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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1912)
10 TIIE MORNING OREGOXIAN, SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 30. 1913. TRUSTS BLAMED FOR COAST RATES Seattle Traffic Expert Says Railroads Cower Before Big Monopolies. GIRL "WHOSE MYSTERIOUS DEATH PUZZLES POLICE. AND VIEW OF HER HOME. SHOWING WHERE DEATH OCCURRED. INSTANCES ARE SET FORTH VC. A. Hears Testifies at Hearing Before A. R. 3Iackley, Attorney for Interstate Commerce Commission in Portland. "When It comes to making rates af fecting: trust-controlled goods, all the transcontinental railroads are cow- ards." declared W. A. Mears, transpor tatlon manager for the Seattle Cham ber of Commerce, at the rate hearing before A. R. Mackley. attorney for th Interstate Commerce Commission, In the Federal building: yesterday. "Why, the traffic manager of one of the transcontinental lines himself told me that they are afraid to make rates affecting- the trusts," continued the vet eran Mr. Mears, while the several rail road representatives present squirmed in their seats, eager for an opportunity to reply. But the Irrepressible Mr. Mears was not to be denied his little fling: at the carriers, and while Examiner Mackley sternly rapped for order, the Seattle man continued to pour forth his tirade against the rate-making bodies. Trust's Consent Xeeded. "A few years ago," he said, "the Seattle Chamber of Commerce sent committee back to Chicago to get from the railroads a reasonable differential between raw steel and the fabricated material. They met with the trans continental bureau, but the railroads couldn't agree on the rates. When our committee returned home they reported that the traffic men had admitted to them that they couldn't make a rate on steel without the consent of the steel trust. "We had hoped to build up a steel Industry in Seattle, but we can't ship a pound of steel 25 miles outside the city. The rate between the raw and the finished product Is too close. "I could name you a lot of other commodities similarly affected. Take glucose for instance. The sugar trust sends syrup to the Coast at exactly the same rates that they send glucose to our syrup manufacturers. How can we manufacture syrup out here under those conditions? llarrlman Official Replies. "In the last 10 years the rates have been raised continuously," and he enumerated more than 800 Items which take 'a higher rate now than they took 10 years ago. "What I want to know and what the people of Seattle want to know Is when this thing is going to stop," and he pounded the desk In front of the exam iner vigorously -with his fist. Edward Chambers, of San Francisco, representing the Southern Pacific re plying to Mr. Mears, declared that he has attended every transcontinental meeting held In the last 16 years and that no such statements as those quoted by Mr. Mears ever were made there. "Well. I know only what the com mittee reported," shot back the Se attle man. "It Is a matter of record in my office." Gathering- la Dlstlnajniabed. This display of "fireworks," just be fore the close of the hearing, enlivened what had been an Interesting day of testimony taking. Shippers and rep resentatives of various Northwestern commercial bodies, in addition to the galaxy of traffic officials and railroad attorneys made up a distinguished gathering of rate experts. The hearing was called to consider complaints against the new transcon tinental westbound commodity tariff 4-J applying from the territory be tween the Atlantic seaboard and Wyom ing to Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and other North Pacific Coast terminals. The new tariff was to have gone into effect September 2, but is under sus pension until July 3, 1913, pending this Investigation, which was started at Washington, T. C, lute in October. The session adjourned last night to be continued in San Francisco next week. Among the principal commodities af fected by the new tariff are furniture. canned goods, machinery of all kinds, glass, paints, plumbers' supplies and many other Items entering Into the building and engineering trades. Rep resentatives of all these lines of busi ness from Portland, Tacoma and Se attle were present. ' Increased Xinlmim Attacked. William H. Beharrel, manager for Heywood Brothers & Wakefield, whole sale furniture dealers, epitomized the attitude of the shippers in what J. G. Woodworth, of St. Paul, traffic man ager for the Northern Pacific, after ward referred to as "a clear and common-sense" statement. Mr. Beharrel declared that the pro test of the shippers is based not only on the Increased rates provided by the new tariff, but on the Increased mini mum loads per car which the carriers will accept. This, he pointed out, fre quently makes the shipper pay twice the specified rates. He expressed the opinion, also that the differential be tween furniture "in the white" and finished furniture Is not sufficiently great to allow Coast manufacturers to engage profitably In business. Coast manufacturers who make furniture from Eastern woods have the raw ma terial shipped out here "in the white," that Is, sawed and machine treated. They finish this material and place the manufactured product on the mar ket In competition with goods manu factured entirely In the East. The Eastern finished product, he com plained, takes a rate within 10 cents per 100 pounds as low as furniture "in the white," under the proposed new tariff. The rates In reed and rattan will be so high under the new tariff as to force the Coast dealers to buy those products In China and Japan, thus de priving the railroads of the entire haul. Proposed Advaacea Scored. A. O. Long, dealer In fire department supplies, also testified to the effects of the minimum load features of the tariff. ' The minimum carload for fire fighting auto-trucks Is 24,000 pounds. It Is possible to load but two such trucks In a car. They weigh 6100 pounds apiece, total of 12,200 pounds. For this load ha has to pay the full rate of $1.83 per 100 on 24,000 pounds. The eld rate is only $1.(0. He wants either the rate or the minimum reduced. H. L. Shephard, representing E. P. Jamison & Company, dealers in steam shovels and contractors' supplies, pro tested against the proposed advance in the rates on that class of machinery from 85 cents to S1.87. Mr. Chambers and H. A. Scandrett. of Chicago, com merce counsel for the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific systems, questioned him closely. F. A. Nltchey, manager for the Crane Company, dealers In plumbers' supplies, quoted present rates and proposed new rates with the evident Intent to show! i T I - Is Vs-v- :;U- f lata 0m998smmgmm 1 - - , ,' j , 1 - , . ' ? I- ' '' '' ' ' I ; y ; . . r: C ( ' nk 'i s. ., . .. .. ...... .4 .."'. . I ABOVE, MATHILDE SCIIMID BELOW, THE SCH3IID HOME AT 144 EAST SECOND STREET. "CAPTAIN" KELLER PERMANENT TITLE Executive Board Makes Form al Choice of Eligible Police Officers. 11 a in an in STREET LIGHTS GRANTED that the proposed advances will affect that line of business seriously. Portland Mem Testify. C B. Woodruff, manager for W. P. Fuller & Company; A. F. Biles, of the Central Door & Lumber Company; A. H. Averlll, of the Averlll Machinery Company; E. C. Jones, of the Portland Seed Company, and H. W. Mitchell, of the Mitchell, Lewis & Etaver Company, were among the other Portland men ho testified. A. M. McKillopp, of the Poulsen Im plement Company, and H. S. Nettleton, of Nettleton & Kinney, furniture deal ers, were tehe principal Seattle wit nesses. G. A. Shaw, of Tacoma. com plained against the new schedule on canned goods. Considerable was said during the day about the ability of commodities mov ing under this tariff to take a water route. Some of the attorneys, among them Joseph N. Teal, representing the Portland Chamber of Commerce, Im plied that the railroads, in making the new rates, simply charged all that the traffic will bear on those xommodlties that do not move by water. This basis of rate-making, it Is declared, will be established to meet the conditions fol lowing the completion of the Panama Canal, as they anticipate that those cities that will have steamship lines operating through the canal will move everything possible from the East by that route. Mr. Teal was assisted in his exam ination of witnesses by J. H. Lothrop, manager of the transportation commit tee of the Chamber of Commerce. Jay W. McCune represented the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce. He is sec retary of the transportation committee' of that .body. Among others who took part in the proceedings were R. H. Countiss, of Chicago, representing the Transconti nental freight bureau; T. J. Norton, of Chicago, commerce attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad; Henry Blakely, of Tacoma. general Western freight agent for the Northern Pacific; W. E. Coman general freight and passenger agent of the North Bank road; W. D. Skinner, assistant traffic manager of the O.-W. R. & N. Co.; G. W. Luce, of San Fran cisco, freight traffic manager for the Southern Pacific; A. A. Calderhead, of Olympia, representing Hhe Washington Publio Service Commission, and others. WATER EXTENSION FIGURED Estimated Improvements for 1013 Will Cost $90 6,131, Says Report The extension of water mains in Portland in 1913 will cost 906,131, ac cording to the annual estimate of En gineer Clarke, of the Water Depart ment, filed yesterday with the City Auditor. The estimate will be consid ered by the Water Board at a meeting Monday. The estimate provides for a number of big Improvements and extensions. Among these Is the reinforcement of the high gravity service south of Di vision street, taking in the Woodmere and Woodstock districts. This work will require 17,050 feet of mains ana will cost approximately $78,846. It is also planned to reinforce the high grav ity service north 01 uivision street, so as to give a better supply of water to the Penlnusla districts is also proviaea for. Low gravity service on the East Side will be reinforced by the construction of several miles of mains at a cost of $70,582. On the West Side a low grav ity service reinforcement will be made for the benefit of North Portland. This will also supply the town of Linnton, which has planned to extend a line to the city limits of Portland to tap the Bull Run supply. Provision Is made for 262,700 feet of four, six and eight Inch distributing mains to be laid at a cost or s4,vu. City Applies Brakes to Practice of Eliminating- Public Improvement Bids Merely Becanse of Clerical Errors. Without a dissenting vote, members of the City Executive Board yester day elected Joseph F. Keller permanent captain of police to take the place made vacant last Spring by the resig nation of George H. Bailey. The appointment came as a surprise owing to the fact that plans had been made to take the question to the po lice committee before the Executive Board was given an opportunity to make the permanent appointment. In stead of this procedure the Civil Serv ice Commission sent three names from the eligible list to Mayor Rushlight, who selected the second name on the list, that of Keller. The Mayor selected Keller and Chief of Police Slover recommended his ap polntment in a letter addressed to the Executive Board, dated yesterday. When this was read to the board D. Soils Cohen made a motion to adopt the report and appoint Keller, which carried without protest or a dissent ing vote. On the list of eligibles sub mitted to the Mayor by the Civil Serv ice Commission were R. H. Craddock, who headed the list; Keller, who was second, and E. E. Lyon, who was third. The civil service rules gave the Mayor the power to select any one of the three. It was the general opinion that Kelier would be the person selected. At yesterday's board meeting the brakes were applied to the practice of eliminating bids for public improve ments because of clerical errors In the bids. The change of methods was the outcome of a contract which the sewer committee of the board recommended granting to the James Kennedy Com pany, despite the fact that that con cern's bid was $1518 higher than the bid of William Lind. The Lind bid was thrown out by the committee be cause of a clerical error. When the contract, which involves about $65,000, came up to the Mayor for approval he Investigated and after finding the error in the Lind bid to be unimportant, sent the contract back to the board with recommendations that It be returned to the sewer com mittee for reconsideration. In ex plaining his' action the Mayor said he did not consider a mere clerical er ror sufficient cause for the throwing out of a bid when such action would cost the city $1500. The contract in volved is for the extension of the Lambert-street sewer. I The board yesterday granted the last of the street arc lights possible to be supplied in the city during the present year. Twenty-three light pe titions were granted, which number exhausted the lighting appropriation for the year. No more lights will be granted until after January 1, when the new lighting appropriation goes Into effect. The board adopted recommendations tor the shirting of plans for the Broad way bridge so as to provide wide gauge as well as narrow gauge streetcar tracks. This action was taken in the face of a general protest against the bridge being completed with only the narrow gauge tracks Inasmuch as that would necessitate tearing up the road way of the bridge to lay tracks for the Heusner electric line provided the company gets a franchise from the city. It was said also that the elimi nation of wide gauge tracks might lessen the rights of Heusner to the use of the bridge. As a result of the adoption of the recommendation En gineer Modjeski will be notified at once to provide three rail tracks over the bridge. To California belongs the distinction of having the oldest living thing in all the world. The Big Trees are entitled to this distinction, being many centuries old. And to San Francisco belongs the distinction of having the oldest and largest cocoa factory in the West. Since it was first put on .'irraiiswA ' mm W'nn, A IMlKfe! tiling MMH I MWI ' I'M W T U 9 I llU'llll kl IV MK rM I KJ S II H i mrm as wiwifif n-mi m ui i Jim n 11 ijiMm&mm mrnmmtimmmMMwjmzmmM,i)i ' 4 e World 77 T77 delli s war CoCOCL has enjoyed a popularity that has never waned. Its uniform goodness is the delight of housekeepers all over the country. It is very economical, costing less than a cent a cup. If you've never tried it, make a start by serving it for breakfast tomorrow. Sold Everywhere D. GHIRARDELLI CO. San Francisco San Francisco With th apperanc of this uries of Interest ing: Information' will no doubt, com the query. "Where's tn connection?" There isn't any We re simply adopting this form of advertising1 in the hope that in addition to calling-' attention to our product, it will be a source of Interest to all who read it. orm o 1 FOREMAN LAIRD REMOVED Mayor Give9 Veteran, Bridge Tender "Walking Papers." After serving as foreman of the Steel bridge for 11 years, O. J. Laird yes terday received from City Engineer Hurlburt notice to the effect that Mayor Rushlight had instructed him to discharge Mr. Laird to take effect to day. "I have been faithful, have never had an accident and I need the place," said Mr. Laird yesterday. "A young man has been given my position. I suppose politics did It. I went to see County Judge Cleeton and Commis sioner Lightner, who assured me they will re-appoint me when the county takes over the operation of the bridges next December." IS THEORY Inquest Into Death of Schmid Girl to Be Today. CARRERA YET IS IN JAIL Effort Made Toward Discovering Identity of Person Who Bought Poison Father of Woman Verging on Collapse. While the police are swinging around to the belief that Matnuae sennua. 'ound dyinsr from carbolic acid poison ine in an arbor at her home, 144 East Second street, died by Jier own hand, Jose F. Carrera, the young Spanish marbleworker and the girl's sweet heart, who said he was with her at the time. Is still held incommunicado at the City Jail and will be so detained at least until after the coroner's in auest. which is to be held today. Car rera has made but one 'statement throughout his questioning so far, ad hering to the story that he came upon the gjrl in a dying condition. From Daniel T. Watts, a salesman at the Owl Drug Company, comes the statement which has put a new aspect on the case. By the label on the bot tie found at a short distance from where the young woman lay, the poison MODERN" FIEEPBOOP SCHOOL BTJILDING TO EISE AT JOHESMOEE. PLANS FOR STRUCTURE, FIRST UW IT OF WHICH IS TO BE BUILT AT ONCE. CALL FOR EXPENDITURE OF $160,000. With bids submitted already, It Is expected that the contract for the construction of th first unit of the new Jonesmore School buildlng, on the East Side, will be let In a few days. The structure, In Its completed form, will cost approximately $150,000. The building will be of Class A.' fireproof construction, and will be among the finest In the city. 1 It Is designed for 23 classrooms, principal's room, teachers' room and lunch room for pupils. The basement will contain playrooms and depart ments for domestic science and manual training. The heating plant will be housed In a special building distinct from the main structure. A fea ture of the building will be an auditorium with a seating capacity for 100 0 people, which will De available at all times for community meetings. The first unit, which is to be constructed at once, will contain eight classrooms. The grounds for the school contain an area 200x520 feet, bound ed by Tillamook, Schuyler, East Eightieth and East Eighty-first streets. The structure will be situated at the Tillamook side of the grounds, so that ample room for outdoor sports and activities may be provided for the pupils. The plans for the building were prepared by Floyd A. Naramore, superintendent of properties and ax chltect for the Portland School Board. was traced to the drug company and to Watts as the man who sold It. The register kept by the company showed that the purchaser gave the name E. Taylor, 131 East First street, and that the purchase was made after 6 o'clock Thursday night. - Two Sales Made. Mr. Watts was out of the city yes terday, but was located by long dis tance telephone, and Informed the of ficers that he had made two sales of carbolic acid on the day in question. One of these was promptly eliminated as a possibility. The other sale, to. the person giving the name Taylor, Mr, Watts was positive was made to woman, and upon 'he description of the dead girl being given him, he said that he believed she was the person to whom he had made the sale. He could add little that was of assistance to the investigation. Pending the return of this Import ant witness the Inquest was post poned until today. There still . remain many circum stances to be disposed of which point away from the suicide theory. One of these was the finding in Carrera's room of a piece of wrapping paper which, when discovered by Patrolman Schirmer, was thought to bear the im print of the poison bottle found be side the girl. The detectives now be lieve that this appearance, so far as it really exists, is a mere coincidence, Again, the supposed unlikelihood of the girl being able to throw the bot tle to the point where it was found, after taking the acid, is discredited by Captain Baty, who asserts that there is no improbability in her having done so. Girl Tells of Quarrel. Relatives of the dead girl assert that the girl came horn shortly before 10 o'clock and said that she bad had a falling out with Carrera. She went to her room and, a little later, they sar, Carrera, according to his custom when he wished to see her, being denied ac cess to the house, threw pebbles at her window until she went downstairs and Joined him In the arbor. They also say that when he alarmed the house he said, "See what I have done to Mon ty," that being the name by which he usually called her. The girl's rela tives say Carrera started to carry the body of the dying girl and then, ap parently in a frenzy, ran away, pur sued by A. F. Elerath, a visitor at the house. The men grappled and Ele rath, after a hard fight, forced the fugi tive to return to the house. Shortly afterward he bolted away again, but met the police patrol and, hailing It, rode back to the house with the offi cers. Carrera's story Is that he had an ap pointment with the girl at Fifth and Washington streets, at 8 o clock Thurs day night. She failed to keep it, and after loitering about the city until after 9 o'clock he proceeded to her house. Prisoner Makes Statement. I knocked at the door," he said, "and her sister answered I was just ask- ng ner wnere Monty was, when i heard a noise around the house and went there, to find the girl nearly dead. That's all that I know about it" Detectives Hellyer and Howell found yesterday at the Schmid house, thrown behind some boards , the salescheck from the drug company, indicating the sale of the poison. This is taken b them rather to support the suicide theory. Charles Schmid, the elderly father, was in a state verging on collapse yesterday. being built up to very profitable pro portions. The Evirk ranch according to J. S. Fish, of The Dalles, who sent the samples to Portland, can produce an average of 1000 pounds to the acre, which is nearly CO . per cent greater than the average yield from the broom corn fields of the Eastern states. Man ufacturers here say that the samples thus far sent to them are of coarse quality and not great value, but be lieve that the Industry can be de veloped and as the farmers become more familiar with the culture of broom corn, the better and higher priced qualities of the product may be developed. Several hundred carloads of broom corn are used each season by Portland factories. CRUELTY CHARGE IN COURT L. C. Conser Gets Five Days for Ill Treating Wounded Horse. L. C. Conser faced a charge of cruelty to animals with a rather Jaunty air, in Municipal Court yesterday, but when he found that he had to go to a real, cold-hearted rockplle for five days, his demeanor changed notably, and a little later his wife was at the Police Court, importuning the Judge to remit the sentence, but this action was re fused. Conser was arrested by Patrolman Ennis when the officer caught him driving an emaciated looking horse around the streets, with blood dripping from a wounded foot. Conser admitted having worked the horse since the first of the week, and said that It had been used in grading work prior to that. Ask Your Doctor And why not? Yet some people act as if a medicine could take the place of a doctor 1 The best medicine in the world cannot do this. If we did not believe doctors endorsed AVer's Cherry Pec toral for coughs and colds, we would not offer it to you. J. O. Arm- Co., Lowwll, Mi BROOM CORN IS EXAMINED Oregon-Grown Product Slay Prove Capable of Development. Samples of broom corn sent from the Evlck ranch, near The Dalles, to the Portland Commercial Club, have been examined by Portland broom manufac turers and they have declared that there is a possibility of the Eastern Oregon lands producing a good qual ity of broom corn and of the Industry What Is No. 10?