TIIE 8UXDAT OREGOXIAN, TORTLAXD, FEBRUARY 19. 1911.
PORTLAND PRESS CLUB IS MARVELOUS IN GIANT
.
From Tiny Beginning in One Room Organization or newspaper ivien irsaps
1 I engaged In newspaper work and 60 as-
TUE Portland Fres Oub. which
was noiMr.it mora than the shad
owy outline of an organlaatloo
U months ago. Is now aa Institution,
not nlr In this city and the Northwest
bat la the broad Held of journalism and
newspaper activity. The club has a
home In the E!ks building and Its
rooms are among the most comfortable
and most elaborately furnished Presa
Clubs In the United States outside f
New Tork City- No Press Club has a
more solid financial standing. The
total expenditure of the club rooms has
been SjO'X), and there remains In the
treasury a sum sufficient to meet all
-mergenclcs. There is no danger of a
famine devastating the strong box.
The newspaper men of Portland have
broken pece-!ent tn organising and fi
nancing a Press Club. Not a dollar was
borrowed, cot one dollar was donated.
The club and all It represents Is the re
sult of organized team work, determin
ation and perseverance. A rule was
laid down preliminary to organisation
that there should be no "panhandling."
This rule has been adhered to strictly,
and even large sums of money and val
uable glfs proffered have been declined
to obviate a possible semblance of a
reciprocal motive. The adoption of this
rule and Its hair-splitting. Interpreta
tion Is regarded by members as the
secret of the club's success.
The life and the work of a newspaper
man. his contact with the varted-slded
public, his insight Into things, make,
him an Independent thinker. He gains
and cultivates ld-a of his own. So.
newspaper men are hard to organise. It
Is difficult to bring a body of them
around to sre through the same specta
cles, although no closer fraternity and
fellowship exists than among the men
who write and edit the chronicles of the
world.
I PS and Downs Kelt.
Press Clubs have been organised la
every city of consequence In the I'nlted
states and they have foundered on the
rocks of Individuality. Portland Is not
aa exception. Newspaper men are pecu
liar, freak Inn. They Quarrel, but their
craft friendship Is never severed. The
rumpled fragments of press clubs have
been assembled, smoothed out and
united over and over again, stones re
mo red. chasms bridged, the way mac
a&Amlitd and oiled, and out of the series
of wrecks have sprung rejuvenated
press clubs that have become Institu
tions. Ia this experience) the Portland
newspaper fraternity has had Its share.
The last Portland Press Club died
several years ago. leaving an Inheri
tance of 1 10 J In trust fund. Last
July a Press Club phoenix became
noisy. Joe Carl!, an artist on The Ore
gonlaa was the bird. A press club was
his hobby. Joe became aa agitator for
a press club and he and "Jim" Tyler.
Clarke Letter. Jack Travis. Fred Bell.
"Bill" Petraln.'"Colonel Harrison. Carl
Kelty. Hill" Souls. "Cap" Pmlth and
George Keller held several star cham
ber sessions to frame It. This contin
gent was called the "Journal Crowd,"
although a majorly of Its members were
Oregonlan men. by an Insurgent faction
headed by O. C Merrick, George Cow
ing. Ned Blythe. Jack Barrett. Herbert
Campbell and Lair Gregory, who meet
regularly every morning at t:tt o'clock
In a downtown restaurant to eat. and
discuss what ths other side was doing.
Finally, the Insurgents raised the white
flag, entered the camp of "that other
crowd." and a meeting was called for
Sunday. July IS. at the Portland Hotel.
Just seven newspaper men were In
the Portland at the appointed hour.
After loitering about the lobby for sev
eral hours and no enthusiastic support
ers appeared, the seven decided to post
pone the meeting until the following
UNUSUAL WORLD EXPECTANT ON EVE
OF PRODUCTION OF AMERICAN OPERA
Campanini Enthusiastic u He Predict Success of Serioui Work by Victor Herbert, In Which Mary Garden Will
Appear Composer Defends His Americ anism, in Which Romance Is Not Dead.
BT EVIL15 FRANCES BACER.
NEW TORK. Feb. IS. Special.)
The air Is full of "Natoma." Vic
tor Herbert ha at last broken
his silence. Joseph D. Redding, the
librettist, a San Franrlsc o-New Tork
lawyer Is willing to discuss It, and
Carr.paninl Is full of It. according to
his statement to the writer. Campa
alr.l fi quite an Mul at tliit particular
moment, as he was when be first at
tracted the attention of the world to
0cr Haminerscln's opera-house. The
great conductor atys It Is like getting
heme to be back in New Tork. and al
though he has made a telling Impres
sion la Chicago and he Is now doing
the same In Philadelphia, he knows
that in New York there Is a place that
will never be ailed until he gets here.
Campanlnl regrets that he Is un
able to brine the old Manhattan fa
vorites to New Tork mors than once
In tr.e season, because he la Inclined
to tre belief that works like "Louise"
or 'Peileas et Meilsande" are more
likely to draw large audiences through
several performances than through one.
aa he believes that the interest grows
i tii each performance.
Campanlnl Is Delighted.
When asked his attitude toward
opera In Kngllsh Campanlnl said:
"I can only say what I think of
Natoma.' as I am not familiar with
anytr-.lng else. We are working hard
Bpn th opera and I must confess
tnat 1 am delighted with It. I would
never have believed that Victor Her
bert, whom 1 have always known
through his charming light works,
could have brought forth a work so
serious and so big In Its scope aa this
on is.
"What has pleased me more than
anything else la the fine Instrumenta
tion. Mr. Herbert has handled his or
chestra aa only a master could handle
It. He ha a fine sense of color and
melody, and you must know better
tl.an 1 do wbetcer this is what you
can rail Amerkan music. Of course.
It appeal. to me because It Is soft and
warm, almost. If not entirely.' Spanish
In atinnspliere. but I am told that this
Is as It should be In Lower Califor
nia where the scene Is laiL How
ever. I believe that If In one section
of the country a picturesque subject
ran be found. It Is possible to find It
elsewhere, and there is no doubt that
America is full of genial and ro
mantic subjects which would lend
therrtelves to musical setting.
"The Amertesn feels that there la no
Inspiration la his own country, but
that is only because a thing seems
commonplace when one has It con-
. .
-i ly - p soclate members who are professional
-C k A p y mmmL, mm, .... ..TTTirr''fc'S. and business men of the highest stand-
f II, i i II1 ' r ) f ""N Ifv" T'm -.:'--i'U''""!"''i.' . - ' ii I - lng and Integrity in Portland. Besides
Tj ( r , ,1 J l ly; : 7 " """-'t - v . JV' U A these there ar a sufliclent number of
V . i ' J q I - ', . ' . 'i. .' . ;. ; 5 . applicants to make the membership
lf- ' ,;.--r;;...J xlx u. i j 'LJmi
I 1 ' r'. V::: U MmmM - 'l- . Iftnli Is V') WwM-Be Tcto$ Much
- ITlJ --. i --VT? ' r .YNj ; . .: ' H. .P.ldfl. tS Mixed -as to Facts
I , V - i I ...V' " -,V--'1'1 rvuVv3 II " SJ
v . t , I, ,r-- - - ' . i. , , , .I,, II it ,FV) . . '..WW ,vU 6 ; :
, f - ' . mmmmmmm , , A IK.JWH , vT- II VfJfrn J - A: a r jrW -j. ;
. - Vl" -' --t--'--t---- ITr-rn?-" t-;X a
Sunday. The meeting place was Itepre-sentatlve-to-be
A. W.. Laflerty's office.
Tilts Are Itoosts.
Failure was predicted on all sides
and the entire Telegram staff decided to
hold aloof and be a non-party to the
"rag chewing." The Oregonlan and
Journal men and representatives of pe
riodicals continued their criticism of
past and present clubs, wrangling
among themselves, but all the time
boosting. As a result of the weeks
melee about 35 straggled into Mr. Laf
ferty's office, where Carl Kelty. then
manager of Mr. LarTerty's campaign for
Congress had arranged the conference.
The result of this meeting was another
called for Sunday. August 14. In the
convention room of the Imperial Hotel.
Bulletins were posted In the newspaper
offices notifying all newspaper men to
attend the meeting August 14. as the
organisation would be perfected and
officers elected. The announced election
Injected politics Into the movement and
the difficulty of getting a turn-out was
over. Slates were made only to be smashed
at ths meeting. A Ions representative of
ths Telegram was present and he was
given aa office. The other offices were
parceled out with delicacy and diplo
macy, so that all publications had rep
resentation, and at the same time com
petent men were selected. The sun set
on aa organised Press Club.
Another meeting was called for Aug
ust SI, at the same place and about 60
were present. A sort of constitution and
by-laws were adopted, those present
fumbled through their pockets for the
necessary dues, and the officers were
authorised to rent quarters.
Room No. SO J. slxe IS by 14. In ths
Merchants Trust Building, was rented,
and the first meeting In the club room,
which consisted of four bare walls and
a bars floor, was held August ZS. But It
looked like a club and the officers and
board of managers were authorized to
buy furniture and rent more rooms.
The fallowing Sunday the newspaper
men found three rooms, sparely furn
ished, and authority was given to buy
mors furniture and Increase the size of
the quarters. The next Sunday ths club
bad Ave rooms and then furniture was
added, piece by piece, until ths quarters
presented a comfortable appearance.
Bis; Show Undertaken.
By the time the club had assests In
furnishings and cash to the amount of
lr.v.
i
'A
stantly before one. It may- be that
there Is more what you call romance
la Europe, perhaps In Italy; but you
must nor forget that we are even able
to regard the trees, the sky. the fields
as filled with poetry, with romance,
while the American Is taught to be a
practical man and even If a grain of
romance be lurking In his system, even
the sort of sentiment which if prop
erly directed would lead to such writ
ing as Is required for a work which
could make an appeal, he Is almost
ashamed of It and tries to rise above
It. One should never rise above senti
ment or romance when one la trying
to reach what is called the hearts of
the people. It Is only through the
heart that one can reach, not through
ths Intellect, which la Indeed strongly
-r
&f : Ot. , . --7- 1
about f!000 and the membership had
grown beyond the capacity of the
quarters, appetites for a real club had
been whetted to a keen edge. Money
was the consideration and there was a
rule against "panhandling" which none
would allow broken. After considera
ble wrangling, -which newspaper men
only know how to do right. It was de
cided to give a "show." It was not to
be a benefit but a show that would give
patrons their money's worth. The Club
assumed ths financial responsibility,
which Just balanced Its assets, and the
greatest vaudeville performance ever
seen In the city was put on at the
Helllg Theater.
Appreciating the Independent spirit
the nswspaper men had shown, George
Baker of the Baker and Bungalow
theaters, Sullivan & Consldlne of the
Orpheum and Grand, Keating & Flood
of the Lyric and Alex Pantages, re
fused compensation for their star acts,
and Mr. Helllg would accept nothing
for the use of the theater. Free of
these expenses the Press Club was still
facing an expenditure of approximately
$2000 for publishing Its programme,
automobile hire and banquet to the act
ors after the show, besides incidental
expenses, but it staked all and the
show was a glorious success.
With a substantial fund In the treas-
developed In the American whose se
riousness and directness, as also his
honesty a,nd his dislike of veneer,
are among bis greatest characteristics.
With these as they are. If he would
only loosen up, so to speak, and let
bis emotions go ss they will, there Is
no telling what he might produce In
the way of music.
American Singer Praised.
"But." continued the maestro, "I can
better Judge of ths singers than ot the
composers, because the former come
under my direction in America and In
London, at Covent Oarden. I have too
often shown my high esteem and ap
preciation of their- worth to add any
thing to what I have said many times.
The singers, especially the women, are
."'-rv. ,,r -
. f
x. t it,.. p.i.n,innaaw,-wrive R,1iiiTifrARsnMation Ranks Among Best of
to .rruspenty m jraiaax
-in'
i
- S
ury as a result of the show and aug-
. . .. .x. ri it ona ini.
tiation fees, present quarters of the
most adaptable and Intelligent; they
have style and fine stage bearing, and
there Is no reason why any side of the
art of music, either that of Interpreter
or of creator, should be closed to Amer
icans. "As for the language," he continued,
"so far as my ear takes the sound, I
may say that It Is a language which
should come next to the Italian, and
there can be no reasonable excuse for
objecting to It except that the singers
are not trained to use it aa they use
languages for singing, but they sing it
as they would speak It, which would
naturally be very bad, as It would be
In any language which one would at
tempt to take right off the street Into
song, without adjusting It properly to
the tone as sung."
Composer Hejrlns Seriously.
Mr. Herbert, when lee spoke of his
n r venture Into the field of grand
opera, reminded the writer that he did
not start on a career of light music.
He was an excellent 'cellist, first 'cell
ist under Theodore Thomas, and he
wrote a great deal ot very serious mu
sic early In his life. He became iden
tified with music of a lighter nature
when he assumed the baton left Idle
by Patrick Gllmore. the great band
master, but after that Mr. Herbert was
again Identified for many years with
serious music as conductor of the Pitts
burg symphony orchestra, and he was
known as -a composer of suites, quar
tets and works for the 'cello long be
fore he ever tried to write light music
It was as late as 1S94 when McDon
ald, of the Bostonlans, asked Mr. Her
bert to write a light opera for him,
that he tried his hand at It. and no one
need be told that he did not fail. He
had ths element of success, because
Mr. Herbert Is one of the few good mu
sicians who does not feel that it Is be
low his dignity to write light music
if he feels It spontaneously, and he has
such a wonderful flow of the pen that
one could Imagine hia writing a new
opera almost every month.
Opera Purely American.
Mr. Herbert Is firm upon one matter,
and that Is that this "Natoma" is pure
ly an American opera. This has no
reference to the work alone, or rather
to its subject, but he declares himself
nn American, and Mr. Herbert will nev
er be contradicted. Mr. Herbert Is an
American at heart and In spirit, and
asserts himself to be as patriotic as
though his descendants had been
brought over on the Mayf'ower, In
stead of having been born on Dublin
Bay. with Samuel Lover, the great Irish
writer, author of "Handy Andy," aa a
grandfather. Mr. Herbert has this fine
old grandfather hanging on the wall,
and an imposing picture it Is, too.
"I lived with hlra when I was a boy,"
said Mr. Herbert: "he was a fine old
man, and be was devotedly fond of mu
sic. My mother was an excellent musi
cian, and she loved the old Irish melo
dies. I have always loved the Irish
melodies, and I have an Immense col
lection of them, more than a thousand,
easily.
"With all this love ar foundation, I
went to Germany, where I became cellist
at the opera In Stuttgart, and from
there I came with Anton Peldl to Amer
ica, where I have remained, with never
y,.. .in. mh .u.-?rwTrn 4,T"' - 1
I i -1 l I- " ' ' w. ...(,
" -
, .
. club on the second floor of the Elks'
hnlMlnir were leased for three years.
1 and the club moved Into Its present
a desire to go elsewhere or. to be aught
save an American heart and soul."
Anglo-Saxons Lack Color.
The story of how Mr Herbert came
to write "Natoma" is well known as it
has been told many times. It was Mr.
Hammerstein who asked him to try in
this field and see what he could pro
duce. For a long time Mr. Herbrt, like
all others who want to write operas,
looked for a book and he received
A e-'i
'"' - r'
' -f
hundreds, but none happened to strike
his fancy. One day he met Mr. Redding
at the Lambs Club and asked him to
try his hand, which he did, and read his
book to Mr. Herbert within a short
time after. Mr. Herbert said that only
recently he had been Informed that ths
subject was not an American, but Span
ish, and he makes answer, "The truth
is that Northern America, the America
of the commercial Anglo-Saxon, lacks
color and for opera there must be color.
The Germans do not lay trtelr plots in
Berlin, but In the Black Forest or in
some other romantic spot. California
Is America and it is picturesque Amer
ica. For that reason I felt quite at
tsfi t
' V
L S
f 1
: i f t
home the night of January 31. The
remodeling was not finished but the
club was content to wait and now the
quarters are full-blown.
Rooms Handsomely Furnished.,
The club now has 6000 square feet of
floor space, divided Into a general
lounging room, library. Jinks room, bjl
liard room, card room, buffet, office and
cloak room, with accessories and halls.
The lounging room Is furnished with
Colonial club upholstered leather antf
upholstered reed furniture and the fin
est Wilton carpet. The fixtures are of
art nouveau with Boston brass effect.
The library Is in upholstered mission,
upholstered reed and old fashioned
chairs, with mission bookcases and
writing desks and axmlnster rugs. The
fixtures are rusted copper.
The bufTet Is In cafe furniture with
mission effect and Greek lanterns, and
the card room is all mission. The Jinks
room has a seating capacity of 250 and
a stage large enough for "stunts" ' in
keeping with the needs of the club.
The fixtures In the Jinks room and card
rooms are of polished brass.
The walls of all the rooms are in
panel with, wainscoating and plaster of
light terra cotta, and the ceilings are
light canary.
The club has 135 members actively
liberty to write In a Spanish vein when
It seemed necessary, but you will find
plenty of music that Is clearly Anglo
Saxon, the songs of the American sailors,
which I think, will come like a breath
of fresh air after the more sultry Span
ish atmosphere in which much of it is
laid." .
Mr. Herbert says frankly, that mod
ern or no modern, his opera Is full of
melody, that he does not believe there
SUCCESS TALKS BY
MADISON C. PETERS
What Makes and Keeps So Many Poor.
BY MADISON C. PETERS.
O POWER of legislation ana no
power that can be obtained by
labor combinations can help the
laboring man who spends his money In
drink. The men and women 'who de
vote their time and money to social
reforms without pointing to the drink
as the f'rst cause of poverty and degra
dation are striking with a straw, writ
ing on, the surface of the. water and
seeking figs where only brambles grow.
One-half of the drink bill of the Nation,
conservatively estimated at upwards of
(2,000,000,000 per annum, comes out of
the wages of the working men. The
wage classes cannot support, in idle
ness and luxury, upwards of a half
million liquor dealers and their fam
ilies, pay the enormous rents of their
dram-shops and hope to prosper them
selves. Not only three-fourths of the
crime, but four-fifths of the inmates
of our poor houses and the re
cipients of publio or private charity
have been -'reduced to poverty either
through . their own incompetence or
through the intemperance of their
natural protectors. There is no reason
why, if we were sober people, poverty
should be known in America, the name
synonymous with opportunity. The
wages paid are generous and the doors
swing open to the lightest touch of
the humblest cltlxen. . The matter Is not
wholly with the tyrannical trusts and
heartless landlords, there is despot
more Insatiable In his demands, and this
despotic king Is drink. Saloons are
thickest where the people are the poor
est, and while enormous sums are
wrung from the working men of the
country their families are in want.
Our papers and magazines are full
of articles about uplifting the people,
giving them comfortable homes, but,
as Archbishop Ireland has well said:
"The men who propose social reforms
without pointing to the Baloons as the
first cause of poverty and degradation
talk In the air." The catechism of
social economy Is brief and undeni
ably true. How enrich the people?
Make them sober. The late Carroll D.
Wright, the eminent statistician said:
"I have looked Into a thousand homes
of the working people of Europe, I
do not know how many in this oountry
and I never had to look beyond the
STRIDES
Its Kind in Natjon.
History ' Geoerraphy Enmlna.
tlonn Develop Queer Antr at
Albany.
ALBANT, Or., Feb. U.-(Speclal.)
"Honolulu is the capital of the Philip
pine Islands and Is noted as the place
where Dewey's flagship, the Maine, was
sunk in Manila Harbor."
This was the startling information im
parted by an applicant for a school
teacher's certificate In Linn County in
answer to a question as to the location of
Honolulu and for what It was noted, in
the geography section of the county
teachers' examination held In this city
last week.
The county examining board completed
Its work today and found many queer
answers to the questions propounded by
the State Superintendent of Public In
struction. Though as large a percentage
passed as umial, there were far more
freak answers to questions than 's ordi
narily the case.
One would-be teacher, responding to a
question in history, said that Appo
matox "is noted as the place where
Cornwallls surrendered to Washington In
the Civil War."
Told to name the counties of Oregon
which border on the Pacitic Ocean, one
applicant named Coquille, Washington
and Yakima. Not one was right, for
Coquille is a city, Yakima is a county
in the State of Washington and Wash
ington County, Oregon, does not touch
the Pacific Ocean.
Asked who William Pitt was, one
teacher said he founded Philadelphia
and another answered that he was a
strong patriot in the Revolution. John
Erickson invented the first steamboat,
according to one applicant for a position
as instructor of Linn County youths.
In answer to a question as to the legal
qualifications of a United States Senator,
one applicant paid a Senator "must be
years old and have an unstained repu
tation."
"IX-scribe the work of the Supreme
Court." was one question. "The work of
the Supreme Court Is to decide all cases
before it," was the answer.
Though most of the queer answers oc
curred in the geography and history ex
aminations, there were some startling
statements in the physiology test.
"State the changes which take place
In the air from respiration: the changes
which take place in the blood," was a
question. An answer read: "The air
when anyone is respiring smells bad and
it takes the germs out of the blood."
Asked why nuts are difficult to digest,
an embryon'c teacher said that the rea
son nuts are not good food Is that "there
Is not the right kind of Juice In them."
Another said: "Nuts are too rich because
they have so much starch in them."
In answer to the question, "Give the
histology of the arteries," one applicant
for a certificate said: "Arteries run from
the head to the arms, legs and other
parts of the body."
As They Marry In Roumanis.
London Chronicle.
In Roumania once every year Is a
fair of marriageable girls. The girl,
with her relations, gets Into a wagon,
which also contains her dowry linen,
furniture and household matters and
all set off for the fair. When they ar
rive the girls are drawn up in one Una
and the men in another, with their
parents behind them. Then if a young
man likes the look of any particular
girl, he talks to her while the parents
compare notes as to their possessions
and their circumstances in life. If all
Is found satisfactory there's a marriag
at once, and the bride is driven away
by her husband 'to her new home.
can be music, real muslo, without this.
In consequence, both Philadelphia and
New York are waiting for the premiere
of "Natoma," with Mary Garden In the
title role, and John McCormack, Lillian
Grenville, Sammarco, Dufranne and
Huberdeau in the principal roles. It
will be noted that all of the foreigners
have studied these parts In English, and
the New York performance is set for
February 28.
inmate to find the cause of poverty.
Drunkenness is at the bottom of the
misery."
John Burns, M. P., the distinguished
English labor leader said: "The chief
cause of the present time poverty and
debasement of the poor Is drink."
Terence V. Powderly, for many years
general master workman of the
Knights of labor, said: "The liquor
traffic is responsible for the misery
among nine-tenths of the working
classes." I believe that the panacea
for poverty is sobriety. As nothing
pays as well as the drink business,' It
must be reversely true that nothing
pays as well as to let It alone.
That was eye-opening advice an
actor gave his friend: "A gallon of
whisky costs about $3 and contains
about 65 15-cent drinks. If you must
drink buy a gallon and make your
wife bar-keeper. Give her 16 cents a
drink and when the whisky Is gone
she will have after paying for it, $6.75
left, and every gallon threaftei- will
yield the same profit. This money
should be put away, so that when you
become Inebriate, unable to support
yourself, and shunned by every re
spectable man, your wife may have
money to keep you until your time
comes to fill a drunkard's grave."
The Defense of Idleness.
Success Magazine.
It is not entirely a new Idea that a
man who works requires more food for
his body than a man who does not, but
for the first time this truth has been
reduced to scientific proportions. A
French scientist, Imbert, found by a
series of experiments that about one
fifteenth of a laboring man's wages
goes Into the purchase ot food which
would be unnecessary If the man were
Idle. The investigator made his ex
periments upon a messenger whom he
divided up Into heat-uni,ts and subject
ed to other indignities. Including com
pulsory work during part of the in
quiry. It was found during a ' pro
longed strike in an English city not
long ago that the general health of
the community showed marked im
provement. Apparently It Is both cheap
er and healthier to loaf than to work.
Stevenson's delightful essay, "An Apol
ogy for Idlers," is quite out of style.
Idleness requires no apology; it has be
come a duty '