OLUME LXI NO. 330
ASTORIA, OREGON. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1906
PRICE FIVE CENTS
MEN'S AND CIIILDRE'llS
' iii).
A PPROPRIATE Holiday Gifts hvac
been made a specialty. Select from
the following list of suggestions and mail
us your order.
House Co,U............ .. ............ ...... ...... .1160 tollfcM
Lounging Rob, .........; .... , MOO Is $20.00
Faney Vest ..... ,..,;.,..... ...... .Z00 to 1&M
Neckwear. ,.
.60 13.00
Glov.., ......... .. $1.00 to 2.M
Fanoy Suipendors .,...$1,00 to $5.00
DrM Protectors ... ..........$130 to $5.00
Muffler ...I ... $1.80 to $3.00
Handkerchief ...... ........ ...... JSo to $130
Half Hoia ...... ..... '.'.25 to $2.50
Umbrella.., ......... '.',' ... ........... 1.00to.12.00
Traveling Cam .....$3.50 to $20.00
t8ult Cm.,.. $5.00 to $30.0tf
Pajama ., . $130 to $6.00
' Night Rob,, , .$1.00 to $5.00
Underwear,, 30o to $5.00
,8h!rt .. ........... ...................... ...... ..,..$1.00 to $3.00
Merchandise Orders redeemable at any time itsued (or
, any Amount.
S. W, Cober 4th and Morrison Sts.
'PORTLAND, OREGON.
I Give Him Something to Smoke. I
That's what lie" Will Appreciate most, i
Christmas Cigars and Smokers t
requirements in great variety, I
We have the largest, stock' of I
cigars ' in the city,' and keep I
only the prominent brands and I
high class goods.
Small Boxes of Cigars, 12 and 25 in the Box.
PIPES Fine RZereschacms and Briars from
25c to 12000,
WILL MADISON
Congress Sits Down on the Pro
posed Salary Grab
The MORNING ASTORIAN
60 CTS. PER MONTH
CABINET PAY MAY ADVANCE
Secretary Root Advocate Mora Can
trallted flovammnt -More Land
Frauds Found in Indian Ttrrl-
tory Week In Washington.
WASHINGTON, D, C, Decern!
ItThe clerk In the Government atr
vie In Washington are clamoring, a
loudly a they dare, for an Increase In
their alarlea, In which demand the
local press la supporting them. It l
natural, for If the clerk have more
money to spend the local merchant
will ultimately profit and everybody
will he pleased. But no on yet ha
touched the practical side of the ques
tion In publlo discussion. The fault
I not In the low salaries but In the
system Itself. It I properly pointed
out that the cost of living hi greatly
Increased her or elewber within the
pout ten year; that 1200 a year will
not go aa far now as It would ten years
go. But the fact ha been overlooked
that the clerk who drew twelve hun
dred a year ten year ago, la now re
eelvlng $1,400, $1,600, $1,800 or even
$2,000 per annum. Thua hi salary has
kept pace with the Increase In the cost
of living. J Ther are three exceptions,
the clerk who were at the top ten
year ago and who are still there, and
those dorks who did not deaerv pro
motion or who find their promotion
stopped by the failure of those -above
them to die or resign. Tet these three
classes are Insignificant as compared
with the total number of clerks.
Twelve year ago there was -a clerk In
the post office department receiving
11200 a year. He la now a member of
President Rtievett'rt Cabinet. THIs
goes to show It enn be done. The
grave fault with the system Is that
the extreme are too close together.
Practically no young man who , can
earn 1900 a year in private employ'
ment will enter the Government ser
vice, fnf the reason that the utmost
limit for clerks la practically $2,000 a
year.. The majority of men prefer pri
vate employment, where, If success
ful, the prise range from $5,000 to
$100,000 a year. A man may be a good
copyist but If he Is no better now than
ten years ago, and If he Is receiving
say twenty per cent more than he
would In private employment, for the
same work, the argument that) he
should receive more salary Is not con
elusive. A much better remedy, In
deed, Is to rearrange the grades, re
ducing the salaries at the start and In
creasing them at the top, giving more
flexibility to the service. , It a young
mnn could be started In the Civil Ser
vice at $480 per annum, but with the
knowledge that If he earned promo
tion he could rise to $3,000, $4,000 or
even $5,000, there would be some In
centlve! As It Is, he take a civil ser
vice examination and lands a place at
$900 nt the stnrt, with the certainty
that the hlsfher grades are full of heal
thy men and women and that after he
serves Intelligently and faithfully for
twenty years he can never reason
ably hope to receive more than. $2,000.
No wonder he clnmors for his SO days
ftnnunl leave, his 30 days Rick leave,
anil nil holiday No wonder he SP;
ponrs on the last stroke of nine and
passes out of the building at 4: SI.
The writer Is one who does not believe
the average government clork Is bad
ly treated.' Ha has thirty days an
nual and tho same . amount of sick
leave; If he is inclined he can get away
with only about ten months work a
year. During nine months he works
from 9:00 to 4:30, the terrible total of
seven and a half hours, but lie has half
an hour for lunch. During three
months he is off at one o'clock Satur
days. He gels every national holiday
off and the half day preceding. If the
holiday fulls on Sunday ha gets half
of the day before and the next day af
ter, he gets his money regularly and
knows his job la secure as long as he
behaves himself. . Most of the work Is
purely mechanical; copying letters,
taking dictation, following established
rules and . precedents or filling out
printed forms.Most of It is well-paid,
exceedingly well-paid, when the jelass
of work and Che amount accomplished,
the easy hours and the vacation peri
ods, are taken Into consideration. The
trouble I that the limit I too small
to attract active, energetic young men.
Let Congress gradually cstaMlsb. a
line of position paying from $3,000 to
$6,000 a year, to which clerks can be
promoted and It wilt do more good
than any fiat Increase of ten per cent
for good, bad and Indifferent clerk
alike. Government clerk should re
momber one thing and that I (hat the
fat goes with the lean. , Those who
were receiving $1200 from '90 to '$,
and those who are now getting the
same amount, should remember that
during the former period they received
their money regularly and their posi
tions were secure, where other were
out of work and the price of every
thing was very low. At a time when
hundred of thousands of men were
Out of work, the writer wa getting
$60 a month for sealing envelope and
pushing a cart ' around the pension
office, and even when there, only work
ed about four hour a day. Then the
Job was a snap. It 1 still there and
still pay $60 a month when the aver
age boy would be glad to do the work
for $$ a week. The fact that the price
of living has gone up ha nothing to
do with the case of that particular po
sition. It was entirely too well-paid
at that time, It. I too well-paid now
and to Increase It ten per cent a month
would be bsurd. , Had the writer re
mained In the Pension Office he might
possibly have risen to $1,(09 or $1,800
a year by this time. The newspaper
business Is not noted a a lucrative
profession but It pays better than that
In return for twelve or fourteen hours
a day about SCO days In the year, after
fifteen year devotlon,"Shorter hours.
and more pay" la the slogan of the,
average government clerk'More, work, '
fewer Idles and Increased opportuni
ties", would appeal more strongly-to
the country at large. ,-.
NEW YORK. CMS
Has Plenty of These Antiquated
Relics Yet'
SUME COSTLY MODERN BRICKS
INNOCENT VICTIM.
Women Quarrel While Baby Girl
8mother Close Beside Them.
CHICAGO, Dec 22. A quarrel of
two women yesterday Indirectly
caused the death of a baby girl. Mrs.
Anna Paplrak and her sister, vMrs
Petrlna Masuga, were quarreling be
side a crib in which Mrs. Paplrak'
daughter Elisabeth, five weeks old, lay.
In her excitement Mrs. Masuga tossed
a bundle of clothing Into the crib and
the child was smothered to death be
fore the women finished their alterca
tion, ' - ,
After the death af her niece, Mrs.
Masuga returned to her home and
barricaded the door leading to her
bedroom In anticipation of the arrival
of the police. " Y - '
when the detectives attempted to
enter the house they were deterrd for
time by Mrs. Maxuga, who threat
ened them with violence. After wait
ing a few minutes they pushed the
door open and arrested the woman who
struggled some time before being sub
dued. She will be held pending a
coroner's Inquest.
Metropolitan Alchemist Discover Pro
ees for Making Gold from Com
mon Sand, Mixed with Copper
and a Secret Ingredient
NEW YORK. Dec.22. Pacts which
have Just come to light show that when
the average New Yorker visiting In
other cities describes with, pride the
greatness of the metropolis, certain
of his remarks should be taken with
a grain of salt. For Instance a good
deal has been said about the subway
as an Illustration fit the city's up to
date, transportation system. But on
top of the fact that this subway has
already reached the limit of adequacy,
the figures show that the city has not
so much to boast of after alt There
is another side to the question which
may be summed up In the statement
borne out by figures, that In antiqua
ted street car service New York leads
the whole country. , Manhattan Bo
rough alone has more old fashioned
horse cars than al lthe rest of the
United States together, even counting
the mule cars In the south. The miles
of horse-car lines operated In the city
total a little more than $8 as against
21 J miles of trolley track. It takes 25-,
033 horses to pull the 394 cars of this
supposedly outgrown equipment
Iast week car 24S, the last of the old
horse cars to run on Grand Street, was
retired. For years It ha been run on
ly as a franchise holder, bumping along
over cobble stones when tracks were
lacking, with never a passenger to en
liven the lives of the crew. Manned
by a qouple of sailors the car has long
been known s the "Packet" and. these
same sailors are now rejoicing that
she has at last as they express it
"reached harbor." The truth of the
whole matter Is that the city's trans
portation lines are even now inade
quate, one day last week 1,485,777
nickels were taken in, of which 569,
634 were In the subway. This sys
tem was designed to handle a maxim
um of only 600,000 paengers a day,
so that trouble M looms close ahead.
Meanwhile the city continues to hold
the record for horse car equipments.
the child of thirty or forty year ago
on , Christmas morning, the question
which most vexes the modern Kris
Krlngle I that of finding something
new. for New York youngsters. The
results, as Indicated by the modern
toy now to be seen In the city, have
been astonishing.' There I the toy
cow whch can actually be milked, the
fluid being put in through a small
opening fat the bag to flow out a la
nature. Then there Is the flirting doH,
who sweeps a long deep glance beneath
half, raised eyelashes to say nothing
of the doll baby which will consume
milk from a bottle like Its human pro
totype. There' is also a mechanical
hen with real feathers that lays real
eggn, or china ones If this Is deemed
safer, and cackle like her barnyard
sister. ; There is the elephant which
curls Its trunk, trumpets and charges
about the nursery, to say nothing t
many other anhnals. In the mechani
cal field complete railroads art already
old, the latest thing being a child's
automobile now on exhibition for the
first time. It Is 47 Inches long and
17 Inches wide, Just large enough to
accomodate ' a good sized youngster.
It has wheels only IS Inches In dia
meter, and with) a correspondingly!
small motor Is capable of traveling
some twenty miles on one charge at a
speed of eight or ten miles an hour.
Altogether the New York Santa Claua
Is. an extremely up to date person
bringing the city's wealthy children
the very newest toys In the world.
But the question still remains as to
what the next generation can have un
less It be airships.
Just what will be left In the line of
possible new toys for. the metropoli
tan children of the next generation un
less it be flying machines. Is a Christ
mas problem which seems to have
reached nearly the limit. From the
simple home made toys which delighted
A strange consignment of 14,000 pre
cious bricks which are being care
fully guarded by the police wa re
ceived in New York this week. They
were not gold bricks, as the unwary
might suspect, but plain small whits
bricks, of an old fashioned appearance
straight from Holland from a kiln
which has been making them Without
change for 250 years. .They are to be
used by the Sons of the Revolution la
their work of repairing In Its original
style the old Fraunces Tavern at
Broad and Pearl Streets so that it
may present the same appearance as
It did when Washington bade fare
well to his officers there. Since then
the first wall has been torn out to make
a show window for a store which af
terward became a saloon and In the
work of restoring it as a club house
Its patriotic owners were confronted
with the problem of securing small
white bricks for facing It In the origi
nal style. A fruitless search revealed
the fact that these were not to be ob
tained' In this country and the Sons
were almost despairing when it was
discovered that fifteen miles outside
Of Rotterdam In Holland the Iden
tical factory which made the original
bricks 206 years ago was still doing
business at the old stand, and the
bricks were ordered accordingly.
'V v nx i x. , i f
A v r , V. J ,
UNPRECEDENTED TRAFFIC.
; While the Interstate Commerce
Commission is preparing to Investigate
the railway car, shortage in the north
west and elsewhere, the press Is not
slow in securing facts on the situation.
The Kansas City Journal' declares-that
last Sunday 3,000 empty freight, cars
stood tn the yards of that city, and
1,000 more were scattered about in
smaller cities. On the other hand, on
ly a few loaded cars had been re
ceived. The trouble, the Journal says,
grades. . '.' : .- ''.
Ilea In lack of motive power, and does
not constitute car shortage at all. Rail
ways often are hampered by lack of
fuel. The unprecedented trafllo con
sumes the entire tractive capacity and
leaves many cars over. This puts a
new light on the problem. In the
mountain country, such as surrounds
Butte, winter complicates the situa
tion, as the nower of a locomotivA is
hardt' Ideals," at' the 8tar Theater. GEORGEIA A. NICHOLS, with "Eck lessened by slippery tracks on heavy
. New York now has a real alchemist
in her midst, and If the assertions of
one John Ruffel be true Wall street
can shortly give up making money and
take to making gold. Every one can
be as rich as he likes, apparently, for
the process of acquiring the yellow me"
tal Is a simple one, according to Mr.
RaffeL All that Is necessary Is to bury
a chunk of copper wfth some "dora
dlum," the makeup of which Mr. Raf
fel keeps to himself. He has, however,
written to the Secretary of the Treas
ury at Washington concern'ng his dis
covery and Is even now ready to open
negotiations for Its sale to Wall Street
Interests. . Of course If Wall Street
does get hold of the Secret, the "com
mon people" can expect little profit
from it, and it is therefore to be hoped
that Mr. RafTel will reconsider and de
cide to allow the entire country to par-
tlclpate in this easy method of getting
rich.'' 1