The Sunday Oregonian., February 13, 1910, SECTION THREE, Page 6, Image 30

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THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 13. 1910.
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POBTLAND, SUNDAY, FEB. 13, 1910.
THE PLAN I "OR "G KTTTNG TOGETHER."
There now Is prospect that the Re
publican party of Oregon, broken into
fragments by the methods pursued
heretofore, through the abuse of the
primary law, by the rush to get office
under the practice of self-nomination,
may find rehabilitation. The address
of the state committee to the electors
is a careful and judicious presenta
tion of the situation, and suggests
the only possible remedy for the dis
integration that has been so fatal
to successful political action.
The plan of the committee is in
full accord with the primary law. It
Is In strict agreement with the pur
poses of party organization and action
for which the law itself pronounces.
To secure co-operation of men who
hold common political principles is
the purpose of this effort; and It is
the intention cf the committee, as it
Khould be the intention of all mem
bers of the Republican party, to give
this convention the widest repre
sentative character.
The address of the committee
ppeaks for itself. It is carefully
drawn; it evinces a liberal and con
ciliatory spirit; it offers a basis which
invites harmony and co-operation of
all the members of the party for a
large and common object. Selection
of Judge George for chairman of the
committee will give assurance of
earnestness, intelligence and disin
terestedness. On the basis so care
fully laid down bj' the committee the
Republican party of Oregon can be
reunited, or never can be reunited
at all.
The plan is not coercive; it is sim
ply suggestive or advisory. It will be
tested at the primary; where, if the
candidates who may be recommended
are not successful, others, having the
majority, will receive the nominations.
The disintegration of party, produced
by self-nomination, under the go-as-you-please
plan, reduces party ef
fort, and party itself, to absurdity. If
curable at all, it will be cured by this
effort to "get together."
OREGON'S CLIMATE.
The Scotch sage, David Hume, writ
ing something less than 200 years ago,
remarked that he supposed meteor
ology might one day become an exact
science. His anticipation has not been
fulfilled yet. The laws governing
"ftlns, winds and other "meteors" are
more or less shrewdly guessed at by
students of the subject, but it would
be rash to assert that they are
"known." Meteorology Is still a
nascent science. It is a long time
, "borning." perhaps, but when jt finally
arrives, full grown and brightly pan
oplied, no doubt its beauties and bene
fits will more than compensate for the
trouble and expense of waiting for it.
The brochure on the climate of Ore
gon which Forecaster Beals has writ
ten for the Weather Bureau exhibits
in its long arrays of observations the
patient industry which our students
are expending to build up a meteor
ology which shall be truly an exact
science.
For his purpose Mr. Beals divides
Oregon into four regions distinguished
from one another by marked climatic
differences. The Umpqua Valley in
his scheme Is grouped with the Rogue
River region, correctly enough, very
likely. The change of landscape as
ono travels from Eugene southward to
Roseburg is decided and an unmistak
able watershed is crossed. The climate
of the two regions also varies, though
not abruptly. The Umpqua Valley is
an exceptionally favored spot. Pio
neers of long residence claim, proba
bly with truth, that the vine and the
.rose reach a degree of perfection at
Roseburg which the neighborhood of
Portland can scarcely rival. Passing
farther southward to the vicinity of
Grants Pass, Medford and Ashland,
one enters a country to whose charms
Mr. Beals discreet scientific pen can
not be expected to do full Justice. He
remarks, ofVourse, that "It has more
sunshine than the 'Willamette Valley
or the coast counties," 'but official dig
nity does not permit him to dwell on
I he pellucid beauty of its cloudless
Winter days, or to recount the attrac
tions of its fruitful Summers.
To many persons Southern Oregon is
by nature the most pleasing part of
the. world. During the AVinter months
its atmosphere possesses what some
poets have called a "winy" quality. It
is full of vigor, with just enough chill
to stimulate a man to put forth his
est efforts. In no part of the year
can the climate of the Rogue River
Valley be called enervating. The
Krowing season is somewhat briefer
than it is along the "Willamette, but
the clear air and persistent sunshine
more than compensate. There Is am
ple time for all fruits of the tem
perate zone to mature. Mr. Beals
affords grounds for the interesting re
mark that the growing season in the
Rosue Elver country is perhaps a full
month longer at moderate elevations
than in low valleys. This has long
been known and acted upon by fruit
men, who seek the slopes of the foot
hills to avoid early and late frosts.
The same climatic rule applies In the
Willamette Valley, as those who have
planted walnuts on low lands have
learned to their cost.
Mr. Beals' statistics show a greater
difference in rainfall between the Wil
lamette region and the low coast strip
than common report admits. Salem
has but forty inches annually, while
Newport. Just across the mountains,
has seventy. Newport, however,
makes a nearer approach to extreme
aridity than any other beach town In
Oregon. Port Orford has ninety-two
inches of rain and the village of Glen
ora, which is almost directly west of
Portland, swims around In 13S. Life
in that favored hamlet must be one
unbroken bath. It Is to be hoped the
water comes down warm. Still, Glen
ora is not the wettest spot In Oregon in
December, though It Is at all other
times. In December Cascade Locks
carries off the dampened palm. On
page 11 of his brochure Mr. Beals has
published a diagram which shows the
rainfall of many Oregon towns month
by month reduced to a common scale.
Many interesting facts are revealed at
a glance by this Ingenious chart.
La Grande, for example, has virtu
ally the same amount of rain every
month from January to June. Port
land's June rains amount to less than
a third of those in January. Baker
City's precipitation does not vary a
great deal from month to month, ex
cept in July and August. In August,
which is its dryest month, there is but
one-third as much as in May, its wet
test. People who dwell on the low
lands in the Willamette region can
confirm Mr. Beals' statement that the
rainfall increases rapidly with eleva
tion. The farms on the "bottom" .will
often be parched and barren In the
August drouth, when land in the foot
hills enjoys verdant showers. The
foothill regions of Western Oregon
have advantages which are only half
appreciated by settlers, or even by old
Inhabitants. Systematic effort ought
to be instituted to make their fertility
and beneficent climate better known.
PERSISTENCE OF NAMES.
Another word on Henry T. Finck's
remarks on the name of the great
mountain peak near Tacoma and Se
attle. Tacoma Is a beautiful name,
and the Indian romance about it that
Theodore Winthrop professed to have
discovered Is a pretty thing, more sure
than anything else that Winthrop did
to carry his name echoing far down
through the corridors of time. The
word, the name that the city bea'rs,
connected with his legend of the
mountain, was the invention of a
wonderful young writer, whose prom
ise of very great things was cut off at
the beginning of the Civil War. It
would be an excellent thing, if the
name could be bestowed on the
mountain as a tribute to Winthrop.
But he came too late for it though
he was there in 1S5 3. The mountain
had borne the name of Rainier from
the days of Vancouver, and under this
name it was familiar to all the early
settlers of the country. The City of
Tacoma, taking the name for herseif
and endeavoring to fix it on the ma
Jectio mountain,' came too late. Ad
miral Rainier, of the British navy,
entitled to no perpetuity in American
memory, holds this honor, through
the same law of human adaptation
and convenience that gave and has
preserved from early ages the names
of the letters of all the alphabets of
the world.
But the persistence of the name of
Rainier, applied to the great moun
tain, is precisely the same as in the
case of Mount Hood. Mount St. Hel
ens and Mount Baker. These all bear
the names of Englishmen, and are
due, as Rainier Is due, to Vancouver's
expedition. All the principal parts of
Puget Sound bear Vancouver's names;
and they are plentiful likewise along
the Columbia River.
Once there was an effort to change
the names of the great mountain
peaks of the Oregon country. The
chain of mountains that bears them
was to be called "Presidents' Range,"
and Mount Hood . was to be called
Mount Washington. , No names hith
erto had been bestowed on the peaks
now known as Adams and Jefferson.
So the names of Washington, Adams
and Jefferson were attempted; but the
name of Hood was fixed, and could
not be changed. Adams and Jeffer
son remained, because names that
had passed into current use, or ob
tained places on the maps, had not
previously been affixed to them.
Through change of conditions
names are sometimes changed. "But
Sinai is still Sinai; so is Soracte still
Soracte. Karnes introduced Into Eng
land by the Romans two thousand
years ago remain, outlasting all
changes and conquests and masters.
Not less likely are the present names
of Mount Hood and Mount Rainier to
remain. .
APP1.ES FOB THE HOME DEMAND.
Apple-growers In some sections are
awakening to the fact that there is a
large local trade to be supplied with
good clean apples that are "seconds"
in nothing xcept size. Many years
ago one of the pioneer family orchard-planters
of Tamhill County, in
selecting from Downing the then
staple book on apple culture, varieties
of trees to plant on his hillside or
chard area included in his order four
Lady Apple trees. for the reason
(after taking counsel of his good
wife) that the lady apple was of such
convenient size to give to children, as
it avoided the wastage and unsightli
ness of bitten and half-eaten apples
lying about. Any child with a good
appetite can finish a small apple, and
if one' were not enough to meet the
demand, any number was available
from these prolific trees. The smaller
sized Baldwins and Spitzenbergs and
red-cheeked Pippins were preferred
for a similar reason, the large speci
mens of these varieties, even in apple
eating days of old, being more than
one would care to eat at a time.
The large apples in those days, and
they were many and toothsome it be
ing before the invasion of the tent
caterpillar and woolly aphis and
codling moth and San Jose scale
were used for cooking, for drying, for
apple butter and for the cider press.
The smaller sizes, each apple a perfect
specimen, were sorted out at the
Fall picking, for eating out of .hand.
Furthermore the idea was prevalent
then that the apples of medium size
were of better .flavor than were the
over-grown apples.
It is not improbable that this belief
has basis in fact. It is a .matter of
common knowledge that over-grown
vegetables are inferior for table use
to those of medium size. This fact
applies all along the line from the
mammoth pumpkin and potato to the
over-grown turnip and beet. The best,
sweetest, palatable and most nutritious
In all lines are those neither pinched
into smallness. nor coaxed into big
ness, but those of medium size.
This is true of apples, and indeed
of other fruits. No one pretends, for
example, that the mammoth black
berry, or the best specimens of the
Lawton, are equal in flavor to the wild
blackberry of our uplands, which
never attains to a prodigious size, but
is of fairly uniform growth, never
over-large, and, unless pinched by
drouth, never very small. The straw
berry is another fruit that demon
strates this idea. Familiar specimens
of the very large strawberries are
found In the variety known as the
"Sharpless," which Is shunned by
housewives and cannery men alike as
pulpy, pale and tasteless, while
Clark's Seedling and Wilson, medium
sized berries, are in high repute for
their color, substance and delicate
flavor.
Coming back to the original propo
sition, the local apple market will
never be fully and suitably supplied
by the production of high-priced,
over-grown, out-of-size apples. An
apple-producing state or section
will never reach the acme of devel
opment until it produces enough
apples at medium prices to suppry the
families of the working class as well
as the tables of the "rich and well-to-do."
To do this the orchardist must
not strive to produce big apples only,
but apples of medium size as well,
clean, well-developed but not over
grown fruit, that will bring Joy and
health to the children of the family
as they return with keen appetites
from school, without shadowing the
hard-working father with bankruptcy.
Big apples at high, prices for the
fancy market dealers, but apples of
medium size and price for the multi
tude that dwells in homes. This voices
the demand both of the home and the
wider market.
GROSS PRIMARY FRACDS.
Many thousand Democrats voted in
the Seattle Republican primary last
Tuesday, in an endeavor to dictate the
Republican nominations, just as Dem
ocrats have done and will' do in Ore
gon. Nearly 32,000 votes were cast
for Mayor alone; yet the entire Repub
lican vote of King County for Presi
dent in 1908 was but 22,297. In other
words, in Seattle, comprising about
two-thirds of King County's popula
tion 10,000 more voters cast their bal
ots at a Republican primary than at
a Presidential election. Tho proper
Seattle proportion of Republicans,
based on the Taft vote, would be about
15.000' or 16,000. Allowing for the in
crease In population since November,
1908, considerable in Seattle, of
course and the more acute interest
in. the city election, since the contest
was highly exciting, the normal num
ber of Republican votes last Tuesday
could not have exceeded 20,000 to
22,000. It is clear, therefore, that
some 10,000 to 12,000 persons took
part in the Republican primary who
had no business there.
, Let the wholesale fraud and per
jury by Democrats be shown in an
other way: According to the Presi
dential vote in 1908 the Republican
proportion of the total of the two
parties (Republican and Democratic)
was approximately 60 per cent, the
Democratic 40 per cent. Yet with a
total primary vote in Seattle but
slightly less than the total Presidential
vote in King County 92 per cent of the
ballots were cast into the Republican
boxes and 8 p,er cent into Democratic.
Now these Democrats and disaffected
Republicans who corruptly tried to in
fluence the Republican result will be
heard from again in March; They
will vote for the Democratic candidate,
or nearly all of them will.
What Is the use of a party or party
names or party nominations if any
body may vote at any primary with
out penalty or obligation of any kind?
It is the greatest abuse and fraud ever
witnessed in political action; greater
by far than ever attended the conven
tion system in the worst days of its
existence.
V. S. LIQCOR TAX.
Vendors of liquors in prohibition
states have usually been careful to
pay the United States tax, so as not
to bring themselves into conflict with
the United States, call down its penal
ties on themselves and supply proofs
to the state that they were violators
of the state's laws also. When caught
by the United States such offenders
against its laws usually have been
fined merely, have paid the penalty in
money, and nothing more said about
It. But a change In this policy is now
announced by the Attorney-General of
the United States.
The Governor of'Kansas has pro
tested against the acceptance of the
money penalty by the United States,
as full satisfaction for violation of its
law. In a letter to President Taft he
has insisted that imprisonment for
some reasonable time, as provided by
law, should be added to the penalty,
on conviction of this offense against
the law, of the United States.
The President referred the matter
to the Attorney-General, who has in
structed the United States District
Attorney for Kansas that "in
future, in prosecutions for violations
of the internal revenue laws, as a
general policy, he is to refuse to com
promise full liability by the payment
of money penalties, and to endeavor
to secure conviction and imprison
ment for some reasonable time In
punishment of this class of offenses."
This instruction will have the ef
fect of making liquor-sellers in all
"dry" territory more careful not to
come into conflict with the laws of
the United States, but to comply at all
points strictly ' wi,th the internal rev
enue laws. The violations have not
been numerous, since few have been
willing to take the risk. But they
will be even less frequent hereafter.
WASTE AT AMERICAN TABLES.
' Among the things to which Sir
Thomas Lipton was, as he declared
during his recent visit to this country,
unable to get used to, was the great
waste at American tables. This waste
he had noted alike in homes, hotels
and restaurants. Himself a dealer n
groceries and provisions, he is interest
ed in the consumption of food and has
a tradesman's practical eye for details
that govern this consumption. He
noted the enormous quantities of
food which were carried from kitchen
to table, to be toyed with, picked over
and then sent back to find its way to
the garbage pail. -So old-fashioned
Is he, according to his own testimony,
that he cannot bring himself to send
his plate away with "leavings" on it.
The waste of meat struck him as par
ticulaly reprehensible. Living crea
tures had been deprived of life to fur
nish a food for man, of which the
scantiest use was made. Large steaks
were served, out of which only the
tender spots were eaten, the large
residue being sent back to the kitchen
and from thence to the garbage can.
The question of nutrition is not con
sidered by these wastrels only that
of taste or whim. In Upton's calm, un
flinching Scotch-British opinion no
soil can forever produce food enough
to permit such waste.
This is a condition that has long
vexed the thrifty souls of provident
grangers. The banquets served at the
meetings of the Pomona Grange have
throughout the history of the order
represented the abundance of farm J
stores and the excellent cookery of 1
farmers' wives. The viands for. these
feasts are contributed by large com
mittees taken in alphabetical order
from the membership list of the host
ess grange, and a feast of flesh and
fowl, fruit and vegetables, salads and
dessert, is set forth. Of these choice
viands it has often been reckoned that
a fourth of the bulk furnished went
to the scrap heap. This wastage has
been the source of much comment and
not a little criticism. It is due not
so much, to the prodigality of those
who furbish the food as to the
thoughtlessness of guests, to whom the
words of the old adage, "Enough !s
as good as a feast," are meaningless.
What is true of the grange dinner
in respect to - waste is equally true,
relatively speaking, of the wastage of
the family table. To quote the Cleve
land Leader upon this point: "Desire
and need are kept as far apart as
possible in the average mind. A boy
cott of waste would work a greater
reform in the cost of American living
than any other step that could be
taken." This observation, based upon
that of Sir Thomas Lipton, will read
ily be confirmed by every observer of
American habits at the dinner table.
AMERICAN MATERIALISM.
Current Literature, for February,
quotes from a recent French writer
the opinion that Americans, as a peo
ple, "are terribly practical, avid of
pleasure and hostile to all idealism."
This is a severe indictment and if It is
true, it-indicates that we are well on
the road to national ruin. No people
which has been avid of pleasure
beyond a certain very moderate
degree has ever survived long in
the struggle for existence, and hos
tility to idealism has Invariably been
a sure sign of approaching death In
a nation. Virtue, says Huxley, with
terrible veracity, is a stern goddess and
her ministers are the furies. To for
sake idealism is to forsake virtue and
to pursue pleasure is to travel the
steep road to hell. Professor Brander
Matthews, therefore, has done well to
take up this question and examine
how much truth there is in the accu
sation that we have lost our higher
motives in the "spirit of mercenary
materialism," as a distinguished re
former recently put It In a. public ad
dress, and how far It Is true that "po
litical self-seeking and unlimited cor
porate greed, have become a national
religion."
Professor Matthews does not find
that such men as Rockefeller and
Carnegie, or even Ryan and J. P. Mor
gan, are by any means national idols.
He admits that the common people of
the United States are extremely cur
ious about the doings and belongings
of these characters, but it is not an
admiring or even friendly curiosity.
It is rather the interest which every
body takes in criminals. Nine men
out of ten among the ordinary citizens
of this country believe, however mis
takenly, that Mr. Rockefeller ought to
be in jail, if everyone had his dues,
and the conviction is widespread that
J. P. Morgan, devout as he is and as
siduous as he may be in his church
duties, nevertheless. Is a pernicious
and even criminal personage. The
world has always taken a deep interest
in the devil, partly because he is a re
markably active, intelligent and effi
cient individual: partly because it is
afraid of him; but It would be untrue
to say that men In general have either
admired or envied his infernal majesty.
Undoubtedly, the American people
feel toward such men as Rockefeller
and Morgan very much as all the
world has been In the habit of feeling
toward Satan. If we like to read
about them In the papers, that Is no
sign that we love them or wish to imi
tate them. x
It must be admitted that there was a
time, not very many years ago, when
the American people had apparently
lost their sense of the difference be
tween right and wrong, at least in large
commercial affairs. They were almost
at the point of admitting that anything
which succeeded was allowable, pro
vided that the success was on a large
scale. Many newspapers adopted the
new statement of the moral law. A
deeply interesting article in the At
lantic Monthly declared that the mod
ern world must shuffle off Its ancient
moral conceptions and adopt new ones
better adapted to the exigencies of an
age of trusts and Rockefellers. Mag
azines were founded to exploit this
unethical concept of "success," though
the same magazines are now preach
ing exalted Idealism In morals and in
surgency in politics. This state of the
public mind was neither natural to
the American people nor of long dura
tion. It was much like the case of a
good man, an exemplary husband and
the father of a promising brood, who,
under stress of sudden temptation,
goes on a spree. Our plunge into
commercial hedonism was nothing bet
ter than a moral debauch, from which
w-e have now, for the most part, re
covered and which we look back upon
with wondering repentance. Men like
Mr. Aldrich seem to believe that the
spree is still on. "What is the mat
ter with the Westerners?" he inquired
the other day, in great perplexity,
"are they not prosperous?" Indeed
they are prosperous, but still thev are
not satisfied. They have proved the
truth of the old dogma that man
cannot live by bread alone. The dis
content of the West Is the Ineradicable
Idealism of the American people
breaking into action, and woe to' the
man or the policy that gets in the way
of it.
Pity the poor politicians who, in
these times of moral stress, think they
can placate their constituents by se
curing a few more pensions and grab
bing an appropriation or two. As well
try to buy a gathering of Scotch Cov
enanters. Who, in fact, are the men
best loved today by the American peo
ple and most loyally followed? Are
they trucklers, tlmeservers and com
promisers? Whose voices is it that
waken responsive echoes from the At
lantic to the Pacific? Is It Aldrich,
preaching his insidious doctrine of po
litical hedonism, or Roosevelt, crying
with prophetic utterance the truths of
the moral law? The most honored
man in America today. Dr. Charles W.
Eliot, is not a capitalist. He Is pot a
money-maker, nor an inventor, nor a
politician. He is a man whose entire
career has been a battle for idealism
of the purest sort. He has stood for
honest thought, for upright action, for
courageous and . veracious criticism.
In all Europe there is scarcely a man
who stands as high as he does for
similar reasons. Statesmen are ad
mired there, and scholars and men of
affairs and great literary geniuses, but
Dr. Eliot is none of these. He Is
simply a citizen of good ability and
exalted character. The Athenians had
such a man in Artlstides, and they
banished him because they were tired
of his incessant virtue. The Americans
listen reverently to every word that
Dr. Eliot has to say. . That "is the
essential moral difference between us
and the Athenians. It is the reason
why this Nation will live and why
theirs perished
ROOM AT THE TOP.
The street-corner orators who pre
fer the publicity which they secure
while "spieling" from tt soap box to
an honest Job where their labor could
create something having a tangible
value, can find a world of food for
thought in the recent "shake up" on
the Chicago, Burlington &. Quincy
railroad, following the retirement of
President Harris. According to the
theories of the dreamers who nightly
loosen their jaw-tackle on our prin
cipal street corners, the only men who
could have stepped into the high posi
tions made, possible by the retirement
of Mr. Harris were members of a
pampered class who had monopolized
all the good things of the earth, and
made It no longer possible for a poor
man to "get ahead." This is the, theory
of those iw ho seek to align the people
In "classes" and "masses," but theory
is not fact.
Darius Miller, still on the sunny side
of fifty, the new president of the
Burlington system. Including the Colo
rado & Southern, began his career as
a stenographer. Daniel Willard, who
left the Burlington to become, presi
dent of the Baltimore & Ohio, the
oldest railroad In the United States.
began as- a track walker, and within"
the past fifteen years has risen from
the position of round-house foreman
on the Soo line to his present high sta
tion. Even more noteworthy Is the
career of C. G. Burnham, just ap
pointed vice-president In charge of
traffic of the Burlington, for less than
fifteen years ago this young man, who
Is not yet thirty years old, began his
railroad- career as a freight clerk. H.
E. Byram, who succeeds Mr. Willard
as vice-president In charge of opera
tion anu maintenance, began life as a
brakeman, and now at the age of 45
holds one of the most Important rail
road operating positions in the United
States. There was, of course, plenty of
hard work, and many unpleasant du
ties while the trackwalker, the stenog
rapher, the freight clerk and the
brakeman were working their way up
ward.and none of them ever received
a promotion that was not based on
merit.
The "quality of .man," so far as It
was held to mean that one man should
not develop more energy or enjoy bet
ter positions than another, never ap
pealed to these men, and they rose
from the ranks because they could
do more and better work- than some
other naen in the service. The rail
roads have come Into the public notice
for much criticism, deserved and un
deserved In the past few years, but
the industry still offers a great field
of endeavor for clean, honest, hard
working young men who are not in
clined to take a pessimistic, socialistic
view of life.
Railing at capital and all kinds of
thrift for the edification of the idle
throng which gathers around the
soap-box pedestal of the unwashed
street orator may be a more pleasant
occupation than walking a railroad
track, or twisting the brakes on a
stormy night in Winter, -but the orator
never gets beyond the narrow circle
of idleness in which he moves, while
for every other there are ever possible
the great rewards which have fallen
to well-directed effort since the world
began.
GODLESS SCHOOLS.
The struggle between common sense
and theological reactionlsm for the
control of the French schools breaks
out every little while in a new form.
Lately some of the orthodox members
of the Parliament have been rehashing
the familiar charge that "the public
schools are godless," because they do
not teach dogmatic theology. The
Minister of Public Instruction replies
that the slanderers of the public
schools are enemies of the Republic,
and proposes new legislation against
private teaching. Americans used to
be startled a little by the catchword
"podless" applied to the public schools.
First one sect would use it and then
another, as it happened to suit their
temporary purposes, and before a
great while the public began to under
stand how little It signified. It was,
precisely like other catchwords of
small politics, a term to be used and
disused without regard to the facts of
the case, in order to foment senseless
prejudice. ,
The phrase "godless schools" has
now rretty well lost its power to excite
controversy in this country, but n
France, where secular education Is
comparatively novel, It still Inflames
the passions of the friends and ene
mies of theological instruction. Here
we have convinced ourselves that
arithmetic In a private or church
school is about the same thing as
arithmetic in a public school. The
presence of absence of religious cere
monies cannot havs much Influence on
the multiplication table or the rules
of syntax. Tile branches which chil
dren have to study in school are
neither godly nor godless. They be
long to a realm totally distinct from
religion.
To reproach the public schools be
cause pupils are not taught some
creed along with decimal fractions is
as irrational as It would be to find
fault with a farmer for not raking hay
on his knees. The devout posture
would be edifying, but his hay would
spoil. Experience seems to show
pretty conclusively that people who
iwant their children taught creeds can
find plenty of time for it outside of
school hours. It would be Interesting
If we had full statistics of the com
parative character of students gradu
ated from public and private schools.
We know already which are the bet
ter educated in the branches such as
grammar and geography. Private
schools as a class are markedly in
ferior to the public schools both In
discipline and in Intellectual results:
but of course mere knowledge and
obedience to rules are as nothing com
pared with character. If public school
pupils are, upon the whole, liars,
thieves and scalawags, while those
from private schools are lovely mod
els, it makes little difference how suc
cessfully the former learn fraction?.
The wise parent will prefer the latter.
Unhappily, statistics touching upon
this fascinating inquiry are meager.
Rogues are distressingly numerous,
but ncbo.dy has taken pains to ask
theni very extensively whether they
learned roguery under secular or sa
cred instruction. Most of our male
factors of great wealth are graduates
of colleges more or less tinctured with
theology. Ministers' sons enjoy a rep
utation which smells of brimstone.
There are many circumstances, in. fact..j
which tend to support a hypothesis
that too much pressure of dogmatic re
ligious instruction in childhood leads
to sinful excesses in rtper years, but
the question remains open. The state
ment made now and then by violent
partisans that the lamentable fre
quency of crime in the United States
and our omnipresent graft flow from
the Influence of the godless public
schools is the shallowest of nonsense.
Russia, where everybody Is unim
peachably orthodox, has more crime
and graft than the United States. Can
dor compels the opinion that if we had
not our public schools fraud and vio
lence would be ten times as prevalent
as they are now.
InFranee ecclesiastics have not yet
cured themselves of the bad habit of
trying to frame the contents of 'school
books to suit their prejudices. His
tory seems to suffer more than any
other branch from this disingenuous
practice. Naturally each denomination
wishes to appear dovelike in the school
histories and depict all the rest as
ravening wolves. Since none of them
has been precisely a dove throughout
its career, truth would suffer dire In
fractions if they had their way. The
obvious solution of the difficulty Is to
permit each denomination to teach its
own brand of history in its own
schools an cleave to the impartial
truth in the public schools. The
French are trying to do this, and that
is one of the reasons why their public
schools are stigmatized as godless.
That the corporations with the lure
of high wages and easy promotions
are taking away from the ministry the
best class of young men is the com
plaint of the Rev. J. J. Wilkins, of St.
Louis, in a recent address before the
Pittsburg Church Club. "The crying
need of the church today," said he, "is
men strong, vital men and the
church has not yet begun to realize
that this class of men must be paid
for. Sixty of the so-called 'soulless'
corporations have established pension
systems for employes, from the high
est to the lowest, and one of the lead
ing railroad systems has done the same
th.ng." This would seem to be plac
ing the ministry on a plane where It
Is not generally supposed to belong.
Since the beginning of civilization the
emoluments of those who sought to
point the way to a better life have
never been in keeping with those of
the prosaic business world. Wealth
and power and the accumulation of
riches have never appealed to the best
men In the ministry, and they proba
bly never will.
One woman has been discovered
who gained something in wisdom by
matrimonial experience. As given out
by the Thumb Print Bureau of th
New York police department, a woman
about to take her third husband two
having decamped without leaving any
means whereby she could identify
them demanded that No. 3 leave his
thumb print with the bureau. The of
ficers of the department complied
with the request and the prospective
husband left the imprint of his thumb
In evidence of the sincerity of his in
tentions. The purpose of the woman
to be on the "safe side this time" Is
something new m the busy annals of
deserted wives, and demonstrates at
an early stage of its history the confi
dence Inspired by the thumb print as
a means of identifying roving blades
and other Irresponsibles.
The call upon the Catholic women
of the city for assistance In the mat
ter of supplying linen-for the new
part of St. Vincent's Hospital Is an
adaptation of an Idea that has been
used with advantage elsewhere, yet
perhaps not hitherto in Portland. The
effort has the unique name of "A
Linen Shower." The programme for
the meeting of women today Is pub
lished in another place in this paper.
Women other than those or the Cath
olic faith, of course, will be welcomed
also; for this hospital makes no dis
tinction as to religious belief or con
nections, in rendering its service to
humanity.
i The Mediterranean Sea has In her
turn taken heavy toll of human life
in a season where levies in this line
have" been unusually large. In the
wildest storm that has vexed her
waters for forty years a gallant ship,
with her laboring crew, heroic officers
and terrified passengers, lurched and
struggled and went down. Pity is
appalled at the disaster that carried
156 human lives Into eclipse. The
story is as old as navigation the lat
est of the sad chapters that make up
the long history of shipwreck.
Chairman Cake did not resign, as
alleged, "because he is not In accord
with the assembly movement." He
is In accord with it, and made that
fact plain. "The Republican party."
he said, "needs an assembly. It needs
a reunion. The correct principle is
that of representative government."
Some time ago Mr. Cake announced
that he Intended at this meeting to
resign, because he could not give to
the duties of the position the time
they would demand for the political
work of the present year.
A Seattle paper says that Seattle
wishes and expects to become "the
New York of the Pacific Coast,"' and
that "there is but one way to do this,
and that is to make all classes of
people, exceptfng criminals and
vicious characters, welcome." Seattle's
boomer doesn't tell, however, how
these persons are to be discriminated
from the rest, so as to keep them out.
But it will do the best it can. by giv
ing its support to Gill for Mayor.
Why don't thoe insurgent states
men and newspapers who want to
break the Czar-like rule of Uncle Joe
Cannon go down into the Danville dis
trict and beat him for re-election?
That would simplify the whole prob
lem. To be sure, it was tried in 1908
and Cannon's plurality was as big as
ever. But there is' no virtue like per
severance. Mr. Glavis has entered the apple
business. Then he ought to attend
to business. But Mrs. Glavis says he
didn't attend to domestic business,
either.
The greatest of all martyrs would
be he who saves the people a lot of
graft money, yet doesn't boom himself
for office or tell them about it.
We. dread to think of the oratory
that 'never would have had a chance
to be heacd at banquets, had Abraham
Lincoln never been President.
Somehow Democratic politicians and
newspapers think they should have
the whole say as to the conduct of the
Republican party.
LET KEl'lBLlCAJf MAJORITY RCLE.
Assembly is the Definite Way to Ascer
tain the Popular Will. -
Tamhill News-Reporter.
EaCh Week Sfri-AB tn cHi-., a kAHf i,1f
as to the general impression the assembly
DroDOsition in lvin w
the Republican party in Oregon as well
mose or otlior persuasions in
politics. Among the first named tho sen
timent is practically overwhelming la
favor of the assembly, so far as reported,
although as yet the exact method Is not
so definite. The prevailing opinion ap
pears to be. however 1 1, . , ,
be precinct assemblies to select dcle-
s. iu me county assemblies, these In
turn choosing representatives to the state
assembly. It is also generally emphasized
that there should b th t, irf,,. ..v.ni...
as to time and place of holding these
preciucc assemblies, and all Republicans,
so far as possible, encouraged to attend
them just as is done at regular primaries,
and that any attempt at bossism is not
to be tolerated.
The disposition is absolutely overwhelm
ing In favor of tho m i .,.- ...
, .ill,, y uciflJS
maintained and that in case of any ras
cality in securing nominations, or even
dissatisfaction with the results of any as
sembly nomination, there can be a fur
ther referendum to the voters at the gen
eral primary just as there is now a pos
sibility of referendum to the voters of
me state on questions passed by the Leg
islature. In fact, the two are quite simi
lar and one In keening ii, v,
,- U.Q WUJUI.
it is also almost exactly similar to tht
i-.uuusra oy that man of the people.
Governor Hughes, of New York.
Naturally the opposition headed by th
Oregon Journal and aided by many othei
Democratic (many of them pretended in
dependent) papers are fighting the idea
tooth and toenail. Naturally, too. Sena
tor Bourne, the erstwhile Populist, and
Senator Chamberlain, the Democrat, hope
for Its defeat, for neither of thorn ever
has been anywhere near the choice of
a majority of the people of the state.
In round numbers Bourne received 13,000
votes out of 42,000 for the Republican
nomination, and it is a well-known fact
that he would have been the last choice
of the other 29.000 Republicans. Cf ourse
too, his 13.000 Included nearly every
Populist and Democrat that was regis
tered as a Republican. At the general
election, many Republicans voted for him
because of party loyalty, something they
would not do again, but would choose
the Democrat instead. He could not pos
sibly have been chosen under a direct
primary law like that in our neighborins
state of Washington, which , law is no
doubt somewhat superior to our own.
In being better adapted to getting the real
will of the party and people.
The Injustice resulting in the last elec
tion is also noted when It is remembered
that practically 10.000 Democratic voters
were registered as Republicans; their
registration being only about 18,000 while
their vote for Bryan was around 2S.00O.
Those men cannot have the power under
the assembly plan that they have had
In the past in dictating Republican nomi
nees. The long and short of it is. the point
has been reached where 'straight-out Re
publicans intend to decide what their own
policies and plans are to be: instead ot
letting the other fellows-the admixture
of Populism and Democracy inside the
party, the minority parties dictate, while
they supinely and demurely watch the
procession go by. 1
Better go down to defeat if need be
than have It so. ' But even defeat is not
likely to come under present circum
stances while a 20,000 Republican major-
tSL1? ithe stato bellevC8 ln Republican
principles controling.
Let the people rule! And the people
ln the present instance is the Republican
majority in the state of Oregon.
The Grange and Polities.
Yamhill News-Reporter.
It is to be regretted that the Po
mona Grange of the county has al
lowed Itself to be drawn Into party
politics in taking action on the assem
bly plan of the Republican party Tho
writer of this article is a Granger
and is not ashamed of It, and. like
many other patrons of husbandry, not
only does not agree with the action
taken as instigated by some of the
rabid membership, but with still more
does not believe in the organization
taking a hand in party affairs. The
News-Reporter would again sound a
warning along the line. Tho Grange
was Immeasurably injured ln Iowa and
other states at the time of the green
back movement for this very reason
and In 30 years had not regained lost
prestige. An organization that has
done so much good cannot afford to
vitiate Its strength in such manner
just as It i3 making such rapid strides
forward. It is too much like a strong
man ruining his physique on a foolish
and unnecessary lift.
Korty-SIx States.
PORTLAND. Feb. 10. (To the Edi
tor.) How many states are there in
the Lnlon at the present time? There
is a debate on ln one of the public
schools and no one seems able to give
positive evidence of how many there
are- - STUDENT.
Forty-six.
This inquiry betrays a depth ot
Ignorance hard to believe. The Oregon
Ian discredits your sweeping statement.
"Positive evidence" is to bo had at the
Public Library and in many common
books of reference.
Wants to Know About Qinsena;.
PORTLAND, Feb. 12. (To the Edi
tor.) Do you know of anyone who has
tried growing ginseng in Western
Oregon, more particularly in the AVil
lamette Valley?
I have heard that the plant grows
well here, and I would like to hear
from people who are, or have been, in
terested in ginseng. People who are
not growers themselves, but know of
ginseng gardens, might give informa
tion of value. -
A..L. WEATHERFOBD.
Why Should Democrats Worry
Polk County Observer.
The Scio News says its Republican
friends can pursue no better plan- to
Insure the election of a straight Dem
ocratic ticket than to keep crowding
the assembly down the people's
throats. The News, being a Democratic
newspaper and naturally desirous c
Democratic success, it is therefore dif
ficult to understand why its editor
should devote column after column
each week to opposition of the pro
posed Republican gathering.
Slants of Early Spring:.
Grass Valley Journal.
It's going to be an early Spring, at
right. Two spiders, a blue-bottle fly. ono
garter snake, a bumblebee" and four peek-a-boo
shirt waists were reported from
different parts of the county yesterday.
Cheap at the Price.
"Egg shampoo?" inquired the barber.
"Nope."
"Egg on the mustache? Gives you th
appearance of having had eggs for
breakfast. Only 50 cents."
"Go ahead." - - - ..