THE DAILY COOS BAY TIMES, MARSHF1ELD, OREGON, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, .1907.
Current Opinions on Live Topic
The Cost of n Boy.
(Chicago Tribune.)
In no way embarrassed or dis
couraged by a socialistic utterance
In America setting It forth as a fact
that It costs $25,000 to bring up an
American boy "of the middle class."
English statisticians have seen this
estimate and gone It $500 better.
They havo taken the boy "with a lib
eral education" and havo calculated
his expenses from the nursery to and
through Eton and Oxford, with al
lowance for travel and finishing
touches, and thus arrive at tho fig
ures suggested. It Is an Interesting
compilation, tho accuracy of which
It may be left for tho English them
selves to Impeach.
As for tho total amount In the
American calculation, It Is ono of
these wild and futile attempts at
figures which at the best may be
looked at compassionately. In tho
first place, the expression "middle
class" has no general significance in
the United States. If It Is used at
all It has intelligible reference only
to financial rating and is more sym
pathetically expressed by allusions
to persons "In comfortable circum
stances." It is possible that the
socialistic orator referred In a gen
eral way to a majority of fathers who
give or try to give their sons a col
lego education, and, it must be a's
sumed that ho was not speaking of
Isolated but of average cases. Pre
sumably the years of a young man's
college or university course are tho
most taxing on a father, yet the
statistics of tho University of Chica
go show that expenses for the col
lege year run from an average esti
mate of ?39C to a liberal estimate
of $GG5, whllo the moderate esti
mate at Harvard is $454 apd the lib
eral estimate $509.
It is not contended that there are
not a lumber of young men who do
lans, socialistic and otherwise, Is
that they build their general con
clusions on speical conditions. It is
altogether likely that the "actual
case" In England will excite laughter
among the many middle clas3 boys
uho have never seen "tho subscrip
tion for a London club" and the
"?500 yearly traveling and holiday
expenses" even in their wildest
dreams. Making figures Is a pleas
ant and easy diversion, particularly
on the stump and to vindicate a
theory, but figures which go against
nil known averages are not to be ac
cepted seriously or as. proof of hon
est Intent In calculation. The Amer
ican boy may well feel that ho has
obtained the name without the game.
Postal Savings Bank.
(Boise Statesman.)
Postmaster Ceneral Meyer is plan-;
nlng to recommend the creation of a'
postal savings bank system. That
system has been established In most
European countries and has proved a
success. Therefore it seems certain it
would be a success here. The public
mind is prepared for the establish
ment of such a savings system and
the postmaster general will strike at
an opportune time If he makes such
a recommendation at the forthcom
ing session of congress.
Mr. Meyer, through his residence
abroad, has had an opportunity to
study tho workings of the postal sav
ings banks there, and he no doubt
understands the subject far better
than most of our public men. His
recommendation will therefore have
peculiar weight, and It is probable it
will meet with such popular approval
that congress will be obliged to give
It serious consideration.
Tho postal savings bank would be
of great benefit to .our people can
not bo successfully questioned. Such
a system affords a- easy method of
people have an opportunity to make
regular deposits in ordinary savings
banks, while a very large proportion
of thorn hesitate about doing bo
when they have an opportunity be
cause they do not always feel that
their money would be safe. In a
postal savings bank there would be
absolute confidence and It would cul
tivate the savings habit among the
people in a manner that would be of
the highest benefit to tho Individual
and to the country. It is safe to as
sume that the savings In a posatl
savings bank would exceed thoso In
all private savings banks many times
over after a few years. There would
bo so much more money saved by
the people, and these increased sav
ings would constitute a powerful
factor In Improving the condition of
the people as a whole. .
depositing Bavlngs, and the depositor
not greatly exceed this estimate, but has the assurance that they are abso-
this has nothing to do with the ques- I lately safe. Ho lecelves interest and
is able to build up the foundation of
fortune without incurring the risk
incident to financial flurries and
panic3.
The poor man can lay up some
thing for an emergency with full con
fidence that his money will bo ready
for him when he may need It, and
peions of moderate means will find
the system a great convenience. No
money is safe from being spent so
long as It is in the pocket of the
owner, but when it gets into a bank
of any kind it is far less likely to
melt away. This is especially true
with respect to savings banks. There
the money earns interest, and the
owner is not likely to draw it out
unless it becomes absoultely neces
sary. But only a small portion of our
tion at issue. The point is that there
Is no requirement for tho expendi
ture of $25,000 to bring up a boy
until he Is of lawful age, and further
moio that a vast majority of boys
whose fathers are in comfortable cir
cumstances, or "middle class," If tho
expression Is preferred, do not ap
proach such disbursement. It Is ,
manifestly unfair to take a group of
young fellows either at Chicago or ,
at Cambridge, students who spend ,
money riotously, and deduce from
their profligacy what It "costs" to
send a boy to college. It is equally
unjust to advance as an average of
"total cost of bringing up a boy of
tho middle class" tho sum expended
by a father of wealth and corres
ponding indulgence.
The trouble with many statistic-
WATER POWER
FOR PEOPLE
Government officials Feel That
Compensation is
Only Fair.
STATES HAVE BEEN LAX
Syndicates Havo Grasped Fails In
Western Cities For Private
Gain Only.
Washington, Aug. 30. In every
state in which there Is a national
forest there is bound to arise the
Issue as to whether or not prlvato
corporations shall pay for the land
privileges procured through the ap
propriation of water for power iu
tho government forests. The sub
ject Is at this time not well develop
ed, and tho forest bureau refuses to
bo quoted In any respect. Privately,
however, some of tho officials dis
cuss it, and the trend is towards,
holding that such corporations
should pay something for the land
privileges enjoyed.
Extensive inquiry among those of
ficials who are regarded as more or
less expert Interpreters of the basic
law involved, reveals the 'growing
disposition to take advanced ground,
much as municipal economists have
marched forward to the dismay of
thoso who have heretofore always
appealed successfully to the courts
on tho ground of vested rights.
It Is a fact familiar to all that the
"vested rights" plea has been tho
. harbor of safety for every franchise
favored corporation that ever was
brought face to face with modernized
demands for recognition of tho popu
lar rights. Street car companies,
iwhen asked to aubmlt to municipal
regulation, control of fares, enforc
ed increase of service In tne form of
more cars and extended 'lines, larger
taxation, and other phases of the
new franchise regime, have resorted
tc the courts, and the contention
has been that it was "proposed to
take away our property," as was
argued last winter here in Washing
ton, when the congress showed signs
of adopting a law for "no seats, no
fares."
People's Rights Come First.
But It has become one of the ac
cepted doctrines of court interpreta
tion in recent years that "vested
rights" must give way partly to the
rights of all the people, and, based
on this doctrine, courts have swept
away many of the bulwarks once uti
lized by tho franchise corporation.
It Is conceded that the rights of
tho people nowadays are more rigid
ly guarded than In former years, and
this newer attitude augurs a change
In conditions affecting tho uso by
private corporations of water and
land for power purposes.
The creation of national forests
has not In the least affected the ap
nronrlatlon of water for power pur
poses by prlvato corporations. As In
tho past, the corporation files on thf.
water under the state laws, even al
though tho water originates on fed
eral government national forests.
Tho forester and his associates do
not hold that this should be changed,
recognizing in this Instance the line
of'demarkation between federal and
state rights.
It is likely, however, that before
long some sort of change will be
made for the land privileges given
to private corporations who go on
federal lands to appropriate water
under state laws. It Is to bo expect
ed that tho officials of these corpora
tions will howl long and loud rnd
resist the fee-paying with all possible
ardor. But It seems to be Inevitable
that In time they must yield and pay
something for what they get now for
nothing.
Claims Made to Falls.
Naturally, the study of this phase
of national admlnlstralton leads ono
across tho lino Into the realm of the
Never Was Honest.
(Boise Statesman.)
A statement has been issued by
the Standard Oil company asserting
its Innocence of the charges upon
which it has been convicted. The
company makes Itself foolish by such
protestations. The world knows it
has been a pirate for 30 years, and
no amount of denial on its part will
dislodge that knowledge.
It has never been honest In its
dealings with the people. At the be
ginning of his career Its president
was not honest, and there has never
been a moment since when it has
not violated the statute law as well
as the law of morals whenever It has
found a favorable opportunity to do
so.
At tho very outset of his caieer as
an oil man, Rockefeller bribed em
ployes of other homes to make regu
lar reports to him respecting the
business of their employers. A more
dishonest thing could not be con
ceived, but this man who now stands
out as a financial magnate did not
hesitate to employ such methods. Ho
debased the railway companies when
he founded tho Standard, and up al
most to the present hour his com
pany has continued to employ the
methods he then adopted, so far as
the officials thought it could be done
safely. The Standard has crushed
competition and driven competitors
Into poverty by means that would be
scorned by an ordinary bunco steer
er, and yet it wishes now, when
brought to book, that it is as in
nocent as a child.
People would think far better of
Mr. Rockefeller and his company if
they should frankly confess they
have been law-breakers throughout
their careers. If they are anxious to
be thought honest, they should ad
mit and ask pardon for what all tho
world knows and start out manfully
to lead better lives. This whining,
I commonwealth and It is discovered
that a strange situation exists. A
given fall of water, capable of de
veloping say 100,000 horse power,
lies contiguous to a growing city.
Some one nails up a shingle on a tree
on the land at the falls notifying tho
world that he haB forthwith taken
that power to be his. own, and files
it with the cleric of the county, pay
ing $2 for a horse to ride to tho falls
and 50 cents for filing the notice.
Henceforth, forever, that man or
his assigns claims that 100,000
horse power for his own.
The question has arisen in the
jurisprudence of tho country. Does
that man or his assigns really own
that 100,000 horsepower? What
has he rendered to the state for what
ho took without compensation?
It Is argued by the lawyer for the
approprlator of the water that he
renders to the state the service of
providing some public utility or de
velops some enterprise, employing
men and paying wages and maintain
ing Industry.
At this point comes In the newer
philosopher and says:
"Presume some man were to go,
not to the state, but to that appro
prlator of water, and say, "I take
forwlth 50,000 of your 100,000
horsepower and, as compensation,
will render to the public service In
maintaining an industry."
Upon what would the title of the
approprlator rest to resist tho second
appropriation? Certainly, title must
rest on consideration. What consid
eration did tho first man render for
his 100,000 horsepower?
It has come to the knowledge of
certain federal officials that more
than 500,000, perhaps 1,000,000,
horsepower has been appropriated
on the Pacific coast during the last
five years. The power sites havo
been located by tho syndicates at ad
vantageous places, commanding in
dustry and street car lines In most of
tho larger cities. Previously Im
mense numbers of units of power
had been appropriated similarly.
Syndicates Take People's Water.
"As we havo looked into this phase
of the utilization of water and land,"
this protestation of virtue, this ap
peal to public opinion upon fasle al
legations It Is nil revolting to the
average mind. It shows just what
abandoned characters they are.
A man with any conscience left
would bo willing to make frank ad
mission and manly promise of reform
upon being caught in his evil prac
tises, or he would close his mouth
and endeavor to keep out of the pub
lic eye. None but the hardened
criminal brazenly protests his in
nocence and doggedly Insists that he
is wronged when the proofs of his
guilt are spread before the world.
Ir
AVhen AVill Directors Meet?
(Pacific Banker.)
According to two of the Oregon
Trust and Savings Bank directors it
is a case of too much one man bank
ing. They say that the cashier
bought these bonds without any au
thority from the board of directors.
This attempt to shift the responsi
bility will not stand and for two very
good reasons. First by retaining the
cashier in his position for months
after the act complained of was done
they ratified it; and if as is suggest
ed they knew nothing of the bank's
condition until a few days before It
closed, their ignorance is criminal in
its density. What are directors for?
Had they no idea of tho duty which
they owed tho depositors? They are
business men. This plea of figure
head immunity will not bo accepted
In this day. If they didn't know,
they should have known. They held
themselves out to the world as know
ing something about the bank's con
dition. Their names gave the bank
a position it would not otherwise
have possessed and they knew It, and
the duty they owed the depositors
was one of the most sacred that can
be conceived.
The failure of this bank ought to
be a marked lesson to every bank on
this Coast. In the first place It ought
to hasten the day when directors
will direct, when public opinion will
force a sense of duty and obligation
upon directors before they accept
their positions.
And this failure shows, it seems to
us, a marked weakness in all the
state laws we have examined and in
the National law as well, In that they
do not provide for such a case as
this. They limit the amount of loans
that can be made to any one inter
est, but they do not limit the amount
of other obligations which the bank
can assume of any ono -interest, nor
is any regulation whatever attempted
of the purchases which a bank can
make. Hero Is an inconsistency; A
bank can loan to a company only a
certain portion of the bank's capital.
But it can purchase the bonds of
that company without stint.
WVWWWVWVSAAAAWSA
a well-versed official said, "we find
that during the last few years syndi
cates simply have walked Into the
western states and laid their hands
on the people's water power, acqulrr
lng without payment invaluable priv
ileges; that they are in a fair way to
command tho industrial situation of
the future; that they will soon be In
a position to levy tribute on the peo
ple, utilizing as their chief asset the
water which they took from the peo
ple, paying absolutely nothing there
for. "Have not the states slept on their
rights? Havo not they sat Idly by,
witnessing tho monopolization of the
magnificent resources of the moun
tains and hills and have not they
given away privileges which some
time will be, even now, in places,
worth countless millions?
"If there seems to be aggression
by the federal government as com
parted with the state governments, If
there seems to be so-called encroach
ments by the federal on the state, Is
there room for wonderment? Shall
the federal be derelict because the
states have been? Shall the federal
fail to preserve the rights of tho na
tion because the states have been
neglectful of the rights of the people
of their commonwealths?
''This Is the trend of thought
among many federal officials, some
of whom are high up In the adminis
tration. As we study the relation
ship of the government lands to the
Individual, often wo run up against
lax conditions such as direct giving
away of tho people's property and we
are expected to conform our policies
to such unsatisfactory state policies,
or rest under tho imputation of fed
eral usurpation."
"iT. A Kirs
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RAWING
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. S. Kaufman & C
OVER TELEPHONE OFFICE, MARSHFIELD
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