THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND, JANUARY 5, 1908. first a 3 O Br JOSEPH SCHAFER. ji RESIDENCE of a few weeks in the metropolis of Europe does not 'entitle one' to write au thoritatively about social and industrial tendencies, a subject which in these days It seems the ambition of every traveler to elucidate. Months or years would be required to equip the mind for such an undertaking- On the other hand, there are some points of minor Importance, in the way of contrasts between what one sees here and what one is accustomed to seeing: at home, which can probably be best presented by one who Is not yet "acclimated," before time and habitual contact shall have dulled the perception of differ ence. In the purely physical sense, London impresses the American visitor as a very big: TOWN, the word town serving to distinguish s It from New York, which, with its "sky-scrapers" and the things they imply fulfills his Idea of a CITY. London has for ages built solid ly and well, but on the horizontal, rather than the perpendicular plan. Despite the comparative smallness of the country whose capital she Is, Lon don never seems to have been limited territorially. Whenever more building space was needed, she simply en croached further and further upon the adjacent shires, with her streets, roads, lanes and squares, setting aside the while generous tracts for parks end pleasure grounds. New York, on the contrary, on, account of her strait ened limits, built up into the air above her little island even higher and higher, till today the observer almost tands aghast In the presence of a Finger building several times the height of a Bunker Hill Monument. Speaking roundly, there are no tall buildings in the British Isles, though London presents to the eye many graceful Bpires, with domes and tur rets, to enhance the beauty of the ky-llne from whatever point of vision. If we spoke a moment since of Lon lon as a big TOWN, we must now transpose tho caps and speak of her as a very BIG town. It is easy to speak of her seven or eight millions of people, but statistics fall to bring home to the unitiated the stupendous fact lying be hind the figures. The city is so big that when the visitor once finds him self well inside, and he commonly en ters by a subway, so that the phenom enon breaks upon him all at once, he almost consciously loses the expecta tion of ever getting out. London be comes his world; Its quarters, its streets, squares and parks are the countries and provinces of which the world is made up. And whatever the mere sojourner's view may be, the true Londoner loves the regional di visions of his city with an almost pa triotic fervor. Even the rgged, hag gard street Arab In the East End ex hibits something akin to enthusiasm as he shouts tho refrahi of his municipal one is tempted to say his National air: Take me back to Ixndon Town, l.oinlon Town, London Town, That's where I Ions to be. With tlio friends so dear to me. Trafalgar Square, Oh! ain't U grand, Oxford street, tho dear old trand, Ieicealer Square, I don't care, anywhere, I,ondon Town, take me ther. Another fact which experience alone can adequately impress upon the man brought up in the New World is the vastness of the accumulations of the world's artistic, literary and scientific treasures to be found here. While London shares the above characteristic with other European cities, her "big ness," even in this respect, is note worthy. It is a common remark here that very few Londoners know Lon don's treasures with anything ap proaching to thoroughness, and he whose stay is limited to a few months need not hope to know them. Yet, if he be wise, he will diligently employ his spam time in studying at least a few of the museums, galleries and li braries; for, however strong his con viction that Chicago and other Ameri can cities are "making culture hum" these days, he cannot but recognize that here Is one domain in which there Is more to be seen every day In London for a few pence spent in omnibus fares than he could find within the wide borders of our own beloved land, so In finitely superior to Europe In oppor tunities of a different description. There Is In all America no museum of the Industrial and fine arts like that at South Kensington, no library like that in the British Museum, with Its more than 2.000,000 printed books, its thou sands of manuscripts, and its ex haustive collections of relies illustrat ing the world's cultured history. Nor is there in the Western continents a Palace of Westminster to house a law making body, or a Hall of Faroe like the historic Abbey hard by. .Hut why continue tho list? Every in telligent reader can expound it indefinitely for himself. Once in a way the pat riotic citizen of the Great Republic linds Ms own country wanting, and he either confesses as much, like a sensible man, or mutually balances the account by throwing Into the opposite scale a few of the great things he can momentarily call up to prove America "ahead of the world." Some, we suspect, salve their consciences or save their pride by de preciating what they see, after the manner of the New Yorker in the Nile Valley who. unable to adduce any new world parallel for tho pyramids, con tented himself with the remark, "but, yon know, there's no demand for pyra mids. " So much by way of general reflections. Now for a few of those minor contrasts the observance of which constitutes the main excuse for this long letter. 1 shall speak first of the thing that conies llrst In the traveler's experience, the peculiarity of the methods of hand ling baggage here universally called lug Rage. The English railroads have at last adopted something like the American system of issuing baggage claim checks to holders of tickets, wnich is a great step forward. Indeed, if you know what your address will be In London, the rail way company will, for 6 pence, forward your trunk from Iverpool to that ad dress, exceeding In this respect both the convenience and the economy of the American system. But if you must leave your goods at a temporary address till a permanent one can be found, aa we did, your troubles and vexations are various. In the flrst place, you will doubtless have to employ a cabman to take them to your destination. Now the London cabman is the one feature In the otherwise admirable transportation sys tem of the city which needs "reconstruc tion," or at least more' perfect regula tion. The cabman always charges "what the traflic will bear." and he has no more compunction about "discrimina tions," "rebates," violations of "the long and short haul clause," and other beset ting sins of the profession than some o( his more renowned American contem poraries. He always expects a customer to bargain with him. and whoever pays a cabman his first price for 'a service will usually pay at least double what the service is worth. The fair rate will be stated only when you show that you impressions Worlds BiffiestToiini. London as Seen of History, University of know what would be fair, and convince him that you will not give more. This haggling with cabmen Is one of the un pleasant things about moving one's ef fects in London. The other is the absurd custom pre vailing all over England of having a sep arate porter for every detail In the handl ing of such goods. Let it be understood at once that cabmen and omnibus. drivers are not, like the American draymen, prepared both to transport your goods on wheels and to roll them by band into a basement or carry them up two flights of stairs to a garret. By no means; they are a kind of "gentlemen of the ribbons," who would not soil the palm or strain the biceps in such plebeian toil. All that is left for the distinct class of "porters." At Liverpool, for example, one porter will take your trunks from the Custom House and place them on the omnibus: when you reach the depot another will take them from the omnibus and range them on the pavement. Still another wheels them into the luggage room, where they are checked. A fourth is at hand to carry your valises into the waiting-room, while a fifth will assist you to the hotel, where a sixth and last porter carries them to your room! Being an American, and this being your flrst day ashore, you find you have tipped these numerous porters with shillings instead of 3-pence pieces, and so have depleted your purse very appreciably. The Liver pool porters are more rapacious than those in London, doubtless because they have the flrst chance at the Juicy Amer ican prey. But to return to the London experience: You have bargained with your cabman to carry your luggage and you from one address to another, say five miles away. He drives up to your door, fol lowed by two or three porters. One of these will bring your effects downstairs, another will at least help to put them In and on the vehicle, and both expect a gratuity. As the cabman drives you toward the new place of residence you become dimly conscious of' several large boys running behind or alongside. You suppose them to be budding athletes, training for the cross-country run. What Is your surprise, on getting out or the cab, to find these boys at your door, ready to play the porter in taking your goods off the cab and carrying them up stairs. Boys in London will run five miles for the chance of unloading a trunk, and they, always plead the length of the run to justify their expectation of a liberal reward. You divide a shilling between them ind Inwardly rejoice that in America It is not an infallible mark of "commonness" for a gentleman to hand his own suit cases on and off a cab, or even to lend a hand In getting his trunk up the front steps. Apropos of the custom of tipping, we have found it in other respects neither so universal nor so irksome aa we anti cipated On the omnibus lines it seems to be disappearing, due no doubt to the competition with the well-regulated sys tem of underground railways which now serves nearly all sections of London un der the name of "the tube." There Is no chance for tips in the tube; and, as this Is the swiftest and In many ways the most desirable mode of conveyance, the man who takes a bus really feels that he is conferring a favor and is little cls posed to pay extra for doing so. It is still customary for the passenger who sits in the place of honor, beside or just e hind the gentleman with the tall hat who handles the reins, to give something to that functionary. But he does, it be cause he uses the driver as a source of information about places of Interest passed on the way a kind of living, speaking Baeddeker a proceeding not without dangers of 'its own from the view point of accuracy. The ordinary pas senger simply pays his fare, in most Dedication of Benington Monument 5fe".:';.';s-Sss:;i as?: : .s;-s;s? :S : :? ; M$ jtws :;??:i? is?: ':mmmmiisy-aws ;:M i 0 OCCTOd' qq4 ON January 7, 1908, officers, sailors and soldiers to the number of several thousand, representing the Army and Navy of the United States, will dedicate a beautiful granite monu ment to the memory of 57 of their com rades who were killed by the explosion of the gunboat Bennington's boilers in the harbor of San Diego, Cal., July 21, 1905. The exercises will be held under the personal direction of Rear-Admiral Goodrich. This monument, a picture of which is shown herewith, is 64 feet high and was erected by popular subscription on the plat of ground set aside as the last resting place of the Bennington boys. It stands upon the summit of Point Loma, directly above Fort - Rosecrans, and overlooks the Bay of San Diego, the ocean, parts of Mexico and the by Joseph Schaf er, Professor cases exactly as much as. -he would have to pay to ride underground, through the tube, the same distance. In most of the restaurants and hotels the tipping 'system still exists in full vigor,, but on all the principal . streets there are dining places in which either the employes are forbidden . to accept gratuities, or the business is so managed by "paying at the counter" as to preclude them. Many of the shaving parlors, too, are operated on the cashier plan, in con sequence of which the old-time gratuity disappears. On is, on the whole. Inclined to believe that tho conscience of London is awake to the evils of tipping and that the cus tom is slowly but surely declining. This should be an encouragement to those American states that have already pro hibited the practice by law, to stand by their determination to root It out, and It ought to stimulate other states to take a similar attitude. It Is probable that the attitude of royalty and of the state and city governments have contributed power fully, together with economic considera tions, to bring the system into disrepute here, for in all of the institutions under public control gratuities are strictly for bidden. The visitor to Hampton Court Palace, Windsor or St. James, to the Par liament buildings, the public museums and galleries could not Tee an employe if he desired to do so. It is a striking evidence of the magni tude of London's transportation business that you can ride four miles, in or on, a bus drawn -by sleek, mettlesome horses, driven by a man who has passed a kind of civil service examination to secure his post, all for two pence (4 cents). Not withstanding the enormous totals of the daily underground travel, the principal streets are literally crowded with great, two-story omnibuses, together with motor buses and a multiplicity of private con veyances. Many streets also- have "teams," trolleycars, which are likewise two stories high that, is, they have seats on top as well as inside, as do the omni buses. The new-comer to London, especially If he be a person of limited means, will be profoundly interested in all that af fects the cost of living, and a few days' experience will supply him with a large number of facts bearing on that point. He must have a flat to live In, so he canvasses this question at once and finds that rents vary greatly with the locality; but on the whole, they are lower than in the leading American cities, especially when the service of the caretaker, which one always ob tains with the rooms, is figured into the account. Many Items in the cost of maintaining a table, such as meats (except fish), vegetables and fruits, eggs, milk, cheese and butter, are somewhat above what they would be In most American cities, while bread, pastry and ordinary groceries will not vary much from American prices. Cloth ing, and British manufactures of all sorts, are much cheaper. An American who needs to stock up on wearing ap parel could almost afford a trip to London for shopping purposes. Cost of all service is much less than in America. One pound ten shillings per month is good pay for a maid ser vant in a household. Most of my read ers know that It would not be consid ered good pay at home. They also know that for several years past 16 cents has been the usual charge for shaving ex cept in Heppner, Butte and a few other Far Western towns where the charge is 25, and there are isolated cases in the other direction showing the survival of the earlier ten-cent rate. In London three pence (six cents) is the maxi mum general rate so fas as I have ob served. There are plenty of two pence shops, and a goodly sprinkling of "one and a half pence shops,. Yes, more; at mountainous regions of Southern Cali fornia. The unveiling of this tribute is looked forward to as an important and solemn occasion. A holiday will be proclaimed in the City of San Diego and excursion trains will be run from all the surrounding towns. While the complete programme has not yet been decided upon, that no less than 7000 officers and men will partici pate Is certain. By that time the "path-finder fleets" consisting of the Washington and. the Tennessee, will have joined the cruisers Charleston, Chicago, Milwaukee and St Louis and the torpedo boats Paul Jones and Pre ble, now at San Diego, and in audition to the officers and men of these ves sels there will be present hundreds of Uncle Sam's soldiers and artillery, all in full uniform. Oregon a meeting of English barbers held only the other day, under the chairmanship of a Member of Parliament, to protest against the competition of foreigners in their business, it was asserted that many of these "foreign" shops shaved for a penny. Probably two pence is the most usual rate. A hair-cut costs three pence or four pence, and for the equivalent of about 15 cents, the cost of a shave at home, one can command the entire round of services within the competence of the tonsorial artist. Shoe-shining, which is not done In shaving parlors but by men and boys with movable kits, who perambulate the streets, cos'ts two pence. Laundry bills are at least one-third less than with us. . On the whole, therefore, a Winter in London need not cost more and might well cost less than a Winter in Min neapolis, St. Louis, New York or Bos ton. For a family, whose tastes as re gards food are simple, the difference In favor of London would be apprecia ble. It remalnB to say a word about the London people. On this point I speak as a spectator, one who moves about and observes them in their ordinary doings, particularly in public places. The' Impressions of difference be tween Englishmen and Americans are striking, if jiot numerous. In general, one would Bay that the Briton takes himself more seriously than does his cousin across the sea, a characteristic which need not be Imputed to him as a fault. He takes much greater pains to maintain what he deems a proper dignity. He walks more stiffly, speaks more circumspectly and more formally he lacks the American's dictionary of slang and dresses more carefully. Whereas with us the business suit is the favorite attire of all gentlemen for six days in the week at least. In Lortdon the Prince Albert coat and the tall silk hat are in evidence every where every 'day. - English formalism shows itself in a variety of ways: In the almost de fiant reserve maintained by men under circumstances tnat would seem to call for some unbending one may sit for 15 minutes in a crowded car without observing the slightest premonition of conversation; in the very general re quirement of letters of introduction, which must be produced in many cases as a preliminary to one's, reception as a lodger in a public lodging-house, and even as a condition of being permitted to deposit money in a London bank. Formalism appears, as already sug gested, in the ordinary speech of the Englishman; but it is more noticed in all printed utterances which refer to royalty, nobility or even to the official- class. . Some of the accounts of Smiling "Round theWorld No. XI. Mystery of the Law In China. (Copyright, 1907, by Joseph B. Bowles.) SHANGHAI has 12 precinct police sta tions and one, court, known as the "Mixed Court," because some repre sentative of the several consulates sits each day with the Chinese magistrate. Visitors are welcome at this court, as they are at the police stations. When I visited one of the latter, a curious cere mony was taking place. The courtyard was filled with rickshawsv-there looked to be hundreds of them, all clean and shining. It was the monthly inspection required by the police and the. rickshaws were being tested by pretty rough usage from a .hammer and the well-developed muscles of a big Irish sergeant, while the coolies rickshaw men looked anxiously on. If the rickshaws stand this very thorough examination they are consid ered safe to go another month. The mixed court opens at 10 o'clock in the morning, and the day I visited it, the American Commissioner. Dr. Barchet, the Vice Consul, was sitting with the Chinese magistrate, a mandarin of 'high rank. . I was introduced to the magistrate by Dr. Barchet, and found him very gracious, and possessing a fair supply of English. He was dressed in full mandarin dress, brown satin coat, beautifully embroid ered, and a black 'velvet hat turned up .about the edge, and decorated with the button, the horse-tall and the peacock's feathers that indicate a mandarin's rank. We went into the courtroom, everyone quickly took their places and the hear ings began. All prisoners when brought before the magistrate must kneel during the entire proceeding. Though all tho prisoners were Chinese, and the cases were conducted in that lan guage, I could follow most of them, as the English sergeants preferred their charges to Dr. Barchet, who is a pro ficient Chinese scholar, and he In turn translated them to the magistrate. The charges were mostly petty ones, the. sentences being light a fine, or dis missal with a reprimand. Nature has given the police a great ad vantage over prisoners In China, for the cue is a handy and safe mode of com pelling them to obey. It is rather dis tressing to a foreigner to see the way in which the cues are used to pull the men about with. When a policeman brings a man before the court he drives him by his cue, and when he takes him away, he pulls him by it, or if there are several prisoners, he knots their cues together and pulls them along in a bunch. With such persuasion, a prisoner is not apt to hesitate long. For thieving, prisoners are sentenced to a certain number of strokes with the bamboo, or the cangue for so many hours a day sometimes both together. The cangue Is a large square board that fits about their necks, and besides being very heavy and uncomfortable, is con sidered a great disgrace, for it has the prisoner's name and crime pasted on it. In order to make the punishment more se vere, the prisoner is often condemned to be taken to the place where the crime was committed, and made to stand near the store or 'house where the nature of his crime, as well as his name are plainly to be read by every passerby. This Is a terrible punishment for them, for the Chi nese are very sensitive about being pub licly shamed, "losing face," they call It In tho afternoon I went back to iae mixed court and saw some men bam booed. It was done in a different place from where the trials take place, being at one side of an open court, where a desk was placed, behind which the as sistant magistrate sat The prisoners axe brought out and stand at one side, waiting their turn. The magistrate calls a name. Wan Hua, for instance, and a prisoner steps out. The magistrate gabbles off a Chinese jumble of words that mean, "You, Wan Hua, are convicted of stealing a coat and three quilts from Mrs. Ho Soy, and are sen tenced to 200 strokes with the bamboo." Then he proceeds with his reading and writing and pays no more attention. The prisoner throws himself on a piece of matting laid on the top step leading to the magistrate's desk, his trousers are pushed, down, exposing his thighs, and two'iren in ridiculous red sugar-loaf hats trimmed with blue. I set themselves on the prisoner's feet the Kaiser's recent visit; which ap peared in the London papers would be highly amusing to an American news paper's constituency, despite the fact that the writer never intended to .be humorous. A cabinet member is always "Right Honorable," however awkward in the literary sense the absurd title may appear. When- Mr. Lloyd-George met with an injury, the other day, In motoring from Manchester to London, an opposition paper explained that: "The Rt Hon. gentleman's head struck the guard, and the glass cut Jlis left eye." Facts such as these tend to confirm the somewhat widespread suspicion that the Englishman Is deficient in the sense of humor; and yet, I am convinced that Americans are prone to exaggerate this deficiency. The American's National pro pensity to Jollity probably leads him to overrate his own gifts in this line, while In his eyes the Briton's studied reserve is an evidence of the opposite mental quality. If keen wit is a proof of the possession of the sense of humor, . the Englishman has It In measure hardly, if at all, lower than the American. Let the person who doubts this take the pains to read the current political speeches re ported in the . newspapers and be con vinced! Whatever the American may think of the Londoner's-wit, there can be no two opinions as to his courtesy. ' The London tradesman's "Thank you" is really a greatly overworked phrase. It is used when ' you give your order, when the goods are delivered to you and again when you pay for them. It be comes so far an unconscious reaction that when the tables are turned and you ask a favor of him, as to give you small change for 'a gold coin, he still, by force of habit: thanks yo,u instead of awaiting that courtesy from you. Indeed, courtesy is here a universal trait. The London police are noted for their civility as well as for their manly bearing and their natty uniforms. All classes, high and low, rich' and poor, show themselves prompt to help the stranger find his way about or to answer any proper question. One need never hes itate here, as one might in several lead ing American cities, to accost a gentle man on the street corner to inquire for a certain address. . A civil question will usually bring a civil reply; many will go to considerable trouble to put you on the right track. In a somewhat extended ex perience as a "stranger" in. a number of Middle Western and Eastern cities, the writer has found but one parallel to this particular trait of the Londoners, namely, in Boston. Not being a New Englander, he is the freer to say that for inbred kindliness of demeanor Americans are safe in matching the Bostonian against the world. and shoulders, the latter one clutching his cue. Two men with little flat bamboo rods about a yard long squat each Tell Just What He lvGoing to Do- side when one begins and delivers about 25 lashes then rests, and the other takes It up, counting aloud as they beat. The prisoner howls and cries and begs, tears streaming from his eyes, for although it docs not break the skin, it is extremely painful. The men sitting on the prisoner Joke and laugh, the officers standing about carry on animated conversation, and as this all takes place in a courtyard, open to the street, children run' in and out playing and laughing, mothers with babies in their arms look stolidly on, the babies blinking solemnly, while PEOPLE SIT BY THE RAILING - A SORT a little crowd of curious men stand about the entrance. . - . The mixed court, beine; jointly under the Jurisdiction of foreigners, is neces sarily more merciful and lenient than an unmixed Chinese court In the native city. Inside the walls and away from outside Influences, the most brutal cruelties, for which Chi neso justice has long been famous, or rather infamous, prevail. Beside the cangue, a man . has to carry a heavy chain about his neck as well, and prisoners before the court ffre obliged to kneel on chains. A gentleman told me of witnessing a courtroom scene in the interior of China where a man who refused to confess was struck on the ankle bone with a xnalict until he fainted from the hideous pain the bone being cbushed to a Jelly. Any one who has had an argument with a rockingchalr in the dark, and received even a slight blow on the ankle bone, can' appreciate what a fiendish imagination must have prompted such a torture. During this scene, a little Chinese girl in the court room, laughing and prattling, wit nessed it unmoved. She was the daughter of the jailer and presumably hardened to such things. Pirates are frequently brought In from the interior, chained together by rings fastened through each man's col larbone, and sometimes prisoners who are being carried from one place to another are hamstrung, to prevent any possibility of their escaping. The' most dreadful of all executions in China is thcling chee, or hundred cuts, where the condemned man is given 99 cuts on different parts of the body, contrived with such devilish cun ning that death does not come until the last cut, reaching the heart puts them out of their agony. This execution is only administered for three crimes: attempted assassina tion of the emperor or empress, the killing of father or mother or the kill ing of a husband by a wife. The kill ing of a wife by a husband is not so serious a matter. Another method of execution pecu liar to the Chinese is to put a man in a wicker cage that Is fitted closely about his neck, his nead appearing through a hole in the top. He stands on several bricks, and each day a brick He Prances In Curvetting Handsomely. is taken from under his feet letting his weight be more and more suspend ed from his neck. He is given nothing to eat or drink, so besides perishing from hunger and thirst he is slowly choked to death. No man can endure thi3 dreadful combination longer than three or four days at the otuside. In China a man must sign his own death warrant by inking his thumb nnd making the impression of it on the paper. Chinese law, when once it has a man in its clutches, is loath to give him up whether he is Innocent or guilty. So it he does not sign the warrant willingly he is tortured until he does it in sheer desperation. Political prisoners, . who are sen tenced to banishment, seldom reach the plac5 of their destination, for after a sentence there is almost always an ac cident, either by the chair in which he is carried being tipped while on a bridge by one of the coolies stumbling and thrown into the river, where there Is no hope of escape from the clumsy, tightly-closed affair, or else the ban ished one is mysteriously attacked by highwaymen and murdered. All executions of any sort are free for anyone, man, woman or child, to witness. And the effect of that universal and deadly system of bribery is only too ap parent a system that saps the strength and ability of China to become a great country, for from one end of the king dom to the other there is no disinterested desire for 'advancement; only a case of the big fish eating up the little ones and no man so . great that he cannot b bought. If a prisoner condemned to be beheaded will pay the executioner a fat bribe he may expect to be sent out of existence with neatness and dispatch after being heavily drugged with opium. But if he refuses, he must suffer a clumsy execu tion that will be attended by torture and pain before the end finally comes. Even In the simple and less painful bamboolng, a bribe will induce the whlpper to hold the bamboo stiff, causing much less pain than if allowed to bend and spring. The captain of a British- barque lying off Canton described the execution of 29 pirates who had attacked a tug manned by coolies and slaughtered the greater part of them. As all executions are free to the public there was a general request by the crew of the barque for a holiday, and permission being granted by the cap tain, there was a. general exodus to the shore. It appeared that only those of the criminals who could not purchase ran som were executed. Those who had t50, or friends that could supply that sum, were liberated on payment of the same to the mandarin of the district. The luckless 29 had apparently neither friends nor money. So they were marshaled out of prison under a . strong' guard of soldiers; and. like the prisoners In our WHICH IS BROADENED OUT INTO OF TABLE. Sing Sing who are allowed for their last meal the best that the prison cuisine affords, these malefactors were furnished any mode of conveyonce at the disposal of the authorities to convey them to the place of execution. Most of them elected to go in state in palanquins, or what is the same, bamboo baskets borne between two soldiers, while a few walked. The condemned were marshaled in line, and required to kneel on "all fours" be fore the mandarin and . his suite. All knew the procedure, ana there was no confusion. The headsman, armed with a keen, broad-bladed sword, stepped out If this gentleman should fail to sever the head of ' his victim in three blows, his own would be forfeit But In this instance he did his work ith both cer tainty and celerity. Approaching the first in line, he gave a swift, swinging blow on the back of the neck and a de capitated head rolled onto the sward. The bodies weer gathered up and buried in a common grave. This dreadful system of bribery . and "squeeiing" is the canker at the heart of China. Everyone expects it from everyone else: even the children are not to be trusted. A Chinese woman sends her child to a chow shop, and weighs the food when it is brought home to see that her own child Is not "squeezing" her. In making change, the smallest boy. as salesman, will keep back two. or three "cash." Should you . say: "How fash ion you steal my cash? You b'long allee same as t'ief," he will indignantly an swer: "My no b'long t'ief; my ketchle you watch, then b'long t'ief, but my just make little squeeze." No one is ashamed of It, or accounts it dishonest. It would seem as If all the horrible punishments so publicly administered would effectually prevent even the most reckless and hardened from committing crime, but it doesn't seem to. do so. and the courts go on flourishing on the bribes extorted and the money paid by Innocent people to keep out of court, for It is openly averred that a Chinese court of Justice, among other delinquencies, is not even above blackmail. It is not surprising that among the people are such sayings as "Tigers and snakes are kinder than judges o'r run ners." or "In life, beware of courts; in death, beware of hell!" Repress Your Desire for Strong Drink Advice to Oregon Voters m Bow Best to Minimise the Evils of the Traffic In Liquor. BY WILLIAM H. FEHSB. PROHIBITION, what does It mean? As Is generally understood, it means to prohibit the manufacture and sale of all spirituous and malt liquors as a beveragfe not the drinking thereof as that Is a personal privilege, prohibition or no prohibition. I wish here to make a plain statement: The United States Constitution plainly sets forth that it fosters and protects all manufactures. You may in all honesty and sincerity vote for prohibition but to stop the production of liquor, the Con stitution will have to be amended by striking out the word "all" and put in an exception. Does prohibition prohibit? I am bold enough to say emphatically, no. I need not refer to the state of Maine, but take my own native state, dear old Iowa. Prior to 18S4 we had 18cal option. The river counties of course were wet and wide open, the wet districts waxing rich on the desires and thirst of the dry. Then came the greatest struggle of all, personal liberty or a state prohibiting amendment. The Prohis carried by 37, 000 majority. The Republican party up held the amendment, the Democrats vot ing for It as an experiment. What was the result? Under local option we had in my little home town and place of busi ness a German club, whereby we could get good lager beer shipped to us in bulk. A good number of our members were re ligiously inclined who would attend divine service Sunday morning but in the after noon most of them would, with their wives and families, come to the club, enjoying social and neighborly intercourse with music; eating and drinking: wine, beer, soda pop or lemonade; dancing, cards and other games. Now comes the state prohibitory amendment making it a misdemeanor for a common carrier to haul or handle spirituous or malt liquor. This of course put an. end to the Gc-inan Social Club. What followed? The river counties con tinued wet, public sentiment being against all sumptuary laws, but to us In the in terior where religious zeal and, I must say, in some localities rank fanaticism prevailed. They say our boys are saxe. The old topers will have to go on the water-wagon. Yes; the boys were safe, the German Social Club was superceded by a young men's club, oathbound pass word and private passkey. On Saturday night they would have come by express a box of bananas. The open saloon was a thing of the past, but in my home town, before local option, there had been six well-conducted saloons compelled by city ordi nance to close at 10 P. M., and remain closed until 6 A. M. Then we had three or four drug stores; now they main tain and support 11 drug stores. The proprietors of some have built for themselves palatial residences and, I am told, hold first mortgages on fine farms. The prohibition cry was, "Wipe out the saloon." Then our most be loved country would be safe Safe from what? Foreign invasion?. .1 guess not Safe against a man or woman patroniz ing a blind pig or a drug store? What do our most ardent supporters of prohibition put in place of the sa loon? Absolutely nothing. The open saloon is the poor man's club; it is a free Information bureau; it is a place for a thirsty man to get a drink of cold water just for the asking; it Is a place where a stranger is always welcome, a place where he can leave his hand bag gage and feel that it will be kept safe; a place where the clerk, generally speak ing, is an encyclopedia of facts concern ing the city or town. Ask him a civil question and 99 times out of 100 you will get a civil answer. Should you have a call of nature, where else could a stranger go? And right here let me ask who Itnows of a law -making the drinking of liquor or becoming intoxicated a crime? A per son may become intoxicated with joy and delight. Take for instance our old-fashioned revival meeting or an old-time camp meeting. To get drunk with liquor is beastly, but not a crime in itself. If arrested by a guardian of the peace, the charge in each and every Instanec Is drunk and disorderly. I need not here mention in comparison the case of the Holy Rollers in Tacoma which has re cently come to public notice through the public press. Cities and communities have for hundreds of ycarshad to contend with the strong drink question, as well as that of the social evil. They have found that regulation does regulate only to a certain degree. Suppression does nofr suppress, and latterly prohibition does not prohibit The voters of the grand old State of Oregon are confronted by these same old problems. Again suppression does not suppress, regulation does not regulate and prohibition does not prohibit. What then is the solution? Let me tell you, the word is "repression." Take down your unabridged and see if I am right or wrong. Take the words of Milton: "Your desire for wine and all delicious drinks which many a famous Warrior overturns thou couldst repress." Don't this bring back the question to the Indi vidual him or herself? Repress your de sires and don't depend upon legislation to curb your abnormal desires and ap petites. For the sake of argument if .the liquor business is wrong, a higher and unrea sonable license doesn't make it right The one great trouble is the drinker and patron of saloons. Members of high toned clubs have ostracised the bar keeper, but have forgottten the beams in .their own eyes. Is the mixer any worse than his customer? Being thus os tracised, he says to himself: "I've got the name, so here goes the game." Where can you find a more liberal and generous class than the average barkeeper? Let a civic question arise, some public im provement involving the greatest good for the greatest number, he is one of the first to contribute. Vote Oregon dry and thereby enrich California and Washington. Force our young men into private drinking clubs. Increase the quack doctor business by writing prescriptions, etc. Vote Oregon dry and foster the blind pig and bootleg dispenser. The only way to regulate the saloon business Is for the drinker to reg ulate himself first Repress your desires. Don't vote for a sumptuary laws to regu late your own personal desires or appetite.