4
6
TIIE STJXDAT. OREGOXlAN", PORTLAND, JUNE 23, 1908.
xmran
Entered at Portland, Oregon. Postofflce as
BecondrClass Matter.
Subscription Rate Invariably tn Advance.
(By Mall.)
Dally. Sunday Included, one year ts.oo
Pally, Sunday included, six months.... 4.25.
Pally. Sunday Included, three months. 2.23
pally, Sunday Included, one month 75
X)ally. without Sunday, one year 6.00
Dally, without 8unday, !x month 3.25
Dally, without Sunday, three months. . 1.75
Pally, without Sunday, one month 30
Sunday, one year - 2.50
6unday and Weekly, one year. ....... 8-60
(By Carrier.)
Dally. Sunday Included, one year 900
bally. Sunday Included, one month.... .75
How to Remit Send postofflce money
erder, ' express order or personal check on
rour local bank. Stamps, coin or ourrency
are at the sender's risk. Give postofflce ad
dress in full, including county and state.
Pontage Bates 10 to 14 pages, 1 cent; 18
to 28 pages. 2 cents; 80 to 44 pages, 3
cents; 46 to 60 pages, 4 cents. Foreign post
age double rates.
Eastern Business Office The B. C. Bock
wlth Special Agency New York, rooms 48
jn Tribune building. Chicago, rooms 610-61Z
Tribune building.
PORTXAJTD. BtTNDAY, JTTNE 88. 1908.
PARTY MOVEMENT IN POLITICS.
For Senator the Prohibition candi
date (Amos) received in the election
held June 1, 3787 votes; the Socialist
candidate (Cooper) ' received 6267.
Total for. both, 905. The other can
didates received 103,320. (Chamber
lain. 52,421; Cake, 60,899).
The total vote on Senator was 112.
874. The Socialist and Prohibition
candidates received nearly 8 per cent
of the whole..
Here, represented by those who
"'also ran," are forces that must be
reckoned with, now and hereafter.
Moreover, they are Browing forces.
Already they hold a balance of power.
Either of them. Indeed, holds It.
Chamberlain fell short of the majority
vote by 7432; Cake fell short of it by
10,676. Does anybody know who is
"the choice of the people of Oregon"
for Senator?.
There Is a representative force be
hind both the Prohibitionist and So
cialist movements. It Is radical, ex
treme, each in Its way. Each has a
single Idea or theory, uncompromis
ing, unaccommodating. Each and both
will nourish the more, In proportion
as efforts to do things through the
agency of main parties shall fall.
Why are there so many parties In
France and In Germany? Because
there are certain Ideas that are accept
ed as settled and fixed and the peo
ple divide on things not essential, nor
even important. In this country, we
are losing the basis of party organiza
tion, in the same way. On the essen
tial and fundamental principles of
this .Republic, people grow tired of
thought and contention. So It is with
Christianity. Doctrines and dogmata,
once deemed Infallible, now are neg
lected; and new sects constantly mul
tiply. Disintegration of Christianity
began four or five centuries ago
with dissentient opinions and multi
plication -of sects. The disintegration
is a continuous process. There are
more dissidents and more sects, every
year, or decade.
Parties in religious organization or
In political organization are main
tained only as Individuals feel that
they can carry out their ideas and
purposes through them. People real
ize that the main lines of our political
system are established, and therefore
feel at liberty to break up into fac
tionseach pursuing its own special
aim or notion. So in France and Ger
many. The main institutions are fixed;
no party can completely upset the sys
tem or the state, and subdivision of
parties, on notions more or less theor
etical and vagarious, is the order of
the day. Religions split off, or split up,
in the same way.
The student of history and observer
of politics, therefore, cannot expect
parties in the United States to con
tinue the mainly even division into of
posing bodies which hitherto has pre
vailed. There will be more and more
"side issues," on which separate or
ganizations will be formed. There
will be at least six parties, with can
didates for the Presidency, in Novem
ber. A HIST TO PASTOKS.
Dr. Hamilton Fiske Bigger's method
of raising money admits of .wide ap
plication. The Doctor, it appears, is
a homoeopathlst and has been par-
ticipating in a convention, or love
feast, of that persecuted sect at Kan
sas City. Among other thoughts for
the good of the human race It oc
curred to some of the brethren that It
might be a fine thing to raise a fund
for the propagation of the late la
mented Dr. ITannemarin's theories.
But how to do It? That was the ques
tion. Homoeopathlsts being pro
tagonists for an Idea which is harried
and worried about In a hostile world
are most of them martyrs, and being
martyrs they naturally feel poor. The
feeling Is seldom justified, for the
great majority of homoeopathists are
wealthy; still they have it all the same
end Dr. Bigger had to figure out some
way to cure It.
The, problem was how to make the
doctors in the convention feel rich
enough to part with their money. The
fundamental doctrine of the homoeo
pathlsts Is that like cures like. Hence
to cure the feeling of poverty he had
to select a remedy that was like pov
erty. Among all possible things he
chose a kiss. Of course he could not
apply a kiss to male Hps so his cure
was limited to the women doctors.
But why did he choose that remedy?
Why is a kiss like the feeling of pov
erty? We deem this to be one of the
most profound and perplexing scien
tific Questions we have ever tackled
and we frankly confess that at first
we despaired of solving It. But per
severance was finally crowned with
success and here is the answer.
The feeling of poverty Is a sense of
want, of not having enough of some
desirable thing. Now who that has
kissed a woman doctor ever felt that
he had had enough? Did he not al
ways want more? The reader will
therefore readily see that the two
things are very much alike indeed and
he will admire the astuteness and
orthodoxy of Dr. Bigger In offering
to kiss the woman doctors in order to
extract their money. It was strictly
an application of the great principle
that like cures like.
The method, we repeat, admits of
wide application. Why should not min
isters use It at morning service to en
large the generosity of female con
tributors? The Reverend Mr. Smith
or Jones might pass around just ahead
of the contribution box and apply a
homoeopathic kiss to each pair of
eager feminine lips and we are con
vinced that the financial returns
1 would be as encouraging as they were
at Dr. Bigger's convention. His kisses
produced $100 each and the total pro
ceeds of the cure were $5000. Surely
no pastor who is devoted to the good
cause will overlook this hint.
WILI. IT COME TO JUDGMENT?
During all the years when illegal
compensation was being taken by
state officials, from the Governor down
to the end of the list of them. The
Oregonlan continued to call attention
to the fact that the business was a
flagrant violation of the Constitution
of the state. So now are the "flat
salaries," recently allowed. '
Judgment has been rendered against
F. I. Dunbar, formerly Secretary of
the State, for moneys received by him
as compensation. In excess of the Con
stitutional salary. Governor Chamber
lain, it is said. Is to be sued on similar
account.
It Is simple truth that Dunbar and
Chamberlain received, as all their
predecessors for many years had done,
official emoluments In excess of the
salaries fixed by the supreme law.
It was effected by various statutory
devices, beginning, we think, with the
Democratic regime under direction of
Governor Grover. Though Judgment
has been rendered against Dunbar, he
simply took the emoluments, as his
predecessors had done, during many
years. Governor Chamberlain has
done the same thing, following the ex
ample of his predecessors since 1870.
But If Dunbar must refund sd must
Chamberlain. It Is a study how far
the statutes of limitation may apply
to cases of this kind, and therefore
how far the officials of former times
may plead them.
But It la alleged that if the addition
al emoluments allowed to the Govern
or and others are Illegal, so Is certain
special compensation provided for
members of the Supreme Court. The
Oregonlan, during many years, has
delivered its own opinion, multi
fariously, on all this business, so It
need not Bay more, now.
But the Judgment rendered against
Dunbar appears to be opening certain
other Interesting parts or branches of
the subject. To employ here a phrase
not absolutely original with The Ore
gonlan: We shall see what we shall
see.
THE NEW HOME.
For the old-fashioned dwelling
standing by itself on a plot of lawn or
garden there Is much to be said.
To the persons who lived in It some
degree of privacy was afforded,
though not so much as we like to be
lieve. However secluded one tries to
live, there are few. things he says
or does which the neighbors do not
know and the 'more he hides
himself the more he seems to reveal.
But the old-fashioned house, cut off
by a rod or two from a neighbor, did
somewhat mitigate the tumult of his
midnight piano, though it could not
lull the yelps of his dog, and It en
abled one to write his intimate letters
without the spinster next door looking
over his shoulder. This passed for
privacy in the good old times which
are sWlftly vanishing, and it was valu
able. In the home as It was families
were reared under a certain semblance
6t paternal discipline. The wife found
occupation In directing her help and
the nurture of her children. The hus
band soothed himself by-exercising at
the domestic altar an autocratic sway
which the world would not tolerate
elsewhere.
These were the charms of the home
as it used to be, but all these charms
are fled. At any rate they are fleeing.
The home has been devastated,
wrecked, and the disconsolate Inmates
have fled to the apartment house for
an asylum. The asylum may be a
little forlorn. It is overpopulated. It
is cramped for space. The tyrant who
owns it scowls balefully at children.
He Is an apostle of race suicide and
the foe of diphtheria-propagating
dogs. Still the human family flows
to its narrow chambers in an ever
swelling stream and whatever it may
lose by the change it seems to gain
something which compensates. Once
in a while a man and wife migrate
from an apartment house and rekindle
the fire upon the domestic hearth, but
the tide sets the other way. And the
boarding-house where people lived
and ate at a common table is following
the Isolated dwelling Into oblivion. Do
mestic life now thrives the best It
can In a flat of three or four rooms
and when It has pined away to the
inevitable end the wretched family
marches three times a day in a woe
ful procession to the nearest restau
rant, where sustenance is devoured in
lachrymose gloom.
Let Boston suffice for a horrible ex
ample of what Is going on. In the
year 1885 there were three individuals
of that sapient city who ate at the
boarding-house table for every two
who ate at restaurants. But In 1895,
ten years later, contemplate the
change. Five persons were then eat
ing at restaurants for one who re
mained loyal to the boarding-house.
Since then, as we learn from Chari
ties and Commons, "the restaurant has
virtually wiped out the boarding
house." The breakfast table which
Dr. Holmes celebrated In Immortal
dialogue is no more. Herbert Spencer,
who loved to ease the strain of thought
by paddling his mental feet In the
langorous stream of boarding-house
conversation, would find no such com
fort In Boston now, and very little of
it In any other American city. Un
less he set up bachelor's quarters in
a flat and cooked his own meals he
must dine at a restaurant.
What is it that has wrecked the
home. Mr. W. H. Mallock and cer
tain other wise men say it is Socialism,
and their reply Is so easy that one Is
tempted to accept It. The only trouble
la that most of the people who have
fled from the domestic altar to the
apartment house are not Socialists.
They abhor . that alluring faith. If
Socialism has demolished their hearths
and put their household goods to
flight It must have been by a sort of
absent treatment. Some other cause
has been at work. What is it? The
servant trouble? Perhaps. And yet
we cannot escape from the suspicion
that if people cared any longer for
the old-fashioned home they would
either find a way to keep their serv
ants or Invent something to take
their place. The apartment houses
have chosen the latter course. Sweep
ing, scrubbing, making beds, opening
the front door, are all done by ma
chinery In the up-to-date buildings.
The servant has been replaced by the
mechanic and the machine.
One may surmise, therefore, that
neither Socialism nor the servant
problem is at the bottom of the
trouble with the home. Three causes
are discernible which appear to be
more adequate. One of them is the
patent fact that women have lost
their taste for housekeeping. They
find it petty, futile, degrading. This
may be wicked, but it Is undeniable.
As a sex their taste Is turning to other
occupations and there is no way to
stop It. Certainly preaching and rail
ing will not. All the signs Indicate
that we have come to one of the
places In the march of evolution
where the road forks. But we must
not commit the blunder of fancying
that women's dislike of housework
Implies the cessation of chlldbearing.
There Is no necessary connection be
tween the two. A woman may be a
very good mother even if she declines
to spend her time washing dishes, and
boiling soap.. Again,, the apartment
is, upon the whole, cheaper than the
old-fashioned home and, everything
considered, it is for many people bet
ter. It eliminates the futile and costly
domestic expedients for supplying
water, light, heat and cleanliness. It
gives a species of privacy which is
different from the neighborhood sort
but quite as satisfactory. It is more
quiet than the Isolated dwelling. It has
begun to make a place for children;
and best of all perhaps, it stops the
everlasting worry over infinitesimal
trifles which blights the life of the-Independent
housekeeper. The victory
of the apartment over the isolated
dwelling frightens some of us, but It
would be difiicult toproVe that it Is
not a boon to the human race.
WORK OF A SUPREME COURT JUDGE.
There Is a disposition in some quar
ters to criticise the people of this state
because they defeated the constitu
tional amendment providing for an in
crease of the number of Supreme
Judges from three to five,, and in an
ironical vein It Is remarked that the
people do not believe in prompt ad
ministration of Justice or they would
vote to Increase the number of
fudges. Such criticisms are ill-founded,
for there are various reasons upon
Which the vote of the people may be
justified. In the first place, the
amendment did not present the single
question of an Increase in the number
of Supreme Judges. That question
was coupled up with a provision au
thorizing the Legislature to provide a
new system for the election of Circuit
Judges, with extended Jurisdiction.
Many people may have voted against
the amendment as a whole because
they objected to the latter feature of
it, or because they did not want to
vote for or against both features at
once. They may have had various ob
jections to the sections relating to Cir
cuit Judges.
Then, again, the people may have
believed that three Judges are enough
In Oregon, as compared with the num
ber found necessary in' other states,
when the amount of litigation Is taken
into consideration. Or they may have
thought It advisable to continue for a
time the temporary expedient of hav
ing three judges aided by two commis
sioners. Perhaps they wanted to see
whether three judges and two com
missioners can do more work than
three judges alone, thereby furnishing
foundation for a conclusion upon the
question whether five judges would do
more work than three, or do it any
better. This must be taken In all
seriousness, for if each judge is to
pass upon each case, it follows that
the time of each judge must be given
to each case and the amount of work
that can be done does not increase in
proportion to the number of Judges:
While one Judge writes' an opinion, all
must give the case the thought neces
sary to join In or dissent from the
opinion.
Further, the people may have
thought that the ends of justice would
not be injured if the judges wrote
shorter opinions in cases involving no
important or intricate questions of
law. Cases are often appealed to the
higher courts even though the defeat
ed party knows that he was in the
wrong. He appeals because delay will
serve some temporary interest, or be
cause he thinks it worth while to take
a long chance on a reversal. Many
of the cases involve questions already
settled by the courts of this and other
states. Perhaps the people thought
that in such cases a mere affirmance
with the authority therefor is all that
Is necesary in the way of an opinion.
However, the people defeated the
amendment, and every man Is at lib
erty td put upon the vote such con
struction as he may wish. . For the
present, at least, the people expect the
work of the Supreme Court to be done
by three judges and two commission
ers, and not by five Judges. The court
Is confronted by a condition, and not
a theory.
LUMBER TRADE PROSPECTS.
The president of a Seattle lumber
company has Just returned from a
tour of the Eastern markets, bringing
the cheering news that the retail lum
ber dealers in the East and Middle
West have smaller stocks on hand
than for twenty years past. He also
expresses the belief that if the Pa
cific Coast lumber manufacturers do
not force lumber on the market now,
the retailers will buy heavily at good
prices in the Fall. To facilitate the
prospective increased movement and
higher prices, the Seattle man advo
cates curtailment of the output of the
Coast mills. It would seem from this
report that it was not the competition
of Southern pine, nor the threatened
advance in railroad rates, that demor
alized the Pacific Coast lumber trade.
Instead, the lumber consumers ceased
buying and the retailers permitted
their stocks to dwindle to meager pro
portions. Under such conditions a revival in
the business will be dependent more
on the crop conditions throughout the
Middle West than on the curtailment
of the output on the Pacific Coast. If
there is no deterioration In the grain
crop which Is now nearly ready for
the sickle, the lumber consumers will
have plenty of money with which to
build new barns, houses and fences,
and there will be a sudden revival in
Pacific Coast lumber trade. Not all
of the big volume of business that was
causing such a serious car shortage a
year ago came from the farming com
munity. The railroads were all buy
ing heavily of ties, bridge material
and smaller stock needed in car con
struction and repair. This business
ceased before the consumers caught
the panic fever last Fall, and it, of
course, will not move again until pros
perity returns to the people who sup-
business for the railroads.
A year ago the lumber business In
Oregon, Washington and Idaho was, in
many localities, the most important
factor In our industrial life, and the
enormous profits that' were made in
the business attracted so many mlll
bullders that the business was actu
ally overdone before the panic oc
curred. Since then there has been a
steady dwindling in the amount of
timber available In the formerly great
"pineries" of the Northwestern States,
and when the expected revival i in
trade takes place the demand, whlph
was formerly satisfied in part by the
near-by mills, must turn to the Pacific
Coast for supplies and there will be
plenty of business for all of the mills
now built, as well as for many others
yet to be constructed. The return of
better times In the lumber business
may not be hastened by the curtail
ment of the output, but it will certain
ly be in evidence so soon as the crops
of 1908 are turned into cash and the
railroads again get their idle cars in '
motion.
DR. CUBBERMT'S IDEAS.
On Thursday Dr. E. P. Cubberly, of
Stanford. addressed the State Teach
ers' Association at Eugene upon
"Methods' of Taxation for Education."
It seems to have been one of his prin
cipal suggestions that the state should
raise by taxation a special fund to be
used for the aid of school districts In
remote and poorly settled regions.
This plan resembles that of scholar
ships In colleges which are bestowed
upon meritorious students and often
tide them over' difficulties where
their unaided efforts might fail.
Scholarships have existed in some col
leges for hundreds of years, but It has
never yet been found that they tend
to pauperize those who receive them.
The truth is that a little timely aid Is
sometimes exactly what an individual
or a community needs to overcome
discouragement and excite the best
effort.
In distributing state school funds,
one of two rules is commonly applied.
Each district receives a share in pro
portion to lt3 children of "school
age," or In proportion to the number
of teachers it employs. Neither of
these rules seems to suit the needs of
the sparsely populated district.
Whichever one might be applied It
would receive but a small sum from
the school fund. Dr. Cubberly's plan
is to provide a special fund for such
cases and distribute It according to
need and not according to numbers.
His argument is that children living
in thinly-settled sections need an edu
cation precisely the same as others
and since the state has undertaken the
duty of teaching youth. It should not
neglect those in question merely be
cause it costs a little more per capita.
Modern teaching is a process which
becomes more expensive every day.
The three R's could be learned at lit
tle cost in money, but that Is not true
of the rudiments of science and the
trades which the modern youth must
learn if he Is to make an honest liv
ing. To teach them adequately re
quires elaborate apparatus and ex
pert instructors, which cannot be had
without spending a good, deal of
money. But thinly-settled districts
have not much money to spend unless
they happen to be blessed with exten
sive tracts of timber owned 'by non
residents. If they are, then funds are
usually fairly abundant.
There is not much to be said against
Dr. Cubberly's proposal, except that
it lacks practical wisdom. It resem
bles all the schemes of sentimentalists
and doctrinaires. Such people found
asylums for cats without a thought
for the children who starve in the
streets. One dollar spent on a normal
boy is worth ten spent on the blind or
deaf so far as results go, but results
are not of the slightest importance to
your doctrinaire. He clamors for a
multitude of births to increase the
population, but it never occurs to him
that he would attain his purpose more
easily by preventing deaths. It Is a safe
rule to spend public money where it
will do the most good. The rule is
seldom followed, but in the case of the
schools It has been. In a densely pop
ulated district a dollar does for ten
boys what it will only do for one
under Dr. Cubberly's plan. Shall we
rob the ten for the sake of the one?
We are aware that he does not
openly propose to rob the ten, but It
would come to that. His fund must
be created by superimposing new taxes
upon those we already pay, or else by
setting apart a portion of the present
school fund. Which method would
be applied In practice if the state
undertook to bestow special favors
upon the remote schools? The answer
Is pretty plain. Even if a new tax
were voted, its probable effect would
be to cut down the special school
levies in the populous districts. The
best plan for Oregon to follow with
reference to the public schools Is to
build them up to the highest efficiency
In places where they will benefit the
most pupils. Let the children in re
mote districts enjoy primitive schools
along with other pioneering conditions
until numbers and wealth have In
creased. Then they can have some
thing better.
As a calm, economic fact, it would
be a great deal cheaper for the state
to transport all children from outlying
sections to Portland or The Dalles
and board and educate them at pub
lic expense than it would be to adopt
Dr. Cubberly's suggestion upon an
extensive scale; while If it were only
applied sporadically It would accom
plish nothing.
The Atlantic liners print bulletins
every day, containing little scraps of
news caught by wireless, Interlarded
sometimes with short excerpts from
great authors. Wilbur D. Nesbit
writes thus, from the ship upon the
ocean, for the Chicago Evening Post:
Today's Bulletin has contributions from
William Cowper, Walter Scott and Percy
Bysshe Shelley, but none of the offerings
has contemporaneous topical interest, Mr.
Scott writes prettily about a soldier to
whom he suggests the advlrablllty of sleep
ing, now that his warfare Is over; Mr.
Cowper gives us a soothing rhyme about
the snail, and Mr. Shelley presents some
weather comment urder the title of "The
Storm." Take an ordinary newspaper poet
and let hlra know that "Perry Belmont.
William R. Hearst, Vesta Victoria and
Bennett Griffin are aboard, and he would
slam out some Jingles that would sell the
paper.
The "grubstake" has again demon
strated the strength of the hold it gets
on the man who accepts it. The Su
preme Court of Washington has de
cided that an Alaska millionaire must
turn over to a former Port Townsend
man one-third of his fortune, esti
mated at more than $1,000,000,' as
payment for a $6000 grubstake sup
plied by the Port Townsend man in
1901, when the future millionaire was
making a desperate effort to get into
the Tanana country with an insuffi
cient amount of funds to carry him
through. Usually on the frontier the
moral obligation of a grubstake deal
is regarded as sacred, and the percent
age of grubstake cases that get into
the courts is surprisingly small, in
comparison with the number" of bar
gains of this nature that are made,
many of them with nothing in writing
to prove or disprove any contentions
that may arise.
There is at least one compensating
feature attached to the unusually cool
and cloudy weather that has prevailed
during the month of June in Western
Oregon. It extended the season of per
fect roses. As a rule the finest and
fullest blooming comes about the 10th;
this year the height of beauty was
reached ten days later and now, with
no hot sun to wither fully developed
flowers, there remains such a display
all over town as we are not accus
tomed to see after the middle of the
month. This Is specially true of deli
cate hybrid teas which are adversely
affected by the sun's hot rays. For
such home owners who have not yet
made complete selection of new vari
eties to be planted next Fall, today's
natural display In hundreds of Port
land gardens affords a most effective
object lesson. You not only learn
the rose itself; but you discover the
weakness or the strength of the bush,
which is very important. It may be
said in a general way that any ama
teur Portland rosarlan is willing to
convey to the beginner all the prac
tical Information he has at command.
Where parental pride and the
length of the parental purse affect the
quality of graduating gowns worn by
the feminine contingent In high school
graduating exercises, equality is out
of the question. Yet Chicago thjs
year solved the vexing problem of
apparel without arousing envy and
bitterness .on the part of poorer pupils.
Simple was the solution. A uniform
style of dress was decided on, the
materials were bought and the girls
were set to work, under the supervi
sion of a sewing teacher, making their
own frocks. The innovation proved
satisfactory all around and the cost
of each garment was about $2. A
public school room Is purely demo
cratic. Its democracy ought not to
be abandoned on the last day. Chi
cago has set a pattern for every town
in the land big enough to have a high
school.
Boston Is going to pension ( her
school teachers. Under a recent act
of the Legislature, the school board
is authorized to retire with a pension
of $180 per annum any teacher who is
mentally or physically incapacitated,
provided such teacher has reached
the age of 55 and has been engaged
in teaching or supervising thirty years,
twenty of which shall have been in
the Boston public schools. Provision
is also made for a proportionate pen
sion for a shorter term of service.
Thus far legislation has severely lim
ited the application of the pension
principle to pedagogues, but there is
fair prospect now that the system will
spread gradually to other fields of en
deavor. For the first time In her history,
Vermont is to have a full Socialist
ticket in the field at the September
election. Curiously all the names
thereon are Yankee or English. The
nominee for Governor is Joseph H.
Dunbar, a mathematician whose text
books on arithmetic are in use in the
public schools. It is expected that
some folk will soon be raising the
question whether his books are not
dangerous things to leave in the hands
of children.
Of course we have no desire to make
trouble for our excellent Governor and
(possible) Senator in the matter of his
excessive back pay; but it will do no
harm to call to his gubernatorial at
tention the fact that the pestiferous
Lawyer McMahon "made good" In
the Dunbar suits.
"While the sun was setting In the
West," say the press dispatches, "the
obsequies at Princeton were con
ducted." It is important always In
writing a news story to state the exact
place where the sun sets, or sits, as
the case may be.
Linkun Stuffems has an article in a
current magazine on "What's the Mat
ter With the United States and What
to Do About It." The first thing to
do in the general cleaning up process
is to get rid of literary buzzards like
Stuffems.
"In his own quiet way," remarks
the Chicago Tribune, "Mr Cortelyou
has been showing lately that a man
may say nothing and not saw much
wood." Nor even see much wood in
his Vice-Presidential back-yard.
"The aigrette," says the Portland
Woman's Club, "Is a badge of un
speakable cruelty." It is a positive
relief to know at last Just what an
aigrette is. Any man will .recognize
one now the instant he sees it.
Mr. Bryan will write the Denver
platform. Ho is "boss" of the party
more than any man has ever been boss
of a party heretofore. Even Roosevelt
could not write the Republican plat
form. Don't worry if the sun disappears
for a few brief moments today. It's
just another of those "annular"
eclipses, the like of which we have
been having' all day long for some
time.
Is there no way to make the fire
Insurance companies and the local
light and power company settle their
differences without requiring the Inno
cent bystanders to pay the freight?
The real need of the hour is a Port
land team that will fight its way to
the top and stay there. However, the
bottom has been left a long way be
hind or below.
It is quite likely that Mr. Bryan will
lose that Denver nomination daily In
the newspaper headlines until the con
vention meets. Then the votes will
be counted.
Mr. Bryan, we are told by the ad
vertisements, speaks to millions
through the So-and-So phonograph.
That's just a little hard on the Com
moner. Roger Sullivan is going to run
Bryan's campaign and Jerry Sullivan
Is to second his nomination at Denver.
Why is John L. overlooked?
"PEACEFUL BILL" AND "SUNNY JIM"
AN enterprising Chicago newspaper
has started out to organize all the
Bills of the country Into one great
Taft club, and all the Jims Into a Sher
man club. This newspaper has dubbed
the Republican Presidential candidate
"Peaceful Bill," and the Vice-Presidential
candidate "Sunny Jim." If all the
Bills and all the Jims could be Induced to
support the Republican ticket, there
wouldn't be much left for Mr. Bryan.
There is no way, however, to get Bill
Bryan to take out an honorary member
ship In the club, and undoubtedly all the
other Bills of Democratic persuasion will
stay by their old allegiance. Yet It would
be a good advertisement for Mr. Taft and
Mr.. Sherman If they could Induce the
Bills and the Jims everywhere to get to
gether generally in their behalf. Peace
ful Bill and Sunny Jim sound well to
gether. They ought to make up a team
hard to beat, for there is given an Im
pression of harmony and good feeling and
thorough understanding in these humorous
titles that Is likely to appeal strongly to
the popular fancy. But things are not al
ways what they seem. The truth is that
the nomination of Sherman to be Vice
President was a great disappointment to
Mr. Taft and Mr. Roosevelt. Undoubtedly
they are going to make the best of it, and
will encourage to the utmost the organi
zation of Peaceful Bill and Sunny Jim
Clubs everywhere. I am able to give
from authentic sources some outline of
the effort made at Chicago to get a run
ning mate for Taft who would bring
strength to the ticket.
The Roosevelt-Taft theory of this cam
paign Is that Mr. Bryan must be met on
his own ground and that the Republican
party must not retreat a single step from
the policies to which It has been commit
ted by the Roosevelt administration. Mr.
Taft Is believed by Mr. Roosevelt and by
others In his confidence to be most
acceptable In the extreme East, where he
is regarded as a "conservative," though
in the West he Is thought to be a "pro
gressive," and they have not the slight
est doubt that he will carry New York
and all the New England States as
against Mr. Bryan. It did not seem good
policy to have the candidate for the Vice
Presidency from New York or any other
part of the East, but it was desired to get
some one from the West a "progressive"
to run with Mr. Taft. Such a candi
date, It was thought, would do much to
overcome any possible feeling throughout
the West that Mr. Taft was not In every
sense as radical and aggressive as Mr.
Roosevelt In advocacy of the Roosevelt
policies. After canvassing a number of
names, Senator Dolllver, of Iowa, was
decided upon. It was understood, of
course, that Taft would carry Iowa with
out Dolllver, but It was believed the Iowa
Senator, being a brilliant and attractive
speaker, would go on the stump, and, by
conducting a whirlwind campaign, stir up
all needed enthusiasm for the Taft-Dol-llver
ticket, .
e e
With that end In view. Senator Borah,
of Idaho, was dispatched by President
Roosevelt and Mr. Taft to Iowa, In the
days Just prior to the late National Con
vention, for the purpose of urging Sen
ator Dolllver to become a candidate for
Vice-President. Senator Borah found Mr.
Dolllver In a mood more or less receptive,
but before announcing his candidacy ha
made the condition that he must be the
unanimous choice of the Iowa delegation
at Chicago. The matter was presented to
the Iowa delegates, and It made a great
row. They refused their consent; or a
majority of them did. These delegates,
for the most part, were political allies of
Senator Dolllver and Senator Allison, and
were, therefore, opposed to the faction
In Iowa headed by Governor Cummins,
who also wanted to be Senator. Cum
mins cannot be Senator, as things are In
Iowa, unless Allison dies or Dolllver
withdraws. If Dolllver should become
Vice-President the way to the Senate
would then be open to Cummins. There
fore, for their own reasons, the Iowa men
Ignored the call to Senator Dolllver to
enter upon a larger field of activity, and
told the administration to look elsewhere.
The administration did. In retaliation on
Iowa for Its selfish course, the adminis
tration said that it would make Cummins
Vice-President. . The bluff didn't work.
The Iowa delegation was willing to do
anything to get Cummins out of the way.
The Roosevelt-Taft management, being
thus committed to Cummins, could not
well retreat. Cummins did. Indeed, in
many ways ' fulfill the administration
Ideal for the Vice-Presidency. He Is well
known, a radical, a tariff revisionist, and
quite able to make the sort of a cam
paten the Taft people wanted.
Matters reached a crisis when the con
vention in Chicago was under way. On
Thursday Taft was nominated. On that
night Mr. Hitchcock, manager of the
Taft campaign, was notified from Wash
ington to make Governor Cummins the
Vice-Presidential nominee. Hitchcock
hesitated and said it couldn't be done.
Washington insisted. Hitchcock had
demonstrated his ability to handle dele
gates through the trying fight over
Southern representation and had exactly
fulfilled his prediction that Taft would
have more than 700 votes. Why couldn't
he complete the programme by giving
Taft the man he wanted for Vice-President?
That is what Taft and Roosevelt
wanted to know. Meanwhile the New
York delegation, having got Governor
Hughes out of the way through his over
whelming defeat by Taft. had started a
great boom for Sherman. There was n
special sentiment for Sherman In the
convention, but there was a feeling that
If Fairbanks didn't want It and wouldn't
take It, New York ought to be privileged
to select the nominee for Vice-President.
New York had had half a dozen aspiring
gentlemen on its hands with the Vice
Presidential lightning-rod sticking out
with great prominence through their
hats. It was unexpected, then, to nearl7
everybody when. It was announced that
New York had united on Congressman
Sherman. Various influences had brought
about this result. Tim Woodruff, who
had thought he might be Vice-President,
was persuaded to get out of the way by
the representation that. If Sherman
should be selected, there would be one
less candidate for Senator in New York
to succeed Piatt and that he (Woodruff)
would then have a good chance. So
Woodruff himself made the nominating
speech for Sherman. It was seconded by
Speaker Cannon, who, despite his reac
tionary tendencies and militant obtuse
ness. Is still a picturesue and popular
National figure. When, therefore.
Manager Hitchcock refused or failed to
take up the Cummins cause and left the
Vice-Presidential question to settle Itself,
the convention readily fell In with Uncle
Joe Cannon's plans and took Sherman.
Fairbanks could undoubtedly have had
the nomination if he had made it possi
ble. Some members of the Indiana dele
gation, indeed, said that he would take
It. But others insisted that he ought to
be taken at his word and that the good
faith of the delegation itself in booming
him for Prepldent was more or less In
volved and should not be Impugned by
offering him for Vice-President. So
Mr. Fairbanks' name was not presented.
e
It should be explained that the dissatis
faction of the Taft people with Mr. Sher
man does not rest so much on his una
vailability as a candidate as upon the
possible, or even probable, consequences
to them If he shall be elected. While hS
may not have added any strength to the
ticket In the East, he has certainly not
weakened It, and the same. Indeed, may
be said of the West. From that view
point, therefore, Sherman is practically
a nonentity. Taft will probably run as
well everywhere with as without him, '
and vice versa. But the situation, as it
will confront President Taft, Is a Vice
President as presiding officer of the Sen
ate who Is not in harmony with his plans
purposes and policies and who Indeed It
may be feared will be an obstructionist.
Representative Sherman as a member of
the rules committee'of the House is one"
of a little coterie consisting of Speaker
Cannon and Representatives Payne, Dal
zell. Sherman and one or two others,
who absolutely dominate Its affairs and
who have been the main factors In im
peding and even defeating much of the
legislation desired by the Roosevelt ad
ministration. It appears probable, though
there Is a great revolt again.-n him, that
Mr. Cannon will be Speaker of the next
House. It will be' troublesome to the
Taft administration to have another Joo
Cannon presiding over the Senate. Td
be sure, the President of the Senate has
no such power and influence over its af
fairs as the Speaker has over the House.
He does not even name the committees.
Yet it would be greatly preferable and
helpful to have over the Senate a Vice
President acting in harmony with the
administration. Herein therefore, lies the
greater part of the discomfiture of Mr.
Taft over the nomination of Mr. Sher
man. Taft will, of course, get along
well as he can with Sherman, for he
must.
e e e
It is quite likely that failure and
Inability of Mr. Hitchcock to carry out
the Roosevelt-Taft programme ha-e
something to do with the delay of Mr.
Taft In selecting a. Chairman of the
National Republican Committee. It Is
to be remembered that the new Na
tional Committee, at Its first meeting,
left the choice of Its Chairman with
the Presidential candidate. Immedi
ately thereafter Mr. Hitchcock sent a
letter to Mr. Taft withdrawing his
name from consideration, and giving
ill health and his need of a protracted
season of rest as the reason for his
action. It is well understood, however,
that Mr. Hitchcock had found cause to
think that Mr. Taft might hesitate to
place him in charge of his campaign,
not so much perhaps on- account of
any supposed dissatisfaction over the
Vice-Presidential nomination as for
the reason that the selection would
undoubtedly provoke bitter criticism
from Mr. Taft's Ohio friends who are
anxious that Mr. Vorys, of Columbus,
should be the "chairman. Vorys
was practically replaced by Hitchcock
as the Taft nomination manager, al
though be nominally hold his poslcion
in Ohio and in the Middle West, while
Hitchcock was given charge of the
East and South. There Is a fierce
feud between these two men which
has given much trouble to Mr. Taft.
It Is unquestionable that Mr. Hitch
cock rendered very great service to
Mr. Taft In his campaign, lie entered
on the work when the Taft fortunes
were at low ebb and he rescued Taft
from possible, and even probable, de
feat. As an organizer and as a strat
egist Hitchcock had undoubted skill
and capability. The Taft people know
all this, and do not hesitate to ac
knowledge ' it; but they do hesitate to
continue Hitchcock In his dominant
position, for fear of the troubles that
may ensue with others of their
friends. Yet, after all, the most likely
outcome of Mr. Taft's dilemma is that
he will yet call on Mr. Hitchcock to
take the Chairmanship, for Just such a
man is undoubtedly needed by him.
' s
I found at Chicago a general expecta
tion that Mr. Taft will be elected. The
delegates Indeed, for the most part ap
peared to have no doubt about it, though
it was commonly said that the fight will
be harder than had been anticipated a
little while back. The Indiana people
admitted 'that they did not feci entirely
sure of the Republicans carrying the
state without Fairbanks on the ticket.
The Illinois delegation said the same
thing about Illinois without Cannon
as a nominee. These opinions were
no doubt largely influenced by the desires
or the disappointments of the men from
these states. But there la a very lnre
number of colored men both In Indiana
and Illinois, as well as In Ohio, and it is
admitted that these votes, for the pres
ent at least, are against Taft. The hopo
was generally expressed at Chicago, how
ever, that Senator Koraker would be
brought into line and would bring the
negroes with him. Developments appear
to Indicate that this hope Is well
founded, for the Senator has1 already
made it known that he will support tho
Republican ticket. Undoubtedly his ac
tion will do much to stay tho colored re
volt against Taft, but that there are yet
large numbers of colored people who will
vote against him is generally believed.
On the other hand. It Is known that Mr.
Hearst is uncompromisingly against Mr.
Bryan and If the latter shall be nomi
nated at Denver, there will follow aboi
July 27 in Chicago a National convention
of the Independence League, which will
probably nominate a ticket and enunclato
a platform. This ticket, It Is believed by
Republicans, will take many votes from
Bryan and will act In a large measure
as an offset for the negro defection. The
loss of Illinois and Indiana would not.
however, be sufficient to defeat Taft If
he were to carry the East and the re
mainder of the West and" the Pacific
Coast. There was no serious expecta
tion among the delegates that Bryan
could do anything in Wisconsin or Min
nesota and in the Dakotas nor on tl
Pacific Coast. They did pot appear to
understand much about the disturbing
conditions in Oregon and took it for
granted that it would cast In November
its usual Republican majority. The Re
publicans at Chicago assumed that Mis
souri and Kentucky and Maryland would
go back to the Democratic column. Of
course they had no idea whatever that
the horde of colored delegates from the
South, who descended upon the conven
tion with their quarrels and contests,
would be able to do anything to redeem
the South. E. B. P.
V,