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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1907)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, APRIL, 21, 190T. SCBSCRIFTION KATES. (By Mall.) Bally, Sunday Included, ona year fSOO Tlaily, Sunday Included, six months.... 4-25 Daily, Sunday Included, threa montha. - 2.25 Dally, Eunday Included, ona month.... .T5 tally, without Sunday, one year.-. 00 Iially. without Sunday, six montha 3.15 Ially, without Sunday, threa month. l-"5 Xally, without 6unday. ona month...... -0 Sunday, ona year ... 3- Weekly, ona year (Issued Thursday)... 1-60 unday and Weekly, one year BY CARR1KR. Dally, Sunday Included, ona year Daily, Sunday included, one month.... MOW TO RKM1T Send postofflee money order, express order or personal check: on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's rlak. Give postofflca ad dress in full. Including- county and state. POSTAGE BATES. Entered at Portland, Oregon. Postofflca as Second-Class Matter. 10 to 14 Pages . eent 18 to 28 Pages....... s cents SO to 44 Pages 8 48 to 60 Pages nta Foreign postage, double ratea. 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H. Johnson, Four teenth and Franklin streets; J. Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; Hale Newa Co. Ogden D. I, Boyle, W. Q. Kind. 114 Twenty-flrth street. Omaha Barkalow Bros., Union Station; Mageath Stationery Co. Sacramento, Cal. Sacramento Newa Co, 430 K street. Salt I-ake Moon Book & Stationery Co.; Boscnfeid & Hansen. Los Angeles B. B. Amos, manager seven street wagons. San Diego B. E. Amos. Ijong Beach, Cal. B. E. Amfts. Pasadena, Cal. A. P. Horning. Fort Worth, Tex. Fort Worth Star. ban Francisco Foster & Orear, Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; L. Parent; N. Wheatley. (ioldfleld, Nev Louie Pollin. Kureka, Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency. Norfolk. Vs. Krugg & Gould. l'ine Beach, Va. W. A. Oosgrove. I PORTLAND, SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 190". A TI.EA FOR POLITICIANS. The culminating grace of the preacher is charity. It is comparatively a facile achievement for a minister to stand in his pulpit and denounce Mr. Rocke feller. Chancellor Day, Mr. Harrlman or some other pirate. It Is not difficult to pour out the vials of righteous wrath upon the heads of the politicians. And by doing so one may cheaply gain the applause of the unthinking vulgar; tout will he also add stars to his crown? Is it conceivable that Mr. Harrlman will ever be won from his wicked ways by denunciation, however scorching? Will not bitter words tend rather to confirm him in the practice of wholesale pilfer ing? Will not pulpit execorlation drive Ills soul down the Toadf to perdition in stead of alluring him heavenward? . There can be little doubt that the harsh language habitually burled from the pulpit at millionaires drives many of them from the salutary consolations of the Sabbath sermon to seek sinful refreshment at baseball games, to rush wildly ovar the country in their auto mobiles and, maddened' by the stings of a guilty conscience, to resort to the de lusive solace of the Intoxicating bowl. Our preac-hers,' on the one hand, furi ously exhort us to extirpate the use of alcoholic beverages, while on the other by their virulent attacks upon the sins of their wealthy pewholders, they force these unfortunates to drown their sor rows in champagne. Is this consis tent? But it Is the unfortunate attitude of the pulpit toward our politicians that especially interests us just now. The lot of these wretched men Is most piti able. When a preacher finds his con gregation dropping off to somnolency, all he has to do to make -them prick up their ears Is to sail into the politicians. When he can think of no other subject likely to rival bridge whist in attrac tiveness to the elect he announces that ho will, next Sahbath evening, lay the lash to the hide of the City Council or calp the Prosecuting Attorney, or un veil the rottenness of the ward boss. All this is deplorable. Our ministers forget that the politi cian is not a free moral agent. These poor creatures have to do as they are told. When their masters say to one of them "Come," he comet h; and when they say unto him "Go," he goeth. They are like automatons moved by j springs or like soldiers in the regular army. They must obey or they suffer ; penalties quite as severe as the loss of ! his pulpit is to a preacher. Oases are im record of City Courrcilmen who have j refused to do as their masters ordered ; in the matter of voting franchises; and what happened? Why, thoy lost their i passes, and we all know what a dls eziaclous figure a Councilman cuts wfth ; out his passes. A fox without a tail j is respectable compared to him. An i elephant without his trunk, a mule : without his hind leg, a. fish without his fins, are all dignified Individuals be i tilde a Councilman without his passes. (He wanders desolate and ashamed through the streets, conscious that : every urchin is pointing at him and j whispering There goes the guy what had his pass took away." On the street ar he is obliged openly to produce an Ignominious nickel and hand it over to the conductor like a common, citizen. Think of his shame and grief under the humiliation. When he meets the Dis penser of Passes on the highway that mighty potentate blasts him with a scornful eye, as If to say. "Aha! Behold the bitter fruit of disobedience." At Council meetings he must endure the Jeers of his colleagues like the bad boy who has been kept In at recess. He suffers all the mental agony of the wicked little pig who had no roast beef while ail the other nine were devouring their ample slices. If he strives to set a noble example of public virtue by denying some tidbit of public property to the corporations, everybcaly sneers and says. "He is mad because he didn't get a pass." If he pours out a flood of burning eloquence against the pirates at election time, his jeering rivals nullify it all by whisper ing, "He didn't get a pass this year." Oh, it is awful. And to make matters worse, to add to his sorrow the crown of sorrow,, as the poet Fays, when he oas to the sanctuary for comfort the preacher denounces him as a grafter. Let us not abuse the politician. Let us pity him. Let us remember that he is a man under authority who must obey the voice of his master. Shall we hurl diatribes at the patient mule because he strains at the traces? Shall we de nounce the cot because he knoweth his owner, or the ass because he knoweth his master's crib? Nay, rather should our eyes overflow with gracious drops for his hard lot. The politician Is an object of compassion, not of wrath. We urge upon our pulpit orators to take these few words of kindly counsel to heart. In the sweet language of the second reader they should remember to Speak gently to the erring politicians. let no harsh words be heard. They have enough they must endure, without an unkind word." Is It not enough to be driven like a dray horse under an unrelenting lash without being called bad names besides? Abuse of politi cians is ' not only uncharitable it is positively unscriptural. "Servants, obey your masters," says Paul. The politi cian Is a servant of the corporations and he does his best to obey his master. How fearfully .wrong, then, for the preacher, whose truo mission it is to applaud those who follow the precepts of the inspired word,' to censure" and vilify him. , DOES IT HELP? j The demand in business for men with a technical education is greater than it ever was before and it increases all the time. Engineers, upon the average, make more money than lawyers and doctors. Their social position is quite as desirable and their freedom of action is incomparably greater. The ordinary young man who thinks of educating himself has. therefore, to answer the question whether he will be more bene fited by classical or technical training. We mean, benefited in a practical sense. Nobody denies the worth of classical education as an ornament or lu,xury. Has it any other value? Can a poor voung man afford to learn Latin? The New York Evening Post believes that classical training imparts to the mind a certain aptitude and vigor which may afterward be applied in any direction with good practical results, and it may often be true. But one has to remem ber that there' is a force In some kinds of education which unfits a man for contact with realities. It dulls his en thusiasm, blunts his ambition and1 para lyzes his energies. Tihs is what some people call the "Harvard disease." It sends the youth out into the world a stranger, an alien. 'He looks supercili ously upon the common tasks of man kind and despises the ordinary ends of ambition. Not only does he lack the skill to accomplish practical work, but he thinks such skill beneath him. He scorns to acquire it. Education of this sort is a distinct misfortune to any man. If the old classical course gives it, then the young man who has his way to make should beware of the classics. What Is the teaching of uni versal experience upon this point? One thing is certain. A technical training does fit a youth to do a man's work and earn a man's wages. Classi cal training may not unfit him, but does it always help? A CHIME FROM TRINITY. The April number of "Trinity Chimes" contains some Interesting strictures upon Mrs. Eddy's philosophy and creed. They are chiefly Interest ing hecause they contain an assault. very thinly veiled, upon the inerrancy of the scriptures andi also upon the creed which is professed in Trinity Church. Says The Chimes, "Hep no tion that man was created a perfect being denies historical experience." And the editor goes on to state that his tory, biology and all -the other sciences refute it, adding finally that "A normal mind cannot accept such a proposition." This is astonishing. The belief that man was originally made perfect, that he was created In the image of the Al mighty, is maintained everywhere throughout the Bible. If a normal mind cannot accept it, then no mind In Christendom was normal until the mid dle of the nineteenth century, for it was believed always. In holding to the doc trine Mrs. Eddy holds to the orthodox creed of Christianity. ' (Moreover, if biology contradicts the doctrine of man's original perfection, how does it stand toward the doctrine of the Virgin birth? We apprehend that the organ of a denomination which has so recently expelled Dr. Crapsey for denying the Virgin birth makes a rath er parlous venture when it appeals to biology. If biology is to decide one question of theology, why not another? 'A perfect mind," says The Chimes, "cannot make mistakes or errors." W submit that the editor of our pious con- temporary does not know any.thing about what a perfect mind would or would not do. He never saw one. He has no experience of its operations, un less gained from introspection. "What is the use of a perfection," he asks, "which sins and suffers and errs?" Well, Jesus was perfect, and he certain ly suffered. Paul was perfect in teach ing, according to the creed of The Chimes, and he erred. At least Th3 Chimes thinks he did; for Paul says that in Adam we all fell; while the edi tr of The Chimes declares that we did nothing of the sort. WHERE LIDS THE BLAME. In a recent editorial in the Railway Age the assertion ismadethat "recently published statistics show that in the five years that the railroads have made reports of accidents to the Interstate Commerce Commission, over 70 per cent of the serious collisions on American railroads have been due to the negli gence of trainmen and enginemen." An appeal is then made for a public senti ment that will cause the prosecution and punishmen of the railway em ployes who are responsible for the ac cidents. In order that proper discipline ma be maintained Complaint is made that public sympathy is usually with the culprit while censure is visited upon the railroad comapny. As one aid in relieving the situation the Age suggests that railroad managers might give to the public the facts ascertained by them in investigations of accidents and also make known the negligence of employes whose carelessness does not result disastrously. All of which makes on its face a very bad showing for the employe and lnfer entially a good showing for the railroad managers. But it is worth while to give the matter a second thought. In the first place we are to remember that the statistics, showing that 70 per cent of the serious collisions are due to the negligence of trainmen, are compiled from reports made by the railroads. This relates only to collisions and not to all accidents. The railroad mana gers, who of course would like to es cape responsibility, make the reports. If the reports were made by the train men, or even by disinterested! investiga tors, we might have an altogether dif ferent compilation of statistics. An engineer who sleeps, or becomes care less at his post, is presumably responsi ble for any accident that happens; but in the five years covered ty the reports, how many of the accidents so occurring have been due to the fact that engi neers were worked too -many hours at a stretch or too many hours in a week? It is quite likely true that in case of accident public sympathy is with the trainmen. In a large proportion of cases of serious collision the trainmen go to the hospital or the cemetery, while the railroad managers continue to- wine and dine in comfort. Where could the public bestow its sympathy in such a case? The railroad managers select the employes, and must be held accountable for their efficiency. . The trainment are accountable to the mana gers and the managers to the public. Censure will continue to fall in the fu ture where it has in the past. " THE SHAME OF RUSSIA. The famjne that has so long prevailed over large districts of Russia lifts its gaunt hands In the face of the so-called civilization of the mightiest empire on the face of the earth with mute en treaty and drops them from sheer ex haustion unrelieved Some funds have been appropriated by the government, it is true, toward -the pressing needs of these wretched millions, but the relief furnished thus far is not a drop in the ocean of their dire necessities. With millions of his loyal subjects keeping life in their naked emaciated, unhoused bodies upon a vile concoction known as "hunger food" food) that hogs on an American farm would refuse the Great White Tsar lives in imperial splendor; his relatives, to distant kin, draw large sums in excess of any reasonable re quirement, even of munificence,, from the public funds, and from rentals, pinched from meagerly supplied toilers, while his immediate family, a large one. revels in every luxury that ingenuity can devise or money procure. The shame of Russia is advertised to a shuddering world by every smothered wail of hunger.'every weak whimper of naked, unhoused humanity that reaches the ears of the pitiful; every cry for succor that reaches the nations. . A monarch and an imperial family rolling in wealth, and 20,000,000 of sub jects driven to the direst extremity to keep a semblance of life in their wasted bodies! This i:j the indictment of civi lization against Russia an indictment brought in the name of humanity and supported by economic considerations that, were the plea of humanity to fail, should be sufficient to cause a govern ment, which is a military despotism, supported by soldiers under arms, to provide against this wholesale waste of human life. A ruler with a conscience, himself im mensely wealthy, should be ashamed to have the poverty, the destitution- and the misery of his people spread upon the recordis of the world. It is as if a man w-ho boasts the possession of a numerous family were to surround him self with luxury and call upon others to supply the needs of his own. sIt would not be necessary for the rulers and the aristocrats of this vast empire to im poverish themselves in order to relieve the sufferings of these naked and starv ing hosts. Relatively a little from their vast abundance, systematically distributed, would .supply the pressing needs of these people, and give them seed for their fields, as an assurance of self-help a few months hence-. This is humane, this is economic, this is na tional honor and national safety. To let this famine go on is cruel, unecono mic and dishonoring, unless indeed Russia is ready to stand boldly before the world and, proclaim that she has too many people and an empire too large for her resources in executive ability and financial acumen. SITROGEJf. Most of us when we went to school used to admire with many reservations the wisdom which the Creator mani fested in mixing the earth's atmos phere. The scant one-fifth of life giv ing oxygen which he commingled with the superabundant four-fifths of useless nitrogen seemed to point to an economy quite unnecessary and not entirely creditable. The nitrogen, our teachers told us, was used to dilute the too ar dent oxygen. Now we all know that it has other uses. We know that if we could not breathe without oxygen, with out nitrogen we could not eat; and since most of us would rather stint the lungs than the stomach, we behold the gener osity as well as the wisdom of the Almighty demonstrated by the abun dance of the chill, Intractable nitrogen. which some scientists have called azote, or the lifeless gas. It is really the life giving gas. Without nitrogen we should have no wheat. A bushel of our favorite cereal contains some four pounds of the gas in solid form while the average wheat crop of the United States extracts about 1,237,000 tons of nitrogen from the soil each year. Unless it is restored In some way the fertility of the land di minishes, the wheat crop falls off and the human race sees the wolf staring wide-eyed through the door. That the nitrogen is by no means. all returned to the land we may learn from the case of France where agriculture is much more scientific and less wasteful than it is here. We quote from an interesting article in The Independent by James MacKaye: The French "remove an nually about 600,000 tons of nitrogen from the soil, of which only about 358, 200 tons is returned in fertilizers," leav ing an annual deficit of more than 240, 000 tons. By so much is the soil of France, one of the best tilled countries, in the world, growing poorer every year. What then of our own? Nitrogen in solid form, suitable for wheat to utilize, is very expensive. One of the best forms of it is that of sodium nitrate, or saltpeter, which comes from Chili. This costs 5275 per ton, a rate which makes the nitrogen in a bushel of wheat come to 51 cents. Under these conditions wheat would be too expen sive to eat unless one. had a Dingley tariff or an oil field ' to furnish his table. Moreover the supply of Chill saltpeter is extremely limited. Were it applied to grow wheat the deposits would be exhausted In a few years. Thus, as Mr. Cleveland would put it, a condition confronts us. We must either stop eating wheat or else find some way to draw upon the atmosphere for nitro gen. The condition becomes all the more depressing when we recollect that wheat is not the only food material which must have nitrogen to grow. All plants require it. Seeing that nitrogen is indispensable to all plants and that the supply in the air is superabundant, one would suppose that leaves or roots or bark or some other plant organ would have the capacity to extract it; but they have not. Leguminous plants, such as the clovers, peas and beans, can supply themselves by calling In the services of a bacterium which lives in tubercles on their roots, but to most plants even this indirect resource is denied. Man must provide them with nitrogen or they must go without. Not long ago great excitement arose in the magazines over a reported invention wihch was said to enable us to multi ply these nitrogen accumulating bac teria without limit. It was asserted with refreshing confidence that the sandiest land. ith their aid would blos som, "not like the rose, but like the clo ver field, and that the problem of the human food supply need thenceforth trouble nobody any more. We could feed the metropolis from old gravel pits if we wished. Thl3 astonishing inven tion has unfortunately proved as dis appointing in practice as it was beauti ful in theory. The clover bacterium does accumulate, nitrogen from the air, ameit siowiy, ana is an important re course for fertilizing womout land; but it does not work fast enough; the de pletion of fertility - would outstrip its efforts even-if every-tiller of the soil practiced clover farming. Which man y of them do not. The great desideratum is some merit ed of solidifying: nitrogen from the air In a form which vegetation can use and which is not too ex-pensive. . Mr. Mac Kaye mentions several methods, mostly tentative and all but one inordinately, expensive. With the money which this country spends on its department of agriculture and the corps of "scientists" employed in the department of agricul-' ture , in the agricultural colleges, one might have expected that the one suc cessful method of forming organic ni trogen from the air would be an Ameri can invention. But it is not. Ameri ca shines in many things brighter than in science. The invention with such glory as it Implies belongs to effete Europe, to Norway in fact. At Notod den in that country they pass plain- air through an electric arc which is kept sweeping in a circle by the attraction of a magnet. This applies the arc to large quantities of air in a short time. The effect is to unite the passing oxy gen and nitrogen into a compound which may be secured in water and utilized to fertilize the soil. - The ex pense per ton of fixed nitrogen is only 28 cents, or a little more than half the cost of Chili saltpeter. Thus the assur ance of our food- supply seems well un der way. Scientists expect to make the process still cheaper and more ef fective. One can not help hoping that our. Department of Agriculture may some time foe moved to direct a certain fraction of its energies from the free seed folly and the manufacture of crop reports which nobody relies on to this humdrum but useful investigation. AIDING CRXMIJiALS TO REFORM. The problem of reformation of the criminal is one so far from solution that we can scarcely be said to have made any progress worthy of partic ular mention. We -have improved the sanitary conditions of our prisons, have given the convict better food, more light, less restraint and more comfort able quarters. A number of states have abolished capital punishment reform schools for boys have been established in nearly every state in the Union, and every part of the country. Yet mur ders and robberies, criminal assaults upon women, train wrecking, election frauds, embezzlement and all manner of crimes are apparently as frequent as at any previous time in our history. Neither religion nor .the public school seems to have changed conditions for the better, for crimes are committed today by church people as frequently as ever,' and in recent years we have been discovering that men of education and high business standing are impli cated in a species of refined robbery none the less criminal because refined. To "give the criminal a chance" is the policy coming into favor in most of the states, with the hope that he will appreciate the kindly feeling manifest ed toward him by his fellow-men; but It is uncertain whether that course will be effective in Its purpose. Yet it is the prevailing sentiment of the time, and will have its trial in practical ex perience in handling criminals. Here in Oregon the drift toward greater leniency has been very pronounced. A few years ago the Oregon prison estab lished the system of giving credits for good conduct, thus enabling a prisoner to shorten his length of service by obeying the rules of the institution and giving no trouble to his keepers. A de- crease of 50 per cent in the time to be served is allowed for all time spent at labor, thereby encouraging industry. It is quite likely that the man who is a criminal by choice will be very little changed in character by the good con duct he maintains in order to shorten his term of Imprisonment. If his in carceration is not effective In restrain ing him from future violations of law, it is not likely that shortening the term a few days will be recognized by him as an act of kindness requiring from him good conduct in the future as an expression of gratitude. He is good for the time being because he is prac tically paid for being good. Recently two changes in the policy of prison management have toeen inaug urated in this state with a view to "giving the criminal a chance." One of these is the discontinuance of the prac tice of sending out to peace officers the names and photographs of convicts about to be discharged from the peni tentiary. Another is the practical ap plication of the parole system, by which men are released from confinement upon the condition of good behavior and useful industry. The first change was made because ex-convicts com plained that as soon as they were re leased they were hounded by peace of ficrs and Often arrested upon suspicion when there were no facts or circum stances warranting their apprehension. Police officers, having the names and pictures of men recently discharged, would arrest the ex-convicts in the hope of-being .able to connect them with- a crime committed soon after their re lease. This practice, the convicts de clared, made it useless for them to try to lead honest lives, for they were sub jected to arrest without cause. Gov ernor Chamberlain ordered that no more pictures be given out unless spe cial reasons existed therefor. It re mains to be seen, whether this will re sult in aiding criminals to reform or whether it will merely serve to aid them In returning to avenues of crime. Establishment of the parole system is prompted by the highest purposes, and has sound reason to support it. Men who have violated the laws of the state, who have been convicted and sentenced therefor, and who can con vince the Governor that they desire to lead honest lives in the future, may secure release upon condition that they engage in honorable occupations. They must make regular reports to the prison authorities as to their residence and oc cupation, and must not violate any laws of the state or ordinances of a city. The release carries with it the agreement that, if the conditions be violated, the prisoner may be retaken and returned' to the prison to serve out the unexpired portion of his term. To further aid him in being honest, the au thorities keep secret the list of men so released, so that each man turned out of the prison may feel that he will be as free as possible from the handicap of his own record. The parole system seems to be as practical as any that could be devised for the purpose of encouraging crimi nals to reform and aiding them In do ing so. Its success must, in the nature of things, depend largely upon the judgment and conscientiousness of the officers who are charged with the duty of carrying the parole law into effect. An officer with a poor understanding of human nature would be easily imposed upon. In the hands of a dishonest offi cial the parole system would offer end less opportunities for Injustice and graft. Should the criminal classes once learn that incompetent or dishonest of ficers had charge of the administration of the. parole, system, the law would become at once a promoter of crime rather than- a deterrent. The system is right, however,-in its plan, and, if carefully applied In practice, should show results satisfactory to those who are interested in reformation of wrong doers. If we have not witnessed as great results as we would wish from past methods of handling the criminal classes, we must be all the more eager to devise better and more effective sys tems. Oregon is awake to the need of progress in reformatory efforts, and Is not a laggard in adopting modern ideas. Whether modern ideas will prove more satisfactory than those that have gone before, experience alone can de termine. The Salem Journal is unable to see any difference between the case of Stenographer Hill, who sold a copy of the 'Harrlman letter, and the case of Robertson and) the department stenog raphers who gave testimony against Mitchell, Hermann, and others. But there Is a vast -difference. Hill was employed In a private capacity and the letter he wrote was private in its na ture. The public had nothing whatever to do with it and had no right to know its contents unless either the writer or the recipient saw fit to give it out. The stenographers who gave testimony in the land fraud trials were public em ployes, paid by the Government for their work and the matters to which they testified were of a public nature. Hill approached newspapers with offers to sell the letter he had in his possession. The government stenographers gave up their information when they were ap proached by Government officers whose duty it was to gather information re garding the conduct of public officials. Hill was guilty of a breach of trust to his employer. The Government sten ographers have fulfilled their duty to their employers, the people of the Unit ed States. There is the difference. The Pendleton Tribune says that Governor Chamberlain is a man of pret ty small caliber for the position of United States Senator, which it is said he has in mind. Brother Geer should be careful in his choice of lan guage, for an expression like that has a back-action that may hurt. It would be unkind, after the Tribune's comment, to remark, that Dr. Withycombe de feated Geer in the primaries last Spring and then Chamberlain defeated Withy combe at the polls. The records are there and speak for themselves. Especial timeliness attaches to an ar ticle on community advertising by Tom Richardson,1 published on page 9 of the magazine section of this paper. It is in substance an address delivered be fore Taeoma's chief commercial organi zation, but It applies to every live city on the Pacific Coast. Exemplifying the most effective agency for promotion urged by Mr. Richardson is the Tour ists' and Homeseekers' edition of The Oregonian to be issued Monday, April 29. The Oklahoma constitution, recently drafted by a constitutional convention, contains 100,000 words. What that means -will be readily understood when it is said that the United States Con stitution contains but 6000. The people of Oklahoma have put Into their consti tution many limitations that most states provide by statute, but the peo ple of the new state are apparently afraid of legislatures. The fame of the bachelor tax ordi nance, passed by the Fort Dodge, Iowa, City Council as a joke, has spread even to Germany and a measure has been passed by the lower house of the Hes sian Parliament which the dispatches inform us is framed according to the "Iowa idea." There is one thing certain that if the bachelors flee from Ger many they will not move to Iowa. The Ohio State Fair has been denied a special -reducedi rate by the railroads because the Legislature passed a 2-cent fare law. Now Iowa is wondering whether her state fair will get the same treatment. Out here in Oregon we have no 2-cent rate so it may be assumed that the Southern Pacific will make the usual excursion reductions. Hon. Jim Foley, Jacksonian stalwart of the local Democracy, is reported as defining Dr. Lanes political platform as "To hell with us!" If the Hon. Jim speaks for his party and for whom else does he speak? further scriptural admonitions from the leaders thereof are superfluous. The Klamath Falls Republican says that most of the anti-Roosevelt politi cians and corporations are wearing wooden hats for fear they will be next to feel the crack of the big stick. Well, isn't a wooden hat propel? on a block head. - It is probably fortunate for Delmas that he has an opportunity to quit the Thaw case. The American people credit him with winning a victory and he might lose his reputation if he tried the case again. . The Jennings murder case is to be tried again. The killing look place so long ago that most people have forgot ten all about it, but probably most of the witnesses can be found. On April 16 the Circuit Court in Des Moines, Iowa, adjourned because the courthouse could not be kept warm. O, come West. The Governor of Nebraska vetoed an $85,000 normal school bill. We thought normal school troubles were . all our own. Because one man" spends more than another Is no indication that he lives higher. He may be living lower. SYMPOSIUM OF CURRENT STATE TOPICS Useless Formality in Administration of an Oath Architects and State Buildings How Wildcat Timber Locators Swindle the Unsophisticated Salem's Mighty Dog Trouble Evils of Carry , ing Concealed Weapons Some Cows and Some Men Legisla tors Who Object to Criticism. THAT the system of administering an oath to a witness, a juror or a court official Is foolishness, has often occurred to T. G. Halley, now ot Portland but formerly of the Supreme Bench, and It Is his intention to advocate discontinuance of a practice which, in his opinion, has nothing to commend it. It is a waste of time, a useless formality, a proceeding which Is not essential to the punishment of false testimony. Upon such reasons Judge Hailcy bases his be lief that the formality of an oath should be dispensed with, aside from the Scrip tural Injunction to "swear not at all, neither by Heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; but let your communication be, yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Judge Hailey would have witnesses- called as they are now, and placed upon the sttond, without swearing or affirming. He would have them testify in answer to questions and would provide severe punishment for the witness who should testify falsely, but the punishment would be based upon the false testimony and not upon the viola tion of an oath. Under the present pro cedure jurors are sometimes sworn be fore they are questioned as to their qual ifications, and are sworn again before the trial begins. The Court Bailiff is sworn every time he takes charge of a jury, and as this occurs many times dur ing a term of court, an officer takes many oaths to do his duty when one at most would do as well. But Judge Hailey thinks none at all would do as well, for the law could make it the duty of a witness to tell the truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the truth, the duty of a Jury to find a verdict according to the law and the evidence, and the duty of a Court Bailiff to guard the jury from in terference, and violation of such duties could be made a crime just as serious as violation of an oath. Instead of swear ing a man to an affidavit. Judge Hailey would have it merely, signed In the pres ence of an attesting officer, which is, in fact, the general practice, though the law requires that an oath be administered. That the solemnity of ah oath is inef fectual' to prevent false testimony, is common knowledge among people familiar with court proceedings. The land-fraud trials in this state show how little regard men and women have for the oath ad ministered to them by a notary public when they make affidavit in the form re quired by law. Because it is evident that the oath serves no useful purpose and is a waste of time. Judge Hailey calls It foolishness and wants It abolished. HERETOFORE it has been the prac tice of the State Boards to employ an architect to draw plans for the public building and to oversee the work of con struction. The architect is paid either a stipulated sum or a percentage upon the cost of the building. It ' Is under stood that Governor Chamberlain will fa vor a new method when the Board gets ready to adopt plans for the building's for the new Institution for the feeble minded. The Governor's scheme is not only to call for .competitive bids for constroctlon work, but to ask; for competitive plans and specifications. Ail architects1 will he Invited to submit plans, and the one whose ideas are the best will be awarded the contract for supervising the con struction. This method may be slightly more expensive than that of hiring an architect before his plans are known, for the Board will probably find it neces sary to offer extra Inducements to coun terbalance the certainty that some of the architects will get no pay for their work in drawing plans. But the Governor is anxious that in starting the new in stitution the best plans be secured, hence his advocacy of the competitive idea. The land for the institution will be pur chased soon, and then the Board will be ready to proceed. fJEGULATION or extermination seems m. to be the alternative presented for the choice of dog-owners up in Salem. For many months, years, in fact, Salem papers have been telling of the efforts of the City Council to control the dog nuisance. Owners of lawns and flower beds rise with a mighty protest and demand that a stringent dog ordinance be passed. The Council accedes to the demand, imposes a heavy tax and pays an officer to round up the untagged dogs. A wail from the dog-owners, a law3uit, suspension of the dog ordi nance and finally repeal of the obnox ious law, follow in due order, and soon the owners of lawns and flower beds have their inning again. But some one seems to have tired of that sort of procedure, for there has been a whole sale poisoning of dogs recently, and all efforts to discover the guilty persons have been fruitless. Unfortunately, the poison does not always kill off the dogs that ought to be killed, but if the pro cess should be long continued there will be no need for a dog ordinance of any kind in the Capital City. SHIPPING beef from Portland to Coos Bay is one of the incidents of Oregon commerce that has created comment. particularly because the Coos Bay country Is a great stock re gion. But this is no more remarkable than that beef should be shipped from Portland to Willamette Valley towns, or that Valley farmers should be buy ing grain to feed their stock, after having sold oat and barley crops last Fall. Just such transactions are tak ing place nearly every day,, and they are no more surprising than that Port land creamery butter should be shipped by rail and stage to the stock ranches of interior Oregon. Coos Bay finds it cheaper to import beef grown in East ern Oregon, and. on the other hanri. Central Oregon finds it cheaper to Im port butter than to make it. That Wil lamette Valley farmers should be buy ing grain to feed their stock can be explained only by assuming that they must have raised too little or sold too much immediately after harvest. Such .transactions leave no room for doubt that the farmer pays the freight on the grain from the Valley, to Portland and from Portland back up the Valley again. WHEREVER grass grows on lawns there the dendellon flourishes, whether in Oregon or elsewhere. In this state an din nearly every other state ef forts are being made to find some way to exterminate the pests, or at least to hold tbem in check, but they seem to thrive on antagonism. Digging them out seems to make two dandelions grow where ouly one grew before, and surface applications intended to kill the plants act as fertiliz ers rather than exterminators. How to get rid of the dandelion is. therefore, as per tinent a question as ever. Of course, every man has his theories and most men are as ready to suggest a remedy for dan delions as for a cold. One of the newest suggestions comes from a man who de clares that frequent mowing Is what gives the dandelions a chance and results In their multiplication. Mowing checks the grass more than it does the dendellon. This authority asserts that if lawns were, left a season or two without mowing,, the uenuenons would nearly all die out, and that this is shown by the fact that hay meadows are not overrun with this enemy of the cliy lawn. The less mowing, par ticularly in the early part of the Summer. me less trouble from dandelions. Is the rule this theorist advances. OPPORTUNITY is a word that catches the eye of the average citizen and often serves as a hypnotising agency. Tho first chance or the last chance al ways servos as a hypnotizing agency. The first chance or the lust chance al ways offers an opportunity which, if permitted to pass, will never be pre sented again, so the over-anxious fre quently act blindly In grasping what looks like a good Investment. Efforts to get hold of timber lands afford many illustrations of the power of this first chance or last-chance idea, and the "wildcatters of the woods" have made tho most of it. When an Indian reser vation or a forest reserve is thrown open to settlement there is a great rush for claims, and men grab blindly for the first chance. Timber locators, rep resenting that there are 'only two or throe claims left," appeal to the Easy Marks and get a fee of 100 to J151 for locating a man on land that is practi cally worthless. "They take their vic tim to a thickly wooded piece of prop erty," says a Baker City paper, "show him the fortune to be. had by locating upon that spot, and then give him the numbers of a, vacant claim. Alas for the purchaser when he proves up on his claim, for he finds that It is located far away from the timber shown him, which has probably been taken up for years. ' Numerous cases of the kind have been reported here recently, and it is rumored that these confidence men of the forest are to be prosecuted." SEVERAL shooting scrapes in Eastern Oregon recently have led to agitatlor for a campaign against the evil of carry ing concealed weapons. Such a warfare has been started in several Kastern cities where the police round up all questionable characters and bring them into court and have them heavily lined If weapons are found upon their persons. One problem has been presented in many such cases what to do with the revolver after the de fendant has been discharged. So far as the law Is concerned, the guilty person Is entitled to a return of the weapon. If the law were changed so as to declare the weapon forfeited, the state or city would soon have a good-sized arsenal of revol vers or would have to sell the implementa of destruction for future use. ' IN dairying circles considerable Interest has been aroused in the-records of a Forest Grove .farmer, whose six cows last year yielded 'over 42,000 pounds or milk, which he sold to the condensing factory for J5-92.SO. This was nearly J100 per cow. Tk. f" U- . , . . . . ... Alio wuiicj wno nas tnis record is i. u. King. The Forest Grove Times says this Is a "fair sample of what can be done here," but many people will be Inclined to think that it is probably a fair sample of what can be done by some men with some cows. There is a difference in men and also In cows. However, the record is good enough to encourage dairymen to stick to the industry.-- THAT some members of the Legislature do not like to have their actions in that body criticised is evident from some disclosures the Grant's Pass Observer is making conoerning its advertising and circulation business. The Observer re marks that when he was a candidate for the Legislature L. L. Jewell was an adver tiser in that paper and also a subscriber. Candid criticism, so the editor thinks, was the cause for discontinuance of both his advertising and his subscription, but this "terrible financial catastrophe" will not stay the pen of free discussion of "a condition of affairs which calls for vigor ous criticism from all state newspapers that are not toads or imbeciles." The Ob server evidently entertains the same view of the freedom of the press as that Indi cated by the Pacific Outlook, which sets forth in verse the opinion of many people upon the subject of how to run a news paper: When a man goes astray Keep it out. When the critics roast a pJay' Keep it out. When two men in anger clash t When a merchant goes to smash; TV hen the cashier steals the casll- Keep It out. When they quarrel In the church Keep it out. ' When the teacher wields the birch' Keep it out. When nine women fair to see Whisper something over tea Print it? Goodness gracious ma! ' "Keep it out." ) When two statesmen make, a.deal' Keep it out. When another tries to steal Keep it out. Stories thin and stories tall; Good and bad and big and small Anything that's news at all Hear 'em shout: "Keep it out." ! Sonnet to John D. M. A. Matthews in National Stereotyper Journal. Who owns the pipes down In the grounj That carry oil the country 'round From Boston. Maw., to Puget Sound? ' John D. Who owns New Jersey, New York Bay And No. Twenty-six Broadway? ' Who owns the air we breathe each dayJ John D. Who owns the great old Empire State The P. P.. R., the Nickel Plate. The Santa Fe, the Golden Gate? John D. Who owns the Western Union, who Owns all the ships that sail the blue? Who owns, b'gosh, e'en me and you? John r. Who tenches how in Cleveland. O., Kach SRhhath morn to save your dough (It all goes hack to him, you-know? John D. Who put the coal down in the ground- And then got men to dig around Till Hazelton, Pa., was found ? John D. Who's going to excommunicate Missouri as a sovereign state Because her Folk don't hesitate?' John I. Who owns the Senators that we Send down to Washington, D. .. To make the Jaws for us oht gee;? John U. Tn fact, who Is It. lank and tall. Who has us at his beck and call. That owns the earth, and owns It allt John. V.