8 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND, JULY 31, 1910. PORTLAND, OKECO!). Entered at Portland. Ore on. Potofflc aa Cecond-Clau Matter. Subscription Rates Invariably to Advance. (BI MAIL). Dally. Funday Included, ou year .W Daily, Sunday Included, alx month.... 4-23 Iially. Sunday Included, three month.. 3 25 pally, eunday included, one month "5 Ia jy. without Eunday. one year -00 pally, without Sunday, aix months.... .25 E ,!y w,thout Sunday, three month. .. I TS pally without Sunday, one month V. eekly. one year 15 Sunday, on year Sunday and weekly, on year. ...... -50 (By Carrier). Sunday Included, one year 20 uaily. Sunday included, one month.... .7 -iHow to Remit Send Postofflce money or-f'r- Prea order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency ar at r ii "fder- risk. Olve Postofflc addre in uii. including- county and stale. ..I"""" Kate 10 to 14 pare. 1 cent: IS in . p2Jfe- 2 cents; 80 to 40 pares. S cents: 5.,i.? 60 P. 4 cent. Forelrn postal uouble rate. rn Business Of Hoe The S. C Beett r'u' special Aaency Xtn Tork. rooms 48 i.Tt TJlb"na buildinjr. Chlcaao. rooms 610 "STrlbun bulldlnr. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, JULY SI, 110. A CENTURY OF PEACE. It may be predicted confidently that the projected celebration of the centennial of the treaty of Ghent will excite worldwide interest. The exist ence of one hundred years of unbro ken peace between two nations of the first rank is so rare In the history of the world that it deserves signal com memoration. The treaty of Ghent, as the reader will readily recall, con cluded the war of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States. Since that time, although there have been many occasions of debate between the two countries, and peace has been threatened more than once, actual war never has broken out. The settle ment of what la known as the Oregon question was not free from hostile sentiment, In the Middle West feel ing ran high. In Oregon itself prep arations, more or less indefinite, were made for combat, but happily wise negotiations brought a termination of the difficulty without bloodshed. The question of the fight to fisn on the banks of Newfoundland has been one of perennial difficulty between this country and England. Negotiations on the subject have not been wholly free from bitterness, but it cannot be said that the controversy has really threatened International peace. Besides the Oregon question there have been other boundary disputes. The line between the New England States and Cana.ia was for a long time uncertain. We have also seen trouble arise over the delimitation of the Alaskan purchase from Russia. But these were mere clouds on the horizon. Combined with more serious occasions for difference they might have disturbed the peaceful relations between the United States 'and Eng land, but taken by themselves they yielded readily to diplomacy. On the ' other hand, conceding that actua.l war fare has not existed between the two nations since 1814, it would be far 'from the truth to say that friendship 1 has been the rule. Probably the con , trary statement is nearer the truth. ' From the close of the Revolution to a , time subsequent to the close of the j Civil War upper class England cor j flially hated the United States. It not - nnly looked with envious eyes upon '; us as a province lost to the mother country by rebellion, but the princl ; pies underlying our constitution were detested. The government of Great , Britain was then much more aristo- cratic in substance than It is now, .nd the theory, of universal suffrage with full political liberty which had been adopted here seemed little short 3f barbaric anarchy across the water. ; British writers spoke of America with ' almost uniform contempt. When the i beginnings of our literature were noticed at all It was with inconsider ate scorn. Travelers in the United States, Dickens and Harriet Martineau, for instance, could not say enough about the crudity of American man- : ners, the corruption of our politics. i and the savagery of our Institutions. In particular slavery furnished an endless theme for reproach arid ridi pule. The spectacle of a nation pro claiming the principles of liberty in its fundamental law and at the same time maintaining human slavery was : too inviting to the satirist to be neg lected. v nen ma (ivu war DroKe out a curious complication of feeling arose In England. Dislike of our form of government was as bitter there as it had ever been, and since Lincoln per sistently gave the world to understand that we were fighting to maintain the Union and not to destroy slavery, we received at first not a spark of sym pathy in the mother country. The aristocrats would have been glad to see me union perish. The historian Freeman superciliously mentioned the . "downfall of the American Republic" In one of his unreadable monographs. Gladstone Joined in the hue and cry against us, and if he had had his way England and France would have allied themselves with the South. As for the lower classes In England, they knew a.nd cared little about this coun try at the beginning of the war. The Cessation of cotton Imports soon awak ened them to Its Importance, however. The mills at Manchester and other manufacturing towns had to close, and famine struck thousands of workmen. Naturally they might have been ex pected to turn against the North, -which had blockaded the cotton ports, but Henry Ward Beecher and his fel low missionaries averted that calam ity. They explained to the British workmen that at the bottom the war was for the abolition of slavery, and the starving millhands with a loyalty to principle which commands the rev erent admiration of the world stead fastly supported Lincoln and the armies of liberty. Thus more than half of England abandoned its tradi itional hatred of the United States and became our friend. The conversion of the Tory element came later and never was half so sin cere. That happy consummation has been wrought partly by International , exigencies, partly by social forces. England has seen the time more than -once since 1860 when the friendship of the United States was of the first Importance to her, and forgetting old prejudices she has learned to consult her Interest and foster an alliance. .The social factor has been even more Interesting. The development of a princely caste In this country under the exploitation of our natural re sources and the working of the pro tective tariff naturally won the sym pathy of the British aristocracy. Im poverished families began to seek mil lionaire brides In the land of dollars. American plutocrats Invaded Londqn and won the respect of the British nobles by their lavish display of wealth. The interchange of visits bera tween princely houses on either side of the water cemented international friendship until today the idea of hostility between the United States and England seems. Impossible In any rank of society. The change has been one of the imposing phenomena of history. It shows in a wonderful way how the highest moral principles sometimes combine with the most sordid, and selfish interests of social classes to bring about the ends of evolution. . - PORTLAND'S PROBLEM. If Judge Cleeton and Commissioner Goddard shall succeed in solving the vexatious bridge-draw problem, they will have done a great thing for the community. They say the state has authority to regulate, and they are going to exercise that authority. Un doubtedly the river "interests" will protest, and endeavor to bring down the whole power of the Federal Gov ernment on the heads of the temer arious officials. Somebody may be put In Jail, or threatened at least with Jail, for defying the majesty of this great Government. But we guess not. The Government has a very poor cause in this bridge controversy, and tt will hardly go to extremes In Its support. Why should not the state or the city be able to regulate river traffic over a stream entirely within its legal liimts, or rather over that part of the stream within Its limits? Is the river a highway of commerce more than the bridges are highways of commerce? Whose commerce? Portland's, all of it. Therefore, if Portland desires to adjust the conflicting interests that center about Its own river, why should It not? Let us see this business through now. SUICIDE. Suicide is said to go In -waves. Cer tainly It would seem that this wave has been at full tide in this vicinity during the past week. If so. Its ebb is now due. Within the brief space of five days, beginning with last Mon day, eight persons in this city made exit through the door of violence from a life which, in their weakness and in competence, they had found or made a failure. This record is a shocking one. It is. moreover, inexplicable, since nei ther poverty nor lack of opportunity exists as an excuse for it. The ages of these self-murderers vary from that of extreme length of years, all along through early and middle life. In one case a man of reputable pioneer parentage,, a hus band and the father of children who are yet to be brought up and placed In life, so misused the heritage of a good name and ample property that had been his from an honorable, hard working father and devoted mother that he had for some months been hovering upon the verge of Insanity and had long lapsed in finances from the condition of plenty in which he was born and brought up. A pistol shot In his own home, within hear ing of his terrified wife and children, ended the struggle, such as It was, for him. Domestic broils figure as the cause that led up to most of these suicides. Otherwise impotent anger and spite were the leading incentives to the act. The summing up is a pitiful one. The basis of this pity is not that the world or the community, or even the imme diate family, has suffered loss through the taking off of these despondent, weak or desperate creatures. In point of fact, no sutfh loss has been suffered. The pity of it is that any human being with an ordinary endowment of the forces that, properly directed, lead to happiness and plenty, should so dis sipate or misdirect this endowment bo utterly squander It, in fact as to become bankrupt In all that makes life worth living, according to his own assessment of its benefits and privileges, as denoted in his final act. Covering, however, with Whittier's gentle charity for the erratic natures that make wreck of opportunity and failure in life, we can only say with him: The outward, wayward life we see. Its hidden Bpringa we may not know.1-.. TOT RA1I.HO.VL) STOCKS DECLINE. The drastic liquidation In stocks which caused so much uneasiness early this week has been followed by a steadier market with a considera ble portion of the loss regained In the advances of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. These advances, how ever, were insufficient to bring the values back to the high level of last year. Union Pacific, even with the advance from the low point, still shows a loss of about $60 per share from the high point reached last year; other stocks are making a pro portionately bad showing. One cause for this weakness and lack of demand Is traceable to the poor crop reports, which, of course, mean diminished earnings for the railroads, but the principal factor In making railroad stocks such unattractive investments that they decline 160 per share is the great increase in expenses of all kinds. The railroads, in spite of the poor crop reports, as a rule are doing more business than ever before, but between the upper and the nether millstones of reduced rates and Increased expenses dividends are being Jeopardized. . Net earnings do not show gains at all pro portionate to the gross earnings. The current number of the New Tork Fi nancial Chronicle contains in detail the earnings statements of 725 rail roads embracing 239,345 miles, or about 97 per cent of the total mileage of the country. These figures for the month of May show an increase of (31,983,394 tn gross earnings, while net earnings have increased but $5. 226.827. As an illustration of the manner In which increased expenses have played havoc with Increased earnings, some of the details of the O. R. & N. busi ness for the eleven months ending with May are interesting. For that period the gross earnings of the local road were 313,745,424, an increase of $2,147,778 over the gross earnings for the same period a year. ago. Increased expenses, however, absorbed this In crease In gross earnings to such an ex tent that for the eleven months the net earnings of $5,077,198 were $52, 020 less than for the same period In the preceding season. In other words, a remarkably heavy Increase in business brought with It no Increase in net pronts. The disap pearance of this substantial Increase in gross receipts is accounted for by maintenance charges $449,028 greater than for the same period In the pre ceding season. For equipment $431, 627 more was needed this year than last, and the transportation expendi tures of $4,374,799 were more than $1,150,000 greater than they were last year. Even the expenses of the traffic department Increased nearly $60,000. The -big roads also make a poor show ing. The Southern Pacific,- with an increase of more than $13,000,000 In gross earnings, shows a gain of less than $6,000,000 in net. Northern Pa cific gained more than. $5,000,000 In gross and the net was more than $3, 000,000 less than a year ago. Union Pacific, with $6,000,000 gain In gross, shows less than $1,500,000 gain in net earnings. Among the few roads of the country that make a good showing in net gains, the 'Astoria & .Columbia River shows up well with net earnings more than $70,000 greater than for the eleven months ending June 1 last year. For the month of May this road returned net earnings of $28,580, compared with a deficit of $1611 for May, 1909. From the figures on these big roads it is easy to see that the "higher cost -of living" as applied to railroading is responsible for no small share of the weakness that has per vaded the stock market. No one cares to invest in stocks whose earning pow ers dwindle as the business increases. THE COMING STOCK SHOW. All hands must get together right away on the livestock show, which be gins five weeks hence. There are a few discordant notes over the question as to favoritism toward horses over cattle. These should be stilled. This is no time for jealousies. Both Interests are so large in the Pacific Northwest .that everybody can afford to be unselfish. It will pay In the end. So far as the relations between breeders of fine cattle and of blooded horses on the one hand, and of the livestock show on the other, are con cerned, Portland is friendly to both; indeed most friendly. In the face of considerable loss the past two years, the association, out of pure public spirit, has again gone into the enter prise, prepared to meet a third deficit. They who profit by the animal breed ing industries should, in these circum stances, yield a bit for the general good. It is surely more to their direct in terest that the show should be made a permanent feature of the activities cf the Pacific Northwest than it Is to Portland's interests, or rather the in terest of the handful of progressive business men who support it with no hope of individual gain, but who are determined to go into their pockets once more, and then again, rather than see the livestock show aban doned. Therefore, be it repeated, get to gether. This is the crucial year. The livestock show should not be aban doned. As the country fills up a mighty movement in that' direction is now on it will be the great Autumn -event for breeders of three states, their friends and neighbors, and for Portland. The whole region will be the gainer. AGRICI7LTI7RB Uf ALASKA. We are told by Government agents who know whereof they speak that agriculture Is In its infancy in Alaska. The surprising part of this statement Is that agriculture in that far North ern region exists at all. At the time William H. Seward bought that vast, almost mystical region for the United States for a song, as compared with its" proven value within the past, twenty years, it was supposed that it was valuable only to the extent of Its fishing. Including Its sealing privi leges. No thought of agriculture within or near the Arctic Circle was then entertained. As an afterthought the possibility of agriculture still excites wonder bordering upon incredulity. When, however, it is elaborated by the state ment that the ground all over North ern Alaska thaws to the depth of about three feet In Summer; that there are during the agricultural sea son, I. e., from May 20 to Septem ber 15, from sixteen to- twenty-four hours of daylight, and mostly of warm sunshine; and that the slowly receding frost line below maintains all neces sary moisture for the growth of crops. Incredulity gives way to simple surprise. It Is evident that the ' generation taught in its youth that Alaska was a cold and sterile region, devoid of all tender plant lite and covered with snow and ice to an unknown depth throughout almost the entire year, must revise its view of the possibili ties of agriculture In that far north era peninsula. It must be acknowl edged that this oldest of sciences, though In Its infancy in the frozen zone, has some convincing results to its credit has furnished by the reports of Government experts. A virgin soil watered from below by slowly melting Ice and brooded over by warm sunshine from sixteen to twenty-four hours a day for four months of the year really 'ought to respond generously to cultivation. That It does so Is the testimony of residents who eat home-grown let tuce, radishes, celery, turnips, pota toes, etc., and have for dessert rasp berries the size of a' quarter . of a dollar throughout the favored day light season In the land of the mid night sun. In the face of such evi dence Incredulity must retire, though wonder still remains. KKRIOT78 WATER SHORTAGE. There is no uncertain sound in the demand that comes for water from the Mount Scott district. It is as harsh as the crackle from hundreds of dry throats can make it. This cry is at once a protest and a demand; an arraignment of the private water sys stem which has failed to furnish the supply called for in its franchise, and for which under supply it never fails to collect full price; a demand for the revocation of this company's franchise by the County Court, and a plea for laying mains throughout the district that will carry Bull Run water ade quate to the needs of a water-defrauded populous suburban district. This Is the district that, under prom ise of relief from water shortage, was but last year, by popular vote, taken into the city. Clearly, there is a great deal In this presentment or there is nothing. It is altogether unlikely that so strong an Indictment would or could have been made on false premises. The homes throughout a wide section can readily be called upon for proof of the allegations set forth by the Citi zens League of the drouth-stricken district. These conditions should not be without remedy. The private wa ter company arraigned may be doing all that lies in its power and plant to supply the water which it Is under guarantee to furnish." If so, its best clearly falls short of the needs with which It is striving.' In any case, the water-defrauded people are entitled to relief, and this relief the Clt Water Commission Is in duty bound to fur nish at city water rates flat or ac cording to measure and tax. Public sympathy, is, as it should be, with the citizens of the district in which this serious shortage of water prevails. The private water systems have evidently engaged to do more than their facilities will permit them to do. Quite naturally, they are loath to abandon the field. They are said, by exasperated citizens who suffer from this failure, to be holding out for a purohase price from the city that is out of all proportion to their value. In point of fact, the city does not need the service pipes and pumps and wells and whatnot of which these plants are made up. The system thus composed is but a makeshift and a poor one at that, during the Summer months when water is most needed. If acquired, even by gift, it would have to be supplanted by mains con nected with the .Bull Run system at the earliest possible date. Certainly before another Summer put the fam ily rain-barrel out of commission. Not only the convenience and the actual necessities of the people In the af fected district are behind this de mand for water; their health and property are seriously menaced by a scant- water supply. In this view re lief cannot come too soon; if delayed until next week the delay is too long; if It extends over next month it will be intolerable. MAKING MAPS. The new plan of map-making which Mr. B. J. S. Cahill, of San Francisco, bas devised is interesting, because tt portrays the entire surface of the earth with something like accuracy. Some of the maps in common use rep resent continents and oceans without much distortion; others, like Merca tor's, give very incorrect notions of the forms and comparative areas of .the regions jthey cover. The earth's surface being nearly spherical, can not be laid out on a flat area. Math ematicians express this annoying fact by saying that it is not developable. A developable surface la made up of straight lines, which may all be par allel to each other, as on a cylinder, or all meet in a point, as on a cone, pr meet one after the other along a curved line called the edge of regres sion. Such a surface can be unrolled or developed so that it will precisely cover a flat area. But a spherical sur face is different. Any attempt to flat ten it down tears or stretches it. Boys who have attempted to cover a yarn ball know this very well. The cover, do the best 'they can, never will fit without stretching some parts of It. The best way to proceed Is to cut the leather which is to make the cover for the ball Into gores, and if there is enough of them they can be pulled together . without much distortion. This is the principle which Mr. Cahill has Ingeniously -applied in making his new species of map, though instead of fitting a cover to a sphere he has of course flattened the sphere down upon the outspread ' cover; but it comes to the same thing. Mr. Cahill divides the" earth's surface, running from pole to pole, into a number of gores, Just as if he were about to fit them on a huge baseball. These long, doubly-curving pieces he makes touch one another about half way between the equator and the north pole. Then by distorting them a little as he moves away from the point of contact, he manages to get a map which shows the land of the continents about in Its right proportions. This is a great Improvement on some of the older maps, particularly Mercator's, which has been in use for more than three centuries. It was originally devised for the use of navigators, and has been of the greatest benefit to them, but it has also crept Into schoolbooks, and there it only serves to give young people a woefully false notion of the comparative size of countries. Thus It makes Greenland nearly fas large as South America and shows Alaska as If it were fully half as large as the whole United States. Mercator made his map by imagin ing that the earth was surrounded by a cylinder touching all round the equator and having its generating lines parallel with the axis. By gener ating lines are meant those straight lines which can be drawn up and down along the surface of any cylin der. Mercator placed his Imaginary eye at the earth's center and located every point at that spot on his map where the line of sight through the earth's surface hit the cylinder. He then unrolled his cylinder, or devel oped It, and the trick was done. It was a very excellent trick, too, when applied to Its proper purpose, but not or school children. There are several other methods of flattening the earth down upon a surface, which is then unrolled, if necessary. Into a map. Of course It is of no use whatever to flatten, or project. It upon a surface which is not developable, for the problem is Just as difficult then as It was In the first place. Three of these methods were invented by the Greeks, to whom we owe the beginnings of almost everything In science and phil osophy. Hipparchus invented what he called the orthographic and stereo graphic projections, while Thales gave us the gnomic projection. The ortho graphic method projects the earth's surface directly down upon a. flat sheet by parallel lines. It does very well for the map of a hemisphere, since it gives the central parts pretty correctly. It throws the edges all out of shape, however. In using the ster eographlc method a person is sup posed to stand at some spot on the earth s surface and look down through it at a vast sheet of paper. Each spot Is located on the sheet where his line of sight strikes it. This projection has the merit of showing places in their relative situation, but it distorts tb,e areas. In the gnomic projection the eye Is at the center of the earth. Otherwise it Is like the stereographic. These three methods give the map directly. They differ from the method of Mer cator, who first projected the earth's surface on a developable surface and then unrolled it- The best modern maps follow Mercator's example, but Instead of his cylinder a- cone is used The peak, or apex, of the cone stands at the pole of the earth, while its base line may be at any parallel latitude. The eye is supposed to be at the mid dle of the base of the cone and each spot on the earth falls at the end of the line of sight. Just as In other pro jections. In this way the enlargement of the polar regions is avoided. A fur ther improvement is obtained by using many cones. The first one is followed a short distance, then It Is discarded and a new one applied, and so on all tne way to tne poie. Thus a devel opable surface is obtained which con forms almost accurately to the earth. and when It Is unrolled the map does not show much distortion, though, of course, it does show some. This is called the poiyconlc projection, be cause It uses many cones. It has been widely adopted for the representation of large land areas, but now it may give way to Mr. Cahill's method, which. In some respects, appears to be more accurate. PORTLAND'S fTTlRE. With comparatively unimproved real estate well removed from the business center of the city selling at more than $1100 per front foot, there Is not much evidence of midsummer dullness in Portland. From time to time some of the pessimists, who, like the poor, are always with. us. emit an ominous whine to the effect that hard times are approaching and that the city is growing too fast. These pre dictions, however, all emanate from the same sources which in 1905 warned people to beware of the slump after the Lewis and Clark fair. Real estate values In an old-established city like Portland are governed by legitimate supply and demand. Probably 90 per cent of all of the large transactions that have been re ported In this city in the past year have been made for investment pur poses by men who either had immedi ate use for the property for them selves or for tenants for whom they would build. We also hear at times that business is likely to be overdone in Portland. This statement cannot be substanti ated unless we admit that the farmers In the 250,000 square miles of ter ritory ' tributary to Portland are growing too much wheat; barley, oats, livestock, wool, fruit, hops, etc. . We must also admit that the fishermen on the lower river and along the coast are catching too many fish; that our sawmills are cutting too much lumber and that every industry and calling that is creating . new wealth from our latent resources is overdone. The city is merely the great clearing-house for these prod ucts; the staff necessary to carry on the work must be increased as the business of the country increases. Our farmers were making money and were increasing the output of wheat when it sold for 50 cents and 60 cents per bushel. Accordingly it seems reasonable that they are going to continue In the business and even increase it with wheat around $1 per bushel. - City business and city real estate prices can never do more than reflect conditions of the country on which the city draws for support. There will accordingly-be no pause of consequence in . the upward move ment' of Portland until the world ceases buying the great food staples and building material which Oregon produces In such Immense quantities that there is always an enormous bal ance of trade in our favor, whether we sell abroad or to less favored states in this country. There is no occasion for timidity or fear as to the future of the city so long as develop ment of the supporting country con tinues at its present gait. . TEACHERS AS APPLE GROWERS. A number of teachers in the public schools of Portland and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest have invested their savings in small acreage tracts In this vicinity, with the view. It Is said, of becoming' associated apple growers. Considering the price of the acreage bought, the cost of putting the land under cultivation and buying trees and properly caring for them un til they begin to bear, the venture is a brave one. This Is especially true In view" of the fact that the women buy ers will not be able to do any of the worTc themselves, but must hire everything done. Still the hope that induces a toiler on a salary to undertake an enterprise of this kind in a small way "s by no means a forlorn one. As the years go on, this acreage will increase in value and the apple trees, If judicious ly selected, properly set and cared for, will, in ten years, be an asset that will lighten the prospect which every teacher faces, of being in due time dropped from the roll as out of date with new fads and methods in educa tion that are growing in favor, but with which the practical, sober-minded teacher is not in sympathy. The prospect of outdated usefulness is appalling to a wage-earner, whose dally necessities absorb all, or nearly all, the returns of his or her labor. This is especially true of persons of thrifty nature. . To these the small Investment made during the earning period is the one assurance of comfort In the evening of life. A well-cultivated area of a few acres is perhaps the ideal surety in such cases. It carries a promise of maintenance in a simple, Independent way. Encouraging in connection with this venture of teachers Is the experience of Professor J. L. Dumas, ex-president of the Washington Horticultural So ciety and' for many years a teacher. To a "liking for a good, mellow apple" he accredits the rare good fortune that bas taken him from the ranks of poorly-paid pedagogues and made him a retired apple-grower. Unable to find apples suited to his taste in past years, he conceived the idea of raising them. He accordingly invested $3000, the savings of twenty years In school teaching, in 140 acres of apple land near Dayton, Wash. Some twenty years later he sold his orchard for $150,000, having in the meantime prof ited to the extent of $125,000 from the sale of apples grown on the land. Rel ative success with a five-acre tract of good apple land contiguous to a grow ing market would settle the question of support in retirement whether from age, inclination or dismissal, for many a teacher who wonders what she will do to maintain herself when the time that Is surely coming comes. NO ALLIES AND NO FLEET. The British admiralty is preparing to increase the naval fleet In the Pa cific, presumably to vbe in readiness for anything which might happen In those history-making political move ments by Japan and Russia. The United States with a formidable fleet of first-class battleships, which are kept on dress-parade on the Atlantic station, where they are not needed, has on the Pacific a couple of old monitors and a few light cruisers which are slightly ornamental, but a long way from being useful In the event of war. Undoubtedly the knowledge of our weakness on this side of the world has afforded a rea son for the mild contempt which Ja pan and Russia have been showing for the United States. This country, by reason of its geographical posi tion and also by reason of Its Far Eastern possessions, should be the Ledominating power on the Pacific. With, a shore line reaching for thousands of miles along this side of the Pacific, and with additional thousands of miles of shore line among our island possessions, this country certainly has Interests that demand better protection than we have been giving them with our use less Pacific squadron. We may awaken to the necessity of protecting our interests after it is too late. De spite our geographical position and the ease with which wa could enforce our demands, we will continue to get turned down as we were on the Chi nese loan, until we make some show of guarding our interests and Insist ing on their recognition. The tone of the British press since the recent Jap- anese-Russian agreement Is distinct ly favorable to Japan, and there does not appear to be much protest against Russian aggression in Manchuria, the natural Inference being that so long as Russia is occupied In Manchuria she will not be prowling around the British preserves in India. It is thus apparent that while the United States with good loyal allies might get an "even break" in the event of trouble on the Pacific, even though we had no naval fleet of con sequence, It Is quite certain that with no allies and no fleet we would find ourselves in a state of splendid isola tion, with other powers either Indif ferent or hostile toward us. Mean while, our fleet of splendid battle ships Is kept reasonably well em ployed In social duties on the Atlantlo station where they may never be needed for any more serious work. Germany has turned a deaf ear to tile entreaties of Madriz for interven tion in the Nicaraguan trouble. Th-s importance of a recent polite answer to one of the numerous notes of Ma driz to Emperor William was so mag nified until for a time it' looked as though Germany really had Intentions of taking a hand in the trouble. S ber second thought, or some other influence, seems to have changed the view of Germany, and Madriz will now be obliged to continue the fight without assistance. News from the s-at of war shows a fair degree of impartiality. One day we hear of a sweeping victory for the government forces, and the next day the triumph ant revolutionists are annihilating the government forces. As Germany has disclaimed any intention of mixing in the fight, no complications would fol low the possible effort of the United States to apply drastic measures and put an end to this tiresome squabble that is hampering trade and laying waste a rich country. - The Colonel sits silent in his tent awaiting the return of Chief Scout Pinchot, who has wandered far into the bad lands of the insurgents. But while the mighty hunter endures the agony of silence and refuses to remove the padlock from Hps that were never still before, the Roosevelt ear is to the ground. Within the past few davs I has heard strange rumblings. There was the dear boy Jimmle, of Ohio, whom the Colonel presented with an important Cabinet job for no other reason than that "Jimmie wanted the place." Jimmie still wanted a place and his ex-chief wanted him to have It; but the people said "Nay, nay." If that, wasn't enough to provoke silence, along comes the news that the Republicans oi Herkimer County, New "V'ork, in spite of their instruc tions to nominate "my nephew" Rob inson for Congress, have, sent an ant' Roblnson delegation to the . conven tion. What's all this stuff we hear about impure ice cream cones and seizure of them by the Government? If they are deleterious, the fact should have . widest publicity. If only a few manu j facturers are guilty of putting out names and the reason why their prod ucts are condemned. Ice cream In cones enters largely into innocent gustatory Joys of children at this sea son of the year. It is one of the, few sweet things for youngsters that may be classed as good food. Its subdi vision into 5-cent quantities puts it within the reach of the laboring peo ple. There never should be a doubt In the parents' minds as to the whole s jmentss of the cream or of the pack age containing It. Let us hope the health authorities will see that im pure cones are never marketed In Portland. Portland's importance as the com mercial center of the Pacific North west is once more Illustrated by the choice of this city as headquarters for the new fruitgrowers' exchange, em bracing the States of Oregon, Wash ington, Idaho and Montana. Unfortunately, Senator Crane's tour as the Western scout' for President Taft will end at Seattle. He should have been booked to Oregon City, where he could have sounded senti ment In Oregon by an interview with TTRen. t It is not strange that the first move ment for a monument to Mark Twain should come from the American col ony at Heidelberg. Exile strengthens and vivifies national love and prise; the great American humorist Inspired both. T. R., Jr., who has become a resi dent of San Francisco, occupies Ru dolph Spreckels' house in an exclusive neighborhood. He certainly has no political aspirations. If he had, he would get closer to Mayor McCarthy. Up to July 29 the registration in Multnomah County showed: Repub licans, 13,201; Democrats, 2382. Does any one doubt that at least 2000 more Democrats swore falsely in order to vote in the Republican primaries? A little dry goods store, conductad by the late John Wilson in IS56, grown to a magnificent modern de partment store covering an entire block fairly represents the progress of Portland in half a century. It will not do for the new bunch In the Commercial Club's publicity de partment to overlook advertising Port land a's the finest Summer resort in the United States. A man can be President and be in hard luck. " Mr. Taft will soon have to appoint three men to -positions to which he aspired the supreme bench. July, 1910, goes on record as me teorologically the pleasantest month in the history of Western Oregon. Secretary Wilson saw something good at Hood River yesterday. There are no, bristles on Governor Llnd. of Minnesota. COMMENT OX THE CAMP.VIQX. Stand Loyally by t Ticket. The Dalles' Optimist. Upon the whole, the ticket nominated is an excellent one, and behooves as all to stand loyally by It- If we do so. we can, two years hence lift up our hands to high heaven, as the editor of The Optimist said on the platform of the assembly, and "thank God that a Democrat is without hope In the state of Oregon." Bowerman Will Be Supported. Falls City News. Jay Bowerman is a man of sturdy character, conscientious, brave and fear W?., he Porformance of his duties. While there were many aspirants for the recommendation of the assembly the campaign of Mr. Bowerman will be not able on account of the most loval sup port that will be accorded him by the wyjiauia. A Fascinating Game. Belllngham (Wash.) Herald. Even iinriA, .a . . . o uubi-i primary sys- i, Pltlcal convention, which has . . u" Dut maKe a noise and pass harmless resolutions, is still not without some of the old fascination I. l"l Jl r TiSrm ai1 w t 1 a. .... LTZ ? J . t me cnier political event of the biennial period. Politics is nnr an . . " . r- viuimiius as ii once was, but it Is arm o . .i ' ".. luLoicsiuij game for candidates to play at. ! of Better Government. Roseburg Leader. The men suggested are the choice of those 1200 men. are men who believe In the Republican party, and no doubt JTu $ " thelr d"ty if elected to office. The Leader has no objections to otter. It looks to this paper as the dawn of better days for Oregon and the North west, since it promises less of an archism and other socialistic tenden cies, less of attacks upon personal lib erty and better government, state and county. The Party Ticket, Astorian. There were manv nnt.Kl. ( . . . - j - - -. Hi - . 1 1 1. kUHl assembly, whose fine ambitions and in dispensable plaims were plain to all men there; but some had to be disappointed; all could not win out; those that did moir successes, took tnem at the hands of the whole assemblv, every thing was done openly, freely, in prop er time, under the fixed rule of the hour; and the ticket, as it is now pre sented for final and cumulative action at the nolla. I .. . - vva uiubi stand by It, forgetting everything save oi uuausumg victory tnat snail restore our party to power, place and pride once more. No Dire Results. Gervals Star. The assembly has brought none of the dire results predicted by the oppo sition. No one Is worrying about any of the candidates except the opposition and we always have them with us under and through all conditions. It is pre dicted that the entire ticket will be elected and that, too. by large major ities. The campaign up to and includ ing the direct primary will be vigorous and active. No honest effort will be left undone to successfully nominate each and every assembly candidate on the state ticket. Local conditions are different, and while a large number wii; win out. yet a number may fall of election for county offices. It is unquestionably a splendid state ticket. Insincere Lamentation. Eugene Register. There is a mirhty insincere note in the Salem Journal's assembly lamenta tion. Suppose, for Instance, that Bow erman, Smith. WIthycombe. Ackerman and Moores had come before the people at the primaries without going Into the assembly, would all five of them have been nominated as candidates' for Gov ernor or would not the result have been the same only one of the five being chosen? Then why this howl from the Journal? Does it hope to make the people believe that the res"" would have been any different without an as sembly? But we must have this over flow of political rot hushed up from now until the campaign is over. The people must be misled if possible. Open and Above Herd. Washington County News. Open and above board is the meaning of assembly if we understand it right. Instead of politicians' promising each different candidate for the same office that they will support them, and lying to all but one, the Republicans meet in mass meeting and nominate who they think .are the best fitted men for the office. Then at the primary they vote for said candidates. Each candidate must file his notice of candidacy same as1 before whether nominated by assem bly or petition but those who receive the assembly nomination enter the primary with the guarantee that they will receive the support of those who participated In the mass meetings. Assembly la Believed to Be r 'shr. La Grande Observer. It was not a meetlng-of "bosses" or would-be "bosses." Neither was it a meeting where everything was "cut and dried" as some would make believe. The temporary and permanent organ izations plainly show that no slate- maker was responsible for the events of the assembly. The electors of the state will have the opportunity of passing on the work of the assembly either endorsing it as a whole, in part, or rejecting it entirely. What ever the outcome may be It will not re move from the minds of many Repub licans that assemblies of political par ties are right and it is our opinion that they will prevail in the future, even though the entire ticket headed by Jay Bowerman Is defeated this Fall. Political Charlatanry. Eugene Register. The insincerity of anti-assembly organs is clearly shown in their berating of a delegated Republican assembly coming up strong from the people of the whole state and suggesting a ticket, whereas they laud the action of a self-appointed assembly of lawyers who meet without consideration from the masses and frame up a supreme bench ticket to their own liking. It is the old etory of straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. It was a bunch of Oregon lawyers who "repudiated the demands of the people" and not the Republican assembly, and any paper In the state, standing pat on the action of those lawyers who absolutely ignored the rights of the masses, is a positive repudiator of the direct primary law in all that it means and stands for, and makes itself the laughing stock of every sensible voter in the state. Such a paper shows its willingness to enter into any kind of a game to beat the Re publican party even to stultifying itself by the rankest kind oi violation of the provisions of the direct primary law in order to do it a law euch paper holds up to the electorate as their only means of political salvation, then turns right around apd stands in with a bunch to flagrantly and openly violate every pro vision of that law with the sole am bition of downing the Republicans. This campaign ought to serve the noble purpose of exposing political charlatanry In this state and show it to the masses who really stand for clean politics and the good of the people. Developing- Literary stars. Kansas City Times. - Chief Griffin has armed each police man with a lead pencil. There's no telling how many Jack London and George Ades and Upton Slnclairs and Mr. Dooleys this innovation may de velop 'in the force