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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1907)
6 TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 27, 1907. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. (By Mall.) Datly. Sunday Included, on, year $8.00 Dally, Sunday included, six monthB. ... 4. 5 Pally. Sunday Included, three months.. 8.2(1 Dally. 6unday included, one month.... .73 Dally, without Sunday, one year 6.00 Dally, without Kunday. six months.... S.'JS Dally. without Sunday, three month.. 1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month r'0 Sunday, on year z.flo Weekly, one year (Issued Thursday).. 1.80 Sunday and Weekly, one year 8.50 BY CARRIER. Dally, Sunday Included, on year 9.00 Dally. Sunday Included, one month.... .73 HOW TO REMIT Bend postofflce money order, express order or personal check- on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency ar at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad dress In full. Including county and state. POSTAGE RATES. Entered at Portland, Oregon. Poetoffce as Second-Class Matter. 10 to 14 page 1 cent 16 to 28 Pases cents 80 to 44 Pages 8 cents 46 to 60 Paxes ceU Foreign postage, double ratea. IMPORTANT The postal law are trtot Newspaper on which postage Is not fully prepaid are not forwarded to destination. EASTERN BUSINESS OFFICE. The 8. c. Beck with Special Agency New York, rooms 48-S0 Tribune building. Chi cago, rooms S10-S13 Tribune building. KEPT ON SALE. ' Chicago i Auditorium Annex. Postofflo News Co., 178 Dearborn St. St. Paul, Minn N. St. Marie, Commercial Station. Colorado Springs, Colo. Bell, H. H. Denver Hamilton and Kendrlok. 908-913 Seventeenth street: Pratt Book Store, 1214 Fifteenth itreet; H. P. Hansen, B. Rice, Geo. Carson. Kansas City, Me. Rlcksecker Cigar Co.. Ninth and Walnut: Toma New Co.; Harvey New Stand. Minneapolis M. J. Cavanaugh. B0 South Third. Cleveland, O. James Pushaw, 80T Su perior street. Washington, D. C. Ebbltt House, Penn sylvania avenue. Philadelphia, Fa. Ryan' Theater Ticket office; Penn New Co. New York City U. Jones Ic Co Astor House: Broadway Theater News Stand; Ar thur Hotallng Wagons; Empire New Stand. Atlantic City, N. J. Ell Taylor. Ogden D. L. Boyle, Lowe Broa, 114 Twenty-fifth street. Omaha Barkalow Bros., Union Station; Uageath Stationery Co. Pes Moines, la. Mose Jacob. Sacramento, CaJ Sacramento New Co., 439 K street; Amos New Co. Salt Lake-a-Moon Book Stationary "Co. I Rosenfeld Hansen; Q. W. Jewett. P. O. corner. Ix Angeles B. E. A mo, manager ten street wagons. Ran Diego B. H. Amos. Long Beach, Col B. E. Amoa San Jose, Cal St. James Hotel New Stand. Dallas, Tex. Southwestern New Agent. El Paso, Tex. Plaza Book and New Stand. Fort Worth, Tex. F. Robinson. Amarillo, Tex. Amarlllo Hotel New Eland. New Orleans, La Jones New Co. San Francisco Foster ft Orear; Ferry News Stand; Hotel St. Francis News Stand; 1 Parent; N. Wheatley: Falrmount Hotel News Stand; Amos New Co.; United New Agents, 11 Eddy street; B. E. Amos, man ager three wagons. Oakland, Cal W. H. Johnson, Fourteenth nd Franklin streets; N. Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; B. IS. Amos, manager five wagons. Goldflrld, Nev Louis Folllni C B. Hunter. Eureka, CaL Call-Chronicle Agency! Eu reka News Co. PORTLAND. SUNDAY. OCTOBER 1, 1007. THE PROVINCIAL GREAT CITY. The paradox, of course, la false; else It wouldn't be a paradox. Tet It may contain absolute truth. : But the thins; that was a paradox In one age may not be a paradox In another. Man Is flying In the air now. This animal has feet to go on the earth. Is his lo comotion presently to be, mainly, through the medium of the air? It is scarcely worth while to speculate on this topic. Only a Bhort time ago po litical and social experiments which mankind Is gradually working out as the years roll by, were deemed as hopeless as the diriglblilty of balloons. Yet we are finding balloons dirigible. Another paradox that not only con tains a truth, but Is truth, is the oft repeated statement that the residents of our greatest cities are the most provincial people we have. Perhaps the residents of our own greatest cities are as free from this limitation as others. You may look over the course and career of man on the earth, and you will find it much the same, in this matter as In others. London is so great that it scarcely knows there is an outer world; yet London is merely a product of an outer world that it doesn't know. Paris is great yet even more overestimates Itself be cause It is the center and has been the center for fifteen centuries of the life of Western Continental Europe. Tet London, in her insular position, never has been so provincial as Paris. Thj consequence has been that English colonies, planted all over the earth, have flourished; while French colonies have declined and perished all be cause Paris has been so provincial that the sole thought of the colonists, who, at different porlods, have gone from France and made settlements in dis tant .places, have not been, able to shake off the provinclallsim of Paris. but always have had it in mind to re turn to Paris for the enjoyments of life. Count Segur, in his history of Napoleon's Russian campaign, relates that a woman of rank, who had at tended the French army, threw her child from the sledge into the snow to perish, because it hadn't known Paris and she had, and she would have no incumbrance on her desire of safe re turn. The bigger the city the more com plete its provincialism. . Twenty cen turies ago everything from the Medit erranean basin was drawn into Rome, and even from beyond Mount Taurus, the Alps and the Danube. The move ment made Rome at once the central city, the great cty and the provincial city, of the ancient world. The de scendants of the old citizens, and the -multitudes who flocked there from all the J hen known world, forgot there was 'an outer world thfit contained everything, Rome included. The em pire no longer was defended on the Euphrates, the Danube, the Alps and the Rhine. Rome was provincial, as Paris has been during the last two cen turies, and as Berlin is becoming now. The same spirit affects London, but In less degree, for her position obliges her to keep In touch with the great outer world. But New York is becom ing more provincial than London. She has the American continent behind her, yet she scarcely knows It. The American continent makes her what he is, yet her view scarcely extends beyond Manhattan Island.'She knows. Indeed, that 'there is a' continent of America, but her view of it misses all conception of its greatness. New Tork, merely a product of America, supposes she is about all there is of America. She supposes she can con trol its industries and its commerce. She essays ; speculation upon them, finds she can control nothing, and "goes broke," while the great coun try is more prosperous than ever. It U, Indeed, mersly natural thatj the man who Uves, moves and has his being in the great city should limit his view to the great city's hori zon. Of course, it is not a conscious process. His life is Bimply subdued to the element it works in. This Is the explanation of the paradox that the biggest city of an empire or continent Is the most provincial place in it. REPUBLIC AN-HEARST ALLIANCE IX NEW YORK. Excessively foolish- and altogether wrong is the attempted union for the municipal campaign . in the City of New York of the Republican party or ganization ,wlth the Hearst Independ ence League. There is nothing what ever in dommon between them; the constituent elements of the "deal" are wholly abhorrent to each other, and either part of the combination would be stronger alone at the. polls than both will prove to be, because actual co-operation between them will be im possible. Hearst's Independence League has. Indeed, proved Itself very strong in voting power. . But It already had gathered in all the Republican forces that would act with it. The remainder of the Republican forces cannot be In duced to act with it at all, and the League will lose some of Its Demo cratic support by this attempted fu sion with the Republican organization. This organization, which has attempt ed the unnatural movement, consists only of the actual members of a polit ical machine, which has no control or Influence over the general body of Re publican voters. But among practical politicians, falsely so-called, there is always a no tion, which seems to run to a halluci nation, that two great bodies of elect ors, confronted by a third which is stronger than either, can be united by a "deal," for a common effort against tlreir opponent; and it is an easy cal culation In figures that the two com bined have more votes than the other. They seldom stop to think how utterly incongruous and antagonistic the two whose union is proposed may be to each other; often more so. Indeed, than to the third party which they oppose. It is common history that two large bodies of voters, whose purposes have nothing In common with each other, cannot be so united as to poll their whole strength against a third. In the present situation in New York there are multitudes of 'Hearst men who would rather Tammany would win than that Republicans should have a share of 'the triumph over It; and again, multitudes of Republicans who prefer Tammany to Hearst's Independ ence League. Only a year ago the National Ad ministration threw all its force into an effort to defeat Hearst for Governor of New York. Secretary Root went to Syracuse, where he made a most elab orate and bitter speech against Hearst, on grounds Intended to carry conviction with the argument that no Republican could possibly afford to vote for him. To Republicans, there fore, does It not seem strange, that an alliance is now attempted between their party nd Hearst's party? This unnatural and fraudulent fu sion has not the support of the anti Tammany press, which comprises all the greater and most of the lesser newspapers of the city, nor apparently of the citizens who oppose Tammany yet denounce a Combination that not only seems not preferable to-, Tam many, but for not a few reasons even more objectionable. " ' VALUE vOF PHTUrppiNKS. Uncle Sam will probably never sell the Philippines; the opportunities they present for commerce and influence in the Orient and for exploitation by American energies will forbid his do ing that. Talk of selling the islands will probably have no other effect tHan making known the possibilities they oontaln for American progress and teaching Americans their wealth in soil, forest and trade. Three weeks ago Admiral Dewey raised his voice to protest against the plan to sell the Islands, and pointed out that they are the key to the open door for American trade in the Orient. Last week it was announced from Ma nila that the Japanese Consul for tine Philippines, Akaso Tsuka, after visit ing the southern Islands of the archi pelago, was greatly astonished by their groat natural wealth and con vinced that "the United States will never desire to . sell the islands." Within the last two months an inter esting book on the islands has ap peared, written by Hamilton If. Wright, the recurring sentiment of which Is: "The Philippines today offer us as great, or greateropportu nities, than any Spanish-American or Oriental country." "For the past ten years," said Ad miral Dewey, "every strong European nation has been trying to get a foot hold for commercial and " naval pur poses in Eastern waters Germany, England, France and Russia. Through the fortunes of war, the -United States obtained rlghtfuly and without chi canery the best and most strategic po sition possible, giving us superior com mercial and naval advantages over the other nations. What sort of common sense would it be for us to give up such a position? 'We want our share of the enormous commerce of the East and we cannot keep the door open for it unless we hold the islands." Mr. Wright's book tells of the re sources of the islands, those of the soil being chiefly hemp, Bugar, tobacco, copra (dried meat of cocoanut) and rice. Other products are In great va riety, including sorghum, broomcorn, Egyptian corn, Kaffir corn, cotton, cof fee, peanuts, pineapples, sweet pota toes, Irish potatoes, nutmegs, cinna mon, pepper and other spices, canta loupes, squashes, melons, "Ulpans, figs, strawberries, raspberries, oranges, lemons, bananas, garden truck of the United States, rubber and ether fruits and vegetables too numerous for men tion here. The soil is of wonderful fertility and fertilization is not ,yet a problem. The timber wealth is' tre mendous, containing the largest vari ety and supply of hardwoods in the world. The Forestry Bureau of the Philippines has estimated the value of the standing timber at more than two billions of dollars. There are also a great resource of coal, considerable copper, large extent of low-grade ores and vast supply of iron.1" The Filipinos are of the Malay stock, and, like the Japanese, of keen intel ligence, and quickly adapt themselves to the ways of higher civilization. They are ' peaceful, deeply religious and remarkably industrious for a trop ical race. They are becoming rapidly Americanized, largely through the public school system, in which 500,000 children are taught and nearly 1000 American teachers are employed. Americans axe spreading- over the) islands and engaging In its agricul tural and commercial activities. For generations the Spanish made big profits and amassed large fortunes in agriculture and trade, and fcr many years Germans,, Chinese, English and Filipinos were successful- in com merce. Their successes prove to Americans that the islands are a rich field for exploitation. There has been a great deal of mis conception in America about the Phil ippines. The islands have been repre sented as unfit for dwellers of north ern latitudes, and as a menace to the foreign peace of this country, and the people as half savage and half child, unable to adjust themselves to Amer ican rule or profit by It. All this is turning out to be false, however, and Americans are coming to know it. Manila Bay has. the making of the greatest harbor in the Orient, and some authorities think it will become the shipping center of that part of the world. . The harbor improvements now under way will permit the en trance of the largest steamers and make it the most economical shipping point in the Far East. There will be political claptrap at home for sale of the islands, but noth ing will come of it. The archipelago is becoming too tightly bound to this country. It now costs America little to hold, since the only money sent to the islands' 13 for fortifications and the military establishment. Otherwise the islands are self-supporting. A DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S DCTIES. The Oregonian has this letter from Dr. D. J. K. Deering: Tour statements In The Oregonian today are correct. Wnlle I believe you have not the power to chapge the wording of, a letter or a communication, X am satisfied the tele gram from Leroy Lomax. District Attorney for Baker County, was sent for the good of the writer (Rev. George B. Varney). The writer has the power of closing - Baker County and he should not ask the District Attorney to be a private detective. Now I wish publicly to ask these questions: Does the power of a District Attorney for the State of Oregon force him to be a private detective? Ha the District Attorney of Baker County refused to prosecute any charges placed in his hands? This is the customary shabby plea for a public officer who neglects or fears to do his duty, or doesn't want to 8o It. Under the laws of Oregon, a. District Attorney has the powers of a Grand Jury. He is not only prose cuting officer, but it is clearly his duty to enforce the laws, or to inquire why they are not. enforced. If the sheriff or any other officer fails to co-operate with the District Attorney In his at tempts to require obedience to the law the District Attorney may indict tha sheriff for malfeasance. We have not heard that the. sheriff of Baker County has refused to. aid the District. At torney in-his great campaign against the gamblers. . If he has, the remedy Is in -the District Attorney's hands. There Is no doubt of It. Any excuse that the District Attorney cannot be a private detective,, or can not look up evidence, or that he has no duty to perform except to prose cute cases that some one else has looked up and brought to him. Is a time-worn subterfuge. ', If we have got to depend on volunteer private citi zens to look after the public safety, and not on our authorized officers, we are in a bad way Indeed. The Oregon District Attorney who has determined to shut off gambling, or to close the saloons on Sunday, or otherwise to re quire obedience to laws that have long been more honored in the breach than in the observance, can do all these things If he desires. Several Oregon District Attorneys, outside of Baker County, have done them. . For the further information of Dr. Deering, and any others who may be Interested, The Oregonian will append the views of a somewhat celebrated District Attorney on the proper func tions of the District Attorney's office. Here' Is the statement made by Dis trict Attorney Jerome in New York on December 22, 1908: If this administration - depends ' for Its strength on the law-breaker and their sym pathizers, then - It ought to be defeated; but I do not believe that such Is the case. I was elected although I constantly pro claimed my Intention of enforcing the lawa as I found them, and It would be very in consistent of the voters should they show resentment because I am endeavoring to fulfil my pledges. .... . ' We may be sure of this, however, that only constant, aggressive work will achieve a permanent result. Some people hold the theory that the District Attorney should wait for complaints to be made; that he should only try such cases as are presented to his office rather than seek, crime at Its source and endeavor to stamp It out. This Is not my view of the duties of my office. The law gives us ample power and author ity to protect the community and oppose crime and criminals, and those powers will be exercised to their fullest extent. 'r The way for a District Attorny to enforce the laws Is to enforce them. SEPTEMBER EXPORTS. Exports from the United States for the month of September do not make as flattering a showing as the prevail ing high prices for agricultural prod ucts teemed to warrant. A bulletin Just Issued by the Department of Commerce and Labor shows a falling off of rkore than (4,000,000 in value of domestic exports, as compared with the same month last year. This de cline was largely represented in the items doming under the classification of meat and dairy products, the de crease in value of these items, com pared with last year, being J3,B00,000. The higher prices prevailing for bread stuffs is reflected in a smaller quan tity shipped, but an Increase In the valuation over last year. In wheat the shipments were 9,598,235 bushels, compared with 11,104,065 bushels for September, 1906, but the value of the smaller amount cleared thi3 year was nearly $1,000,000 greater than that for the shipments in September, 1906. In cotton also there was a heavy de crease in quantity, . but the higher prices prevailing this year made up for most of the shrinkage in volume. Corn'' showed a decrease of 600,000 bushels, but the smaller amount sent abroad this year was worth $40,000 more than that which was shipped in September, 1906. For the nine months ending September 80, our do mestic exports have reached a total value of $618,527,502, compared with $571,926,100 for the same period last year. The September movement of breadstuffs may be somewhat disap pointing, so far as quantity Is con cerned, but the price at which they have been marketed is so high that the farmers have been distinct gain era, for it costs no more to ship a bushel of 90-cent wheat than it costs to ship 60-cent wheat.' This, however, should not be regard ed as wholly beneficial to the country at large, for the higher prices at which these products are billed to the for eigners must also be paid by the Amer ican consumers, who, in the case of breadstuffs, consume most of the crop. There has been a material increase in I the grain shipments for the month of ! October, and with the current high prices fon wheat the showing for this month will probably be much, more favorable than that for September, AS TO THE Fl'TtBE. For the last year or two a great many people have been "finding intel lectual interest and spiritual profit in discussing the question whether Presi dent Roosevelt is a great man or not. Some rank him with Washington and Lincoln. Some find it difficult to think of anybody quite so insignificant as he is. One writer discovers convinc ing proof of his supreme greatness in the fact that the common people have already begun to exercise their mytho poeic faculty upon him. He has be come In his lifetime- what only a few men, and those the very topmost of all the race, become as a rule in the course of a few centuries or a few thousand years after they are dead. He is a legendary hero while he still walks among the pitfalls and quag mires of this vale of tears. And be cause he Is Invested with the legend ary merits of the heroic dead he is invulnerable to the assaults of living enemies. In the heat and fury of life's fitful fever he sleeps well. Neither foreign levies nor domestic treason can do him ' harm. What is the secret of his greatness, assuming for the sake of the argument that he is really great? We rather fancy for one thing that the brow-beaten, harried and plun dered "plain people," whom Lincoln had so much to say about and whom the New York Sun so despises, look upon him as a champion. They feel in their hearts that he is a man sent from God to right their wrongs. But they have also Instinctively and only half consciously a deeper and more unselfish feeling about him. They apprehend, somewhat vaguely per haps, that his thoughts and purposes partake of the eternities, that he has hold on the everlasting righteousness of the Almighty and speaks with pro phetic insight of the secrets of" the future. His policies are vast, compre hensive. They are conservative In that high sense which pertains, to the Interests of millenniums instead of de cades. What American statesman be fore Roosevelt ever grasped the truth, and taught it, about the basic material conditions of enduring National life? Others prattle about the rights of property, the interests of capital, and so on,- questions which In their way are, of course. Important,, but Roose velt talks about the rights of the end less future and the interests of genera tions which shall succeed each other on this continent until the archangel sounds the trump of universal doom. The present greatness of America is based upon our natural resources. Everybody admits it. Everybody glor ies in It. No Fourth of July orator ever failed to flap his wings, or tongue, in jubilant assertion of the fact. Roosevelt alone has ever thought to ask what our greatness will be based upon when our natural resources are gone. ' In what bright realm of de parted souls will our lumber Industry continue a disembodied existence when we have no more trees? Mr. Gifford Pinchot, who knows more about such matters than anybody else, computes in The Outlook that in some thirty years more at the present rate of consumption all the merchantable timber in -the country will have fol lowed thex forests of Wisconsin and Michigan to the happy hunting grounds. What then of our sawmills, our lumber shipments, our wooden houses, our vast heaps of slabs sent up in smoke because they are not worth saving? Shall we have these sources of wealth and comfort In the ijext generation? ; A voice, sweet but sad, responds "No." We are already on the verge of a lumber famine. While we ship boards by the ' fleet load and trainload to foreign lands and build up a tariff wall to exclude forest products coming from Canada and Norway, the prices for wooden building material of all sorts climb higher and higher at home. We are like some wasteful English heirs to great estates who cut down ancient forests and gamble away the proceeds of the sale. The era of cheap wooden houses will never be seen In America again. With the forests goes the soil of the country. What the geologists call erosion car ries away to the ocean every year whole cubic miles of the fertility of our farms, and the faster we cut down the forests the faster erosion works. With the deforestation of the moun tains toward Mount St. Helens, for example, the Winter floods in the Cow litz, and Lewis rivers grow annually more fierce and destructive. The, top of the lands over which they sweep is carried down into the Columbia to form shoals, and what should grow apples and wheat to feed men becomes sandbars to impede ships. But these are trifles", perhaps; though they are not so evidently trifling when we re flect that every little river in the United States Is working at the same task as the Lewis and Cowlitz. That task is the eternal burial of the fertil ity of the soil in the depths of the ocean. We pay out annually millions of dollars to restore the potash and nitrogen which crops extract from the land, and while we sow plant food in tidbits at great expanse the floods sweep It away by the cubic mile. The Missouri river alone carries away every year four hundred square miles one foot in depth of fertile earth and deposits it along the Mississippi for Congress to dredge out as best it may. All this the reforestation of desert lands and the proper preservation of trees already growing would prevent. Is it not rather silly to build great works of Irrigation and at the same time go on destroying the forests with out which these works will be sheer waste of money? Mr. Roosevelt plans to make the forests of the country like a vast harvest field. The trees are to yield annual returns to the people, but never will the forest, itself be destroyed- There are forests In Germany which for six hundred years have given a yearly crop of timber as an orchard produces its apples every Fall, and today they are in better condition than ever before. Compare this meth od with ,the American system of cut ting half the timber, tjurning the rest and leaving r the land a desert to be washed down into the channels of the rivers. A3 with the forests, so with the coal mines, the petroleum meas ures, and the grazing laiida of the arid region. Mr. Roosevelt would hus band them all as a precious inherit ance not to be wasted as a greedy child devours its Christmas candy, but to be cherished, conserved and handed down to posterity with the Constitution of the country and its great Ideals. Of what use will be Con stitution and . Ideals when the people are starving for lack of those boun teous gifts which we squander so ruthlessly? From an utterly Irresponsible source comes the false statement that the "private secretary of Senator Bourne is also the Washington corre spondent of . the Oregonian." The private secretary of Senator Bourne is Mr. John C. Young, who is not and never was in the employ of The Ore gonian. -' The purpose of this false hood, several times repeated from the same untrustworthy sources, is to dis credit the entire disinterestedness and fairness of The Oregonian's Washing ton service, which it maintains at heavy expense, and which Is not equalled In volume, completeness, promptness or accuracy by any other Pacific Coast newspaper. Last Spring from this same quarter was printed conspicuously ar statement, on the au thority of a government hanger-on who had been in attendance at Binger Hermann's trial, that The Oregonian'3 Washington correspondent was falsi fying his reports in Hermann's in terest, for "Hermann was sure to be convicted." Just how The Oregonian could -have helped Hermann, even if it so desired, by coloring its reports was, and Is, not clear; but, malice and stupidity never try to make their lies reasonable or consistent. It will be recalled that Hermann was not con victed. ' Cruelty and desertion formed the chief counts in the Indictments against delimiuent husbands by suffering and defrauded wives brought before the State Circuit Court in this city during the past week. Either count, proper ly supported by evidence, presents as strong a reason for granting a plea for divorce as is furnished by the so-called "scriptural cause." An abused or de serted wife is fully entitled to release from bonds that bring to her and her children nothing but mental and bod ily Buffering. This ia Oregon law as interpreted by our courts before which applications for divorce are brought. As far as law can provide a remedy for the condition of beaten, neglected and deserted wives, this law is a remedial one. . It is to be regretted that it does not contain a preventative or protective clause, since as facts clearly show, the woman who has had good and sufficient reason to distrust her own Judgment when It comes to choosing a husband is not deterred from making another doubtful matri monial venture. San Francisco, struggling against conditions of disruption physical, so cial and Industrial for the past eighteen months, pauses to take an Inventory of results. Its fine buildings, aggregating a cost of $100,000,000. completed and under construction upon sites left bare and desolate by earthquake and fire a year and a half ago; Industrial disorders well under control; the plague that has added its menace to a city thrown literally out of doors, subdued; ' and above and through all the spirit of deter mination to overcome, at' all costs, all discouragements and. all haz ards. Seldom has a city In modern times been subjected to the political, social and material scourging that has fallen upon San Francisco. The energy shown In overcoming these forces of destruction and humiliation Is worthy of all praise. The Grants Pass Observer, of Wed nesday, has this paragraph: The Oregonian of yesterday quote the buy ing price of potatoes at 75 cenus to $1 per hundred, delivered in Portland. Consumers In Grants Pass are paying SI. 65 to S--o0, which seems too much of a margin. When potatoes sell for over $1 a hundred they cease to be cheap food and become a luxury. Johephlne County has most excel lent lands, and might easily grow potatoes for supply of the whole Pacific Coast. Potato growing thero evidently Is not popular, but It might be made mighty profitable. Strawberries are coming to Portland from Lebanon and selling at the old time price of 25 cents; prunegrowers at Corvallls are shipping their product dried and getting 5 cents a pound; and- Hubbard Is sending out onion sets by the carload every day or two These are samples of Oregon pros perity that laughs at panic. a Waif, street Over twelve thousand fruit trees have been sold by one firm for plant ing in the vicinity of Dallas, two thirds of them prunes. There is noth ing dead In the Oregon prune Indus try. Granting that no harm attaches to a squadron of students making raon keys of themselves. It still may be asked, what's the use of advertising a quasi-hazing stunt so widely? Increase of bank clearings In every part of the United States outside of New York- during a Week of great un certainty Is proof of sound conditions that must gratify all classes. England made no mistake when she sent Kipling to Investigate Northwest ern Canada. As a promoter of pub licity he has Tom Richardson beaten a whole continent. At the La Grande landofflce dates have been set for hearing 156 new contests. Oregon land" Is In demand and the day of the speculative com muter is over. The man who bought a suburban lot last Spring and put It In potatoes. "Just letting them grow," has the 4-per-cent banks left at the distance pole. Obituary notices of Emperor Fran cis Joseph prepared by enterprising newspapers all over the world .must now wait for a proper publication day. A Halsey man won over $1000 In prizes with his show herd of blood cattle this season. Yet there are big ger prizes in the milkpail. The trust Is to increase the price of cigars, despite the big cabbage crop. But perhaps another trust is putting up prices on butcher paper. Commissioner Clark's appellation "railroad buccaneers" is so apt that it is likely to achieve instant and gen eral circulation. After all. Emperor Francis Joseph's estimate of his own vitality was more nearly correct than the court's phy sicians. The last twist District Attorney Manning . has given to the Sunday ecrew ought to stop all leaks in the lid- COMMENT ON VARIED OREGON TOPICS Change Oregon's Name? HAS it occurred to the name changers that "Oregon" may not be fit for this fair state nor "Ore- gonlans" for its Inhabitants? For, If the name comes from the Spanish word for jong ears (OreJones), does It not rather belong to Missouri, where the mules come from? Let us be shown. Or if, as Joaquin Miller theorizes. "Oregon" i the same as "Oye Agua" (Spanish for "hear the water"), does not our climate de serve something else than an umbrella name, especially since it has been wil fully misrepresented? " This Is a most important question for the peace and dignity and contentemnt of Oregon. Let not a long ear nor an um brella title be fastened to Earth's Para dise. We refer this, too, to Mr. Mc Kenna. . Dan Moore In Two Cities. DAN MOORE, mine host of Seaside, has been in Astoria, trying to per suade the Clatsop County Court to build a bridge across the mouth of Ne canlcum River, to connect Seaside and Gearhart and also trying to get control of the new hotel now building in Astoria. The city down river would better look out for Dan. He may make Seaside the port of the Lower Columbia, if Gov ernor Semple'a canal project Is good. Big whales have been going to Seaside since Dan started booming the place, also big clams, big crabs and long board walks. Astoria would do well to call him off by electing him Mayor. That's probably what the wild waves are saying about it. Sclo's Grievances. BECAUSE! "only, only one newspaper man" (Colonel Hofer) attended the Sclo fair, the Scio News is aggrieved. But the Brownsville Times tells the News to cheer up. "It may be that only one newspaper man attended," says the Times, t "but we wager that others were present. The others did not at tempt to be the whole show." But there could have been no other show when Hofer was present. That far the News is right. But evidently Hofer did not stay all the time, since the fair is said to have been successful. Butter and Bulls. OREGON DAIRYMEN will hold the annual meeting of their Association In Portland, December 12-13. Why not refer to them the dispute over Bull Run? We would respectfully offer them this question for debate: "Resolved, That It Is Indecent, indelicate and offensive to a blooded $1000 dairy sire to call him by the vulgar name, 'bull'; Resolved, further, That we disfavor calling the home of any country member of the Legislature 'Cow County.' " We are breathless to learn what the dairymen will do with the bulls and the cows and whether they will re solve to get more bulls and cows so as to make butter cheaper. Soap Vendors In Aurora. AURORA was recently visited by two drunken soap peddlers, who insisted that residents buy their goods, and It was almost impossible to get rid of them. Au rora might have ascertained whether they were hobos by requiring them to take a bath. The unwillingness of the residents to buy signifies nothing Important. Court In Session In Lake? V B ARE informed by the Lakevlew W Herald that "Hon. H. L. Benson, Judge of- the Circuit Court, arrived from Klamath Falls last evening, accompanied by Hon. C. A. Cogswell and two other Portland attorneys. Wonder if the politics of Lake County ned "looking after" at this stage of the game? We ll have) to tell Messrs. T. T. Geer, J. W. Bailey, James Withycombe and Harry Lane about it. Are there any more candidates for Governor? Earth's Meanest Man. rOR UNTOLD ages the search after the meanest man on earth has gone for ward. He has just visited Douglas Coun ty. At Greens, five miles south of Rose burg, he entered the schoolhouse and stole the teacher's watch and ring. But he left no clews and has not been caught. So the search for the meanest man still con- tlues. Skin-Deep Beauty. "N pear," says Br'er Bennett, of Irrl- gon, "why -not strive , for a skinless peach?" No use so long a9 peach skins are sold at drugstores. ' y Calendar Politics. 44OWEVER," saye the Union Ro ll publican, "the calendar method (Mulkey's Senatorial campaign) seems more appropriate than fence advertising." Yes; the calendar, while not so appro pralte as newspaer advertising at so much per, still is printed In the newspaper job office. By the way, has Senator Fulton or Mr. Cake tried the postcard method? Sirs. Waymlre's Own Fault. BEFORE closing the Mrs. Waymire in incident, let us quote fromThe Dalles Optimist: ' Some people are mean enough to laugh when they read the story about that Way mire woman bamboozling his honor, for th-.y know that It waa a shame for a hardened damsel like that to try to take advantage of a green and unsophisticated chap like the Mayor. Really, now, it doesn't look altogether that way. Else why has His Honor come out first best? Mrs. Waymire should have known better than to tackle His Honor. Curing Crematory Clamor. PORTLAND residents need a new garbage burner very much. Everybody needs It not near his own property, but another's. ae citizens who are clamoring for a new burner should be threatened with one in their neighborhood. They would then not think it so necessary. Many neighbor hoods have been threatened but evi dently not all. A Hero Married. ONE BUT the brave deserves the fair," sang Dryden in Alexan "N der's Feast. Far away in Curry County, at Wedderburn, the song fits particularly well the feat of a man named Field. The Radium says of him: "Struck by a steel cable. West Duley and Engineer Field were thrown 20 feet into Smith River. In spite of his plight. Field married on Sunday night, bo he must be all right, in fact feel out of sight. In his pluck we all delight, and to the maid .we say. you're right to accept the plucky man of might, who 'gainst the fates did nobly fight." A poet always arises for . every great occasion. Oregon's Girl?, Apples, Snowpeaks. -OREGON is a particular state of mind that poes snowpeaks whitest, apples reddest and girls prettiest. Call It "sub jective mind," if you wish, but it is really the law of superiority. In Lakevlew the following failure of the subjective mind is recorded: Jimmy Judge was seen staggering under the weight of two large sacks of mall mat ter. The suggestion was made that he con centrate his thoughts and give his subjective mind a chance,- but evidently he did not have the proper dope. ' and the law of gravita tion continued to do Its work "at the old stand." The law of superiority, like that of grav itation, "does business at the old stand." So' does the law of profanity, when one barks his bare shins on a hard chair on a dark night. It Is the mind that maketh good or ill. That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor. Fairy Queen. All except Oregon peaks, apples and girls. They are the best of all, without the subjective mind. . It's the peaks, the apples, the girls. Chickens at Cottage Grove. A SUCCESSFUL chicken pie social took place, a few days ago in Cot tage Grove. That town would be a poor place now for a gathering of Methodist pastors or for colored folk to dwell in. Prunes, for Warships. COMMENTING on the large order of prunes that Uncle Sam has made for the Pacific-bound fleet, the Garfield (Wash.) Enterprise says: "The fleet is now prepared to repel boarders." Not if the prunes come from Ore gon or Washington. They would at tract boarders; they always do. The despised boarding-house prune does not grow in thb Pacific Northwest- As for the enemy's boarding the American ships, that is wholly impossible and not to be considered. The pfunwns, to be sure, would attract the enemy," but other things would repel him. We hope the Enterprise hereafter wlll keep within the borders of truth regarding prunes. Marksmanship In Ilillsboro. MR. JEFFRIES, a Hlllsboro bar ber, took two shots, without ef fect, at a pheasant. Then R. L Sears, a machinist, brought down the bird with the same rifle. "The incident created quite a ripple of excitement," says Brother Long in the Argus, "and .will probably form the basis of copious commentary In the annex to the edi torial columns of The Sunday Ore gonian, in its next issue, in which the 'bright young man' grows witty at the expense of ua poor chroniclers of country events." Over in the next county of Yamhill, L. Wambsgans is on the warpath after somebody who shot two of his cattle. He publishes the following notice: "I will give $50 for information lead ing to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who are guilty of having shot two of my cattle In my pasture." Either Mr. Jeffries is in the city sport class or is like our barber who misses his aim at our whiskers when his conversation is interrupted. Brother Lucius, you ought not to "bawl out" a fellow townsman like that. Aunt Polly's Philosophy. IF YOU think the world grows old with you, remember the mistletoe is here again. Mount Hood is Just as white as before men did black deeds, and Bull Run is just as pure. Only man is- vile. Kind deeds are soon forgotten. So is f!r weather when Winter brings the rain. - " It is a wise man that knows his own garbage a nuisance. What is saved In the gas meter costs many times more in the hat store. Teachers' pay would not be so low, if every marriageable man did his duty. This Man Was "Smart." THERE is a mean man in Portland who says that after he heard the J. N. Teal blew up with gas he was surprised to learn it was only a steamboat bearing that name. It seems that there is no limit to some men's meanness. Be Careful, Grand Ronde. GRAND ROXDE boasts of a seedless and coreless pear, better than Hood River's Tut, tut! The Millard Lowns dales up In Grand Ronde, should look sharp. Poverty-stricken Taxpayers. LAST week was poverty season in Wall street and in Oregon, but for different reasons. In Oregon the County Boards of Equalization were In session, and taxpayers thought themselves poor. Indeed. If we could buy their property for what they -think It should be as sessed and sell it for what they think It ought to bring, there would be a new wealth class in the population. Cupid's Aptest Pupils. LINN COUNTY'S Clerk has authorized to wed R. B. Wiley, 40 years, and Clara Wilson. 42 years, both of Lebanon, and both having had mates before. Cupid's aptest pupils are those who have been through his school and learned his ways. It's a pity that young folks have to get married in order to learn how to marry. Here's hoping good luck for Mr. and Mrs. Wiley. Political Ingratitude. cksonville the Janitor I Courthouse, Ephralm Wilson, won the Job'by putting In the lowest bid $40 a month. Must be a queer County Court down there that falls to reserve such Jobs for needy politlcial friends. Ingratitude is one of the curses of the day. Multnomah's County Court, how ever, does not stoop to It. Few Cooks, Many Wives. "S CARCITY of cooks," remarks an Oregon City sage, "is a very con venient excuse for many a husband, who works his wife in the kitchen. Cigars and clubs and clothes are abundant." Tut, tut. Has the sage lived in the shadow of the divorce courthouse and not observed the abundance of females for wives? That's why wives are more plenti ful than cooks.