TTTE SUNDAY OREG OXT AN, PORTLAND, MAY 9, 1913.
rORTLAND,' OBKUON.
Entered at Portland. Oregon. Postofflce as
eecond-class matter.
Subscription Rates Invariably in advance:
(By Mall.)
ra!!y, Sunday Included, one year $S.l'u
Datlv, Sunday Included, six months
I.'aily. Sunday Included, three months . .. SS.-j
J'aily, Sunday liiclmieu, one month o
latly, without Sunday, one year 8.00
.Dally, without Sunday, six months 'i-b
.Daily, without hunoay, mree moiuai
Ijaily. without Sunday, one month . .
Weekly, one ear
Sunday, one year
Sunday and Weekly, one year
l.'i.-i
.tiu
l.oO
(By Carrier.)
Taily, Sunday Included, one year 9-00
lally, Sunday Included, one month ...... -o
How to Urmlt Send Postofflce money or
der, express order or personal check on your
local bunk, stamps, coin or currency are at
fender's risk. dive postofflco address in
lull. Including county ttud stale.
Postage Kutro ly to IB pages. 1 cent; Is
to 32 pases. 2 cents: y-t to 4; paces, 5 cents;
to ' to 00 pases, 4 cents; 62 to 'To ages, o
cents; 7S to h2 pages, ti cents. Foreign
postage, double rates.
Kastern Business Office Veree & Conk.n
lew York. Brunswick building; Chicago,
Menger building.
Su lTanclMco Office K, J. Bldwell Com
pany. 74k Market street.
1'ORTJ.A.Nn, SINUAV, MAY 9. 1915.
om DITV.
The 'ominous significance of the
Lusitanla tragedy is that Germany
purposes to adhere to her drastic and
sensational policy of maritime bel
ligerency without regard for conse
quences to any neutral or friendly
power. ;There will be no denial from
Germany of entire responsibility for
the loss. f" American lives on a Brit
ish steamship. There will be a dis
tinct avowal that she was sunk as
a. rcsjilt of legitimate warfare, after
due notice to the world that a submarine-blockade
existed around Great
Britain, and that all vessels entered it
at their peril and particularly that
all non-combatant citizens traveling as
passengers on the ships of combatants
assumed all the risks of belligerents.
It is Impossible to deny the strength
f the German position if the legit
imacy of the "war zone" on the seas
contiguous to Great Britain and
I'rance be conceded. But It is not
conceded, for it has heretofore .been
distinctly denied. President Wilson
clearly informed the German govern
ment that we could not recognize the
blockade of the British Isles, for It
was not and could not be effective.
When he was notified by the German
government that American ships en
tering upon the "war zone" might be
sunk without notice the President re
plied that "commanders of German
vessels" who "destroyed on the high
eeas an American vessel or the lives
of American citizens" would perpetu
ate an "indefensible violation of neu
tral rights" and that the Government of
the United States would be con
strained to hold the German govern
ment to a "strict accountability" for
euch acts. It is true that the particu
lar issue over which this vigorous
diplomatic correspondence arose was
the status of American vessels flying
the American flag In the "war zone,"
but it would seem that the applica
tion of the same principle to protec
tion of American citizens on any ves
sel, providsd their errand was peace
ful, would lie, since the United States
had heretofore declared that the so
called "war zone" is not a war zone,
and had definitely assumed that it Is
a part of the high seas.
The patent facts about the Lusitanla
horror are that her destruction and
the death of her passengers were de
liberately planned, and that there was
to be no distinction drawn between
people aboard, whether they were
subjects of Great Britain, the United
Slates or any other nation. It seems
to be clear also that the German con
tention will be that the Lusitanla was
armed and that she had therefore
taken the status of a vessel of war,
and that an attack upon her without
notice of any kind was Justified by
the accepted rules of warfare. It is
denied by the British government
that she carried guns or arms,
but it is not denied that she
carried cargo that was contraband
and therefore subject to capture and
confiscation by a belligerent. It Is
clear enough that the Lusitanla was
actually In service as a passenger'
and freight vessel, whether she was
armed or not, and that the question
of her technical status does not alter
the facta. Her American passengers
embarked upon her for purposes of
transport to England, and for no
other purpose, and her position before
the world undoubtedly was that she
was a merchantman engaged in com
merce, and not in war, and she was
subject to the risks and perils of any
other merchant vessel belonging to
the citizens of a belligerent. That
means capture and detention, and
seizure and confiscation of any con
traband cargo she may have aboard.
It does not mean summary destruc
tion or death.
The torpedoing of the American
tank steamer Gulflight in the "war
zone" by a German submarine was
the first direct attack upon an Amer
ican vessel, following President Wil
ton's refusal to recognize the block
ade and his assertion of the right of
our merchant marine to traverse the
Beas about Great Britain. It brought
sharply to issue the opposing con
tentions of the two governments. Now
it is followed by a far more tragic
and terrible manifestation of the Ger
man sea policy, which is, or seems
to be, to disregard the rights or in
terests of any other power, friendly
or unfriendly, which appear not to
be in accord with German rights or
interests.
It is a time for calmness and cau
tion. It is a solemn fact that the
United States is confronted with a
perilous situation which passion will
aggravate and haste and rancor will
make desperate. Whatever is to be
done, must be done with coolness
and patriotic determination. with
consciousnes of our National duty and
full knowledge of all the consequences
of any course. It is not to be sup
posed that Germany desires to pro
voke war; but It is not easy to avoid
the conclusion that she Is not accom
modating herself to policies which are
designed to avoid conflict or cer
tainly great exasperation.
Yet a dilemma of immense import
confronts the United States. Shall
there be a firm assertion of the
National dignity and the National
duty, which demands that the lives
of our citizens shall be held Inviolate
by every other nation? Or shall w-e
patiently accept as inevitable all the
injurious and calamitous results of a
terrorizing naval policj, involving our
vfssels in loss and our nationals In
death, when they happen, even in
nocently, -within the area of its in
tended enforcement? Undeniably It
is a grave and hard question. No one
wants war; no one even thinks of
retaliation If it can be avoided with
out loss of self-respect snd abandon
ment of duty. But shall we permit
Germany to prescribe without effec
tive protest the exact terms and con
ditions of our relations to all the bel
ligerents and our conduct in the war?
OVIS HEAVY HKE LOSS.
The warning of State Insurance
Commissioner Wells that the people
should take better precautions against
fire, with the alternative of paying
higher insurance premiums, is well
timed. Carelessness is at all times re
sponsible for many fires. Piles of
rubbish are permitted to accumulate
and a match or a cigarette stub starts
a blaze. There should be no rubbish
-piles, and when matches or cigarette
stubs are dropped they should be
stepped on. '
Malicious arson causes many fires,
and in times of depression arson is
often practiced by property-owners
who are anxious to "sell to the insur
ance company." Persons not directly
concerned are loath to testify against
incendiaries, forgetting that the high
aggregate fire loss enhances the pre
miums they themselves pay.
Insurance companies are themselves
partly responsible for the latter type
of Incendiarism.' They could reduce
it by guarding against over-insurance,
even by requiring the owner to bear a
share of the risk. . When business is
dull the friction between a depreciated
building or stock of goods and an in
surance policy often starts a fire.
An impression Is abroad that con
crete buildings must be erected to
prevent fire, and thus the home mar
ket for lumber, our principal product.
is diminished. Germany uses wood
extensively in building, but its fire loss
Is but a fraction of that in the United
States. The explanation is that Ger
mans treat wood, to make it burn
slowly and have strict building and
fire laws, which are rigidly enforced.
We can safely continue to use lumber
If we adopt the same precautions.
. AX EXPENSIVE CURB.
The water meter ordinance would
provide us with a half-million dollar
luxury. True, It would give every con
sumer the satisfaction of knowing
that his neighbor was not using more
water than he was paying for; but is
that satisfaction worth the money?
Can it not be achieved some other
way ?
The principal of the bonds and the
interest thereon will be paid out of
the water revenues. Thus the cost
will fall on all consumers. The water
waster. It may be expected, will cease
wasting, but his more careful neighbor
will get no more water than he had
before and he will pay more for what
he does get. Meanwhile the reser
voirs "will continue to discharge over
the spillways a large surplus.
Nobody has patience with the water
hog, but it does seem that he might
be curbed with an expenditure of
much less than $500,000.
WE MUST TSE IT.
An example of the manner in which
river and harbor appropriations are
viewed by those who have opposed
recent bills is found in a speech
delivered by Senator Burton, March
2. He proposed that Congress "elim
inate old projects which have proved
unprofitable." He divided the rivers
which may be profitably improved
into the following classes:
1. Rivers which afford access to cities or
centers of consumption located at no treat
distance from the sea. upon which the haul
by river can bo combined with the move
ment by sea.
2. Rivers of considerable size, upon which
large cities or Industrial centers are located
and which can be made the means of trans
portation between producer and consumer in
the shipment of heavy and coarse freights,
such as coal. Iron ore, or building material:
In this class may be included the Ohio and
the Hudson, with its canal connection with
the Great Lakes.
On large rivers flowing through states
or counties having large agricultural pro
duction there was formerly an important
traffic, but the carrying of grain or pack
age freight by river is rapidly diminishing.
The decrease In traffc has been greatly
accentuated by terminal facilities and the
absence of co-operation between transpor
tation lines on rivers and railways connect
ing with them. This fact tends to restrict
traffic to the bank of the river and the
territory Immediately adjacent thereto.
3. Short rivers In busy Industrial sections
where the consumer and producer are located
near to each other: The best illustration of
a river of this class Is the Monongahela, In
Pennsylvania, on 'which the traffic for the
year 1912 amounted to 11.575,329 tons. This
tonnage consists almost entirely of coal car
ried from mines on or near to the river to
mills or furnaces at or near to Pittsburg,
or In less quantity to points along the Ohio
and he Mississippi.
. Minor streams at or sjear great cities
or thickly populated areas: There are a
number of these streams tributary to the
waters around New York City, to the Dela
ware River below Philadelphia, and to the
Chesapeake Bay. In the case of these
streams a market for the products of the
locality iriouiary to me river In question Is
not far away, and frelerht can nrofitmhlv
be carried In boats of shallow draft.
5. Shallow streams of considerable length
in tne interior nowing- tnrough level areas,
which can ba. made available or ImnrovoH
for navigation at comparatively small cost
by snagging, removal of obstructions, and
dredging of bars.
The Columbia River below tne Wil
lamette comes within the first class:
above the Willamette within the sec
ond class. There has never been any
objection to Improving rivers of the
rirst class, and until recently there has
been none to that of rivers in the
second class. But since construction
of the Celllo Canal was begun such
objection has been raised. Mr. Bur
ton and those who acted with him
have set up as a standard by which to
Judge the merits of a project, the
present and prospective volume of
traffic In proportion to the cost of im
provement. From this standpoint he
termed the expenditure of $20,000,000
in making a six-foot channel in the
Missouri River "an economic crime."
His reason is tnat there is a present
depth of three or four feet and in
three months or the year of five feet
in the Missouri, while with no greater
and in some instances less depth the
great rivers of Germany carry many
times the traffic of the Missouri. The
latter river's traffic has been decreas
ing, notwithstanding the improvement
of its channel, and Mr. Burton com
pared the steamer line running from
Kansas City to a single car run on a
street railway in order to maintain
the franchise.
Although Mr. Burton has retired
from the Senate, his opinions have
taken firm hold of the minds of other
Senators. Chief among these is Sena
tor Kenyon, of Iowa, -who was his
chief lieutenant in the filibuster of
1914. The Burton theory has come to
stay, and must be reckoned with by
those who seek river and harbor ap
propriations. It will be applied to
future requests for extension of the
Columbia's navigable channel. It is
one of those "large rivers flowing
through states or countries having
large agricultural production," and he
said of such rivers "the carrying of
grain or package rreight by river is
rapidly diminishing."
It is up to us of the Columbia Val
ley to see that this statement does not
prove true of the Columbia River. We
regard the Celllo Canal as only the
first of a series of improvements to be
made on that river. We hope to over,
come Priest and other rapids and thus
clear the way for the fruit of the
Wenatchee Valley "and the grain of
the Big Bend to come down the river.
We hope to go on step by step in that
way until the boundary is reached.
We must see to it that the realization
of our ambition is not blocked by the
citation, in regard to the 500-mlle
channel we now have, of such statis
tics as Mr. Burton quoted against the
Missouri River. It will never again
be as easy to obtain money for river
Improvements as it has been in the
past, and we must not place obstacles
in our own way by neglecting to make
full use of the Improvements which
which have already been made.
A REMARKABLE POEM.
The Oregonlan reprints today a
poem of extraordinary interest which
appeared in the Survey of April 3.
Although it is entitled a "Ballad of
the Town." it is' in no way like a
ballad. There is more of the exalted
spirit of the ode in it. : The conception
is dramatic, rather than narrative or
lyric, and It leaps rapidly to a tragic
climax. The singer, who utters his
thoughts standing on a beam high in
the air, "topples" and the song ends
with his fall.
Perhaps his sudden death is meant
to emphasize the fatalism of the
poem. The author allows no free will
to the "boys with sweat anointed."
They are not "captains of their souls"
by any means. Mere puppets fulfill
ing a purpose of which they know
nt thing, "they are in faith appointed
with straining sinews to achieve a
purpose that the gods conceive." They
are given . "to the unformed ages,"
they are driven "by an unknown pur
pose." Far more human, and perhaps
more divine as well, were it if they
had set themselves to achieve a pur
pose formed in their own minds.
Man Is at his best and highest not
when he acts as the blind instrument
of powers which he does not under
stand, but -when he executes the defi
nite resolves of his own will and Is
guided by his own Intelligence. The
great malady of the human race from
the beginning of history has been its
disposition to assume the mental atti
tude of the hero, Joe, In this poem.
It has done far too little thinking on
its own account. Joe, the hamner
swinging singer, knew precisely as
much about the purposes of "the
gods" as anybody else ever' did or
could and that was accurately noth
ing. He did not even know that they
had a purpose. Had he lived up to
his privileges as a human being he
would have asserted his own individ
ual manhood and left' blind fatalism
to weaklings.
THE GARBLEB8.
The Portland Oregonlan asserts the mid
night resolution regarding the Southern
Pacific land grant was a good thing be
cause railroad ownership of the land will
be better for the Btate than would be own
ership by the Government.
The foregoing Is one of the Pen
dleton East Oregonlan's characteristic
falsehoods. Of course The Oregonian
has said nothing of the kind. It has
definitely and concisely stated that the
best interests of the state would be
served only If the grant did not go to
either railroad or Government, but to
actual settlers.
The falsehood quoted from the Pen.
dleton paper is on a par with many
misrepresentations made about the
land-grant resolution. Not one of the
Democratic group of newspapers
which have attempted to make polit
ical capital out of the resolution has
dared discuss the resolution on Its
merits. Their campaign has been to
garble what somebody else has said
about it, to misconstrue it, to distort
the truth about the consideration
given it by the Legislature, to frighten
timid legislators with the bludgeon of
abuse into efforts to clear their skirts
of a stain that does not exist.
But here are a few facts which have
been brought out since the discussion
of the resolution started. They have
not yet been denied:
The resolution is identical in spirit
with the original memorial to Con
gress passed by the Legislature of
1907.
It . was not Introduced at midnight
or on the last day, but was adopted
by the Senate several days before ad
journment. . Its adoption by the Senate was re
ported in the Portland Journal, which
offered no protest against Its adoption
by the House, although it had ample
opportunity. '
Its purport was explained on the
floor of both houses.
The construction put upon it by the
Attorney-General is not the construc
tion placed upon it by the newspapers
which are attacking it.
The Attorney-General has not asked
the Supreme Court for a decree con
firming the title of the railroad com
pany, but for a decree that would
mean immediate disposition of the
grant to actual settlers.
Immediate acquirement of the grant
by actual settlers is to the best inter
ests of Oregon.
Unconditional forfeiture to the Gov
ernment would mean reservation of
all the lands in the grant from sale
or use pending adoption of a specific
act by Congress, endanger the con
version of the lands into a perma
nent reservation, and deprive the state
during all the period the lands were
reserved of nearly $500,000 annually
in taxes.
Has any newspaper reservatlonist
the effrontery to deny a single one of
the foregoing statements? If so, we
suggest that, inasmuch as their verac
ity is at a discount, some proof
should accompany the denial.
SOME INSTRUCTIVE FACTS.
The favorable balance of trade
which has been piling up in favor
of the United States is due, so
far in the present fiscal year, to
a decrease in imports rather- than
to an increase in exports. Not
until the end of March did the year
show an increase of exports over the
same period in the previous fiscal year.
The Increase for the nine months was
$50,253,665. During the same period
Imports showed a decrease of $184,
680,735, bringing the increase in the
favorable trade balance over the nine
months ending March, 1914, to $234,
934,400. The balance for the nine
months Is now $719,803,737 compared
with $484,869,337. Our balance has
grown not so much through selling
more as through buying less.
The influence of the war on our
trade with different countries is shown
by the totals for the eight months end
ing February, 1914-15, in comparison
with those for 1913-14, in each case the
colonies being included with the
mother country. Great Britain sold to
us $42,000,000 less and bought from
us $55,000,000 more.' France sold us
$50,000,000 less and bought $63,000,000
more. , Germany sold us nearly $52.
000.000 less, while our exports to her
show the prodigious decline from
$262,719,000 to $28,768,000. Our ex
ports to Belgium decreased two-thirds
and our Imports In nearly the same
proportion.
The war evidently affected our trade
with other neutral countries, our ex
ports to Italy having swollen from
$52,787,000 to $115,278,000; to Holland
from $78,626,000 to $81,007,000; to
Denmark from $11,299,000 to $52,089,
000; to Sweden from $9,554,000 to
$47,593,000; to Norway from $6,172,
000 to $27,491,000, all these countries
being adjacent to the seat of war. Our
Latin-American commerce shows an
opposite effect of the war. Brazil sold
us $3,000,000 less, but bought from us
nearly $7,000,000 less. Argentina In
creased her sales to us from $24,512.
000 to $39,915,000, but decreased her
purchases from us from $34,572,000 to
$14,084,000. Chile sold $1,500,000 less
and bought $4,500,000 less.
Among our foreign customers Great
Britain still leads, half of our exports
having gone to her territory. France
has displaced Germany as second and
Itay is third.
EXPORTS OF WAR MCXinO.NS.
The great increase In exports from
the United States is net, as many may
suppose, due mainly to increased ship
ments of guns and ammunition.
Though It is due mainly to the war,
the great majority of the commodities
exported are such as could be used as
well in peace. The following table of
exports for the eight months ending
February 28 will show this to be true:
The following figures show the in
crease in exports for the period from
July, 1914, to February, 19 IS, over
the similar period a year preceding:
Increase.
BreadstUffs f S24.4n..')S3
Explosives ti,--7.i:.Ji
Hides and skins 1. 4 1 . 1
Wire rods M8,71t
Firearms ' 4.027.01 1
Horseshoes 73S.038
Wire 1S.U4U
Harness 9.4S9.DSU
Canned beef e.TSTB
Fresh beet S.9o'J77
Condensed milk . . . .' . 1.143.S30
Sugar 18.34:2.1oO
Beans and peas 2.042, ioi
Potatoes St'3.713
Wool manufactures.... J4.370.a2j
Seine manufactures. ... 2.3&l,tiu
Horses ; 30,'i9,to4;j
Wagons 300,541
Cotton goods 6.137. j(Si
Auto trucks 13.214.-0-
Aeroplanes luli.ilito
Boots and shoes. .............. . 1.4-5.US4
Total SS3.977,05
The largest increase Is In bread
stuffs, due both to heavier shipments
and to higher prices. This Is un
doubtedly the result of the war, but
we need have no scruples about sell
ing food, whether It goes to the ar
mies or to the civil population. This
is true also of canned and fresh beef,
condensed milk, sugar, beans, peas
and potatoes. The only commodities
on the above list that are directly used
In killing are ex"ploslves, firearms and
zinc, which may enter into the compo
sition of shells. These commodities
represent only $31,404,406 of the total
$537,657,444. Our exports of the
other commodities have doubtless
been increased by the war. but they
may be applied to the arts of peace.
To say that the United States is ac
cumulating a vast balance-of trade in
its favor by the sale of death-dealing
implements to the belligerents is not
tru-e, so far at least as the end of Feb
ruary. Our trade balance has been
swollen by the sale of goods useful In
peace, the prices of which European
nations have enhanced by engaging in
war and by neglecting peaceful occu
pations. If after buying any of these
articles Europe uses them in war, that
Is a matter over which we have no
control.
SCJfSPOTS AND cmUIATIOX.
A great many hypotheses have been
invented to. explain the decay of the
ancient civilizations. Some savants
account for It on the ground of dis
ease. Malaria, or some such affection,
gradually undermined the stamina of
the Hindus, the Greeks, the Egyptians,
and left little or nothing of their orig
inal vigor. According to others the
tragic destiny of these peoples came
upon them through the repeated in
vasions of barbarians who gnawed
into their institutions and achieve
ments and finally reduced all to ruin.
Still others attribute the miserable
issue to war. This Is a favorite theory
Just now when everybody Is anxious to
make fighting as disreputable a pos
sible. The slaughter of the picked
males of successive generations must
have impaired racial efficiency, we are
assured, until in the long run so little
was left of it that the various civili
zations lost their resisting power and
fell to rise no more.
No doubt there is a great deal in
this explanation. Whatever other
causes may have contributed to over
throw "the glory that was Greece and
the grandeur that was Rome" the part
of everlasting warfare cannot be left
out. It certainly must have operated
precisely as Dr. David Starr Jordan
and other authorities say it did. No
nation can expect to breed continu
ously from its inferior individuals
without suffering disastrous conse
quences. But in all likelihood militarism, dis
ease and the other commonly men
tioned causes of national decadence
leave something still to be" accounted
for. They explain part of the woeful
phenomenon but by no means all of
it. Civilization has shifted over the
earth's surface like the shadow of a
cloud over the landscape. Now we
find it in India, where in ancient times
the great root thoughts of philosophy
originated, where the sciences began
and more than one of the dominant
religions wrts born. Then it passed to
the regions around the Mediterranean
and remained there for thousands of
years, flitting from Egypt to Crete, to
the Valley of the Euphrates, to conti
nental Greece, to Asia Minor and last
of all to Italy. When the civilizing
force, whatever it may have been, had
spent Itself in Italy it revived again in
countries more to the north. In our
day the North Sea, with Great Britain
on one side and France, Germany and
the Scandinavian countries closely
grouped on the other, occupies about
the same position as the Mediterra
nean did in ancient times, professor
Ellsworth Huntington, of Tale, writ
ing in Harpers Magazine for May,
specifies five or six areas on the
earth's surface where civilization .is
alive and active at present. The North
Sea region ranks easily first among
them. It has taken over and devel
oped all the great ideas of- antiquity,
perfected all the sciences, produced all
the great literature of modern times
with almost all the best art, music
and mechanical Inventions. - The civ
ilizing impulse has thriven in this re
gion far more energetically than any
where else.
Another favorable area is that ol
the United States from, the Atlantic as
far west as Kansas and Nebraska.
Here no surpassing original contribu
tions have yet been made, but the
promise Is brilliant. Much may be
expected In the future.' Still another
region where conditions seem favor
able to civilization is the Pacific Coast,
Including California, Oregon and
Washington. Finally we must take
account of Australia and New Zea
land, which have been prolific in po
litical ideas, far more bo, according to
Professor Huntington, than any part
of the United States.
Why are these particular parts of
the world more favorable to the intel
lectual advancement of mankind than
any others? Why has civilization
after growing great in one place in
variably decayed and started all over
again somewhere else? Why has it
shifted about In this disconcerting
manner? Professor Huntington has an
answer ready and it is deeply interest
ing. He notices first that man attains
to his hest estate where the climate is
stimulating. Negroes grow brighter
when they pass from the enervating
tropics to northern climes. White
men lose their energy and self-respect
when they drift about the tropics.
Americans and Englishmen deterio
rate in the Bermudas, but negroes im
prove there. Climate plainly accounts
for both' phenomena. The Bermuda
climate is less stimulating than that of
the United States or England, but far
more stimulating than that of Africa,
the negroes' native land. So it is good
for the latter but not so good for the
former.
: But what is the element in climate
that now exalts the energy, now de
praves it? No doubt temperature is
important. Scientific observations
show that our best work is done in
weather neither too hot nor too cold.
An average temperature of about 60
degrees seems to be most favorable,
but no climate is favorable to civiliza
tion if it is too equable. Professor
Huntington believes that he has found
changes of temperature, and frequent
ones at that, quite essential to man's
highest good. This fact saves the Pa
cific Coast, where there is a difference
of many degrees between the temper
ature by day and by night. But the
great world-wide variations of tem
perature from day to day and week to
week depend upon cyclonic storms.
Such storms are frequent In the
North Sea region and In the Eastern
half of the United States. They are
particularly common In Kansas, where
civilization takes many a surprising
vault onward and upward. Professor
Huntington believes that cyclonic
storms must have been far more nu
merous in ancient times than they are
now in the region around the Mediter
ranean and in India. Their cessation
has produced an equability of temper
ature which is ruinous to civilization.
What has caused them to cease? Pro
fessor . Huntington does not say out
right that variations In the spots on
the sun have done it, but he hints very
strongly at that explanation. The
sunspots are subject to great varia
tions, one of eleven years, others of
longer periods. As they vary we have
wet and dry seasons, hot and cool
Summers, spells of uncommon heat or
cold. A permanent change in the
number and size of the sunspots would
produce permanent changes In the
climate of wide areas on the earth.
Perhaps we have here the reason why
civilization has withered in so many
regions only to take new root and
grow great in others.
- A LEAGUE OF PEACE.
The widespread slaughter and suf
fering caused by - the war have in
spired with a yearning for peace many
persons who cannot be classed as
pacificists In the ordinary sense of the
word. Much as they deplore contin
ued destruction, of life, health and
wealth, . these persons recognize that
peace, in order to be permanent, must
not be hurried. They see that peace
made before either contending group
of nations had been decisively beaten
would be a mere truce, the duration
of which would surely be used by
both parties in the formation of new
alliances and in preparation to renew
the struggle: Such a peace followed
by another war cannot be contem
plated with patience. Terrible as may
be the cost, it were better, in the
minds Kf farseeing men, that the re
sult of the present war should be con
clusive. Discussion, therefore, turns
from the possibility of an early peace
to the ultimate arrangement of peace
and the organization of the civilized
world on such terms as to render war
Impossible between civilized nations.
This subject is discussed in the At
lantic Monthly by G. Lewes Dickinson.
He writes from the British standpoint
and therefore assumes that victory
will be with the allies, .but he lays
down certain principles which should
limit the demands of the allies, in or
der that this war may not prove the
prelude to another. He adopts as es
sential the principle expounded by
Premier Asquith, that the interests
and wishes of the population should
be the only point considered in trans
fers of territory. On this principle
Belgium should be restored and com
pensated and Gerrrjany would lose
Alsace and Lorraine and probably Po
sen, but she would not lose Schleswlg
Holsteln or the Kiel Canal. If Tur
key should be partitioned. Germany
should have a share. In order that her
charge may not be Justified that the
powers have pursued a dog-in-the-manger
policy toward her.
The preliminaries of peace having
been settled. Mr. Dickinson proposes
that a congress of nations be sum
moned to carry out the terms In detail
and to provide for the future peace of
Europe. Neutrals as well as belliger
ents should take part, for many of
them are "directly interested in the
territorial changes and the fate of
small states." and "all are interested
In peace." He not only proposes that
all the states of Europe send dele
gates, but he says:
It is most desirable that the United States
take part. It is the best hope for the set
lement that peace will be brought about by
the mediation of President Wilson. In that
case he will have a clean status at the con
gress. The United States Is the only great
power not involved or likely to be Involved
In the war. It is the only great power that
Is pacific and the only one that has no
direct interest In the questions that may
come up for solution. '
The first duty of the congress would
be "to appoint an international com--nisslon
to carry out the territorial re
arrangements," but "its main work
should be the creation of an organ to
maintain the peace of Europe" a
league of peace as advocated by
Colonel Roosevelt, Mr. Asquith and
Sfr Edward Grey. This league should
be founded on a treaty binding the
powers "to refer their disputes to
peaceable settlement before taking
any military measures." Its success
would depend on the number of pow.
ers. entering it. If Joined by the
United States as well as Great Britain.
France and Russia, It "might be in
vincible," but "the thing to be most
aimed at is the Inclusion of the Ger
man powers." For thit reason, the
allies, if victorious, should not "alien
ate Germany from the European sys
tem." But how is this treaty to be pre
vented from becoming a mere scrap of
paper? Extreme pacificists say that
"treaties must be their own sanction,"
but "almost nobody goes with them,"
and "no government would act on
such presumptions." Mr. Dickinson
continues:
I propose, therefore, that the powers en
tering into the arrangement pledge them
selves to assist, IX necessary by their
tlonal force, any member of the league who
should be attacked before the dispute pro
voking the attack has been submitted to
arbitration or conciliation.
He suggests, however, that eco
nomic pressure might sometimes be
efficient. The United States could
"exercise a very great pressure if she
imply instituted a financial and com
mercial boycott against the offender."
Speaking of Britain, he says that, if
all her foreign trade were "cut off by
a general boycott," she would be
"harder hit than by a military force"
and simply could not carry on the war.
"Such economic pressure would be a
potent factor In determining the pol
icy of any country." If a member of
the league were attacked without
provocation by a non-member, the
other members should come to its as
sistance, but in order that this provi
sion might not lead to aggression by
any member, "the foreign relations of
all members should be openly dis
cussed between them and every effort
made to mediate."
Arbitration of justiciable disputes
would under this plan be obligatory
on all members of the league, but Mr.
Dickinson concedes that "the most
dangerous issues are those where the
independence or vital interests of
states are Involved." He would sub
mit them to a council of conciliation,
composed of men "capable of impar
tiality and of taking a European
rather than a narrwly national stand
point" and of "representatives of
those great interests, especially labor,
which hitherto have had no say in
international affairs." In case the ad
vice of this council should be rejected,
the question would then be one for the
diplomacy of Europe. He does not
propose that the league enforce the
award, or abrogate national sover
eignty or rule out war as impossible.
He simply hopes "for a much more
general will to peace than we get un
der existing conditions." He proposes
an end of secret treaties and secret
diplomacy, with plenty of time and
full knowledge for the better elements
of public opinion to be rallied against
jingoism. .
Limitation and reduction of arma
ments would follow the' security
against sudden and unprovoked at
tack given by a league of peace. Mr.
Dickinson proposes that private in
terest in fomenting war should be ex
tinguished. To this end, he says, gov
ernments should cease to employ pri
vate armament firms, for "an activity
so monstrous ought to be destroyed,
root and branch, at all and every
cost."
This plan of 'preventing war Is
closely in line with that frequently
advocated by The Oregonian. It does
not ignore the fact that there will
continue to be nations prone to war,
or the fact that usually peaceable na
tions will at times be seized with the
war frenzy, as do the schemes of. ex
treme pacificists, but it provides
means of restraining and defeating
such' nations. If the present war
should result in the adoption of such
a plan It will have proved worth its
awful cost.
What a difference In viewpoint. A
little crew of men sink a great steam
ship bearing hundred of persons. In
one section of the world there is
clamor for their lives. In another
section, not many leagues distant, they
are acclaimed heroes and servitors of
the empire.
Bryan adheres to the policy of
maintaining the open door in China.
Of course, that settles it, since all the
foreign powers are simply frightened
speechless by our fire-eating William
Jennings.
Austria holds that it is beneath her
dignity to accept the ftallan demands.
If Austria persists, the nation will be
eating spaghetti and reveling in
vendettas a year or two hence.
Astoria having been advised of her
wonderful prospects and most beauti
ful women in the world, the Celilo
Canal has been "opened" for the last
time, oratorically speaking.
If some imaginative writer had
pictured the sinking of the Lusitanla
a year or two ago as a war Incident,
he would have been haled before a
board of alienists.
That new water meter plan which
we will vote upon In June costs only
$500,000 or more.- Which is a mere
bagatelle these fine Democratic days.
It's easy to say who will not be.
but who can tell us who will be the
next President of the United States?
The time draws on.
'. With the month slipping swiftly by
we still wait for Kitchener to deliver
the goods on his promise to "open
the war in May."
It begins to appear more and more
as if only the smoking ruins of
Europe will be left when the war la
ended.
The cordial candidates are now
about to grasp us warmly by the
hand and call us tenderly by our first
name.
Portland's rose crop this year will
be the greatest on record. .Nature
never goes back on us out this way.
The past week marked the begin
ning of another great epoch of devel
opment in the Northwest.
One of these days we may wake up
to find that a great American ship
has been torpedoed.
The Bear is working backward and
30,000 more of him have been placed
in the Kaiser's zoo..
Having given in again, China shortly
will find herself facing new and more
exacting demands.
However, we trust that the weather
man will save us a choice week for
the big festival.
NTBvrthelpss. China aDDears to be
the piece de resistance of the new
Japanese Diet.
High time to put by that Winter
hat and get last year's straw pile
cleaned up.
ktm, tot's nnen uo the channel to
the sea for the biggest vessels afloat.
This Is the weather that brings the
fly fisherman Into action.
stransre thing that the submarines
seldom tackle a warship.
After" which we will take in the
Frisco fair.
Hew (or Uia Rose Festival.
Gleams Through the Mist
II r Dean Collins-
Come Into the Spring Garden.
(Apologies to Tennyson.)
Come into the garden. Maud,
Where 1 wait for you a. alone;
Come into the garden, Maud,
And see what you shall be shown.
In the plot that I spaded so long and broad
Where the packet of seeds Is sown.
For the breeze of the morning stirs.
And the crest of the grass is b-nt.
And the light of the rising daytime proves
His time is not Idly spFut
Who into the new home garden stiovrs
The seeds that the Congressman sent.
Come into the garden, Maud.
And size up the bright array
Of shoots that push through the sod
And lift to the sunlight gay.
Let there be several hurrahs hurrahed
For the onions are up today.
She is coming, my own. my sweet.
To ee how the garden grows.
To gae at the struggling, nascent beet
And the radishes wobbly rows.
And note how the soft soil under her feet
The hope of a pumpkin shows.
Come Into the garden, Maud,
For a celebration is due.
Come Into the garden, Maud.
We'll Jubilate, I and you.
For the squash seeds shovs through the
fresh turned ground.
And cucumbers struggling up around.
Show that the time was not vatuly spent.
Sowing the seeds that tne Congressman
sent.
e
Another example of human unreason
ableness is the way we get Irritated
when a baby cries at the moving-picture
show.
see
rMilemn Thought.
The women at The Hague seek peace.
And want an end of war
Well, ladies, that Is what the men
Are busy fighting for.
.
The statistician, like the poor, is al
ways with us.
And he is 'always ready to get out
his lead pencil and tinker with any
thing from cabbages to klnsrs.
J. W. Banholster, recently writing
to the Gresham Outlook, lins reduced
the horrors of war to a mathematical
basis, and now everyone' should be
able to determine, to a fraction, just
how horrified he is over-the Interna
tional catastrophe.
In warming up Mr. Banholster esti
mates that the number of men killed
up to date In the war would cover a
space 5 miles square, if stood on their
feet, touching one another.
This is a bit of information that
should add to the happiness of all. be
sides making the situation In Europe
much more clear to them.
Mr. B.'s statistical tendencies are not
satisfied with that, however, lie goea
on to this pleasing fancy:
If their blood was drawn at the rate wf
18 pounds to each man. which Is a trVW
under the estimate. It would till a struts
of tank cars with human blood to t'..e
number of 1799 and a fraction, or a trtf.'e
less than JSO0 tank cars holding 0,th.u
pounds each.
The only thing that surprises us la
that Mr. B. lets his pleasing Imagina
tions stop at that.
"Sir," said the Courteous Olflce Boy,
"I desire again to call your attention
to our capsule classics in the Five-Inch
Bookshelf for Busy Men."
"What is it this time?" I asked.
"The Odyssey," said the C. O. B., and
thus retailed the wanderings of
Ulysses:
After a spell,
Troy has fell;
Greeks go home;
Sevetal roam;
Ulysses first
To roam and worst
Trouble brewed
By suitors rude;
Penelope woued;
Wooers stewed.
Ulysses stl.l
Roams at will.
Twenty years.
It appears.
Home at last:
Things start fast;
Ulysses and son
Have tne fun;
Kklllful shooters; '
iMay soused suitors;
Penelope
Full of glee
Hubby to see;
So is he:
But we bet
Never yet
A single word
lias she heard
'Hout them dames
Who were flames
Of the old sport
lu every other port.
The Expert Agent.
The agent held me with his eye;
I listened to him clammily.
'Till 1 believed 1 ought to die
And heli along my family.
.New York Uveulng Mali.
The agent talked kt well about
What to my family he could give
That I was very much in doubt
Whether I had a right to live.
He talked so well that, by and by,
I felt It was a burning shitme
Not to Insure and then go die.
To see if X could beat their game,
see
I feel that my doctor Is on the right
track, for he has prescribed somo medi
cine that is so all-fired bitter I would
rather get well than go on taking It.
A Ballad of the Town.
.Spirit of steam and steel,
Spirit of men that feel.
Spirit of growing commonweal.
We stood on n swinging beam.
Me and my pal Joe.
He says, "That's quite a stream
, Of biped ants below."
"Look." he says, "to the west.
Over the drifting smoke;
That hill Is lifting like a woman's breast.
And a man would be some bloke
If he didn't have thoughts come up in
him
That swell his soul my eyes are dim."
Iron to iron, the rivets crept.
While through the air our hammers
swept.
And Joe drowned out the noise.
His booming voice sang: iioys.
We are they with sweat anointed.
We arj they In faith appointed.
With strainintr sinews to achieve
A glory that the gods conceive;
Thus to the unformed ages given.
Thus by an unknown purpose driven.
We ride with Death where the log-
boom breaks.
We breathe his breath where the fur
nace shakes.
We finger his form where the wheels
are whirled.
And soon to his knotted arms we're
hurled.
Our bones in the eddies lost.
Our bones to the ash-pit tossed."
The riveting ceased, and ceased the
song.
And Joe looked 'round in his humor
ous way.
And said. "I'm g'ad I'm here where I
belong,
I've landed a Job and I get good pay."
Well, then," 1 said, "dig down In your
brain.
And since you must sing, get off o' this
strain I
I too
Have work to do:"
But he kept on with the same refrain:
The mice pity far from the cat's cruel
i-laws.
But the purring mill extends its paws;
Our children are belched from the
mine's grim Jaws"
He nevtr finished- Jut then he rose
Swinging hi hammer. Tie toppled the
elope :
Henry Acklcy ia the Survey.