The Sunday Oregonian., July 21, 1907, Page 6, Image 6

THE SUNDAY OREGOlSTAX, PORTLAND, JULY 21, 1907.
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PORTLAND, SUNDAY, JCLY. 1. 1907.
REMINISCENCE OF OCR HISTORY. .
Charles M. Harvey, the -well-known,
editorial writer of the St.. Louis Globe
Democrat; recently published in Put
nam's Monthly an article on Zebulon
M. Pike, explorer, which contained
much matter of interest to the whole
West, hot less to Oregon than to other
parts. Pike's Western expedition did
not carry him very far west, but his
descriptions of the country, as far west
as the Rocky Mountains, and the fur
ther inferences as to the country still
onward west, embodied in his report,
had much to do with determination of
"the judgment of the leading; men of our
country, as to the nature and value of
the vast region between the Middle
West and the Pacific Ocean.
The result was very unfavorable, for
Captain Pike was the man whose re
port laid the foundation of the error
as to the country, which caused it to
be called "The Great American Des
ert." It is true there had been other
explorers, Spanish and French; as
Coronado and Varendrye; but their re
ports were little known to our people,
perhaps not at all then; and though
the Lewis and Clark expedition pre
ceded that of Pike by a year, their re
port did not get to the public so soon
ns that of Pike, and its descriptions
were that of a route much further
north. The subsequent career of Pike
and his death in battle made him, more
over, a National hero and spread his
fame. '
The summit seen now from Denver,
supposed then to be the highest peak in
the great Rocky Mountain range, car
ries his name, and in every state where
a Pike County appears the designation
is a memorial of him. It is hardly nec-'
. essary to remind any reader that Gen
eral Pike was killed in a fiercely con
tested battle at York, Canada (now To
ronto), in the War of 1812.
Mr. Harvey thinks the report of Cap
tain Pike, published in 1808, retarded
the movement to the Oregon Country
twenty-five years, or more. It is not
unlikely, since the movement of our
people to Oregon did not begin till 1832,
' and after-that for mnay years was but
a feeble one. The "War of 1812, which
deprived the Americans of their set
tlement of Oregon, begun at Astoria,
with Joint occupation of the country
with England for a, long period, was
one of the .causes why our statesmen
were so slow to claim and our people
to occupy a region which was their own
by undoubted right of discovery and
exploration. Yet we cannot deny what
the author of the Putnam article says,
when he declares that Pike's report was
the main origin or support of the myth
of "The Great Amerlcatn Desert,"
which in part lasted till railroad con
struction dispelled It.
Certain it is that Pike's report was
quoted in the Senate as proof that, the
vast region west of the Missouri River,
Including the Oregon Country, was a
hopeless desert, not worth contending
for: and this notion had influence on
even such master minds as Webster
and Calhoun. It is hardly surprising,
indeed, that this should have been so,
since Pike's report abounded in such
statements as the following, which we
quote from Dr. Elliott Coues' "Expedi
tions of Zebulon M. Pike," pp. 624-525.
viz.:
Although not flattering myself to be able to
elucidate that which numbers of highly aei
entlflc characters have acknowledged to be
beyond their depth of research, still I shall not
think I Viad done my country Justice, did I
not give birth to what few lights my examin
ation of those Internal deserts) has enabled me
to acquire.
From" this Captain Pike goes off into
a dissertation on the nature of the
country, its limited rainfall, meager
water-courses, absence of timber, etc.;
and proceeds thus:
Here a barren soil, parched and dried up
for eight months In the year, presents neither
moisture nor nutrition sufficient to nourish
the timber. These vast plains of the we.-t-ern
hemisphere may become. In time, as cele
hraud aa th sandy desert of Africa; for I
saw in my route in various places, tracts of
many leagues, where the wind bad tbrosvn
up the sand In all the fanciful forms of the
ocean'a rolling waves, and on which not a
speck of vegetable matter existed.
"But," adds the patriotic explorer,
"from these immense plains may arise
one advantage to the United' States,
viz.: The restriction of our population
to certain limits, and thereby a contin
uation of the Union." (!)
No doubt the explorer saw consider
able stretches of country, such as he
describes. Such may be found ven
yet. The worse or poorer features of a
country are usually found first, and
are regarded as typical of the whole.
The early immigrants to Oregon, after
traversing the great plains, could not
hope for anything of the country be
tween, let us say. Fort Kearney on the
Platte and the Cascade Mountains; and
till long after they came to the Oregon
country tney had no expectation or
hope for the eastern part of it.
This notion is not even yet wholly
extinct; for the Harriman people dur
ing years past and down to this day,
have been croaking about "the des
ert." as their reason for refusal to build
railroads Into and through Middle and
Eastern Oregon. Yet this is the same
desert that has responded to every
honest effort and desire of man for
results for his enterprise and labor,
from the mouth of the Kaw and the
sources of the Mississippi to the Pacific
Ocean. In the development of a coun
try the ipdustry of man Is the one
great factor. It turns the most hope
less of apparent deserts into gardens.
as one may see at intervals everywhere
over the vast region once condemned
to hopeless desolation. Water Is neces
sary, of course, and best Is water, of all
things, as Pindar wrote; but water can
be had by modern methods in places
where formerly it was deemed unob
tainable, and experience In the country
of limited rainfall proves that less
water will suffice than had ijeen sup
posed In places where precipitation is
excessive or abundant.
Even when the Oregon question was
settled, in 1846, there was no concep
tion, either in America or England, of
the value of the country. Had it been
understood by the two parties it is
hardly .probable that the title to the
Oregon Country, which was determined
largely in our favor, could have been
settled without war.
WHY DEBATE IMPROBABILITY T
The Oregonlan has not supposed, nor
does it suppose, that President Roose
velt will be a candidate for re-election.
But for his positive declination he cer
tainly would be renominated . and as
certainly would be re-elected; and his
majorities would be even greater than
in 1904.
There would be an easy argument
that it would not be a third term but
for his positive declaration,- made' on
the night of the election of 1904, that he
would consider his present term the
second one, and therefore "would not.
In any circumstances, be a candidate
for' or, accept another nomination."
It was his own studied phrase, word
ed carefully, aa he supposed and in
tended, to preclude the possibility of
advocacy from any quarter of another
term for himself.
But suppose his party should insist.
Suppose it should declare its purpose
to vote for him. Suppose It should
make him its candidate, in spite of his
protestations. And then suppose a ma
jority of the electors should vote for
him and he should be declared elected.
All this might happen. But then, it is
not conceivable. It will be time enough
to deal with all this, in its successive
steps, should the series of apparent Im
possibilities begin. Till then the debate
will not have reached even "the pro-and-con
. stage." Hence The Oregonian
must decline the several requests ad
dressed to it for its opinion on the sub
ject, with reasons for and against d
contingency or proceeding which it be
lieves never can occur. Our own belief
is that the nomination will settle either
upon Hughes or Taft.
KING LEOPOLD'S ATROCITIES.
iRev. Herbert S. Johnson, an Orego
nlan by birth and education, but now
a resident minister of Boston, present
ed, in the pulpit of the First Baptist
Church In this city, last Sunday, a pic
ture of King Leopold's rule in the so-
called Congo "Free State" that was an
arraignment of the civilized world, as
accessory to the blackest of crimes.
The atrocities that have been perpe
trated, in the interests of the rubber
trade, upon the natives of the Congo,
under authority of this ruler, justify
the declaration that King Leopold Is
pre-eminently the monster sovereign of
modern history.
Unfortunately for the full enlighten
ment of the nations, churchmen dif
fer in their estimate of conditions .pre
vailing In the Congo. The rule of Leo
pold, which Mr. Johnson declared to
be the "blackest crime of modern life,"
was but recently declared, by His Emi
nence Cardinal Gibbons to be wise and
beneficent. The Belgian monarch him
self was called by .the one a scoundrel
and a blackguard; and by the other
was said to be a humane, honorable
and benevolent man. Missionaries were
given as authority for both statements,
a fact which leads to the conclusion
that the conditions are colored, dis
tinctly by the ecclesiastical view.
However this may be. It Is certain
that King Leopold cannot be at once a
humane Christian - gentleman and a
most Inhuman monster. And since
grewsome evidence In support of the
latter contention Is shown in the mu
tilated bodies and dismembered limbs
of the hapless natives, who failed, neg
leoted of refused to bring in rubber to
meet the royal demand, a world, ready
to be convinced by evidence that is
over and above ecclesiastical bias, will
be inclined to accept as true the latter
estimate of the character of Leopold.
This estimate, moreover, corresponds
with the vfell-known facts of Leopold's
character, as revealed by the open rec
ord of his dissolute and cruel life. As a
husband he treated with the grossest
Insult, cruelty and oppression a wife
who was a model of womanly virtue
and conjugal loyalty; as a father he has
been despotic and unforgiving, denying
his daughter who had offended him by
marrying below her rank the privilege
of ministering to her dying mother, and
forbade her even to attend ihe mother's
funeral. Of his immoralities it Is suffi
cient to say that they have been of
the kingly order gross, open and glar
ingly indecent. The one redeeming
feature of his life, so far as its public
record extends, is the humanity that
ho has shown in giving asylum to his
demented sister, Carlotta, who in a
prison palace of his kingdom still mas
querades aB "Empress of Mexico.''
For the rest, his life fully sustains
the indictment which-has been brought
against him by Portestant missionaries
and sustained by civilization, as a mon
ster of cruelty and oppression; a ruler
who, under the guise of humanity, has
committed or caused to be committed
unbelievable atrocities upon a helpless,
simple-minded people for commercial
purposes. Certainly, if half that is al
leged against King Leopold is true; if
any one of the main counts in the in
dictment against him is sustained by
proof; if, in brief, he has ruthlessly sac-
; rlficed human beings to his lust and
greed, permitting his savage soldiery to
maim and outrage and slay them, he
Is well entitled to the appellation given
by Mr. Johnson "demoniacal scoun
drel," though he is a professed Chris
tian. Further, it may be said, the facts
cited in conjunction with and in sup
port of this allegation fully justify the
assumption of the speaker (an assump
tion which, by the way, voices the en
lightened religious sentiment of the
times, though not frequently given
tongue in an orthodox pulpit) that
"baptism and church membership are
not the essentials of the Christian re
ligion. Its first essential being compas
sion for the oppressed its essence love
and helpfulness."
- THE PACE THAT RILLS.
The Pittsburg story that people there
are mortgaging their dwellings to buy
automobiles is not without parallel else
where. Similar tales come from Massa
chusetts and New York. Even In Port
land such transactions are not unheard
of. Perhaps they are more common all
over the country than it is agreeable to
believe.
What can be said of a man who will
sacrifice his home and beggar his fam
ily to pay for an automobile? What of
the wife and mother who will nag at
him until he has consented to the crazy
deed? To call them fools is small com
fort. It may be true enough, but it
explains nothing, besides being forbid
den by the Scriptures. According to
Carlyle, most 'of us are fools. Our folly
runs sometimes this way, sometimes
that. The only pertinent question
seems to be, "Why does it turn to auto
mobiles at this particular time?"
Automobiles are today the most con
spicuous and convincing sign of wealth.
The ownership of one has become in
dispensable to a person who aspires to
move in Society. Society pays calls in
automobiles, it travels In them, it races
them, it makes love In them. Polite
literature has accepted the automobile
as the mark of aristocracy. He who
has one is eligible to gilded functions
of all sorts. He who has none is
naught. They, play the same part in
our exalted circles that a coat of arms
did la the days of chivalry; but they
play it better, for an ambitious vul
garian could make a coat of arms for
himself -while he could not make an au
tomobile. The deceit of a person who
Invented a coat of arms might never be
found out. He might flaunt his unholy
fraud all his life and transmit it to
his offspring undetected. But of the
man who sports an automobile without
a substantial fortune to maintain
it the heyday Is brief. In the day
when the mortgage on his house
is ' foreclosed he Is cut down like
grass, he withers like the flower of the
field. Like a shadow, he passeth and Is
not. '
. Hence the unique excellence of the
automobile as a mark of exalted social
rank. Hence the rage of social aspir
ants to possess them. "All that. a man
hath will he give for his life," said Sa
tan to the Lord. For an automobile
and the social prestige that goes with
It he will give a good deal more than
his life. He wilt give his character,
his honor, and the welfare of his fam
ily. For hearth and home men will
fight more desperately than for any
other thing on earth; but for an auto
mobile they will sacrifice both.
What does this prove? It proves that
many of us have lost the saving sense
of values. We no longer know what Is
worth while and what 'is not. The glit
ter, of externals has so dazzled many
people that they live their lives like
June bugs bumping about hither and
yon with no purpose except to fly and
bump. They exist for nothing but to
keep going faster and faster, and the
wilder their speed the more they think
they are getting out of life. A rifle
bullet gets as much. More, in fact, for
the bullet sometimes hits a mark, while
the automobile maniac never does.
Even his murders lack the spice of pur
pose. Aside from great art and music, the
pleasures best worth having cost little
money. The best of all is the love be
tween man and wife which the good
God gives freely if they are worthy of
the gift. William Allen White would
not go to New York to live, though,
great inducements were offered him,
because he could not forsake his lawn
and garden In Emporia. He thought of
himself at nightfall forlorn among the
skyscrapers while the grass withered
and the pinks drooped for water in his
Kansas home, and he put the tempta
tion away and stayed where he was.
Mr. White was wise. "Few pleasures,"
says the editor of Collier's, "are more
genuine than to water one's own lawn
with a forty-foot hose." The real
things of life are the good things, and
they come within the grasp of most of
us without mortgaging our dwellings.
Let society go its way with as many
automobiles as it likes. For the great
majority there is something better, and
we can get it without going the pace
that kills.
"JIM CROW" CAR COXTENTION.
The Ashevlllle, Chattanooga & St.
Louis Railroad has recently lost, before
the United States Supreme Court, In an
appeal taken . against an order of the
Interstate Commerce Commission that
required the railway corporation to
maintain, in accordance with state law,
passenger accommodations for colored
persons using their trains equal in mod
ern appointments to the coaches used
by white passengers.
The Legislatures of most of the
Southern States have each passed a law
compelling railroad companies to fur
nish separate passenger coaches for
white and black patrons. The validity
ofathls law being questioned on the
ground of unjust discrimination against
colored people, the United States Su
preme Court has decided that the broad
question of the right, under the thir
teenth and fourteenth, amendments to
the Federal Constitution, to segregate
white and colored passengers, exists
and that there Is no discrimination in
such .segregation, where equal accom
modations are furnished to both races.
In the case under consideration it was
found that the, blacks had just cause
for complaint in the Inferior equipment
of the trains to which they were re
stricted. The defendant company was
ordered to correct this systematic in
justice, to which colored passengers
were subjected.
A large outlay in equipment will be
required to meet this order. The "Jim
Crow" cars have been, almost without
exception, mere makeshifts. Many of
them would have been a discredit, even
to the coaches that carry passengers
up and down the Willamette "Valley on
the Southern Pacific track. Very ordi
nary, old-style cars, with foul, ill-kept
smoking compartments, and without
any of the fine appointments for clean
liness and comfort that make modern
travel a luxury, have been considered
quite good enough for "Jim Crow.'" The
order of the Supreme Court applies, as
yet, to but one railroad company, as
above noted. If it should be pushed
and made to cover other railroads do
ing business in the South, It would
mean the expenditure of many thou
sands of dollars in new equipment, and
a relegation of some hundreds of dingy,
dirty, ,malodorous, outdated cars to the
scrap-pile, to be worked up Into kin
dling wood. Or sidetracked and toucheu
up with a little cheap paint, they might
be sent out for use upon the local Har
riman lines in the W'est.
It Is up to the Afro-American League
and other negro organizations to make
use of the entering wedge handed out
by the Supreme Court, to the end that
the despised "Jim Crow" car may be
come a thing of. memory, and the
coaches run upon the regular passen
ger trains, for the accommodation of
the colored , population in sections of
the country where this population is
large, be equal in modern appliances
of comfort and . convenience to those
that are provided for white passengers.
The ends, of Justice 'thus subserved,
race prejudice might be permitted to
have andvhold Its narrow way, unques
tioned and without offense.
PATIENCE WITH SOUTHERN PACIFIC
land scrr.
The Southern Pacific land grip in Ore
gon has been under the search of a spe
cial United States attorney about a
month. That may have seemed a long
time to persons eager for immediate
action against the railroad. While
that brief probing may be said to have
brought to light much material for a
fight on the railroad, still it has
not yet gathered all the intricate
particulars necessary to bringing
suit to compel the railroad to sell
the land 'to actual settlers at $2.50 an
acre, or to dispossess the railroad of the
land. The railroad attorneys have been
engaged for nearly forty years trying
to thwart the land-grant terms. To
find out their methods and their acts
the United States attorneys need time
to pry into the old records, to ascer
tain the general character of the land,
to learn a mass of other information
needed for coping with the railroad
sharps. To aid this work an assistant
to the Attorney-General is expected to
arrive in Portland this week.
Some records in Washington the
United States attorneys must consult,
and they must study also the law of
the case and the general laws and
court decisions as to land grants.
While this work is going on the people
of Western Oregon need to be patient.
The railroad wouldt very much like
to see. the Investigation going on else
where than in Oregon. The charge
that the United States attorneys waste
time here, while they should be in
Washington looking over documents
which contain scant traces of the dis
honesty of the railroad, looks as if
started from a railroad source. . The
documents in Washington do not con
tain the vital parts of the dispute with
the railroad. They do not show how
the land grant terms have been vio
lated and repudiated for nearly forty
years. The essential proofs of the rail
road's perfidy exist in Oregon.. Instead
of the United States authorities coop
ing themselves up in Washington and
poring over old papers 3500 miles away
from the lands, they need to bring
those papers to Oregon and illuminate
them with the records contained in this
state. This is what they are doing.
The people of Western Oregon are
willing the United States attorneys
should take what time they need. Af
ter what shall be a resonable time of
waiting, If the prosecution shall lag,
then they will make themselves heard.
But Tvith Senator Bourne In Washing
ton, constantly prodding the Depart
ment of Justice, it does not seem that
the case will be suffered to lag.
BENEFICIAL distribution of aliens.
The new immigration law, that went
Into effect the first of this month, con
tains a provision for the "promo
tion of a beneficial distribution of ad
mitted aliens among the several states
and territories desiring immigration."
This . provision is a wise one and has
long been needed. The Immigration
problem is a difficult one to deal with,
and this is easily its most difficult feat
ure. The utter ignosance of hundreds of
thousands of aliens who come hither,
seeking they scarcely know what,
knowing nothing of our language, cus
toms, localities and such opportunities
as are open to them, is a menace to the
possibility immediate or remote that
they will become intelligent, profitable
citizens of the country.
By far the greater portion of the
evils arising from the enormous Influx
of unprepared aliens Is due to this
fact. To this Is also due the unwise
distribution of these .people, or, more
strictly speaking, the lack of distribu
tion, that has created in New York
City a "Little Italy," a "Little Russia,"
a "Little Hungary and other nations
of Europe in miniature; to this is due
the conditions of squalor' that prevail
among these people in Packlngtown,
riveting, as it were, the chains of ig
norance and abject poverfy upon their
children the' future citizens of the
United States.
Their own Ignorance has adjusted the
chain about their necks; lack of intelli
gent direction of their movements has
kept if there. As a general rule, the
largest cities of the seaboard first at
tract and then absorb these people,
and they literally herd there in squalor
and ignorance, without thought of bet
terment. ...
In the meantime other districts,
wholly unknown to them, have needed
their labor. This is especially true of
the South, that, though frequently bid
ding for them, has rarely been able to
secure them in such numbers or of
such sort as desired. They have either
remained, practically stranded, and in
thousands of cases willingly anchored
In the seaboard cities of the Atlantic;
or, failing to- secure foothold . there,
have been "shunted" to points in the
West and left to place themselves as
best they could which was too often
the worst possible placing for pros
pective American citizens. Upton Sin
clair's book, "The Jungle," though it
probably exaggerated this condition,
brought its possibilities painfully be
fore a shuddering public.
Chief of the division of distribution Is
Terence V. Powderly, formerly master
of the Knights of Labor and more re
cently Commissioner-General of Immi
gration in Washington. While his ap
pointment Is regarded as distinctly fa
vorable to the interests of organized
labor, it la conceded that Mr. Powderly,
If not handicapped by his special lean
ing toward these interests, will perform
the duties of the position intelligently
and well. The best that we can do,
pending proof of Mr. Powderly's effi
ciency, is to hope thatthe settlement
needs of the country, as a whole, and
the special needs of individuals and lo
calities will be served by this law,
through his administration.
The wreck of, a woman, formerly
beautiful, accomplished and respected,
Is recorded in the" commitment to the
insane asylum at Medical Lake, Wash.,
of Mrs. MoConnaughy, of Seattle, for
merly the wife of Lieutenant Hether
Ington, U. S. X. This climax of a
wasted, wayward life was reached
through excessive use of morphine and
alcoholic stimulants. It represents one
of the most pitiable of human wrecks
and one of the most hopeless. Censure
dies in compassion when a derelict of
this type, after buffeting for years the
waves of a stormy, uncharted sea the
weak sport of every passing breeze at
length finds anchor in a well-guarded
harbor. Passing over the dark chap
ters in this woman's history; the dis
grace that her waywardness brought
upon an honored name; the shame that
her conduct brought to those who knew
her best and loved her most; the wreck
of body and mind that followed an un
governed life, let the mantle of charity
fall between her and the censure that
involuntarily rises when her name is
mentioned. The final entry in her book
of life is likely soon to be made. In the
meantime, the compassion that Is en
gendered by the story of her wayward
life may fitly be voiced in the simple
words of Whlttier:
Where'er her troubled path may be
. The Lord's sweet pity with her go!
The outward, wayward life we see.
The hidden springs we may not know.
A California nurseryman informs the
fruitgrowers of Oregon that the horti
cultural laws of that state, and the
administration thereof, make no pro
vision against the exportation of dis
eased fruit trees. There is great need
for stringent enforcement of laws In
Oregon which will guard against the
importation of infected trees from that
state. , And It should be just as much
an offense against the criminal laws of
Oregon for a nurseryman to export dis
eased trees as for him to sell them for
planting in the state. We have a rep
utation involved and we cannot afford
to sacrifice our good name in order that
nurserymen may dispose of trees which
they cannot sell within the state. .
The impressive funeral services that
will be held today at the Scottish Rite
Cathedral in this city will constitute
the last entry in the record of a busy,
upright, honorable life, lived In this
community for more than half a cen
tury. George T. Myers was personally
known to every citizen of early Port
land. He was a man of honesty, in
dustry and business sagacity, and,
through these qualities, he came to be
a man of wealth and honor in the com
munity. He passed out suddenly, while
it seemed that many years of life were
still his due, regretted by a host of
friends and loved by those whtf had
walked closely by his side through all
the years of his active manhood. .
The InlnQ Graingrowers' Association
has saved to its members of the grain
belt of Eastern Oregon about 1 cent on
each of half a million sacks by buying
in 'bulk direct from the importers. The
sum saved by this transaction will help
out on the farmer's taxes, besides giv
ing them confidence in their ability to
beat the grain-bag trust by standing
together for the protection of their com
mon interests.
The attorney for the defense in the
telephone bribery case In San Fran
cisco enters the plea that Mr. Glass
should not be convicted for the acts of
the entire telephone company. Cer
tainly not. Just convict him for his
part of the bribery, and then convict
the rest of the company for what it
was guilty of in the matter.
"Now that reduced rates have been
made on fruit to Portland, It will be in
order for Baker County to emulate the
example of Yamhill by exhibiting some
of the famous mountain apples grown
there. Portland eats a lot of apples in
the course of the Winter and plays no
favorites.
Senator Crane may enjoy the vacation
sport of setting up the pins in "the in
terests' " alley, but he would be of
larger service to Massachusetts if he
made a trip to the great West and
learned the real sentiment of the cdun
try on the things Roosevelt stands for.
Today is a good time to get acquaint
ed with Portland. An open car is less
dusty and quite as free from Jolts as
an -automobile. Few of the residents
will make official complaint that they
can't get a long enough ride for 5
cents. .
Oregon contributed no inconsiderable
share towards the 11700,000 Harriman
has Just paid for a new residence, but
the obligation will be cheerfully can
celed if he builds a line through the
central part of the state.
If the Filipinos are looking to Japan
as their hope for independence, as some
of our "antis" say they are, perhaps
they now will look over towards Corea
and ask the people of that country their
opinion about it.
It will need only a few object-lessons
to wean conservative Portland from
macadam and lead the town into adopt
ing hard pavement for streets. The
change from wooden sidewalks to ce
ment is lasting.
Two hard Jolts have been givert to
the divine right of Kings. Corea's
ruler is unceremoniously fired and Kai
ser Wllhelm has to pay for a new au
tomobile out of his private purse.
. This week's reports of the big run of
salmon, at the mouth of the Columbia,
show that the work of the hatcheries
has not been in vain.
"Harriman Not Out of the Woods,"
says a headline in an Eastern paper.
We wish he would come out of the
woods and build his long-promised
railroads In Oregon.
After reading the official repdrts from
each side, it may be asked who really
won the telegraphers' strike. Or was it
a drawn battle?
The Warpath at Jamestown is the
name of what was the Midway, the
Pike or the Trail at other expositions.
For the first time since Memorial day
can ice cream be considered a neces
sary course at dinner.
COMMENT ON CURRENT STATE TOPICS
Untying Red Tape la Oregon Land Matter Problem for Hlver Boats Com
peting With. Railroad to and From Eugene Normal Trarbing In High
School Calling Night Police In Small Town U nan tla factory School Cen
sus, Etc.
COMMISSIONER BALLINGER, of the
General Land Office at Washing
ton, has won a warm place In the
hearts of purchasers of lieu land in
Oregon. Until a few days ago, the
State of Oregon had not received a
clear list of lieu lands of later date
than- 1896, or more than 10 years ago.
No clear list had been received for four
years and t.h, last one was for hinds
selected In 1S96. But the General Land
Office has recently issued two clear
lists, the one covering 14,292 acres in
the La Grande district .and the other
4489 acres In the Burns district. Each
of these lists brings selections down to
1907.
Similar action is to be taken re
garding selections In other land dis
tricts and within a short time the State
of Oregon will be practically untied
from the red tape of the United States
Land Department. This will afford
relief not only to the purchasers of
land, who have been all this time in
doubt about their titles, but also ta
State Land Office attaches, who have
been compelled for years to submit to
censure from purchasers because of the
delays for which they were not respon
sible. The recent action of the Gen
eral Land Office was directly pursuant
to Instructions from Commissioner
Balllnger and was indirectly brought
about by the visit of Oswald West, for
merly State Land Agent, and G. G.
Brown, clerk of the State Land Board,
to Washington some time ago. Be
cause of the all-controlling red tape,
they were unable to get even a prom
ise from subordinates, so thoy ap
pealed to Mr. Balllnger and told him
the exact situation. He ordered ac
tion upon Oregon selections at once,
"today, noj tomorrow," o It Is said,
and the action was forthcoming, not
withstanding the employes at Wash
ington are protected by the civil seiv
lce rules.
Balllnger will go down In the h!s
tory of Oregon land matters ;is the
first man who was able to stir the Gen
eral Land Office to activity. To nave
let the work drag along In the old
ruts would have been much easier, no
doubt, but Mr. Balllnger, filled with
the Western spirit of activity, could
not stand the continuance of such a
policy. It is said that Balllnger is
cordially hated, along with President
Roosevelt, In land office circles at the
National Capital. But he and tho
President have the gratltule of tlie
people in Oregon who have been wait
ing for years for title to their lands.
TO maintain a local police force,
which shall be small enough to
come within the financial resources of
the city, and yet large enough to guard
the. property of citizen, and so or
ganized and distributed as to be within
the reach and call of people who need
its assistance, is the problem which
confronts every town In Oregon, and
probably in nearly every other state.
Most of the cities outside of Portland
employ but two or three policemen at
night and these men must guard a very
extensive area. The people expect
them to be everywhere and yet within
the call of every man who may need
them. If a store should be robbed at
one end of the Btreet, while they are
elsewhere, there is evidence of neg
ligence, and If a citizen goes out upon
the street and cannot find an officer In
10 minutes he thinks the service poor
Indeed. If crime should he committed
while the night policeman Is at the
police station, censure is due the of
ficer for considering his own comfort
rather than the welfare of the tax
payers who pay him a salary. If be
should be out on the street when a
taxpayer telephones to the station for
assistance, he Is proper subject for
condemnation for neglect.
The problem is, therefore, to cover
as large a territory as possible and
yet to have the officers within call.
Corvallls has hit upon a plan that has
some merit, though It must be ac
knowledged to have some detracting
features. It Is arranged that one
stroke of the fire bell at night shall
be a call for police at headquarters.
This Is good enough as a means of
finding a policeman In an emergency
but It serves also as a warning to evil
doers, who know that such a signal
will result In the officers' going to a
certain point. In small towns, where
the all-night salobn exists, the prac
tice is general of telephoning to some
bar tender and asking him to go out
upon the street to find a policeman if
one does not happen to be In his es
tablishment. But Oregon towns are
getting the habit . of closing saloons
at night or both day and night.
Where the saloon has been ex
terminated It devolves upon the police
to devise some scheme, by which they
can be summoned. The fire bell
seems to offer the best method though
It warns the criminal at the Bame
time that it calls the officer of the
law.
r.
N a number of counties there is
trong evidence of dissatisfaction
over the statistics of school population,
which are are now becoming public.
It very frequently happens that the
school census for 1907 shows no in
crease over the year 1906. There Is
probably not a county In Oregon that
will be satisfied to admit that there
has not been a very material increase
in school population in the past year.
Beyond doubt there has been an In
crease, though the school census does
not always show It, or, if an increase
Is shown, tlte growth disclosed by the
flsures has been so small as to be un
satisfactory. Since the statistics. In a number of
Instances, are displeasing. It might be
appropriate to suggest an explanation.
Bach school district receives an ap
portionment of school funds, according
to school population. It has been the
practice of school district clerks In the
past to list every child, who can pos
sibly be construed to be a resident of
the district. In some Instances, chil
dren have been listed who were only
temporarily in the district, or who
moved In the course of the year. In
euch instances, the children were
enumerated in two districts, perhaps" in
two counties. v
This double enumeration occurs most
frequently In the case . of families
that live In the country In the Sum
mer and in town In the Winter. But
the last legislature passed a com
pulsory education law,- which requires
that a list of all children in the dis
trict be furnished to the teacher, that
all children not In school be reported,
and that proceedings be brought to
compel attendance. Enforcement of
the compulsory education law Is bound
to disclose any Improper enumeration
of children, and realizing that It is
quite probable that the clerks have
taken care not to enumerate children
who would more properly be enum
erated in another district. Perhaps
previous lists have been too large and
this year's lists will be more correct.
JVERCHANTS at Eugene have under
1 I taken, through their protective as
sociation, to induce some person of means
to construct and operate a boat on the
Willamette River, betwen that city and
Portland, and they have Interested a
Portland capitalist In the enterprise. The
man with the money "asks no bonus nor
aid In any way. but only wants to know
whether he could rely upon enough traffic
to make his business pay In case he
should succeed in making It work." The
merchants gave a general assurance that
"he could rely upon the merchants for
the shipment of all their goods. If he
could give them uninterrupted, depend
able service."
Far. be it from anyone to question the
sincerity of the pledge thus expressed. '
yet experience in various localities has
shown that it might be wise for the
steamboat builder to ask one more ques
tion, before he builds his boat. And It
Is an Intensely practical question. The
merchants want a boat service as a relief
from rail rates, that they deem exces
sive or rail service that they consider
Insufficient. They want the operator of
a steamboat to compete with the South
ern Pacific and they pledge him their
business.
If he should get them together in a
room and ask them: "How many of you
will agree to give me your business, even
If the Southern Pacific puts a competing
boat on the river and cuts rates to a
point below cost of operation?" There's
the rub. The owner of an Independent
boat has no trouble in getting' business.
bo long as his rates are lower than rail
rates, but as soon as the monopolist
establishes a still lower rate a rate so
low that the Independent operator cannot
meet It and live the problem Is for the
Independent boatowner to get the busi
ness. Temporary self-interest has always
led the merchant to give his business to
the boat that makes the lowest rate' and,
since the monopolist can afford to run a
boat at a loss for a year or two. he
always succeeds In driving the Independ
ent line out of business. And yet, perhaps
the merchants would agree to give the
Independent line their business even if
the Southern Pacific put on a boat at
lower rates. It might be Interesting and
Instructive to ask them.
THE plan of establishing a normal
course in high schools promises to do
much toward Improving the qualifications
of teachers and will, quite probably, re
sult in a larger supply of - teachers for'
the public schools. While It Is not ex
pected that the high schools will sup
plant the State Normals In pedagogical
instruction, it Is expected that they will
be of material assistance In fitting the
young people of the state for service as
teachers. Many of the teachers now em
ployed are merely eighth grade graduates,
who have had no special training for
teaching.
The supply of teachers must come
chiefly from the high schools and from
the eighth grade, for many years to come.
To give the high school pupils some In
struction In pedagogy is not, therefore, an
attempt to substitute such Instruction for
the education offered by the State
Normals, but to afford this amount of
professional training to teachers, who
would not attend the normals In any
event. The cities maintaining four-year
high schools can very easily establish
training schools, by permitting members
of the senior and junior high school
classes to teach In some of the lower
grades.
Tho practical knowledge they will thus
secure, while working under the super
vision of a principal, will prepare them
for the more difficult task of taking
charge of schools upon their own respon
sibility. The maintenance of a normal
course in high schools will cause many
young persons to become interested in
this work and induce them to enter the
teaching profession, whereas they would
go Into other occupations, if not given,
this opportunity toquallfy as teachers. ,
PACTORIES seeking locations in Oregon
may be able to reduce operating ex
penses to some extent by placing their
plants alongside sawmills, thus securing
a cheap fuel supply. Nearly every saw
mill throws away or destroys its sawdust
and a large part of its slabs because there
Is no ready market for the waste product
and the sawmills do not find It profitable
to handle the slabs twice, hauling them
first to the yards and later to the homes
of consumers. Some of the Bawmllls sell
sawdust at a rate that Is equivalent to 90
cents a cord for fir wood, and even a less
price could be secured If a consuming fac
tory were located close enough to avoid
the necessity for hauling. Ninety cents a
cord is cheap fuel, compared with the $3.60
to J4.00 some of the Willamette Valley
factories are paying.
GOOD-NATURED rivalry among cities
of Oregon, in public improvements, Is
likely to prove a very live factor in stir
ring some of the towns to action. A com
munity does not care much for the prod
ding It gets from its own citizens, but
when the jabs come from a neighbor they
hurt. Eugene and Salem, for example,
have been boasting of street-paving enter
prises for some time. Salem having start
ed the movement. An lnoredulous neigh
bor suggested that they are paving streets
with their mouths. Now Eugene has
started actual work and takes ocacslon to
remind Salem of the fact In language
rather derisive. The Capital City won't
enjoy being prodded by a smaller town
enjoying much less state patronage.
ONE of the great advantages of a local
fair, such aa the apple and cherry
fairs and the horse and goat shows, that
have been held recently In Oregon, is
relatively small expense. The preparatory
work is done largely by volunteers, the
prizes are offered by local business men,
who see an advertising value in the enter
prise, and the buildings required for the
exhibits are small and need not he spe
cially constructed and maintained for the
purpose.