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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1909)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND, 31 AY 9, 1909. PORTLAND, OREGON. Entered at r-ortland. Oregon. Poetorflce ae Setond-ijlase Matter. bubecrtptlon Bate Invariably la Advance, (By Mall.) Dally. Sunday Included, one year $8.00 Daily. Sunday Included, six months 4 21 gully. Sunday Included, three months. . 1.25 pa y, Sunday Included, one month T5 1I y. without Sunday, one year 6.00 Daily, without Sunday, six months i.SS Da y. without Sunday, three months... l.TJ uauy, without Sunday, one month 00 weekly, one year............ 1.00 Sunday; one year 2. BO Sunday and weekly, one year S.SO (Bjr Carrier.) Dally. Sunday Included, one year .. a 00 Dally. Sunday Included, one month... .75 How to Remit Send poutofflce money order, express order or personal check oa your local bank, stamps, coin or currency are at the sender's risk. Give poutofflce ad cress In full. Including county and state. ...I"4" Kaa I" to 14 paces. 1 cent: 1 to J8 pages. 2 cents; SO to 44 pages, 3 cents; 5 to 60 paes. 4 oenta. Foreign aoatua double rates. "tern Bnelnee. Ofnro The S. C. Beck- Tn 5. Spoclavl Agency New York, rooms 48- 5-rt7.fi .JU,."d'nT- cbo, rooms 010-412 Tribune building. POR1XAKD, 8UNIAV. MAX , 1909.' I'NDER ONE'S OWN' BYES. It Is astonishing-, and it is pitiful, too. One may see, here and there about the streets of Portland, able bodied men. with their hook and bag. picking up bits of cast-away things here a nail or spike or bit of wire, there any chance thing that may have been dropped, as a paper bag contain ing a few peanuts, or nothing men able to work, in this country, where work in productive Industry is wanted doing this sort of thing! Are these people oppressed by wealth? Not at all. They prefer this kind of parasitic life about the cities to better and purer and successful life In the country, and about the suburbs, where work Is wanted and will be readily paid for; where food is abun dant and good, and lodging perfectly comfortable, but where steadiness of Industry and fidelity to engagement are required. No. These people pre fer to pick up rags and cigar stubs and bits of wire on the streets. Then comes the politician to tell them they are victims of oppression. This country wants and needs work- ers in every line and department of Industry. It Is a new country. The opportunities are wide as the country Itself. Men and women, who will do faithful and intelligent work are everywhere In demand. They can get fair wages and good living.. But most of them wish to herd In the towns, under the blaze of the electric lights and the bray of the brass bands. Sel dom can you ' get a man and wife to go Into the country to work In your orchard or to tend your sheep. Or a woman, who advertises for "a place in a small family" to go out of the cen ter of the city as far as Woodlawn or Mount Tabor. But the politician, seeking his own interest, plays on this class of people and their sentimental sympathizers. You might suppose from the pitiful appeals for them that this class or description were the whole people, cheated out of their heritage by those who have some property which they have accumulated by Industry and saving. What this country needs, more than anything else, la return to the lessons of industry, of fidelity, and of econom ical living. The parasitic class flocks to the cities, or is developed in the cities, where the politicians and the low and vile newspapers call them "the people," and tell them they are deprived of their rights In the govern ment. But when the Yamhill orchard lst wants men to cultivate his trees and handle his apples, or the Clacka mas landowner wants wood cut in the forest or his potatoes lifted from the ground, he never will hear from these people. Or', it he should be so unfor tunate as to get a brace or a bunch of them, he will wish he never had seen them. People of this sort, of either sex, of varying degrees of worthlessness, are those, mainly, to whom the existing social order is said to be unjust and oppressive; and the scurvy politician and the yellow press steadily propa gate the idea. OCR NORTHERN" NEIGHBOR. Rapid progress of settlement and of railroad building in Canada Indicates that within a few years British North America will have a population of ten millions, and ere long of twenty mil lions; but the difficulty of maintain ing permanently a large population mainly on "a wheat basis" will after a while begin to appear. For wheat, after a time, will exhaust any soil, and it is a question whether the Immense area of wheat lands in the climate of Canada will support the mixed agriculture necessary for small (arms and large population. The area of the Dominion of Can ada is about 3,750,000 square miles exceeding that of the United States, Including Alaska. But much of the country Is frigid and practically unin habitable, so that no population com mensurate with such an area can ever be expected to occupy It. However,. It will be no exaggerated estimate to suppose that within the present cen tury there will be a population of twenty millions in British North America. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the whole popula tion was but 201,000. It now is esti mated at more than six millions, nearly one-half of which . has been gained wtlhin the last twenty years. The country about Hudson's Bay has been occupied by the English during more than two centuries, and now is receiving considerable accessions to its population: for wheat Is grown In the country down to the borders of Hudson's Bay, where there will be large wheat-shipping ports at no dis tant day. ' Canada formerly sent large num bers of people to the United States, but the reverse movement has been In progress for some years, and great numbers of new settlers are "Ameri cans." The -wheat lands of the coun try are very attractive, in spite of the climate and other drawbacks. Not a few families have gone even from Oregon - and our other Northwest states; for wheat is money, and there is no surer way of making money A-ith reasonable rapidity than on good wheat lands. The railroads and the Dominion Government alike do every thing In their power to attract set tlers and to establish them In the country- But we have plenty of terri tory ourselves, and good wheat land and dairy land, so of course though people of the moving habit will do as they please It Is not. at all necessary for any. to leave our states for Canada; 'whose harsher climate and other drawbacks cannot but be known and acknowledged.. We spoke of "Americans" going to Canada. The Canadians themselves dispute the appropriation of this title by the people of the United States, for the Canadians are Americans also. Yet the designation is one that stands in literature and history for the peo ple of the United States, and is com monly used still by English writers. Nobody, however. Is going to deny thstt the people of British America are Americans. So are the Mexicans, for that matter: and they are North Americans, too. But what we set out to say Is that British America has a great future and is a coming empire; and British Columbia is destined to be one of the most Important parts of . it. For, though mountainous, it has much agricultural land, great forests, much coal and abundant ores, and the mild est climate of any part of the Domin ion. Its territory, moreover, Is larger than the combined areas of Oregon and Washington. Its present popula tion Is perhaps 300.000. THE PRIMARY. From the voting, one may Judge there is some disposition to try to re habilitate the Republican'party and to redeem It from its impotence and nothingness. But this Is not the real motive of the primary vote. The purpose was and Is to get an efficient municipal government. TO AVERT WAR. Admiral Evans has an energy of expression that one may approve even, if the piety of the expression now and then Is doubtful. The Admiral, in a statement at Colorado Springs on Friday, declared triat the sure way to preservation of peace - was through maintenance of armament; and, speaking profanely, he added for em phasis: "I shall oppose disarmament until hell freezes over and the devil goes skating on the Ice." The use of such an expression Is merely to fix the attention. "The proposition," added Evans, "is precise ly the same as If a town should dis pose of its Marshal and Constables; a city of Its police force; a county of its Sheriff, and a state of its militia. How long do you believe peace would be preserved under such conditions? Now, the Navy and Army ; constitute the police force of .the Nation, and we will have our hands filled with trou ble unless they are maintained in full strength and to a high degree of ef ficiency. The United States must not be a laggard in naval and military preparations if she is to maintain her supremacy." Armament is ,not so much for war as to avert war. yet for readiness should war occur. We shall be much less llkely-to have war if we are pre pared for defense than If the world knows we have no preparation. There Is always possibility of war. It exists in or arises from the very na ture of things. Differing interests of competing nations are liable at any time to produce it. The liability will be greater if the nation whose inter ests are menaced has no armament. A nation must have an armament as a bank has a reserve. The bank known to -have no reserve, or but a weak one, will not stand long. To Insist on maintenance of arma ments, therefore. Is not to show fond ness for war, but desire to avert it. Men of Judgment and foresight don't like namby-pamby people who are merely sentimentalists, prepared for no emergency, but willing to leave their country dependent on the good will of others. "Good heavens! Mr. Indian," exclaimed the pioneer settler who thought he might appeal to the innate goodness of the noble native who showed signs of hostility, "you wouldn't kill a man of a family, would you?" It is not recorded that the na tive, for all his magnanimity, recog nized the force of the appeal. WHEAT'S STRONG POSITION. The Government crop report, which appeared Friday, placed the condi tion of the growing wheat on May 1 at 83.6, which was something better than the bulls in the trade were ex pecting, and worse than was predicted by the bears. As the report tallied closely with the previous forecasts made by unofficial experts, it was re ceived with more confidence than Is usually shown a Government report, and the new-crop options showed a gain of nearly 4 cents per bushel. The most bullish feature of the report was that which, placed the decrease in acreage, due to Winter kililng and other unfavorable Influences, at 2, 000,000 acres. Deducting this acreage from the amount seeded, and estimat ing on a condition basis of 83.5, ex perts placed the figures Indicated for the 1909 crop of Winter wheat at 393,000,000 bushels, compared with the Government reported out-turn of 420,000,000 bushels for 1908. This decrease of nearly 30.000,000 bushels would be less formidable were it not for the fact that stocks on hand are so seriously depleted that It is a certainty that this country will go into the new season with the smallest stocks on record for a carry-over. Now that depleted stocks from the old crop and poor prospects for the new have put the world's buyers face to face with a supply and demand prob lem which cannot be affected by ma nipulation or speculation, we shall hear less nonsense about an alleged wheat "corner" being responsible for present .prices of the cereal. It is only necessary to turn back as far as February, when Patten's alleged cor ner had begun to attain prominence, to note that, after alt. It is the Euro pean markets, and not the American markets, that have displayed the greatest strength. When May wheat touched $1.15 per bushel late In February, the best quo tation on Walla Walla cargoes was 38s 6d per quarter of eight bushels. Yesterday they were quoted in Liver pool at 45 shillings, an advance of 19 cents per bushel, while May wheat during the same period scored an advance of less than 15 cents per bushel. High prices and short stocks In the United States have prevented Europe from drawing supplies from this country, and that country has been obliged to depend almost wholly upon Argentina, Russia, Australia and India for supplies. It Is ridiculous to assume that Mr. Patten or any other man could have any control over these marketing countries, which have set the pace for prices for the past three months. The plain truth regarding the situa tion is that three years of short crops throughout the world have caused consumption to overtake and pass pro duction, and high prices will prevail until restricted consumption and in creased production regulate matters. Meanwhile Secretary Wilson's March report on - stocks in farmers' hands, which was termed by Patten as the "Joke of the century." has become a very serious matter, not only for the short sellers, who hammered the mar ket, but to the actual consumers of wheat. It would be no surprise to the trade that is familiar with actual conditions if Mr. Patten's claim to be ing a public benefactor by purchasing the wheat and keeping It here, where it is most needed, should come true. IS SHAKESPEARE DEAD? The most exhilarating contribution to the perennial Bacon-Shakespeare controversy which has blessed the world for a long time Is Mark Twain's little book entitled "Is Shakespeare Dead?" Mr. Clemens' thinks he was never alive, at least never alive In any sense which would have' made it pos sible for him to write the- Plays and Poems. If Mark Twain had been a lawyer, he would have been a good one. No corporation counsel ever marshalled the arguments for a bad cause more skillfully than he does those which seem to wrest the palm of poetry from the hand of Shakespeare and bestow it upon the "greatest, wis est, meanest of mankind." Just how much real force there is In those ar guments It is not easy to decide now conclusively. - They must be sifted by time and weighed by the long, deliber ate Judgment of mankind before a final conclusion can be reached. Mark Twain himself says that it will take 300 years to release the human race from the enchantment of the Shakes peare superstition, as he calls it. Probably it - will take a good deal longfT, even if it actually Is true that Bacon, and njt Shakespeare, wrote the Plays and Poems. -The strongest reason, intrinsically, which the Baconltes advance against Shakespeare is the one which has least weight with the mass of men. They ask how it was possible for a person who had no opportunities of educa tion, no familiarity with high life, no hooks, no travel, no home culture, and during his youth no environment ex cept that of a stupid village commu nity, to have produced this divine poetry, which treats all knowledge as Its domain and is at home with all ranks of mankind? The only reply is that it was a miracle, and since' the majority of mankind dearly love mira cles, the reply has always proved suffi cient, and perhaps always will, for un doubtedly it is the true explanation. The opponents of Bacon have tried to lessen the magnitude of the miracle a little by inventing a life which they say Shakespeare might have lived, and their faith has added substance to the fiction little by little until it seems to them to be solid fact; but In reality it remains nothing better than the con jecture it was In the beginning. Mark Twain Is certainly right in laylng It down that we know of Shakespeare's life only a verv few facts, and those of but insignificant importance. He might have attended the Stratford Latin school, he might have served as a lawyer's clerk, he might have trav eled on the Continent, he might have been caught In the deer-stealing scrape, and he might have been a butcher boy; but there is scarcely a scrap of evidence for a single one of these things. Looked squarely In the eyes, they 'are mere conjectures. ' It strikes Mark Twain as a wonder ful circumstance that within a few years after Shakespeare's death no body in Stratford seems to have re membered anything about him. How could this have been so if he had been a - man of great reputation? Mark Twain's own experience convinces him that it was impossible. He has now been laway from Hannibal, the Mis souri town where he passed his boy hood, more years than Shakespeare lived altogether, and yet the people there have not forgotten him. They tell stories and invent myths about him. He is the hero of the commu nity. Nothing of the sort -happened in Stratford about Shakespeare. The people cared nothing for his memory. They invented no myths, told no stories. Even the dubious butcher boy tale comes through a person who moved to . Stratford after Shakes peare's death. His fellow-citizens saw nothing remarkable in him. Could this have happened if he had been the famous man his biographers suppose? Mark Twain thinks not, but his con clusion is not necessarily correct. The very stupidity of the Stratford people of which he makes so much in decry ing Shakespeare's early environment may have rendered them indifferent to their townsman's fame, no matter how great it was. Mark Twain says he is wililng to rest the whole controversy on the an swer to the single question, "Was Shakespeare ever a practicing law yer?" In his opinion whoever wrote the plays had such a profound and in timate knowledge of the law in its niceties and technicalities that he must have acquired it by practicing the profession. It could not have been gained from books or from associating with . lawyers. Great authorities like Richard Grant White, Lord Campbell and Lord Penzance have been of the same opinion. It Is so widely accept ed, in fact, that the biographers have felt obliged to invent ways of making their "Idol," as Mark Twain calls him, familiar with the law. They all admit that no outsider could have shown the intimacy he did with its nooks and depths. However, it is to be remarked that this opinion originates among the lawyers themselves, and may be, in part at least, attributed to their pro fessional pride. They are reluctant to admit that a mere peasant boy with out much learning could have mas tered their difficult art and language, but frankly it may be doubted whether the law is quite so profound a science as some lawyers would have us be lieve. Most of its vaunted "princi ples" are little better than tricks of dialectics, and as for its language, it is not half so difficult as that of the calculus, for example. Mark Twain says it would be impossible for any body but a practicing lawyer to display- Shakespeare's complete mastery of legal phraseology. On the contrary, there is good reason to believe that Kipling oould make himself so profi cient in it within a week that he could deceive the elect. Kipling has the trick of tongues which Mark- Twain evidently lacks. Probably the great lawyers who make such a marvel of Shakespeare's lee?al word-handling lacked it, too. Of course, the purpose of all this talk about the miracle of Slrakes peare's law knowledge is to create a presumption against him and in favor of Bacon. Bacon was the greatest lawyer of his age. Shakespeare could have learned no law except by hook and crook, at odd moments and through incidental conversations. Hence the more'you magnify the legal lore of the plays the more likely you make it that Bacon wrote them. In our opinion it has been too much mag nified. The man who declares that Shakespeare could not have written the Plays and Poems because he was a poor boy, born, in ignorance and nurtured in poverty, impeaches the possibilities of his kind. The argu ment against Shakespeare is an insidi ous attack upon democracy. It is the old. aristocratic idea that all excel lence dwells In wealth and high birth, reappearing in a new and not very seductive form. Mark Twain might have been in better business when he wrote his book. ' MONEY CHEAP, STOCKS DEAR. A further advance of ' ten points from the high mark reached last week will carry Union Pacific stocks to an even $200 per share, double the par value. Many other prominent rail road stocks have moved up pretty close to $150 per share, and some of them are not far behind Union Pa eiflo. At these figures there was an enormous amount of buying dur ing the week, and predictions are frequent that the upward movement will not be checked until the price of Union Pacific is carried over $200, with other stocks proportionately high. Perhaps the most remarkable feature in connection with these se curities lies in the fact that the net earnings and general financial condi tions of the roads are not as good as they were a few years ago, when every available piece of rolling stock on the road was kept in service all the time moving the traffic. This phenomenon is due almost ex clusively to the abundance of cheap money apparently at the disposal of the Wall-street speculators, who are the most liberal purchasers of railroad stocks. Union Pacific is a 6 or 7 per cent stock, although prior to the panic the cutting of an occasional "melon" increased its value as an investment. With the -price hovering so close to 200, it is quite plain that this 7 per cent must be cut in half, if the pur chaser has paid nearly 100 per cent above par for it. The present figures thus transform the 7 per cent stock Into a 3 per cent investment. At first glance there is nothing very at tractive about this, and one is prone to wonder why there is such a mad rush to buy Union Pacific at $185 to $190 per share, when the figures quoted will make possible no greater net re turns than 3 per cent. But for nearly a year Wall street has been very much congested with idle funds. Call money has gone beg ging at rates as low as 1 per cent, sel dom in that period rising above 2 per cent," the quoted rates yesterday being 1 per cent. It is easy to understand that even a 3 per cent investment will prove quite remunerative if the money for making it can be secured at from 1 to 2 per cent. This was the situa tion two years ago, when there was a rampant stock market for months. Everything was lovely so long as there was no interruption of the endless chain of speculation by which cheap call money was borrowed to be used in buying high-priced stocks, and the lat ter in turn were hypothecated as se curity for more- cheap money with which to buy more high-priced stocks. . So long as the borrower and the lender have , perfect confidence in the situation and the railroads secure suf ficient business to enable them to bring home the dividends, no trouble will ensue; but if there is a pro nounced falling off im the net earn ings and the leeway between the cost of call money and the net returns from the high-priced stock 'becomes too close, there will come another de cline in the price of stocks and a read justment of the relation between stock prices and call money. Union Pacific Is especially men tioned because it is one of the most active stocks in the market, and even at present prices there is a safe mar gin of profit. Last week the most ac tive stock on the list was Reading, which is only a 4 per cent proposition. Since the Supreme Court decision Monday this stock has shot up above $150 per share. At that figure the regular 4 per cent dividend thus dwin dles to less than 3 per cent. Viewed from almost any standpoint, it would seem that the price of stocks had ad vanced enough for the present. ANFTAVr-GENEBAL HAMILTON-. The story is an old one. Only the names of the characters change from age to age; the facts remain sub stantially the same. Whether she is called Delilah or Cleopatra, ' or Lady Hamilton or Poppaea, the scarlet woman ever has her lure out for vic tims and ' the victims are ever eager to be caught.. Ortis Hamilton is no more lonely in his folly than his Hazel is in her wily arts. Samson, Mark Antony, Lord Nelson, Alexander Ham ilton, and. heaven knows how many other men, famous and infamous, will answer with him to the title of fool when the roll is called on the day of Judgment. Everybody who knows anything about human nature ac knowledges that, no man is wise enough or cool-headed enough to be sure of escape when the enchanting widow sets her trap for him. The chances are that he will be caught, and the better, the more innocent he has -been theretofore, the sadder will be his downfall. Emperors, judges, preachers, bank cashiers and saints all go the same road when the temptress lures. They always have done it, and it is greatly to be feared that they al ways will. Let us not waste any time, there fore in expressing- futile and insincere astonishment over the downfall of Hamilton. His fate is perfectly nat ural. It might have happened to many another man in the circum stances. Those who feel most certain that they would not have yielded 1 to Hazel's seductive charms would prob ably have been her first and most will ing victims. The surprising thing in connection with this new expose of the morals and methods of Washington officialdom is that Hamilton could carry on his forgeries- and embezzle ments so long and so openly without detection. All his vouchers had to pass under the eyes of the Governor and the State Auditor. If these gen tlemen paid the slightest attention to the amounts and the goods called for, it is 'nowhere apparent In the reports. They must have known that the bills for ammunition, were running up to an unheard-of sum. W'hlle in former years the cost had been but a few hundred dollars, Hamilton thrust it into the thousands very soon after he had heard the siren's song. For all that, the Auditor passed the vouchers without remark, and the Governor's rubber stamp was duly affixed to them as if it were the most natural thing In the world. Perhaps the dashing young general of militia fascinated these grave officials with his charm of man ner. Perhaps they did not care whether the state money was "stolen or not, . Even the notorious facts of his con nection with the scarlet woman and the way she was sowing money broad cast did not seem to rouse the officials from their lethargy. Ex-Governor Mead says he knew Hamilton was going the pace, but he "could not take cognizance? of it." No, but he could permit his rubber stamp to be affixed to the vouchers jvhich he must have suspected were keeping up the auto mobiles and wlne suppers of the gal lant pair. The officials of Washington appear to' have been under some sort of an enchantment for. ttye past few years. Think of Schlvely and his do ings. This person has been Insurance Commissioner, either by election or as deputy, for eighty or ten years. All that time he has' been crooked and everybody around Olympia knew he was crooked. Every , insurance man In the state must have known it, yet they all paid tribute to his graft and kept silent. Secretary Nichols must have known all about it, and yet he connived at .Schively's pickings, if he did not share them. It is Incredible that the Governor and his official fam ily at Olympia did not suspect what was going on in Hamilton's case. Still they complacently passed his vouchers and thus made themselves moral par ticipants in his guilt. Sensible men of the world could not from the be ginning of the liaison r.ava had any doubt of its true character. The signs of these psychic cyclones are unmis takable. The symptoms are well' known. It is notorious that a man under the spell of any Hazel who hap pens to ensnare him will forget every principle of honor, that he will lie, steal and murder to gratify her whims. And, though they knew all this per fectly well, the Governor and Auditor of Washington passed Hamilton's vouchers with the forgeries staring them in the face as complacently as if he had been perfectly sane. Was not Hamilton sane, then, dur ing his liaison with his Hazel? Per haps he was. Still, we must not for get that from the moment he met her his character suffered a marked de generation. Before that time he had been honest, manly, trustworthy in his private and public conduct. So far as anybody seems -to know, he had been loyal to his wife. He had cer tainly been a good man of business. After the fatal meeting he lost control of himself completely. The things he would previously have abhorred he now did rashly, eagerly, blindly. There was a total change in his way of liv ing and in his moral nature. In the transformation he lost his self-control. His reason was utterly perverted. If a psychic cataclysm like this does not constitute insanity, what does? In these days of ingenious defenses for criminals, it would be at least a pleas ant diversion to see the plea of insan ity -set up in Hamilton's defense and argued to a finish by some able lawyer. The jury might convict him, but if they did they would break a custom which has pretty nearly acquired the force of law in our criminal procedure. THE MOTHER. "I will do everything I can for her, because she is my daughter." This is the response of motherhood, based upon' true womanhood the world over, when an erring daughter turns her footsteps again toward the home to which she has brought sorrow and disgrace. This was the response of the mother of Hazel Moore, the young woman whose name appears in con junction with that of ex-Adjutant-General Hamilton, of Washington, and who encouraged him, if she did not lead him, in the way that leads to dis honor through the betrayal of official trust. There is a sad, even a pathetic, side to this type of maternal devotion, since it is not always, indeed not often, met by the returned wanderer in a filial and repentant spirit. The refuge that it offers is made use of too often for a selfish purpose alone; the moth er's anxiety is Velieved but temporarily by the return of the wayward one, yet, nothing daunted, her hand is out stretched in welcome as often as the daughter presents herself at the door of her home. The distilled bitterness of life is in the cup of sorrow, anxiety and dis grace . that the wayward daughter holds to the lips of the mother whose love is her sure and abiding heritage. And the very essence of heroism is in the welcome that a disgraced and suf fering mother extends to the daugly ter who, having brought dishonor upon her name and discredit upon her bringing up, comes back to be pro tected, if possible, from herself. W1XD-CATTER LOT-SELLERS. Real estate transfers and building permits point quite clearly to unprece dented activity in Portland. The situ ation is pleasing in the extreme, and is warranted by the natural conditions which were responsible for Portland's original existence and for the steady growth since the city was founded. Based on population, trade territory that is tributary to the city and great tributary resources, Portland real estate is today much cheaper than that of any other city of a similar size on the Pacific Coast. Naturally there will be heavy advances in the value of this real estate, and while the heaviest advances will be scored in what is known as "inside" property, residence and suburban property will also ad vance in keeping. There is one feature of the situation, however, against which tWe buying public should be on guard. The present general activity in all kinds of real estate has afforded an opportunity for foisting off on the public much property which during a normal move ment would not receive serious con sideration. The purveyors of this class of real estate are strictly within the lines of truth when they inform the intending purchaser that the property offered will surely advance in price, and also when they promise that streetcar service, sewers, city water and all other city improvements will reach the tracts in due season. Quite naturally we can hardly expect prop erty located three or four miles from the heart of the city to sell at the same prices quoted on other property two miles nearer town, and "as a rule the distant property will be much longer in securing the promised improve ments. If this distant real estate were sold at figures in keeping with its location and with cost of prospective improve ments, no complaint could be made and the unsophisticated purchaser, f while waiting longer for the inevitable advance. I would not be risking much. Where acreage several miles from the city is hurriedly platted and thrown on the market at a greater price per lot than It is actually worth per acre, there is some risk of coming trouble, not alone for the buyer, who will be come aweary of waiting for the prom ised advance in price and of paying for improvements, but also for the holders of much better real estate much closer the center of the city. 'Way back in the early '90s thou sands of distant suburban lots were sold at vastly Inflated values. Some of the thousands of purchasers, being unable .to get their money out of the property, aided in circulating the re port that Portland was a dead town and that "real estate" would not sell for what it cost the buyers. This can never again be truthfully said of Port land real estate bought at As actual value today, but It may be said of some of the "wildcat" property that has been attached to the skirts of the strong movement in legitimate prop erty. There are plenty of first-class in side and suburban lots and blocks which can be bought at prices which cannot fail to show a substantial ad vance, and intending buyers should ex ercise caution before investing in any other class of real estate. It hasnot been thought worth while in recent years to consider the feasibil ity of holding the annual reunion of Oregon pioneers anywhere outside" of Portland. In the first place, Portland Is accessible by rail and river from any section of the state. The annual banquet, to which all pioneers are In vito.! and of which many hundreds partake every year, would overtax the resources or the generosity of any small 1 lace, while a visit; to the me tropolis is one of the features of the gathering which many aged pioneers, who must perforce remain at home all the year round, regard as a special privilege. The reunion will be held in June in this city, according to the cus tom observed for many years, and, though many faces will be missed more, perhaps, than usual', since death has been busy in the pioneer ranks during the past year there will be a grizzled, smiling multitude waiting their turn at table, and at final rollcall cheerful, reminiscent, willing to stay, ready to go, but determined to make the most of the time that is left to them before departing to the country that they know not of. The most conspicuous fact that has been brought out in the Hains murder trial is that Peter C. Hains was a boy whom his parents did not' know what to do with unreliable, irresponsible and erratic. Not being competent, be cause of inherited disabilities tending to mental disorders, for a professional life, he was yet, through the influence that his father" was able to exert, put in the Army. Idleness, late hours, fast living and an assured salary did the rest. Had he been born to useful toll and dedicated to a quiet, regular life, he would, in all probability, have been a self-supporting, useful citizen; his parents would have been saved the humiliation of exposing his early shortcomings and idlosyncracles, and expert criminal lawyers would have been relieved of the necessity of in venting a new name for pseudo-insanity. ' The killing of Herve and Sullivan by each other at the little town of Gates Friday was an excellent way of ridding the community of two undesirables. The cause of the shooting was a girl whom Herve expected to arrive on a train and failed to meet. Sullivan, who had served a term for a statutory offense, took off the girl, and the shooting began on sight. The moral of the affair If there are any morals in it is that it is Just as well to break all the commandments when one be gins. Another chapter in a story or inci dent that has been industriously worked up into a naval scandal was recited Friday before the board of In quiry in the case of Lieutenant Frank lin Wayne Osburn, U. S. N., accused of misconduct in kissing the wife of a brother officer under the mistletoe at a Christmas festival in the latter's home last year. But the mistletoe ex cuse didn't seem to make good with the husband. Railroaders estimate that more than 2,000,000 people will visit the Coast this Summer. Reduced to a compre hensive unit, that means over eleven thousand a day for six months some thing more than the capacity of pres ent train service. Of the great num ber that will pass this way, all will see something good in Portland. An automobile Cnd a child collided In Portland yesterday, and the child was badly hurt, while the auto es caped unhurt. But your speed maniac will tell you what a narrbw escape It was for the machine, which, of course, was going along at considerably less than eight miles per hour. Those- two Gates lovers who were determined to shut each other out from the affections of a sprightly wid ow had their desires entirely fulfilled. One is dead, the other dying, as a re sult of a duel between them. But was the widow worth it? Or any widow? Following a scarcity and consequent high prices, there is likely to be large planting of potatoes. The surplus will not go to waste, for potatoes make ex cellent feed for pigs, and the Oregon pork product is woefully short, year in and year out. There would seem to be no reason why the Republican party of Oregon should not be cleared of the Bourne Chamberlain combination, recovered from its paralysis, given efficiency, and made to stand for something again. Actor Hackett, bankrupt, shows as sets of $774 and liabilities of $126,456. which is Interesting in so far as it shows how far some people can capi talize hot air and good looks. Mr. Patten, on his way back to Chi cago, hopes the reporters will not know him. He won't know his own wheat corner when he sees it; so it's a stand-off. Where was the building inspector at Seattle when that balcony was con structed, or was the job sublet to a deputy? This lilac weather Is a good prelude to rose time. SILHOUETTES BY ARTHUR A. GREENE. In this cold gray dawn of the morn ing after it would be a graceful act for numerous defeated candidates to sit down to their typewriters and write: "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party." e e others is mistaken. He who think3 others can do without him is still more mistaken. - One way of retaining a woman's affections is not to return them. e Give anyone a handle and he'll pump you. The susceptible see the loveliest faces in the moonlight half with the eye and half with the fancy. Almost all married women like to boast that they married to reform their husbands and failed. e , e e If the truth were told not only a woman's beauty is only skin deep, but her convictions and emotions as welL e ' Nothing is so fragile as thought in its Infancy an interruption breaks It. Nothing is so powerful when it reaches maturity. e One's memory should be a treasure chest; not a lumber room. . The letter P is like a selfish man lr. that it is first in pity and last in help. see Whm you .look at a picture yoa give ' It the benefit of the proper light. Be as fair with your fellow creatures. When you are in an argument with a fool you may be sure he is engaged In the same employment. Is It Not Sot Who discovered America and made it the land of the free? Who wrote the Constitution and gave us libertee? ( Who translated the scriptures and framed the moral law? Who . put the Standard on the blink and brought John D. to taw? Who licked the haughty Spaniards and tamed the savage Jap? Who is the bravest man on earth who doesn't give a rap For the octopus-devil and the deep blue sea. But who modestly plugs for pos-ter-l-tee? Rosenfelt. Who was it set out all alone. Far from kindred and home, sweet home. To conquer Afrlo's burning sands And throttle elephants with his hands? Who'll annex . Uganda to Oyster Bay And make Mad Mulla join the Y. M. C. A.? Who may take & notion Big William to shelve And run after something- in 1912? You say. The most artful thing about a girl is her artlessness. There is no such thing as an easy chair for a discontented man. ewe It is a glorious thing to resist tempta tion, but a safer to to avoid it. s, e Love's sweetest meanings are un spoken. The full heart knows no rhetorio of words. . When men are confronted with past' errors, they always complain against' their memory never against their judg ment: - i Eyes sometimes ae better foe being washed with tears. Words are poor fig-leaves- to cover the ' nakedness of deeds. e ' Notwithstanding all our talk about free institutions, this country is an. absolute ! monarchy of petticoats. e e e Don't hoaAd your charity for some: great act of philanthropy. Death will come down the road some day and check I you out. The better system is to sow kindness, here a little, there a little, from day to day. It will make less trouble for your executor after you are gone. 1 TOP Direct Primary. The Spectator, Portland. What is the use of the direct pri-. mary if some of the men who seek nomination under it refuse to abide by the decision the people render through it? Mr. Rushlight, who wakens the echoes around the rugged canyons of Mt Hood by his speeches in favor of thA npAnlp'i i (? i u n i ,1 -rtKa menace to the public in aught that touches the integrity of the direct pri mary, declines to pledge himself to support the man the people nominate for Mayor under the direct primary. If the direct primary Is to continue in force, the people should demand that those who avail themselves of its advantages shall pledge themselves to abide by its results. Otherwise It will become a mere joke, not worth laugh ing at The Extent of Hi Knowledge. He doesn't know that Homer ever sans a thrilling song. He doesn't know who won at Water loo, He doesn't know that Caesar ever swayed a cheering; throng. Or what It was that Guy Fawkes tried to do; But he can tell you quickly, if you have the wish to know. Who have led the leagues in batting for a dozen years or so. He doesn't know an adverb from a pro noun or a 'noun. He mixes up his tenses when he speaks; . He doesn't know who Byron was or that he won renown. Or what range has the highest moun tain peaks: But he can give you quickly and with out a moment's thought All the details of the battles that old John L. ever fought. He couldn't name a dozen of this cou try's Presidents. He doesn't know who lost at Bunker Hill: Once he saw displayed a copy of "Poor Richard" for ten cents, And he bought it, but regret is with him sUll, "For," he says. "I looked all through it and dere's nuttln' dere at all Like dere is In dls here guide book wit its records of baseball." Chicago Record-Herald.