well, after all.
Free water should please not alone
the Socialists, but the Prohibitionists.
Central Oregon never had a crop fail
ure, nor a car shortage.
THE PESSIMIST. - -
Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish and the had
a chance to furnish a real excuse 'for
their existence by cleaning out tne
Wall-street gang, but, then, . they
failed.
t
It is said that J. P. Weyerhaeuser, a
wealthy lumberman, wants to ex
change his millions for a nice, cozy
Job. If ho really means it, he can.
have mine.
We have been told by a local minis
ter that a man cannot smoke and be
a Christian, and that only Christians
will be saved. This means that a man
who smokes now will smoke and siz
zle in the hereafter.
It is to be hoped that no weak un
derstrapper will get chesty during
Teddy's absence and hurt himself, or
some one else, attempting to wield
the big stick.
Speaking of Mr. Roosevelt, his re
cent rule indicating how certain words
should be spelled has brought shame
and humiliation on a Portland resi
dent whose sex will not be mentioned.
Since the promulgation of that famous
dictum, this particular individual has
lived in a state of considerable uncer
tainty as to how a large number of
words should be spelled. Desiring to
depart on a certain train, this particu
lar individual wrote a nice little note
to a downtown ticket office, saying:
"Please reserve me two births on the
'steen-thirty train."
Jones' Theory.
"Yesslr!" said Jones the other morn
ing, going down on the Broadway car,
"I was right."
Jones is a rapid and vivid thinker,
and at times is inclined to Imagine
that those near him arc mindrcaders,
and that they have been arguing with
him. For years Jones had cherished a
secret idea that a man whose ears
stood out from his head could play
billiards better tnan another whoso
cars lie close, and that his ability with
a cue varied exactly in accordanoe with
the angle at which they stood. Jones
could play a pretty good game him
self, but his own cars seemed to be
glued to the back part of his face,
while his friend Jimpson, who lived
next door, had cars that projected
from his head like the draw of a
bridge when It is open. Aside from
these two prominent facts, Jones'
theory had received little confirmation,
and he had remained silent. Neverthe
less, he had thought a heap, and there
were times when he wondered how
Jimpson's wife could stand those ears.
"Yessir! 1 am right," he repeated,
looking around in a belligerent man
ner. No one offering any audible ob
jection, he continued:
"If you have read this thing in the
paper here, you will see that some ono
else besides me has noticed that the
shape of a man's ears has something
to do with the way that he plays
billiards"
"Billiards?" interrupted Jimpson,
who rides to town on the same car
with Jones nearly every morning,
"what do you know about billiards? I
can double-discount you any day and
you can keep the chalk In your pock
et, and you kno "
"Billiards'." ground out Jones with
subdued rage in his voice, "who said
anything about billiards?"
"You did," asserted Jimpson in an
immediate and excited manner.
"I did?" L
"Ten! you did." j
"When?"
"Just now. I'll leave it to the crowd.
Wasn't Jones talking about billiards?"
Jimpson appealed to the usual patrons
that filled the front vestibule that time
in the morning.
"Yes, Jones, you said billiards all
right enough," several responded.
"I heard you, too, Jones," volunteered
the motorman, as he looked around
Just in time, to avoid seeing three la
dies and blind man, standing on the
wrong side 'of the street, signaling fur
him to stop, "that's what you were
talking about billiards."
"Aw! kack," said Jones, disgustedly,
"I wasn't talking about billiards; I
was just saying that Professor Blau,
a German scientist and physician, has
published the results of his researcHes.
which show that you can tell a thief
by his ears. The longer his ears are
at the top the worse thief he is. Now,
I've never seen Henry H. Rogers, but
I'll bet you ten to one that his cars
keep the brim of his hat pretty well
dust "
"What's that got to do with bil
liards?" persisted Jimpson, who had
never heard of Rogers and didn't care
anything about learned statistics.
"Billiards!!!" roared Jones. "Look
here, Jimpson, if you arc going to talk
about billiards all the rest of your life,
I'll tune the Irvlngton car to town in
tho morning and get seasick, rather
than hear you everlastingly shooting
off your mouth about billiards. It's a
wonder that you wouldn't learn some
thing worth knowing. Why don't you
find out how to build a decent tire in
your furnace, for instance, so that
your wife won't nave to telephone over
to our Jap every morning after you've
gone, to come and see what's the, mat
ter? You're "not so warm, either, play
ing billiards. If I didn't have to go to
the office tonight, I'd see you at the
club and play you a game or two for
$10 a string; then you'd keep still for
a change. To go back to what we
were talking about, a scoundrel al
ways shows the earmarks I mean that
a man's cars in one way or another
cr-er-er as I was saying "
"Hold on, Jones! that isn't what you
were saying." again interrupted Jimp
son, "you said that the shape of a
man's ears nad something to do witli
the nay he played billiards; that's
what you said."
"If you know exactly what I was
going to say, why don't you say it
yourself? You're a friend of mine,
Jimpson, but I'm liablo to forget it!
While you are. unloading a lot of scien
tific Information, you might explain
why it is that your dog's bones nick
the blades In my lawnmower, partic
ularly when I haven't any dog, and
yon haven't got any lawnmower'."
"Well, if you want to get mad about
It, you can." responded Jimpson. obsti
nately, "but I'd like to know what my
ears have got to do with the way
you play billiards, or what figure your
ears rut with my billiards. Kvery time
I stick you for a gamp you look at
my ears and then feel of your own.
You started all this talk about bil
liards! Let's hear what it is."
"Of course," said Jones noxiously
and slowly, as he looknd ahead and
saw that his street w;is still two block!?
away, "of course. Jimpson. if you want
me to make a picture of this thing,
I'll do it, and then vou can understand
It, and and say, Jimpson," continued
Jones in a more sprightly manner as
he backed out of the corner and put
one foot on the step, "why don't you
let another reef out of those ears and
stand on the back platform? we'd go
faster. What's that? W-11, ta-ta,
Jimpson; I'll see you later."
M. B.. WELLS.