6
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND. MAT 15. 1910.
iwtmtnn
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PORTLAND. SUNDAY. MAI 15. 1910.
XOX-PAKTISAS irfMBCG.
The Multnomah Bar Association has
made the ludicrous announcement that
lawyers should choose the people's
Judges and that none of the people's
political parties should name candi
dates for the judiciary. This doctrine
the lawyers of the Bar Association
proclaim as "non-partisanship." It is
amusing- to hear the Bar Association
thus declaring . independence of all
party organizations and. then to see it
trying to create a party of its own. on
a no-party basis.
But men chosen for judges will be
either Democrats or Republicans;
their principles or purposes will be
those of one of the parties or the
other; and it would be a sorry time if
they should, ever be guided -by the
principles or purposes of lawyers in
meting out justice to the people.
The Republican will not cease to be
a Republican, however, nor the Demo
crat a Democrat, because either may
have been elected Judge. In discharge
of their judicial functions judges do
not act as Republicans or Democrats;
never did. No complaint of that kind
has ever been made in Oregon. But
no man is converted Into a no-party
man, with no political principles, by
being elected to a judgeship. The non
partisan notion, therefore, is cant and
humbug.
Judges heretofore have been elected
as Republicans or as Democrats. After
their election they have not, in any
cases we remember, been active parti
sans. . But they have not been expect
ed to abjure all political principles,
become political eunuchs, or epicenes.
Nor will they, if elected by the pre
tense of non-partisanship. Such In
fluence as each one may have (will still
be exerted quietly but effectively as
possible., for success of the party of
which he is a member. Judges elected
on party tickets have done no more.
Judges elected as no-party men will
do no less. If the man is worth any
consideration his political purposes or
desires are not changed, nor annihi
lated, by making him the judge of a
court. On the other hand there is no
claim or pretense tha judges elected
on party tickets have been guided by
partisan motives on the bench, or have
swerved from the rules of justice to
assist members of the party that elect
ed them.
Suppose the test should be made
that no man should 'be elected io a
judgeship wt o has any ascertainable
political principles, or ever has been
a party man. This would 'be the logi
cal conclusion of the so-called non
partisan cry, for the election of non
partisan judges.
We have, and ever have had, good
and sound judged elected as nominees
of parties better men than any who
may be ready to profess that they have
no political principles or party pur
pose, but merely wi;h to be elected.
The Bar Association, which calls for
t lie election of "non-partisan judges,"
Is just like any other association in
this respect, to wit: A few members
post- as "leaders" of the others and
promulgate an idea or policy in its
name: the great body of the members
arc careless or silent; then when the
election comes on all scatter and vote
as they please including the active
members who made the "programme,"
yet will never unanimously support
the nominees, since they are sure to
dislike some or all of them.
IMPROVING OREGON'S "SYSTEM."
That "speech" of Senator Bourne's
told wonders of the Oregon "system,"
that mado its auditors marvel yet
again. It displayed the fine fruits
rf the system two Senators, one a
Popultst-Democrat-Republican, the
other a Roosevelt-Democrat, engrafted
upon a State that is overwhelmingly
Republican.
The Oregon Senators are not
too modest to boast of the great
triumph that has been won under a
system which disrupts party organtza
iion, foments petty factionalism and
defeats majority will of party and
electorate; which thrusts alternative
minority candidates for office upon
the electorate, neither of whom the
voters desire: which makes money
more of a power than ever in exploit
ing seekers of votes; which ignores
the representative principle by which
alone citizens lift themselves from the
ways of mob to those of deliberative
concert; and which injects into pol
itics bitterness and perjury, dem
agogy and vainglori-us self-seeking.
The Orccon system, which was the
text of Senator Bourne's speech, is a
trrand success in these respects.
Yet Oregon's voice is never heard
In that body . thrilling men's souls
with electrical truths of states
manship or guiding the Nation's
.areer with elear-vlsione J policies for
today's and posterity's thinking or
showing that Oregon is contributing
one whit to the Nation's destiny. In
stead, Oregon's effort is centered on
postofhees and pensions.
This State has done wonders, but
the wonders are those of petty pol
itics and petty statesmanship. It has
permitted the subversion of time
tested methods of determining the
ill of the majority and has lifted to
!ho high ofTi ces of its pride and power
men w" o boast of the achievement
and point to themselves as its best ex
ample of merit.
There are men in this common
wealth, sincere, patriotic, and hard
thinking large numbers of them
who revere old landmarks and are
not in tune with this system of dem
agogy and selfishness. They are not
to be diverted from the effort of elect
ing high-minded men to high offices.
Their immediate goal ts restoration
of the political assembly, as a means
of curing defects of the direct primary.
The results bf this old-approved sys
I tem -will go before the people, and the
people will Judge them in the primar
ies, accept them If they are good and
reject them if they are" otherwise.
This will improve the system where
by, two men. now. in the Senate, ap
propriated their offices in this state,
and make it possible for the ruling
sentiment of Oregon, to choose fit men
for Its high honors.
IT BI-IC DOCKS AND PRIVATE IMtREaT
Agitation for a policy that would
commit the city hastily and unad
visedly to the sale of a parcel of bonds
for public docks Is due more than
anything else to the efforts of a small
steamboat company which wishes to
compel the city to furnish a dock for
its use, at the public expense; where
as, from the beginning of the City of
Portland till now other steamboat men
have built and maintained their own
docks; and others not running steam
boats have supplied dock and' wharf
facilities both to river and ocean
vessels at reasonable charges, and are
doing so yet.
Not much significance Is to be at
tached to the popular Vote in favor of
the sale of bonds to the amount of
$500,000 for this purpose. The sub
ject was a new one; it was not fully
considered or digested hy the electors;
besides at first motion great numbers
will vote bonds for anything, thought
less about the burden and little dis
posed to think of the pay day.
If the city should enter this busi
ness it will soon he "in" to the tune
of many millions. The one-half mil
lion now proposed will accomplish
nothing; and since there is no plan.
If the bonds should be sold, the money
would lie Idly -by, while the interest
charge would steadily accumulate.
Nothing could be done with $500,000;
and there would, be a continuous de
mand for more and more and more.
The worst kind of business would be
to cell bonds beforehand and then try
to buy a site. The true policy, if the
policy of creating public docks is re
ally' to be pursued, is to get proposals
and offers of sites and allow the public
to judge of them. Then everything
would be in the open.
Public docks will always be a bur
den, and It will become a heavy and
growing one, to the taxpayers of Port
land. Their operation, as in all other
matters of the kind,, conducted under
officialdom, will be a great center of
factional effort, at the expense of the
public. Wouldn't it 'be as well, if the
little steamboat company which Is
raising great part of this clamor, in
the hope of getting a dock fo'r its own
use at the public expense, would buy
a site and put up a wharf of its own,
for its own use, as others have been
doing, time out of mind ?
RECURRING TROUBLKS IN CUBA.
Matters in Cuba are falling into
such bad mess again that it is becom
ing plain the United States made a
second mistake when it withdrew its
authority from the. Island the second
time: . The Cubans have had less than
& year and a half of self-government
this trial, and already the publis debt
has increased enormously, taxes are
excessive, swarms of office-holding
parasites infest its government and
negroes have been attempting a revo
ltuion in order to gain larger share of
the spoils, for themselves.
The United States withdrew from
Cuba in 1902 and returned in 1906,
when Mr. Taft went thither on his
celehrated mission of bringing order
out of chaos. In January, 1909, the
island was handed over to the Cubans
again, against protest of responsible
property-owners who feared recur
rence of trouble under Cuban inde
pendence. Distribution of spoils has
been going on more than a year and
corruption is reliably reported to be
permeating all official circles. Taxa
tion is extremely burdensome and the
public debt has reached $65,000,000.
A negro party under General Estenoz
has been organizing for the avowed
purpose of gaining more recognition
in distribution of offices, and Its lead
ers have been clapped into prison by
the government of President Gomez,
which alleges that Estenoz and his
followers have been striving to work
up a negro insurrection and have been
making military preparations for an
uprising against the whites.
It Is merely a question of time until
Cuban self-government shall reach" an
end. That will be after large debt
and injustice have accumulated. But
for a namby-pamby sentimentalism
and false political doctrines of "gov
ernment by consent" and "liberty" In
this country there would not be this
unnecessary renewal of trouble.
I1IIX THE TRA in C-M A KKR.
The earnings of the Harriman prop
erties in the State of Oregon have al
ways ranked high among the best
dividend-paying roads of the country.
The enormous grain crops formerly
moved to tidewater from the "vTillam
ette Valley formed the original traffic
for the valley lines, and when hop
growing, fruit, dairying and other
forms of diversified farming supplant
ed graingrowing, the freight traffic
became greater than ever. The timber
resources of the state hardly have been
touched, but the output of the mills
at Portland and other districts in the
state has supplied an enormous traffic
for the railroads as well as the water
carriers. East of the Cascade Moun
tains, even with the comparatively
scanty development that has taken
place, there has poured out an im
mense volume of wheat, wool and live
stock, which is now being supplement
ed by the much more valuable busi
ness that is following the change to di
versified farming and modern home
building made possible by completion
of numerous irrigation projects.
Not even the most pessimistic in
dividual who is at all familiar with the
natural conditions in this, great state
believes that the territory which has
produced such great earnings for the
Harriman lines is developed up to
one-half or even one-third of its traffic-producing
capacity. It thus fol
lows naturally that there is in Oregon
a field for exploitation by the Hill
lines which, properly handled, will
yield tq the newcomers fully as large
revenues as have been collected by
the Harriman lines without in any
manner affecting the revenues of the
older system. This much for the ter
ritory in which the railroads have al
ready made a beginning and in a por
tion of which Mr. Hill will operate
electric roads.
In the Central Oregon country lies
a virgin territory larger In area and
nearly as great in natural resources as
that which has already been invaded
by the railroads. Into this new land
both railroad systems are hurrying
with feverish haste, and their advent
has been the immediate signal for the
greatest rush- of homebuilders and
landhiinters that this region has" ever
known. It is the presence of this
great empire entirely undeveloped in
some portions . and only partly de
veloped in its oldest and most thickly
settled regions, that has attracted the
attention of Mr. Hill, one of the most
prominent industrial figures of the
century. It is from these rich regions
that Mr. Hill expects to draw traffic
which will be hauled out of the coun
try over his $50,000,000 trunk line,
the North Bank road. Following his
lifelong policy as a railroad man, he
expects to create new traffic instead
of wresting from his competitors
business which is already being de
veloped. "What the coming of this "empire
builder" means to Oregon can be un
derstood by what he has done else
where, for to a greater extent than
any other man he has caused two
blades of grass to grow where but one
had grown before. Mr. Hill's North
Bank road added more millions to the
value of Portland property than any
enterprise that was ever undertaken
in the Northwest. In his present cam
paign of development the benefits ac
cruing to Portland will be greater than
those which have already been sr
muen in evidence.
NOR.1IAL SCHOOL TBOCBLES REVIVING
Neither will electors of Oregon gain
satisfactory solution of the normal
school trouble through direct legisla
tion. Bills are being initiated for re
establishment of the institutions at
Weston, Monmouth and Ashland.
Voters have no choice of alternative
location. They must take back the
old schools or none. Of course, they
are at liberty to select one of the three
or two of them, but that would ' not
remedy geographical misfits which
have been so long disturbing forces in
the politics and the legislation of this
state.
The Oregonlan realizes full well
that this criticism will incite resent
ment in certain localities. But in com
mon with most of the citizens of this
state. The Oregonlan would like to see
normal school education established
on an enduring and efficient, basis. It
would like to see one, or at most, two
schools properly supplied with funds
and equipped with facilities and lo
cated near geographical centers. This
seems a reasonable view of the mat
ter. The question ultimately ij to be
decided, after all, not by local pref
erence, but by state-wide choice.
Yet no measure Is to b initiated,
evidently, that will accord with the
general interest of the state. Instead,
the electors are to hash over again
the old-time normal school mess. The
Legislature last session was dead
locked between House and Senate on
the normal school question and ad
journed . without appropriating funds
for either of the three schools. This
was an unfortunate outcome. The
state has lost two years for training of
teachers and for establishment of a
new normal system. Now comes the
Initiative, threatening to make mat
ters worse. For if by criss-cross vot
ing all three schools or one of them
should win a plurality vote, then the
cry of the "will of the people" would
be heard forevermore, although it Is
manifestly the will of the people that
old normal abuses should be forever
abolished.
What is needed Is legislation framed
in the interest of the state instead of
In the interest of localities.
A GREAT DISCOVERT.
The marvellous scientific discovery
which Mr. Philip W. T. R. Thompson
has exhibited to an assembly of edu
cational men at Los Angeles seems to
rank in Importance not very far be
low the great Sympsychograph which
Dr. David Starr Jordan invented some
years since. Readers will recall the
wonderful advances In knowledge
which the world owes to the sympsy
chograph. It enabled a person to see
his own soul in a sort of looking-glass
and even to procure a photograph of
it. Since that time, there has been
no such thing in the world as a soul
secret and spirit affinities have not
had half the difficulty in recognizing
each, other that they had before.
The atmosphere, of Los Angeels, for
some reason not thus far explained
by savants, seems to be remarkably
well adapted to the promotion of a
certain sort of science. We recall
that it was in this famous center of
illumination that spiritual ear trum
pets first became popular as a means
of investigating the other world. To
all appearances the trumpet used in
this miraculous process Is like the
small tin ones which bad little boys
and hoydenish girls love to toot upon
in Rose Festival time, but in reality
it is very different.
The genuine Los Angeles spiritual,
or ghost, trumpet must be subjected
to a preparatory incantation before
the souls" of the departed can speak
through it. A distinguished clergy
man of this city who has ertioyed con
verse with the inhabitants of Para
dise through one of these marvellous
instruments . says that . the trumpets
are prepared by soaking them seven
days in spiritus frumenti, or perhaps
it is the person using them who is
soaked. The exact fact escapes us,
but it makes no difference.- The prin
ciple is the same. After it is prop
erly prepared, any person can set up
a communication with the souls of
the dead by simply putting the magic
instrument to his ear and listening.
The soul of George Washington, Soc
rates or some other equally reliable
person will at once begin to talk into
the trumpet, and will reveal the fact
that the moon is made of green cheese
or something Just as important and
not less true. Up to the date of Mr.
Thompson's great scientific revelation
the ghostly trumpet was the predomi
nant marvel among the leaders of
thought in Los Angeles. No parlor
gathering of the learned was com
plete without two or three of the in
struments, and it is said that the reve
lations obtained through them will
.soon be published in a book. It is
expected that this work will rank as
high in the scientific world as Laura
Jean Libbers novels do in belles
lettres.
The fact that the ghost trumpet or
the person using it must be soaked
seven days in spiritus frumenti Is in
teresting Mn this connection because
of the Intimate relation between the
magic number seven and Air. Thomp
son's great illumination. What this
famous genius" has done, it appears,
is to discover four "forms" from
which he can reproduce the entire
universe. Democritus and Lucretius
before him had a vague notion that
the world could be built up of atoms
patterned after a few fundamental
shapes, but they did not say how
many shapes would be required. Mr.
Thompson puts them to shame by giv
ing the correct answer, which is four.
This is also a magic number. Thus
there are four gods of the wind, four
sides to the celestial city, three times
four tribes of Israel and exactly as
many disciples, as well as four sea
sons of the year, four weeks in the
month and four quarts in a gallon.
We must not forget either that the
Greek philosophers discovered the
fundamental scientific truth that the
universe Is composed of four elements,
earth, air, fire and water. No doubt
Mr. Thompson's four forms when he
publishes his full explanation of them
will be found to correspond to these
four elements and likewise to the four
archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael
and Uriel. But it was of the number
seven that we began to speak more
particularly . in connection with Mr.
Thompson's new revelation.
We are told in the account of the
marvel that "seven is a magic num
ber in working out geometric forms."
and it appears that our Los Angelean
philosopher has made full use of it.
It will be news to geometricians that
seven has any particular connection
with their science. The heptagon
never has been an especially fascinat
ing figure to them heretofore. Pascal
and Brianchon delighted rather in the
hexagon,' while the projective geome
ters love to dally with the' complete
quadrilateral and Archimedes devoted
himself to the polygon of an infinite
number of sides.
. But no doubt Mr. Thompson has a
reason for what he says. It will be
remembered that the spiritual trum
pet was reviled at first as being a
novelty. His magic forms, we are
told, divide the octave of, music into
seven notes. Musicians have up to
this time parted the octave first into
two tetrads and these again into
twelve intervals which they name
semi-tones, but following Mr. Thomp
son's discovery they will probably
abandon their antiquated views. The
physicists must, do likewise. Since
Helmholtz they have believed that
light was composed of three primary
colors. Mr. Thompson declares that
there are seven and that each of these
seven subdivides into seven others.
The opinion commonly held that light
is a continuous series of-wave lengths
running without a hreark from the red
to the ultra-violet, of the spectrum
must of course now be regarded as
overthrown. . Later developments of
Mr. Thompson's discovery will doubt
less show that while he gives great
prominence to the number seven in
his scheme of the universe and still
greater to the number four, he has
not forgotten the supreme Importance
of number one.
SOMETHING NEW IN DWTXIJNGS.
The thought of living in a house a
hundred miles long startles one at
first, but within a few years it is likely
to take place among other common
place wonders of the times. The
change from the isolated dwelling of
today to the "road town," which is
described in a recent number of The
Independent, would not be much
greater than that from the dirt floors
and dark rooms of five centuries ago
to tha rugs and plate glass of the
modern mansion. The house of that
period was a filthy, unventilated, in
convenient place, without stoves, gas,
electricity or any of the other com
monplace comforts of our day. Most
of the conveniences which we cannot
do without .have been contrived within
the last hundred years, and there is
no reason why inventive genius should
pause in its work now. The impor
tant changes hitherto have, been made
within the house. They pertain to
the furniture, the appliances for daily
life, for business and sociability.
Along this line there Is perhaps little
more to bo done. But the outward
type of the human dwelling has re
mained essentially unchanged for
many thousands of years.
Of course styles of architecture have
varied, but that is not the point. The
house has remained an isolated struc
ture with all the apparatus of life re
peated over and over again for each
separate family. Dreamers have often
lamented the expensiveness of this ar
rangement. It is absurd, when you
come to think of it, that each family
in a neighborhood should buy a
kitchen range large enough to cook
for a dozen, while each has also its
wasteful machinery for washing
clothes,, serving . food and cleaning
house, to say nothing of heating and
often lighting as well. Plans to rem
edy the waste of wealth which re
sults from the. isolated dwelling have
not been lacking and some of them
have been fairly successful. The
modern apartment-house saves a great
deal of money and worry for those
who inhabit it, but there are also sac
rifices to be considered. Life in an
apartment is deprived of the pleas
ures of the green grass, trees and
flowers. The flat-dweller has no land
to call his own. He is a prisoner in
brick walls, a humble slave to land
lord. Janitor and delivery man, while,
worst of all, his neighbors are so near
and not always so dear that life loses
Its best savor. His dog is an abomi
nation, his children are nuisances and
his piano is an instrument of torture.
All this trouble arises from the fact
that heretofore inventive faculty
working at the problem of the co
operative dwelling has looked persist
ently upward. It has built toward
the stars, forgetting the possible ad
vantages of stringing the multiple
house along the ground rather than
making it tower skyward. At last,
however, a tremendous genius has
struck a new note in architecture.
The "road town," which we mentioned
a moment ago, is not to be more. than
two or three stories high, but its
length is to be prodigious. It will
meander across the country through
green fields and flowery vales, climb
ing hills and sinking gently down de
clivities, wandering pensively by the
side of babbling brooks and seeking
philosophic repose in the gloomy
depths of broad forests, from which
it will emerge and come to an end
only after a course of some scores of
miles. It Is to be as long as rapid
transit will permit. Of course the
dweller in the last apartment it con
tains must be able to reach his busi
ness in the city after an hour's ride
or so on the electric car, .but that is
the only limitation upon the length of
the road town. It Is to be a sort of
hollow Chinese wall divided up into
separate houses, with solid concrete
walls between them, and provided one
after the other with the loveliest gar
dens you can imagine. There will be
plenty of room for children and es
pecially for dogs. The latter feature
is expected to make the invention sin
gularly attractive to childless women.
Country roads will pass through the
structure under arches, but transporta
tion to the city and back will be in a
continuous tunnel beneath the whole
length of the building. Here also will
run'the water mains and conduits for
"electric" wires." Reckoning each dwell
ing fifty feet long, a road town of a
hundred miles length would house
10,560 families, and if In each family
there were five members, the entire
population of the structure would be
52,800 persons. This is ample to sup
ply traffic for a well-equipped electric
line to carry freight and passengers.
The roof of the road town would nat
urally be devoted to the lighter joys.
Here of .an evening pate- famillas will
sit surrounded by his brood and smoke
his pensive pipe while the little ones
disport themselves. The fond mother
will mingle admiration of the setting
sun with worship of her lord. Here
tea will be served as day declines and
on moonlight nights dinner will for
sake the gloomy interior and be philo
sophically fletcherized beneath the be
nignant stars.
On paper the project is practicable
as well as alluring. What difficulties
may develop when the inventor tries
to carry out his Idea time will tell.
No doubt the structure is feasible
enough mechanically. No doubt, too,
people would enjoy living with the
advantages we have described, but it
occurs to one that there may be trou
ble in getting title to a strip of land
of the right shape for the road town.
Would the farmers be willing to sell
a meandering ribbon through the
heart of the country for any practica
ble price? A road town one hundred
miles long, with its gardens, would
require some 2500 acres of ground,
which might possibly cost half a mil
lion dollars or even more. This looks
like a large sum, but it is after all a
mere trifle compared with the cost of
land enough within a city to build
dwellings on for 52,800 people.
REDMOND'S JTST PROTEST.
A strong protest has been made by
John Redmond, the Irish Nationalist
leader, to Premier Asquith against the
form of oath to be taken by the new
King before Parliament. The word
ing of this oath is held to be need
lessly offensive to Catholic subjects of
the realm. By it with all due solem
nity the ICing is made to disavow any
belief in transsubstantiation and to
affirm that "the invocation or adora
tion of the Virgin Mary or any other
saint and the sacrifice of the mass,
as they are now used in the .Church
of Rome are superstitious and idola
trous." Since there are between 6,000,
000 "and 7,000,000 loyal Catholic sub
jects in the United Kingdom, the oath
is held to be grotesquely out of place.
It is cited further that the absurdity
of the oath is the more noticeable be
cause one of the high personages in
attendance on the King when the oath
is administered is the Duke of Nor
folk, Earl Marshal of England, and a
Catholic.
It is recalled that King Edward
disapproved the wording of the oath
in this particular and w as anxious that
it be changed before he took it. A
dispute, hot as religious disputes
usually are, arose over the wording of
the altered oath and no change was J
made. The incident passed and the
acrimony engendered was forgotten in
the conciliatory and tactful reign of
King Edward, only to be revived when
his heir came to the throne. Since
the oath sprang from a time and con
ditions far distant and at variance
with the present in the mater of re
ligious dogmas, and the sentiment ex
pressed therein is utterly immaterial
at this time, it would be. a gracious
thing if the w-ording so .offensive to
a-large-body of the loyal subjects of
the King could be changed.
BK NOT TOO BOLD.
It is not wise to believe too confi
dently that the comet as it draws
near the earth will exercise no influ
ence upon our affairs. The latest
opinion is that it Is a huge hall of gas
shaped like a globe. It will therefore
act like an . enormous lens and will
condense the light and heat of the
sun to a focus somewhere in space. At
that exact point the heat must be
something frightful to contemplate.
No doubt it is sufficient to vaporize
iron. AVere this focal point to sweep
across the earth there would be few
left in its path to tell us of their ex
perience, but fortunately it will not
reach our planet. Still, the condens
ing effect of the cometary lens will be
perceptible here on the 18th of May,
and we may expect that day to be
unusually warm and the sunlight to
be brighter than ordinary. Even if
the comet passes us in the night, there
will be a good deal of illumination.
It will seem like bright moonlight.
Moreover, the condensing effect of
the comet will appear in other ways.
It will direct down upon the earth a
powerful stream of radiations similar
to the X-rays. Many of these are as
yet unknown to science, and it is im
possible to predict their exact influ
ence. It is certain, however, that they
are forms of energy and can therefore
produce all sorts of mechanical dis
turbances, such as high tides, earth
quakes and storms. Many scientists
hold that the unusual weather we
have had this Spring In some parts of
the country must be attributed t the
stream of condensed radiations which
the comet has been sending, not di
rectly toward us, but into our general
neighborhood. When the downpour
becomes direct, of course, the effect
will be greater.
As to the visi: le tail of the comet,
it has lost the last of its terrors. Sci
entists now know that it is nothing
more than a beam of sunlight precise
ly like the rays which a searchlight
sends out into a fog. It is odd that
this complete explanation of the
phenomenon should not have been
thought of long ago, but it is a trait
of the human intelligence to hit upon
the simple only after It has baffled
itself for centuries with the complex
and difficult.
PAX VOBISCUM.
-Although Mr. Roosevelt's Nobel
prize oration at Christiania contained
nothing new, still it restated in an en
tertaining way what can be said upon
the subject of universal peace. Some
thing, though not very much, has
been done of a practical nature to
prevent international hostilities. The
Hague tribunal, as Mr. Roosevelt in
timated, must remain somewhat In
effective as long as there is no way
of enforcing its decrees. Obedience
to them is purely voluntary and must
continue to be so until some sort of an
international police force has boen or
ganized. At present we may think it
out of the question that powerful na
tions will ever agree to be controlled
by a world police, but five Qr six cen
turies ago the same might have been
said of the powerful nobles waging
war from th-'r feudal castles. The
prediction that the mightiest of them
would one day bow humbly before the
policeman with Lis prosaic club would
have seemed ludit -ous. if anybody
had been hardy" enough to make it.
But ludicrous r not, It has come
true.
Mr. Roosevelt is not unaware of the
parallel between t"-e present condi
tion of the separate nations and that
of pioneer roughs living without much
law on the frontier. Every man un
der those conditions is his own de
fender and the weakest goes to the
wall. This Is not lte the state of
things among the nations today, be
cause there is at least a beginning of
international morality and something
like a world conscience: but as a rule
might makes right between govern
ments, and it always will until public
opinion has been radically changed.
Perhaps the most potent factor in
putting an end to war, if that ever
happens, will be the economic diffi
culty of maintaining armaments. The
expense of the fleets and armies which
are now kept up is likely to bankrupt
the principal governments of the
world within a quarter of a century.
Prudence urges them very str-ngly
to discover some method of reducing
the cost, and this may perhaps lend
irresistible attractiveness to the ar
bitration treaties for which Mr.
Roosevelt pleads.
There is plenty of material for a
fine line of sensational tales of mur-der-and
mystery In the Gohl case at
Grays Harbor. Human life was of
small value when It interfered with the
plans of the man who was looking
after the affairs of the sailors' union.
There seems to have been no lack of
victims to satisfy the murder lust of
the fiend who killed men with no
greater compunction than would ordi
narily be felt over the slaughter of a
dog. Interest was added to the hor
ror by the subordinate actors in the
tragedy. Klingenberg, the frightened
or hypnotized tool of the master mur
derer, seems to have played a part as
weirdly wicked as anything that fiction
has presented. The extent to which
"Jensen the Weasel" figured in . the
case has not been fully revealed as
yet, 'but If he played any such part as
"Cooney the Fox" played in the cele
brated Cronin murder in Chicago
about twenty years ago, he' has added
another element of mystery to a
wholesale murder plot that stands
without an equal in criminal annals of
the North Pacific Coast.
Ordinarily the public does not take
kindly to an exhibition of the family
skeleton when it is handed Into pub
lic gaze for the purpose of gaining a
point for the exhibitor. Criticism over
such an expose of family troubles will,
however, not lie in the case of the late
John A. Benson, the California land
thief. By the long list of crimes com
mitted while he was building up the
fortune that is now the bone of- con
tention, Mr. Benson brought so much
sorrow and suffering upon, the respect
able members of his family, that it
now can add but few heart-aches to
prove the post-mortem charge of
bigamy. The charge is made by his
own son for the purpose of preventing
a large share of the Bcnscn i. .tune
from falling into the hands of an ex
dancehall artist for whom Benson cast
aside the lawful wife and mother of
his children. Viewed from almost any
standard, the late Mr. Benson seems
to have been an exceptionally versa
tile and disreputable old scoundrel.
It is announced that the Pennsyl
vania Railroad will soon put into oper
ation an all-steel train made up .of
non-collapsible cars. Other railway
conipanies are preparing to . follow
suit. In planning for this train the
Pennsylvania has endeavored to build
a coach which will provide the great
est possible strength, a steel framing
which cannot be affiected by fire, an
inside lining which will be non-combustible,
and at the same time will
not conduct heat or sound. More
safety in travel is the universal de
mand. Let us hopj it will be univer
salis' met.
The statute forbi..uing the cx:.i
bition of "freaks" was evoked against
two disgusting hills of human flesh, a
woman and a man, whose mammoth
proportions have been exhibited for
some days in Portland for gain. This
is as it should be. A huma. creature,
so lost to all sense of decency as to be
induced to parade a physical misfor
tune before gaping crowds for pay
causes even pity to turn away from the
spectacle with contempt.
Evangelists John Wesley Hill and
John Callahan, of New York, are going
to San Francisco to set up a counter
attraction in the way of rival services
at the time of the Jeffries-Johnson
prize fight. The .nagnitude of the
undertaking is only equalled by the
zeal of those who have engaged In it.
The object is an intere . .ing on , what
ever the outcome.
Students of the University of Oregon
threaten removal of the Institution to
Portland unless Eruene shall provide
better water. However, the City of
Eugene may think these recipients of
free education rather ungracious.
There are colleges in Portland already.
Mayor Busse, of Ch' ago, has issued
an order prohibiting wrestling bouts
on Memorial day. This is well as. far
as it goes. But is there any good and
valid reason why r thing that is ob
jectionable on one da should be con
sidered perfectly legitimate on other
days?
Mr. Bryan, it is saii, will not be a
candidate. So that while from one
point of view the Democratic outlook
is unfavorable, frpm another it is
quite encouraging.
Perhaps the Walla Walla Valley, in
order to save the strawberrjf crop, will
have to turn the schools loose in the
patches. Pupils will probably wel
come the change.
The ideal baseball team is one that
wins all the games at home and also
all the games away from home. That
is all the "fans" ask of Manager Mc
Credie. The Colonel praises the Kaiser and
the Kaiser Is quite sure the Colonel
is the biggest man America has pro
duced. However, the Republican assembly
will not be so ungracious as to de
nounce the State Grange assembly.
The c-s in the comet's tail is said
to have gone to its head. The disrep
utable old skylark!
The new King of Britain seems not
dismayed to wear the "hoodoo" name
George,
MR. MILL AND TEXTBAt OREGON',
Why He Will Develop the . Great
Inland 11m p 1 re.
Here is , an article on a subject of
some eurrentinterest from the Med
ford Mail-Tribune, entitled "The Bible
of the Mossbacks" (meaning The Ore
ognlan) :
Jaraea J. Hill when at Salem recently,
stated that he had turned hia attention to
Washington Instead of Oregon, because of
the attitude of the Ladd. Oorbetta and other
Portland capitalists, who did not want rail
roads; did not want progress and develop
ment. The attitude of the old set of Portland
capitalists was typical of the old Oregon.
The ultra conservatism or mossbackism
which disgusted Mr. Hill, long ruled the
state and kept it In the rear of sister com
monwealths. It was the spirit of the
Portland hog and the Salem pig. which the
new Portland has outgrown, but which fctill
rules Salem.
This old narrow, provincial, carping spirit
finds an echo in The Oregonlan. the Bible
of the mossbacks. an anachronism in up-to-date
Oregon, which with its eyes glued
on the Isolated past, still exerts its influence
to oppose progress, block good roads, slaugh
ter normal schools fight taxation for im
provement, check legislation that opens
up and develops the state and restores cor
ruption and machine rule In politics. T.Ike a
crab. It moves backwards, or sideways
anything but forward.
It is the spirit of The Oregonlan that
kept Hill out of Oregon for 25 yeara and
still endeavored to keep him out even after
he had begun his recent invasion of the
Deschutes. But Oregon has outgrown her
mossbacks and their Bible. Progress and de
velopment are the order of the day, and
those who oppose. Ahougrh. backed by the
prestige of the past, must shed their pro
vincial shells and learn to move, forward
with the procession.
This singular outpouring from the
Memord paper is worth little atten
tion, perhaps; but It would appear to
make appropriate republication of the
following paragraph from an accouut
of a public banquet at Prinevllle Sat
urday, May 7:
In speaking at the banquet. Mr. Hill said
that James J. Hill had been induced" to
enter the Central Oregon field largely
through the representations of what the
country contained made to him from time
to time by "William Hanley. of Hums;
Harvey W. Scott and The Portland Orego
nian. The Mr. Hill herein referred to is
J.ouls W. Hill, president of the Great
Northern Railroad. It is fair to as-.
sume that he is a qualified witness.
MERELY A "SCRAPPING MATCH.'
It does not escape observation that
the Senators of either party who are
baiting Aldrich all declare themselves
protectionists, but dispute with Aid
rich and with each other on the appli
cation of the "principle." And the
principle, as each one interprets it, is
dictated or guided by specicl conditions
in his own state. That is, the tariff
is "a local, question." Even the South
ern States have now reached this
"principle" of interpretation. Here is
part of the record: "Thirty-eignt Dem
ocrats in the House voted against free
lumber; 29 against free hides; 102 of
the 171 Democrats are recorded against
reductions of schedules. And W"hcn it
came to a vote on free iron ore In the
Senate a vote for or against a future
monopoly by the steol trust out of 2t
who voted for free iron ore, 14 Senators
were Republicans more Republicans
than Democrats were found fighting
protection on an important raw ma
terial Ten Democrats were the oniy
ones among the entire party represen
tation in the Senate who voted for free
iron ore 10 Democrats out of 3i."
ljurin-- Mr. Cleveland's second term
the first and only time the Demo
cratic party has had entire control of
the legislative and executive branches
of the Government during more . than
fifty years this same difficulty or em
barrassment in dealing with the tariff
beset and confounded it. It couldn't
possibly marshal its forces for the "re
form" it had been preaching so long,
but made a tariff more lopsided in fa
vor of protection than the one it had
undertaken to repeal or correct.
All the uproar about protection and
against special privileges it confers
whetbsr by Republican "'insurgents" or
by Democratic "reformers" is shallow
humbug, and so it will ever be "so long
as the men of either party, or both
parties, who contend against the high
priests of protection. Insist that they
are still protectionists themselves and
fight for the protection of the special
interests of their own states or dis
tricts. There is but one principle on which
the abuses of protection may be over
come, and that principle is tariff for
revenue. Till this principle can be
adopted, the tariff debates in Congress
and before the country will be merely
a contest among "interests" for special
advantages for themselves. This is il
lustrated perhaps better than ever be
fore by . the present "scrapping match"
in Congress. From The Oregonlan,
June 14, 1909.
Nearly one year ago The Oregon
lan published the article here repro
duced. It iits present conditions ex
actly. Men of either party, every
where, are juggling with the tariff for
party ends, but each and all fight
fiercely for the special inerests of their
own localities.
The Vanishing Legion.
New York Mail.
With the approach of Memorial day
there is a renewal of the suggestion that
the veterans who turn out be spared the
long, fatiguing inarches which they are
accustomed to undertake on that solemn
anniversary. The Civil War veterans are
all old and most of them are feeble. Their
lines grow thinner and thinner very
year. They are the vanishing legion
whose annual turnout is viewed with
mingled emotions pride in their heroic
deeds and tender regret for their dimin
ishing numbers.
Would you hazard a guess as to how
rapidly those honored veterans are pass
ing away? Senator Scott, of West Vir
ginia, estimates that they are dying at
the rate of one every 12 minutes, or say
43.V0O a year. Tlio world never has wit
nessed the spectacle of so vast an army
of veterans of a single war marching
into the silence.
Spokane's) fiack-Dons.
Yakima Republic.
The Spokane City Council, in defer
ence to the wishes of the people, has
reversed itself on the question of giv
ing the North Coast '& Milwaukee the
right to come into the town. The
Council refused franchises to these
roads, except on condition that fhey
grant the city terminal rates. Con
sideration has convinced the Spokane
people that the demand was unrea
sonable. ,
Caoae for Jealousy.
Kansas City Star.
Formal proclamation of George V as
King was made in London today by
"the York herald." This will be sure
to make Mr. Pulitzer and Mr. Hearst
sore. .
Room for More.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Hell may be full of politicians, as Dr.
Farkhurst says, but doubtless there is
room for one or two more.