on north and south lines. East of one line was to be eastern time, west of that line, all the way to the next line, was to be central time, beyond came mountain time, and so on. When it was one o'clock in any part of a section it was to be one o'clock in all parts of that section. So the railroad managers theorized. But would the millions of people who had been going by "sun time" all of their lives consent to change their watches and clocks and adopt the new-fangled ideas? Failure was predicted.

Eighteen miles east of St. Louis was the locality where central time was sun time. No change was needed. But eastward to Cincinnati and to the westward into the plains country of Kansas every timepiece would be off from a minute to half an hour when the innovation started. The railroad people went to Professor Pritchett, then at Washington University, St. Louis, and asked him to become the time starter for the Mississippi Valley. A day was set for the institution of central time. Into the professor's rooms at the university were run telegraph wires connecting with railroad systems east, west, north and south. Pritchett's plans were described in detail and copied into papers all through the valley. Long lists of cities and towns were gotten out, with changes in minutes and seconds noted for each. The programme was thoroughly exploited. The whole population became interested. The day came, and at 12 meridian, by the observation at the university, Professor Pritchett's telegraph instrument clicked. Thousands of keys clicked in sympathy. Thousands of station clocks were set. Every railroad watch was adjusted. The people followed. Within a week, from Ohio to Colorado, central time was the only time. The introduction of the change was marvelously well done. From this successful relationship with the railroads Professor Pritchett passed to a practical connection with the great Wabash. In addition to his other duties he took charge of the time for a railroad system from Toledo to Kansas City and Omaha, ramifying in a score of branches. He learned all of the details of train dispatching, even to the practical mastery of telegraphy, and then he set to work to build up a method of time keeping and time regulating which made the Wabash service a model for the country in this respect. In the eight years of Professor Pritchett's connection with the Wabash his system was carried to such perfection that all of the men in the company's employ who carried time had watches of the same standard make; every clock in a Wabash station or office was set automatically from the observatory; with these clocks every Wabash employe compared his watch before he went out on a train. There wasn't a Wabash man who didn't have within a second or two of the exact time from day to day.

A Lesson in Official Courtesy.

A day or two after Dr. Pritchett took office as superintendent of the coast survey a card was brought in by a messenger. "Show the gentleman in," was the prompt acknowledgment. Thereupon a former official entered, and was given a most courteous hearing as he made his plea for reinstatement. Dr. Pritchett listened to the story, made answer and sent the caller away with the knowledge that he had been treated like a gentleman. But there was a ghost of a smile in the eyes of the superintendent when the door closed, and some time afterward he told a friend what the call had brought back to mind. He

had seen his caller before-eighteen years before. In that long passed period this man had been in a good position. He had stood so high with the management of the survey that in the absence of the superintendent he acted for him, At that same time plain Mr. Pritchett had been in the naval observatory with the astronomer, Prof. Asaph Hall. On one occasion the young Missourian went to the survey with a note asking for the delivery to him of a chart of the Pleiades. When Mr. Pritchett presented himself he was referred to this man, who sometimes acted in the absence of the superintendent. He tendered the letter and was told to sit down. The official proceeded with the reading of a newspaper which was engaging his attention when interrupted. The letter lay on the table in front of him. Mr. Pritchett sat there a full hour, his presence being entirely ignored. Then he got up from his seat and suggested that he would return later in the day. With an air of "I'll teach you a lesson in official etiquette," the officer turned to the young man and said, pompously:

"I'm very busy, sir. I will attend to this matter as soon as I can." Mr. Pritchett sat down quickly, prepared to wait all day, if necessary, upon the great man. A half hour passed. The official laid down his paper, picked up the letter and touched a bell. A messenger came. The letter was handed to him. In five minutes the chart was produced and Mr. Pritchett departed. He never forgot the lesson, as his treatment of the teacher showed. During his career in many capacities Dr. Pritchett has been one of the most approachable of men.

The Mother State of Oregon.

"Missouri, more than any other State, may claim to be the Mother State of Oregon," Frederick N. Judson said at the fiftieth anniversary of statehood held in Salem, February 15, 1909.

"Missouri was the gateway through which passed the great tides of immigration, which made the early settlements on the Pacific Coast, and she therefore contributed more than any other State to the early settlement of Oregon. Many Missouri names are among your pioneers, and very many of your people have come from Missouri homes, or trace back their lineage to Missouri ancestry. St. Louis was the starting point of the Lewis and Clark expedition; the earliest trading point for the furrier business of the Northwest, and it was in St. Louis that the pioneer bands of emigrants were organized.

"The names of two of the counties of Oregon, Linn and Benton, happily commemorate the services of Missouri Senators in behalf of Oregon. Senator Lewis F. Linn first introduced in Congress the appeal of the settlers on the Columbia River for protection, and was the enthusiastic advocate of Oregon until his death. The great Senator of Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, made a thorough investigation and mastery of the situation of Oregon. He was foremost in advocating the termination of the joint occupancy and settlement of the disputed boundary, and he braved the proslavery sentiment of his own State in advocating the territorial organization with the exclusion of slavery in 1848. His name is worthy of lasting honor in Oregon.

"Before his election to the Senate and before the admission of Missouri as a State, he publicly denounced the joint occupancy treaty when it was first made, saying that it was time that western men had some share in the destinies of

the republic. He declared there should be no mutuality in the use of Columbia River, and that the effect would be that the English traders would drive out our own. He proclaimed a new route to India to be formed by the rivers, Columbia, Missouri and Ohio, which, he said, would open a channel to Asia short, safe, cheap and exclusively American; and that the route, though interrupted by several portages, would present in some respects better navigation than the Ohio, and would be shorter by 20,000 miles than the existing ocean route from the Atlantic States to the East Indies. This was when railroads were unknown. In the Senate he opposed the renewal of the joint occupancy in 1828, and introduced resolutions in secret sessions against it, declaring in favor of a settlement on the basis of the forty-ninth degree as a permanent boundary. He was the leader of the discussion on the final termination of the joint occupancy, saying that the country could have but one people, one interest, one government, and that people should be American, that interest ours and that government republican.

"In the words of Mr. Benton, the great event of this time was the movement of the Anglo-Saxon race to the Pacific Ocean, beginning in 1840 and largely increasing in 1843, and this, 'like all other great immigrations and settlements of that race on our continent, was the act of the people going forward without government, aid or maintenance, establishing their position and compelling the government to follow them with its shield and spread it over them.'

"The settlement of the boundary question and the determination of joint occupancy left the Oregon country, that is, including the territory south of the forty-ninth degree and between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, an unorganized territory of the United States. During the period of the settlement of the boundary question, emigrants had been pouring in through the passes of the Rocky Mountains, so that there were now several thousand American inhabitants who had settled upon the land and were living only under the laws made by themselves, and the demand for Federal protection by formal organization as a territory became imperative.

"The position of the advocates of the organization of Oregon was effectively stated by Mr. Benton when he said that Oregon was left without government, without laws, while at that moment she was engaged in war with the Indians. And he added, 'She is three thousand miles from the metropolitan seat of government, and although she had set up for herself a provisional government, and taken on herself the enactment of laws, it is left to the will of every individual to determine for himself whether he will obey those laws or not.'

"The organization of Oregon with the exclusion of slavery was finally effected by the adoption of the provisional laws enacted by the territory and also subjecting the territory to the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, which excluded slavery from the Northwest Territory. An attempt was made to defeat the bill by filibustering, but it was finally passed on the last day of the session, August 14, 1848, through the alertness of Senator Benton, in seizing an opportunity to call for a vote on the bill. It was promptly signed by President Polk."

The Sublettes.

There were four Sublettes in the fur trade. William L. was the Captain Sublette. He was six feet two inches, tawny haired and blue-eyed with a deep