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About The Columbia register. (Houlton, Columbia County, Or.) 1904-1906 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 1906)
tit Columbia r i a rr r r ii ' i j i ! S MAGAZINE SECTION. IIOULTON, OREGON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 1006. AGES 1 TO 4. J1JD THE STATEHOOD QUESTION, LIKELIHOOD OF TUB APMISSIOX OF OKLAHOMA AXD IXDIAS TERRITORY, Disposition to Grant Them Statehood Irrespective of Anion and New Mexico-New Congressional Align men on Uucstlon. The assembling of congress win bring new llixnl la both the House ad Benate. There I promise of a long and very Important ('Ion. New policies are to be discussed and material changes la exUtinx economic conditions are to be proimxod. Coming upon the eve of a congressional elec tion, the session will feel tho effects, to a cert la ex twit, of iolltlcul eousld enttlons. The admission of new states to the Union will be one of the bold-over questions to occupy the attention of t ue new confirm, n appears now that there will t a derided shifting Of position on tho statehood problem, sotue new light having dawned alnce statehood waa discussed at tho hut session. It la understood that the committees on territories of both House and Sen ate are Inclined to stand by the old program of creating two states out of the four territories, but it will not be a surprise If this program falls to meet the approval of a majority of the rt'publlcno senators and reprcsenta tires. 81 nee the question of state hood for these four southwest terri tories was brought Into congress ninny senators and representatives have personally Investigated the exist ing conditions In the territories, and the result Is that public sentiment among public men la crystallizing la favor of the plan of admitting Oklu noma and Indian Territory to state hood and, If necessary, tutting Arizo na and New Mexico watt There seems to be few dissenting voices against the proposed admission X-, : S i r -1 V r ' lE5t ill THE CHINESE MINISTER'S DAUGHTER. Visitors to the Chinese Legation at Washington have often been attracted to a tiny little figure perched at the head of the grand stairway. It la al ways there when a dinner party la go ing on or when Sir Chengtung Liang Cheng, the Chinese Minister, la giving A reception. It never falls to appear, And the uninitiated have been heard to ' remark in undertone that It is a queer little figure which guards the head of the stairway. However, it is a very animated some body after all, for it la no other than the young daughter of the Minister, Miss Liang, who, though barred through the custom of her country and her youth from taking actual part In these entertainments, Is, nevertheless, determined to see as much of them as she possibly can. Perhaps her father, the Minister, does not know she is there and perhaps he does, but nobody knows, for no mention of the fact has ever been made to him, and Miss Liang continues to enjoy these many social affairs from afar. , This dainty little Chinese marf has been In this country ever since hor fa ther was delegated to represent his emperor at Washington. She is Just seventeen years old, and until she came to America she did not knowwhat it was to be allowed to go out unat tended. OVer In China the women never show their faces on the street, but with the appointment to Washington of Wu Ting Dang, former Chinese Minister, members of the legation, and especially the women, were given greater free dom and now they go about with never thought aa to the propriety of the ex of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. IJlfTereuce of opinion does exUt as to whether the two territories should bo admitted as one state or whether they should be admitted as separate states, but on the mala proposition the preparedness of these two terri tories for statehood there Is little dissenting opinion. In fact the pre vailing view Is that statehood has already twn too long delayed In jbe case of Oklahoma and Indlnn Terri tory. It la almost disgraceful well informed public men are aaylng. that these two progressive territories should te held back simply twa-jse of disagreement as to whether those unprepared territories. Arlmua and New Mexico, should lie admitted. It la high time, many men declare, for congress to cut loose from the Art eona aud New Mexico proposition, no matter what form It may take, and admit Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Tho Rojal Crovra ot England. "Uneasy is the bead that wears the crown." The crown of Kngtand Is a costly toy and Is better to look upon man to wear. Around the circlo there are twenty diamonds, worth 7.rK) each, two large center diamonds. 110.- 000 each; fifty-four smaller ones at the anglo of the former, $500 each; four crosses, each composed of twenty-flVeJJ diamonds, fat.OOO; four large dOTh monda at the ton of the crosses, 120- 000; twelve diamonds contained In the fleur-de-lis. f30,ooo: eighteen smaller ones la same, $10,000; pearls, din momis, etc., nnon the erehes and crosses, foO.OOO; also one hundred and forty-one small diamonds, fi,noo; twenty-six diamonds In the upper cross, $15,000 and two circles of pearls about the rim. $13,000. The cost of tho precious atones alone la nearly naif a million dollars. Here Ilea my wife's nearest relative. AH my tcara cannot bring her lack. Therefore I weep. perience. At home they would not dare. Society is eagerly awaiting the ex pected announcement that Miss Liang will be formally presented this season. She has learned to speak English ex ceedingly well and la a familiar figure In a box at the theatres on Monday nights. When she wishes to go shop ping' she does so unhesitatingly, and her carriage is frequently seen' stand ing in front of some of ,the fashionable shops. Fewer girls, especially among those who have not been presented to so ciety, are more popular than this charming daughter of the Chinese Min ister. She has made friends with every girl in Washington society, and her chief delight is to Jump In her car riage in the afternoons and drive about, calling on her young American friends. They are all delighted to see her, and no matter what la on the pro gramme it must wait if the attractive little Miss Liang happens to call. She Is so piquant, and appreciates an American Joke as well aa any of her American associates. Miss Liang is the constant compan Ion of her father and accompanies him on all his drives. They are great friends and apparently enjoy every minute of their time together. The Minister is very proud of his daughter's progress in learning American cus toms, and It Is not unlikely that before many more years are past the Chinese Legation will be enjoying even to a greater extent the American freedom in living which makes the assignment of Washington a diplomatic plum for which many hands are always ready. HARK TWAIN AT SEVENTY. TUS HUMORIST EXTtxTAIXS GROWS OF AUTHORS AT DAXQUhT. At Three Score and Ten He la Hale and Hearty-Gives Views on How to 1 Ive-Ncver Smokes or Drinks While Asleep. Msrk Twain, that prince of humor ists has rent-bed the limitation of life as laid down by the Kcrlptures three s-re years and ten. And vet he Is still able to give us gnus of humor snd wit such gems as attained fame for him years ago when Huckleberry rlnn, Tom Sawyer and Innocents A MARK TWAIN, TO-DAY. Abroad were first given to us. On De. cember 6th be was the guent of honor at a dinner In New York, to celebrate his seventieth birthday. The guests were confined closclr to writers of Imaginative literature, and about 170 authors were present ncarlr haif of them women. Every guest received ss a souvenir a bust of Mark Twain, half-life size. Naturally Mr. Clemcna was the principal speaker; he look as his text, "How to get to be sevcntT and not mind It" He said: 'The seventieth birthday! It la the time of life when you arrive at a new and awful dignity; when you may throw aside the decent reserves which have oppressed you for a generation, and stand nnafrald . and cnabnshe? upon your seven-terraced summit and look down and teach unrebuked. You can tell the world how you got there. It is what they all do. You shall never get tired of telling by what delicate arts and deep moralities you climbed up to that great place. You will ex plain tho process and dwell on the par ticulars with senile rapture. I nave been anxious to explain my own sys tem for a lone time, and now at last I have the right Regularly Irregular I have achieved my seventy years In the usual way by sticking strictly to a scheme of my life which would kill anybody else. It sounds like an ex aggeration, but that is really the com mon rule for attaining to old age. We hare no permanent habits until we are forty. Then they begin to har den, presently they petrify, then busi ness begins. Since forty I have been regular about going to bed and getting up, and that Is one of the main things. I have made It a rule to go to bed when there wasn't anybody left to sit up with, and I hare made It a rule to get up when I had to. This has result ed In an unswerving regularity of ir regularity. "In the matter of diet which Is another main thing I have been per sistently strict In sticking to the things which didn't agree with me until one or the other of us got the best of It Until lately I got the best of it myself. But last spring I stopped frolicking with mince pie after midnight; up to then I had always believed It wasn't loaded. - For thirty years I have taken coffee and bread at 8 in the morning and no bite nor sup until 7.30 In the evening. "I have made It a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. I have no other restriction as regards smoking. I do not know Just when I began to smoke; I only know that It was in my father's lifetime, and that I was indiscreet He passed from this life early In 1S17, when I was a shade past eleven: ever since then I have smoked publicly. As an example to others, and not that I care for moder ation myself, it has always been my rulo never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake. . "As for drinking, I have no rule about that. When the others drin I like to help; otherwise I remain dry, by habit and preference. This dry ness does not hurt me, but it could easily hurt you, because you are different You let It alone. First Standard Oil Trust, x "Since I was seven years old I have seldom taken a dose of medicine and have still more seldom needed one. But up to seven I lived exclusively on allopathic medicines. Not that I need ed them, for I don't think I did; but it was for economy. My father took a drug store for n debt, and it made cod liver oil cheaper than the other break fast foods. I was the first Standard Oil Trust. I had it all. By the time the drug store was exhausted my health was established, and there has never been much the matter with me since. "I have never taken any exercise, ex cept eleeplns ana resting, and I never Intend to take any. Exercise Is loath some. And It cannot be any beueut when you are tired; 1 was always tired. "I have lived a severely moral life. But It would be a mistake for other people to try that or for me to rec ommend It Very few would succeed. You hsve to have a perfectly colossal stock of morals, and you cannot get them on a margin; you have to have the whole thing and put them la your box. Morals are an acquirement like music, like a foreign language, like piety, poker, paralysis no man Is born with them. 1 wasn't myself. 1 start ed poor- WHAT A STRIKE COST. Chicago Obliged to Divert Money needed ror Improvements Into Payment For Folic Service. It will never be known definitely Just ' what the . recent atrlke of the funsters cost the people of Chicago. That the total wot. 4 run well Into the millions, howtvtr, is a conserva tive estimate, Judging from the single item of the expense to the municipal ity for extra poil;e protection. Some time ago it was discovered that the city could add $5,000,000 to its bonded debt and the people au thorized an issue of bonds to this amount for specific public improve ments. The end of the teamsters' strike found $2,000,000 of these bonds stili unsold and an emergency strike debt ot some $305,000. To pay this bill the council has retired the $2,000,000 of bonds and ordered tbelr rcbsue In such form that they may be used for general corporate purposes. Thus $305.000 or the estimated cost of lowering the two river tun nelsgoes to pay extra policemen for defending the lives of citizens and pro tecting their property while a supine city administration practically gave license to the striking teamsters to make the ordinary business of peace ful citizens full of turmoil and haz ard. Money that the people Intended to go Into sorely needed permanent Im provements has been diverted to meet the cost of lawlessness that never should have gone to the extent It did. The cost of this one strike Is the $365,000 the city pays for extra police service, plus what the county has to pay for special deputy sheriffs, plus the loss to merchants, railways, man ufacturers, etc- in business; plus lost wages to the strikers, plus a dozen other items that It would he difficult to enumerate. And this only em- laces money cost It takes no ac count ot Inconvenience to citizens, of assaults on citizens, of the killing of citizens. It is a tremendously expensive thing to fight a labor war In a great city. J Ring fbr a Throne. Miss Josephine Strong, who was private secretary at Washington tor Congressman Hawley, has a diamond ring that was once owned and worn by Louis Philllpe. king of France. The ring has a peculiar history. It will be remembered that Philllpe lived In this country when he was an exile. He lived one winter In Zanesville, Ohio, and spent another winter with i.: 3 si 53 m A COUPLE OF 'HOMES" IN THE WEST. la Gen. Morgan Neville, a rich pioneer and taught the district school. He had word from France that there was a chance to regain the Bourbon' throne If he could but get to Paris, but he had not money enough tor the trip. Gen. Neville lent the prince the money, something like $300, and the prince gave in pledge the ring that Miss Strong now wears. Going to New Or leans by boat, Philllpe got to France and the rest is history. He regained his throne and the money lent by Gen Neville made it possible. The king sent back the amount of the loan, told the4 general to keep the ring and asked him to visit him at the royal palace. The ring is a pear shaped diamond, set In black enamel and la naturally highly prized. , - Into the Earth's Bowels. At Bendlgo, Australia," there Is a gold mine 3,900 feet deep, or only 60 feet short of three-quarters of a mile. This Js Bald to be the deepest gold miae, la the world. AOERICAN LAND EOSOPLT. IS DEIXG FOSTERED BY OUR I'RES EST SYSTEM 0FL00SS LAXD LAWS. Homestead Commutation and Desert Land Act, Supposed to Encourage Settlcmen'.-Lartt-cly Utilized for . Land Ci abbing. Land monopoly la a black cloud of dread from which Ireland la Just emerging, and we applaud England's act while we may yet possibly he a .little skeptical, la providing a plan whereby free Ireland may become a fact Yet we ourselves are as rapidly ap proaching land monopoly In America as It Is possible to do, considering our vast exttnt of territory. Land monop oly brings with it more state evils than can be recounted in any single article. It retards every internal de velopment. It smothers Individual ef fort and enterprise and finally It transforms the stem and fiber of the Individual citizen from that of a sub stantial, self-reliant supporter of free government to a supine, indifferent and passionless individual, lacking In mental and moral poise and in those sturdy and heroic qualities which have made America the greatest name In history. "Land monopoly, did you say?" says the American land grabber. "Why, there is enough land for the children of the nation for generations u not centuries to come. The gov ernment owns in the West alone near ly half a billion acres and how can there be any land monopoly when this vat area Is always open to free entrj under our various land laws!" Half Billion Acres Remaining. It la true that there are valuable lands In the West yet remaining open to entry, or at least land which will be valuable when it shall have been furnished water for irrigation, bul what Is the general description of this half billion acres yet remaining under Uncle Sam's control? Is it reasonable to suppose that the shrewd land oper ators, living on the ground, have not skimmed the cream of this land, and are' not doing so to-day the fertile valleys and the rich plains, where water can be applied and leaving the great bulk of the land to their pos terity, land composed ot mountalr tops and Impassable canyon sides which will probably forever remain In the hands ot the government and at least can never support life. Glance at a physical map of Colorado, Just for an instance, and note the vast preponderance of mountains. There are many fertile valleys la Colorado, for the map Is on a much reduced scale, but from its appearance you would think the entire State was com posed of nothing but chain upon chain and range upon range ot untillable mountains. Denounced by Commission. This question of land monopoly In the West, as It Is fostered through the use of the commutation clause of the homestead act and the desert land act has been studied by the President's Public Lands Commission, and their report, the third Installment of which V4 is published In these columns, com ments upon these two land laws. The commutation clause originally provided that after eight months of residence on a homestead claim a man could "commute" by paying to the government $1.25 an acre and get Immediate title to his land. After a number of years of operation It was conceded that this clause had opened the door tor much land acquirement without settlement, and amid a great blare of trumpets. Congress; in a spasm of virtue, extended the time to fourteen months. What has been the result of this amendment? The op ponents oi tne repeal oi tne commuta tlon clause have presented specific reasons why this law should not be touched; that the entry man needs to "prove up" and get title to his land so that he can mortgage his property and with the money buy groceries, tools, etc., with which to work his farm, which may sound well, but the tact seems to remain that the great bulk of the commuted homesteacs are est te-c&y teres. There is a class of people who have apparently lost sight of the fact that the federal land laws, from the home stead law down, and even before the homestead law, were enacted for the purpose of fostering the making of homes for the nation; they seem to thtnk, and it must he confessed that they have successfully put into prac tice their belief, that the laws are to be construed Into passing on the title from the government Into private bands with absolutely no regard to homemaking. Tb;y argue that when the public domain goes into private ownership it becomes taxable property and this helps the country and the Bute, and the question Is ignored as to whether men and women go upon that land and make homes and rear families. The followlnr nart of the rennrt nt the Public Lands Commission shows that the commutation clause at pres ent lS a farce And that land ran ha entered under it and almost immedi ately added to already large individual noiaings. ine commission recom mends that tha neriod of rpnldpnc be extended from fourteen months to three years and that the residence be actual and not construct! aa It in at present With such a law strictly enforced the evils of the - commuta tion clause would be largely obviated. It Is, however, highly improbable that if a man actually resided and im proved his homestead for three years . FREDERICK II. KEWITLT. Chief Engineer of the U. 9. Reclamation 8er. uu jueni oer oi ice fuuiic Uiaua Commission. he would be nnwillin? to imr t1 93 an acre for Immediate title, when by aa additional two years' residence, he could save this amount. The provisions of the desert land act, and the recommendation for' the amendment of which is included In the following report will be discussed In next week's article. Commutation Clause of the Home stead Act. In the nrecedln? rpnnrt otaA. ment was made that our investiga tions respecting tne operations of the commutation clause of the homestead law were Btill in progress. We were not at that time prepared to recom mend Its repeal. Investigations ear ned on during the past year have convinced ns that nmmnt- inHnn should be taken In this direction and that, In the interest or settlement, the commutation clause should be great ly mooinea. A careful PTnmlnnttnn nf tha rifo. tricts where the commutation clause is put to tne most use shows that there has been a ranld inorpnsp nf tha use of this expedient for passing public lands Into the hands of -corporations or large landowners. The object of the homestead law was pri marily to give to eacn citizen, th- tienu 01 a lamiiy, an amount or land UD to 1G0 acres, acricnttnrnl in Mmr. acter SO that homes would h rroi ttwt In the wilderness. The commutation clause, added at a later date, was undoubtely Intended to assist the honest settler, hut tito mnnv well-Intended acts Its original Intent nas oeen gradually perverted until ,It is aDnarent that a erpat nnrt nf alt commuted homesteads remains unin- nnbited. in other words, under the commutation clause the number of patents furnishes no index to the number of new homes. To prove this statement It Is only necessary to drive through a country where the commutation . ri.inao hm been lareelv aoDllpd. vma fttr field Is passed without a sign of per manent naDitanon or improvement other than fences. The homestead shanties of the commuters may be (Continued on next page.) Do You Use Acetylene? if so, Y8 Want to Send You A SAMPLE BUFHFR We be Here w hare ths very best and the cheapest line of Acetylene Burners. Our sample will show better than we can explain here why it would pay you to use our burners. Writs ua to-dav. mention kind nf DnnA. rator ued, encKe 8 cents in stamps to covet postage, and we will send you A Sample Burner XL 11 CHAilE COMPANY 1t31-33 I i't I WSm- If BROADWAY Kw To , :
