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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 1912)
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I- -. d ' f- PORTLAND TTZflDAT. JAXCAKT , Ml. om X ACTON AL nx. i There Is no place," said Senator Borah, In hl recent remarkable ad dress before the Toung Republican Club of New Tork. -where life la bo Insecure against the bomb or the bul let, where criminal lawa are ao Inef fectually enforced, where corruption la ao little condemned by public opinion, where defiance of law in the highest walks of business ao generaly pre vails. " The severe Indictment of the) eloquent Idaho Senator was against the entire people of the United States. The Impotence of law-enforcement and the shameful Indifference of the !ub!lc toward the law he declared to be "our National sin, pervading; all classes and fastening Its demoralising; hold upon all our Institutions." The Justifiable words of Senator Borah were recalled to The Oregonian by an article In The Oregonian Sunday about the course of Justice In Mult nomah County. Statistic were print ed to show that IS9 persona had been Indicted for various offenses In the first eleven months of 1911. Of the twenty-one about 8 per cent were sent to the penitentiary. Nlnety Ttlne of the ! or lees than one-third were found guilty, but fifty-three of the ninety-nine escaped the penalty of their crimes by being; released on parole by the court. It Is not the purpose of The Orego rlan to fasten primary responsibility for this lamentable situation upon the courts, but to hold directly account able the spirit of lawlessness of the people or rather their light and un concerned attitude toward the law and their exculpatory and Indulgent view ef crime and criminals. It Is easy to understand that a Judge may be Im portuned to show leniency toward every culprit who may happen to have svmpathetic friends or a dependent family; and It Is also easy to see why he should be Influenced toward a mod. lflcatlon of the law's severe Judgment In Individual cases when the laws are purposely framed so that the way of the transgressor shall not be hard. The path of the criminal nowadays Is strewn with the persuasive tears of appealing; relatives or the potent pleadings of meddling humanitarians, so that the exact course of Justice Is diverted Into coddling evasion and downright defeat. A foul murder Is committed, and the instrumentalities of the law through 'the Ingenious devices of lawyers are Invoked to secure Immunity from pun ishment. But if perchance the assas sin is convicted, and Jury and Judge decree that he shall pay the full pen alty, the scaffold Is wrecked by a Gov. ernor, the hangman's rope Is cut Into hits and distributed as souvenirs among weeping spectators and admir ing fellow-convicts, and the lucky murderer is showered with flowers and congratulations. If perchance a villainous Lothario, after a long career of debauchery and lust. Is brought to book for the ruin of young girls, and Is found guilty, the Jury and Judge think their duty ends when they turn the scoundrel loose with a hypothetical but Invisible scar let letter pinned to his breast. If a criminal Is perchance sent to the penitentiary, he is, or Is likely to be, paroled or "honored" by the Gov ernor: If he Is freed by the court, or escapes through quibble, or trick, or neglect, or collusion, he Is a smart fel. low. and the public regards him with a feeling almost akin to respect. The criminal. In or out of prison, the pub lic ought to desplsu, and the law ought always to punish. The core f-r this derlorable condi tion Is not more law, as the public appears to fancy, but more rigid law enforcement. We have law enough far more than enough. Hut we have cot enough regard for law, and be cause we have not, we fancy that the remedy for our own weakness or lax ity Is more and more law. When we take care to elect law of ficers who we know will enforce the law, and when we Insist that the law Is the law and most be obeyed, then shall we find corporations under Just and proper restraint and Individuals under correct discipline. When so ciety doe Its duty to Itself through its stern Insistence upon law observ ance, there will be less crime and fewer, far fewer, criminals. nre pity or it. Suicide, we are wont to say, is the ct of an Insane person, or a covrard. In this latter diagnosis selfishness Is often a prime element selfishness of the tyre that shrinks from svlf-dcnial even for the sake of wife and chil dren. This estimate Is corroborated In the case of a man lw committed suicide in this city New Tear's morn ing, leaving his wife and six children, the cMft eight years and the young est twins three months of age. Sfl2shnet-s culminating in cowardice Is unmistakable In this case. This charge Is supported by the fact that this pro lific father was a stationary engineer, capable of earning good wagrs; that Instead of putting In all available time at his vocation, earning what he could and applying his earnings to the main tenance of his helpless (.imlly, he quit work as Winter approached and took alt the money available. Including 1300 that he had received from the sale of some land, and went to New York to visit his parents. He returned after having had a good visit, entirely with out money, to his destitute family. He may or may not have been able to get work at his vocation. Naturally his Job was not held for him. but was given to a more stable man. Be this as It may. the earning power of this man seemed to have vanished. Other wise It would be difficult to account for the faoi. as developed since his sul- cida. that the family was dependent lor necessary ausienani-o uivu " - mother of six small children, two of whom are at the breast. -T-v. . .. i ..-nlrnt n f individual Ir- I responsibility that Is Illustrated first by j Inconsiderate marriage, later by Incon siderate assumption or manuoia pa rental duties, and at last crouches whining In a corner and drains a bot tle of carbolic acid. Self-murder is. of course, shocking; In a sense looking to its ultimate, seen and unseen, which Its victims caver do It Is pitiful. But, disclaim ing all Intent to take harsh Judgment, we cannot forbear an expression of the belief that since this was to be this man's chosen means of shirking re sponsibilities that are sacred to manly men In whatever flnanclat station or strait In life. It Is to be regretted that his case was not one of the many wherein carbolic acid or the pistol Is the recourse of the Jilted the balm for wounded self-love that seeks ex pression In marriage. Surely the act of a weak young man who kills him self because the girl he desires to marry will none of him. Is less censur able than that of the husband and father, whose postponement of his chosen means of exit leaves a wife and half a dozen helpless children without support. i COTKRNOB STTBBS. rNSFBGEVT. Governor Stubbs, of Kansas, prefers his personal success to the Integrity of his party. Rather than have a direct primary law under which he cannot secure the Republican nomination for Senator by means of Democratlo votes, he will have no direct primary at all. When the demoralisation of the Republican party by the Intrusion of Democrats will help his ambition. Stubtis welcomes such deadly Injury to his party. This peculiarity Is common among Insurgents. They seek personal suc cess, not through the success of their party, but by courting the aid of members c the opposite party at the expense of their own. They are Re publicans only so long as It pays in results for themselves. When the rules of the political game stand In their way, they set aside the rules, for with them it Is a game of wln-at-any-prlce. They are sadly deficient in that sport ing instinct which prompts a man cheerfully to accept defeat rather than win by unfair means. RAKBT THAWS IXSASITT. How farcical la the law under which a murderer's life Is saved by the plea of insanity la well Illustrated by the Intrigue through which Harry Thaw Is expected to gain his liberty. Thaw was found to be a dangerous lunatic, liable at any time In a gust of passion to commit homicide, and as such was confined at Matteawan. His family has been intriguing ever since to se cure his liberation and la reported to have succeeded so far as to have brought about a change in the man agement of the asylum favorable to him and to have overcome the objec tions of Jerome, who prosecuted htm for the murder of White, and of his wife to his liberation. These facts go to prove that a life sentence for a murderer Is not really a life sentence. It Is merely a sen tence to Imprisonment until political or personal Influence can secure a pardon or commutation of sentence. There can be no doubt that. If the sound principle on which insanity pleas were formerly Judged, as de fined by Carl Snyder, had been ad hered to. Thaw would have been con victed of murder. A sentence of death would have removed all future danger to other men's lives from a man proved to have murderous instincts. Paltering with the insanity plea has kept him alive as a source of evil In fluence on the affairs of the state and Its prosecuting officers and as a shin ing example of how to commit mur der and escape the death penalty. urtr pitAXK. nrr. roxscMER'9 rE- Lew Shank everybody calls him "Lw" Mayor of Indianapolis, has found the solution of the problem how to reduce the cost of living. He has actually demonstrated that high prices are due not so much to the Increase of urban In comparison with rural population, not so much to short crops as to the middleman, who uses his po sition to beat down the price paid the producer and to raise the price paid by the consumer that his rake-off may be larger. Regarded at first as a demagogue. Shank enlisted the sup port of the conservative element of Indianapolis by frankly confessing his Inability to run the city without their aid and he has now so completely won the support of all elements by his practical success In reducing the cost of living that he Is talked of as a future Governor. Receiving many complaint of the high prices of provisions in the city market, the Mayor Investigated and learned the tricks by which the mid dlemen "gouged" both producer and consumer. The market was rented to the middlemen and a city ordinance prevented selling on the curb without a license. The Mayor virtually abro gated this ordinance and prices be gan to tumble. Corn dropped from 20 cents a dozen to 8 to 10 cento, other produce sold by the farmer dropped In proportion and only things the farmer did not sell, or of which their supply became exhausted, remained high. Aa Kail came on and the farmers' supply became exhausted, prices soared again. Then Shank went further afield and bought a carload of Michigan pota toes. The price had been 11-60 a bushel, biit he cut It to 76 cents and sold his carload In three hours to peo ple who wont away with full baskets, blessing Iw Shank. He brought In carload after carload and sold none higher than S5 cents. By his compe tition he forced down the market price for the best Eastern potatoes to SO cents to $1- By keeping the market open to the farmers through the Fall the Mayor brought down the price of all hog products and of fruit, but he did not interfere again as a dealer until Just before Thanksgiving. Then he ran a three days' sale of turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens and country butter, and "knocked prices galley west." as dealers expressed it, sending them down S to 10 cents a pound. He fol lowed this up by selling a carload of English walnuts, hundreds of pounds of mincemeat and hundreds of Christ mas trees at about half price. The result has been a fall In prices all along the line. Even the commis sion men bold no grudge against him, for they admit that prices were too high and that they now sell more and make better profits. The people have taken Into tbelr I own hands the work begun by their Mayor. Housewives to tne numoer oi S00 have combined to buy their sup plies by competitive bids for one year from the firm offering the lowest price, postofflce and railroad employes have combined In the same manner, and one such organization Is buying hams, bacon and other cured meats at 5 cents less than the retail price. The Mayor is flooded with Inquiries from officials of other cities and has been compelled to employ extra help to answer them. He la preparing to con tinue his campaign through the Spring and to buy vegetables by wholesale In the South. Shank has proved that the remedy for high prices Is in the people's own hands and he has shown them how to apply It. The remedy for a producers or middlemen's trust is a consumers' trust, for If the consumers only hang together they can quickly bring the producers' trust to terms. Work can be found for some of the displaced middlemen In managing co-operative associations of consumers and the rest of them can Join the back-to-the-farm movement. They will be better occu pied aa producers than as parasites on the community and their health and morals will be Improved. riiTEB-vrrr DTLrntra. It would be Interesting to learn the exact number of young men who are killed year after year at their Initia tion ceremonies Into the Greek-letter fraternities. Of course the greatest pains are taken to conceal each of these "accidents," or explain them away, but now and then the real facta come out in all their hideousness. The youth who was burned almost to death at a fashionable Philadelphia academy cannot be the only one who has suf fered from the worship of the fetich this Fall and Winter. There must have been many more. Loyalty to the class, to the college or school, to the fraternity, naturally closes every mouth as a usual thing. It is only in cases rarely exceptional that the truth leaks out In spite of efforts to conceal It. The Greek-letter societies are an I undemocratic factor in college, as they are In school. The good they do Is of a sort that it Is hardly aiscnrainaieo. from evil, while the undeniable evil la manifest. At colleges where the fraternities -mtnrnr tVierA 1 aiwavs a great deal j of politics of the "sharp" variety. All the underhand manipulations are un derstood' thoroughly and practiced deftly. In athletics, class elections, student parties and the like the frater nities are all-powerful. The honors which they hold out are preferred by ambitious students far above any in tellectual distinctions. The faculty has nothing to offer which can compete for a moment with the glory of an election to the leading fraternity. In this way the ambitions of the stu dent are perverted. The true object of attendance at college la forgotten and false standards erected. Intel lectual prowess becomes something to be despised, w hile "social" and athletic eminence are all in all. The frater nities stand very high among the In fluences which have made the modern college a factor of questionable value In our civilization. A BEATIFIC VISION. Senator Bourne's article In the Jan uary Atlantic on "The Initiative. Ref erendum and Recall" may, for the sake of profounder study, be divided into two parts. The first, as the read er would naturally expect from the philosophical bent of the author. Is theoretical. The second is practical. Let us dispose of the latter first in order to get it out of the way and permit ourselves to revel unperturbed In the metaphysical beauties of the former. The second part of Senator Bourne's learned disquisition deals with recorded facts, and inasmuch as anybody can go to the documents and look them up for himself, it follows naturally that most of the statements are fairly accurate. While wandering with stately step through the flowery wilderness of philosophy, a Senator may say almost anything that happens to pop Into his head, but In dealing with facts his exalted station does not relieve him entirely of the danger of being tripped up If he envelopes them in a poetical halo of illusion. So Sen ator Bourne's facts are all right. It is his reasoning that fills one with amazement and hilarity. The object around which Senator Bourne's ardent intelligence burns with a lambent flame in this article is something of his own Invention, a poor thing but his own, or at any rate he thinks it Is his own. We may find cause to differ with htm about that some time or other, but let it pass now. This thing of Joy and beauty is the "composite cltisen." Do not be frightened at the weird conception. The composite citizen is not a Frank enstein's monster formed out of bits of flesh gathered here and there, now from a tomb, now from a tipsy reveler sleeping In the gutter. Not at all. Senator Bourne has nothing so horrid In his mind. His composite citizen is formed after the analogy of a com posite photograph, which, as every body knows, collects all the beauty and virtue of successive sitters on the plate and cancels all their frailties and ugly spots. Mr. Bourne's composite citizen is a sort of superhuman mush made by grinding together In an imag inary mortar everybody who has a vote and doing the product up In pel lets. We are supposed to be deprived by the triturating process of all our faults and selfish foibles. Nothing is left of us but exalted devotion to the common good. The pestle which grinds us In this magic mortar Is "the initiative and referendum." By its witching influ ence we are all so transformed that we simply can't vote against the high est good of the commonwealth. No matter how ardently you may long to be mean and pestiferous and cantan kerous, you might as well give up the struggle, for the initiative and refer endum will make a saint and states man out of you, wriggle against it as you may. EK you think w-e are exag gerating this miraculous power and its influence upon the voter? Rash nKt,p- p.fl1 the Senator's own in spired words and forever after hold your peace: "I have demonstrated" notice the sublime self-confidence of the great discoverer. Sir Isaac Newton, poor creature, said he was no more than a boy picking up pebbles on the shore of the boundls sea of truth, but Sen. ator Bourne is not troubled by any such silly affectation of humility. He i "riemnnstrated." We luxuriate in the mighty word. "I have demonstrat- ed that under the initiative and refer- J against the general welfare." This la such a comfort. It relieves one of any necessity to study public questions, to pore over initiative measures, to pon der upon the effect of proposed laws. Since we cannot vote against the gen eral welfare and are compelled by in evitable necessity to vote for It In spite of all we can do if we vote at all. what Is the use of reading or study? Away with all such tiresome Impostures. When election day comes we will shut out eyes and cast our votes confident that, as molecules In the Composite Citizen, we cannot vote amiss. Was ever a doctrine promulgated which tended more to make ignorant stupidity popular and respectable? It is a pity that the Senator did not per ceive the extensions of which his all too fascinating theory is capable. Let us delight our souls with a brief re- hearsal of his "demonstration" that ! the composite citizen cannot vote un wisely or selfishly. It comes to this. I Our selfish interests and our follies are all pulling In different directions, while the little spark of' energy in each of us that works for the publio good works In harmony with the kin dred spark In everybody else. Hence all silly and selfish measures proposed under the Initiative are killed by con flicting desires In the voters, while anything that promotes the general welfare must survive. We repeat that this principle admits of extension to other spheres than the political. We can prove by Senator Bourne's logic that no mean or selfish trick can ever be played by a man on his neighbor. The "demonstration" runs in this wise. Every other man in the community Is trying at the same Instant to play Am mean trick on our intended vie- I tlm. These tricks are necessarily con. fllctlng In their purpose. They agree only in being mean. Hence they neu tralize one another and try as Henry may he never can do anything but good to William. Beautiful conclu sion, lovely logic. How does it come that the world is full of despicable tricks? It Isn't. Tou are dreaming when you think you see the "spurns that patient merit from the unworthy takes." "There ain't no such spurns." They are all imaginary. The lofty principle of the "composite citizen" demonstrates that those things can not be. It is with rending reluctance that we leave this engaging theme. The more one dwells upon it the more It seems full of grace and spiritual sweetness. One parting word and then we shall sorrowfully compel ourselves to let it vanish like a blessed vision in the twilight cloud. Whenever you think you are cheated, or oppressed by an evil law, or hounded by a de testable neighbor, remember that you are part of the great composite citi zen and that as such you can neither do nor suffer anything unpleasant or injurious. Then a blessed peace will suffuse your soul. The country beholds Wall street's "gloom" with resignation, considering the cause, - which is a dearth of iambs" for the last year. The truth is that intelligent people have lost the taste for gambling with their savings and are seeking sound investments. This makes Wall street sad, but since it spreads Joy through thousands of homes perhaps the compensation Is adequate. The attack; on Consul Smart fur nished Britain a convenient excuse to strengthen her forces In Persia, lest Russia should mistake the boundary between the spheres of influence and should let the Cossacks stray over Into the British sphere. It is well enough to have a friendly understanding with Russia, but It is also well to watch her, that she lives up to It. The expected Is about to happen in Harry Thaw's case. The law has played with this deliberate murderer long enough to satisfy the decencies and now he will soon be released. This adds, a superfluous instance to the multitude which prove that our courts care more for several different things than they do for punishing criminals and preventing crime. Apparently there is a brain center for each separate language. The Day ton high school girl who was injured In the head has lost her English, but retains her newly-acquired Gerrpan. No doubt a fragment of bone presses upon the brain at the point where English speech is controlled. It is reasonable to expect complete relief by a simple operation. The slogan suggested to Portland by a Dalles correspondent, viz., "See the Rose City on her fresh-water seaport bloom when the canal comes through" is long-winded, rather than "catchy" as a slogan is supposed to be. The expenditure of breath In voicing It will be out of all proportion to the enthu siasm that it will inspire. Vancouver, Wash., is noted for its lumber, its big bridge, its musical frogs. Its historical associations and Its marriages, principally Its marriages. Seattle, with its many divorces, has a bond of sympathy with Vancouver, which mates, mlsmatea and remates the couples. Winter comes to the Middle West with roaring wind, flying snow and sero temperature. It comes to Oregon with Just enough frost to raake the air bracing and exercise enjoyable, with calm air and clear sky. The young murderer at Centralis ascribes his downfall topoker. That Is a slur at an ancient and more-or-less honorable game. Craps were more to his hand. The rural free delivery carrier must confine his energy to the postal card, for the latest Presidential order forbids him talking politics. For one whose career on Wall street was comparatively brief, Charles W. Morse accumulated a nice assortment of ailments. There Is refreshing change In the news from Tennessee that a mob of negroes has killed a white man. The big earthquake Is soon forgotten and San Francisco revelers seem not to fear possible wrath. All "frats" do not kill their victims, but some come very near It. Yesterday's good resolutions will feel a chill toward night. Portland is in the million dollar postofflce class to stay. Milwaukee Is paying for its experi ment cvlxn socialism. riGHT 19 OVER SrBPLITS VALVE. Socialism Galas aa Result of Displays by Idle Owaera, fsys Writer. CHEHALIS. Wash, Dec. 31. iTo the Editor.) The editorial in The Orego- nlan DecAmber 2fi under the caption. I "Socialism and Its Remedy," is one of I the fairest articles on the subject tnai I have ever seen. But It does not seem . to me that you get quite down to the real cause of the disease, i The steady increase of large fortunes and a corresponding decrease in the standard of living of the working class I Is no doubt the real cause of the trou I ble. This condition has always been 1 with us but it is only of late that the big majority of people have commenced to inquire. This is a natural sequence of development caused by the exhaus tion of tbe public domain. As long as there was free land for the exploited and dispossessed part of our people to go to and commence the struggle for existence again the crisis was avoided. Ail of our commercial fight and, in fact, all of our business turmoil is over and for the possession of surplus value. Surplus value as rightly defined is the difference between what labor applied to the raw material creates and what it , gets in the form of wages. It is out of this surplus value that Frank Gould buys his wife a pearl necklace to the j value or touu.vuv, ana it s surplus value that Anna Gould buys a bath tube for the same amount of money. It Is also out of this same sur plus that cities are built; in fact, all of our boasted improvements and evi dences of civilization are built from the same source. The fault of our system is not so much that these Improvements are bought, not ont of this surplus value but that this surplus value Is mortgaged and it has been mortgaged In the past and we are now paying the interest on It, as well as paying the dividends to private owners. As a result, we have a class of idle owners squandering the surplus and a big class producing It. Our troubles do not arise from trusts, but from trust ownership. The trusts have solved the question of production, for they are producing cheaper than ever in the history of the world. But the cost to the consumer in proportion to the cost of production never was so high as now. This differential can be regulated by law, but there la but little difference between regulation and own ership. If the trust beneficiaries do the regulating the condition is not remedied, while if the consumer does the regulating, we might as well have public ownership. The newspapers themselves are much to blame for the condition. They pub lish the accounts of such purchases as Frank Gould's necklace and Anna Gould's gold-lined bath tub and the mass of the people see It and look around to see where they get the money from. When the common people maka up their mind that they are the ones that are furnishing the wherewith to buy these baubles they commence to look for the reredy and naturally turn to political conditions, and when they hear the philosophy of the Social ist agitator it appeals to them and they are going to it. I don't think that they go to the So cialist party so much as a protest or out of revenge, but because of careful Investigation, and the rule is that when a person accepts Socialism in some form as a remedy they rarely quit. Once a Socialist, always a Socialist. Remedies of all kinds have been tried for this same feeling of discontent, burning at the stake, crucifixion, slaughtering of discontents, but when ever the feeling of discontent becomes general, it is the same old fight over surplus value. Are the present ruling-classes going to be able to cope with the situation any better than rulers of the past? Time alone will telL The Socialists may be right when they claim that the only remedy for economic ills is the democratlo ownership and control of the means of production and distribu tion. At least, it Is wise to be fair. CARL MOTTER. ARGUMENTS EVADB REAL ISSIK Real Question Is Whether Governor Has Right to I'snrp People's So-verelamty. PORTLAND, Jan. L (To the Edi tor.) I have read with some interest the various comments upon Governor West's prison policy that have ap peared from time to time In The Morn ing Oregonlan. One of the latest that I note on this interesting subject is a communication in The Oregonian De cember 24, from John A. Jeffrey, which I was led to peruse, not through any hope of enlightenment, but through a feeling of curiosity as to how far an exaggerated idea of a man's intelli gence and learning can lead him to use abusive language in the vain belief that it constitutes a most effective and conclusive argument. It seems to me that Mr. Jeffrey and many others are only beating the air, as the subject of the argument is, not. "Is It morally right or wrong to hang a murderer"; but, "Has Governor West any right to usurp the sov ereignty of the people of the State of OregonT" The people have, through their chosen representatives, declared It to be a law. that a man found guilty of murder In the first degree shall be hanged; and they have elected men as public servants (not as rulers) to en force their laws, and have imposed upon them an oath binding .them to do so to the best of their ability. Gov ernor West has taken this oath", and is legally and morally bound to obey It without any reference to his own ap proval of or opposition to the lawa If the people wish to change this law, they may do so whenever they see lit; but until that time the present lawa must be enforced by our public servants. Upon this point there can be no argument. The people must rule. MARTIN ROSTVOLD. THE BALLAD OF THE WAGON. The midnight bells were rlngln In mellow tones and clear. The call for Time to get the hook For the decadent year. I climbed The Wagon, full of glee; Another gink climbed up by me. "Speed on. brave chauffeur I Let er hum, And we'll outrun the Demon Rum!" The Wagon rumbled on its way. And merrily" sang we Our round of vows for 19H; "Hooray, we all are free! We've ducked the clinking glasses' clamor. The morning-after katzenjammerr For three full days we carolled gay The Wagon rumbled on Its way. A fourth day and a fifth flew by. The Wagon, once replete i With choiring songsters, here and there Displayed a vacant seat. Where, with apologetic cough. By ones and twos they'd tumbled off. Departing for a gay carouse To celebrate their busted vowa The sixth day, past two swinging doors The creaking Wagon ran. And only two remained aboard; 1 and the other man. "What ho!" he cried, "My friend, me thinks We two are sure the faithful ginks! For six full days we've stayed aboard! Such constancy deserves reward!" I bade adieu and watched him leap. Alack, I did not note That, as he leaped, his friendly hand Was tangled In my coat. "Plump! Plump!" We hit the pave amain. mi.- i .(An... wrA nnnl In twain. A seventh day began to dawn. Dean, Collin. Labor la Available aad Weather Is Pro pttiona for Economy. PORTLAND. Dec 3L (To the Edi tor.) The editorial paragraph, printed in The Oregonian Christmas day. sug gesting that some of the unemployed be set to work charpitting stumps on logged-off land, is certainly pertinent, considering ths amount of interest manifested In many localities regard ing the problem of reducing the cost of land clearing, as well as the real need of more cleared land. The sentiment expressed is timely. The men are Idle at a season of the year when the most can be accom plished at land clearing, and the de mand for the products of the soil is so great as to warrant the expense of clearing it. No better Investment can possibly be made of a few dollars than as you have suggested. This is the propitious season to do Just this- kind of work, as has been demonstrated by those striving to es tablish a universal system for clearing land most economically. If only a few hundred owning uncleared land will put a few of these idle men at work, and now when they can get them, they will not only make a most profitable Investment but materially assist In proving that land clearing is not the terrible work it is supposed to be. If they will only keep records of their work they will help establish a fixed cost In both labor and money that will forever dispel the erroneous Ideas now prevailing on this subject, and at the same time render great service to the state. Charpitting should be started at this season of the year. The weather is cool and the ground soft. The first operation necessary Is to dig a shal low trench around each stump, then remove the bark for, say, 30 inches up from the ground. Any person can do this work. Irrespective of his age or strength. An ordinary person can thus prepare from 10 to 20 per day, according to size and conditions. Stumps prepared at this season of the year and left until next July or August, when they will be dry as tin der, will burn out, together with their roots, without fail. Also, this is the best season to cut up all small stuff, such as poles and logs under 18 inches in diameter, to be put in small piles. This work can be done much easier, better and cheaper in cool, moist weather than in hot, dry weather. Men are available now and are not In Summer, especially for this work. If landowners would only learn to use system in clearing their land, 1. e., pre pare everything to burn at the proper season of the year, when the weather is oool and labor plenty and cheap, and burn only when stumps and logs will burn best, when fewer men are needed, they would soon find them selves striving only for the cheapest and easiest methou of getting fire to everything encumbering the ground, in place of trying how best to get every thing to the fire. Professor 6parks system is a one man system. It provides work for men when they are idle most and when they can accomplish the most. Everything encumbering the ground can be easily burned right when it stands or lies, ex cept the brush, so what Is the use of handling this enormous tonnage? Special bulletins fully describing this work can be had by writing Professor Sparks at Pullman, Wash., now, and in about 80 days from now they can be obtained from the Chamber of Com merce of this city. F. B. HOLBROOK. TWO MASTERS SERVED IS CHARGE Writer Declares Fire Marshal Is rn Employ of Underwriters. PORTLAND, Or Jan. L (To the Editor.) Will you be so kind as to allow me small space to say a few words about the oil tank ordinance now before the City Council. Mr. Roberts, the Fire Marshal, de mands that the tanks be located 2000 feet from the river and 600 feet from apy dwelling. This will be an Impos sibility, and Mr. Roberts knows it. The Fire Marshal puts this restriction on the oil companies to drive them out of the city. He is not doing it for the benefit of the qlty, but for spite work on the part of the underwriters, whom he is representing in this matter, not the city. The underwriters have no use for the oil companies for the reason the oil companies do not insure with the un derwriters. They carry their own risk. It is about time the publio Is in formed of the situation in this contro versy. Mr. Roberts, the Fire Marshal, Is paid 1100 per month by the city to act as Fire Marshal. He is a paid em ploye of the underwriters and he works for them to the detriment of the city. It Is about time the City of Portland had a Fire Marshal of its own and not let the underwriters make a monkey of them any longer. Regarding the distance the oil tanks should be from the river, Mr. Roberts knows Just as well as I do that 200 feet is Just as safe as 2000 feet. If the plant is constructed on proper lines. If the oil ordinance now before the Council Is passed as Mr. Roberts in sists, it will be of great damage to the City of Portland, but what do the un derwriters care for the city? They are a foreign corporation and have no In terest here. If the ordinance is passed Seattle will ship all the oil to Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Idaho, and every Jobbing bouse in this city will feel the effects of it, no matter what line of goods they handle, for the reason that if the merchants east of the Cascade Mountains have to order oil from Seattle they will order other goods at the same time. Seattle has its largest oil plants right on the waterfront and the City Fire Marshal does not insist they be move. Why? Becausehe is not paid by the underwriters. M, G. THORSEN. SO HYDROPHOBIA IX SHERMAJT. County Inspector Says Disease Has Wot Attacked Livestock There. MORO, Or., Dec. 3L (To the Edi tor.) The Oregonian has published an article regarding a report of Prof. B. F. Pernot to the State Board of Health with reference to hydropho bia in horses and cattle in Eastern Oregon. This article states that the disease was particularly prevalent in Morrow, Sherman and Gilliam Counties. Now. I do not know as to Morrow and Gilliam Counties, but I do know that there has not been, nor is there now, a single case of it in Sherman County. As stock inspector of this county it is part of my duties to investigate and quarantine all cases of supposed con tagious diseases among stock in my territory, which I do at intervals, whether called upon or not. I also have a deputy at Kent, in the south end of this county, keeping a lookout for disease among stock there. In ad dition to this Dr. Joseph Sanders, V. S., practicing all over this county, as sures me that he has not seen a single case with the symptoms described in the report. I trust that you will give this pub licity. I am sorry to learn that they are losing so much stock from this disease in Morrow and Gilliam Coun ties, and hope that a remedy may Boon be discovered. TAMTT.a RTEWART. Stock Inspector, Sherman County, Or. A Count of Cigar Brands. Washington (D. C.) Post. Nearly 1,600.000 different brands of cigars are made. Yet at the outside there are but 150 different kinds of tobaooo grown. Correspondent Commends Treatment of the Vnemployed. PORTLAND, Jan. 1. (To the Edi tor.) I desire as a free-born American citizen, former newspaper man and citizen of Portland to offer a word of approval and congratulation respecting the noble and charitable act of our Mayor and Council In providing for the worthy and needy ones a means of escape from the rigors of cold and hunger. In their act in making such provision they were wise to discrim inate between the man who is willing and anxious to work at a reasonable compensation for services rendered, and the man who says he will not work at any wage offered, or the one who claims to be destitute, but who will not work unless he Is offered a certain wage to suit his own desires. , Now to be perfectly frank we could not blame the man if he had a bank account or sufficient means to lay off during the Winter months for refusing to work at a small wage during the inclemency of the weather. That would be his own privilege, for he would not necessarily be infringing upon another or the public for support. But it is quite a different thing for a man who is broke in the midst of Winter to refuse positively to go to work at even a small or a very small wage. It is foolishness, and, by such con duct, he places himself in the eyes of the public as a professional tramp or hobo. How can such a man reason ably expect food and shelter and the comforts of life lavishly bestowed upon him by other people who earn their living by honest industry? And still we have In every city just such class of men. When the test comes and the man out of a job and financially handicapped is offered employment at a reasonable wage but refuses to work, what can he expect but to be admonished to leave town. D. L MATSON. Seven Kinds of Advice. Donald A. Kahn in Judge. Advice is cheap, unless one goes to an attorney for It. He who's ever begging a match is a nuisance, but a lesser nuisance than the woman who's always trying to make one. The man who wears a celluloid collar and the woman who paints fool no one but themselves. If a woman has representative neighbors, small is her need of news papers. The other man's word Is an asser tion, your word is truth, your wife's If you buy a friend a drink, you are generous. If. in return, he buys you one he's a gentleman. If. then, you both let It go at that, you're both un commonly sensible. The man who is nobody's friend makes few enemies. Seville aa a New Seaport. London Tit-Bits. In 1914, upon the completion of the canal to shorten and straighten the Gaudalquiver River from Seville to the Atlantic Ocean it ts proposed to hold in Seville a Spanish-American exposi tion to celebrate the opening of this new era In the history of Seville as a seaport. This port, now available for ccean-golng vessels with draft of 25 feet, is expected by this Alfonso XIII Canal to secure a larger ocean trade. Situated on a tidal river. Seville com bines the advantages of an industrial and distributing conter and a seaport for trans-Atlantic commerce. Opportunity for Poet. PORTLAND, Dec. 30. (To the Edi tor.) The dispatches state that one Frank Garrison has Just been sent from Marshfleld to Salem to be hanged for atrocious murder. Now let some little girl write a bit of silly twaddle to our Governor (?) giving him an opportu nity again for spectacular display at the expense of the security and peace of decent people. A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. Parable of a Wooden Leg. Kansas City Star. It is not wise to pooh-pooh the legacy of a wooden leg. A man in Oklahoma willed his wooden leg to a pauper at the poorfarm. and the pauper found that $10,000 was stowed Inside it. The man who made the gift was also a pauper, and nobody supposed that he owned a penny. Italy tn the Flying Game. London Standard. The latest country to try an aerial postal service is Italy. The ItaUan aeronaut, Dal Mistro, recently carried a sack of mall between the Bologna and Venice postoffices in a Deperdussin monoplane, covering the distance of 191 miles in 1 hour and 28 minutes. Washington Evening Star. "What shall we put on the Christmas tree for your' asked Mr. Growcher's wife. T don't want any present. If I am to play Santa Claus, as usual, all I ask is to have my yarn whiskers and can ton flannel clothes flreproofed." A Poet'B Advertlslns; Sense. New York Times. Friend But why did you publish your poems under the name of Smith? Poet Just think how many good peo ple will fall under suspicion. Measuring a Statesman. Harper's Bazar. Little Elmer Papa, what Is It that makes a statesman great? Prof. Broadhead Death, my son. Femininity and Cities. Kansas City Journal. "Why are cities referred to in the feminine always?" "It may be because some of them pad their figures. Country Town Sayings by Ed Howe It's a foolish man who can be moved by a compliment he does not deserve. The girls who kiss may depend upon it that the boys will tell. People want to handle things: "Hands off signs - only make them worse. Judging from what I have heard, no one ever lived who had not been dis appointed In love. Visit the dry goods stores any after noon, and you will, laugh at the stories of hard times. What do women do with the stuff they buy at dry goods stores? No man knows. What has become of the old-faBh-loned woman who used to say to her boy, when he came in late: T11 at tend to your case after supper!" A man worries because he doesn't get along in business as well as he thinks he -should; a woman worries because she doesn't succeed in society as well as she thinks she should. When a man asks you for lnforma- t,i th, tlm. vou can make it up. and he won't know the difference. When was Julius Caesar Dorni va date will satisfy him as well as an other. To a woman it seems easy for a man . v mnnev To a man. it seems IU inc. n ....... . . easy for a woman to be amiable. I am becoming very tired of the men who have great love for the people, bat who lack ability to help them.