The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, October 25, 1908, SECTION THREE, Image 30

The Sunday Oregonian., October 25, 1908, SECTION THREE, Page 6, Image 30

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Newspaper Page TextOCTOBER 25, 190S. PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon. PostoSlce rcond-JIa Matter. ftubecrlptloa Bates Invariably ta Advance. Bt Wall.) rally. Sunday Included, ona year ? t-allv. Sunday Included, aix months. r.lltv BiinHm In.lnHMl An mnnth. ... Zaily. without Sunday, one year OO L-nilr. without Sunday, aix month Ialiy. without Sunday, three nrnth.. Dal'y. without bunday. one month -oo Weekly, on year rn Sunday, ona year J if Sunday and Weekly, one year tBy carrier.) Tally. Sunday Included, ona year t.AO Ially. Sunday Included, ona month ' How to Remit Send poitofrice money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at the sender'! risk. Give poatolllce ad dress In full. Including county ana slat. Poets Bat 10 to 14 pages. 1 cent: IS to paxes, J cents; 30 to 44 l.e. 3 cents. 4 to 00 paces. cents. Foreign posiaga double rates. Eastern Business Office The S. C. Beck wlth Special Agency New York, rooms 4S B0 Tribune building. Chicago, rooms J 10 -OH Tribune building. PORTLAND. SUNDAY. OCT. IS. !. A BLOW TO BBYANISM. Under the direction and leadership of Tom Johnson, a great friend of the people, and of course an Intense ad mirer of Bryan, the City of Cleveland has been led on and on, in the ten dency of Its elapses towards "munici palization of utilities." Johnson is a half-baked Socialist and in full accord with Bryan. His notion was that the city was to take over the streetcar lines and the man agement of urban ' and inter-urban passenger transportation. He won in three or four consecutive elections. Cleveland, under socialistic munici palization, was to be a paradise. The three-cent fare was enough. The other two rents had been nothing but robbery. So the city took possession. At last the people had come into their rights. This beneficent system has. how ever, been in operation in Cleveland till the people of the city have tired of It. They have had enough of it. It has collapsed. The three-cent fare and municipal administration an im mense official force has to be main tained out of the publie purse do not supply revene enough, to meet the de mands of the service. Hence the serv ice is scanty and poor. There is general dissatisfaction. In the final act, the whole bustness is put up to the peo ple of Cleveland, and they reject the innovation. They want the service, but the three-cent fare and the so cialistic administration of the city do not furnish it. The plebiscite is called and the whole thing Is voted down. The business again goes back to the old system for efficiency and relief. Men of Judgment foresaw the col lapse and endeavored to forestall it. In the hope of doing so they induced Theodore E. Burton, member of Con gress from one of the Cleveland dis tricts and chairman of the commit tee on rivers and harbors, to stand as a candidate for Mayor of the city. He was defeated. The experiment had not yet proceeded far enough. It has by this time. and. Tom Johnson's labor of years has come to naught. Cleveland, after Chicago, Is the largest city of the great region of the great lakes. It has. outgrown Cincin nati, once the supreme city of Ohio. It has a population in excess of halt a million. It Is a city Df labor and of industry and of manufacturing establishments. To its working peo ple for years past Tom Johnson, agitator and demagogue and hot air artist, has been holding out won drous hopes and elyslan dreams. The people were to have cheap transpor tation. They got it. . Yet when they got it they found It was not efficient, and they didn't want It. They have rejected, therefore. Tom Johnson and his works. It Is one of the most significant things of the present time. Johnson is a great admirer of Bryan, and Bryan Is a great admirer of Johnson. Into the administration of the City of Cleveland Johnson has projected Bryan's Ideas. Hence the result of the yote In Cleveland, the Judgment of the people of Cleveland on these questions and Issues. Is the severest blow Bryan hiffc received, from the beginning f his present contest till now. Tills result, we believe, surely Indicates that the State of Ohio will reject Bryan and Bryanism repre sented by Johnson by a great ma jority. A lot of people try experi ments, but when they have tried them out they return to old experience and to established Judgment. The vote that repudiates the Johnson fiasco in Cleveland Is solidly against Bryan, and It assures Ohio for Taft. Trust good sense in the long run to assert Itself even though at times appar ently overborne. (iRAdOlS TtSK FOB WOMEX. We are told that the trail of Lewis find Clark through Montana is to be marked at special points by suitable monuments commemorative of that wonderful journey. The first of these monuments was unveiled at Living ton, October 23. the spot chosen be ing that w here Captain Clark pitched his tent In the beautiful valley of the Yellowstone on his return from the Pacific Coast an hundred years and more ago. The Montana chapter of, the Daughters of the American Revo lution have this work In charge, and In due time a number of historic spots In the great Treasure State will be suitably marked for the edification of the present generation and the en lightenment of generations to come. Women who have banded them selves together in patriotic or memor ial bodies have proved quite effective In work of this kind. A striking ex ample of this Is found In the collec tion of relics of colonial times In the old Van Courtland mansion, near New York City. In charge of the "So ciety of Colonial Dames." Number less relics of the old burgomasters of Manhattan Island, the contiguous Jer sey shore. Siaten Island. Long Island and the mainland of New York are there exhibited, properly labeled. In glass cases, and behind open doors protected by Iron railings from the too-close Inspection, with its probable consequences of abstraction by the throngs who visit the place during the Summer months. Infinite detail Is required In the ar rangement and care of an exhibit of this kind, which is not required In a more robust exhibit out of doors, as represented in monuments placed to mark historic events or to perpetuate great names. Hence the Daughters of the Revolution, who have undertaken to place monuments upon historical spots In Montana, have a task set for them that is much easier than that undertaken by the Colonial Dames. Against the commercial Idea which ever seeks and courts the new is ar rayed this veneration for the old: and against the spirit that lives only in the present and valiantly seeks to make the most of It Is arrayed the feeling, wistful or patriotic, that seeks to commemorate the names and honor the achievements of a past age. Between these is the sentiment, hold ing, as it were, the balance of power, that finds expression in monuments that mark historical places and be stows care upon that which is worthy of preservation In Its relation to In dividual and National progress. WHY TAKE ANY CHANCES? The Oregonlan prints today a large number of interviews with Portland business men and manufacturers on the industrial outlook If Bryan shall be elected. Almost without exception they express their apprehension and anxiety over the consequences of Democratic success. They do not pre dict panic, nor indeed do they appear to expect it; Just a suspension of all but necessary activities until it shall be learned what Bryan as President will or can do, or until the country has somehow, accustomed Itself to the new scheme of things. Just now everybody is "waiting till after elec tion"; if Bryan wins, the commercial, political and Industrial world will doubtless "wait to see what Bryan will do.". Of course the country cannot go bn waiting forever; and- we shall get along somehow, for we must. But the waiting process, whether It is for long or short, will not be pleasant or profitable. There is a lot of talk about "coer cion" when an employer tel(s an em ploye that there will be reduction of wages if Bryan wins. If an employer undertakes to tell an employe how to vote, undoubtedly it is ceorcion. But has or has not an employer the right to adjust his business to conditions, present or imminent, and to arrange to reduce his expenses to meet them? Has he a right to inform those largely dependent on him what In his Judg ment must happen in certain contin gencies? Has he a right to assume that his interest is theirs and theirs his, in a large measure? Is he or is he not doing his duty to himself and to them if he silently awaits the ap proach of disaster, certain or possible? Has or has he not a right to appeal to his employes to protect their inter ests and his? No one looks for disaster, of course, if Bryan shall be elected; Just a little slowing up, or a little more than a little, perhaps. The country Is too well off. No one expects disaster, of course, If Taft shall be elected; Just a little acceleration of our present pros perity; or perhaps more than a little. Why take any chances? A HOLY SHOW. If the publicity campaign contribu tors and contributions is to advance the cause of political morality, there must be no deception about it. A pretended publication which conceals more than It xeveals. can only make matters worse. Like every deception. It will tend to destroy the belief of the people that such a thing as po litical honesty exists. Mr. Bryan has made a great parade over the publi cation of the names of those who contributed to his National campaign fund. He has said all he could to convince the public that the list as printed includes every sum contrib uted except a few petty amounts not worth mention. In fact, it does noth ing of the kind. But where does the trick come in? It is not difficult to see where. There are National campaign funds and state and county funds and divers other funds. When a contributor's name would not be ornamental upon the National list, which must be pub lished, what more simple than to put It on the state list, which Is not to be published? Thus the names of Indiana and Illinois 'brewers do not figure on Mr. Bryan's virtuous printed roll. Nevertheless, their money haa figured largely in his campaign. What became of it?' Only the confiding will ask. It went Into "state" funds. Here also would be found the real contri butions of New York millionaires of the shady class, like Flngey Conners, who only gave $100 to the Bryan fund. If we are to believe the Bryan publi cation. The truth Is, of course, that he must have given thousands, and he Is not the only one by any means who has been able to avoid undesir able publicity In this way. So much for the tremendous superiority of Mr. Bryan's campaign ethics. The net result of all his pomp and show will be to make people smile cynically and say, "It Is Just what we expected." CARRIERS AM) I ARM! RS. Among the questions which Mr. Roosevelt's Commission On Country Life propounds Is this: "Do the farm ers in your neighborhood receive from the railroads, highroads, trolley lines, etc.t. the service they reasonably should have?" The further In quiries, "Why?" and "What sugges tions have you to' make? are ap pended to the main one. This ques tion, with Its subdivisions, is the fourth out of a list of ten which the Commission has sent far and wide, hoping to collect as many opinions as possible from sources of all sorts. The answer to the fourth question, which has been selected for a word of comment here, must be a general negative. The railroads In this sec tion of country emphatically pay little attention to the convenience or profit of their rural patrons. The time schedules of trains are arranged without the slightest reference to ac commodating the farmers. For ex ample, the train between Kalama end Vancouver has been running for years upon a purely theoretical scheme of connection with trains on the main line. To the service pf the people who use the local train no attention has been paid. Nine persons out of ten along this road would prefer that the train should run to Vancouver In the morn ing and return in the afternoon. On the contrary, it goes to Kalama In the morning and to Vancouver at night, making things as inconvenient as possible. Moreover, the time for starting the train is made to depend on the arrival of a through service at Kalama, which is proverbially be hind time. At Vancouver the train in variably makes a stop not far from the depot, which delays the passen gers until the ferry has gone. This causes an unnecessary delay of half an hour waiting for the ferry, and. when we add , another usual wait of twenty minutes for the trolley on the Portland side, .the utter indifference of the management to the convenience of the public will be apparent. Con sider, also, the exasperating fact that ticket agents at stations on the Kalama and Vancouver 4Ine often make an overcharge for fares unless passengers protest vigorously. The overcharge is slight to the individual passenger, but to the company or the agent, or whoever pockets it, the total per month of these pickings Is considerable. The ills attendant upon traveling from Kalama to Portland by way of Vancouver will be mitigated, of course, when the new bridges come Into use, but it is still worth while to mention them since they are typical of the relations between the carriers and the public. On the one side we have contempt. Indifference and oc casional swindling: on the other, re sentment and a resolute determina tion to get even when the chance ap pears. CHECKS AND BALANCES. It is an open question whether the most serious hindrances to progress come from good men or bad ones. The opposition of bad men is usually In the open and stands for what It Is. Hence It can be overcome for the most part without great difficulty. But the hindrances which good men interpose are of a more subtle character. Often they are Indirect and obscure, and not seldom they arise from the best of motives. There are a great many excellent citizens who, at some time or other in their lives, have become deeply interested In a reform meas ure, like civil service examinations, for example. Their intense zeal for the new and desirable plan has taken entire possession of them, and has created in their minds the disastrous hallucination that nothing else will ever be necessary to bring perfection In government. These unhappy reformers present cases of arrested development They are like a hen sitting on a china egg. There is no likelihood that it will ever hatch, but still she perseveringly sits, and will evermore continue to sit. Her compeers in the yard may lay multitudes of real eggs and from them hatch lively broods, but all this disturbeth not the serenity of the hen peacefully Incubating her china egg. For her it holds the germs of all hope and upon its hatching hangs the destiny of the universe. Civil service examinations to de termine the fitnesss of persons for civic employment are a moderately useful device. They are not nearly so useful as many fanatics imagine and they are exceedingly liable to doctrin aire perversion. But upon the whole, they probably do more good than harm. Honestly conducted, they partially eliminate the spoils system, which Is well worth while; but if they replace It with a system of crystallized incompetence, the gain is not marked. Your civil service devotee sees in his fetish a panacea for all political ills. He believes that if he can only get a set of employes Into office who have answered a certain list of questions, all will go well forevermore In the government of the country, or the city, as the case may be. Of course, this state of mind is comfortable to the zealot. It affords him perennial ground for admiring his civic virtue without any future exertion. It ab solves him from taking part in efforts really to better things, because he can always point to his panacea and say: "If you would only introduce a little more civil service reform, the troubles would end." Experience has shown, however, that civil service reform does not by any means end the troubles and it may augment them. Thoughtful ob servers are pretty well agreed that a set of civil service rules which, makes It unduly difficult to discharge in competent employes does a great deal more harm than good. The true principle seems to be to make civic employment hard to get and easy to lose. Heads of departments cannot Justly be held responsible for results, unless they have full power to rid themselves of Incompetent employes. Of course, there is danger that the authority to discharge may be abused, but so may any other power. The presumption is, and ought to be. that It will not be abused. One 'of the most curious phenomena in Ameri can municipal life is our ingrained distrust of men in office. Everybody seems to reason on the assumption that the moment a man goes Into of fice he becomes a rascal, and w-ill do all the harm he possibly can. The assumption is natural enough, con sidering what we have seen of city management in this country; but for all that. It Is false. The opinion is defensible that even in America our civic officials have been as upright as the system we have commonly adopted permitted them to be. By our irrational plan of "checks and balances" we have tied their hands so securely that every beneficial im pulse Is thwarted while harmful mo tives play unrestrained. For it is the notorious effect of "checks and bal ances" to paralyze the good and foster the bad. Good motives are frank and somewhat timid. They will rather perish than seek to elude restraint. On the other hand evil Is sinuous, cun ning? and persistent, and there is no system of checks which will stifle it. Experience in America snows con clusively what may be expected of checks and balances. We have al ways resorted to them in framing our city governments and our city gov ernments -are the scandal of the world. Another hindrance to progress which good men and not bad ones are accountable for Is the chimerical dread of "bad majorities." In pretty nearly every American city the major ity of the voters are at least as vir tuous and Intelligent as the excellent persons who call them "bad." There Is in fact no such thing in the United States as a bad majority. There are mistaken majorities and some that are misinformed and misled, but none that are truly bad. Experience shows clearly that the majority of the voters In our cities and states is decidedly upright. It can never be won by an appeal to its lower impulses, and can usually be won by an appeal to what is right and sound. A vicious system of checks and balances In city government has so bafHled the good impulses of the majority that it has too often become discouraged, but whenever it has the chance to right wrongs and correct injustice it never fails to do so. The talk about "bad majorities" Is the worst kind of cant. Still, in spite of fact and reason, we are always at work to guard against the hypothet ical harm which bad majorities can do. The sole fruit of these labors is to kill the benefit which good major ities might do. At the bottom of all this, distrust of men in office and of majorities is unbelief In American principles. It is the outward ex pression of an Inward hatred of de mocracy and preference for aristo cratic oligarchy. AVhat the modern world has gained In light and sweet ness has come through democracy, and yet there are those who still cling to the dire old fetish of the rule of the few, and whenever they have a chance they put their faith In practice by maligning the majority and seek ing to tie the hands of Its elected servants. The only outcome of their efforts is to hold the world yet a little longer in subjection to the bedraggled relics of hoary Iniquity. OREGON'S FEMININE NAMES. I Some days ago inquiry was made of The Oregonlan by a student of the Agricultural College at Corvallis about the origin of the name of Mary's River and of Mary's Peak, near that place. These names were given by Adam E. Wimple, earliest actual settler there. He was from Oneida- County, New York; was a bachelor, and named the town Marysvllle, for his sister Mary, who never was in Oregon; and gave her name also to Mary's River and to Mary's Peak. He Bald, "I will make my sister's name known forever." But Marysvllle was a name so com monly used that the Legislature at an early time, while Oregon was still a territory, changed the name to Cor vallis. The territorial capital was changed from Salem to that place, but after much wrangling was soon taken back to Salem. At the time when the name of Marysvllle was changed to Corvallis the name of Albany was changed to Tekenah; but the name failed to obtain approval and "Al bany" was restored. Feminine names are not abundant in the geographical nomenclature of Oregon; but another occurs at this moment, whose origin Is worth re mark. It Is that of the county named Josephine. It was named for a young girl, Josephine Rollins, daughter of an early settler and gold miner there. The county was ..created In January, 1856. Josephine Rollins had been at heroine In the Indian troubles of the country, and if we mistake not was one of the victims of the savage war fare. Several postofflces in the state have feminine names, some of them from pioneer women; others from old my thology. It Is remembered that the name Mehama, In Marion County, was from Mehama Smith; that' of Al bina, now incorporated with Portland, from the wife or daughter of the late W. W. Page. Anabel and Clarnie (the latter made from the first syllable of Clara and the last syllable of Jennie) are suburbs of Portland. It would be worth while, doubtless, to explore this field further. A few streets In Portland, and perhaps In other towns of Oregon, bear fem inine names, of local origin; but on the whole our women have not been honored as they should be. In our geographical and local nomenclature. The town of Florence, in Lane County, was not named, we think, for a wo man, but for A. B. Florence, mem ber of the Senate from Lane, in the first Legislature of the state. LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE. Thirty-five miles of steel have been laid on the new line that is to follow the Snake River from Huntington to Lewiston, and there is steel on hand for an additional fifteen miles, which will be laid as soon as the grade can be prepared. The line already com pleted will open up a very rich min ing country which will undoubtedly become a revenue producer for the road as soon as it is turned over to the operating department. One or two new towns have come into existence and, in a sn-rall way, there will be some agricultural development. All of this is interesting to Portland, for It is in Portland territory; but it is not in the mining traffic nor in the com paratively insignificant amount of new agricultural development that this city will regard the new line with more than ordinary interest. This new road is the beginning of a connecting link which will give Portland a water-level rail route for nearly 800 miles eastward. The com pletion of the road between Lewiston and Huntington, forming a connect ing link between the O. R- & N.'s Snake River line and. the Oregon Short Line, means that for more than one-third of the distance between Portland and Chicago, and about one fourth of the distance between Port land and New York, a single locomo tive can haul a greater tonnage than can be moved with a corresponding power by any other trans-continental railroad in the United States. Mr. Harriman has for years been spend ing vast sums of money on the Union Pacific, to which the Oregon Short Line turns over the traffic which is hauled out of the Portland territory. Recently he has taken up the work of straightening out the Portland end of the line, and at this time Is over hauling the road between Portland and the Cascades at an expense which, for many miles, Ig more than double the original cost of the road. With the elimination of all grades and most of the curves along the river, the line will not only stand with out a rival for economical movement of freight, but It will also be in a position to maintain very fast pas senger schedules. For the immediate future, the new North Bank Road, tapping, as it does, new and at many points undeveloped regions, means more to Portland than any Improve ments In the trans-continental service. The same is also true of the proposed line to Central Oregon, to Coos Bay and to Tillamook. But, looking ahead and at the pace at which we are now moving it Is not very far ahead the time is coming when the prestige of being the western terminus of trans-continental lines using the easiest grades from the Atlantic - to the Pacific, will mean much to Port land. The manufacturing centers of the East are steadily shifting farther west, and by the time the Panama Canal is completed, there will be vast quanti ties of Oriental-bound freight gener ating so far inland that It can be shipped west to the Pacific by rail and steamer to better advantage than via the Atlantic seaboard. This im mense traffic will some day be in con trol of Portland if we continue our campaign for a thirty-foot channel to the sea. The water-level grade is as serting its advantages. If we center all our efforts on opening the river from Portland to the "sea, no other port on the Pacific Coast can offer the same advantages as a meeting point for the railroad and the ocean carrier. BURYING AN IDIOT ALIVE. Civilization, so it seems, is unable to do anything better for an idiotic Indian girl at Tacoma than to order that an Iron cage three feet by six be built for her, In her father's house, and that she be kept confined therein. The poorhouse authorities of Pierce County would have none of her; the insane asylum at Steilacoom refused to open Its doors to her; the Govern ment school at Canton, S. D., has not seen Its way clear to provide for her, and the distracted humane officer de vised the cage as the best that could be done for this wretched human ani mal. ' Three feet by six the length and depth of a grave are the dimensions ordered for this creature's living sep ulcher! Strange as It may seem. It is true nevertheless that many so-called humane and Christian people accept this solution of a perplexing problem as the "best that can be done" for this poor creature. They would be horri fied at the suggestion that painless exit from the body by simple means known to medical science Is the truly humane solution of such a problem. "Murder." cries a shocked and thoughtless public sentiment. To which, medical science, earnest and humane, might well respond: "No, not murder, but release." Murder lurks about the cage, torturing its ultimate victim by neglect, cold, hunger, foul odors, sleepless nights and dull, sod den days. Release through ciean and painless means is at hand, but dare not announce Its presence, so short sighted is human sympathy, so blind Is human law to the true spirit of hu manity In such a case. The follow ing beautiful lines of Helen Hunt Jackson, though not quite applicable, are suggestive in connection with a case of hopeless idiocy and cruel physical suffering. If one had watched e prisoner many a. year. Standing behind a barred window pane. Fettered with heavy handcuff, And with. chain, t And gazing on the blue sky far end near; And suddenly some morning ha should bear The man had In the night contrived to gain His free'lom and was safe would tbia bring pain? Ah, would It not to dul'eat heart appear good tidings? ' THE SEVEN CANDIDATES. The New York Independent haa conceived the singular Idea of laying before its readers the views of each of the Presidential candidates upon the merits of his party. The result Is seven of the most Interesting politi cal articles which have appeared in a long time. Six candidates speak in person and one by deputy. The can didate of the Socialist Labor. party, Mr. M. R. Preston, is prevented by circumstances over which his control Is slight from writing his own article, so his proxy, August Gilhaus, supplies his place. Mr. Preston is perhaps the only man who has ever run for Presi dent within the walls of a peniten tiary, 'though possibly there have been others w-ho would have done so If everybody had his dues. The immured Mr. Preston should not be confounded with Mr. Debs, who represents a much more numerous body of constituents, and Is abundantly able to speak for himself, as his article shows. Com menting on the seven short discourses The Independent says that they all agree In an impulse toward the better ment of National conditions. Not one of them expresses much satisfaction with things as they are. All look to ward changes and the principal dif ferences among them are of method and degree rather than of substance. The reader will search the articles In vain for a defenso of any admitted abuse. All confess that abuses are numerous and all aspire to correct them. Mr. Taft, as is natural for an optimistic Republican, dwells a good deal upon the prosperity of the coun try, which he thinks is only tempor arily Interrupted, and from this hope ful opinion he draws his conception of the principal issue of the campaign. Shall the party which made all this prosperity for us be continued In office or not? He does not believe that the tariff Is a substantial issue because both parties have pledged themselves to revision; while the question of trusts and rebates is hardly an Issue Hither, since both parties wish to cure the evils though by different reme dies. He condemns Mr. Bryan's idea of putting all trust-controlled articles on the free list for the reason that It would destroy the small competitors of the trusts. Possibly It may have escaped Mr. Taft's observation that many of these small competitors are going to the wall pretty rapidly as it, is. There is much doubt whether the repeal of the tariff which strengthens monopoly would accelerate their fate. The real objection to Mr. Bryan's plan is that it is impossible to separate trust-controlled goods from others. Concerning the tariff Mr. Taft speaks with evident constraint. He is at his best when treating other subjects. His calm and lucid exposition of the in junction problem Is the most admir able section of his article. To Mr. Bryan's mind the greatest of the evils Is the control of the Gov ernment by the representatives of the corporations, who have usurped the rightful power of the people. Three principal means, he thinks, have con tributed to their usurpation. The first is the huge sums of money which they advance to the Republican campaign managers. The second is the indirect election of Federal Senators. The third Is the control of the. House of Representatives by the petty Cannon clique. For the campaign fund evil he proposes the remedy of publicity. This he claims is peculiarly Demo cratic though Mr. Taft favors it quite as strongly as he does. To eliminate the corporation Senators he would make them elective by direct vote of the people. Whether this Is to be brought about by amending the Con stitution or simply by Ignoring It he fails to specify. To get rid of the Cannon clique In the House, Mr. Bryan thinks it would be sufficient to reform the rules in such a way that the majority may rule. This solution appears simple enough, but when one remembers that Mr. Cannon has wrought all his mischief under a set of rules reformed for the express pur pose of securing control by the ma jority one is constrained to pause and meditate. The real remedy for the abuses in the House is probably to elect members 'who have some Initi ative and courage of their own. One might safely venture the sally that our beloved brethren, of the Methodist persuasion are doing mors to abolish Mr. Cannon and all his works than I Mr. Bryan's reforms will ever do. j Mr. Watson's article Is the liveliest kind of reading and his shots at me Supreme Court do not always miss fire. Our Federal Judges are human beings after all and humanum est to grab power when it is within arm's reach. Mr. Watson sees no virtue In the courts and little anywhere else outside the circumscribed volume of his own brain. If he could only be elected President, what a Jubilee of righteousness there would be at Washington for the next four years, but alas! there is no hope for it. After Taft and Bryan. It will probably be conceded that the next most Impor tant candidate Is Debs. The Inde pendence party is but an evanescent phenomenon. It represents a protest mereiy and not a very sincere one at that, while the Prohibitionist party Is a real obstacle to the reform which it unwisely advocates. Still nobody can read Mr. Chafln's article without according him a trib ute of profound admiration for his unmistakable sincerity and depth of conviction. As for Mr. Debs, those who only think of him as a wild agi tator will read his article in The Inde pendent with surprise. Very likely there is no escape in the future from a decisive reckoning between the socialist theory of production and the wage system. Those who wish to read an enlightened treatment of the Issue may find it in the last number of The Outlook, where Dr. Lyman Abbott In a signed editorial predicts the speedy disappearance of what Mr. Debs calls "wage slavery" and the Introduction of what Dr. Abbott calls "industrial democracy" In its place. i In Oregon you must not ask a man on election day how he Intends to vote, of what he thinks about the questions to be voted on, ' or try to show him. In the way of friendly con versation, what you think about mat ters Involved In the election. If you do you will fall under the ban of "the corrupt practice act." But damn humbug, and its propagators! Not a Jury In Oregon would convict a man for uttering-fair and honest speech on election day. But URen might be convicted by a jury, in any county, for drawing up such an act. Let any man who wants to make a fair argu ment with his neighbor on election day, do so. Or on any other day. Try It on U'Ren, and let him essay to put you in the penitentiary! Only no doubt you would be unwilling to come Into contact with U'Ren. The great age of 104 years, reached by John Garrison, who died a few days ago at Tracyton,' Kitsap County, Washington, represents a length of years that few would care to attain. Failing sight, dulled hearing, halting memory, enfeebled body, the inevitable accompaniments of so great an age, reduce life to a state of mere existence that It Is pitiful to contem plate, and but for the mercifully dulled perceptions, would be grievous to bear. Nature is not given to mis takes. She refuses to indorse the Os ier idea of suspended usefulness and capacity for enjoyment at the age of three-score, but she very seldom, rel atively speaking, drags a human be ing along to a point where little else than life survives and holds him there in sheer helplessness, wistfully await ing her final decree. The provision of law that compels a street railway company to pave be tween Its rails with Belgian blocks should appeal to friends of the horse. As a city grows its area of hard, smooth pavement Is extended and these are, naturally, the streets that attract traffic. In moist or wet weather animals, no matter how shod, cannot get a foothold. One has but to watch the heavy draft horses edge toward the middle of the street to be come convinced; and the hearty pull In the traces by the animals when they reach It attests their satisfaction. Traction companies, of course, are not humane societies, yet they are un der obligation to. man and beast for all make the city and its business. " There is a. chance for some enter prising town to become very well known by securing the next meeting of the Oregon Dairymen's Association, to be held in December. The presence at a two-day session of 400 or 500 people who are accustomed to buying at the rate of $200 or J300 a head is a factor to balance the expense ac count and the consequent advertising the place receives can go into the profit column. , All newspaper men, all obesrvers, agree that the election is in three states, New York, Indiana and Ohio. To these states the campaign has nar rowed. Bryan seems to have a chance In Indiana, but scarcely a chance In New York or In Ohio. As to Ohio, The Oregonlan believes Taft is as sure to carry it as any state in the Union. Pretended publication of the Bryan campaign fund, in advance of the elec tion, as the New York Sun shows, Is humbug of the cheapest kind. Pub lication down to this time, and se crecy as to everything during the last days before the election. Is "a trick so vulgarly transparent as to nauseate the looker-on." To tell voters that you don't know whether you will be able to continue your business after election Is no coercion of voters. Perhaps they may not want you to continue your busi ness. Perhaps discontinuance of your business is Just one of the things they want. Now just suppose that Illinois had really been in earnest and had suc ceeeded In getting Uncle Joe Cannon nominated for President at Chicago. It must make Illinois shudder when ever it dreams over what might have happened. Now it is reported that there is dan ger that Oklahoma may go for Taft, But perhaps "danger" isn't the right word. It depends on how you feel about it. Mayor Lane is employing secret In spectors to watch contractors. Had he done this before, with other per sons, he might have avoided a lot of trouble. The nonpartisan party in Oregon has gone back to the Democratic party. But nobody . sftOuld be sur prised. As signs multiply that Bryan will be. defeated, it becomes plainer that he is the advance agent of prosperity. HAS HAD ENOUGH OF IT. That la, of the Craay and Abomlnabl Innovation. Weston Leader, Dem. An offspring of Populism, the Si amese twin-child. Initiative and Ref erendum, was foster-fathered and cud dled by both old parties In Oregon. It was and is yet by many regarded as sound political gospel; a most Illumin ating satellite of the bright Star of Progress, i The Leader embraced It albe.lt with some mlsglvlmrs. Tt had been Indorsed by the Republicans, which Is enough of itself to condemn any measure: but had also been In dorsed by the Democrats, who are the wisest things going In politics this side of Mars. We thought our beloved party knew; and so we became an In ltlatlvellte and a Referendumpist. But It's been a sorry dose so far a panacea for political ills that gives us both pain and pause. We are not sure but we'd rather have the Ills. The general appropriation bill was held up and the Weston Normal put ouiof busi ness until at the succeeding election the good sense of the commonwealth could come to the rescue of Its Institu tions which it did beautifully by downing the referendum crowd about four to one. Next the University of Oregon was hammered, and had to be rescued from the knockers. Other minor things were done under the referen dum, but these will suffice to "point a moral and adorn a tale." But the Initiative twin had not been idle either, and under his mischievous Influence we have a number of freak laws or will have when the Legisla ture meets and the mandate of the people is obeyed. That known as the "corrupt practices law" deserves the highest bench at the side show as the wlerdest freak of them all. It Is a blow at free speech and Indirectly at the 'freedom of the press to "prohibit attempts on election day to persuade any voter to vote for or against any candidate or any measure submitted to the people." If It's wrong to dis cuss a measure or a candidate on elec tion day It's wrong at any other time. The law is absurd and cannot be en forced. It is useless except to furnish an object lesson of stupidity. The Leader opposed It, declaring that the people were trying to make tyrants of themselves and would become their own slaves. The editor personally worked against It at the polls, an ac tion -for which he wojld be liable to arrest had the law been in effect. No use. It carried Weston by about two to one and the state by a big vote. The people had spoken. The Leader may be recalcitrant and a traitor to the cause of reform, but It now wishes to say that It considers the Initiative and Referendum most in need of reforming or else of the "hook." It hag occupied the stage sufficiently long in Its present guise. We don't care if It has been Indorsed by the Demo crats of the Angel Gabriel, we do longer regard It as a "thing of beauty and a Joy forever." We are willing that It's nondescrlt remains may be given a belated burial with the Populist party. HARRIMA, "GENERAL PROVIDER" Does the Trail of His Immense Sams Lead to 26 Broadway f New York Journal of Commerce. Apparently Mr. Harriman Is becom ing a sort of "general provider" for em barrassed corporations. The roll of cripples to whom he has supplied crutches was Increased yesterday, re port said, by the addition of Westing house. The story goes that Mr. Harri man has Joined the National City Bank in supplying the funds necessary to pacify malcontents, and that he will give the company'an enormous amount of new business in connection with the electrification of the Erie and other wise. Is the fanciful picture drawn some time ago of Mr. Harriman per emptorily commandeering various In dustrial corporations as adjuncts to his railroad empire going to be repro duced in realty? Some people wonder where Mr. Harriman obtains the mill ions upon millions necessary to reha bilitate railroad after railroad without being reimbursed. Were he to re-enter politics, perhaps an enemy would think it worth while to steal more of his cor respondence, not with the White House, but with No.' 26 Broadway. Then the public might be enlightened. The Morality of It. Kansas City Journal. What moral right had the Bryan managers to oust Haskell from his of ficial position and at the same time take money from such men as Roger Sullivan, "Fingy" Conners, Tom Tag gart, - Boss Murphy, Perry Belmont, Moses Wetmore and other malefactors of considerable wealth? Why should Bryan condemn the Republicans for accepting help from Andrew Carnegie when he himself Is benefitting- from the money contributed to his campaign by Senator W. A. Clark, the Montana multi-millionaire? Is not the con tribution of a wealthy business man to the Republican campaign fund off set by the contribution of that sterling patriot and friend of the people, Rich ard Croker, erstwhile Tammany chief, who grew rich at the expense of the taxpayers of New York? Tammany is and has been for years the most corrupt political organization the world has ever known; it has stolen millions upon millions from the people of New York In grafts of colossal magnitude and brazen character. Yet it is this money that Bryan has ac cepted In his virtuous race in behalf of the dear people. Mr. Bryan holds up his hands in horror when somebody suggests that "tainted money" is be ing contributed to the Taft fund, but when money comes his, way he smiles blandly and asks no questions. The Upper Room. Mary Roberts Rinehart. In my house of life Is an Upper Room. A small ana " . , And there I dreamed In the mist-gray gloom And I looked my -soul in the face. ('O Upper Keom with your dreams where I Let my friends, unwept, so passing by!") Once Love tried the door, and child's voice came I - heard it through my prayers But the door was barred when the child called my name. And the steps went down the stairs. ("And yesterday at the door I found A toy and a rose trampled on the ground.") And -my prayers were heard, for with toll my house Has grown, tho' empty, great; And from my Upper Room I see Crowds gathered around my. gate. ("From my Upper Room with its dreams where I Let the loveless years go passing by.") I have fought my fight. Hark, they brlns the prize I have won; I have won the race! But sit and I dare not lift my eyes To look my sou! in the face. ("For yesterday at the door I found A toy and a rose trampled on the ground.")