The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, March 08, 1908, SECTION THREE, Image 30

The Sunday Oregonian., March 08, 1908, SECTION THREE, Page 6, Image 30

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Newspaper Page TextTHE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, MARCH 8, 1908. c j (Dreirmnan SUBSCRIPTION BATES. INVARIABLY IM ADVANCE. (By MalM Sally, Sunday Included, on year I 00 Xtatly, Sunday Included, alx month.... J Xaljy. Sunday included, three xnontha. . 3.-G Xjally. Sunday Included, one month.. -T iJvlly. without Sunday, on year....... J' tally, without Sunday, tlx month Dally without Sunday, three month., 1-75 Illy. without Sunday, on month..... -JJ Sunday, on year ;' Weekly, jone year (Issued Thurday... J Sunday and weekly, cm year -aJ BY CAKBlitt. Dally. 8unda Included, one year "V Ial:y. Sunday Included, on month ' HOW TO RfeMIT Send postofflc .money rder. express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamp, coin or currency r at the under' risk. Glv poatoOic ad dress la full. Including county and rtat. FObl'Ace RATLS. Entered at Portland. Oregon, PoMomc Second-Claa Matter. - 10 to 11 Page 1 nt 3 to 28 Pare 2 ent 80 to 44 Page cnt to to Page nl Foreign postage, double rate. IMPORTANT The postal law are triet. Newspapers on which postage 1 not fully prepaid ar not forwarded to destination. EASTtHN Blbl.VESS OFFICE. Th s. C. iveckwltn hpeclal Agency Jew Trk. room 4S-50 Tribune building. Chi cago, room S10-512 Tribune building. KEPT ON SALE. ' Chicago, Auditorium Annex: Postoffice New Co.. 178 Iarborn street: Empir News Stand. M. Paul, Minn. N. St. Marie. Commercial Station. Colorado Springs, Colo. Bell. H. H. Denver. Hamilton- and Kendrlrk. 'J06-912 Seventeenth street: Pratt Book Store. 121 Fifteenth treet; H. P. Hanaen. S. Rice. Ueorge Carson. Kansas City, Mo. Rlcksecker Cigar Co., Ninth end Walnut: Yoma New Co. Minneapolis M. J. Cavanaugh. 50 South Third. Cincinnati. O. Yoma Newa Co. Cleveland. O. James Puihaw. 30T Su jerlor Mreet. Washington. D. C. Ebbitt House. Penn sylvania avenue; Columbia Newa Co. Pittsburg. Pa. Fort Pitt Newa Co. Philadelphia. Pa. Ryan' Theater Ticket Office; Penn Newa Co.; Kemble. A. P., 37oj Lancaster avenu. New York City Hotallng' newatands. 1 Park Row. 38th and Broadway. 4-d and Broadway and Broadway and 29th. Tele phone 8374. El ngle coplea delivered; L. Jones A Co.. Astor house; Broadway The ater Newa titand; Empire News Stand. Oitden. U. L. Boyle; Lowe Broe.. Ill Twenty-tlfth street. Omaha. Barkaluw Bros.. Union Station; MageaUi Stationery Co.: Kemp & Arenaon. le Moines. law Mose Jacobs. 1 resno. Cal. TouriHt News Co. ' Kacrainento. Cal. Sacramento Newa Co.. 410 K street: Amos News Co. Sail Lake Moon Book A Stationery Co.; Rosenfeld A Hansen: Q. W. Jewett. P. O. corner: Htelpeck Broa. L-ng- Beach, Cal. B. E. Amos. Pasadena. Cal. Amoa News Co. Han lilrgo. B. E. Amoa. fan Joae. Emerson W. Houston, Tex. International News Agency. Dallatt. Tex. Southwestern News Agent, 844 Main street; also two atreet wagons. Ft. Worth, Tex. Southwestern N. and A. Agency. Amarllla. Tex. Tlmmon Pop. Han FrancUco. Forster A Orear: Ferry News Stand: Hotel St. Francis News Stand; L. Parent: N. Wheatley; Falrraount Hotel News Stand: Amoa Newa Co.; United News Agency. 14 "i Eddy atreet; B. E. Amos, man ager three wagons; Worlds N. S.t 2625 A. butter atreet. Oakland. Cat W. H. Johnson, Fourteenth and Franklin streets; N. Wheatley; Oakland News Stand; B. E. Amoa, manager flvo wagons: Wellingham. E. G. (...Idlicld. Nev. Louie Follln. - ' Knreka, Cal. Call-Chronicle Agency; Eu reka News Co. PORTLAND. SUNDAY, MARCH S, IMS. H'R DEPLORABLE CURRENCY SYSTEM. There Is a fundamental error in our monetary system. It is the parent of all other errors that beset the system. This error is the fiat notion of money. It had its birth in the credit notes of the Treasury, commonly called greenbacks. But these notes are not money. They are merely substi tutes for money, whose value depends on their redeemability in gold jor In tawir prospect of it. During the Civil War their value' fell to less than 40 cents on the dollar, because of the 'doubt whether the Government would over be able to redeem them. After the war, as prospect of redemption grew, they slowly advanced in value, and after several years they became redeemable In gold. Then, of course, nobody wanted gold. The notes were good enough. But this fiat notion of money lin gers. A multitude still remains, which insists that all currency required should be Issued directly by the Gov ernment. That Is to say, more and more treasury notes, or greenbacks. This, it is asserted, is cheap money, for it costs nobody anything; while bank currency is dear money. The banks must make .a profit. But the Government's flat money is dearest of all forms of currency. It requires gold to be banked up in enormous sums, for its protection. Again, this flat cur rency is permitted to be held as re serves by the banks. The system throws upon the Government the whole burden of maintaining the gold standard. The other day in the House of Representatives Mr. Boutell, of Il linois, congratulated the House and the country on the fact that the gpld held in the Treasury now exceeds one thousand millions of dollars; and there was exultation over the fact that it was the largest aggregate mass of gold in the, world. Yet it should not have been applauded. It is no matter for ex ultation or pride. On the contrary it is an impeachment of the intelligence that tolerates such a financial or mon etary system. The Government has so much paper outstanding that it is obliged to main tain this enormous' and wasteful re serve. Instead, it ought to have a sys tem which would throw upon the banks of the country the burden of maintaining, or of assisting to main tain, the necessary gold reserve. It can be done through change of the system and enaotmtfnt of the Fowler bill. The Treasury Is simply warehousing gold, against its own obligations. It is a stiff, rigid inflexible system. Currency is hoarded, on every pinch. because there is no force to make it move. But If the currency of the country, instead of being secured on "bonds bearing interest, and on gold hoarded in the Treasury, were baseM In lurge part, as It should be, on secu rities moving In the channels of com merce, on bank resources and bills of exchange representing commodities all the time In active movement in trade "and commerce, with legal gold reserve moreover in every bank for protection of the notes of issue, absolute security and ease of movement would be se cured, and business wouldn't "go off its base" as It does so frequently now, necessitating clearing-house certifi cates and closing banks against which suspicion would direct a Tun." Jst look at contrasts. With this enormous sum -of $1,000,000,000 in gold held by the Treasury, under our inelastic and immovable system, we are unable to keep circulation afoot. Kvery'now and then it congeals. freezes up. simply stops. But the Bank of Germany and the Bank of France make their gold support a paper cur rency twice in excess of the proportion of our own. The Bank of France makes 590 millions of gold support 910 millions of paper circulation, and k Bank of Germany makes 111 mil lions of gold carry 420 millions of paper. But under our system we are forced to warehouse gold equal in amount to all the paper in circulation; and then often the banks and the Treasury are forced to unite, on the one side by the issue . of clearing house certificates, on the other by loans from the Treasury to the banks, to keep the system from total col lapse. Commercial securities, always n movement, are the best basis for bank circulation. Fixed securities, as Government bonds or other bonds, are bad" Tor an emergency. They are scarcely better security than land. whfth notoriously is good for nothing for obtainment of money in any real stringency. The debtor is pushed to the wall before ho can get money. But it is strange how difficult it is to make any part of thlB subject under stood. Here is an Oregon paper say ing: "It is gratifying to read in The Oregonian something clear and un prejudiced on the money question. For years It has Indulged in a howl for the maintenance of the gold stand ard, and abused those who took excep tions to it. Now . we have a change from the absolute advocacy of the gold standard to that of a currency that would insure safety, expansion, freedom from panics, and one com mensurate with the demands for growth, development, industry, busi ness and progress." Here is miscon ception of all that The Oregonian .has said, and of all that every writer has said who has urged the substitution of a currency based on commercial as sets, all the time in active movement, for a currency based on fixed securi ties, which has its fits and spasms and paralytic strokes,, then lies in a condi tion of suspended animation a long time, till it slowly comes to life again. Maintenance of the gold standard JH, of course, the basis of the change re quired for the new system. There can be no stable currency which it does not require and presuppose. Tet the criticism of The Oregonian, given above, is based on the notion that The Oregonian proposes a change that would do away with the gold standard and with need of measures to main tain it. It is going to be very difficult to get a campaign of education on this sub ject; for people will keep talking about it who refuse to think upon it. But the campaign will come; because one panic after another, forced by the present clumsy and stupid system, will compel it, soort or late. ELEVEN DIVORCES. 'Eleven wives secured divorces in Judge Bronaugh's department of the Circuit Court yesterday." This item of news appeared in The Oregonian Sat urday morning. Ought we to be scan- dalized at it or edified? Eleven homes broken up in a single day look pretty startling, but is that exactly the right way to put it? Were the homes broken up in the divorce court or somewhere else? The truth is that most or all of these. divorces were simply the legal recog nition of an accomplished fact. The homes were gone beyond redemption before the parties sought Judge Bro naugh's intervention. AH that he did or'could do was to release the parties from the formality of a bond whose reality had already disappeared. Re fusal of a divorce to any of these cou ples would have amounted in all prob ability to the preference of shadow to substance. It would have been a sort of fetich worship where an empty convention would have triumphed over common sense. The thoughtful and unprejudiced student of current events discerns no social danger whatever in the increas ing freedom of divorce. Does any one suppose for a moment that family life was more permanent or happy when divorces were difficult to obtain than it is now? If they do they are very badly mistaken. Before the law be came liberal in this direction dissatis fied husbands deserted their wives and passed the rest of their days in vicious cohabitation. Dissatisfied wives tol lowed much the same rule when they had the courage to do It. When they had not, they lived in miserable sub jection to a brute, and. brought chil dren into the world for lives of pov erty and disease. With liberal laws most of this evil is avoided, while no home worthy of the name is in the least degree impaired. Leaving purely theological consider ations aside, what advantage would be gained by making marriage legally ir revocable? The argument that it would strengthen family ties and provide better nurture for children is non sense. It would do nothing of the kind. What it would really do would be to help populate the world with children who ought never to have been born and involve thousands of adults in hopeless misery. The philosophic spectator can watch the operation of the divorce courts, therefore, with complacency. He will not be fright ened at a daily, grist of eleven. He will probably wonder at the innate goodness and tolerance of human na ture which keep it from being a hun dred and eleven. DISCIPLINB BT THE ROD. The New York City Board of Edu cation has refused, by a vote of twenty-one to seventeen, to permit the reintrbduction of corporal punishment in the public schools. Sentiment In favor of using the rod on unruly pupils is, however, growing. A few years ago this educational board of New York was a unit against it. Now it lacks but four of a majority on a vote of thirty-eight. The wisdom of Solomon, as ex pressed upon this subject, has stood the test of ages. Those who think they can Improve upon its precepts are dwindling in numbers year by year. With our penitentiaries full of youthful criminals, the Juvenile Court busy with boys guilty of misdemean ors, and an indefinite number of lads in' training for the discipline of the law, as shown by extraordinary ef forts that the principals in our public schools are forced to make, to keep down the spirit of malicious mischief and wanton insubordination In the classroom, it is about time that the tactics that were employed in main taining discipline upon Her Majesty's ship "Pinafore" were abandoned In the government of public schools. In nine cases out of ten the annoy ances that teachers suffer and the time they - waste in furtive police duty, could be saved by giving the leader of "de gang" that is constantly on the alert to create a disturbance a good, sound whipping not one with velvet hands, but with a good, stout birch, wielded by a sturdy arm. An epi demic of snuff -scattering and red pepper throwing, of petty thievery and wholesale prevarication, could be quickly stamped out by the old He braic remedy intelligently and judi ciously applied to the body of the mischief breeder. All boys ' do not need this remedy, but the few who do, need it badly, and to withhold it is to spread the contagion of malicious mischief, distract the teacher's mind from the legitimate work in hand, and render much of the effort put forth in the name of education futile. MR. EDISON'S ILLNESS. Thomas A. Edison's serious illness has been a matter of concern to the whole country. Born in 1817, Mr. Ed ison is now past 60. Therefore, while by no means in his old age, he has come to a time of life when disease is to be dreaded. His illness was one of those singular ailments which the progress of science brings Into the world apparently to temper our grati tude fop its many blessings. It seems that Mr. Edison's long experiments with violet light have affected both his sight and hearing. It is a familiar fact that violet fbid ultra violet light possess the power of producing chemical reactions. Pho tography depends upon this principle. The reader will recall also, though in cidentally, the newly-Invented micro scope, which employs only the ultra violet rays. If light of this character is liable to affect everybody as it did Mr. Edison, some protection will have to be devised against its deleterious in fluence or else scientific men must pay a heavy price in suffering for their dis coveries. The violet rays almost blind ed Mr. Edison by throwing his eyes out of focus; then they seem to have destroyed his hearing. Three years ago a surgical operation gave him par tial relief, but the trouble has recently recurred with complications which re quired heroic treatment. Mr. Edison himself says ' that the violet rays caused disturbance in his body by destroying the white blood corpuscles, the so-called phagocytes, which are said to defend the system against disease by devouring hostile germs; and there is no reason why his theory should not be true. The fact is that modern science has ventured into realms quite as mysterious and awe inspiring as those of Oriental fable and inhabited by powers whose potency we can thus far neither understand nor measure. We have set forces at work which may turn out to be beneficent. but it is just as probable that some of them will be incurably destructive. Who would venture to guess what final consequences to human health and happiness will flow from all these rays and. vibrations and emissions which recent discoveries have brought to knowledge? ' In nature they were intermingled with one another and thus for the most part neutralized, but now we have to deal with them in isolation and we must expect to undergo their unmitigated influence. Whatever it may be. That it may prove to be baneful Mr. Edison's case sufficiently warns us. Still the investigations into these occult spheres of knowledge are so fascinating that they will 'never be given up, no matter what the cost may be. Plenty of men will be found in every succeeding generation to sac rifice life and health in the cause of truth. The past has never lacked them nor will the future. Science has al ways been a dangerous pursuit. The form of the danger changes from one age to another, but not the reality. A century or two ago the Scientist had to encounter the terrors of the inquisi tion, the laws against magic and witchcraft, the frenzy of mobs who be lieved that the progress of truth was a peril ,to their God and his religion. Bruno, Galileo. .Priestly, Averrhoes, the line Is long "of the martyrs to sci entific truth. Mr. Edison suffers In heroic company and his name will not be the least among those who have given their lives that mankind might live longer and better. KILLING ORIENTAL TRADE. The Oriental trade out of every American port on the Pacific Coast has been demoralized by enforcement of two apparently innocent-appearing provisions of the Hepburn bill. One of these provisions compels the rail road companies to give thirty days' no tice of a change in rates. The other makes it unlawful for any company to make a lower through rate from rail points In the United States to the Orient than the regular rate to tide water points on the Pacific Coast. Be tween these two impossible provisions the trade out of Pacific Coast ports has dwindled to such insignificant pro portions that the largest liners on the Pacific have been departing from Se attle and San Francisco without enough freight to keep them in good ballast trim, and the business out of Portland has become so small that practically nothing but local freight is handled. The Immense Oriental traffic which, prior to passage of the Hepburn bill, was carried across the continent by the railroads, has been diverted to the Suez route, which is beyond the reach of the American laws. The freight so licitor anywhere east of Chicago who attempts to secure business for a trans-Pacific line is powerless to meet the competition of the Suez lines, for. while under the Hepburn act he must give thirty days' notice of a change in rates, the solicitor for the Suez lines can. If necessary to secure business, change the rate half a dozen times a day. This Insurmountable advantage in favor of the Suez lines lies In the fact that the great Oriental traffic-producing territory lies adjacent to or within a few hundred miles of the At lantic seaboard, and the local freight rate from the point of origin to tide water on the Atlantic is so small that It can easily be absorbed in full by the tramp steamers which fight for the business through the Suez. From Atlantic ports to the Orient the rail haul is the small end of the trip. From the Pacific ports " the 3000-mile haul to tidewater is far and away the most costly portion of the route. Prior to passage of the Hep burn bill the railroads found it advan tageous to meet the competition of the Suez, so that they might bring loaded cars westward to load back with California fruit and Oregon and Washington lumber. The rates quoted in order to meet the Suez competition were necessarily lower than the regu lar rail rate, but the right to make these rates enabled Pacific Coast ship pers to have a frequent steamship service at low rates on flour and other local products, brought more cars to the Coast, and in many other direc tions was advantageous to the Pacific Coast ports. With the diversion of Orient-bound freltrht from the Pacific Coast ports to the Suez route there has also nat urally followed a change in the routing of tea, matting, etc., the tramp freight ers, unhampered by such restriction as interfere with the routing of freight by Pacific Coast ports, taking the cargo at low rates, which cannot be met by he trans-Pacific liners. The Hepburn bill has undoubtedly accom plished much good along certain lines, but the- two features mentioned have served to turn back to the Atlantic ports the great stream of traffic which had been diverted westward by the transcontinental lines. The effect is already seriously felt, "but it will be still jnore felt when the Panama Ca nal is completed. The matter is one In which the entire Pacific Coast is Interested and a concerted effort for repeal of the objectionable features of the law should be made by the com mercial organizations of the Pacific Coast. ARE WE ALL, CRAZY? The North American Review has achieved the impossible. It has added a new terror to politics. The common belief has been that the tribulations and martyrdoms of his life who would serve the people by courting their un stable affections and alluring their elu sive votes were about as severe as they could possibly be, but this Is an error. Henceforth every man who goes Into politics must expect to be called a maniac as well as a thief and murderer. The North American Re view has Introduced the fashion by ap plying the epithet to the President, indirectly but unmistakably, and since that periodical is eminently respecta ble- and accurately Representative of plutocratic opinion, its example is sure to be widely followed. It is through the instrumentality of Dr. Al len McLane Hamilton that Mr. Har vey's monthly attempts to affix the title of maniac to Mr. Roosevelt. Dr. Hamilton is an alienist of great eminence. He is an expert of vast expertness in the realm of mental therapeutics, and, knowing the com mon venality of this erudite tribe, the unthinking public will be inclined at first to class his opinion with those of other insanity sharps employed for special purposes, wonder how much he was paid for it, and give it no further thought. But this would be a mis take. ' Dr. - Hamilton's opinion of the President's sanity is worth reading, not for its learning, which is enor mous, nor for its gravity, which is .equal to that of a drunken judge, but because it is funny. His article will be treasured as- a contribution to the gaiety of the world in spite, of its por tentous dullness. Your colossal alien ist is necessarily dull, forv if he were clever, he would not be dignified, and If he were undignified he would not be ranked with the experts. A doctor of any sort without his dignity Is like a washerwoman without her soap. He cannot get results. A fatal lack of dignity is perhaps the most damning fact which Dr. Hamilton adduces to prove that Mr. Roosevelt Is insane. We glean from his carefully guarded innuendoes that in his opinion a perfeotly sane Presi dent would be a marble image of im perturbable serenity, wrapped In an icy mantle of etiquette; with no opin ions upon any subject under heaven and no desire to have any like Mr. Fairbanks, for example. His sole func tion would be'to sit immovable on his throne and be calm and beautiful. He must not try to influence Congress, he must make a certain number of sa laams dally to the majesty of the Su preme Court, he must above all things avoid every effort to arouse public hos tillty to plutocratic, thievery. If the President does not obey these rules, Dr. Hamilton says he . is insane. How terrible to reflect that Mr. Roosevelt has broken them all, not once only but frequently. He must therefore be Insane a dozen times over. The strenuous passion for righteous ness in public and private life which the President displays shows that he is a psychopath. So Dr. Hamilton delicately hints. A psychopath is a person whose mental machinery is out of order. One whose mind is perfectly sound and sane had as lief see the world so wrong as right. Perhaps he would rather prefer to see evil in con trol, since evil as a rule is a little more dignified than righetousness. It is es pecially psychopathic to feel disposed to meddle with other people's affairs. Measured by such a standard, how many sane people are there on earth? Very likely we are all crazy except the alienists, and the only unmistakable sign of rationality which they display is their zest for their fees. Accord ing to Dr. Hamilton's rule, of course the Hebrew prophets were insane, and so were Socrates, Savonarola, Calvin, Voltaire, Abraham Lincoln and Will iam Lloyd Garrison, for all these wor thies were animated by a consuming zeal for righteousness, together with an ' irresistible, passion for meddling with other people's business. Indeed the reformer is necessarily a meddlr. Is not the rule an odd one which makes all the heroes and prophets crazy and all the insignificant scamps sane? Dr. Hamilton's reasoning tempts one to propound, a conundrum to the judi cious reader: Which would you rather be, insane with Mr. Roosevelt or sane with the Standard Oil mag nates, from whom Dr. Hamilton per haps draws the pay for his expert opinion? There is not a vestige of originality about Dr. ftamilton's article. He cribs every particle of his thunder from Max Nordau, who long ago proved to his own satisfaction that al most every distinguished man of the nineteenth century was a degenerate by the same rules which our eminent alienist applies to the President. , In fact it is the easiest thing in the world to make out by these rules that the Savior was a psychopathic degenerate. That he was, undignified is shown well enough by his assault upon the money changers in the temple. That he was a meddler we Infer from the hatred he inspired in the Pharisees and other privileged -classes among the Jews. That he had an Insane passion for righteousness needs no proof. His whole career exhibits it. That he lacked respect for the dominant plu tocrats of his time and had small ven eration for vested rights is demon strated not only by the scene with the money-changers, but also by the per mission to the .disciples to pluck and eat grain as they passed through the fields, and by the irreverent remarks which he was constantly making about the rich and their slim chances of get ting into heaven. Dr. Hamilton must find many things to, deplore in the be havior of the .Lord as well as many evidences o'f insanity. No doubt the scientific rules and principles which show that every really valuable char- acter In the world has been a psycho path, not excluding our Lord himself, are exceedingly precious In Dr. Ham ilton's estimation, but what is fhat sort of science and the results It leads to worth to the rest of us? MORE PRESS CENSORSHIP. Among the radical and "advanced" papers of the country more or less un easiness has been excited lately by the Penrose biH." Introduced by Sena tor Penrose, of Pennsylvania, this bill proposes to confer upon the Postmaster-General authority to exclude from second-class mall privileges "any issue of any periodical which has been de clared unmallable by the Postoffice Department." There is nothing in Senator Penrose's character or rec ord to convince one that he introduced this bill with a good purpose. He is a boss of the old-fashioned predatory type. Intimately allied with the grafting corporations of Pennsylvania, he uses his political power to further their schemes of pillage, and doubtless shares the spoils. The capitol grafters who are now being tried, the abject ring that rules and robs Philadelphia, every putrescent politician in the Key stone state, have all looked to Penrose I tor countenance and aid ever since : Quay went to his reward. ! Through his flaccid creature. Gov ernor Pennypacker, Mr. Penrose had a law enacted In Pennsylvania not many years ago which set out to abridge the freedom of tins press. It was a thor oughgoing statute, fiercely vindictive in its penalties. The immediate incen tive for Its enactment was the carica tures 'of the grafting Penrose ring. which the papers printed. Had the law been enforced, no Pennsylvania publication would have dared to print another political caricature, nor would it have been safe to criticise a thiev ing politician, no matter how much he stole. Imagine (he delights of such a law to men like Pennypacker and Penrose. But alas, It remained merely a- pious aspiration. They never dared to enforce it. The papers openly de fled the law and the baffled gang could only grin with helpless rage. The present bill is more Ingenious. Its enforcement will require no ma chinery of the criminal courts. There will be no indictments, no trials by jury, no publicity, none of those things which your slippery politician holds in agonizing dreadt It will ail be done in the dark, quietly, smoothly, with out alarming the public; but it will be done effectually. " The- bill puts It In the power of the Postoffice Depart ment to exercise a despotic censorship over the press. Exclusion from second-class mailing privileges means death to a newspaper, and this bill confers upon the Postmaster-General authority to exclude any paper whose principles or policy he may happen to dislike. The law as it stands confers authority to exclude vicious and ob scene publications; the Fenrose amendment extendB the censorship to all publications whatever. Were the bill to pass, its first em ployment would be, of course, to ruin the labor and socialistic press. Were the consequences to stop, with the sup pression of papers like the Miners' Magazine and the Appeal to Reason, many persons would rejoice as if a good work had been accomplished, and perhaps they would be right; but The Oregonian is inclined to the opin ion that truth is abundantly able to fight its own battles and that nothing is ever gained in the realm of politics by stifling free discussion. But, pass ing by this consideration, the disagree able fact is that the consequences of the Penrose bill would not stop with the destruction of the radical press. Tyranny invariably grows with what it feeds on. From the suppression of papers which the majority of Ameri can citizens disapprove to that of papers which differed in any respect from the policy of the administration would be but a short step. When the bill had worked out its legitimate ef fects, no paper in the country would be safe from the censorship except those which were full of praise for the Postmaster-General and the man who gave him his office. Is it the desire of the press of the United States to pass under an irre sponsible censorship such as no coun try except Russia tolerates? Is it the desire of the American people to see free discussion abolished, criticism of the party in power penalized, the progress of thought made conditional upon the approval of a politician in Washington, and all ideas suppressed which do not happen to be pleasing to the censor? There has been an evident purpose to slip the bill quietly through Con gress .without arousing the public to its significance. Had it not been for the vigilant North American, of Phila delphia, perhaps few would have heard of the Penrose amendment until it had become law. Happily it has been haled into the light while there is still time to defeat it, and no person who is capable of writing a let ter to his representative at Washing ton should fail to let them know tVhat he thinks of this reactionary measure. HARD TASK FOR A BOY KING. Manuel II of Portugal, though a King, is by no means to be envied. The conditions to which he has suc ceeded are those of a poverty-stricken kingdom and a restless, dissatisfied people, ready for revolt, but tempor arily 'restrained by the atrocity of the act that made him King. Even be fore his father came to the throne Portugal- was in desperate straits financially. Its debt is now within one hundred millions of that of the United States, while its population is less than 6,000,000 and its resources, by comparison, pitifully small. The situation grew steadily worse during Don Carlos' reign. A dictatorship charged with initiating reforms was formed a year ago. The dictator. Pre mier Franco, took an arbitrary course in the hope of bringing about official reforms that were hoary with age and intrenched in the traditions of corrupt officialism. Discontent grew Into unreason and anarchism found its opportunity. The world heard with horror of the assassination of lazy King Carlos and his imperious heir, the dictator fled for his life, dis content was mute for a time, and Manuel LI, a boy of 19, became King. He has promised to do his best to still the warring elements of his kingdom and bring order out of chaos, but his best will scarcely suffice for the gigan tic task. An intelligent, affectionate boy, wholly unprepared for his sudden ele vation to the throne, Manuel's position is one to excite pity rather than envy. His success in his new role depends wholly upon the wisdom and loyalty of his advisers. His youth appeals to f ia riilaM nt tVi a ' wsit-M for svmnsthv. and in itself may tide his country over its present crisis because or tna loyalty that it invokes from his peo ple. The Custer massacre, though a, third of a century old, Is yet of weird Interest to those especially who knew the Indian of the great plains as he was when active warfare was being waged against him by Howard and Miles, Canby and Steptoe. Crook and Keogh, and others whose names ap pear and reappear in the annals of 'those heroic years. Hence when the death of Thomas J. Cullan, whom Gen eral Custer sent for reinforcements when he found how sorely he needed them, and who led a relief corps back to the field of slaughter in the Little Big Horn when all that could be done was to collect the scattered bones of the regiment and bury them, took place a few days ago at Yonkers, N, Y., the announcement of the event sent memory scouting back to the June day in 1876 when the "Chief of the Yellow- Hair" led his regiment in its last charge against the allied. forces of Sit ting Bull in the mountains of Montana. Brave Custer," said even those who censured him for his rashness. And 'brave Custer" echo the readers of history today, who shudder over such meager details of the battle of the Lit tie Big Horn as have been gleaned from the Indians' accounts of the bloody contest. Six inches of snow in the Condon country will make fine top dressing for the greatest acreage of Winter wheat ever sown in Gilliam County. . The building of the Arlington branch of the O. R. & N., like that of every other feeder constructed by that com pany, opened up for development an Immense territory, and the stream of traffic now coming out will show a steady increase from year to year. But the Condon country, in spite of its richness and great possibilities, has an area-small in comparison with that which will.be opened up as soon as the pressure of some rival company forces Mr. Harrlman to build into Central Oregon. There is In Bellinger and Cotton's code, section 1979, the following pro vision: ' If any minor over the age of 16 year shall for th purpose of Inducing any person to give or sell to such minor any intoxicating liquor, represent to auch person that auch minor Is 21 years of age or upwards, such minor upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not leas than 2S nor more than I1S0. It is hereby made the duty of District Attorneys, Sheriffs and Police Officer to see that this law is enforced. It would appear that here is abun dant statutory authority for the pun ishment of youhg Helliar, who repre sented to Saloon-keeper Kline that he was not a minor, and persuaded that worthy to sell him liquor. With an advance of 3 points in Union Pacific and from 2 to 3 points in other prominent railroad shares, the New York stock market yesterday bore resemblance to the old days be fore the slump. Recovery Is quite pronounced In nearly all branches of business, but there will be no such ac tivity as we have known in the past until the railroads again have their idle equipment working and are earn ing dividends. For that reason any advances in railroad stocks will be joy fully noted even by those who have none of them. More than 30,000,000 bushels of wheat have been shipped from the Argentine in the past Ave weeks, the average weekly shipments for that period being 1,000,000 bushels larger than the best previous record made by our most active competitor in the Southern Hemisphere. These big ship ments seem to have had a bad effect on the Chicago market, for it declined with a rush yesterday, the loss being more than 2 cents per bushel. "Buy A. O. T.," said John W. Gates when the stock market was booming two years ago, and, on being asked for an interpretation, said that he meat "any old thing." The Gates family seems to be playing the system, for press dispatches announce that Charles W. Gates has just paid $610,000 for a farm in Texas. With Oregon farms available, a man Tvho would buy in Texas would certainly display content ment with any old thing. In the new indictments against the bankwreckers great care has been ex ercised to set forth that the crime al leged was committed in Multnomah County. It is needless to mention that no such hair-splitting technicalities were observed in the methods by which Air. Ross and his friends re lieved the depositors of their money. Out at Montavilla an Inquisitive citi zen tried the experiment of ringing the school fire alarm to see If the chil dren's fire drill was perfect. It was. That man will eoon be seeing how the Portland fire department works, be tween fires. .Dr. Allen McLane Hamilton, who thinks Roosevelt crazy, is the expert who testified that Thaw was crazy, or wasn't crazy we forget which. We could tell if we knew which side got to his office first with a fat retainer. Any little adverse influence on Bryan's prospects that may have re sulted from the action of the Minne sota Democratic Committee is more than offset by the publicly declared loyalty of Milt Miller. The genial giow of yesterday's warm sunshine was enhanced by a perusal of the news dispatches, which announced that trains in Michigan were being abandoned on account of a blizzard and snow storm. Possibly it will be as well if the Title Guarantee officials get a change of venue. We know of no county in Ore gon where there is an overwhelming prejudice in favor of bankwreckers. Wynne, who killed Dupuis In a sa loon row, pleads both self-defense and temporary insanity. What's the mat ter with proving an alibi, too? ' It seems a little premature for Mr. Bryan and Mr. Johnson to quarrel over Minnesota, Some one else has a string on that state. Dr. Day regards his accuser as a joke. We hadn't" suspected the chan cellor of so keen a sense of humor. Now Emperor William has joined the "Burn this letter" class of states men. ' STANDARD VERSE For a' That and a That. Is there for honest poverty wna harura his head, and a that? The coward slave, we pass him by; we dare be poor for a' that. For a' that and a' that. Our toils obscure, and a' that: The rank is but the guinea's stamp ine mans the gowd for a' that. What though on namely fare we dine. We hoddtn array, and a' that: Gle fools their silks, and knaves their wine And a man's a man for a' that. For a' that, and a' that, - Their tinsel show, and a' that: The honest man. though e'er sae poor. Is king o men for a that. Ye" see yon blrkle oa'l a lord. wha struts, and stares, and a' that Though hundreds worship at his word. He s but a coof for a that; For a' that, and a' that. His riband, star, and a' that; The man of Independent mind. He looks and laughs at a' that. A prince can mak a belted knight. A marquis, duke, and a thart; But an honest man's aboon his might Guid faith, he matinna fa' that! For a' that, and a' that. Their dlKtiltles. and a' that: The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth. Are higher ranks than a that. Then let us pray that come It may As come it. will for ' that That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth. May bear the gree. and a' that. For a' that, and a' that. It's coming yet, for a' that When man to mart, the warld o'er. Shall brothers be for a thatl Robert Burns. NOTHING BUT LEAVES. Nothing but leaves: the spirit grieves Over a wasted life; Bin eommitted while conscience slept. Promises made but never kept. Hatred, battle and strllsj Nothing but ieaves! Nothing but leaves: no garnered sheav, Of life's fair, ripened grain; Words, idle words, for earnest deeds: We sow our seeds lo! tares and weeds; We reap, with toil and pain. Nothing but leaves. Nothing but leaves; memory -weaves No veil to screen the past; As we retrace our weary way. Counting each lost and misspent day. We find, sadly, at last. Nothing but leavaal And shall we meet the Master so. Bearing our withered leaves? The Saviour looks for perfect fruit; We stand before him, humbled, mute: Waiting the words he breathes "Nothing but leaves?" Anonymous. SIT DOWN, SAI SOUIi. Sit down, sad soul, and count . The moments flying; Come, tell the sweet amount That's lost by sighing! How many smiles? a soore? Then laugh, and count no more; For day is dying! Lie down, sad soul, anfl sleep. And no more measure The flight of time, nor weep The loss of leisure; But here, by this lone stream, Lie down with us, and dream Of starry treasure! We dream: do thou the same; We love- forever: We laugh, yet few we shame The gentle never. -Stay, then, till sorrow dies: . Then hope and toappy skies Are thine forever! Barry Cornwall. MARCH. The cock is crowing. The stream is flowing. .. The small birds twitter. The lake doth glitter. The green field sleeps In the sun; The oldest and youngest Are at work with the strongest; The cattle are grazing. Their heads never raising; There are forty feeding like one! Like an army defeated. The snow hath retreated. And now doth far 111 On the top of the bare hill; The plough-boy is whooping-anon-anonl There's joy on the mountains; There's life in the fountains; Small clouds are sailing. Blue sky prevailing; The rain is over and gone! William Wordsworth. THE MINSTREL BOY. The minstrel boy to the war Is gone. In the ranks of death you'll find bim, His father's sword he has girded on. And his wild harp slung behind him. "Land of Song!" said the warrior bard, "Though all the world betrays thee. One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard. One faithful harp shall praise thee!" The minstrel fell but the foeman's chain Could not bring his proud soul under; The harp he loved ne'er spoke sgain, For he tore its chords asunder. And said, "No chains shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and bravery! Thy songs were made for the pure and free. They shall never sound in slavery." .Thomas Moore ("Irish Melodies). Brys aad the Nearro. There is criticism of Mr. Bryan in the South because he does not handle the negro question to- suit the white people of that section. This is from the NashVille (Tenn.) American: "Is the South to get frantic about a man who teaches that it fought the greatest war in history and made sacri fices which have never been equalled to preserve the institution of slavery? If it is true that it will hurt Mr. Bryan in the coming campaign to make him self clear on this question, let it be known now. We want no double face In the White House, and we do hot want to be goldbrirked. "The destiny of Mr. Bryan Is In th hands of the South, and if he 1 not In sympathy with the South on its greatest question, why should it sup-' port him? It is no Injustice at all to Mr. Bryan to ask him to speak out on this question. Let him say simply, "The views of the Southern people on the negro question are in my Judg ment correct.' That will not be difficult. That is a short and simple sentence. Why should he b afraid to say it?" Rarxaln-Dny for Mnabanda, Chicago Inter-Ocean. "Well, madam?" Inquired the floor walker. "I wish," she said, "to get a birthday present for my husband." "How long married?" the man asked. "Eleven years." was the reply. He pointed to the left. "Bargains down that aisle," he said. Contentment All Around. Irrlgon Irrigator. Our "lawgiver" told Steffens that he would be willing to go to hell for the people of Oregon. As the fpcople of Oregon are also willing, there is noth ing standing in. the way of an early depaxtux.