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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1912)
8 THE MORNTXG OREGONIAN. WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1912. 3 i PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered al Portland. Onfoa, PoatotOcs a Second-Claae Matter. eubscrlbUoa sua Invariably la Advene. (BY MAIL.) rnuiy. Sunday Included, on year. ......$. JJ Dally, Sunday Included, nix months..... EaJly. Sunday Included, three montnn Ually. Sunday Included, on montt. .... .l Bally, without Sunday, on year Zi Dally, without Sunday, six month..... J-J? Dally, without Sunday, thr month... i.ij Dal.y. without Sunday, on month ... J Weekly, on year Sunday, on year imt.i. and U'lrlff ana Tear. (BT CARRIER.) Dally. Sunday Included, on year.. Dally. Sunday Included, on month How to KttUt oena ruiioiiiL. ... . -- dr. cwreee order or personal check on your local bank. Stamp, com or currencr at th sender- nk. GIT postofflcs addrea. la full. Including county and state. n... U ia in ia nkieiL 1 cent , IV . . i Mnit- s.a to u caaea. ft oent to i pages. casta. Foreign postage, aoubl rat. Ka.tern Bosun Offlees Verrs ft C0" n v:. -v.w RFennlk bulIdt&S- hi- laa Francises Ol-flc R, J. BldwaU Co- T4i Market street, a European Ollic No. ft Reent street. W.. LouJun. PORTLAND, WEDNESDAY, JULY. BACKING A FRAUD. The Oregonian feels some surprise t..t .von Mr. IT Ken. whom - i ter appears elsewhere, should have J the temerity publicly to assert that what he terms tno grauw-v. ' tax and exemption, amendment Is an "honest, flatfooted single tax meas- ure." Evidence that It is not and was - never Intended to be that Is suffl- clenUy strong to convince any fair i minded Jury of citizens. Let us review this evidence: The measure was first placed be i fore the people with no reference to single tax In its title. The words I "single tax" were not put in its In- formal title until the paid propagan t dials of the Fels Commission had t been smoked out on the subject. The provision for single tax la 'i placed in an obscure paragraph of Involved phraseology twelve para- graphs down in. the body of the act. The leading single tax newspaper 3 of Oregon The Oregon Journal 'i presented what it asserted was an ' analysis of the amendment and sup- pressed all reference to the single tax phase of the measure. The Attorney-General, in drafting J the formal title of the amendment, placed In the first few and therefore the most noticeable lines thereof the - essentials of the obscure but lmport- ant single tax feature. J The Governor of Oregon, the See s' retary of State, the State Treasurer i and the State Tax Commissioners have j united in a statement aeciaring wax J "the real purpose of the measure is J to impose on the people of Oregon . a slightly modified form of single tax." and that the section providing foi- ainirie tax "is involved, covered in verbiage and the casual reader Is : apt to be misled as to its true mean- lng.' In the face of attempts at conceal- 4 ment of the measure s real intent, in I view of the brand put on it by the j responsible neaas oi me sum Istratlon. and considering the diffl- culty which the voter will encounter In understanding its provisions, mr. CRen's assertion that It is an .hon est, squarefooted single tax measure Is idle, futile and ridiculous. But he goes even further. He de clares the Multnomah County single tax measure and the graduated meas ure are both honest and flatfooted suoDleraentinir this statement with a commendation of the graduated tax features of the state measure. Tet there Is no graduated tax ele ment in the county measure. If the state measure is defeated and the county measure is successful, we shall have single tax but no graduated tax in Multnomah County. The graduated tax could have readily been included in the local measure. If it is as good a thing as Mr. ITRen asserts, it ought i to have been Included. If It is not i a good thing for the county, it Is not . for the state, and should nave Deen 4 omitted from the state measure. Both J cannot be honest measures in the sense of being the sincere effort of a I person who desires to give the people J the best there is In tax reforms. Truth is. Mr. ITRen is engaged In 1 the profitable work to him of im- posing single tax somewhere in Ore- gon. The graduated tax was placed I in the state measure to cloud the real issue and in the belief It would attract I voters from a large number of people ! supposed to be bitterly arrayed j against all forms of wealth. It was I left out of the local measure because I Mr. ITRen hoped, through his sinis- ter Influence over the leaders of or- ganized labor, to poll a majority for straight single tax without it. Mr. U"Ren cares nothing about the grad- uated tax. It is only an implement ' of warfare to be discarded, when pos- iv-slble. for more effective weapons. He -ir.is out for the votes. He has even "changed the original draft of his local . measure so that it will not offend ' thnu whn rielleva In licenslne- saloons. If Mr. ITRen is a sincere single taxer i he does not believe in any form of business tax. Even the local measure I Is not an honest, squarefooted present ment of the things he advocates. When Mr.- ITRen says that the i owners of the comer of Seventh and Morrison streets pay not a dollar of taxes because the lessees pay all taxes ) assessed against it. he is descending ' to the Imbecile class. Such leases are drawn to give the lot owners an ac I ceptable net income on the value of the real estate. If the lessee assumes the taxes the rental is higher; If the lessor assumes the taxes the rental is lower. The real estate pays the taxes levied against it. The graduated tax would not make impossible the entering Into of like contracts, as Mr. I URen implies. Possibly in the par ticular case cited a controversy would arise between the parties to the lease as to which should pay the gradu ated tax. Very likely the lease is Droia enougn in icrms to relieve trie owners of responsibility for its pay , ment. Moreover, there is nothing In the amendment to prevent the owners of the poorly Improved lots at Third ' and Morrison from entering Into a ; lease which would, to use Mr. TTRen's i deceptive argument, relieve them of "paying a dollar's taxes." Mr. URen may be a lawgiver, but he is not the tax assessing authority of Oregon. The statement as to value of the water power in Clackamas ( County has no basis of established ' fact. It Is an independent estimate. '. If, however, Clackamas water power should be taxed on Mr. ITRen's esti mate. Multnomah County would pay ! the whole tax on the power used in ! Multnomah County. Clackamas Coun ty would get the revenues thus paid. The street railway company derives the major part of its income from ' residents of Portland. Taxes enter into making rates and establishing the quality or service, i ne rnrudnu pi J rons of the electric company would pay the levy of Clackamas County on the water power the company owned in that county and also the graduated tax. The same principle applies to tax ing values placed on franchises. The people pay the tax. If a franchise has a taxable value It also has a rate basis value. Tax economists, who are working for the people and not for themselves, generally agree that there is public regulation of rates and service taxation of franchises is only advisable when large and certain rev enues are imperatively needed and they agree also that the patrons pay such taxes. We now have state regu latlon of railroads and will doubtless have by next year state regulation of all public utilities. Mr. U Ken's argument is not a re ply to the Query "Why did not the single taxers present an honest, flat footed single tax measure?" It Is as futile an answer as might be expected In support of an amendment framed to catch votes for a deliberately con cealed intent or In behalf of a log' rolling, paid-lobby-eupported, slip shod measure Initiated to gratify th whim of an Eastern millionaire. FROM THE UN FORGOTTEN PAST. Mr. Geda Kende Is managing editor of a Hungarian newspaper, "America Magar Nepshava," printed in New York City. But Editor Kende can read English as fluently as he can write Hungarian. Making a cusory exam' lnation of Dr. Woodrow Wilson's "His. tory of the American. People," his eye fell upon this paragraph following a discussion by the eminent author of the immigration of two decades ago: But now thr cam multitude of men th loweat clan from th south of Italy and men of the meaner eort out of Bang-ary and Poland, men out of th rank whero tner waa neither skill, nor energy, nor any Initiative of quick Intelligence: and they cam in number which Increased from year to year, as If the countries of the south of Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of thefr population, the men whose standards of life and work were such as American workmen had never dreamed of hitherto. . . The unlikely fellows who came In at the Eastern porta were toieratea do caus they usurped no plac but the very loweat In the seal of labor. Mr. Kende was greatly interested in this illuminative view by a critic and historian; and he thought he might be still more Interested in learning what the Democratic Presidential can didate had to say about it; therefore he Journeyed to Seagirt, but, sad to relate. Dr. Wilson was absent. But one Overzealous partisan of Dr. Wilson, anxious about the Hungarian and Italian vote, for some strange rea son thought it well to bring to light this further paragraph from the his tori an 's great work: The people of the Pacific Coast had clam ored these many years against the admission or immiKrants out or China, and in May. 1BQ9 . 1 n . ...... A a TT A. eral statute which practically excluded from the United States all Chinese who. had not already acquired the right of residence, and vet the Chinese were more to be desired. workmen if not as citizens, than most of the coarse crew that came crowding in every year at tho Eastern porta. If Dr. Wilson desires his name to go down to posterity as a historian, It will very likely be at the expense of Dr. Wilson, the politician. WHY IT COSTS MORE TO IJVE. Senator Burton could have reduced his admirable address to the Senate on reasons for the higher cost of liv ing to less than a half dozen simple words, viz.: The way we live. The extortionate middleman, the protec tive tariff, high capitalization of cor porations. Increased taxes, extrava gance, waste, progress, amusements, higher education are for the most part not causes but effects. The man who is willing to live as his father lived can do it, and the people who are willing to live as their forefathers lived could live as frugally if they would. But they will not; nor should they. Would any sane man be willing to turn the clock back one hundred years to the age of the weekly paper, the stage-coach and the post-road? Or fifty years to the coal-oil era? Or twenty-five years to the horse-car era? No; certainly not. We have and we must have comforts, conveniences and accessories that a few years ago were luxuries. We would not if we could do without any of them. All the great Inventions of electric ity are modern the telegraph, the telephone, the electric car, the electric light, and the like. They have not cheapened the cost of living, but they have enlarged the range of good liv ing. A hundred others might be men tioned, and they would include the phonograph, the typewriter, the mov ing picture show, the automobile, and a multitude of every-day phenomena. Besides we have better and higher education, more music, more theaters, more excursions, more parks, more public buildings, more clothes, more food, more drinks, more everything. We consume more and produce less. comparatively. We have expanded in every direction in our style and meth od of living. Tet we wonder and fuss and com plain about the cost of living, when everybody strives to live well with out working hard. Why blame any body or anything but ourselves? RADICAL OR REACTIONARY. WHICH While Roosevelt is proclaiming him self the ideal progressive and glories In his radicalism, Bryan turns upon him with a blunt denial that he is aught but a reactionary, who has taken up some of the time-worn doc trines of the veterans of progress only when they are on the eve of being put in practice. Does Roose velt thunder forth demands for pop ular election of Senators, Income tax, regulation of railroads, publicity of campaign funds? Bryan sneeringly says: These things are practically secured, and the Democrats have done much more than Mr. Roosevelt to secur them. Does Roosevelt echo in louder tones Bryan's slogan of 1908: "Let the peo ple rule? Bryan dismisses the sub ject with the words: Ir. Roosevelt la In favor of the Initiative and referendum, but no more than the Democrat are. and they are atat Issues anyhow. Had he desired, Bryan might have added that in his clamor for Presi dential primaries Roosevelt is merely indorsing the Democratic platform. As though this denial of Roose velt's claim to pre-eminence as a rad ical were not cruel thrust enough. Bran continues: On questions now befor the National Gov ernment, such as tariff, trusts. National Incorporation, imperialism and the third term, Mr. Roosevelt is wrong. On these subjects he is reactionary and cannot secure a following among Democrats he can hard ly hope to hold progressive Republicans. Bryan not only brands Roosevelt as a reactionary, but adduces strong ar guments to prove the charge. He affirms that of the two Ideas of gov ernment. Roosevelt holds to the "old and dying idea that a government is an organization entirely independent of the people and resting on force," and not to "our theory that govern ments are organizations framed by the people for themselves and derlvej their Just powers from the consent of the governed. Roosevelt, says the . Commoner, "would put our Nation at the rear of the monarchical procession and make it . a defender of the policy of force and hypocrisy." In his adherence to the policy of protection, Bryan says. the Colonel stands for the doctrine of "the taxation of the many for the benefit of a few." His ideas of cen tralization and of expansion of the Federal executive power, mean despo tism with himself as the man on horseback. His desire to discard con. stltutlonal limitations is interpreted to mean: Away with th Constitution and let us decide what th people need and then do It lor tbeml Though denied credit for being more progressive than the Democrats in those particulars where he is pro gressive and denounced as reaction ary on the live issues now before the people, Roosevelt has put forward a programme in comparison with. which that of the Populists looks tame, even conservative. Almost simultaneously with the appearance of Bryan's reply to Roosevelt's discussion of Wilson and the Democratic platform comes a call for a convention at which an ef fort is to be made to cause the dry bones of Populism to live. As the dominant demand the call gives first place to flat money, which all thought dead and buried. Then it names public land for actual settlers, which the Plnchotites would consider reactionary; government control of railroads and other public utilities, while the Progressives are demanding government ownership of railroads In Alaska and of express, telegraph and telephone lines; Initiative, referen dum and recall, which are now ac cepted doctrines of Democrats and Progressives and have many support ers among Republicans; and protec tion to labor, a generality which would command the Indorsement of all par ties. These same principles held the leading place in the Populist plat form of the 90s. They caused the party to be ridiculed as a congress of cranks, theorists, radicals and sore heads. But their moderation provokes only a smile in -1912 and the radi cals of this day are asked to -rallj-to the Progressive party. Tet its leader la called a reactionary by the man whom the Populists followed to defeat in 1896. OBEDIENCE OF ORDERS. The stain put upon the record of the old Oregon regiment by mutiny of five officers of the Second Battalion is deplorable In the extreme. After a splendid Bhowing at the 1912 Joint field maneuvers the report that an entire battalion of four companies had refused to obey orders seemed lncredi. ble. The excuse offered by the of fenders that the orders wece unrea sonable merely heightened the surprise, It is not within the province of the American soldier, regular or volun teer, to question the orders of a supe rior officer. The mutiny is a much more serious matter than many may at first sup pose. It is a blow at the fundamental principle of military service. For cen turies the poets have centered their heroic poems upon the unquestioned obedience of harsh and exacting or ders. Implicit, unfaltering obedience of all orders has been set as the key note of military efficlence. It has be. come a part of the capable soldier's religion. It Is written into the oath taken at enlistment of the men and is inscribed upon the commissions of officers. The first and most import ant thing required of any officer is obedience. Any officer can easily obey an order that suits him. The test comes when he receives an order that does not please him or that does not please his men. As pointed out by General Maus, the order that the second bat talion objected to was not of a very exacting nature. Ie required a re turn march of five miles from Gate to Oakville. The attitude of the majority of reg imental officers In frowning upon the Insubordination Indicates that the trouble was largely of a local nature and that the usefulness and efficiency of the Third Regiment has not been destroyed. Perhaps what is most needed la a firm and capable hand at the helm. If there had been such a hand at Gate Sunday It Is entirely probable that the Second Battalion would have been summarily whipped into line and the officers saved from the consequences of their folly. THE STANLEY AiTI-TEUST BILL. What promises to become a defini tion of the Democratic plan for deal ing with the trusts has been submitted to Congress by the Stanley committee, and Is said to have received the ap proval of Woodrow Wilson. It takes the form of a bill designed to sup plement the Sherman law, to define hat that law forbids and to provide means oi making effective decrees rendered by the courts against trusts. It aims to specify what is unreasona ble and thus to remove the element of uncertainty, of which the trust magnates complain. The sharpest criticism which can be made of the bill is that it would launch us on a new sea of litigation without chart or compass. It has taken us twenty years to interpret the Sherman law. Heaven knows how many years it would take us to secure an interpretation of the proposed sup plementary law, which bristles with opportunities for litigation. Meanwhile the trusts would continue to thrive and when finally brought to book for their misdeeds would not be composed of those persons who had committed the original wrongs. Those persons ould have largely unloaded their holdings on the open market and the Innocent third party would suffer the penalties the original holders should have borne. Relief from trust op pression would be postponed to the ext generation. It is sought to remove uncertainty as to whether a combination restrains trade reasonably or unreasonably by placing upon the parties to the com bination the burden of proof that it Is reasonable. The constitutionality of this provision is sure to be attacked. If it were necessary. It might be worth that costly and wearisome price. But experience has proved that the unrea sonableness of a combination Is easily susceptible of proof. There is there fore no object to be gained from cre ating this presumption of law against the combination. The committee errs in attempting to define practices which are forbid den as in restraint of trade. The de sired end would be more closely at tained by stating in fairly general terms In what manner interstate trade may be conducted, leaving it to be nderstood that all practices which did not .conform to those requirements were forbidden and Intrusting to a commission primary authority to de cide whether any particular practice should be allowed or forbidden. Cor-, poration lawyers have made it their business to find means, of evading Just such restrictions as the committee proposes, and they can find those means much faster than Congress can pass new laws to stop leaks in exist ing laws. If the authority suggested were vested in a commission, a corpo ration could be estopped from doing business until it had modified its methods to conform with the commis sion's demands or had tested the le gality of those demands in court. This plan would have the? merit of prevent ing the evils in question, and preven tion is better than cure, as twenty years' experience in attempting cure by litigation has proved. The committee has returned to the Bryan plan of assuming that control of a certain percentage"of the busi ness in any line of industry is prima facie evidence of monopoly, departing therefrom only In reducing the per centage. Not only is percentage no criterion, but corporations may be absolute monopolies which have earned the right to exist as such. A case in point is that of the only cor poration in this country which manu factured a certain kind of iron. The secret process of manufacture was se cured by Its founder by twelve years' residence in Russia as a workman in the mills. Not daring to preserve any of the Information he obtained by writing or drawing, he was compelled to trust to memory. On his first re turn to this country he found his data incomplete, and went to Rassia for a second period of labor and secret study. He finally established an in dustry In this country which made him and his family rich, but he safeguard ed the fruits of his long exile by keep ing knowledge of the process strictly within his own family. That man surely was entitled to a monopoly. though he controlled his entire branch of the iron Industry. But, irrespective of such occasional instances of injus tice, the plan of Judging whether a corporation is a monopoly by the pro portion of business which it controls was proved Impracticable by Associate Justice then Governor Huehes in his Toungstown speech in 1908. That plan Is a direct incitement to covert evasion of the law, for two or three corporations, each controlling about 30 per cent of the production In any in dustry, could agree so to regulate their output that no one of them would Dass the danger mark. The best foundation for a Federal system of regulating corporations, of destroying existing trusts and of pre venting the rise of new ones is Federal incorporation, or Federal license of such state corporations as comply with certain conditions. If this were fol lowed up by the creation of a super visory commission, which could com pel compliance not only with the letter but with the spirit of the law, .and if the powers of the courts in winding up condemned corporations were en larged, the purpose would have been gained.. But it is not to be hoped that the Democrats will ever consent to ederal incorporation, for they con tinue to worship their state rights retisn. The bonanza wheat crop may prove a boon to the automobile manufactur. ers and to the cause of good roads. The modern farmer Is not content with anything short of the latest invention, both for pleasure and work, and he is becoming a liberal buyer of autos, Klickitat County furnishing examples. When the farmers get autos they will wish to derive pleasure from their ma chines. Hence they will no longer be patient with those who would rather be half smothered in mud in Winter. In dust In Summer, than pay the price of good roads. The terrible number of drownings suggests that swimming is as necessary an exercise for every boy and girl as walking. Not only should all children learn to swim, but they should be taught the simple methods of reviving an apparently drowned person. One of the strongest recommendations of the Boy Scouts is that they learn both to help themselves and to help others In Just such emergencies. There is no difference of opinion among Western people as to the pro gressiveness of Senator Borah's two homestead bills. The only objectors are the extreme conservationists, in whose eyes every settler is a suspect and who are more concerned about conserving the land than the popula tion. That big bogey, the Elgin Board of Trade, pretending to regulate butter prices of the country, has been at last scared out of the business by threat ened proceedings under the anti-trust law. It was time for something to be done. Pastures are drying and butter is going up, hens are beginning to molt and eggs are ascending, but there will be plenty of potatoes and gravy for all to check the lamentations. World visitors at the San Francisco Exhibition will form an idea of Oregon timber from the flagstaff sent from Astoria. Only one region on earth can grow a stick 226 feet long. The China pheasant must be pro tected and the city man touring afield may as well recognize that the man whose grain feeds the bird is on the watch for transgressors. Senator' Burton's findings in the high cost of living may be simplified into a sentence: Expenses are based on a brevet income. Perhaps It was due to environment that a Klickitat white man traded his wife for two lots in Tacoma, though an Indian would insist on better terms. The drowning of a Portland woman at the North Beach again demonstrates It is the daring swimmer who loses life. When trolley-car conductors become ticket auditors, riding on the rail will be one Joyous -wrangle. Of what good is the "third degree" If the latest murderers cannot be caught? To only an Oregon militiaman is given the opportunity to back up to a Colonel of the regulars. From a military point of view, the officers of the Second Battalion de serve leather medals. With the muzzle on Manager Hogan, the game will lack hilarity, about all the fan gets for his money. Record-breaking tracklaying In Ore gon Is merely preliminary to record- breaking; development that will follow. W., S. I TtEN DEFENDS MEASURES. Two Substantially Different Proposals Declared Honest Sinajle Tax. OREGON CITY, Or., July 29. To the Editor. The editor asks "Why the Single Taxers did not present an hon est, flat-footed single tax measure? They have presented two such meas ures. One was the local county law for Multnomah County, which is also offered in Clackamas and Coos County. The other is the graduated specific tax exemption amendment. The graduated tax amendment is of fered for the following reasons: 1. To compel wealthy men and cor porations to pay more nearly their fair share of the public taxes. 2. To prevent those who obtain great incomes, for which they do not work, from dodging all the taxes. For example: The lot at the northwest corner of Seventh and Morrison streets pays a ground rent to Harvey Gordon Starkweather and his associates of $18,600 a year. The tenants must erect their own building and pay all taxes assessed against the property. There by the owners get a princely Income without work and without paying a dollar's taxes. The graduated amend ment levies a tax against the owners that would be equal to J4900 of tax every year on that ground rental, be cause they are owners of a tract that is worth $225,000. Under the present law they pay no taxes and get $13,600 a year which the people of Portland work for. This would reduce the gen eral levy and lower the taxes to be paid by the tenants and other working men. There are hundreds of similar examples in Oregon. 3. To collect a reasonable tax from the owners of valuable idle, or prac tically Idle land and lots. The north cast corner of Third and Morrison streets, where two lots owned by the Flelschner heirs are covered with one story shacks, is a practical example. On the basis of ground rent these two lots are worth over $800,000. Under the graduated tax amendment the owners would pay at least $20,000 a year of graduated taxes, besides the regular levy to be paid by the tenants. This would have a tendency to cause the erection of at least as good buildings on these lots as there are on the ad Joining three corners. 4 To mnk the owners of water powers pay taxes on the value of the water power. This would get the reg ular levy, besides the graduated tax from the water power trust on $10, 000,000 value of water powers in Clack- nrrvnn f!niintv alone. besides What it wnM frot 1n nthftr nounties. 5. To make the owners of railroad i othpr franchises nay taxes on the value of the franchises and to prevent them from turning their special pnv- ileires into orivate property. 6. To make the great land owners and corporations pay a reasonable graduated tax besides the general levy on the millions of acres of land they are holding for speculation In Oregon. 7. To prevent the opponents of single tax from claiming that it is a rich man's law intended to reduce the taxes of the rich and to increase the taxes of the poor man. R To nmnt nersonal property, im orovompnts on land, and all values created by individual labor, from any ta van. 9. To make the holding of valuable tracts in cities like the Buckman farm in Portland, less prontaoie as specu latlon. The Ladd farms that were held out of use for more than 20 years while the people moved further out to get cheap lots for homes, are another example of the unjust tax laws that favor the speculator and non producer under the present system. , W. S. U'REJI. ELLEN KEY AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE OnntiHun GIH tO ShOTT She Wa Opposed to Votes for Her sex. PORTLAND. July 30. (To the Edi tnr.i An editorial in The Oregonian m,ntpi Tiinn Kev as of a "caliber unl foi-Tnlv auffraeist." The whole trend of FJlen Key's "Century of a Child" is against the political solution of the problems oi woman toaay. uu imgo shA sa.vs: tit tna nnrma.ur aavn- cates of women s ngnts tnai ineir about the Individual freedom of the worn- to control her career, ineir cuuieuuuu that no limitation need restrict woman ar neMrilno- her own vocation, because they "are married or are mothers, mean the most crying Injury, not only to children, but A thomNAive. For the demand of eq-jallty, where nature has made inequality, nr irmtalltv is not justice. Often it is Just the opposite, the most aosuiuio liintlce. And on Dasre 66 she definitely de clares herself against the movement. rp, .mantnnMnn of woman has ceased to be tha freedom which enlarges heart and soul. It Is conducted quite omciaiiy, ut a business, and dogmatically, too. wuuuul feeling for the pulsating manifoldness of Ufa and has become an egoistic self-con- centrate-t campaign. On this account, I and many others ot my generation, wim "'-" -1.4- ... .V,. mmr.m.nt. AlthOUKh We actively a..a th vnnnzer Keiiciauuu, ..... ... wished and still vrlsh for the freedom of women. The champions of woman's rights, like the champions of other movements for right, illustrate the truth of the old Swed ish saylr.g that what we are pursuing Is really only a runaway horse attached to our wagon. - Consequently tnose oi us wno Deuovc with her that "nothing is now more needed than such plans of social order, such programmes of education as will o-ivo tho mother back to her children and to her home" (page 87) ask that this correction be made and that Ellen Key be listed among the women who are opposed to woman suffrage as against the highest interests of the race. MRS. F. J. BALUrJI, President Oregon State Association Op posed to the Extension of the Suf frage to Women. Several Famous Echo ot Europe. London Globe. There are many places where remark able echoes occur. On the banks or tne Rhine at Lurley, if the weather be fa vorable, the report of a rifle or the sound of a trumpet will be repeated at different periods and with various ae v of strensrth from crag to crag on opposite sides of the river alternately. A similar effect is heard near a loch in Scotland. There is a place in Glou cestershire, England, which is said to echo a sound 60 miles. Near Glasgow there is a spot where, if a person plays a- bar of music upon a bugle the notes will be repeated by an echo but a third lower. Three echoes will be heard in all. each lower than the preceding one. The whispering galleries of St. Paul's, of the Cathedral Church of Gloucester and of the Observatory of Paris owe their curious effects to the same laws of reflection of sound. Standard Co.'a Steps Lopped Off. New York Press. The Standard Oil Company's building at 26 Broadway bears evidence of the power of the city bureau of incum brances. Raiders from the bureaus de scended upon the building and removed the steps leading from the sidewalk to the high front entrance of the build ing. The city engineers had decided that the steps protruded too far on the sidewalk. Some of the workmen and bystanders carried off pieces of the steps as souvenirs. Boon for Barber Shops. Baltimore American. To Insure the owner of a private shaving cup kept in a barber shop that he is its only user, there has been In vented a paper cap to cover It, which cannot be removed without breaking a seal. . i School Children's Tree Crusade. London Telegraph. Nearly 60,000 trees are planted in Sweden by school children under the guidance of their teachers.. J SUNDAY PICNIC THAT WAS SPOILED Parents Get Children by Installments From Crowded Sellwood Car. PORTLAND. July 30. (To the Edl tor.) With heroic effort the under signed awakened at an early hour Sun day morning and prepared to spend the day picnicking with his family at some supposed-to-be-easlly accessible spot on the Willamette River. Trusting to the intelligence of the street railway com pany. I selected & Dlace which necessi tated the use of the Sellwood line, and right there my troubles began. To be gin with, the Sellwood car was so crowded when it arrived at Grand ave nue and Hawthorne it was required that the writer divide his family into two sections by forcing the Junior depart ment into the crowded front of the car and then doing a Marathon to the rear of said car in time to use his gray haired head to bunt his beloved wife Into a small space at the rear which chanced to be unoccupied, as the man nearest It had only one foot, his right leg having been amputated at the knee. The car scarcely started until the con ductor commenced walking over the patrons feet in an attempt to extort nickels from people who should have been paid $20 each for not throwing him off the car to make more room lor themselves. At last, when all feet on board resem bled mincemeat, the car arrived at the writer's destination, and he and his now crippled wife, by threatening all around with sudden death, managed to exiri cate themselves from the modern tor- turn chamber. As soon as this was done the car started on and as each of the Junior members of this clttsen's famllv auoceeded In working as far forward as the front door, the car would stop at the first crossing and let them off. To make this short yet explicit. the last child had to walk back three blocks to Join Its parents where tney had fallen off. Naturallv. the writer and his lamny were in a lovely mood to enjoy their pleasant (?) Sunday outing. It kept both iiare-nts busy all day long in vain -attempt to convince the smaller children that they had not Drousni them on the trip as a means or. pun- iKhment. But with honest hope the tnougnt came that the return home would not be so miserable. The railway company won Id surA.lv have provided better serv ice as soon as it was shown to their aeenta that such was required. Here ns-nin wa ovArestimated their intelli gence or desire to do the fair thing, for as the incoming car arnveu il necessary for the writer to repeat his bunting tactics, with the exception that he was this time successful in getting his entire family Into the rear entrance of the car. Shortly after tne car start ed the conductor, who was a stupid fel low, shrieked out that there were plen ty of empty seats at the front of the car. So the writer, in severe tones, in spired by suffering, ordered his chil dren to secure them, tsy suppiug tween legs and worming around seats the children obeyed, only to return with eaual difficulty In a few minutes and announce that that conductor was both a coward and a liar. Tho loet of this article Is first to con sole all poor souls who suffered as did the writer and his family, for misery UV -nmnanv. and secondly. It IS Writ ten in hope that, layman-like as it is, it may remind the railway company that in accepting the franchise from the peo ple It took upon Itself the responsibil ity of making an honest effort to serve the public and serve the public well, and that it is now its moral duty to do so. The writer is well aware that It is not practical to keep sufficient cars operating always to seat an panv,..o, but when there are frequent days when all day long the cars are overcrowded it surely shows poor management some- where. x.of ia bo n rhoorful as Dosslble and hope for Improvement, and if that fails then we must unite at the polls, or else wherev and as a public demand our rights to at least decent car service. A LAMONT. Women When Republic Waa Formed. MjrnirnRr). Or.. July 29. (To the Ed itoT- i Would vou be able to state why women did not have the right to vote i v. h.iTinlns-. with the men. wnen voting first made its appearance in the United States? Tnis is to aettie gument. When the United States Government was founded women had made no ad vances toward political rights. Even in the matter of property she was almost completely subject to man. She could make no contracts after marriage. Her property went to pay her husband's debts. If she earned anything it be longed to him. In the eye of the law she was distinctly an Inferior being. In church It was much the same. Wom en were expected to be silent admirers of men in the worship of the Lord. They were permitted to contribute to the church but not to have a voice in Its management There were no colleges for women. The higher education was out of her sphere." To study sensible branches was supposed to make women mannish," Just as we are now told that the vote would make them mannish. Even Tennyson ridiculed the idea of a woman's college. Our correspondent will see at once how Impossible It must have been for the founders of the Re public to think of giving the suffrage to women. They would as soon have thought of giving it to babies. The position of women in the modern world has been an evolution, always slow and often painful. Criticising the Suffragists. PORTLAND, July SO. (To the Edi tor.) In The Oregonian today appears an article by Francis Dayton favoring woman suffrage. The argument which she presents and endeavors to impress upon the minds of the people is tne same old argument that has been used so much that it has become threadbare. If they have nothing more convincing in the way of argument as a logical reason why women should be given the ballot, then their case is lost, and will be snowed under next November, as It has been In Oregon every time it has been voted upon. Talk without reason will kill any cause, whether good or bad. Shakespeare says to be slow in words is woman's only virtue. , L SMITH. The Oregonian prints this, mainly to avoid any complaint that it is not willing to admit to its columns both sides of the woman suffrage question, or any question. Can anyone think of any other reason why it Bhould appear? Little Waste on Paris Streets. London Tit-Bits. It is a misdemeanor to throw a piece of waste paper upon a Paris street. If a policeman sees you drop a piece of paper he walKs up to you, pats you on the shoulder, begs your pardon for ad dressing you, tells you you have vio lated the law and asks you to pick up what you have thrown down. Economy of a Stay-at-Home. Boston Record. Wlfey Can't afford to let me go to the seashore? Why not? My board there wouldn't cost more than It does here. Hubby I admit that, my love; but think of all the money I'd have to spend entertaining myself In your ab sence. A Parable Up to Date. Washington (D. C.) Star. "So you have killed a fatted calf," said the prodigal son. Yes," replied his latner Well, It is a relief to get back from the big towns, where everybody is talk ing about the meat trust.." Playing the Game By Dean Collins. The guardsmen march In serried ranks. And ramble o'er the territory. Playing the solemn game of war. With all Its mimic struggles gory. They make forced marches through the land; And here and yon they hasta and hurry. Till some are sick of mimic war. With all its hardship and its worry. Still they admit and it Is true That all this mimic stuff they're doing. Is just to fit them for the time When there may be real troubl brewing. The summons came to march In hasta Back to the base from whence they started. "Nix!" said the guardsmen, sitting down To rub their blisters where they smarted. And though they'd sworn obedience. And discipline profound end steady. They did opine that they'd obey That order, when quite good and ready. 'Thus do men train for sterner things. When foes, in verity, assail 'em. Of course 'twill be a diff rent. thing Then they will march right out and whale 'em. I wonder how it would have been. When Washington, 'mid sleet and shiver. Called out his men to man the boats And dare the rushing, Ice-clogged river. Say, how would Freedom's fight have gone. When his command to them was ut tered, If they had rubbed their bandaged feet And coolly looked at him and mut tered: "Nix, George! The weather is too cold. We fear a touch of tonstlltls: And with these chilblains on our feet Decline to let the cold frost bite u." Somehow, it sorter seems to me. And you 11 excuse me it I say it. That when a man sits In a game. The way to play It is to play It. Half a Century- Ago Prom The Oregonian of July 31. 1S2. Do our people realize, the fact that an emigration from the States is now on the way to Washington and Ore gon numbering some 30,000 souls? We are happy to announce that two) wellknown typos returned home on the Julia last evening, well loaded with the precious dust. Messrs. William Daly and T. M. Mallory are the lucky gentle men. The telegraph poles of the Treka and Portland lines have been erected to nearby Eugene City. The steamer Julia arrived last even ing from the Cascades, bringing down 176 passengers and 1000 pounds of gold dust We noticed a gentleman who, we reasonably supposed, must have been a strapped "Salmon Rlverite," busily en gaged yesterday morning scraping up the dirt In front of Goldsmith & Bros.' assay office. Front street, and care fully panning out the sand in searcn ot filings, etc., which occasionally get swept out of their front door. We have since learned that he has staked out a claim Including that locality, and has engaged board at a fashionable hotel. WHERE BULL MOOSE CAME FROM Origin of the Symbol of tbe Roosevelt Party. SEA VIEW. Wash.. July 28. (To the Editor.) Please explain the signifi cance of the Bull Moose as a political totem. Is it voluntarily adopted by the new party promoters as a "mascot"? If so why? I have always understood that the traits of the bull moose were, comparatively, about as admirable as those of the Jackass. Then why use It voluntarily? Or has the cartoonist and newswrlter put it on? Colonel Roose velt, as I understand, has published his story of hunting the bull moose, but as I am Informed he gives the bull bad name so far as his personal habits and traits are concerned. Then why? 1 am badly mixed. N. H. BLOOMFIELD. PORTLAND, July 29. (To the Editor.) As the donkey symbolizes the Demo cratic party, It Is quite apparent that the Bull Moose has become representa tive of the National Progressives. Would you kindly advise your readers, how it came about that the bull moose name came Into being, in reference to the National Progressives? OLIVER M. HICKEY. When Colonel Roosevelt descended upon Chicago, three days prior to the meeting of the Republican National Convention of 1912, he was asked how he felt. "I feel like. a bull moose," he is reported to have replied. A well known newspaper writer made the response the subject of a discussion of the points of similarity between Roose velt and the bull moose; and dubbed him thereafter In his writings as the Bull Moose. The appellation appeared to strike the general fancy and the other newspapers Immediately adopted and used the term. Now the followers of Roosevelt themselves appear to desire that the bull moose shall be the symbol, or mascot, of the third party. It is Interesting to recall that the political steam-roller had a similar origin. During the National 'Republi can Convention of 1908, a steam-roller was engaged In street work outside the convention hall. The National Com mittee was in session, and had ridden roughshod over the "allies." Some reporter had an inspiration and he identified the operations of the steam roller with tbe action of the committee. Ghosts and Wlll-o-the-Wlsp. Chicago Inter.Ocean. - The ignis fatuus, sometimes called "Will-o'-the-wisp," "Copse candles'- and "Jack-o' -Lanterns," is spontaneous combustion caused by decay of vege table or animal bodies. Many a ghost story owes Its origin to this simple and harmless phenomena. The light will follow a body leaving It, or retreat from one that approaches. Rush of air causea this. Measured by a Motor Car. Pittsburg Post. "Harold, come right in this minute. I don't want you to play with that Kad dlah boy any more. His people are not In our class. They have Just bought a (900 motor car! Goodness! You'll be playing with the washwoman's children next! I can't understand where you get your plebeian tastes.'.' How to Prevent Hydrophobia. PORTLAND, July 80. (To the Edi tor.) if the citizens of Portland will provide water to drink for dogs and cats (keeping pans filled with water in front and back yards) we will hear no more of hydrophobia. TOM JOHNSON. A Little Thought for Vacation Time. Manchester (N. H.) Union. Oftentimes the best part of a vacai tlon is dreaming of it beforehand.