The Sunday Oregonian., July 25, 1909, SECTION FIVE, Image 46

THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, JULY 25, 1909.
His Success With His. Real Airship Has Thrown London Into a Femegit
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ENGLAND has a bogie man.
It does not take the traditional
form of an oprre. this apparition that
stolen away the senses of the nation
thai under normal conditions is perhaps
the best balanced In the world.
It is tbe kindly looking face of an
elderly gentleman of culture that has
caused the palpitation In the heart of
the British public, and merely to men
fin his name Is to bring excited chorus
frcm a poop! that has come to dread It.
"Von Zeppelin" Is the name and its pos
fssnr is one of the foremost of living
ptudents of the great problem of aerial
navigation by mean of dirietblc flying
machines, a subject to which all nations
of the world are now addressing them
selves. Von Zeppelin is the rnt of the Kaiser.
The Kmperor of the Germans believes
that his elderly subject has come the
nearest of u!l h:s rivals to finding the way
to navlcate the air in a machine in per-f-'-ct
control.
Tf this were all. if It were a certainty
thit tlie invention would never be put to
ny but peaceful uses. Kngland would
not care, but It is the dread idea that
sonie day or of the Von Zeppelin ma
chines will bV loaded with explosives and
5nt over Kn gland. dro,pp:ntf destroying
projectiles, that has caused the name of
the venerable inventor to conjure up the
most dread fears for the Iritor.s.
The excitement caused by the Von Zep
pelin experiments merely reflect the en
tire distraught attitude of the subjects
of King Edward at the present time.
Ever since a Du Maurier, son of the
author of "Trilby," wrote his play, "An
Englishman's Home." the nation has been
torn In a tempest of military excitement.
It was In the honest belief that Eng
land had not sufficiently assured its mili
tary protection -that Maurier penned his
play. It is hardly credible that he an-.
alyzed its possibilities. Perhaps none
could have foreseen what a tremendous
excitement would be invoked. Something
almost like panic seized on the stolid
Britons at the promulgation of the idea
that the vaunted security of the nation
was all a myth, and that Germany could
at any time take possession of the coun
try. The condition of hysteria was height
ened by the discovery of irregularities in
the naval department! These, however,
have been redressed, and improvements
have also been made in the army. The
collection of money has resulted in a
largely increased enlistment. Home guards
have been organised and even women have
helped in the effort to rouse the fighting
blood of the nation to the need for more
protection.
In the midst of It all the fear of Von
Zeppelin has refused to be allayed. "What
avaiPwould either army or navy be tn
fieht against an enemy in the air, that
safe from attack could pour death into
one town after the other of the whole
realm.
Since the excitement began there has
been a host of canards. One wild story
was started' that Germany had stored in
London hundreds of thousands of arms
and had men right in the heart of the
city who at a given signal would fire the
city and turn their arms on its people.
This canard was exposed and drowned.
But the balloon fear, the Von Zeppelin
danger, is not to be quieted.
All England read only a few weeks ago
of the satisfactory trip that the German
made from his headquarters on Lake Con
stance to Nuremberg.
This was not a case of an aeronaut
making a short trip on a fragile little
contrivance where his escape from death
was mainly a matter of luck.
The Zeppelin II. the name of his
present craft, is of great dimensions.
When It made Its recent long trip it
carried altogether ten men, the inventor,
two engineers ami a crew of seven,
which shows that in this case the term
air-'"ship" was not misapplied.
The tests were amazingly successful.
The airship, after leaving Nuremberg,
was turned toward Berlin, and after
going a considerable part of the way.
was allowed to come down, and with
some slight adjustments was brought to
the headquarters from which it started.
During the entire journey the big
ship had been completely under control
of the steering gear, and had respond
ed faultlessly.
An average speed of 25 miles an hour
was maintained, and the total distance
of 900 miles in 88 hours really demon-
strated the important fact that the
dirigible flying machine Is so near that I
It can really be said to have arrived.
Reports of tills wonderful feat were 1
consumed with delight In Germany,
with deepest concern in England, and
with some discomfiture in- France.
The latter nation would, in case of
warfare with the Fatherland, be just J
as much in danger as England, for It
would be possible for the Kaiser to ,
send his airships over either London or 1
Paris without 'needing to land or to
take on fuel.
But France is further advanced in the
airship problem than England is. The
war department has for a long time
been experimenting, and, it is believed.
could in a short time fit out air cruisery
that would be able to gfve battle to the
flyers of -the German sovereign. There
fore the land of Jean Crapaud has been
more philosophical than England since
the demonstration of German progress.
But England Is entirely unprepared
with any equipment of this kind, and
panic has seized the nation on the sub
ject of airships. The use of Von Zep
pelin's name proved a grood enough
magnet to draw some $35, 000. to encour
age the development of airships for
military purposes.
Newspapers are pouring broadsides
into the government and demanding that
Britain get actively to work in bringing
its equipment up to date and adding to it ;
everything that is modern in the science j
of warfare. x
The music halls are joining with vigor
In the uproar, and the surest way to
ft it
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for the war with
make a hit on the boards over there is ism and calls upon the
to have an act which appeals to patriot- I of the nation to prepare :
Germany, which London now believe
must come in the course of time.
It is somewhat curious that Von Zeppe
lin should have been the man to give
England this severe fright. It is not so
long ago -that he was an object of sym
pathy all over Germany, for he stood In
the .position of a ruined man.
But he became interested In the science
of aerial navigation, and from that time
on he centered his whole life on the pro
duction of a machine that could fly and
be at all times under complete control.
All these earlier experiments he himself
financed. His experiences were like those
of many other pioneers. He seemed al
ways on the verge of success, and when
heavy drains were made on his purse he
consoled himself with the thought that
in only a short time he would be success
ful, and the sale of his ship would more
than reimburse him.
He had a host of failures and no less
than a dozen remarkable escapes from
death.
Then the word went out that he was
ruined. His whole fortune had gone in
the hunt for his ideal.
The sympathy of the Kaiser was
aroused. He sent for Von Zeppelin. He
offered him a pension. But. . to his sur
prise, he found that the only grief the
inventorhad was lack of funds to com
plete his invention, which he explained
was at the verge of success.
William advanced the money. Von Zep
pelin has succeeded, and now Is the dread
bugaboo of the nation having the world's
greatest navy. Success came late to the
venerable inventor, who is now past 70,
but it has come in such liberal measure
as to atone for the wait
Oregon Farm Lands Not High
Why Acreage Near Portland Must Grow More Profitable as the City
Increases in Population Comparisons With Ordinary Farm Lands.
FORTLAM. July 22. (To the Editor.)
v vasjon.i ;iy newcomers are heard to
declare that land values in Oregon are
tH hlph and that a farm of equal acre
ace ran tc bought in Iowa or' Illinois for
r.t more and even for less money. In a
ires Mire this may be true, but on an
average land is much cheaper here than
in any of the Middle Western States
wfin its surrounding- and advantages
re ronsid'Trd. Indeed, when this phase
of the situation is borne in mind the
cheapest lands in the United States are
rmht here in Oregon. .
Itnd i valuable for what it will do or
y.eld in return for the investment- An
a--re of land which will eStcel In the pro
d'lctioti of fru:t. vegetables, grass, grain,
p.irub-tvrv and dowers, nil because it lias
u unfailing climate w Inch conduces to
tMe prfc: t maturity of all these, and
wirh a .vp'endid and growing market. Is
worth "uU kinds of mnney" when com
pared with another u-re which, as in any
of ti.e Mississippi Valley states, will pro-dj-e
nothing nut torn and then some
more corn.
The difficulty with an occasional hoine-jM-kT
wht comes to Oregon is that he
f xpect s to find a barkwoods country in
t th w pioneer Ma ge. where '"cheap
lands' nny be had for a song and in A
section where the first few years of
enda ors will be chietly occupied in
fithftnc Indians and in the protection of
btfr family from the depredations of vo
racious bear and bloodthirsty panthers.
Instead, be finds the very best country in
tbe United States now available for ad
ditional population tho best becausa it
has an all-the-y ear-round climate not
equaled elsewhere and an unusually pro
ductive soil, a combination which, con
sidering our tine markets, makes for
ideal homes and certain profits.
Today three acres out of four in the
Willamette Valley from the foothills of
the Coast Range to those of the Cas
cades are In brush or timber. There are
four times as many individual trees,
large and small, in Western Oregon to
day as there were when Oajiiel Waldo ar
rived at the old mission below Salem
with his family and 100 head of cows in
October. lS4:t. Within the city limits of
Portland there are many hundreds of
acres of land in stumps and brush, which
do not yield one cent of revenue to their
owners save as the "unearned increment
adds to their value. But they produce
absolutely nothing in the way of con
tributing to the food supply of the people
mere vast expanses of brush and
stumps.
And all this on land of the very bot
character within a short distance of a
market which is selling all the produce it
can get at prices that are almost fabulous.
A dozen eggs bring hitherto Winter
prices in July, potatoes taste like oranges
and a package of onions commands such
an altitudinous figure tnat its mere con
templation brings tears to your eyes.
And while these prices are extremely
remunerative to growers, there is in
sight no prospect for their reduction.
Every day in the year there is more than
one carload of the commonest of our food
supplies received in Oregon from the
Eastern states. This has been our con
dition for many years and until it is all
chanjEadi orioea we now pay for these
necessary products will remain where
they are. Why not? What will change
them? Even Portland alone now fur
nishes a practically unlimited market for
all our local produce. It has a popula
tion of 2Ti0.ooo and is growing rapidly. In
a decade it will not fail far. if any,
from a million people and like all cities of
that character in every part of the world,
the lands which are connected with it
commercially by daily communication
are very valuable? This is especially so
in a country whose climate enlists its
services in the most perfect production
of all kinds of vegetables, fruits and
dairy products.
With these facts appreciated, of course
land here is valuable. There is much of
it that is in brush at present, which,
when cleared, a process not essentially
expensive, will be easily worth five times
what It may be had for now. I have
seen many small farms made from heav
ily timbered lands which today are among
the most productive in the entire state.
All our brushy lands are of the most
fertile character, having originally been
prairies.
In any country where ordinary roses
will bloom outdoors every month in the
year and the natural precipitation is
sufficient for all purposes the variety of
its products is certain to make of it one
of the most resirable known to man. The
Willamette Valley, and. indeed, most of
Oregon is just that kind of a country
And the wonder is that in any part of
it land may be had at as low a figure as
from $20 to $50 an acre.
Hit some of our land sells for as much
as Jiono an acre, and more land in bear
ing fruit trees. This is regarded as un
reasonable by some people who have not J
looked Into the situation and the possi
bilities of a great section lik'e this,
favored of the Lord. But some of these
skeptics, having $1000 in $20 gold pieces,
will lend It out at 6 per cent indefinitely
and think, they are getting a fine return
for their hard-earned cash, $rtO for a
whole year. If that thousand dollafa
were invested in Slood River apple land
or any of hundreds of other sections in
Oregon which are "just as good," his net
return would be at least live times as
much as his straight cash at interest.
And more. In Southern Oregon two years
ago a man paid $40,000 for eight acres of
land which was in bearing apple , and
pear trees because Its owner was each
year makfng a greater profit from his
business than that sum of money would
return at even 20 per cent interest.
Land values are not too high in Oregon.
They are surprisingly low. They will
never be so low again. Any kind of an
acre of land within 60 miles of Portland
will for all time, as the situation becomes
understood, be more valuable than with
in a like distance of any other city in
the United States. It will be so because
of our remarkable jelimate. the rich char
acter of the soil and the rapidly growing
markets. Newcomers who find a coun
try whose apples bring a higher price per
dozen in all parts of the world than Cali
fornia oranges and whose cherries are
of such wonderful perfection that to
merely look at fhem is more satisfaction
than to actually eat those of any other
section of the earth, should not be sur
prised if those owning the land are in a
degree appreciative of its growing value.
But -these facts are recognized by a
vast majority of those now coming to
Oregon in search of a better country, the
only difficulty being that such a large
proportion of them want to locate near
Portland. After six months experience
in handling farm lands I have discov
ered, as others have done, that the aver
age Easterner wants a good farm near
the city limits of Portland but at foot
hill prices, not realizing that land in easy
and close communication with Portland is
necessarily very valuable. But these
matters are rapidly adjusting themselves
and people coming to the Northwest from
the less favored states in the Mississippi
Valley understand that In comparison
with, conditions there Oregon landa are j
really cheap and will never again be so
low In price as now. T. T. GEER.
NEEDS OF IRISH FARMERS
Plunkett Says They Are Capital,
Skilled Work, Business Methods.
DUBLIN, July 24. (Special.) Some
severe criticism of the government's
Irish land policy is made by Sir Horace
Plunkett in an article in the Morning1
Post. After pointing flaws in the finan
cial features of the land purchase bill.
Sir Horace says:
"Some 200,000.000 of Imperial funds
will have been invested in the latest
final settlement of the Irish land ques
tion. My belief is that the investment
Is secure if, and only if, the peasants
are Induced to put more capital, more
skilled work and betten business meth
ods into the industry of farming1. I
do not see in Mr. Birrell's bill or in
his speeches in support of it any evi
dence that he and his advisers have
faced this, the center of the problem.
Skilled work and business methods
mean education, but Mr. Birrell calls
Irish education repulsive and refuses tu
touch it. In short, he asks the tax
payer to put still more of his money
into a decaying concern, but declines
to do anything to arrest the decay in
order to secure the money."
Sir Horace then, outlines .a plan for
starting farmers from congested dis
tricts in new colonies with as much
land as they can manage, extending the
area, for them in proportion as they
progress in the knowledge and use of
it. Each man, knowing; that more land
awaited him when ke proved himself
fit for it, would have the greed for
land, a stimulus to industrial efficiency.
Instead of working as It does now
towards the smallest possible produc-j
tion on the largest possible area. Sir
Horace went on:
"It is folly attempting an agricul
tural Utopia by means of an 'economic
holding,' managed under an uneco
nomic system by an uneconomic man.
"When , will people understand that it
is the system and the man we have to
deal with much more than the hold
ing?" And again:
'The object to be attained is to de
I'elop a national public opinion (which
does not exist) on this matter, so that
considerations of the public good mlv
prevail over local prejudices. Mr. Bir
rell's scheme will install local preju
dice in a position of such power as it
never exercised before against the suc
cess of any scheme in Ireland. The
general taxpayer has not a notion of
what is being proposed for the protec
tion (or, rather, for the destruction)
of his own interests in the matter. It
is not his interests, however, that most
concern me, but rather those of the
peasantry, who stand to suffer more
than anybody else."
POPE PIUS GROWS BITTER
His Holiness Refers Bluntly to
Thoe Who Surround Him.
PARIS, July 24. (Special.) Fregoli, the
well-known quick-change artist, has been
received in audience by the Pope, the in
troduction being made by Monsignor Bis
leti. Hia Holiness, who was in a merry
mood, asked:
"What sort of things are you doing Mr.
Fregoli? For the last two days you have
been the sole subject of conversation in
the Vatican. Kverybody is mad about
you; even the cardinals. ' You have
charmed them all."
I should have been very glad to see
your Holiness among the audience," Fre
goli replied.
And." hia Holiness rejoined, "I .believe ,
I should not be displeased to come, but
and the Pope made an eloquent gesture,
meaning that, unfortunately, it was im
possible for him to leave the Vatican.
At this point a Catholic journalist, who
accompanied Fregoli. asked that the
transformationist might be accorded per
mission to take a snapshot of the Holy
Father.
"I am sorry." said Plus X. "but it Is im
possible. They have forbidden me. You
know that the Pope is the servant of the
servants of God. but sometimes he is also
servant to earthly masters and the
devil."
This phrase caused Monsignor Bisletl to
change color. After receiving the Pope's
blessing. Fregoli retired, but he succeed
ed in getting a snapshot after all, as he
waited for the Pope to pass through the
hall.
CHILD PROVES FINANCIER
Daughter of British Chancellor of
Exchequer Has Fine Scheme.
LONDON. July 24. (Special.) Mr. Lloyd
George, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
was shopping at Brighton where he has
taken a house for the season the other
day, .in company with his charming little
daughter of 6. He had expended all the
spare cash in his possession in purchas
ing for her flowers and sweets and other
things dear to the heart of a child.
The eye of the little one. however, had
fastened on something else in one of the
shops, and she importuned her father to
buy it.
"1 have no more money, my dear. I
have spent everything 1 had. I cannot
pay for any more," pleaded the Chancellor.
"Then, daddy," the youngster replied,
can't you put a penny on something:?"
London has a populatloa of 4,796,75-