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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1909)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND. SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 23, 1909 Worn) !11 fc is Yes Fortunes' and Honors Won by a Single Affirmative I I X I 1 III' I I ' WVm F T1 Ul Jeffries gets but $50.000-"Tes." I C iiIr!fc WuA Whatever the prizes that fall to enterprise, darlns; 0T H' , l'l nd stren5th, the history of that little consenting; I JK'4- ' lr'mmimLmul k. T word would seem to emphasize the constant repetl- W ' ' jT ""'. Y) tlon ot the trlumPh of Hercules- ail flungr, for the W'jt nATwS r sake of her gracious nod. at the feet of Omphal. gff-i f 1? j The price of a million dollars a word, paid by 1 , ' Magnate Duke for his second wife's conent to their ml Y-(3:. marriage, represented perfectly the enormous valua- :-jfj.'-i!": tl0n Wh'Ch ttea ben UDn th wora of 'VX. ' , j-- ' - , j r- 11UV r M ill .-iWw" Sill ' -. : .-i. .. 1 -:. x ( 1 1 II C ' i - v. .Xfc. jb .-:. sr III I m ........ mill .i-.-.. u ' i 111! VX ': v'-' :!:-. i1-:-: "t. j. r i;-.;-: III 0 ssW'Wi . ,A!aM"W Mill m 1 If fernery MteB'Wr.W&fefiSi, HI I . T- . J !H rfs? - s ffre yvbrr7&r tftrfrsr. 4 J ffortf for frs Wrifrn-pj yy that word b .alue of a word if a t ?e yes Ex-President Roosevelt, it has been generally reported, is to get $l a word ''. for his articles describing his hunting adven tures in Africa. James J. Jeffries, the pugilist, is to get $0,000 for saying simply. I es, in answer to the proposal that he fight the colored cham- viun. jonnsun. Those prices represent extremes in the value of a word, spoken or written, in these days of piping peace,- when adventure and strife seem to have gained newly romantic charms. ', But even the dazzling reward held out to 'Boxer Jeffries becomes trivial when it is com- - fared with the enormous riches that have been earned by fair women who have consented to utter the same word that was required of him. Alluring as the prices are, how many others are there who would zvant to earn as much in the same manner; and how many are there who, if they were willing, could do iti dowerless, received a foreign title which might well have been quoted at many millions In the Interna tional matrimonial mart; Miss Alice Atherton Blight, now Lady Gerald Lowther, who for years withheld the utterance of the word wtUla the man who was resolved to be her husband served her, and the Laban of British diplomacy, until he wore out her obduracy and she chose the path that led to her position at the side of the British ambassador at Berlin. None of these, however, compares In fixed and definite market appraisement of the word "Yes," when spoken by a woman to her lover, with that which attached to the consent of Mrs. William Rhlnelander Stewart, of New York, when she gave It to the late James Henry Smith "Silent" Smith of Aladdin-fortune fame. For yeafs "Silent" Smith, modest broker, taciturn clubman, economical connoisseur ot books and pic tures, lived his unostentatious life until hU uncle In London died and left hlra $52,000,000. After star tling American society both by the good taste and the splendor of bis entertainments, and buying the IT MAY be well to remember, in the first place, that Colonel Roosevelt Is far from being- the only and original winner of the literary prize of $1 a word. As magazine articles go, the pioneer In that golden pathway was the late Richard Mansfield, who got it tiecause he didn't want It An editor, who was con , ducting a magazine that had already earned millions, conceived the idea that Mr. Mansfield's dictum on the chances and mischances of the stage as a vocation - .would help the circulation a lot; so be wrote, asking the actor for an article. "My price Is $1 a word," curtly replied Mr. Mans field, deeply affronted at the Impertinence of vulgar trade. "Please rush 1000 words," retorted the editor, will ing to pay $1000 to take pride down a peg or two. Some few years later, for the "subsequent" adven tures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Poyle was declared to have been paid $1 a word; and there the market stayed, with $1 as the top notch to which every subsequent aspirant mustVlimb. If he hope to become really distinguished. From the Mansfield Incident and from the Sher lock Holmes price, many a literary critic will add It Is apparent that the gentle art of composition Is .far from being the actual basis of value. Words, not deeds, would be the test applied by any critic In assaying the cash merits of manuscripts sub mitted to him; but deeds, not words, constitute the Intrinsic worth of these modern Midases of the pen and tosgue. It is altogether doubtful whether Colonel Roose velt will have his $1 a word as clear profit by the time his expenses In earning It shall have been reck oned up. No white man penetrates into the heart of Africa, with a truly adequate hunting expedition, cheaply. The hunting outfit, mounting Into some thousands Of dollars as a first cost, and the transportation ex penses are more than equaled by the wages and main tenance of the great force of native porters that must be carried along, whether the hunter wants them or venturers would cheerfully volunteer for It against one who would engage to dispute the two fists and the single word of James J. Jeffries in the prize ring. That is the one main reason why Mr. Jeffries can earn $50,000 for the word. For all the endowments of nature, the $50,000 appointed to be earned by Mr, Jeffries must be labored for In a fashion which few of his compatriots are willing to comply with to save their lives. Physicians throughout the country could report thousands of patients lost because of their reluctance to take tie vigorous exercise which alone can suffice to reduce the former champion to his normal fighting weight. It is true that there are hundreds of prize fighters who, for less than a bare living, have done what Is required of Jeffrtes in the way of arduous training: but It's fully as true that uncounted men have gone straight to their graves because they would do noth ing of the kind. As for the contest Itself, once trained down to his old, hard condition, the chances are that a born boxer of the Jeffries type will earn his great remune ration with all the Joy that Inspires the poet to sing with no more promising guarantee than the reason able certainty that he will continue to starve In his attic. It was stated, when J. B. Duke, the powerful mag nate of the Tobacco Trust, was married to Mrs. Nana line Holt Inman. In 1907. that he settled on her. In her own right, the round sum of $1,000,000. her safe and sure reward, apart fnam the enjoyment of the $30,000,000 which she shares with him. for vouchsaf ing to his eager implorlngs the same word for which tTfir freer beautiful woman, for beautiful Mrs. Inman was a belle of Georgia, and famed throughout the South; and It represented, too, the lavlshness with which the modern Hercules of enterprise is ready to pay the prjee for whatever-his heart desires. The Duke fortun which began, when the Civil War ended, with 300 poverty-stricken acres In North Carolina, 60 cents in Yankee money and a pair of blind mules, was the outcome of the same strength, the same daring, the same shrewdness and the same energy which have scored corresponding triumphs in other fields. Tile million that was paid Mrs. Inman was dearly earned by the man who paid for the word she spoke. On the other hand, there have been women re ceiving great riches for that simple but momentous word to whose price for their consent the present Mrs. Duke's may seem a bagatelle women like Mrs. Nannie Langhorne Shaw, one of the poor but lovely Langhorne sisters, to whom half the Waldorf Astor fortune and social power came when she agreed to bear the Astor name; Miss White, who, explicitly Ik II v rr'io rrvrr iS2JT& $2,000,000 Whitney mansion at 871 Fifth avenue for a home, he offered himself, the richest bachelor in the world, to Mrs. Stewart, who had been considered one of the handsomest girls of Baltimore. A sister of Mrs. Anthony J. Drexel and daughter of the late John A. Armstrong, one of Baltimore' leading merchants, Mrs. Stewart was rich in her own right, and had long been respectfully and sincerely admired by the man who sought her hand. She gave him her word, and they were married in September, 1906. She -was to share for life in such a fortune as few ever dreamed of enjoying. For a wedding gift he made her a present of 8000 of the pick of the world's precious gems, such a collection as no other woman owns, worth $500,000. Within less than seven months the bridegroom died, during a tour of Japan. His vast fortune, which he had held as many years, had shrunk to $25,000,000, whether by reason of his lavish expenditures or of exaggeration of his original Inheritance was never publicly known. But his will, when the settlement of his estate required the publicity, revealed an ante-nuptial agree ment by whtc hla bride accepted, as her share of his estate in the event of his death, the sum of $3,000,000, the bulk of the remainder going to two of hie nephews as his direct heirs. Participation in the immense fortune of the richest bachelor In .he world was what was offered Mrs. Stewart while her suitor lived; but It lasted for little more than Ualf a year of happy honeymoon. But Jewels in hand worth $500,000, together with the guarantee of $3,000,000, sufficed to make the price of her single word such as no other woman of thla age has been authentically offered for the little mo mentous syllable, "Yes." Some Curious Facts THE salt tax In China yields a revenue of nearly $10,000,000 a year. A town in north Prussia has decreed that any woman who promenades the streets In m trailing skirt will be fined. One of the wealthiest hall porters in Europe has Just retired into private life that - of the famous Lahmann Sanatorium, near Dresden. The porter, who has had only ten years' service, made an annual In come of $12,000 out of tips, it Is said. The king of the Belgians has offered a prize of the value of $5000 for the best work on the progress of aerial navigation and the most efficient means of encouraging it. Foreigners are especially invited to participate equally with Belgians in this competition, and may send In their essays in their own language. All the essays have to be sent to the ministry of science and art In Brussels not later than March 1, 1911. The Jury who will award the prize will consist of three Belgians and four of other nationalities. The diameter of the Atlantlo cable varies accord ing to the depth of the water, the character of the bottom on which It Ilea and the probabilities of In terference from anchors. It is smallest in mldocean depths. There is little or no movement at the bottom, and It Is Important that the cable should not have great weight. A heavy cable In deep water would be difficult to bring up for repairs if auch were needed. In the shallower water a heavier type of cable is used. The types are known as "shore end." "intermediate" and "deep sea." The diameters of the commercial cables are: Shore end, 2 inches; inter mediate, 1 Inches; deep sea, 1 inch. The first lifeboat Is still in existence at Redcar. Yorkshire, England. This boat was placed at Redcar In the year 1802, to be used as a boat "for saving life in storms or other dangers to ships" coming into or near the mouth of the Tees. It wa built by a shipwright of the neighboring port of Sunderland from plans of his own invention, and Parliament con sidered his work so meritorious and advantageous umi ii vuicu mm a sum or 16000 as a reward fnr hla time trouble and ingenuity This fine cd boat did excellent service for over seventy years and tw, owing to the Introduction of newer tySea and hett boats it was placed upon the "retired I lfst" and trsl ferred to the shed where It now is. Riding Character by otadying hoeA not HUNTING COMES HIGH He must have them. Even so seasoned a veteran . f bush and veldt as Frederick Courtenay Selous, an Ivory hunter from his boyhood, found his own long. . trailing procession of porters essential whenever he ' undertook a protracted huDt or intended to bring to civilization trophies of (lie chase. It is true that natives can of ten indeed, usuallv be secured for the extensive "beats" tliat sometimes round up a lion, and sometimes don't; but the hunting! 1 of the lion, the elephant and the rhinoceros is far from being either a safe or a sedentary occupation, and every native looks for his reward. When an African chief consents to hire out a couple of hundred of his tribesmen he looks to be propor tionately compensated. Then, quite apart from the hunter's actual invest ment of money, he puts up a far more valuable asset, -his life. "Mr. Roosevelt waited until the lion came within fifty paces, and then killed him with a well directed bullet in the brain. The former President's accurate shooting is the object of universal admira tion." That Is the way some dispatches about the pros pective author's fourth lion ran; and they were read with quite comfortable thrills by millions of heroes Of the rocking chair. But the history of big-game hunting in Africa embraces the names of very few men who have re peatedly faced the charges of drsperate lions and : a great many of them never faced the charge of more than one. - - ' , Jt is precisely because of the two main facets that Colonel Jtoosevelt Is the best-known American and that he Is constantly risking a most terrible death -that the words with which he will clothe his deeds have beesj appraised at the high market value of $1 each.'' - Dangerous as so ambitious an expedition undoubt edly la. and few as bave been the hunters who have vaaeriakea one, the chances are that a thousand ad- p 77re. TT7 ILL you be my wife, my dear little '11 wife?" he asked. T Her head fell, a whispered "Yes" reached him where he knelt at her feet. Gratefully he took her hand and, kissing it, placed thereon the gold band of troth. lie knelt in bliss until his attention was attracted to her feet, which she began gently moving. Suddenly he rose. "I'm afraid I've made a mistake. You'll you'll excuse me," he stammered. "What do you mean!" she asked. "Your shoes oh, no, no It's impossible 1" And then be bolted. THIS Instance, which is purely Imaginary, might often be the result of an ardent lover's woo ing if he understood the characteristics re vealed by the shoes. That is, if Dr Garre, of Basle, Switzerland, is sorrect In his theory. What Dr. Garre claims is this: That one can tell the character of people by their shoes and the way they wear them. That worn shoes indicate character more Clearly and unfailingly than the lines of the palm. That by considering a woman's shoe one can tell whether she is economical and home-loving or ex travagant and gay. That, in a moment, one can tell an honest man from a scoundrel by observing his footwear. These claims, which are sensational in a way. are based upon the doctor's study of the shoes of various people with whose characteristics he first familiarized himself. Palmistry, according to the savant quoted, may reveal elemental characteristics, but it is not re liable. Handwriting undoubtedly- Indicates a dis position, he says, but not nearly so well as a per son's footwear. A man walks along unconsciously. By his move ment, the weight of the body, he wears away certain parts of the shoes. This will reveal character. More over, the very selection, o-the very kind of a shos a person choaes will do the same. Now, supposing you knelt before tha girl you iovsd and tad. Jnst won Iter -consent to become your yffeciiar fy. fftc gforjrs'C'irf wife. Suppose you should observe that she wore a fancy shoe or slipper, gaudily decorated with spangles and silks, with a tall, thin French heeL Would you be willing to give her up? According to the European scientist many men would run away from women they Imagine they loved If they were clever enough to read the woman's char acter from her shoes. The elaborat1fancy slipper, he explains, is worn usually by women of the chorus-girl type gay, vola tile, butterfly creatures of whom one could not ex pect constancy. The tall, .graceful heel indicates a light nature; the taller the heel the more shallow the wearer. Sometimes, according to the doctor's claims, the longer the tip of the toe the shorter the wearer's insight and -Intellect And the more elab orate the shoe tne more unattractive the character. Of course, these are bold and dangerous claims for a man to make. But he says more. If the sol of the shoe Is worn on the outer edge one may know that the woman be Intends marrying will try. to dominate the man. There will bo bo clubs, no fun. no trips from home, no tobacco smoke nothing. A pronounced wearing of the- outer edge denotes CZ?n,g th8 Savant' an lmP-ious. dictatorial disposition. On the contrary, if shoes are worn en the nslde a woman will invariably be modest, gentle. A man who wears his shoes on the outer edge. It is claimed, possesses an adventurous spirit. He might not make a domestic man, but prefer to climb mountains, kill Hons in Africa or make a dash for the North Pole. Dr. Garre declared that once a man entered his office wearing shoes which were worn on ths outer side, the tip of the sole also being roughened, while the rest of the sole was almost new. "I Immediately knew the man was a scoundrel," he said. The sole of an enterprising business man will wear evenly. On the contrary, the doctor says, any pronounced wearing at a particular section of the shoe will indicate abnormal tendencies or abilities. POINTS TO WATCH Watch people when they select shoes. Is his ad vice. Mark well the little woman who walks Into a shop and carefully looks over the styles. She looks at this pair and that; the fancy, high-heeled, deli cate, graceful shoe she places aside. Instead, she selects a modest, blunt-toed, low-heeled shoe the kind known as the "common-sense variety." That woman is either a home-lovlng,wlfe .or, if she la unmarried, the doctor says, may be depended upon to make a happy home for a man should he select her. People who select common-sense shoes usually possess common sense, it is .said. And just as one may know an Irresolute character by wearing away the inner edge of the heel and sole, ha can tell a determined spirit and tempered man by an even wearing of tho soles. "So watch the kind ot shoes she buys In looking for a wife, f Remember that 'fwlxt heels and toes there lies your sole for Jlfe; The blunt and stubby" for a f rau, the hlgh-hl for a lark; And, when you'vo chosen, bo prepared t toe tho chosen mark." f V;