wr- r- l THE SUMPTER MINER Wednesday, February 22, 1915 1 1 The Sumpter Miner PUHLISHBD BVBRV WBDNESDAY BY J. W. CONN ELLA ' Mered at the poitofflce In Sumpter. Oregon, for lummlsnlon through the malli ai second clan after SUHSCWII'TION RATES One Year St.oo St Month 5 ALWAYS IN ADVANCH. Now, that 11 ahortag'i in it Hawaiian poHtoffloo Iihh boon detected, It Ih evident thitt other things besides the constitution follow the radiant AmerloHti flag. An American egyptolugiat, Theo dore M. 'Davia, has, according to a dispatch from Carlo, discovered a royal tomb In the neighborhood of Ltixer full of antlquitieH, Including Intact sarcophagi, a chariot, furnlure and numerous other relics of a pMHt age. The tomb was formerly opened in the proHonce of tho Duke and Duahosa of Connaught. TIiIh in the vay the Minneapolis Trl tin lie vIowh the nil I road rate preblem: Juat iih in freight busl iiohh, the big shippers get rubnteH mid special couueHHloiiH, mo tho men hetit able to pay piiHHenger faron pay the JtiHHt. Moat men of wealth havo their passoa and ride free everywhere. The "toady travelerH, whoHe oxpauaoa aro UHiially paid by their employers, the large business houses, travel ou mileage for two uentH a mile. The Man who cannot line fiOO or 1000 miluH, or who hasn't the money to pay f '25 or f0 for a book, pays the full tarilf rateH, 'A oonta a mile. The whole system Ik upHlde down. The man who shlin one oar ought to have iih clone a rate hh the man who eliips a hundred. Our priiHtint biiukruptcy law whh an emergency JJtiHtasuro resulting from the panic of 1HIKJ, and the Iiouhd judiciary committee Iihh decided by a vote of eight to mIx to report favorably the Clayton bill to ropoal the act. Hie author of the bill, Clayton, of Alabama, saya: "It Iihh never been the policy of the United Stated to have a perma nent bankruptcy law. We think the present law ban nerved Its purpose, and that it should be repealed. T'lal and experience have demon etrated the manifold impnrfectloiiM of thla law, airl that many oases of lujustloo have come, ami are con Mtautly coming, from Km operation. We do not believe that there Ih any neoehHity or any general public de mand for the longer retention of the law. It Iihh tended to burden the federal courts with litigation, which, we believe, could be just aH well conducted by the court of the MtatoH. The frlendH of the present bankruptcy law, who belong to the creditor olaHS, are coiiHtiiutly endeavoring to per feet thin action iuto mere machinery for the collection of dubtM, mini mixiug or Ignoring aH far aa potable the primary purpose of bankruptcy legislation -the relief of uufoituuatc debtor. " lleury II. Kogera aud Henry C. i'rlok won recently elected directors of the Atchison, Topeka Sc Santa Ke railway. Thla aatlou Ih accepted iu Wall street aa meaning that the liar rimaU'Staudard Oil iutcreata are now vhe dominating factor in the company. While these intercut do nut own an actual controlling in- tereBt in Atchison, both the com mon and prefered stock being widely held by investors, they control a sufficiently large block of atuck to render it impossible for any other iuterent to secure coutrol of the company. Last fall it became known that Kuhn, Loan & Company had pur chased a block of about :)00.000 aharea of Atchlson'ln the open ruar kot, aud that thla "j block of stock had been transferred to a group of oapitall it composed of H. H. Kogera, II. C. Kriek. James Still man and several of their ausoolatoH. Thla la understood to be the largest block of Atchison aeoiiritieB owned by any single interest. The com pany has $ 102, 000, 000 common stock and 1114,000 000 preferred stoak outstanding. These securities how ever, are very widely scattered among a large number of small investors. The bureau of tho census haa just published its final and complete re port ou the recent couaiia of the min ing iudustrioa of the United States. Thla census was conducted in collab oration wlch the United States goo logical survey. It rolates to tho cal endar year 1002 aud forma a part of the general work of the 1 2th comma of the United States, being one of tho apodal implrioa provided for in the legislation minting to that ceuaua. A Hiimmaiy of the statistics relating to minus aud quarries haa already been presented to the public iu a pre liminary report published by tho bureau at a bulletin about six mouths ago. Thla waa a pamphlet of 50 pages. The report now issued is a bound volume of 11 211 pages. The atatlatica compiled in the elaborate tables comprise data of the value and quantity of the product of the mines, the coat of supplies aud materials, the mlMCollaueoua expousus, the number of wage earners the amount of their wagea, the number of clerka aud salaried oflloiala, tho kind aud amount of power uaod, the amount paid for contract work, etc. A separate soot ion la devoted to the mineral industries of each atato aud territory, and It appears from thla llHt that MlHHiHHippi aud the Diatrlct of Columbia are the only political divlaloua of the United States iu which the sound of the minor's pick is not heard. The agricultural department, at the reque-it of Setiator Dubois, has ordered a scientific Investigation re garding the elfeot of mine tailings ou the lauda aluug tho St. Maries river in the Coeur d'Alene mining dis trict. It ia claimed that the various chemicals used by these mines in connection with their woik, and do posited along the river banks, have proven very disastrous to all vegetable matter aud tint during years past has oauHod the poisoning of thousands of cattle. Senator Dubois says that there ia heavy lltlgatlou ponding In the Idaho courta as the result of these foreign deposits along the St. Maries river aud that something must be done fur the protection of prop erty holdurs Iu that vicinity. This, he believes, will be done after the department of agriculture makes a re port of its findings. Seuator Mitoholl is uow wrestling with, perhaps, the bitterest oxp:1 ence to which mau ia subjected the loss of the support aud sympathy of people whom he has befrieuded. Though universal, that is the most degrading blot ou humau nature, if the senator is guilty of all the sins of which ha Is aooused, it would be a difficult taak to defend him, in the abstract, IJut eveu grautiug that he Ib guilty, be waa only doing what every one around him was tiyiug, or willing, to do, and man is the creature of bis environment. There are men, of course, with whom it is impossible to be dishonest, nr to engage iu any questionable sharp practice. Such, however, inherit that sterling trait from a long line of splendid ancestry, and they deserve no especial commendation. Iu the case of these epople who are throwing up their bauds in holy horror because Senator Mitchell has apparently used his otllolal position to make money for himself at the expense of the government, and abandoning him to his cruel fate in bis old age, are clearly not actuated by any lofty ideals of honor, or re pugnance to acta of questionable character; but are prompted by a pirit of craven cowardice, are de serting a former friend because be Ib in trouble and needs their aid. Under these circumstances, a real thorough bred would "stay with" him till the crack of doom. The act of his part ner, after admitting that he had per jurod himself, iu turning state's evi dence agaiust a pal to use the possibly inappropriate but expressive language of the criminal- is par ticularly despicable Grautiug that every charge preferred against Sen ator Mitchell is true, bo occupies a less oeuHtirablo position, in the eyea of real meu, than does bis trenoherous partner, who offers as a afcrlflco his associate, in ordor to save hls'ouw hide. Some writer on a Portland paper has cuuoeived the fako story that Baker, (J rant and Mainour counties are about to make a move to secede from Oregon and havo themselves at tached to Idaho. Of course, there is no truth in tho atatemout; but if such a movo were left to a voto of these three couuties, that thing would unquestionably bo doue. Tho In tenuis of this section of tho state aro entirely different from those of Port land and the Willamette valley, and by the potion of the lattor during twenty or more years piiHt, havo beeu made antagonistic. The western divlsiou of the state, being much more thickly populated, domluates the political; while Port laud, owing solely to favorable freight rates aud to no enterprise of its own, dominates the commercial affairs of Oregon. Hoth politically aud com mercially the coast country has been bo narrow aud short sibgted that it has alieuiated the regard of the east and wo are bound to it, not by cboloo, but by uecesaity. On tho other baud, our industries aud interests are identical with those of Idaho aud we would gladly oast our lot with that state were it possible. A similar condition of affairs ex ist ovor in Washington aud the prop osition hat beuu trequoutly disc nosed by the press aud men iu public iifo. Owing to the v.'ido dilfereuue of in terests, an antagonism in govern mental affairs is almost iuevitable aud such a condition is detrimental to both jections. Mnuntalu rauges, uot rivers, are tho natural dividing line botweeu areas of country aud should also be iu eepsratiug political divisions. Radical revision of laud laws affecting the public domaiu is recom meuded by Presideut Roosevelt iu a message forwarded to oougress, iu which is ooutained a secoud partial report of the house lauda commis sion, appointed by him October 22, 1903. The commission, upon as suming its duties, was instructed to "report upon the condition and effect of the present laws," and to recommend "such changes as are needed to effect the largest practical dispudtion of the public's land to actual settlers, who will build homes uopn (hem," aud to "secure in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of the puilo lauds." The report sumitted declares the preaent laws unsuitable to the needs of the growing public domain. Agricultural possibilities are little understood or eveu ascertained and provision, the commission believes, rbould be made for gathering the ex act facts concerning what, the lands will grow, if anything, and for hold lug for agrioultnre such tracts aa are fit tor It. The recommendation for the re peal of the timber and atone aota Is renewed. The commission thinks the sale of timber from unreserved publio forests should be authorized. The immediate application of any rigid ssytem to grazing lands ia op osed, but the commission reoommends that the president be authorized to set aside grazing districts by procla mation, said districts to be under control uf the secretary of agricul ture Tho commission also recemmends: "The right to exchange lands in forest reservations for lands outside should bo withdrawn;" "provision should b'j made for the purchase of needed private lands inside forest re serves, or for the exahange of such lauds for traces of like area and value outside the reservations;" "the commutation clause of the homestead act being found to work badly, three yeara actual residence should be re quired before commutation;" "the desert laud act being fond to lead to mouopoly iu many cases, the area of a desert entry should be reduced to uot more thau 100 aores, actual resi dence for three years should be re quired, the actual production on a valuable crop ou one-fourth the area and proof of an adequate water sup ply being necessary." The com mission cencludes: "The funda mental fact that characterizes the situation uuder the publiu laud laws is this that the uumber of patents issued is increasing out of all propor tion to the number of new homes.'' If Your Are Mot Particular. Don't travel over the Illinois Central, as any old road will do you aud we don't want your patronage; but if you are particular and want the boat aud mean to have it, ask the tioket agent to route you via the Illinois Central, the road that runs through solid vestibule trains be tween St. Paul, Omaha, Chicago, St. LouIb, Mempbpis and New Orleans. No additional charge is made for a seat in our reclining chair cars, which are fitted with lavatories and smokiug rooms, and have a porter iu utteudauoe. Kates via tho llinoia Central are the lowest and we will be glad to quote them iu connection with any transcontinental line. J. O. LIND8EV, T. P. & P. A., 142 Third street, Portland, Oregon. B. II. TRUMBULL, Commercial agent, 142 Third street, Portland, Oregon. PAUL 13. THOMPSON, Freight and passeuger agent, Colman bond ing, Seattle, Washington. Slib wood for kitchen stoves or rauges, only $2.00 per cord. Sump ter Lumber Co.