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ISCUSSED
BY "SJRIOXJ
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IMPOSSIBILITY OF SOCIALIST PROGRAMME
Insuperable Difficulties in the Way Entire
Change of Social Structure Is Necessary.
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. TORTLAXD. MARCn 17, 1907
tiMnrir UJKKENI 10TPKS )
BY J. I.. JONES.
EVERYBODY Is a Socialist. Every kind
of government or form of associa
tion is a kind of socialism. Socialism
properly means the science of association,
and includes all varieties. That theory
of society which we now call Socialism
ought to be called Collectivism. It stands
for collective ownership of all means of
production and exchange.
Some time ago The Oregonian said there
was no use to write about Socialism un
less some one could show how it could
be made practicable. No one can ever
prove that chc collectivist's programme is
practicable. I am attempting to show
that it is impossible. There are many in
superable difficulties. 1 will enumerate
four for a sample.
1. Kven if the coilectivist theory were
correct it would be impossible to convert
& majority of the present humanity to it.
The common people of Lincoln's time
have disappeared and there has arisen a
race of degenerates who have forgotten
the virtues of their forefathers, lost all
conception of the meaning of human
brotherhood, and the definitions of hon
esty and honor.
2. If a majority wore converted to
vote the Socialist ticket, their votes
would not be counted. 3. If an unques
tionable majority were secured, then
the ruling class would not stand for
the change any more than the South
would submit to negro domination.- We
would Immediately have a condition
of social war and anarchy similar to
that which exists in Russia. 4. If all
the people agreed to adopt the collec-
NOT THE GOVERNMENT BUT THE PEOPLE ROBBED
BY C. B. GARRISON.
A GREAT cry is being heard
throughout our land that the Gov
ernment is being defrauded of its
valuable possessions in timber lands,
through the enormous graft and crime
being perpetrated against it by the
rascally homesteader and the timber and
stone thieves, and through their aid the
timber is being gathered into the fold
of the more rascally timber baron. This
claim has been so persistently urged, that
most people unfamiliar with the law and
the real facts in the case, and even our
Government officials, have" evidently come
to the conclusion, that no honest man
would be guilty of attempting to take
advantage of those laws so beneficently
passed by a heretofore friendly Govern
ment, to aid the poor man to secure for
himself, a moiety of those lands for the
benefit of himself and his family, as the
law originally intended he should do.
Being ho Imbued with this idea, instead.
a the law provides, of leaving the facts
of the good or evil intention of the entry
man to be decided by the regular Gov
ernment officials of the land district in
which the particular piece of land may
lie, and to his neighbors who should, if
any one can. know whether it was taken
in good faith and for his own benefit,
each witness under oath testifying to
the facts as he knows them, the Gov
ernment reversing all our preconceived
ideas of law and procedure, practically
assumes that the entryman is guilty of
fraud, places him on the defensive, and
IDEAS
BY JOHN A. COLDRAIXER.
A MONO other utterances In Father
O'Hara's sermon, according to
The Oregonian, March 4, we find:
"The church Is losing its Influence
on men; that dogma Is revolting to the
masculine mind. A religious dopma is
simply an Important religious truth.
Hence the church which discards dog
matic, teaching may be a success as a
social club: as regards religion it is
somply bankrupt. To bp without dog
ma is to be without religious .convic
tion." In theology dogma is understood to
signify a doctrine defined by the
church and advanced not for discus
sion but for belief, .lust as in animal
and plant lite we classify accovif in!? to
organism or plumage, so religious
creeds as known or classified accord
DID DANIEL WEBSTER EVER SAY THIS?
One View- That His Oft-Quoted Speech Berating the Pacific Coast Has no Basis in Fact.
BY C. T. JOHNSON".
What cio we want with the vast, worth
Icm Hrm. this region of savages and wild
beasts, of desert, of shifting sands and
whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie
doss? To what uae could we ever hope to
put these areat deserts, or these endless
mountain ranges, impenetrable and covered
to their base with eternal snow? What can
we ever hope to do with the Western coast,
a coast three thousand miles, roekbound,
cheerless, ana uninviting, and not a harbor
on It? What use can. we ever have for
such a country? Mr. President, I will never
ote one cent from the public treasury to
place the Pacific Coast one inch, nearer to
ISoston thun it i now.
THK recent death of Dr. Henry M.
Field, .of New York, a mem
ber of the distinguished Field
family and an editor and writer of
note, calls again to mind the query
whether Imnlcl Webster ever used the
language of the above quotation,
which appears on page 173 ot Dr.
Field's book entitled "Our Western
Archipelago." The same quotation is
given upon pages 51S-19 of H. H. Ban
croft's "Chronicles of the Builders."
In both books tho statement is made
that a bill was pending before Con
gress for the establishment of a post
road from the west line of Missouri
to the Pacific Ocean and that upon the
floor of the Senate Mr. Webster broke
our. as above, and Mr. Field gives the
year of this speech as 1S44.
Interesting information as to how Mr.
Field came to use this alleged quo
tation is s'ven in some memoranda of
Professor William T. Marshall, of Cht
ago. from which the writer is privi
leged to copy. Mr. Marshall's notes
tivist programme, they could not put
it in operation. It is as impossible as
Darius Green's flying machine. The
Socialist colonies proved this
Suppose an army were organized on
the Socialist plan, so that the privates
should elect all tho officers, and sup
pose they were divided into hostile fac
tions, and that there was the same
strife about electing officers for the
army that there is about electing state
officials, as undoubtedly there would
be, how could such an army be ex
pected to fight an enemy? It would be
all the time fighting itself. Generals
and other officers would doubtless be
elected by narrow majorities. The de
feated candidates and their followers
would be more deeply interested in
blocking the plans of their superiors
than in obeying their orders.
Socialist colonies have invariably
broken up on account of internal dis
sensions about the management or mis
management of affairs. Those opposed
to the officials in power would not co
operate to carry out their plans. There
was no liberty nor opportunity to work
for themselves. So nothing remained
for them but to mutiny and make
trouble or withdraw and lose their in
terest. Our present system of government is
based, on the Socialist principle as far
as It goes, but it has not yet gone as
far as to deprive all the people of the
opportunity to work for themselves.
That is the reason it has not broken
up yet. There has so far been plenty
of free land and ample opportunity for
expansion. People could work for
themselves and make some sort of liv
ing apart from the government or in
spite of it.
forces him to prove his innocence. Dis
trusting its own local officials and all
others who would have anything . to do
with so vile a creature as he, the Gov
ernment sends out its special agents,
detectives and sleuths, and at the final
proof, after he has sworn it is for his
own use and benefit and with his own
money he pays for the claim, takes the
case out of the hands of the regular
officials, places the entryman in the
sweat-box and proceeds to grill him.
Among the many inquisitorial questions
asked, the following are nearly always
included:
Where did you get the money with
which you make this payment?
What wages have you received during
the past year?
How much of it did you save?
In what bank did you deposit this
money?
What wa the size of and when did
you draw the check to pay for this entry?
Do you know of any persons buying
timber lands in this region?
And in addition to these stock questions,
any others the Ingenuity of the inquisitor
may conceive. I personally know of
one favorite special agent of the Gov
ernment to have kept entrymen in the
sweat-box from one to four hours, where
the said agent was stenographer, in
quisitor, attorney and general court,
asking and taking down questions and
answers and winding up with charging
the poor entryman so much per folio for
the imposition.
The fact must not be lost sight of
that these special agents must, in order
to convince the department of their ef
ficiency and the necessity for their em
ployment, hold some one up now and
then or lose their job. ..
DO NOT FALL FROM
ing to dogmas (fundamental truth). A
spiritual truth is one that comes from
God and being part of him. thcrefare
it must be eternal, universal and not
subject to change: otherwise it is not
spiritual but the work of man.
Among the numerous religious sects,
there is not one whose dogmas (funda
mental truths) have not changed, and
by noting the change we can readily
see that they are the work of man
and lose their spiritual nature.
Jn the primitive Christian church
members that had given scandal by
gross or open sins were excluded from
the Lord's Supper or from the congre-
gation altogether, and could be read
mitted only if they repented and under
went the pennance laid upon them by
the church. It was then that the con
gregation, tlirough vote, forgave them
their sins and took them back in the
read: "I have received a letter from
Rev. IT. M. Field, who says his only
authority is a letter from someone
whose name he has forgotteu . . .
P. S. A later letter from lr. Field
gives one George L- Chase, of Hartford,
Corn., as his authority.Vovember lfith,
1806 1 have received a letter from Mr.
George Chase, of Hartford, Conn.,
stating that he sent the quotation to
Dr. Field without in any manner indorsing-
it (as it seemed to him very
unlike Webster's style), but only to
get Dr. Field's opinion on its authen
ticity, and with no expectation that
Dr. Field would publish it."
Used Without Authority.
The late Rev. Myron Eells, of Twana,
Wash., used this same quotation in al
most the same words as given herein
in his "Reply to Bourne," page S2,- pub
lished by Whitman College in 1902, but
with this foot note: "The writer can
not give the book and page where this
is to be found. It is a part of a reply
of Mrs. C. S. Pringle to Mrs. F. F. Vic
tor's attack on Dr. Whitman, written
December 1st. 1SS4, which the writer
has in manuscript." Mrs. Pringle is an
elderly lady, reported as now living
near or' in Spokane, Wash. She is one
of the survivors of the Whitman mas
sacre. Her authority for the speech is
not known even to her, according to
Mr. Kells, who knew her well and
questioned her about it. In another
connection Mr. Chase is reported to
have said that he read the article con
taining the speech while upon a jour
ney to the Pacific Const, and there is
a possibility t'nat it is Mr. Prlngle's
article that he sent to Dr. Field. It is
even possible that Mr. Bancroft took it
from Mrs. Pringle. "Chronicles of the
Builders" was copyrighted in 1890 and
published at San Francisco in 1891, and
But the Government has legislated
continually in the interest of capital
and against labor,' and has fostered the
growth of the trusts, till now the op
portunity for individual effort Is great
ly limited.- More than half the popula
tion is already reduced to a condition
of servitude mainly involuntary.
Suppose Johnnie Jones has a farm left
him by his father, but during his minority
a relative. Bill Jones, with the assistance
of a clever lawyer, steals the original
will, .substitutes a forged one, and gets
possession of -the farm. Then with unc
tuous generosity Bill proposes to take
care of Johnnie and furnish him employ
ment as a hired man on the farm. Will
that settle the right of inheritance?
Titles to the greatest part of the world's
wealth have been acquired by robbery,
murder-and fraud. More than half the
people are disinherited,, and the number
continually increasing. The alleged own
ers desire to settle the matter by giving
employment, that is, by making of the
disinherited ones servants, flunkeys,
slaves, bondmen and bondwomen, hired
men andfc servant girls. Will that settle
the matter? It does not seem to be ap
proaching a settlement, but rather get
ting further from It all the time as the
struggle for existence intensifies and op
portunities for independent employment
are cut off.
The question of wages is only super
ficial. The fundamental problem is one
of inheritance .or 1 inherent and original
rights. The constant quarrel about wages
only serves to obRcure th real issue,
which is that people should not be forced
to work for wages at all. There should
be an alternative as a refuge from the
taskmaster. The relation of servant and
master must indeed continue in a modi
fied and voluntary sense. But when the
slave usurps the place of master and the
A certain homesteader in the Coeur
d'Alene Land District has lived on his
claim over the required five years, built
himself a good substantial house and out
buildings, . cultivated a portion of the
land each year and at no time has he
been away from the place to exceed four
months and that once only during the
whole time, still his proof wag rejected
over a year ago and he has no idea when,
if ever, he may received his title.
Numerous similar cases might be cited,
but this will answer.
Now,-do not understand that I claim
there have been no frauds committed, nor
lands illegally obtained under these laws,
for there have been, but we must not ap
ply the Brownsville principle of punish
ment to the whole American people. It
Is too soon yet. the time may come when
it will be tolerated.
I claim that the great majority of all
the entries made under these laws were
legally made for and in the behalf of the
entryman himself and those nearest to
him. I further claim these laws are the
only means whereby a poor man may
secure for himself that share of the pub
lic domain a once beneficent Government
intended he should possess.
The attitude of the Government at pres
ent is directly opposite to its former po
sition on this question,, Originally it
simply held the 'public domain in trust
for the people and every means was taken
to further the securing of the lands in
the hands of the individual. Now it looks
upon what is left as an asset from which
to draw revenue, as far as possible adding
to the already enormous forest reserve
the moyt desirable of the lands unap
propriated, . selling the mature timber
which means the timber of log size to
the great lumber companies and using
fold.' This was practiced until the 3d
century.
By the 4th century the bishops be
gan to absolve, and the public con
fession was turned into a private con
fession. In . great crimes the priest
had to reserve absolution to the bishop
or pope. The fourth Saturnal Council,
1215, made auricular confession once
a year obligatory. All sins were for-g-iven
by God. Before the lath cen
tury the words "Christ or God . ab
solve thee" were used. After that the
words "I absolve thee" were used, thus
giving the priect power of absolution.
This dogma encountered . fierce opposi
tion from the twelfth to the sixteenth
century. The greatest intellectuals of the
church were divided upon the question.
The Council of Trent evaded it. In 1S54
Pope Pius IX finally proclaimed that the
dogma of the' Virgin Mary's immaculate
"Our Western Archipelago" was pub
lished for the first time by Scribners
in 189i.
It would be Interesting to mention
the further use that has been freely
made of this quotation in post-prandial
efforts, in addresses before college
students and Sunday-school scholars.
In newspaper discussions and even in
books that claim to be histories as
illustrating the ignorance and-intolerance,
of Eastern statesmen to) the phy
sical and political value and character
of the Pacific Northwest during the
early forties, and - the indifference of
Mr. Webster at the time he negotiated
the Ashburton treaty and in later
years; but such mention ' might be
taken in the light of controversy. Suf
fice it to say that there seems to be
no reason to believe that Mr. Webster
ever used such language, and readers
of Northwest history have known this
for some years.
Mr. Webster was a ' member of the
Senate from 1828 until February 22,
1841, when he resigned to become Sec
retary of State under the Harrison ad
ministration. He continued in the
same office under President Tyler until
May 8. 1843, when he resigned: and
again returned to the Senate in March,
1S45, as the successor of Mr. Choate.
Speech Cannot Be Found.
Mr. Webster was a member of the
cabinet of President Tyler and was
engaged . in negotiations with I-ord
Ashburton in 1842, when Lieutenant
Charles Wilkes, of the United States
Navy, filed his official report of the ex
ploration expedition made under his
command, which included a very ex
tensive examination of the Puget
Sound and Columbia River waters and
the countries adjacent thereto and of
the coast of California, and of San
true King is robbed of his kingdom, then
there is going to be a time of trouble.
- The coilectivist plan is not to restore
to Johnnie Jones his inheritance, but to
turn it over to the Government. Then
Johnnie instead of being Bill's hired man,
will be hired no, I mean employed, by
the Government. He cannot work for
himself or attend to his own business. He
must still work under the orders of a
superior. He has no guarantee of any
individual rights or liberties only the
right to. labor and obey.
At the present rate of concentration
the whole United States will be owned
in a few years by a small number of cap
italists. We have the alternative then
of becoming servants and hirelings for
them or voting for Government owner
ship and binding ourselves to be serv
ants forever under officials elected by
majority vote to govern us. manage our
property and direct all our doings. Of
two evils, I prefer to choose neither.
Is it not evidently impossible for a man
to be free and at the sams time depend
ent on some one else for employment, the
only 'means of living? Can a person be
dependent and Independent at the same
time? It does not matter whether we
call it wges or salary, the man who has
to work under a boss is not a free man.
The man who selis his time and labor
sells the use of his body. A free man
ia one who Is not for sale or hire, who
owns himself, body and soul, and controls
his own actions. The word hireling is
properly a term of contempt.
It is a common saying among politicians
that every man has his price; that he can
be bought. The main object of modern
education seems to be to fit the recipient
for a "position" which means a job as
clerk or typewriter, which is supposed to
be more honorable than some other job.
In slave days the Vcullud" house serv
a large portion of the proceeds for the
support of the great army of forest
rangers made necessary by the act. and
thereby depriving the common people of
what has- always been -considered an
inalienable right an equitable share of
the public domain. Every time an entry
man is prevented from securing bis little
40, 80 or 160 acres of land it is heralded
as another case in which the Govern
ment has just escaped being robbed.
The result of the changed attitude of
the Government towards the entryman
and the adoption of its iniquitous forest
reserve policy is well illustrated by the
conditions in the rich and fertile valley
of the Kootenai River, traversing two
states, with soil the equal of the best
irrigated lands in the West in fertility
and suitability for the raising of fruits
and grains, with the added advantage
that, because of the abundant and sea
sonable rainfall, no expensive irrigation
is needed to compete with the best in the
land. Similar conditions prevail in many
other portions of the West,
With all these advantages, why is it
that the flower of our young men are
emigrating to Canada by the thousands
to seek those homes, the desire for which
the Almighty himself has implanted in
every human heart, to settle in a less
desirable locality and under a foreign
flag? Is it because there is no more laud
at home, or that it is inaccessible? No.
but because of the great area withdrawn
for the forest reserves throughout our
country and the added restrictions placed
about the homestead applicant in our
own country, not by law, but by the
ruling of some Government official, has
forced them to seek in a foreign land
that which is denied them under their
own flag.
conception bad been revealed by God and
therefore must be accepted by all the
faithful.
The dogma of the infallibility of the
Pope was proclaimed as a fundamental
spiritual truth in 1871. The argument of
the leading prelates. of the church in op
position was as follows:
Neither the Pope nor his legatee took
part in . the First Council of Constanti
nople in- SSI.
The declaration of Innocent I and
Gelasius I concerning the damnation or
unbaptized children was anathematized
by the Council of Trent.
The decree of Celestin III concerning
marriage with heretics was annulled by
Innocent lit and Its author pronounced
a. heretic for issuing It by Hadrian VI.
Honorius I was condemned for heresy
and his writings publicly burned by the
Third Council of Constantinople. The
Francisco." Lieutenant "Wilkes reported
there to be "one of the finest, if not
the very best harbor in the - world."
In view of this circumstance alone it Is
not probable that Mr. Webster ever
said what this quotation reports him
as saying..
Mr. Webster was a man of very
dignified bearing and speech and the
style; of this quotation does not com
pare at all with his common form of
expression. Further . than that, the
speeches of Mr. "Webster upon the floor
of the Senate are a matter of record in
the Congressional Globe and Debates
in Congress, and a careful search has
been made for this speech and it has
not been found, and scarcely anything
by him that 'can be called disparage
ment of the Pacific Coast has been
found. The first bill to establish post
roads from the western line of the
State of Missouri to the mouth of the
Columbia River originated in the com
mittee on postoffices and postroads and
was introduced in the Senate on March
2, 1846. and no such speech by Mr.
Webster has been found in connection
with that bill.
Webster and the Ashburton Treaty.
Our query is of small importance in
Itself, but It has a bearing upon North
west history as against the theory that
the Oregon country or Columbia River
country, as it was originally called,
was saved to the United States by any
one person or any one event: particu
larly, because students of the diplo-
matic side of our history are saying
more and more that the term "saved
Oregon" is an erroneous one. Daniel
Webster was a very important factor
in the negotiations of the treaties
which settled our "Northeastern and
Northwestern boundaries with Eng
land; more influential than either
President Tyler or President Polk in
that particular issue. The Ashburton
treaty was distinctly "Webster's own,
and in 1846 Mr. Webster was in the
Senate when President Polk referred
the question to that body before he
undertook to negotiate finally the
ants were so puffed up with a sense of
their fancied superiority over the nigger
field-hands that they forgot that they also
were slaves.
Only the person who is not hired at all
not under service at all is free. This is
so obviously true that it requires no argu
ment to prove it. Therefore, it follows
that the -more people are deprived of
homes and the right to self-employment
and reduced to the rank of servants or
employes, the more the foundations of lib
erty, of true republicanism and true de
mocracy are undermined. And the em
ploye of a government is no more free
than the hireling of a private master. He
may be even less free, for to quit the
employment of the government may be
called desertion and made punishable
with death. Inmates of the penitentiary
and members of the chain gang are gov
ernment employes. When we are all re
duced to the rank of servants for the
captains of industry or of the govern
ment, where will be our liberties?
The only way to establish freedom on a
sure foundation is to get back, to nat
ural principles. Our so-called civilization
Is wholly artificial and unnatural. It is
not really civilization at all. Free so
ciety must be based on free land. The
ngnt to the occupancy and use of land
without any tribute to any shark, Shy
lock or landlord, and without any liabil
ity to-be disinherited or defrauded out of
It by any law for creation or collection
of debt is one of the inalienable rights of
man. In fact, this ought to be the first
principle in the foundation of all juris
prudence. People with this right to fall back on
would still be free to work for wages if
they wished. This would secure freedom
of contract. If a farmer or an Indian goes
out to pick hops a few days he sacrifices
his interests at home. He is not com
Grave as it is, to one who is fully
posted, all the foresoing looks paltry and
trivial by comparison. Why. put all the
fraud and wrong-doing of all the home
steaders and timber and stone entrymen
since these iaws were first passed on
the one side, and the frauds and robberies
committed under and in the name of one
only of the many great railroad and cor
porate grants, on the other, and the for
mer would sink into insignificance. Take
the Northern Pacific land grant, for in
stance. They were first granted the al
ternate sections for a distance of 20 miles
each side of their line. Was this enough?
No. They claimed so much of the land
had been alienated prior to the grant
that they should be reimbursed for the
loss. To make them wholly good they
were given an indemnity grant of 20
miles more each side of the original
grant, making 40 miles. Were they satis
fied? No. Still they claimed a deficiency;
so. to make sure, they were granted a
second indemnity belt of 20 miles more
on each side of the others, making a
great sweep of land from 80 to 120 miles
from the head of the Great Lakes to the
Pacific Ocean. Were they satisfied? No.
The great forest reserves were then start
ed, the first being the Mount Rainier
Forest Reserve, through which runs this
mighty belt of granted lands, and this
iniquity is in for more rich plunder. They
must be indemnified. For other lands
lost? No: simply injured this time, be
cause the imaginary lines of a timber
reserve encompasses them about and they
must be indemnified. Did they lose any
land? No. but because of these imaginary
lines and imaginary damages they were
given the right to relinquish the bald
mountain tops, the great areas of burnt
over lands and barren rock ledges, and
HEAVEN
Bible of Pope Sixtus V was suppressed by
his successors for its numerous errors.
In spite of such arguments it was
proclaimed a fundamental truth, but
when the present Pope called - on the
Catholics of Poland not to revolutionize,
as the Czar of Russia ruled toy divine
right of God. the clergy as well as the
laymen lost confidence as to its truth.
For over 1700 years it was a dogma that
interest was usury.
The Council of Vienna, presided over
by Pope Clement V. declared the taking
of interest a flin and any one favoring it
to be punished as a heretic. The greatest
men of the church opposed it, such as
St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, St. Gregory of
Nysia, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine.
Pope Leo the Great adjudged it a sin.
Its prohibition was enforced 'by the Coun
cil of Arlos in 314 and every great as
sembly of the church, from the Council
Treaty of Washington. Henry Cabot
Lodge, a scholar and himself a writer
of history, in his biography of Mr.
Webster (American Statesmen Series,
Vol. 21, pages 257-8) says: "In regard
to the Northwestern boundary Mr.
Webster agreed with the opinion of Mr.
Monroe's cabinet that the Forty-ninth
parallel was a fair and proper line."
Historians generally agree with him.
Some of tie direct relations of Mr.
Webster with this question may be
mentioned in a subsequent paper.
Thomas F. Ryan's Detectives.
Everybody's.
Thomas F. Ryan probably employs de
tectives more extensively In his financial
operations than any other man in the
Wall Street district He is credited with
having developed the use of them to a
positive science. All of his lawyers and
he has an enormous staff of them are
experts in handling detectives and in find
ing ways of getting valuable information
for their client.
Mr. Ryan is wonderfully cautions. It
is said that whenever he plans to deal
with a man whom he does not already
know intimately, he invariably puts de
tectives on the heels of that man and
finds out everything possible about him.
The "shadowing" is begun long before
actual negotiations are opened, and be
fore the man has any knowledge of Mr.
Ryan's plan to deal with him; and it is
continued throughout the transaction.
The value of information of this kind
can easily be imagined. To Mr. Ryan the
man with whom he is dealing is an open
book. His weak spots, if he has any,
Mr. Ryan can calmly point to at the mo
ment when the situation demands such
disclosure. If necessary, he can probably
tell the men his exact cash balance in
every bank and trust company in which
he has an account; the amount of money
he has borrowed on this block of stock
and on that bundle ot bonds; the amount
of the mortgage on his house; his precise
income, and can make a close estimate
of his expenditures. Facts of the kind
cost money, but they are Immensely val-.
uable at times in Wall Street deals.
I
pelled to go and if things don't suit him
he can quit and go home. This is how
it conies that hopmen have to treat their
pickers with some degree of considera
tion or they could not get them at all.
But the multitudes who are robbed of
their homes are forced into wage slavery
without an alternative. There is no free
dom of contract. They must work for
some master. There is only a choice of
masters a choice of evils for a free man
can have no master but one, and that is
God and his own conscience. To such a
one any kind of enforced labor is invol
untary servitude, which is- properly for
bidden by the Constitution of the United
States. The lawyers who drafted that
amendment probably did not know what
it meant.
It will be urged in objection that people
who now own land are not free. That Is
because they are In danger of losing it.
Those who have too much are always
scheming to get away from the others the
little that remains to them. We would
put an end to legalized robbery. Then
there would be peace and security and
freedom. The robbery that Is carried on
contrary to law Is infinitesimal compared
with the robberies of the law itself. More
than three-fourths of the entire products
of legitimate labor are confiscated by le
gal processes.
It may be alleged that I have not fairly
stated the position of Socialism as to
private property. The fact is that no pri
vate individual can state this authorita
tively. The party platform is really the
only authority on the subject, and it
leaves, us quite in the dark. The old
party platform was a purely coilectivist
manifesto declaring for the collective
ownership of all the means of production
and exchange by the entire people. The
present platform, written probably by
Professor Herron, an Individualist, de
In lieu thereof to select from any of the
vacant or unoccupied lands lying "in any
of the states through or into which the
road or its branches might run. This is
the now famous Northern Pacific scrip
through and by means of which that
great fore3t of the finest timber on the
continent, extending through the states
of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Mon
tana has been thrown into the hands of
the great timber syndicates.
When this source was nearly exhausted
the great Cascade reserve was formed
and the same tactics followed out as In
the first case. Still other reserves fol
lowed until nearly the whole of Northern
Idaho, a large portion of Washington and
Montana is also taken an forest reserve.
All excepting a few of the most recent
reserves have carried the privilege fo re
linquish such lands as were worthless,
retaining any lands they might consider
too valuable to exchange. One other in
stance and I am through for this time.
The Santa Fe forest reserve and scrip.
Here was a case where a great lumber
concern purchased that portion of the
land grant of the Santa Fe Railroad Com
pany that was included in the above re
serve. Prior to the forming of this re-,
serve they had built mills and cut off a
portion of the timber. Before all was.
cut, the reserve was formed, with an
other chance to rob the Government on
so large a scale as to make it respect
able. A representative of the lumber com
pany made several trips to Washington
and finally fixed it up with Secretary
Hitchcock, whereby they were to relin
quish all their lands to the Government,
but. note you, reserving the right to cut
and remove the balance of the uncut tim
ber, and were given the right to select
other lands in lieu thereof, the only re
of Elvira in -306 to that ' of Vienna In 1311.
In 1179 the third Council of Lateran de
creed that impenitent money-lenders
should be excluded from the altar and
from absolution. '
In the 15th century the council of the
church at Salsbury excluded from com
munion or burial any who took interest.
This was a general rule throughout Ger
many. The Jews were excepted, as they were,
damned anyhow, and by giving them a
monopoly it prevented the Christian from
that sin. In the 15th century great exer
tions were made to have the church
change its position. Pope Benedict in 1745
issued his encyclical, which "declares the
doctrine of the church consistent, that
ujury is a sin, but there are' occasions
when on special grounds the lender may
obtain an additional sum. In 1830 the in
quisition at Rome, with the approval of
An Opera That Involves Too Much Torture
Highly Sensitive Woman Protects Against I.ast Act of "M'nie Butterfly.
BY CATHARINE IEKNK.
ONE phase of the recent notable opera
season seems to have escaped the
attention pf all who have so ably
written concerning: it in the press of Port
land. Why is it that no one considered it
worth while to comment on the pain a
spectator must endure in order to enjoy
"M'me Butterfly?" Because all the writ
ers dwelt on the excellent performances
In their varied aspect, and neglected the
intensely human side from the listener's
point of view, I am moved to set down a
few thoughts that overcame me, trusting
that The Oregonian will graciously
publish them.
Granting that all emotions and passions
are proper subjects for the dramatist,. I
should like to inquire whether the authors
of "Mme. Butterfly" do not overstep rea
sonable bounds in the last act of their
tragedy. Is there not too much of ex
quisite torture? Of course we are sup
posed ever to keep in mind when we-are
in a theater that we are seeing only
"play-actin' "; still, if we refuse to have
our heart strings touched, we are only
looking at a series of moving pictures.
The play that doesn't, for the moment,
mane us lose ourselves is a failure.
It seems that modern arbiters In the
musical world have decreed that the fin
est concord of sweet sounds must accom
pany a tale of man's perfidy or woman's
dishonor, or both. The greatest of grand
operas were written around these themes.
In "Mme. Butterfly" the plot is so simple
that it would be clear to an Eskimo. This
Japanese girl and her nameless child
speak a universal language, equally In
telligent to every hearer. A whole hour
with one's heart in his throat is too much
of a strain for the strongest nerves.
Not in a -Ion? time have I read a finer
lay sermon than was preached on the
clares for private property, but does not
state what property ought to be private
and what public, and gives no definition
of Individual rights.
What is needed is a definite statement
as to what property and what rights be
long to each of the four departments of
society, the Individual, the commune or
municipality, the state and the Nation.
Socialism does not define this, neither
does capitalism. The new dispensation
calls for these definitions, because on this
foundation must the - polity and jurispru
dence of the new order be laid. The cor
nerstone of any permanent organization
of society must be a definition of Individ
ual rights. Without this there can be no
social righteousness.
The present system Is founded on sev
eral fundamental fallacies. Including that
of the righteousness of -majority rule and
an erroneous idea of equality. The coi
lectivist theory Is not . the remedy, but
the last stage of the disease. It is im
possible to stop the growth of . Socialism
because it is the logical conclusion of
democracy. But there are factors In the
problem that are ignored by the Social
ists and by all the capitalist .parties. It
is necessary to define what are the fun
damental principles of righteousness and
to enunciate and Interpret the natural
laws of order and harmony in human
relationships. The ignorance of these
laws and principles is. the trouble with
the -present system, and I wish to repeat
the statement that Socialism a ordinar
ily promulgated Is not the remedy, but
the last stage of the disorder. Any at
tempt to inaugurate Socialism as now
promulgated will inevitably end in an
archy. In fact, the probability at present
is that capitalist governments will first
appeal to anarchy to head off Socialism,
for capitalism is only a kind of anarchy
anyhow.
Corvallis, March 4.
The Present Land Policy as Viewed
by One of the Plain People Who Is
Indignant.
striction being that a certain portion
should be laid south of the 40th parallel
of latitude, and when so laid the balance
was unrestricted and could be laid upon
any Government land not otherwise ap
propriated, and was so certified to by Sec
retary Hitchcock. This Is the famoua
certified Santa Fe scrip, the placing of
some 200,000 acres of which I am person
ally familiar with. I know of an in
stance where a representative of a rich
lumber corporation, with his hands full
of the above-named scrip, secured a po
sition near the head of a line of appli
cants at the opening of a district to sel
tlement. stand there selecting piece after
piece of the best land, while the poor
entrymen, who could at best, under thn
law, take no more than 160 acres, stood
one and all awaiting the pleasure of the
corporate lawyer with his unrestricted
graft.
I might take up the Southern Pacific
land grant, which company is now try
ing to prevent the appointment of a Uni
ted States District Attorney merely be
cause they fear he will compel them to
fulfill the plain requirements of their
grant and sell their lands to individuals
in restricted quantities at $2.50 per acre.
Is it any wonder that the people who
know feel bitter against this whole tim
ber reserve plan and the rulings of the
Land Department upon the homestead
and the timber and stone entries? It
may be legal because it is law, but there
was never a plan devised that so effect
ually robbed the people, not the Govern
ment, as the one so feebly outlined in the
above story. It is Rachel weeping for
fcer children and refusing to be cemfort
ed because they are not.
Bonner's Ferry, Idaho.
All Religious Dogma Is Man-Made and
Every Creed Has Changed Position.
Pope Pius VIII, though still declining to
commit itself on the doctrine involved,
decreed that as to practice confessors
should no longer disturb lenders of money
at legal interest.
Protestants, in fact all churches, held
the same view and all recanted.
History ehows that every religion, creed
or sect has changed, its position, there
'fore fhey are not God-made (spiritual,
but man's own work. Ideas do not fail
from heaven. When a new idea takes
place in society it merely proves that
forces have been at work which have
changed the position and relation of men
to one another. Therefore, the spiritual
idea of Christianity and all religious sects
as they are in opposition to present econ
omic conditions. became a hindrance
to the progress of society and therefore
must disappear.
Portland, March 6.
editorial page of last Sunday's Oregonian
jon the philosophy of life. "Mme Butter
fly" was the text, and The Oregonian
laiioht a valtiaKlo locinn tint it rllri nnl
touch on the fact that the wronged
woman in the tragedy committed suicide.
The canon against self-slaughter has nor.
been repealed. Would you advise any one
who has nothing to live for to destroy
his existence by his own hand?
And yet in the noted opera under dis
cussion this act of self-destruction is far
less painful to the beholder than the hero
ine's sacrifice of her child. With con
summate skill, the dramatist created a
situation that would move Satan to tears.
It is no small tribute to our power of con
trolling our emotions that some of us
mothers in the audience did not cry out
In agony Or perhaps, swoon.
Portland. March 11. .
Fido's Whisky Proves Useful.
Two tramps came along to a house
one day and wanted food. The wom
an who answered their summons told
them she would give them something
to eat if they would work for it. They
consented, and she set them to clean
ing some picture frames. After a lit
tle she came out to see how they were
getting along, and , one of the men
asked her If she knew that whisky
was a fine thing to clean picture
frames with. She said she had never
heard of it. but would get them some
whisky from upstairs. She brought
the whisky down, and as soon as
her back was turned, they, of course,
drank it. When the woman came back
15 minutes later the picture frames
were shining. She was greatly pleased.
'And to think," said she, "that I came
near throwing that whisky out. It
was some we used two or three times
to .bathe little Fido in just before he
died."1 The Nautilus.