TTIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, JANUARY 24, 1909.
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PORTLAND, 8VNDAY. JANIARY I. 190.
LIVING A-VD DOINQ.
It may be taken for certain that
none of these people who talk about
living as Jesus lived would do so
If they could. They really don't wan
a life of poverty, privation, humility
and distress. The food and dress and
lodging that Jesus had would give
them Instant and Infinite disgust. His
associates were groups of squalid
half-starved people. living In
barren land. In lowest depths of
poverty none the worse, perhaps,
for that: but their life would
not be tolerated even by the poorest,
of any progressive modern country.
Nothing could be more inconslder
ate, therefore, than expression or a
wish to "return to the life that Jesus
lived." His work and that of his dis
ciples was the work of a people or
of a class of people, who had no hope
of any earthly heritage. But the
human spirit cannot be utterly cast
down; and these people, hopeless for
this world, were In position, or state of
mind, to look to the next world for re.
lief from the hard and unequal condi
tions of the present one. ' That state of
mind, that dejection and hopelessness
as to earthly affairs, how favorable
soever to spiritual exaltation, wouldn't
suit the present time, nor the modern
world. It would hardly suit even
Brother Brougher te follow a life of
campaigning, on foot, among the vil
lages of a poor district, - leading a
bunch of Salvation Army evangelists.
living on what he could pick up by
the wayside.
Jesus was of his time; strictly of his
time. He Is of our time also; not for
what he was In fact, but because he
has been advanced to an Ideal, or
made the embodiment of an ideal, of
large portion of humanity. For the
present age he would not be fitted at
all. Nobody now could live as he
lived, because the life of that age, the
life of a poor fragment of a people,
in an obscure province of the Roman
Empire, would be Impossible now.
anywhere In the world. His wonder
ful place in history is due to the
idealization of his life, career and
character: and the Christian world, as
It makes progress In moral, in sense
of Justice and general humanity as it
carries Its Ideal forward from age to
age deifies this growing ideal, and
attributes to Its object everything it
gains, aspires to or strives for. Of
course Jesus could not come in per
son Into the modern world. If he
did, or should, it would be so unlike
him. and so inhospitable to him, that
neither he nor it would recognize
each other. Jesus, In history, is the
idealizing spirit of humanity the
name used for representation or ex
pression of It. To talk of living as
Jesus lived, or doing as Jesus would
do, is thoughtless and Idle speculation.
SEN ATOR AND PRESIDENT.
The Spokane Review unmuzzles Its
wisdom on the Senatorial election in
Oregon. It is noticed here only be
cause of the appeal It carries" to The
Oregonlan. We quote:
Perhaps Th Oregonlan would like com
plete "restoration" of the Constitution In
th manner of electing Presidents and Vice
Presidents. Perhaps It will hold that rhera
Is no greater moral obligation upon th
Presidential Elector to elect Taft Presi
dent than upon 'he Oregon Legislature t
elect Chsmbcrlaln Senator or the Wash
ington Legislature to vote for Jones.
The Spokane Review is usually a
bright newspaper. But it is dull here.
The reason Is that it has not brought
to consideration of this subject its
usual acumen, discrimination and
Judgment. There Is no parallel at all
where It attempts to force a parallel.
Members of the Legislature of Ore
gon who elected Chamberlain, a man
who stands directly in opposition to
the policy and purposes of their party,
voted for him because they were en
trapped by a pledge taken Inconsider
ately. They could only express their
regret; which they did when they cast
their votes, on the ballot for Senator.
But Presidential electors are expect
ed to cast their votes only for the
candidate of their party for President.
They would be regarded as Infamous
had they not voted for the candidates
of their party. Several times In our
history one man has been elected to
the Presidency when another had re
ceived a plurality of the popular vote.
Not one of the Bryan electors. In any
state, voted for Taft though the plur
ality for Taft on the popular vote ex
ceeded 1.200.000. In the State of
Washington the Republican members
of the Legislature all voted for Jones.
The Democratic members all voted
against him.
Of course the candidates for the
Legislature in Oregon were under no
obligation to take a pledge against
their party; but msny. having taken
It. without foreseeing ' consequences,
saw no way of escape from it. So
they voted "under protest"; and the
protests of some thirty of them were
pitiful Indeed, and will be worth re
printing and re-reading, on proper oc
casion, for years to come.
But what The Oregonlan now in
tends to expose and refute is the asser
tion or assumption that "the princi
ple" of the election of Chamberlain in
Oregon was parallel with, or In con
formity with, the manner of the elec
tion of Jones to the Senate In Washington,-
and the election of Taft to
the office of the President of the
United States. We do not find that
the political opponents of Jones elect
ed Jones, nor that the political oppo
nents of Taft elected Taft. The men
who "took the pledge" in Oregon
didn't expect to elect a Democratic
Senator, nor to be called on to do it.
They were tricked and trapped, and
aid so. when they came to vote. It
was for them to say what they would
do. and they ejected Chamberlain; but
there are many men of good morals
who adhere to the old doctrine that
trickery and fraud can be no proper
basis of engagements of' any kind
Members whose souls revolted at the
Idea of electing Chamberlain, yet did
elect him. The whole country heard
their cry of agony. They thought It
a "moral obligation"; and The Orego-
nian has not censured them for that
view. At the same time It was clear
they had forgotten their representa
tive obligation; and they sorrowfully
admitted the fact. Observe, however,
that the Bryan electors never prom
ised to vote for Taft In case the popu
lar plurality should declare for him.
They would have been hooted 'out of
every state.
A REPINING CRITIC.
The other day The Oregonlan, hum
bly thankful for overflowing mercies,
ventured to felicitate everybody on
the plenteous store or Ice which Prov
idence had provided for the common
enjoyment. "In Summer." exclaimed
Tho Oregonlan. "the poor may envy
the rich because the rich have plenty
of Ice. but in the Winter the poor
have Ice as well as the rich. You
see, after all, things are pretty well
balanced In this world." To this ex
pression of gxaterul Joy the esteemed
Mount Scott News takes exception
with a certain heat which we both
wonder at and deplore. "The bounty
of Nature does NOT equalize every
thing." our excited contemporary
shouts, with the "not" In huge capi
tals, so that the reader will be sure to
see it. "In the Summer the rich have
ice and every other delicacy that
money can buy. In the Winter, ditto.
The poor have scarcely anything else 1
l . t I. 1 1 " i . e..Al njA n
UIIL CC III n llliri, 1 1 'J lucii v iiv
clothes. In the Summer they can
exist without Ice. If things were well
balanced, we should have no extreme
rich or poor."
Under this overwhelming tide of
rebuke The Oregonlan naturally feels
quite subdued. Still It retains spirit
enough to point out to the News that
half a loaf Is a good deal better than
no bread. Our suburban neighbor re
pines, because Nature does not bestow
ice upon the poor In Summer as well
as In Winter. If -she did bestow it
he would repine still more. If the
poor laboring man had to go around
In July wearing high boots and a
thick overcoat, would he be much hap
pier than he Is now? On the other
hand, would it enhance his Joys to be
compelled to wear a straw hat in Jan
uary? What our complaining con
temporary really desires Is a general
overturn which should make Summer
out of Winter and Winter out of Sum
mer; but after it was all complete,
who would be any better off? The
rich man can get ice in Summer, to be
sure, but it ruins nis aigesuon ana
makes him a weazened old scarecrow
at forty, while the sturdy son of toll
who cannot get It retains his manly
vigor far Into the nineties if he is
lucky. So with Winter. The rich
can have furnace heat, but with it
they inhale tuberculosis and other
horrors which lead them to the tomb,
while the poor in their humble but
hygienic cots breathe Nature's pure
ozone and smile at death.
Very likely the News In Its fretful.
If not Irreverent, mood thinks It could
balance things better than Nature has.
Well, all we have to say is, try it and
see how you come out. In our opin
ion the exit will be through the little
end of the horn.
But the whole point Is that an es
teemed neighbor coulan't see the point
of a simple Joke, a mere bit of badin
age, but treated It in most serious
vein. Indeed, as of old. we must
speak by the card or f quivocation will
undo us."
HARVARD'S NEW PRESIDENT.
The election of a new president for
Harvard University is an event of Na
tional Importance. Education has al
ways been one of the principal cares
of our Federal and state governments.
From the red school house on the hill
side to the opulent college in its trim
campus, Americans prize all their
schools and perhaps among them they
prize Harvard most. There is an ill
natured suspicion afloat that the an
cient Cambridge alma mater carries
her nose rather high In the air and
entertains a certain scorn for the rude
ways and sturdy people of this demo-
ratic land. Even such a straight-
laced newspaper as the Springfield
Republican has voiced the suspicion
now and then, and there may be
grounds for it. The "Harvard dis
ease," as it is called, consists in a
great weariness of everything In
heaven and earth and a sublime con
tempt for all that ordinary mortals
ove and hate. This disease may pos-
ibly originate with an aristocratic
germ which pervades the air of Cam
bridge, but It is comparatively harm-
ess. If a graduate has a severe at
tack he dies young: if not, he out
grows it and often becomes almost as
useful as if he had never been to col
lege. Harvard has her Barrett Wendells
nd other lamentable features. She is
also given, perhaps overmuch, to re-
ectlon upon the long line of her an
cestors and fixes her eye too atten-
ively upon the size of her children's
estates; but for all that she has been
the pioneer In more progressive
movements than any other college in
the country. The old complaint that
nlversltles are the last asylums of ex
ploded beliefs and worn-out creeds
oes not apply to Harvard. Her be
liefs-are admirably new and her creed
must be caught on the fly, or it will
not be caught at all. Still she dearly
ioves the flavor of antiquity. It Is
doubtful whether her halls would not
crumble to dust from the shock If
anybody but a Bostonlan of Plymouth
Rock ancestry and Harvard Indoctrin
ation for at least half a dozen genera
tions were ever to be made president.
Professor A. L. Lowell upon -whom
the mantle of Dr. Eliot has fallen,
possesses these desirabilities and
many others.
He will need them all, for President
Eliot will not be an easy man to fol
low. He has done much, and done it
ao well that few could hope to rival
his achievements. The chances are
that Professor Lowell will not try to
rival them, because there is no need.
The time has not come for another
great pedagogical reform such as Dr.
Eliot made when he introduced, the
elective system of college studies. No
body quite knows yet how the system
will work out. It may need restric
tpn Instead of extension. There is no
cause to wage such a war on any other
language as the retiring president
waged, quietly but effectively, on
Greek. Latin, to be sure, is a fetich
still, but a feeble one. Its prestige Is
substantially gone, and It makes but a
weak pretense of tyrannizing over stu
dents, as It did a quarter of a cen
tury ago. Young men and women who
are now permitted to devote their col
lege years to studies which prepare
them for modern life seldom reflect
how much of their liberty they owe to
President Eliot. His career, upon the
whole, has been one of hard-won vic
tories. Professor Lowell will natural
ly seek to solidify the new empire
which his predecessor conquered.
The retiring president of Harvard
was educated in science. His first lit
erary production was a text-book of
chemistry. His mind has always dwelt
with satisfaction among facts and the
inductions to which they lead. His
successor is of a different type. He
is a lawyer who practiced his profes'
sion for seventeen years before he be
gan to lecture in the university.- He
has a brother who is a United States
Circuit Judge. We may therefore rea
sonabiy Infer that President Lowell
will Incline more to abstract reason
ing than did his predecessor, and form
his policies more upon general the
orles. Harvard will leave pioneering
to the State Universities of the West,
perhaps, and slip quietly back among
the host of conservative colleges. Nat
urally the students care more about
the new president's opinions upon ath
letlcs than his type of mentality. With
them the all-important question is,
"What does he think of football?"
He has told what he thinks. Last
October. In an address to the fresh
man class, he said that "while he was
aware that athletic prowess Is not a
necessary adjunct to academic pres
tige and power, he recognized the Joys
and profits of bodily competition.
This exquisite Bostonese may not. be
intelligible to young men in this part
of the world without translation. It
signifies that President Lowell Is not
so strongly opposed to athletics as he
would be If he opposed them more
strongly, which ought to be satisfac
tory to any reasonable freshman. In
fact there seems to have been no grum
bling about it. It Is likely enough that
Professor Lowell will continue the ra
tional Harvard policy In regard to ath
letics, recognizing their value, but
keeping them under control So far aa
such an essentially anarchistic affair
con be controlled. Harvard, cautious
and well seasoned In' choosing, is not
likely to make mistakes In electing a
president. She loses a good one, but
the chances are that she has measur
ably made up the loss. .
A CENTCRY AND A HALF OF BURNS.
Ro'bert Burns was born January 25,
1759, and died In 1796, when he was
S7 years old. Tomorrow it will be
150 years since his birth. His un
timely death has often been lamented
as if it had deprived the world of some
greater work than he ever produced,
but this is very questionable. There
is little reason to believe that death
has deprived the world of much
poetry better than It possesses. Byron,
who died almost at the same age as
Burns, certainly could not have sur
passed his "Chllde Harold" and "Don
Juan." Those works, with "Manfred,"
mark the flood tide of his genius. He
might have done something as good
had he not perished when he did, but
we could not have expected anything
better. Of course the case of Keats
is different. At the time when he was
taken off his poetry was still forma
tive. From the crude power of "En
dymlon" it "showed steady growth in
beauty up to the immortal odes, and
if he had lived there is no question
but that his name would have shone
today with a brighter luster than it
does. More truly still we may say the
same of Chatterton, but in most cases
the early death of poets has not been
unkindly to their fame.
Neither Shakespeare nor Spencer
was an old man when he died, Poe
was only 40, and, although Walt
Whitman had accomplished his three
score and ten, still he had done noth
ing of great moment for many years.
It is only now and then that a poet,
like Milton, writes his noblest works
in the evening of his life. It may be
doubted whether an old man, or even
a man in what Is called middle age,
could write such lyrics as Burns com
posed. They require the fire and pas
sion of youth, together with a physical
vigor which gives reality to the visions
of the Imagination. After 40 the his
tory of literature tells us that the lyric
muse plpe3 thinly. The poet then
forsakes the ruddy allurements of
love and begins to ponder upon more
solemn themes. If all the lyric poets
had lived to be old men, we should
have gained some excellent phllosoph
ical meditations, but not many songs
which we should care to sing very
often. They are like prizefighters and
workmen on steel buildings In the re
spect that their career closes early by
Its very nature.
Nor need we waste many tears over
the "dissipations" and other so-called
Immoralities of Burns. It Is not likely
that he ever drank much more liquor
than the men who meet to celebrate
his fame do today. He says him
self
- If no I like to sit and swallow.
Then like a swine to puke ana wallow;
But icle me Just a true gufd fallow
Wf right engine.
And spunkie. nnce to make us mellow,
And then we'll shine.
He liked good company because he
was deeply human, and he liked to
drink because it warmed his heart
and loosened his wit. At least he
thought it did. There are destructive
philosophers nowadays who allege
that the temperature of the heart rises
Just as high when pure cold water Is
the beverage of good fellows. They
say It makes wit flow faster and more
sparkling than any vintage of cham
pagne ever could,, but in Burns time
people were not so wise as we are and
probably not so upright. At-any rate,
he dearly loved the flowing bowl and
a merry company with it. That strong
drink ever injured the quality of his
verse It would be difficult to prove.
One of the most pitiable things In
the rather tragic history of Burns'
life Is the remorse he used to feel
after meeting with his convivial-
friends. He had been trained up In
the good old belief that Indulgences
which were entirely proper for the
upper classes were something fearfully
wicked for a man of his station in
life. We nojver hear that the little
Scotch lairds who caroused with Burns
ever felt the faintest sting of remorse
for the good times they had, but when
It was all over the poet used to heap
terrible reproaches upon himself, as if
he' had committed the .unpardonable
sin. Very likely these woeful seasons
of remorse did Burns a great deal
more harm than his drinking. The
world has always pulled a long face
over the subject and professed to
think it dreadful that he should have
imitated the common conduct of gen
tlemen in his time and country; but if
we could get to the bottom of It we
should discover more resentment at a
peasant trying to be a gentleman than
grief at an immortal poet debasing
his genius. Burns pretty well es
caped from the dire Calvinism of his j
early youth, as his satires show, but
his intemperate remorse for trifling
escapades proves that it had a hold on
him to the end.
The wonder of Burns Is the work he
did in the squalid circumstances of,
his youth and the debauching patron
age which beset his later years. Peo
ple talk amazedly about "the miracle
of Shakespeare," but It was common
place to the miracle of Burns. Shakes
peare had London, with all that It
signifies. He had true friends. He
had success. Burns hnd nothing of all
this; nothing but the drear outlook of
a Scotch peasant petted inconstantly
by the bucolic Scotch aristocracy.
That he should have sung at all is a
wonder. That he should have sung in
tones so buoyant, so full of the af
firmation of life, so courageous and
so divinely beautiful, makes hope a
duty to every human being and puts
despair to shame.
LAWS THAT ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
We really imagined, prior to the
second week of the current month
and year, that we were living in
state pretty well under the dominion
of law; that the biennial lawmaking
body now In session at Salem, after
having duly indorsed the "peepul s
choice" for United States Senator,
voted their own per diem and per
quisites, wrangled a while over the
state normal schools, made a feint at
protecting game, provided a scalp
bounty In the interest of the sheepmen
juggled a little with the banking laws,
created some dozens of new offices
increased official salaries all along the
line, hired a superabundance-of ses
sion clerks and increased appropria
tions for state Institutions from the
Baby Home to the State Penitentiary,
would have found little or nothing to
call for the exercise of their abilities
in behalf of the commonwealth, and
that an early adjournment would fol
low. Grave mistake! Though the
second week In the session has barely
ended, there Is a record of bills Intro
duced Into the House to the number
of something like 200, while the
slower-moving Senate comes up with
half that number, seriously asking
that the measures proposed be en
acted Into laws!
These proposed laws cover a wide
range. Our solons are nothing lr not
versatile in expedients. We find one
bill that gravely proposes to limit the
length of "hatpins" and circumscribe
the field of activity of thes; articles;
another that proposes to prescribe
the length of bed sheets; another to
fix with legislative mete and bound
the size of berry boxes; and so on and
so on, piling up work and fees for the
State Printer and making a great show
of Interest in the smallest concerns of
life. Up to date no attempt has been
made to regulate the size of house
wife's dishcloth or to designate the
number of "slaps" that shall consti
tute a "spank" when the baby per
sists in crying, or the three-year-old
child' gets saucy to grandma.
What a lawless state we live in to
be sure, and what Is to oecome of us if
some of these bills fail to pass? Or
rather,' we should exclaim, what will
become of us if all uecome laws?
Nothing serious, perhaps. We have
become so accustomed to sleeping
statutes that a few dozen or hundred
added to the somnolent list will not be
noticed. It may not be quite true that
there Is nothing new under the sun,
but certainly there Is nothing new in
laws, that are made to be broken and
are broken because nobody takes any
interest in their enforcement.
DOES THE MINI) Rt lJE THE BODY?"
The sturdy common sense and wide
experience of a practical man whose
profession in life has brought him in
close touch with humanity its ills
and Its ails are brought to bear upon
( the discussion of this subject In a pa
per published In a late number of the
Saturday Evening Post, written by Dr.
Woods Hutchinson. In this paper
Dr. Hutchinson brings before the open
court of common sense many of the
fallacies that go under the head of
mental healing, and, without arraign
ing any special sect, cult or person,
he disposes of these fallacies in ac
cordance with the simple tenets of
physical law.
He starts out with the declaration
that one of the dearest delusions of
man through all the ages is that his
body is under the control of his mind.
While much is heard and written in
the so-called realm of "new thought"
which claims for the speaker and
writer the distinction of a discoverer.
Dr. Hutchinson asserts that, instead of
mental Influence being the newest
method of treating bodily ailments, it
is the oldest. Two-thirds of the meth
ods of the shaman, the witch doctor,
the medicine man, were psychic. "In
stead of mental healing being a hew
or untried remedy until "discovered'
within relatively recent years. It is
the most thoroughly tested, most uni
versal, most ubiquitous remedy listed
anywhere upon the pages of history."
says Dr. Hutchinson. And he signifi
cantly adds: "In civilized countries it
Is as widely discredited as tested."
So certain is he of the truth of this
premise that he further declares that
the'proportlon to which It survives in
the medicine of any race is in the
measure of that race's barbarism and
backwardness.
Dr. Hutchinson's citations in sup
port of the broad ground taken are
terse and to the point. Whereas for
centuries the insane the sick In
mind were punished by shutting
them up in prison cells, starving, even
flogging them, praying over them, ar
guing with them, we now treat their
ailing bodies just as we treat any other
class of patients give them rest, com
fortable surroundings, good food, fresh
air and baths, leaving their minds
and souls practically without treat
ment, excepting In so far asordlnary,
decent humanity and consideration
may be regarded as mental remedies.
Under the old treatment not one cure
is recorded; under the new, from 30
to 50 per cent are cured, and all but
5 per cent are made comfortable, con
tented, and comparatively happy.
The habitual drunkard we are still
treating as a minor criminal by mental
and moral means, with what hopeful
results the records of our police courts
testify, while we are treating truancy
by the removal of adenoids and the
fitting of glasses, Juvenile crime by
the establishment of playgrounds, pov
erty and pauperism by good food, liv
ing wages and decent surroundings,
all for the first time with success.
With this showing Dr. Hutchinson
feels Justified In saying that not only
have all our substantial and perma
nent victories over bodily ills been won
by physical means, but a large major
ity of our successes In mental and
moral diseases as well. Yet what he
calls the . obsession persists and we
long to extend the realm of mental
treatment to bodily disease. These
are plain words plainly spoken. Truth
should offend no one, and when backed
by the facts of history and the ver
dict of all experience, should certainly
stand against the claims of the mod
ern miracle-worker. Concluding, Dr.
Hutchinson says:
Even mental worry, distress or depres
sion In- nine cases out of ten has a physi
cal cause. To remedy conditions of mental
stress by correcting- th underpay, over
work, bad ventilation, or underfeeding on.
account of Illness or death of the wage
earner of the family. Is. of course, nothing
but the most admirable common sense;
but to call It the mental treatment of dis
ease is a mere Juggling with words, "Take
car of the body and the mind will take
car of Itself," Is a maxim which will
prove valid In actual practice nine times
out of ten.
, LOOKING BACKWARD.
Announcement of the death of Mrs.
Werner Breyman at her home in Sa
lem recently awakened memories of
early days that extend backward over
three-score years, covering almost the
entire period of the development of
the state. Mrs. Breyman was a mem
ber of the Watt family, that settled
in Yamhill County in the early '40s.
The famlfy was one of the old-fashioned
sort, and as the years went on
Its members spread out over the Wil
lamette Valley and became identified
with the growth of the state in many
substantial lines. Of sturdy fiber,
most of them buffeted the years until
Nature claimed them at a ripe old age,
several of them continuing the valiant
fight to this day.
Mrs. Breyman Is remembered as a
cheerful, capable, energetic young girl
at the time of her marriage in Yamhill
County in 1853, to Werner Breyman.
then a young merchant of Lafayette,
the old pioneer village around which
centered many of the activities of the
early settlement of Oregon Territory.
Their home, for the greater part of
the fifty-six years that intervened be
tween its establishment and the death
of Mrs. Breyman, has been In Salem.
Yet there are those, though relatively
few, whose thoughts turned instinc
tively to Yamhill County, its storied
years and those who peopled them
when the death of this widely-known
pioneer woman wan announced.
Beautiful years, those who made
them what they were In growth, in
companionship, in the simple indus
tries upon which the foundation of
our proud commonwealth were laid
are for the most part but shadows.
"Uncertain as a vision or a dream.
Faint as a figure seen at early dawn,
Down at the far end of an avenue.
Going we know nqt whither.
.Brightening the fading glories
those shadowy years are smiles
of
of
cheer, greetings of good-fellowship,
the Incidents of marriage and birth, of
which much was made In the days
when everybody knew everybody, and
these were the chief events of the
time; sympathy that sprang unbidden
when sorrow befel and the true nelgh
borliness that resulted from a state of'
society that was characterized by an
almost perfect equality in worldly pos
sessions. It is thus that a chapter in
the pioneer history of the state is
closed and its incidents relegated to
fast-fading memory every time an
actor In this wonderful drama of our
early civilization passes
Beneath the low green tent
Whose curtain never outward swings.
A tribute to one of these state-build
ers is a tribute to each ana ail wno
performed their simple, useful part in
the slow-moving scene and passed be
hind the curtain. Names and dates
may differ but the subtle essence that
exhales from these lives is of the same
gentle, Intangible, all-pervading sweet
ness. THE PANAMA PROBLEM.
The recent disaster at Gatun dam
has turned loose a flood of criticism
against the methods followed in con
struction of the Panama Canal. Some
of this criticism comes from hostile
sources, where nothing in connection
with the big ditch will ever be re
garded as possessing features of merit,
but much of It Is from expert engi
neers whose reputation lends weight
to their opinions. Among this class
Is Lin don W. Bates, a man of recog
nized engineering skill and also a man
who has made a personal inspection
of the territory traversed and is well
fitted to give expert testimony on the
subject. Mr. Bates is quite emphatic
In his belief that the present method
of construction will -not prove satis
factory and may result in serious loss.
Now comes Sir Robert Perks, the
man who built the Manchester ship
canal, the Severn tunnel and a num
ber of other similar gigantic engi
neering projects. Sir Robert does not
question the ability of the United
States to build the canal, whether it
Is of the lock type or a sea-level canal
but he doubts the wisdom of the lock
system and gives some very good rea
sons for his opinions. He tells us to
beware of the water formations and
currents and the earthquakes to which
the country is subject. All the ma
sonry and machinery of a lock system
might be destroyed by an earthquake
or a volcanic disturbance of a few sec
onds." This British expert quite
truthfully states that the most impor
tant point to be considered is that of
the changes which are rendered
necessary in order to meet the in
creasing size of vessels. That this is
a strong point in favor of a permanent
sea-level canal Is proven by the fact
that within the past six months the
width of the canal locks has been in
creased from 95 to 110 feet in accord
ance with a suggestion from the gen
eral board of the Navy concerning
battleships.
That even this increase is detri
mental to the economical operation
of the canal is apparent by the minor
ity report of the international board,
whose general plan for a lock canal
was finally accepted. That board in
its report expressed the belief that "if
the locks are larger, than necessary
they will not only cost more but will
require a larger water supply and will
not be quite so convenient to operate.
The gates must be larger, the locks
cannot be filled or emptied so quickly,
and therefore a little longer time will
be required to pass ships; in other
words, if the locks are larger than
necessary, they will not serve com
merce so well as the small ones."
With completion of the canal yet sev
eral years in the future, it has been
found necessary to widen, the locks,
and, as stated in the report, this in
crease in size will hamper the move
ment of commerce.
All of this will be avoided if the
change to a sea-level canal is made,
for the latter will not only be much
easier to operate, but it will also ad
mit of any size ship passing through
unimpeded by locks. Sir Robert
Perks concludes his note of warning
with the sensible statement that "the
United States Government has money
and men, and of course can build the
canal regardless of expense, even if a
late change In policy becomes neces-
sary, but In business pursuits that is
not the right way to consider any
project."
Senator Bowerman's bill authoriz
ing the Supreme Court to transfer a
circuit judge from one district to an
other, temporarily, for the purpose of
clearing up a congested docket, is a
good one. There are some judges in
the state who have Jurisdiction over
a thinly settled region and who, there
fore, have comparatively little work to
do. There are other judges who have
a capacity for a large amount of work
and who can clear their own dockets
and then have time to help out courts
that are behind in their work. This
interchange of judges might enable
some courts to learn the methods by
whlch others kee'p up In their work.
While the Oregon Legislature,
sportsmen and farmers are debating
the question of protecting game, a
Scandinavian living near Portland
writes an interesting letter, calling
attention to grouse in his native land
that will give local sportsmen some
thing to talk about. He tells of the
Capercailzie, giants of the grouse fam
ily, whose cocks weigh twelve pounds
and the hens six pounds. They may
easily be imported into Oregon, where
they are certain to thrive. His letter
is published in The Sunday Oregonian
today.
The Oregonlan proposes to the Leg
islature a bill for a bureau or com
mission for observation, of the habits
of the spider and the tumble-bug.
Herein may be found highly interest
ing objects of scientific and useful
study. There would be room for a
commissioner, a deputy commissioner,
four or five clerks, a Janitor, office
boy, and allowance for traveling ex
penses. The public service of the state
is yet but poorly organized.
Never would such a man as Root
have been chosen Senator In New
York by a primary vote and Statement
One. There would have been no can
didate of the first order, but a dozen
or twenty of inferior kind; and the
electorate would have rejected .the
plurality candidate as unfit. Then
some other mediocre man, perhaps of
the opposite party, would have been
elected. Representative government
remains the only way.
When Chamberlain goes to Wash
ington, Secretary of State Benson will
be both Governor and Secretary, and
will have two votes on the Land
Board, the boards for the manage
ment of various state institutions and
on several boards with only appoint
ing power. State Treasurer Steel, the
other member of these boards, will
have an advisory power, nothing more.
At least there will be no difficulty in
locating responsibility.
"Oregon," says the Albany Demo
crat, "is paying two colleges to do the
work of one." In every department
of public service Oregon is paying two
men to do the work of one, and, in
not a few instances three or four
men to do the work of one. And
all the supernumeraries are clamor
ing for increase of pay.
The country merchant,, the rancher,
the local attorney and the town phy
sician change their point of view when
they leave the frugal surroundings of
home and go to the scenes of lavish
expenditure of money at the state cap
ital. Perhaps this accounts for some
of the legislative acta that seem
strange to the taxpayers at home.
A bill for a new game law, intended
to be a complete game code for the
state, is now before the Legislature. It
doubles, or nearly doubles, the Game
Warden's salary, and more than dou
bles the sum allowed for expenses.
The object is to make a larger and
more expensive bureau. The proposal
is of the type of all the rest.
Loyal Oregonians Join loyal Wash
ingtonlans in the hope that Governor
Cosgrove's present trip north will be
without unpleasant Incident; that his
Inauguration will be accomplished
without undue fatigue and that his
perfect recovery from the unfortunate
illness that befel him may be assured.
Tlfanv nllla ara In TT-ndnfi1 In tbA (
Legislature "by request." It would add
somewhat to the interest of the pro
ceedlngs, and perhaps to the general
good of legislation, if there could be
added to the record the name of the
person who made the request In each
Instance.
"For, lo, the Winter is past, the rain
is over and gone. The flowers appear
on the earth; the time of the singing
of birds Is come, and the voice of the
turtle Is heard in our land." So sang
Solomon, B. C. 1014. It is a good
hallelujah for Oregon, A. D. 1909.
Gifts of John D. Rockefeller to the
University of Chicago are tabulated
by the Chicago press. They amount
thus far to $25,389,661.98. The en
dowments are now so large that there
are deficits no longer.
In all Justice, Harrlman may be half
right in threatening to retaliate if
Wyoming passes a 2-cent law. There
are long reaches of sparsely-settled
country in that state in which there
Is little traffic.
' The duty of young Jay Gould as
probation officer will be to see that
recreant husbands pay allowances to
deserted wives. The Gould husbands
have always set fine examples ih that
particular.
"An examination of the Johnson
Road Law bill,"- says the Albany Her
ald, "shows that the main object is to
create a commission with the usual
high salaries attached." Why, cer
tainly.
Why proportional representation?
Don't the pfiople rule, and must not
the Legislature unanimously and with
out reference to party do as the peo
ple say?
It is proper all the time to talk of
good roads in Oregon, but JusJ; now
the subject reminds one of the Arkan
sas man's roof.
Though her peerless father be out
of the limelight, Mr. Bryan's daugh
ter can be depended upon to turn on
the calcium.
With a few degrees added to the
temperature, this would be April
weather.
Abolition of the moral squad means
the city is perfect at last.
Poems by Robert Burns
BORX JANUARY S5, 1759.
FLOW GEXTI.Y, SWEET AFTOJT.
Flow gently, sweet Afton. among thy
green braes,
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy
praise;
My Mary's
stream.
Flow gently,
dream.
asleep by thy murmuring
sweet Afton, disturb not her
Thou stock-ifve whose
echo
resounds
through the glen.
Ye wild whistling blackbirds
in
yon
thorny den.
Thou green-crested lapwing thy scream
ing forbear.
I charge you disturb not my slumbering
fair.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighboring
hills.
Far marked with the courses of clear
winding rills;
There daily I wander as noon rises high.
My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in
my eye.
How pleasant thy banks and green val
leys below,
Where wild in the woodlands the prim
roses blow;
There oft is mild evening weeps over the
lea.
The sweet-scented blrk shades my Mary
and m.e.
Thy crystal stream, Afton. how lovely it
glides.
And winds by the cot where my Mary re
sides; How wanton thy waters her snowy feet
lave.
As gathering sweet flowerets she stems
thy clear wave.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy
green braes.
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of
my lays;
My, Mary's asleep by thy murmuring
sirea.m,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her
dream.
TO
A LOrSE.
on a lady's bonnet at
On seeing one
church.
Hi! where ye gaun. ye crawltn' ferHe?
Your Impudence protects you sairly:
I canna say but ye strunt rarely
Qwre- gauze and luce;
Though faith. I feer ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin', blastit wonner,
Detested, shunned, by saunt and sinner.
How dare you set your fit upon her,
Sae line a lady?
Gae somewhere else, and seek your dinner
On some poor body.
Swith, in some bagsar"s haffet squattle:
There ye may creept, end sprawl, and
sprattle
WI' ither kindred. Jumping cattle.
In shoals and nut Ions;
Whare horn .nor bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your think plantations.
Now hand you there, ye're out o' eight.
Below the fatt'rels snug and tight;
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right
Till ye've got on it.
The very tapmost. towering height
O' Miss's bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your noe
out.
As plump and gray as ony grozet;
Oh, for some rank, mercurial roset,
Or fell, red smedduml
I'd gle you sic a hearty doze o't.
Wad dress your droddum!
I wad na been surprised to trpy
You on an auld wife's flannen toy;
Or alblins some bit duddle boy,
On's wyliecoat:
But Miss's fine Lun&rdI! fie!
How daur ye do "f
Oh, Jenny, dlnna toss your head.
And set your beauties a' abreavd!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makln'I
Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin'i
Oh wad some power the glfUo gle us
To see oursel'a as others see us I
It wad frae xnonie a blunder free Us,
And foolitih notion:
What airs in dress and gait w.d lea) uy'
And even defotlon!
HAXDSOME NELL,
Oh, onoe I loved a bonnie lass.
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that honour warms my 'breaart,.
I'll love my handsome Nell.
As bonnie lasses I hae seen.
And money full as braw;
But for a modest, gracefu nrlen,
The like I never saw.
A bonnie lass, I will confess.
Is pleasant to the ee.
But without some better qualities.
She's no the lass for me.
But Nelly's looks are blithe and sweet.
And, what is best of a'.
Her reputation is complete.
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses aye sae clean and neat.
Both decent and genteel:
And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart:
But it's innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
'TIs this In Nelly pleases me,
"Tis this enchants my soul:
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
GREEV GROW THE RASHES.
There's nought but care on every hand.
In every hour that passes. O:
What signifies the life o' man.
And 'twere na for the lasses, O.
Chorus.
i
Green grow the rashes, O!
Green grow the rashes, O!
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend
Are spent amang the lasses, O.
The warly race may riches chase.
And riches still may fly them, O:
And though at last they catch them fast.
Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O.
Gie me a canny hour at e'en,
My arms about my dearie, O;
And warly cares, and warly men.
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O.
For you sae douce ye sneer at this,
Ye're nought but senseless asses. O:
The wisest man the warl' e'er saw.
He dearly loved the lasses, O.
Auld Nature swears, the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes. O;
Her 'prentice hand she tried on man.
And then she made the lasses, O.
Essay on Taxation.
The Spectator (Portland.)
What is a tax? It is rnone:- taken
from the pople by force. That Is, the
whole power of the state is behind the
tax to enforce it.
It might be suggested that in using
the taxing power the present Legis
lature keeps two Ideas before it:
First The money we take in taxes
Is enforced payment. It is not a vol
untary contribution.
Second The only Justification for
robbing the taxahle citizen of a part of
his earnings is the general welfare
absolutely public enterprises for the
general benefit.
1