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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1909)
If X' r r i - - t- v a o ii a : jj - BT JOHX ELFKBTH "WATKTN8. THB vliol land vlll ait up md take notice on election night of the three cornered Mayoralty fight in Greater New Tork. . The berth at stake fcai attached to tt Inort arbitrary power than any other itAtnertcan office ahort of the Prealdency Itself, and the salary which the victor will lraw durtnr hi term U a half again as fereat as that given any Governor of thee overelgn states of ours. Indeed, If sal ary be the gauge for camparison, that of Mayor of New York City la half again as fctg an office aa that of Governor of New Tork State Is bigger even than the office Vlce-JPrealdent, Chief Justice, Cabinet j member. Senator or Representative of the TJolted Btafes la more exalted than the !terth of any Federal official in Washing ton axoept the President, for whereas the Uayor of New Torit City receives $15,000 , year, the Nation's Chief Justice gets a $11,000: Its "Vice-President and Cabinet Officers but $12,000; Senators and Repre sentatives but $7500, and the Governor of 2,'ew TorV State is paid but glO.OOa PaCroiuige of Piwldetitial Slxe. Verily, the new Mayor's direct patron age will compare favorably with that of President Taft hirasAlf. His private secre tary '"111 receive J"000 per year, or $1000 more than ilr. Taft's secretary receives, and bis chief leeal adviser the corpora tion counsel will draw $15,000. or $3000 more per year than given to President Taft's chief legal adviser, the Attorney General of the United States. Then there will be a Cabinet officer's salary at $12,000 for a city chamberlain and three members of the water supply board, while six oth er bureaucrats will-get $10,000 each: two will get $S0O0; 14 will draw Messrs. Root's and Depew's Senatorial salary figure of $T5C0: seven will be given $7000; eight, $8500: 1 $yi0: and the number claiming $5000 Did You Ever Try a Corn-Fed Oyster? Delicacy of the South County of Rhode Island That Excelte All Other Bivalves. D ID you ever eat a corn-fed oyster? Jt cot you have missed the finest fruit old ocean bears, says a Providence cor respondent of the New York Sun. For. and the statement la advanced dellberate . ly, there is no oyster In this or any other country that can compare with the corn led oyster In delicacy of flavor. In plump xteaa and grace of figure, or In the soft beauty of Its coloring. So sedajctive and altogether delightful Is the corn-fed oyster that only with great difficulty la It possible to write or speak of It in the cold phraseology of pure sci ence. There to Just one drawback to per fect enjoyment of this marvelous shellfish, namely, that It cannot be purchased. It therefore becomes a public duty to point out how everybody may enjoy corn-fed oysters at a' smaller expenditure than Is necessary for the Inferior fish market ariety. It is at this season that Rhode Island families which cllne to the good old cus toms of half a century ago mainly those of the South county, and not a great many even there lay In their Winter sup plies of oysters. In some households this Is an Autumn duty equal In Importance with husking the corn, harvesting the tur nips and stocking the cellar with a barrel r two of cider made from home-grown apples, the Spring remainder of which turned to vinegar, win serve to give aest to the boiled dinner. It Is not so easy now as It used to be to collect your own oyster to put down for the Winter. Fifty years ago an oyster rake waa aa Indispensable part of the equipment of every well-to-do South coun-' ty farmin family, and the day when It was brought into use was looked forward to by all the family. When that time came "all hands would climb Into the roomy farm wagon and Journey to the shore of the bay or one of the many salt pond alone the south ahore connected with the ocean by breach waya. The wagon was, of course, loaded to the gunwales with good things to eat. preparations for the picnle having been under way for several days. . Arrived at the shore, horses were teth ered and generous armfuls of hay thrown to them, the women of the family busied themselves in unloading and assorting the eatable, the children sought the J myriad diversions the seashore offered and the men set about the serious busi ness of the day, the gathering of oyster enough fr three or four months. Ski ft a could always be borrowed, and armed with their oyster rakes the farmers bent to the task of scraping the ocean's bed for slielihsh. If a man was not pros perous enough to own a rake really omethiae; oa .luxury since It cam Into plums will reach 37. while 34 will be con tent with from $2300 to $3000. In almost every case the salary is higher than that for the corresponding office in the Federal establishment. This annual expenditure on salaries has lon amounted to a shame ful prodigality.' Indeed, after the Greater New York charter went into effect in 1S97. scores of newly appointed officeholders spent several months Indlstriouely endeav oring to find something to do. How Power Has Grown. The autocratic powers of New Torks Mayor have steadily grown since we set ourselves up In the business of self-government. In colonial days he was ap pointed by the Governor and next for a generation after Independence, by what was known as the State Council of Ap pointment. But a point for home rule was gained in 1S21. when the Common Council of. New York City was given the power of choosing the Mayor. Indeed, he was not elected by popular vote until 1S34: and his appointments were subject to confirmation by the Board ef .Aldermen until 1SS4. Still more powers were added in 1S95, when be was given absolute authority to re move his own appointees durin their first six months in office. After that time his removals had to be approved by the Gov ernor. But in 1901. 4ie revised charter gave the Mayor the uncontrolled power of removal over all of his appointees throughout his term. Thus Governor Hughes did not have to consent to the re moval of Police Commissioner Bingham this Summer, as would have been the case nine years ago. This generous charter amendment of 1901 also repealed the old provision rendering the Mayor ineligible for re-election; and this repeal allowed McClellan his three terms. But at the same time the Mayor's term was reduced from four to two years, and it was ar ranged that no more of his appointees but now elective officers only, should sit upon the powerful Board of Publlo Im provements, renamed the Board of Es timate and Appointment. While the scope of the Civil Service law affecting the filling of minor city offices has been ln- use so seldom he could usually borrow someone else's, and if he did not care to do that It waa possible in those halcyon days to pick up a barrel or so of oysters between tide. When the oyster gatherers have re turned to their homes the first thins to do Is to prepare the catch so that It will keep and grow fat until called for. Bach oyster is laid with the convex side of the shell downward. The object of this Is to enable the animal to retain Its liquor without a continual muscular strain in keeping Its shell closed. The oysters may hectored In a box, barrel or on the earth floor of the cellar. The prime requisite is that the place where they are kept shall be fairly cool without danger of freesing during the cold weather to come. A dampened burlap Is laid down and the shellfish are placed on this, tier above tier, as they are seen piled up in a restaurant window, but without the chunk of ice at the top of the pile. When the structure Is completed the oysters are thoroughly sprinkled with cold water and covered with another piece of dampened burlap. Once a week or so thereafter. It is the duty of some member of the family to feed the oys ters and keep them moist by sprinkling them with water containing oornmeaL The theory of the water ts that it keeps moist the delicate skin along the lip of the' shell, thereby preventing leakage of the Juices within and of the meal that the oysters absorb enough of It not only to sustain life but to grow fat. By this process they actually do grow fat and may be kept alive almost In definitely. The oyster body rounds out Into plump, delicious ourves. turns lighter In color and Improves wonder fully In flavor. Whatever of rankness It possessed in Its native bed is elim inated. Raw, fried or stewed, there are no such oysters elsewhere aa the corn fed oysters of the South County. It Is the difficulty experienced nowa days by the average Individual in gath ering his own supply of oysters that gains sympathy for what axe known as the free fishermen In the fight they are waging against the leasing of the oys ter beds In Rhode Island waters to private individuals. Until within a comparatively few years the Of-sters In Narragansett Bay and the adjacent waters were as free to anybody who wanted to gather them aa the swimming fish are now; but with the Increased demand for shellfish consequent upon the growth of popula tion the beds which had previously ap peared Inexhaustible showed signs of depletion and It became evident that unless steps were taken to avoid such a calamity the Rhode Island oyster aa a marketable commodity would disap pear altogether. The Rhode Island Shell Fish Commis sion decided that such'a misfortune could best be averted by granting oys ter rights to private persons who would feel deep oonoera la getting a return i Where There Is a Birth Every Six anda Death Every Seven Minutes , E . 1 i t 14 Hi f,. , creased, and although subordinate salary schedules must now pass through two boards. Instead of being arbitrarily fixed by bureau head's, all of this limits the di rect powers of the bureaucrats more than It lessens the autocracy of his honor him self. More Autocratic Than "Ever. He is more of an autocrat than ever be fore. Thus George B. McClellan has arbl- on their Investment. Out of this Con clusion has arisen the present practice of leasing portions of the bed of the bav suitable for oysters. The difference between the free fish erman and the leasing fisherman ts that the latter takes care of the beds, while the tree fisherman, careless of the Interests of others, strips a bed and leaves It void, with no hope of another crop for years to come. It is reasonable to believe that the practice of this and other states of leasing oyster- heds is responsible for maintaining oysters at 40 cents a quart. A quarter of a century ago they brought 50 cents a quart, but today, in the face of an upward tendency in al most every kind of food the movement of oyster prices Is downward rather than upward. Nevertheless the free fishermen of Rhode Island, a few of whom still man age to make a living by oystering on ground Inside of a six-foot depth of water at low tide, which the Shellfish Commission has established as the limit of leasing possibilities, and many other persons In the state think they have a good case against the lease system. They base it on a paragraph of the charter which King Charles II granted to the state In 1663. It reads: . "Our express will and pleasure is, and we do by these presents for us, our heirs and successors ordain and provide that these presents shall not in any manner hinder any of our loving sub jects whatsoever from using and exer cising the trade of fishing upon the coast of New England, in America; but that they and every or any one of them shall have full and free power and lib erty to continue and use the trade of fishing upon the said coast In any of the seas thereunto adjoining, or any arms of the seas, or salt waters, riv ers and creeks where they have been accustomed to fish." In 1843 the state superseded the charter by a constitution. A clause of that document reads: "The people shall continue to enjoy and freely exercise al the rights of fishery and the privileges of the shore to whloh they have been heretofore entitled under the charter and usages of this state." Mystery of Microorganisms. Everybody's Magazine. Ml oroorgan i sm s In their way are of all sizes. Thus, that bacterium which is the dread of every surgeon, the Staphylococ cus pyogenes aureus, as we have said In a previous article, can hold a mass-meeting of 8,000.000,000 on the tip of a lancet. By a device called a cytoraeter they can be counted, no matter how numerous, with greater accuracy than that with which census officials can report the pop. ulation of New York or of Chicago. But this Staphylococcus Is a large bacterium compared with that dread of physicians, Phelffev'a influenza bacillus, which la aa r i I I If ' v . '". V 2 A " i xfy, I 1 HeacLof a -Great Community Wl ll. v.). trarily closed up theaters aa unsafe and exercised his one-man power to perfoien other acts affecting large Investments of capital. And the Mayor of New York has the chief responsibility In directing the expenditure of a vast annual budget, sometimes one-third as much as that of the Federal Government, and greater than the combined budgets of any other five cities in the country. The new autqerat of Greater New York much smaller than a Staphylococcus as a garden pea Is small than a pumpkin. In fact, we come at last to microorganisms which are too small to be seen at all by the highest powers of our wonderful mi croscopes, though we know that they ex ist because of doings of theirs which only living things are capable of. One re markable and formidable instance of the kind we will soon mention. It Is doubtful whether It belongs to the bacteria or to the protozca. As it comee into us by the proboscis of one of the 126 different kinds of wnosqultoee, a kind called the Steg omyla, which it infests as a parasite, it probably belongs to the protozoa, but its small size seems to make good the old lines: "We have fleas to bite us And they have fleas to bite 'em. And these Still other fleas, ad infinitum!" nail of Fame, "Please give me." said the teacher, as she rubbed her tired eyes, "The names of some great Irishmen, my dears"; And when a hand waved frantically, she noticed, with surprise. The grimy paw of Jimmie McAleer"s. Twas something new for Jimmie to be interested when A question was before the house, and so: "Well, Jimmie," said the teacher, 'name your famous Irishmen." He proudly answered, "Here's a few I know": "McGlnnity and Hogan. Mike Kelly, Dick Cogan; Jlmj Collins, Wild Bill Donovan and Ryan ; . McGill and Mclntyre, Spike Shannon and McGuire,- McCarthy, Dolan, Daley and O'Brien. Jlggs Donohue, McBrlde. Waddell, the Phillies pride, McFarland. Muggs McGraw and Mc Gulrk; x Jack Sullivan 0Malley,' Mortality, McNally, Pat Flaherty, J. Hurley, Eddie Burke. McCormlck and MoConnell. McGilligan. O'Donnell, MoGlnley, McNamara and McGann; Hugh Duffey and McMakln, McHale, McGee, McCracken, O'Nell, McQuaid, McMannla and Mo Mahon.' " "Why, Jimmie, cried the teacher. "Just wait a minute, please; What did those folks you mention ever doT How Id that you didn't give me any names like these: Tom Moore, Party 11 and Robert Em mett, tooT" . r "Gee whiz! exclaimed the nrohin. "I never seen dem guys I named the warmest members m the mess; De fellers you are booetiir fer can't be so very wise; Dey must 'ave played in some bush league, I guess." ' Hartford Courant. Anetent 6ulldinn or works cannot be re stored in Italy wUbeut he consent ot the government. '1 "7 will be free to exerolse this rule ever twice as many people as there are In Nor way; 2,000.000 more than there are In Den mark or, Servla or Greece over a million more than dwell In Switzerland. Indeed, the population of our metropolis is as great today aft that of the kingdom of 9xony. Twenty-six Independent nations of the earth have fewer people the most of these, far fewer, indeed. The 19,269 school teachers of the metropolis alone Some Examples of Prodigious Memory WeU Authenticated Instances of Remarkable Retentiveness by Educated Men. w1 RITER9 .on psychology and phil osophy have cited many examples' of prodigious memory. No doubt some of these are- exaggerations, others are fabulous, and only a comparatively few admit of verification. An investigation has found three cases so well authenti cated that they may be used to Illustrate the wonderful power of a well-cultivated memory in a mind of strong native endowment In each Instance, too, this remarkable retentiveness seems In no way tor have retarded the iuiiesi aevei opment of other mental powers. Probably the - most remarkable of the three was the memory of Leonard Euler. Euler was a native of Basle, but most of his life was spent in St. Petersburg. He was born In 1V07 and died In 17S3. He was a teacher of great power and a most prolific writer. More than .half of the 46 quarto volumes of mathematics pub lished by the St. Petersburg Academy between 1727, and 1783 were from his pen. At his death he left more than 200 manu script treatises. In the later years of his life he was totally blind- Then, and probably earlier, too, he carried In his" memory a table of the first six powers of the "series of natural numbers up to 100." It is re lated than on one occasion two of his students attempted to calculate a con verging series. - As they progressed they found" disa greement In their results. These dif fered by a unit at the 60th figure. The question was referred to Euler, who de cided to make the calculation. He did this mentally and his result was found to be' correct. It was not only In mathematics that Euler gave proof of a prodigious' mem ory. He waa well read In general lit erature and was an excellent classical scholar. Virgil waa one of his favorite writers. It Is. soli that he knew this author so well that be could repeat the Eenetd "from beginning to end without hesitation, and Indicate the first and last line of every page of the edition he used. The 17th oentury furnishes the other two instances, whloh warrant especial at tention. The first is that of the Italian scholar, Antonio da Marco Magllabechl. Magllabechl was the literary prodigy of bis time. Royalty and other distin guished personages paid tribute to his wonderful learning. His oon temporaries have said that his memory was so pro digious that he was able to- retain ver batim most of the contents of his "mul titudinous books." A comparatively recent writer has de clared that Magliabechi could name all the authors that had written" pon any subject, giving the name of the book, the word andV often a page, Thlm la 1 Ztf jSX X X i f hi : .;-.!: km IM M IfrSt-- w- ? 8 "I I ' - K f vr. 7 km : . i'u- r x . .- ' w i otto t: outrank the standing armies of Denmark and Chile combined, while the police men of this biggest city of ours could more than replace the standing army of Venesuela. For a fact. New York's 4100 firemen form a bteeor force than the whole Danish or Swedish or Greek -navy, or the standing armies of Peru or Nicara gua. And there are enough people on -New York's city payroll to populate another Springfield. 111., or Topeka, Kan. Such is the. vastness of this city wherein a mar riage occurs every 14. a death ever seven and a birth every six minutes of every day. Candidates Compared. Of the three mayoralty candidates In this interesting fight, William J. Gaynor is the eldest, being 68, while William R. Hearst la a dozen years his Junior,. or 4C, and Otto T. Bannard comes in between the two, being 65. Gaynor is a native of Whltestown, N." Y., Bannard of Brooklyn and Hearst of San Francisco. Bannard was at Yale with Taft, but was a Junior when the latter came in as a freshman and was graduated two years ahead of the future President. Bannard then took a post-graduate course in Jaw at Colum bia. Hearst went to Harvard, but was suspended for a prank and didn't go back. Gaynor, as a farm boy, attended the dis trict schools and later a seminary. He began his career as a schoolmaster In St. Louis and Boston, while Bannard started right in as a young barrister and Hearst got printer's ink on his fingers and be-, came editor and proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner when only 23. G:fl nor also did his turn at Journalism, leav ing his school In Boston to become a re porter In Brooklyn. This was when he was 21. and It was due to his assignment upon law cases that he took up the study of Blacksione while still laboring in the ranks of the fourth estate. While Hearst waa buying and developing his chain of papers in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, he was alec serving in Congress, running for mayor in 1905, as now, and for Governor a year later, Bannard was making himself president of the New doubtless exaggeration, but, on the other hand, it should be remembered that the number of books on any subject were much fewer than at the present day. Besides this, there are two stories that have come down from Magllabechl's time to ours that give color to Its truth. On one occasion a gentleman of Florence de sired to test Magllabechl's memory and ascertain for Jilmealf whether the won derful stories told were truth or fiction. He gave him a manuscript to read; then, some days after its return, pretending to have lost It, he asked Magllabechl to, recall It, which It is said, he did with remarkable exactness. At another time the Grand Duke of Florence asked, if he could procure a certain book for him. Immediately came the response "No, sire; it is impossible; there is but one in the world; that Is in the grand seignior's library at. Constantinople, and la the seventh book on the seventh shelf on the rlgiit hand as you go In." The other instance in the 17th century Is that of the Dr. John Wallis. It Is not, however, as a theologian that Wallis' name Is enrolled hi the temple of fame, but as a mathematician. In math ematical history he ranks as the greatest of Newton's English precursors. He was started on his mathematical career by reading Oughtred's "Clayis Mathe matlca;" but the special bent of his genius came from TorrlcelH's writings on "The Method of Indivisibles." To this he applied thp Cartesian analysis and pro duced his great work, "The Arlthmetica Inflnitorlum" "the most stimulating mathematical work so far published in England." Here ho makea the successful attempt to solve a number of the more simple problems of the calculus by the summation of series to Infinity. The work was one of great Influence. Newton read it while an undergraduate at the university, and from It immediately de rived his binomial formula. The power of concentration and his memory were both very strong with Wallis. So strong, 1t is said, that on one occasion, "while In bed In the dark, ho extracted the square root of a number of 63 places to 27 terms and repeated the result 20 days afterward." These examples of retentive memory are quite well authenticated and give plausibility to the possible truth of others frequently cited. Pliny tells us that Cyrus the Great knew the names of all his soldiers,, and Cicero in his "De Senectute" says that Themlstocles could call by name the 20,000 citizens of Athens. From Cicero, too,' we learn something of the remarkable memory . af Sophocles, who In old age, when Judicial proceedings had been instituted to determine his men tal competency, recited to the Judges the Oedipus at Colonna to prove his mind was not falling. Plato makes Hlpplas boast that he oould repeat 600 words after hearing them once, but this Is nothing compared with the claims of Seneca. In his declamations fcn speaking of the former tenacity of his memory ba aaya that be waa ablo to re York Trust Company and director of s Jute mill, an Insurance enterprise and a securities company. All this while Gay nor was busy at the law. All Known as Reformers. All three of these men have been known to their followers as reformers. While Hearst has fought for municipal owner ship of public utilities and has been strenuous in demanding legislation, litiga tion and o(her efforts to curb thesoctopus, Gaynor has proclaimed himself a foe to corruption and a demolisher of "rings" within the party of his allegiance., Ha has written and spoken against the bru talities of the police and It was his eharge that the police had persecuted an Inno cent lnd that brought about the resigna tion cf Police Commissioner Bingham last Summer. But what brought Gaynor his greatest glory was his successful fight against "Boss" John Y. McKane, whom he had convicted for election frauds, and this victory led at once to the attorney's nomination by Republicans and Independ ent Democrat to the Supreme Court of New York, to which he has been twice re elected. While his present rivals have been thus acquitting themselves. Mr. Bannard, who is still a bachelor, has served as commis sioner of education under Mayor Strong, and has been vice-president of the Char ity Organization Society. He was also In strumental in the founding of the cele brated philanthropic pawnshop, known as the Provident Loan Society, whereat the poor of Greater New York may obtain loans on their personal property at one third of the pawnbrokers' rate. But a fourth man who has as much at stake In this campaign as any of the three candidates is Charles F. Murphy, the ex-saloonkeeper whom Croker mads commissioner of docks and ferries and who was chairman of the Tammany Democracy for 10 years prior to his suc cession as chief of Tammany Hall seven years ago. Murphy Is now 61, while Tarn, many has celebrated Its 120th birthday this year. New York, Oct. 25. peat 2000 names in the order In which they had been given to him. Where Democracy Ceases. ' Everybody's. Last year there came to one of the Chi cago high schools a young girl who dressed with excellent taste and whose manners were both correct and attrac tive. The boys lost no time In pointing her out to their girl friends In the soro rities. But the year passed and she was not among those chosen. Solicitous Inquiries from the boys revealed the ex tent of the social disaster which bad Jut been narrowly but triumphantly averted. The girl was unexceptionable In mort ways. But Well, we hate to talk about her. What Is the use? Still, If you muft know, she lives Now why . not let It drop? Oh, well, she lives on 'Steenth street. What? Yes. 'Steenth street! Good heavenf! 'Steenth street has a car line on it, and shops! It Is Just about as clean as any other street, perhaps, and they say It Is perfectly reepeotable but It has a street car line on it, and shops! Well, congratulate you on find ing out in time. We were sadly mistaken In her. Why, In one of our Western high schools there is a sorority which simply will not take a girl In, no matter who she Is, if she lives In a flat. The family must move to a houco. There's soma so cial going for you I COLUMBIA RIVEk. Columbia! Mighty puis in empire's view. Who, throWMng through a tnousand oen- turlea nlg-ht. Post roll sorene, majestio In thy might Before my vision; to the solemn strain Of thy doep rhythm, doth my heart attain A depth of reverenco, and a oiearer sight. I've known thee near thy source, where tbou art alight; Tve seen where thou dost nourish fertile Dlaln: Where through deep mountain chasm. thou . has worn Thy itlll, persistent, unrelenting way. And made my borne where thou dost offer all To swell, and sweeten broad Pacific, shorn In part of savor yielding to thy iwar, Then holding thee forever in Its thrall. Jamea Henry MacIaUerty. ' The Forerunner. Denver Republican. I've talked a while with the engineer The chap who's doln' my old time trick a, Except that he runs on a truck that's clear. While I drove the overland coach and six A coach and six acrnsa that plain That now (Ilea past In tyie window pane. This chap has a throttle tn his hand. And there's never a tk-klleh turn to ateert I held the ribbons, understand, . And a shotgun always rested near; No headlight gleamed on the faint, rotten trail When I waa the en who carried mall. The engineer sits as wapm as toast, - he perches blzh on his Iron hoss. And many's the time I've looked the ghost When the northr swept the plains across, That endless, pitiless, frozen plain That whlaaes vast through the window psne.