THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND. AUGUST IS, 1912.
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PORTLAND, SIXDAY, AUCCST 18. 1
ADVERTISING THE OREGON WAT.
A correspondent of the Boston
Transcript a Mr. A. A. Berle has
letter to that influential
. - :vuw via nnerations of
journal uustii""
the initiative and referendum in Ore
gon and using for illustration the case
of the appropriations for the Univer
sity of Oregon made by the Legislature
of 1911 and held up for popular ap
proval or rejection in November Mr.
Berle declares that the movement for
the referendum had its Inspiration in
the local hostility to Eugene of some
citizens at Cottage Grove, who as a
measure of reprisal on the county
seat for Its opposition to county di
vision, set afoot machinery of the Ore
gon svstem for an attack on the State
University. The story of the legal Dai
tle over the appropriations is given In
detail, with a quotation from the
State Supreme Court declaring that
"there was no general and spontane
ous desire on the part of the general
public to withhold the appropriation.
The excerpt also sets forth the activ
ities of Parkinson, the petitlon-shover.
and shows that of the 13.000 signa
tures 6000 -were indisputably fraudu
lent. Mr. Berle makes this comment:
One of the Ironical things about '
who" dupicrtul '
eon who was censured by name m x"
Vision of the supreme "J,,
MAriatps in the aseautt on the state univer
lay o! " e Veheat or disgruntled, ommu
",7r ith r'Ren and others, have posea
everywhere ..advocate, of good govern
men?. ?H been widely quoted jut o
Oregon a. the apostles of the new P""
filth We have In Massachusetts at this
foment more sound, more mmedUt. and
Trore direct response to the real e"a ?
lh. people ' than I believe to be Possible In
the present organization of the fatate of
Oregon. .
Mr. Berle states accurately enougn
the facts with reference to the partic
ular issue over the State University,
but his conclusions may or may not be
Justifiable, and we have no purpose
herein of approving or disapproving.
We reprint them merely as the conclu
sions of one Investigator of the Ore
gon system and to inform the Oregon
public further that they have attract
ed the notice of so thoughtful and
widely circulated. a paper as the In
dianapolis News, which suggests, with
some evidence of sarcasUc intent:
"Why not recall the Oregon Judges?"
But whether or not the sweeping
condemnation of Mr. Berle Is well
founded. It is not to be disputed it
is certainly not disputed in Oregon
that grave abuses of the Oregon sys
tem are being practiced, and it Is fur
ther commonly realized that, unless
they are corrected and strict and clear
limitations placed on the initiative end
on the referendum.'the entire scheme
will result in confuslonchaos and dis
aster. Thirty-eight general measures
go on the ballot next November, with
seven local measures a grand total of
rorty-five. No person in Oregon "will
arise to say that the j4ectorate as a
whole ought to be required to vote on
so many bills. It Is no reproach to
the intelligence or capacity of the peo
ple to say that they cannot act dis
criminatingly upon forty-five separate
acts many of them voluminous, some
complicated, and otherB quite abstruse.
Yet from year to year the burden
grows, and legislature schemers and
socialistic promoters submit their of
ferings with disconcerting persistence
and with the cool assurance that some
day, in the doubt and uncertainty of
the public among so many proposals,
their particular projects will be suc
cessful. But the tTRens and the Parkinsons
are not alone to blame for the cen
surable overuse of the Oregon system.
Here now we find others busy with
their own little schemes or dreams for
a greater and better Oregon. No one
can justly say that there is no merit
In a "blue sky" law, for example, de
signed to control the operations of
certain corporations engaged in mine
or real estate exploitation. The hon
est sentiment of Oregon Is for the
proper and vigilant protection of the
Innocent investor, and so It may be
said there is a legitimate need for leg
islation on the subject and for the
creation of a corporation commission
er. The Oregonian elsewhere prints a
letter from Salem purporting to give
the facts about the movement to pro
cure a "blue sky" law through the
Initiative. Someone at Salem Is to get
a nice fat job, and there is a liberal
appropriation for support of the office
and for clerk hire and traveling ex
penses. The Oregonian is Indeed not
much impressed by criticisms of that
kind, for it assumes that. If there is
to be a corporation commissioner,
somebody will get the place, and It is
quite indifferent who that somebody
shall be.
But The Oregonian is concerned In
the broader question of the enactment
of this "blue sky" measure through
the initiative. Why should legislation
of this kind be undertaken directly
by the people? Why should any body
or group of citizens or public officials
assume that they may Ignore the con
stitutional method for enactment
of all miscellaneous legislation
and promote their particular of
fering by a method that ought
to be used only in emergencies,
or for the determination of great Is
sues, or as a last resort or appeal from
the Legislature? Why? Because, of
course, there Is fear that the precise
plan offered by these volunteer law
makers may be modified or altered by
the Legislature, or even defeated en
tirely: and they want no detail of the
the arrangement disturbed. It seems to
The Oregonian very little less than
. downright effrontery that the people
as a whole should be required to con
cern themselves about the "blue sky"
bill, and It protests that their Repre
resentatives, duly chosen for that pur
pose, should have been consulted.
Other measures in the colossal forty-five
deserve to be classed with this
one "blue sky" proposal, and The Ore
gonian will mention them In due time.
The people are engrossed la many
matters of great moment, such as the
tax bills, which may now De passed
only through the initiative or referen
dum, and the road bills, which the
Legislature has repeatedly failed
enurt in anv satisfactory form, and
nth. mMinm which under our SV8
tem must be determined at the polls.
But if the Oregon system is not
fail uttoriv and the conseauences
failure will be disastrous to the whole
body politic and must somehow be
averted the initiative must oe as
signed to the reserve powers of the
people and the referendum must be
a gun on the wall or a club behind
the door.
The only apparent" relief for the
ntnvnt nnrtrntous situation, and the
only way out of a serious dilemma,
winch everyone recognizes ana an are
anxious to avoid, is to vote down all
niiarvniuiorii IMHslntion for wlilcli
there is not an ascertainable demand
from the people and for which there is
a method open besides the Initiative
and referendum.
OVERPLAYING THE GAME.
An inquisitive correspondent of a
Milwaukee (Wis.) newspaper, sta
tioned at Madison, the state capital,
has been interviewing the state offi
cers, all Republicans, as to their Presi
dential preferences; and he Is sur
prised to find that most of them are
going to vote for Woodrow Wilson.
The correspondent also declares that
careful inquiry discloses the fact that
the sentiment of Republicans every
where In Wisconsin is for Wilson, and
that the normal Democratic vote this
year is going to be heavily augmented.
There is little .Roosevelt talk and there
will be few Roosevelt votes. The is
sue In Wisconsin will be between Taft
and Wilson, with the chances decid
edly "favoring the latter.
The average Wisconsin Republican
Is a Progressive, and he looks askance
at the new, ardent and peculiar pro-'
gressiveness of Mr. Roosevelt. He
thinks La Follette's defeat asV Presi
dential candidate was the result of bad
faith by Colonel Roosevelt. Prefer
ring Wilson to Roosevelt, he will vote
outright for the Democrat, unless
party ties are strong enough to hold
him in line for Taft.
It is well enough In this connection
to cite the case of Kansas, where the
Bull Moosers have captured the Re
publican organization, nominated
Roosevelt Presidential electors as reg
ulars. and shut out the Taft Repub
licans. A.Washington dispatch to the
Chicago Record-Herald says:
The Taft leaders. It now is understood.
will not attemot to nut a Taft electoral
ticket In the field In Kansas bv petition.
To do ao. It la believed, would so divide the
vote at to give the atate to Roosevelt. rJut
with only two tickets up It la regarded as
probable that the Democrats win elect
theirs; a contingency that at present aeems
preferable to the regular Republicans under
the peculiar circumstances prevailing In the
Sunflower State.
Possibly the Bull Moosers, fcy their
confiscation of the Republican elec
toral machinery In Kansas and Cali
fornia, and to an extent in Oregon,
have overplayed their hand.
MB. KNOX' MISSION TO JAPAN.'
If it Is really true that Japanese,
high caste and low, are inclined secret,
ly to resent the visit of Secretary
Knox to Japan at this time to attend
the funeral of the late Emperor, what
deductions are we to make? If the act
of the United States Government in
sending a ' special representative to
the last rites of Mutsuhito Is to be
considered in bad taste, then the con
duct of this Government In sending a
representative to King Edward's fun
eral was a breach of good form.
Just wherein the element of bad
form Is to be noted does not instantly
Impress the Occidental mind. Mr.
Knox is the highest official of the
Taft Administration, next to the Pres
ident. His assignment to attend the
Mikado's funeral was meant as an ex
pression of deep sympathy and sor
row for the Japanese people in their
bereavement.. It was an act calculated
to strengthen the tie of friendship be.
tween two great powers.
To be sure, the Japanese are sepa
rated from us by many essential traits
of character and by a civilization that
has many points of dissimilarity from
ours. But there is enough similarity
In. human nature to justify the belief
that a Japanese resentment of the
Knox mission, if it really exists, must
find its source In a hypercritical, if not
unfriendly, state of mind that possibly
can be traced to race prejudice.
AX EXHIBITION OF IAXD HUNGER.
An occasion wherein "land hun
ger, as exemplified by standing in
line for hours or even for days before
the door of a land office, by an ea
ger multitude awaiting opportunity to
file upon land,ls justified, was wit
nessed at the Spokane Land Officeon
Tuesday of this iweek, when fifty set
tlers on railroad land in Pend d'Oreille
and Stevens Counties, Washington,
slept on their arms, so to speak, for
forty-eight hours awaiting their turn
to declare or support their vested or
acquired rights In their home acres.
The anxiety that prompted this pa
tient waiting was due to the fear that
the Northern Pacific Railroad will at
tempt to dislodge them from the
homes that they have occupied and
the lands they have cultivated from
three to eight years, under the lieu
land . grant, which would make it
necessary for them to contest, whereas
If they file before the railroad, the lat
ter will be forced to contest if it de
sires to use Its rights in the premises.
Under the law actual settlers on the
odd-numbered sections,' which are in
cluded In the railroad grant, are enti
tled to the land.
While it Is hazardous for settlers to
occupy and improve as homes and
homesteads such lands as these, the
temptation to do so is strong when
land hunger oppresses the homeless,
and the great corporations, so gener
ously dealt with by the Government,
allow vast areas of land to He idle
and unimproved, year after year.-
There are something like 23.500
acres of land Involved in this tract for
which settlers have set up claims ad
verse to that of the railroad, nearly
all of which is said to be occupied.
Upon some of these acres settlers have
lived as long as eight years. This
means, of course, that much labor,
time and at least some money have
been expended upon these lands, with
the laudable purpose of making them
support the families that occupy them.
No representative of the railroad
company has yet appeared to contest
the claim of these settlers to the lands
they occupy, but doubtless, unless it
has neglected to protect Its vested
rights in the premises, such claimant
will in due time appear. In the mean,
time, while public, sentiment is with
the settler in this and all similar cases,
the right of the railroad to the odd
numbered, sections of land along its
route, which an overgenerous Govern
ment, in the desperate desire to open
the vast areas of public lands to set
tlers, through railroad connection be
tween the East, the Middle West and
the Far West, granted to them, still
holds, and the individual settler who
seeks to Ignore this right does so at
his possible discomfiture and dispos
session. Having braved this possibility, how.
ever, and by hard toll and self-sacrifice
known only to the settlers upon
wild lands, who seek at once to ap
pease a persistent land hunger and
make homes for themselves and rami
lies, the people who-hesleged the Spo
kane Land Office are justified in their
effort to maintain the position that
they have taken. The sympathy that
fails for the multitude that Joins In
the stampede that characterizes the
ordinary "land opening" of Indian re:
ervation lands as witnessed in OK la
noma and 'elsewhere, holds for these
earnest though injudicious settlers on
railroad lands who have dared defeat
In their eager determination to secure
land and home. -
THE MON'TKSSORI SYSTEM.
The Federal Bureau of Education
has Issued a pamphlet of thirty pages,
which gives a condensed account of
the new Montessori methods In teach
ing children. At the end of the pam
phlet is a list of the books and articles
which have been published pn the sub
ject so that any person, who possesses
It is In a position to obtain all that has
been written in the way of praise or
blame upon Dr. Montessorl's marvel
ous Innovations.
The Government pamphlet was pre
pared by Anna Tolman Smith, who has
performed her task in a highly credit
able manner. It is possible indeed by
merely reading her account to gain a
fair understanding of the Montessori
methods. Contrary to the belief of
some critics the new educational ideas
were applied In the first place to
Idiots. It has been asserted by mis
informed writers that they were tried
only on especially bright children and
that the results are consequently un
trustworthy, but this is far from the
fact. Dr. Montessori selected idiots
for her first attempts, or at least the
poor little things were supposed to be
Idiots, though In reality -they were
bright enough when properly taught.
The real idiocy was in the teachers of
the old system and not in their
wretched little pupils.
Dr. Montessori herself was surprised
at the results she obtained. When she
had finished teaching the defective
children they were able to pass the
same examinations as their normal
comrades. The next step was natural
ly to see how the innovations "would
succeed with pupils who were ordinar
ily bright. The work was carried on
in "children's houses, buildings as
different from the schoolhouses we are
familiar with as one can imagine.
They were designed for the use and
welfare of children with abundance of
light and air, plenty of room to move
about and access to pretty gardens
where the pupils could go whenever
they liked. The ages of admission
were between 3 and 7 years. The edu
cation was both mental and physical.
the two sides not being separated or
either of them emphasized at the ex
pense of the other. Great pains were
taken to educate the senses and to
build up muscular co-ordination . so
that the child should have complete
command of his whole body for worthy
purposes.
Readers who hope for better things
In public education should by no
means neglect to send for this pam
phlet which may be obtained from the
Bureau of Education at Washington.
SHAKESPEARE AND IBSEN.
A new luminary has arisen fcn the
literary world. His name is Figgis.
But though he Is extremely brilliant,
he is a planet and not a sun. He
shines with reflected light borrowed
from Shakespeare. The great work
which Mr. Figgis has done is to rescue
the reputation of Shakespeare from
the devastating invasion of Bernard
Shaw. ' Not since the days of Dr.
Samuel Johnson has the Bard of Avon
experienced such a shock to his glorjr
as Bernard ' Shaw delivered. John
son came' out boldly and declared that
Shakespeare botched his plots and
huddled his action most reprehensibly.
Shaw went farther, He declared that
the Master of poets and of men had
no philosophy, that his sociology was
Infantile and his power of thought
contemptible. , To show just how
puny Shakespeare really was, Shaw
condescended to write a new version
of Julius Caesar, in which he demon
strated by frightful comparisons his
own superiority and his predecessor's
littleness. Mr. Figgis now jumps into
the frayand showers sturdy blows
upon the head of the Irish iconoclast.
The tournament is entertaining, all
the more so because it Is foolish.
Shakespeare is great enough to take
Shaw's railing serenely.. He needs no
defense.
There is some ground to suspect
that Shakespeare Is In more danger
from his friends than his enemies.
Those do him the worst injury who
try to make a graven image of him
perched on a pedestal to which every
body must bow In passing, under pen
alty of excommunication. The custo
mary platitudes about Shakespeare's
superiority to everybody else who ever
lived smack of Pecksniff more than is
exactly pleasant. - It is so easy to go
into hysterics when hysterics are the
fashion that some little excess of rav
ing is required to attract much atten
tion. Hence every new Shakespearean
worshiper tries to outdo his predeces
sors in frantic adoration. We do not
wonder that Bernard Shaw was moved
to go to the other extreme in sheer
disgust with the howling dervishes of
orthodox criticism.
We are astonished that a fanatic
like Mr. Figgis should stoop to a
comparison between Shakespeare and
Ibsen, but he does it, greatly to the
Norwegian's disadvantage of course.
In his opinion Shakespeare was like
nature in the breadth and freedom of
his drama, while Ibsen's characters
and action are cribbed, cabined and
confined "In a corset." This is Mr.
Figgis' own expression.
What he means Is that Ibsen obeyed
the rules of the classic drama, keep
ing to the unities of time, place and
action. Shakespeare on the . other
hand conformed to no rules except
those of his own unfettered imagina
tion. Ibsen's action seldom extends
over more than twenty-four hours and
usually takes place in the same room
or at least in the same neighborhood.
Shakespeare carries us all over the
world and through a whole lifetime in
the course of a play. Ibsen's action
moves without a waver from the be
ginning to the predestined end swiftly
and surely. Shakespeare wanders
through many a field and follows in
numerable bypaths. It is Mr. Figgis'
opinion that Shakespeare gains in
finitely by this species of liberty, while
Ibsen loses correspondingly by his
conformity to rule.
Voltaire thought otherwise. He
called Shakespeare a barbarian for
his neglect of the dramatic laws. No
doubt his procedure is . like that of
nature, but some critics are prone to
forget that nature and art are very
different things. The very soul and
essence 'of art lies In subjection to
some sort of a "corset" and the omis
sion of at least a part of nature's
agencies and lavish waste.
Great as Shakespeare was in both
tragedy and comedy, it is pretty com
monly agreed among the critics -that
as -a comedian he was Inferior to
Mollere, who always penned his char
acters up in the same kind of a corset
as Ibsen uses. Mollere observed the
laws of the Greek drama, as far as
time and place go, with extreme par
ticularity, and it must be added that
he seldom seems to have been ham
pered by the restrictions he imposed
upon himself. It is indeed a charac
teristic of genius to do great work un
der restrictions. Shakespeare's best
poetry, outside his plays, is found in
the sonnets, where the "corset" is very
tight and always laced from top to
jottom. In all supreme art the form
is as important as the substance.
Either would be insignificant without
the other. Between Ibsen's philoso
phy and Shakespeare's no real paral.
lei Is possible, because they explored
different worlds of thought. Ibsen's
plays are social, Shakespeare's are
individual. His problems begin and
end with the particular hero. Ibsen's
extend to the whole world.
Shakespeare, for example, never
dreamed of making the problem of
heredity the theme of a play. He
dealt with the title to land and money,
rivalry in war and love, hatred, envy
and self-sacrifice. Ibsen uses the pas
sions, but they are subordinate to the
social psychology in which the deeper
Interest of his drama centers. Here
again Ibsen went back to the model of
the Greeks whose drama was social
Instead of individual. It-' has been
said that the soul of classic art is
universal, while romanticism touches
only the unit. The Greek drama lives
In myths which were common to the
whole people and embodied their re
ligious and ethical life. The struggles
which it exhibits are between man and
the gods, between the human soul and
fate. The individual actors are even
less significant as individuals than
they are in Ibsen. Fate plays but a
slender part on the Shakespearean
stage. "It Is not in the stars but in
ourselves that we are thus and thus."
He is pre-eminently the poet of indi
vidualism. It Is Interesting to wonder
whether the developing social con
sclousness of our time has anything to
do with the increasing disposition to
revolt from Shakespeare's literary
sovereignty. .
ARMAGEDDON.
A passage in Roosevelt's Chicago
speeeh has turned the attention of the
curious to the sacred spot called Ar
mageddon In the Bible. What he said
was that he would stand with the
righteous at Armageddon and fight
the battle of the Lord. Those who
are familiar with the veses in Reve
lations describing the great battle to
which Mr. Roosevelt alluded will per
haps be a little shocked at his pre
sumption In assuming the command
of the Lord's hosts since the Bible
tells us the leader is to be one
"clothed in a vesture dipped In blood
and his name Is called the Word of
the Lord. Xnd he hath a name written
on his thigh. King of Kings and Lord
of Lords." It is not likely that Mr.
Roosevelt with all his Imputed vanity
quite arrogates to himself the whole
of this glory. No doubt his leader
ship at Armageddon was intended to
e merely figurative. In the Scrip-
ural account) the Armageddon, strug
gle is described as a decisive meeting
between the hosts of good and eviL
The former are to be assembled by the
beast,' the dragon and the false
prophet The latter, consisting of
"the armies which were in heaven"
will follow their commander upon
white horses, "clothed in fine linen,
white and clean." At the end of the
battle the beast and false prophet
afe to be taken prisoners and cast
"alive Into the lake of fire burning
with brimstone." The dragon's fate
is not so certain, but there is no rea
son to believe that It . will be en
viable. . ,
Precisely what the Scriptures mean
by the word Armageddon has been a
matter of debate among the learned.'
The most obvious solution of - the
problem is that It signifies a narrow
plain on the west bank of the Jordan,
a little south of Nazareth and Mt.
Tabor. This place was extremely cel
ebrated in. Jewish history. The tyrant
Sisera was defeated there by the re
volted Israelites under the Inspira
tion of the- prophetess Deborah, and
it was there also that Gideon with
his three hundred chosen men put to
flight the hosts of the Mldlanltes and
their allies. Later on Pharaoh Necho
routed the Israelites themselves in
the same fateful spot, and terminated
forever the aspirations of the Jews to
Imperialism in the east.
It is natural therefore for commen
tators to Infer that the Biblical "writer
who describes the great day on which
Mr. Roosevelt is to fight the battle
of the Lord must have intended to
speak of this plain on the banks of
the Jordan, which is better known as
Esdraelon. But it Is -really nothing
more than a guess. He may have re
ferred to something else. In fact
there Is much ground for the suppo
sition that the battle of Armageddon
signifies, a mythological struggle be
tween the forces of good and . evil.
The dragon mentioned in the six
teenth chapter of Revelations, where
the account begins, may very likely
be the same as the Babylonian dragon
Tiamat, who ws the author of all
evil, while the beast may be under
stood as any one of half a dozen myth
ological characters.
The best hypothesis, however. Is
that the whole description Is a veiled
account of the struggle between
Christianity and the Roman Empire.
The leader of the Lord's hosts is
naturally the Savior while the beast
refers to the brutal power of the Ro
man legions, the dragon is the Em
peror and the false prophet Is the
heathen philosophers who were doing
their best to overthrow the logic of
the gospel.
The account of the battle of Arma
geddon is given In a fragmentary form
In Revelations. It begins in the six
teenth chapter at the thirteenth verse,
and runs through .the sixteenth, when
It breaks off and Is not taken up
again, probably, until the eleventh
verse of chapter nineteen, from which
It continues to the end. This arrange
ment, or lack of arrangement, may
strike the reader as peculiar, but
something similar is to be found in
many parts of the Bible. It comes from
the fact that some of the books were
not written entire by a single Individ
ual, but put together from pre-existing
documents which were not always ed
ited with adequate' care. A case of
this sort may be found In the be
ginning of Genesis where two inhar
monious accounts of the creation are
Inserted without much regard to lit
erary congruity. The book of Isaiah
is replete with instances of the same
nature. Scholars tell us that Reve
lations was compiled from two docu
ments each older than the book in its
present form, with connecting matter
by some editor, perhaps John the Di
vine. Why his task was not more
skilfully performed we have no means
of knowing certainly, but It Is fairly
easy to discover places where one doc
ument breaks off and the other be
gins, sometimes quite abruptly, as is
the case In the account of the battle
of Armageddon.
This explains some of the difficul
ties which unscholarly readers en
counter in the book of Revelations.
They try to understand it as a single
connected narrative, while in truth it
is two, and perhaps more, rather
miscellaneously cut up and Joined to
gether. Some Christian scholar might
confer a favor upon the world by sep
arating the fragments of these original
documents in Revelations and print
ing them in popular form. The book
as It stands has always been studied
a great deal by fanatics and cranks
onrl oil klnria nf va.era.riea have been
extracted from Its disconnected para
graphs. The fanciful belter or xne
Millerltes that they could foretell the
Day of Judgment was based upon mis
understood passages in the Book of
Revelations. Every few months some
pretentious prophet appears with a
new lnterpretatlonof the extraordi
nary texts to be found here and there
in its chapters. , Were the arrange
ment of the selections from the origi
nal sources less illogical, there would
not be so much encouragement for
this disturbing practice, and the book
as a whole would be more satisfac
tory.
THE PRESS ON THE ROOSEYET.T
PLATFORM.
State socialism Is the term adopted
by most Republican and some Demo
cratic newspapers to describe Roose
velt's confession of faith and his plat
form. ' A gospel of social- practice
sums up the opinion of those news
papers which support him. Some
Democratic newspapers say all the
good things he offers are found in
their platform. Some few Journals
which are inclined towards the
Roosevelt doctrine balk at supporting
him for a third term.
The New York Times calls Roose
velt's speech to the Progressive ccn
ventlon "the best, the ablest, the
most persuasive of all his public ut
terances," and says that from this
speech it is unmistakable that he "has
planned, and in that speech he out
lines, a vast system of state social
ism, "a government of men unre
strained by lsws." It continues:
"Wo have not always thought that Mr.
Roosevelt really believed everything that he
wrote and said, but through this speech
rings the firm tono of conviction. It ha
the note of sincerity. It Is to be accepted,
not as the speech of a campaigner contriv
ing how votes may best be got, but as a
definite declaration of principles to which
its author Is fully committed.
The Times calls his plan of Govern
ment currency "fiat money, green
backism, pure and simple." Quoting
his closing words, . "We stand at Ar
mageddon and we battle for the
Lord," it says:
Not so. Ho stood at Chicago and preaohed
socialism and revolution, contempt for ls-w,
and doctrines that lead to destruction.
The New York Evening Post finds
a close parallel between Bryan's cap
ture of the Democratic convention of
1896 and the blind devotion of Roose
velt followers In 1912, but says Roose
velt made no allusion to that parallel,
for It might have suggested awkward
reminders. The Post also quotes from
the Populist platform of 1896 a de
nunciation of "the money power," and
Tt oulte inevitably suggests resemblances
between the third party's confession of faith
sixteen years ago and the" third party's con
fession of faith today.
Quoting from one of the hymns
sung at the Progressive convention.
the declaration of the delegates tnat
they "will follow Roosevelt anywhere,
everywhere," the New York World
says he literally led them anywhere
and everywhere, and adds: '
X political party intrusted with government
which undertook to translate the Roosevelt
speech Into legislation would soon end In
an Insane asylum. It could be held in con
trol only by a straltjacket.
Roosevelt's programme is thus de
scribed by the New York Sun:
It is a manifesto of revolution. It Is a
programme- of wild and dangerous changes.
It oroDoses popular nullification of the Con
stitution. It proposes state socialism.
The Colonel's "social Justice" the
Sun calls his "rouged synonym of
class legislation." "State socialistic
and fertile In potentialities of tyranny
and mischief is the epithet applied
to the proposed National Industrial
Commission, the tariff revision
scheme is "necessarily slow,"' his ob
servations on the high cost of living
are dubbed "a curious hodgepodge of
sense and nonsense." His tax on "un
used land and other resources held for
speculative purposes" is "not his only
bait for single taxers."
"The New Socialism" Is the New
York Tribune's phrase descriptive of
the speech. That journal saj-s:
So far as Colonel Roosevelt is concerned,
the socialistic character of the remedies
which he offers is concealed only to the ex
tent of substituting one descriptive phrase
for another and calling his programme not
one of socialism but of "social Justice." All
his suggestions for legislative reforms run
in the direction of Imitations on indivdual
rights and the weakening of the political
Institutions which have served moat effec
tively to protect liberty and property.
Th6 new party Is held to be "more
dangerously socialistic than the So
cialist party," a more formidable
agency of socialism and harder to
fight than the old socialism, since it
will be opportunist Instead of uncom
promising. The Brooklyn Eagle asserts that,
though Roosevelt denies he Is a So
cialist, "he advocates nothing the So
cialists oppose and they support ev
erything he advocates." It says his
denial puts him in conflict with the
dictionary and draws the conclusion,
not that he is telling a falsehood but
that "he does not know the meaning
or inspiration of his own proposi
tions." ' i
The platform Is exultantly declared
by the New York Mail to be "the
blood brother of the Declaration of
Independence and the bill of rights"
and with mixed metaphor to have
"more might in its little finger than
all the political platforms of the 4ast
fifty years have had In their whole
bodies." "It is a dynamic platform,"
exclaims the enthusiast.
The New York Herald says the
Armageddon at which the Roosevelt
forces stood in June proved to be not
Armageddon but Waterloo, and . ac
cepting as the battlecry, "We stand at
Armageddon and battle for the Lord,"
it pictures as voicing this cry. Wood
ruff, "now unhappily suspected by fe
ma,le members of the Bull Moose herd
of being a reactionary;" Perkins,
"with the destinies of the harvester
trust tucked snugly under his arm."
"The most convincing of his career"
Is the New York Globe's characteriza
tion ef the speech, but it discounts its
encomium in this wise:
Mr. Roosevelt, In this speech, as In prac
tically all from his mouth, sloshes around
mentally. He is vague, at times almost In
coherent, and when seemingly committing
himself to something definite so qualifies It
I and modifies It as to destroy most of the
meaning. iut in spite wi tm imuuo"
discourse one doctrine strongly flows.
Of the confession of faith the Chi
cago Tribune says:
Conceding all that may honestly be
charged against It, the speech is the only
honest programme to better the condition of
the whole people that Is offered by any can
didate or party.
And the speech has back of it the Indub
itable Intention of Its author to bring about
the reforms he demands and his unswerving
courage In resisting any violent action or
harmful law advanced In the name of
progress.
The Chicago Evening Post says the
speech "does not recede from the po
sitions which Colonel Roosevelt then
took," and continues:
But the people's thoughts, there first de
fined and visuali2ed by a great leader, have
since come to stand for that kind of pro
gressivlsot that Is the truest conservatism.
Colonel Roosevelt yesterday talked neither
anarchy nor socialism. As he himself said,
in the real sense he offered a "corrective ta
socialism and an antidote to anarchy."
"The address from the throng" is
the title given fhe confession of faith
by the Chicago . Inter-Ocean, which
emphasizes the Colonel's thrusting
forward of his own personality. Of
his trust policy it says:
This is. of course, just the throne's fa
miliar policy of giving llfe-or-death power
over nine-tenths of the business of, the coun
try, through his personal appointees, to
whatever man may happen to be President.
How this "executive discretion" works Mr.
Roosevelt showed us, when President, in the
cases of the sugar trust, the harvester trust
and the steel trust.
The Louisville Courier-Journal says:
There is scarcely a generalism In the con
fession of faith which thoughtful minds will
deny. There Is scarcely a suggested remedy
which practical minds will accept. Whilst
he was In power and had the opportunity
to touch with the hand of reform the evils
which at present engross him, Mr. Roose
velt saw not one of them. Tet now he puts
himself rot-ward as the only possible hope of
reform, the inference being that if anything
should happen to him. the cause would be
dead and the hope gone.
The two old parties are bad enough,
Heaven knows. But there is no act of the
Republican party at Its worst to which
Theodore Roosevelt did not stand thorough
ly committed.
The Courier-Journal reaches this
conclusion: v
No man can Justify himself In the ac
ceptance of this confession of faith unless
he prefaces that acceptance by this solemn
adjuration, "I believe In Theodore Roosevelt,
Maker of Heaven and Earth."
"Of course, Roosevelt is his own
platform," says the Boston Transcript,
adding that "the platform reads
something like the old Populist plat
forms and not unlike the recent so
cialistic ones, in fact is pretty pure
practical Socialism."
In rebutting the assumption of
Roosevelt that any person or news
paper that opposes this third-term am
bition Is reactionary, the Springfield
Republican says that It agreed with
pretty much everything in his Colum
bus speech except recall of decisions
and agrees in principle with very
much In his Chicago address. The
Republican welcomes democracy and
advanced social legislation, but con
tinues: But the new party stand primarily not
for these high and noble things. , It has
been born In the disappointment and rage
of Theodore Roosevelt in losing the Presi
dential nomination of the RepubUcan party,
and it la organized to make him. again, for
a third time, President of the United Statea.
There it refuses to follow him.
Says the Indianapolis News of the
confession:
What he proposes is nothing short of a
social and political revolution directed, not
against wrong and injustice, but against the
Government Itself. Roosevelfs Ideal Is a
compact, powerful, consolidated paternal
government, such as Germany has, with
him, of course, at its head as "steward of
the public welfare." The principles enun
ciated are wholly socialistic Not content
with leaving- to the ,atates the reforms
which only they can bring to pass, he
would have the Federal Government Invade
every field of Industry and enterprise. ost
of the wild reforms that Roosevelt proposes
are wholly beyond the scope of the National
power.'
"The controlling thought of the
Progressive party is humanity," in the
opinion of the Indianapolis Star,
which denies "Intent to destroy prop
erty or to lessen its value or to in
terfere with business progress."
. The Baltimore Sun describes the
confession of faith as only "an elabo
ration and full discussion of views
which Roosevelt has heretofore an
nounced" and says "It furnishes no
sufficient justification for the crea
tion of a new political agency." It
adds:
The Colonel's new thinga are not true
things and his true thlivga are not new
things. ,
The Sun concludes: s
On the Colonel's own showing U must
seem to the impartial mind that the only
reason for a new party is the Colonel him
self. His platform and his party would
collapse under any other man.
Young Streeter, who, by. Judge Mc
Ginn's edict, must stay married until
he is 21 at least, may learn to love his
wife by that time and give up the
thought of forsaking her. It Is a curi
ous law which permits a man even to
think of deserting his family on the
ground of his minority.
The officials of a Salt Lake bank
spent six days and used a two-ton
gas drill in opening the doors of a safe
that was out of order. A skilled safe
breaker with a jimmy drill and four
ounces of explosives could have done
the trick In an hour.
The hoax that the battleship Ore
gon hit bottom in the Portland chanr
nel has been fully exploded. The only
way to put any ship on the bottom in
Portland Harbor is to scuttle her.'
A Chicago workingman was released
from a serious assault charge because
of having had three wives and twenty
sons. The court doubtless figured
that the man had seen trouble enough
in his day. "
"Go to work or to jail," is the police
edict Just sounded to Portland's array
of idlers. But not even the death pen.
alty would frighten some of our dis
gruntled loafers into performing- use
ful labor. '
Exit the hobble and tube skirt by
Fashion's decree. Woman's special
privilege Is to change her contours as
well as her mind.
Nat's heroics may not have been so.
foolish after all. Think of the superb
advantages from the press agent's
point of view.
The Aliens, who shot up the Vir
ginia courtroom, are -getting scared.
One pleaded guilty yesterday.
Turkish earthquakes seem to be
competing with Turkish atrocity in the
taking of human life.
The season is now at hand for an
extended casualty list of the "thought-lt-was-a-deer"
variety.
Lost A war between Italy and Tur
key. Last heard of a few months ago
somewhere In Tripoli.
A Labor day parade without union
music in Seattle will be uncanny." It
may be Uncanny.
Any old reason seems good enough
to account for defeat of the Beavers.
Scraps and Jingles
Leone Caaa Ears
BT LEONE CASS BAER.
Present tense moose.
Future tense vamoose!
e
A fault I have:
With many a pang.
Its possession I deplore.
For when it's you
I ought to bang,
I only bang the door.
Clara's Harp.
(Moore if you want it.)
The harp that once through Clara's
walls.
Gets me quick out of bed.
In early morn its twanging wail-
Splits my poor aching head.
From dawn till almost midnight,
Clara's harp cries "Sleep no more!"
For Clara is my neighbor.
And she twangs a harp next door.
Cry of the plaza guests "a chief
loaf."
That English business term "every
thing is very much up in the city,"
might be appropriately applied to our
sidewalks.
(Tune "The Campbells Are Coming.")
The Bull Moose is coming; oh, hear,
how queer;
The Bull Moose is coming; what cheer,
what cheer;
There'll be nothing left, though, to
hear, we fear;
Let's believe he has come when he's
here. Hear! Hear!
See where a woman has wed a man
named Gamble. Taking a chance, as
It were.
The latest "crushing report" news
from the mines.
e
See In society notes that the "Duchess
of Marlborough studied the Venus dl
Mllo in a shirred silk gown and a pic
ture hat with red roses."
Modern Mrs. Malaprop, reading hcad
llnishly "Board of Trade Returns,"
wants to know where it has been.
Rural subscriber writes to know the
meaning of the lines, "Linked sweet
ness long drawn out." Dunno. It might
apply to sausage or to a golfer's par-
adlse,
See a department store ad speaks ot
"invisible trousers stretchers." Proba-
bly means Just legs.
a
"Real estate investments In Philip
pines are profitable,' says an article.
Can't Luzon 'em, I reckon.
Miss Calamity Step-and-Fetch-It. the
cultured and charming lady poet from
Kansas, has sent In a dainty little UU
erary mess she calls .
e e
"X Fowl Keport."'
My orbs are moist with wet tears, .
That will never cease to flow,
Unlike Mary's lamb, my troubles
Is not always sure to go, ,j
No matter what I do, because j
(Excuse my nose being red),
A darling hen I had raised a pet
Is lying in the ice chest, dead.
IL
Grand, indeed, she was, readers.
I never did cease to take j
The greatest pride In that hen.
For Just her own sweet sake.
But, besides all this, there waa " j
An added Joy; ah me! i ,
For was she not oh, yes, she was; f
A present from dear tie.
III.
Oh.' hen, I had pondered oft'
Thy smile so sweet and bland;
And admired your scaly legs.
When you et out of my hand.
1
-'.I
You was so perfect-mannered '
And never done no wrong, . .
I never would have realized
I would so miss your song. .
IV. j
Ah, how I did delight to hear
Your early morning laugh.
Or watoh you scratch, up worms
And bite them right In ; 1
But though for tomorrow's dinner, (
You'll be served up In stew,
I've put your feathers on my hat, j
To turn my thoughts to you. j
A tint Kate Is Abaent-Mlmded. "
Kansas City Journal.
This story is told of a little West
Side girl who recently rounded out her
fifth year. She is the favorite niece
of a doting "Aunt Kate," who lives
across the street and who has the
charge and care of her, sick or well,
about as much as the child's own fam
ily. The child's health especially seems
to be In Aunt Kate's charge and castor
oil is the panacea, administered for all
Ills.
On the Important day the little girl
sidled into the kitchen, where her aunt
was buey with her housework, and be
gan Insinuating shyly: "Auntie Kate,
oh. Auntie Kate I I want sumfln"
She kept up her importuning for
some time, not gaining much attention,
and when she finally did get the absent-minded
notice of her aunt it was
to receive the usual quota of castor oil.
A few minutes later her mother found,
her weeping out her disappointment on
the front steps.
I i told Auntie Kate I wanted sum-. .
fin an" an' she gave me castor oil
an' I wanted a blrfday present boo
oo I" was the sobbing explanation.
Aunt Kate waa duly notified of her
faux pas and made good in handsome
style for her absent-minded and un-.
welcome gift before the day was over
"Wliy Not Try Dotible-Deckerat
From the Philadelphia Press.
Recognizing that there are, about as
many trolley cars on the streets of New
York as the streets can accommodate,
there Is talk of building double-deckers.
This has been under consideration be
fore, but had to be rejected because the
style of cars proposed would not go un
der the elevated railroad structure.
They are building lower cars now to
meet the demands of women Patrons
who objected to the high steps, and it
Is calculated that an upper deck can
be put on these new cars without meet
ins with obstruction. If undertaken
this will be an interesting experiment
which naturally will be watched by
other cities where there Is no room for
more cars than are now running.
One-Man Itule Galna Favor.
Boston Trajiscript.
The decision of the Senate that it is
preferable to make one responsible for
the rule of the -Panama Canal, rather
than three or more, is in line with a
growing tendency to concentrate re
sponsibility in executive positions. The
value of such a policy has been demon
strated In the construction of the canal
itself, and the Senate has evidently
learned the lesson.
AVhy Some 3len Don't Wed.
Hawthorne.
An unhappy gentleman, resolving to
wed nothing short of perfection, keeps
li. i,o nnt bnml till both net so old
and withered that no tolerable woman
will accept them.
Danger of the Aeroplane.
Cincinnati Enquirer.
Blnks Which is the most dangerous,
the automobile or the aeroplane?
Jinks Well, the aeroplane runs over
more people than the automobile.
Maritime Aspect of Beer.
New York Press.
"I see. that beer la higher."
"That's all right, if you mean that
schooners are taller."