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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1912)
THK MOHXTNO OREGOMAN. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, I9IZ. 12 I PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon. PortofflM Feond-elass Matter. Subscription Katea Invariably In Ac vane iT U ITT. 1 Dat.y. SotidaT Included, om year I"?! Dally, Sundav Included, atx month...- - Daily. Sunday Included, three montM. " Dal:y. Sunday Included, one month Dally, without Sunday, one year "J-JX Dilly. without Sunday, alx montha.... Dally, without Sunday, threa montha... Daily, without Sunday, one month .- Weekly, ono year 50 chub?, uue Ji.i . .- . . . . . M Sunday and Weekly, one year - (BT CARRIER.) Dally, Sunday Included, one year. Dally. Sunday Included, one month..--. How to Remit Send PoatoKlce money der. express order or personal check T: local bank. Stamps, coin or currency-" at the lender's risk. Give postofflce aaoress in full. Including county and atate. Postatre Rates 10 to 14 pases. 1 jent. t to 28 pares. 2 cents; 80 to 40 pages. 40 to 60 paaes, 4 centa Foreign postage. ' double rate. Casters. Bnslneaa Office Verree c?" Iln New York. Brunswick building. cn eago. Steirer building. San Francisco Office R. J. BidwaU Co.. T42 Market street. . , European Office No. S. Regent street. B W.. London. IORTXAM, FRIDAY, DEO. 13, IMS. A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOB DEMOC RACY. Next In Importance to the tariff the Democrats place the money question. They are right. In this year of re newed prosperity, when crops are abundant, industry active and every other condition tends to legitimate ex pansion, our banking and currency system Is so antiquated as to be an ob stacle Instead of an aid to business. Like a misfit suit of clothes, it cramps us where it should permit free move ment and it is loose and baggy where it should fit snug to the business frame. Our banking system was de vised mainly to meet the exigencies of civil war. The war has been over for 60 years, yet the system devised to meet that emergency still controls banking and, through banking, all business. We see the consequences in a rate of 20 per cent for call money in New York, In a reduction of about $150, 000,000 in loans in that city at the very time when loans should have ex panded to meet our needs. When we are suffering from this embarrassing condition, Canada proves the superi ority of her system by coming over here, and borrowing J31.000.000 of our money on call loan, to expand the loans of her banks. When our West ern and Southern banks are drawing their reserves from New York to pro vide money for crop movement, the sub-treasury draws over $10,000,000 from New York banks and thus ag gravates a situation which it should relieve by turning into the channels of business the $90,000,000 which the Government holds as a working bal ance. The $50,000,000 which the Government keeps on deposit at the banks should be sufficient for its pur pose. Meanwhile, Congress continues its hunt for the money trust, though Moody and Turner, two recognized au thorities on the subject, have related in magazine articles its history and named the men who compose it. The bankers themselves make no secret of the fact that ten men in New York practically control the money supply of the country. George M. Reynolds, president of the Continental and Com mercial Bank of Chicago, made that statement in a public speech. The money trust exists, and is a crea tion of our banking laws, which force money to pour into the spec ulative center of New York as surely as water runs down hill. Creation of a rational banking and currency system by Congress would automatically dissolve the money trust. It would make the money supply in every part of the country increase and decrease In response to the needs of business as surely as the tide rises and (alls under the influence of the moon and sun. The bankers themselves are the most earnest advocates of such, a BS'stem, yet every recommendation em anating from them is received with suspicion by those who profess to de sire a remedy. Because of its source, every proposition which would eman cipate us from the grasp of the money trust is suspected of having the per petuation of that trust as its purpose. The National reserve scheme of the National Monetary Commission has been so effectually damned by bearing the name of Aldrich, although it was the unanimous report of a body com posed of members of both parties, that its adoption is hopeless. Its adoption would, in the minds of the Democrats, cost them their political lives. But let them quietly borrow some of its .deas. or some from the alternative Fowler scheme or from any other man's scheme, provided they give certain essentials. These es sentials are: Substitution of cur rency secured by the liquid assets of the banks for our present bond-secured currency; substitution for our present ironclad bank reserve, which forces the money of the country to New York, there to be used In stock speculation, of a reserve which may be drawn upon in case of need, but replenishment of which will be forced by a graduated tax on currency in ex cess of a certain minimum; centraliza tion of the bank reserve under some plan of bank federation, which will place the reserve at the service of those sections where weakness in the financial chain develops; a uniform rate of discount which would give us uniform interest rates throughout the country; facilities for foreign ex change, which would deliver our ex port trade from its dependence on London for such facilities and which would aid expansion of our foreign commerce- A law which provided all these ne cessities of business would cause the money trust to melt away. It would stimulate productive enterprise . by turning the money supply of the coun try in that direction. It would dis courage stock speculation, stock-watering and trust organization by stop ping the flow of money to Wall street. It would restore the independence of the individual banks by giving them as a right from the National reserve agency, by whatever name it might be called, those discount accommoda tions which they are now compelled to ask as a favor from the great cen tral reserve banks. If the new Con gress will give us such a law, it will do much to associate a Democratic administration In the public mind with prosperity instead of with hard times and to remove the stigma which past financial heresies have placed on that political organization. By inducing the parties to the Bal kan war and the great powers to select London as the scene of the peace ne gotiations. Sir Edward Grey has scored a point for the British metropolis as the headquarters of European diplo macy. The last great conference of thaj .powers iwas that .at Algeciras, Spain, which thought It settled the Moroccan controversy, but did not. Before that the most noteworthy Eu ropean congress was that at Berlin In 1878, which revised the settlement of tht) Russo-Turkish war and averted war between Great Britain and Rus sia. The selection of Berlin was a tri umph for Germany and Bismarck, but Germany is less disinterested than Britain in the present war and could not secure the selection of her capital as the meeting place of the negotiators. THE LAW. Hanging is solemn business; but murder is an atrocious crime. The four men who are to be executed at Salem today have upon their respec tive brows the indelible brand of Cain.' They are not sacrifices to any vengeful or homicidal spirit on the part of so ciety, as some foolish persons say; but they are terrible examples of the righteous workings of retributive Jus tice. It is well to be sorry for them, and to sympathize with the tears of their mourning relatives. But it is better to have the law respected and protect society In the only way it can be protected, or can protect Itself. Governor West accepts the decision of the people in November on capital punishment as an instruction to hang these murderers. It is more. It is a deliberate expression of the Judgment of the people on a grave question oi public policy, and therefore a mandate to hang all persons who are guilty of first-degree murder. The Governor is doubtless mistaken in his assumption that the execution of the four murderers will revolt the public mind and conscience and lead to the abolition of capital punishment. The people are sternly resolved to do their duty, whether or not it pleases the state's executive or the excited and sentimental group who besieged him to overthrow the law. LET ARIZONA HELP OREGON. There is much merit In the move ment of the Arizona people to secure an extension .from ten years, the pres ent limit, to twenty-five years, of the time within which settlers on Gov ernment irrigation projects must com plete payment for construction. Com pletion of many projects, among which is the Salt River project, has been most aggravatingly delayed and homesteaders who settled on the land in reliance on the announcement of the Government that water would be turned In within a certain period have suffered great hardship and have in some cases been reduced almost to starvation by the delay. Since the Government was responsible, the set tlers have a Just claim to consid eration. Anticipating opposition on the ground that the extension of time would stint uncompleted projects of the necessary funds, the Arizonans propose to ask Congress for an ad vance of $25,000,000 to the reclama tion fund, this sum to be distributed according to the needs of various projects and to be refunded as money comes in from those projects after completion. The Oregonian would be more disposed to support this move ment if the Arizonans, whose cause has' been taken up by the Arizona Re publican, would Join Oregon in secur ing re-enactment of section 9 of the original reclamation act. That sec tion provided that the- major part of the public - land receipts from-' each state should be expended on reclama tion within that state and that, what ever part might be diverted to other states should be made good within each ten-year period. This section was repealed near the end of the first ten-year period, when under it Oregon projects would have been entitled to a large sum that had been diverted from the state. Arizona secured a large proportion of these diverted funds. Let Arizona help Oregon to recover her diverted funds and Oregon will be more disposed to help Arizona In securing the additional appropriation. If Oregon Is to be simply the milch cow for other arid-land states, it can not be expected to become enthusias tic over their irrigation projects. THE COST OF IJVIXO AND VOCATIOXAI. EDI CATION. This month the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Edu cation has been holding its sixth an nual convention In Philadelphia. Nat urally the discussions took a wide range, for neither the methods nor the purposes of industrial education have yet been clearly defined and there is room for debate upon almost every point. But some matters seem to have been pretty well agreed upon at the convention, even if others were left unsettled. For example, there was little dispute that the best teachers for industrial schools are young men who have been at work in shops for several years without a thought of doing anything else. They catch the spirit of. the industry and if they have any pedagogic gift at all they can handle classes far better than persons who have been trained to teach with out experience as wage-earners. This conclusion comes not from theory, but from actual tests in schools. The convention also paid much at tention to the pressing need of the United States for systematic vocation al education. The modern opinion Is that young people should be caused to look forward to some definite voca tion from very early years. It is not necessary to choose a lifework for them and impose it without any pro vision for change as the child devel ops, but the feeling that education leads to something clearly useful should not be allowed to lapse. This feeling gives a meaning to the school studies which is naturally deepened when tools are put into the pupil's hands and he is set to work with them. It came out at the convention that many believe there is a close connec tion between the rising cost of living and the prevalent neglect of voca tional education, particularly educa tion in agriculture. One speaker said that "our National appetite has out grown both our National larder and our National pocket-book. Popula tion tends to press upon subsistence. The cost of the necessaries of life haa risen faster than the earning power of the consumer and has operated to reduce the actual income of the wage worker" and of people who live upon fixed salaries. This is only too true, but it is un wise to overlook the fact, when we are talking about under-production, that vast quantities of food actually produced never reach the market be cause the farmer cannot afford to pay transportation charges and com mission for selling. There are many other factors besides the lack of tech nical education which contribute to make the cost of living high to city consumers. TRIALS OF AN OPTIMIST. The Oregonian is quite at a loss to know how its questioning contribu tor, Mr. Moran, got the impression that it has been "pessimistic" as to the fate of the country in th6 hands of a Democratic Administration. Pes simistic? If we have been pessimistic, optimism is a howling wilderness and cheerfulness a barren waste. We foresaw and accepted the inevitable Democratic victory long before it oc curred; and we placed feather beds, safety nets, life preservers, fire es capes, parachutes every known hu man device to break or soften a fall at the disposal of every individual doubter who feared the consequences of the plunge the country was about to take- If there was to be a deluge, we had a life raft ready; a conflagration, am ple extinguishing apparatus at hand; a panic, the comforting assurance that Wall street had long ago lost its con trol; or dull times, the reassuring cer tainty of ample crops, thriving busi ness and a ready market. Yet our friend thinks we are a little pessimis tic when we have declared every day from the rising of the sun to. the set ting thereof that the worst never hap pens even under a Democratic Admin istration. Tint vja ohoii Via ohaYitable and an swer Mr. Moran's queries, with more or less brevity and aeitness. n th.nk (1) that Mr. Bryan has had a lot of press LOtlces, and we think plso that he will get a lot more. It is a way Mr. Bryan has. We think (2) that the Democrats realize the coun try is more or less distrustful, and that all know that there must be "harmony," and we suspect that some of them will fight to get it.. We do not feel called upon (3) to blame any Republican for anything that hap pened November 5. We have had (4) enough of Roosevelt and we admit that Tavft has, rightly or wrongly, dis appointed many people. Now we hope that Mr. Moran and other sceptical inquisitors will feel better. We do. ' XATIONAI, DIRECT UJGISLATIOX. Senator Bristow proposes to apply the initiative to Federal laws, but not as we have it in Oregon and other states.. Here a certain percentage of the voters initiate bills by petition; Bristow would vest this power in the President alone by allowing him to in voke the initiative as to any recom mendation of his on which Congress had failed to act for six months, the people to vote on it at the next Con gressional election. It was inevitable that the adoption of direct legislation by some of the states would lead to' a movement for it application to National affairs. If the Oregon system is good for the states, it may be argued that it is good for the Nation. But the Oregon sys tem is by no means perfect. It needs amendment, in order to eliminate the petition-peddling abuse and otherwise make the system comply with the con dition which Roosevelt laid down and Wilson approved, that the Initiative and referendum shall not be made "the easy and ordinary "way of taking action." " The central idea of the system is sound. If it can be so guarded that it shall be used only to determine the public will on fundamental and ele mental questions of government, why is it not as good for the Nation as for the state? It is amusing to note that some newspapers which have been urging adoption of unlimited direct legislative power In the states begin to feel the cold chill of alarm when the power in modified form is pro posed for the Nation. It Is openly ap parent that initiating of National laws by petition would be an unwieldy pro cess and fraught with many dangers, but a form of referendum confined to National issues of simple and funda mental Import ought not to be objec tionable if there is any virtue what ever in the broader powers now held by the people of several states as to state issues. MAYOR GAYNOR ON YICE. Mayor Gaynor delivered himself down to the last atom of his opinions on the subjects of gambling, Sabbath k.,a1,lnr ealnnna flnrl the .social evil at the Forum of New York University the other nignt- some or nis views are as sane as one could wish. Some of them are silly and gushy. Others are so Ignorantly perverse that it is .DtAnichincr tn think of a man in Mayor Gaynor's position with his op portunities OI enngntenment nuiums "hm Tt shows how little access new opinions and modern ideas have to some minds after they nave once rinAil nn nt Ahnut the aee . of 40 years, and finally crystallized. We shall quote some or juayor uaynors opinions in order to make a little comment upon them. He told his hearers he was going to speak on "the four vices the vice of drinking Vi Sunrlsav the vice Of Coins; OUt to play ball on Sunday, the vice of gam bling and the vice oi me unioriunate .nmn " A tn enmblinfir. he said that the effort to break it up "with strong arms and clubs" had cost the city "something like $8,000,000 In graft" during the administration be fore his. This sum included grait oo tainnri in the same wav from saloons and "unfortunate women," as Mayor Gaynor delicately designates tnem, irkorawr it o.me from it stands for the sum which New York paid for the luxury of attacking vice in tne wrong way for three or four years. Turning to ."Sabbath breaking," Mayor Gaynor said that "a large part of the population of New York comes from European countries, where It Is usual to go to church on Sunday morning and play outdoor games in the afternoon. These people natural ly find some difficulty in understand ing our Sunday laws and often refuse to obey them. There are men," he continued, "who work in boiler fac tories and such places all the week and who never see the sun except on Sunday. I don't hesitate to say that even as a health measure we should let them play out of doors on that day." He referred also to the fact, often forgotten, that John Calvin, the father of all the Presbyterians, used to play ball with his boys and neighbors on Sunday. Martin Luther did the same. When Mayor Gaynor comes to speak of the females whom he likes to call "unfortunate women" we do not find ourselves quite so harmonious with him. We cannot even credit him. with a decent show of consistency. He be gins by saying that he favors a re stricted district, because if there is none the women will intrude them selves everywhere, scandalize the bet ter classes, and so on through the fa miliar story. ' A moment later he tells us that it is "a serious crime to es tablish a house for these people to live in and lead immoral lives." It would be edifying to "hear Mayor Gay nor, or any of his disciples, explain how there is to be a restricted district unless somebody "establishes houses for the women to live in and lead im moral lives." . There is no exception to the rule that a restricted district is by its very nature a flaunting defi ance of the law. So far as the limita tion of the women's presence and in fluence is concerned, if Mayor Gay nor had taken the trouble to study the facts of the case he would have known that his platitudes about it were the flimsiest of moonshine. The scarlet woman may be shut up in a slum house and kept there, but it is not quite sq easy to shut -up the dis eases she communicates to her pa trons nor to ward off contamination from their wives and children. This is a case where walls do not a prison maife. We do our best sometimes to construct an earthly imitation of tophet and confine immoral women in it, but all that is dangerous about them escapes with teVrific facility. In his desire for a restricted district Mayor Gaynor is at odds with every serious student of the social evil in the whole world- Not one of them whose books are worth reading be lieves In it. He took up a' large part of his address abusing Dr. Parkhurst, the celebrated anti-vice crusader, for wishing to close up the slum resorts. But In this particular Dr. Parkhurst has all the facts and reason on his side. There Is not a solitary argu ment for a restricted district except the fact that it makes blackmail eas ier for the police to collect. This may appeal to some minds, but to us it is not convincing. Mayor Gaynor be lieves that the "unfortunate woman" is part of the divine order of the uni verse. "In the economy of God she has been here from the beginning of the world. The passing of laws will not affect the situation. We must watt until God in his infinite time and in his own wise way softens the pas sions of men and makes them" cease to produce unfortunate women. No doubt Mayor Gaynor thought he was speaking reverently when he poured forth this disgusting mixture of sen timental ignorance and blasphemous superstition.. We can, for our part, imagine no more shameful slander upon the Almighty than to say that the white slave business is "part of his economy." If that is really the way he rules the world why not turn to the Adversary for a change and probably an improvement? And if there can be no betterment of it ex cept "in God's infinite time," we may as well cease all our efforts and let things slide, as the Welsh preacher said when he let the lady he was bap tizing slip away under the ice. Will the time never come when we shall cease trying to shuffle off upon God the consequences of our own ignor ance, laziness, cruelty and greed? Superstition cannot help perform ing a few antics over the combina tion of 12's that happened yesterday. It was the 12th day of the 12th month of 1912. Truly a portentous conjunc ture when we remember that 12 is a magic number which has played a weighty part in incantations for thou sands of years. But all this is nothing to the occult tremors which shook the world in 1881, the year that began and ended with the same figure. It was by the merest accident that the world did not end in that year. There is a world-wide movement on foot to unify the Protestant churches. Sometimes it looks to a federation, but for the ' most part it aims to stop short of that goal. Friends of progress see nothing but good in the movement. Its only op ponents are those who are economi cally interested in the present divi sions. No doubt they are saintly men, but their wishes are not the most im portant considerations in the world. The world has been despising Spitz bergen Island for a long time, but this attitude is no longer warranted. The gelid isle has any number of first class harbors and, as it now appears, contains immense coal deposits. There seems to be a fair prospect that the arctic regions will turn out to be the richest in the world as far as natural resources go. By the way, where is Spitzbergen Island? The sixteen-hour law having inter fered with the running of a special train carrying Denver & Rio Grande officials, the general superintendent took the throttle, a superintendent played fireman and the engine crew rode in comfort on the superintend ent's car. Needless to say, the engi neer and fireman approve the sixteen hour law more heartily than ever. Ambassador Herrick has called vil lages and cities "a fungus growth on the country." As well call the farm house a fungus growth on the farm. Cities are as necessary to the country as houses are to the farm. They can only be compared to a fungus when their growth becomes disproportion ate. - ' On the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year a child was born in a taxicab. Those who believe i .i. sni cvmhnls should see ahead 111 Sifiuo 1 ' ,J. a remarkable career for the newcomer. Tacoma's City Council engaged in a wild salary-raising carnival. Did any one ever hear of the board of directors of a business institution running amuck in that fashion? Assistant Attorney-General De Long holds that women are "incompetent" to serve on juries. He should be rec ommended for one of those Carnegie hero medals. A huge fossil has been unearthed near Los Angeles. There are those who will contend that it is the Repub lican party's goat. A French aviator went up nearly four miles. One of them will lose his way and land on the wrong planet one of these days. Churchill is dubbed the Roosevelt of England. Probably because he's al ways stirring up a fuss of some sort. Sending the Twenty-fifth Infantry to Honolulu will harmonize the color scheme. Only twelve days remain In which to decide what to give father a mo mentous problem to settle. Prohibitionists want a new name. They need a new song, as welL This is bargain Friday for the Devil, but he gets the worst of it. Mexico continues beating on the rocks of anarchy. LIEN LAWS DECLARED - ABSURD. Writer Believe They Work to Advan tage of Irresponsible Contractors. PORTLAND, Dec 11. (To the Edi tor.) Supposing you had ordered a suit from your tailor, and after It had been received and paid for, It was attached for money owed a transportation com pany for delivering; the cloth from the manufacturer to the wholesale dealer who sold the cloth to your tailor, and the attachment was publicly recorded and printed in the daily papers for all to see and believe you have not paid for your new suit, no doubt you would consider laws which made such attach ments possible were very absurd and unjust- But similar attachments (or liens) are possible on buildings under the present lien laws. To cite a parallel case of recent oc currence: A lien was filed, without previous notice to the' owner, for $13 owed to a trucking company who carted the gravel for a gravel and land company, who furnished the gravel to the firm doing the mason work for the general contractor to whom the owner had let the contract. The lien laws have one merit only. They enable the building mechanics to collect their wages when their em ployers are unable to pay them. But why should workmen on buildings be protected more than other workmen? If it is right that they should be, then why not the carpenter who made your furniture; the seamstress who sewed your suit; the laborer who dug your potatoes? Why should they not all have the right to attach your property and compel you to pay wages owed by the people you bought from? Aside from this one possible credit the law is utterly bad. It protects the material men who should be in no need of such protection and have no more excuse for asking it than dealers in other lines. It puts an unjust bur den upon- the owner who is obliged to see that all claims are paid even to the fourth remove from the original contractor, or risk having to pay twice for the same material. It frequently compels the owner to pay unjust bills, for, while those con nected with the -- building business know a lien is no evidence of a man's dishonesty, there Is no doubt that with the majority of people a lien upon one's property is an injury to one's credit and owners will often pay bills they know to be unjust rather than have a lien filed. In many cases it is impossible for the owner to know all sources of sup ply and frequently there are claims which are in dispute between the con tractor and his sub-contractors, or workmen, of the justness or unjust ness of which it is utterly impossible for the owner to judge. The lien laws also encourage dis honest and financially unable men to. take contracts, for they find no diffi culty In having materials delivered to them and hardly less In engaging men to work. For in all .cases the furn ishers of material and labor feel they are protected by the lien laws and take no pains to find out the con tractor's responsibility. Is It not time something was done toward either repealing or radically modifying our lien laws? CHARLL'S W. HENN. PROTEST FROM PROPERTY OWNER East Stark-Street Sewer Declared Un necessary and Extravagsnt. PORTLAND, Dec. 12. (To the Edi tor.) As a property owner in Belle Crest I hereby make a strong appeal to other property owners in Rose City Park districts and additions to protest vigorously against being assessed for the East Stark-street sewer, so unrea sonably imposed upon us. We ought further to protest against being assessed for a sewer now, which will not be completed within ten years, and maybe never, as most likely some time later on the city authorities will come to the more reasonable and the only correct conclusion, that this dis trict ought to be drained down the natural slope north to the Columbia Slough, which is by far the shortest and cheapest way for us. . A sewer here is not needed as we have gone to the expense of digging cess-pools duly inspected and approved by the city authorities and the sani tary conditions here do not warrant any. The city authorities have no right to commence work on any sewer with- f-out the consent of the property owners, and the City Engineer has no right to put us to unnecessary expense by selecting the longest and most expen sive route. The property owners ought to have something to say too. We should like to know approximately the eventual cost; It seems to vary from $76 to $250 per lot, maybe still more. Some body of men the club or im provement league, which is most in terested, ought to call a mass meeting and have this matter discussed. I refer principally to the Rose City Park Club and the Cfregory iieigms improvement League. A petition or a protest ought also to be circulated lor signatures. G. A. PATTERSON. STATE HIGHWAY LAW THE NEED. Legislation Said Now to Be Adequate for Building Local Roads. SALEM, Or., Dec. 12. (To the Edi tor.) As a personal attendant upon legislative sessions for the past 20 years, let me warn those who want good roads legislation not to present too many bills. There were eight good roads bills before the people at the last election. We know their fate. Oregon Is long on legislators and short on road builders. To merely rec ommend a lot of good roads measures, to indorse them with this organization and that is a waste of time. Unless some organization has brains enough to get up a state highway bill that Is constitutional and can be enacted, why waste away more words. We have County Courts to build state highways. We have the Road Super visors to build the little local dirt roads. We do not need any more road legislation for county or local roads. We do need a state highway law under which the state can build some state roads. I hope the . Hotelmen's Association will not be diverted from their reso lution to fight for a system of state highways connecting our principal cen ters all over the state. Oregon is drop ping so far behind on this matter that we will never get caught up with the procession. E. HOFER. Mil. "MORAN ASKS SOME QUESTIONS Which Are Soberly Answered Else where On This Page. PORTLAND, Dec. 11. (To the Edi tor.) Don't you think you are a lit tle pessismlstic in regard to what will become of the country as soon as the new President-elect has taken- his seat? Don't you think, also, that you are giving Mr. Bryan a lot of press notices, forecasting what he will do, and won't do, If he is, or is not, se lected for the Secretary of State? Don't you think that the Democrats have had their lesson learned in ' the past, and have ' just seen another one in this recent election and that the kenynote of success, whether it be In politics, religion, business, etc., is "harmony," and that they will strive to obtain that? Do you honestly and candidly blame a Republican for vot ing the Democratic National ticket this past election? Haven't we had enough of Roosevelt and was not Taft the most dissap pointing President we have had in the Executive -Chair since President Hayes? JAMES M. MORAN. GET DOYVJT TO THE ROOT OF EVIL Prevention of Crime as Possible as Prevention of Disease, Says Writer. PORTLAND, Dec. 11. (To the Editor.) The communication on the editorial page of The Morning Ore gonian, signed "A Moderate Drinker,' indeed struck a keynote when, under the head "Liquor Freely Sold to Minors" he said: "Is there not some way to check these people up before another murder is perpetrated by drunken boys?" When we go to the root of these evils, only then can we hope for fewer murders. Setting examples by capital punishment will never do it. Capital punishment, or. putting it harshly as it is, killing the offender, will never lessen depravity caused by Impure moral conditions. Men put to death by law are but an object lesson of the bitter end of crime and the people who work for such preventive as punishment would best spend the time, energy and money in killing the evil in the bud. For example, let us cite a few of the worst conditions and scourges of the human race, which are being and have been overcome in recent years, and which, when first put before the peo ple, gained small recognition. Yellow fever, typhoid, the deadly house-fly and tuberculosis, all as great a men ace to society as murderers, took their colossal toll every year and even with the care and study and treatment of the victims of these diseases and pests, the danger to life was never dimin ished. But, when, after much study and scientific investigation, yellow fever was practically exterminated by de stroying the mosquito and its breeding places; when typhoid was prevented by observing cleanliness of surround ings and purity of water; when gar bage and animal excrement were prop erly disposed of, lo, we had, practically, control of these menaces and harvest ers of human life. What use is it to swat a million flies and leave a farm or back yard breeding place of tens of millions? Now why can we not apply these same principles to moral phases of life and educate our people to the same condition as regards crime in all its phases? The fact that .the last mur derer is waiting in the penitentiary, doomed to hang for his crime, will not deter the liquor-crazed boy or man who is about to commit the next mur der. His brain is in such a condition that neither reasoning nor example will do him any good. Just the same with the man who premeditates his crime; his mind and life have at some time been steeped in wrong influence, ignorance, or perhaps youthful faults, in themselves not crimes, but fertilizers of bad character, ihe great common people all read newspapers now. It is possible to educate all to this higher standard. Why, we spend more time, care and thought with our rose bushes and berry vines and dogs and chickens than we do for humanity. The following are conditions we might be educated upon things which are seeds, as It were, and will grow and thrive if carefully cared for by the public and explained to all dally in different forms and views by the news papers of the people; Dance halls, in good surroundings under proper supervision, where the young may have clean, happy amuse ment. Young people under certain age off streets after certain hours. Sympathetic Investigation and help for working boys' and girls' conditions. Teaching of principles of honor in public schools. Liquor dispensed in proper manner and amount. Instilling into all minds respect and consideration of persons. LENNA STAHL. PROFIT TAKERS AND LIVING COST. Concrete Examples Shown of Injury to Producer and Consumer. , SALEM. Or.. Dec 11. (To the Edi tor.) So much has. been said and written about the cause of high prices, most of it far from the point, that I would like to give a few facts that ought to enable any one to' see readily not only the cause but also the cure. The cause Is the middleman, -and the cure his elimination. Here are the facts. In The Oregonian the other day was the statement that beans for which the farmer got 50c a bushel were re tailed at $4.85 a bushel. A few weeks ago, in The Oregonian was an article stating that prunes In Boston were selling at 20 and 25 cents a pound, whereas the Oregon prune raiser re ceived only 4 cents a pound for them. I have a friend in California, a fig raiser, who wrote me that he received 2 and 3 cents a pound for his dried figs. What do we pay for them here in Portland? Ten to 15 cents a pound. Who gets the difference? That middle man. What for? Simply for handing me the stuff across the counter. I have a friend who manufactures a certain article. He told me in con fidence that it cost him between $14.75 and $15 to make it and he sold it whole sale for $30. I -saw the article in a store with his brass tag on it, offered for $65. Why should a thing that costs only $15 to make cost me $65? Because on top of the manufacturer's profit, the jobber and the wholesaler and the re tailer must all have their big profits, and we fellows who are getting $3 or $4 a day must pay them their profits or do without. In the matter or luxu ries, we can, of course, let them alone, but we must have food and clothing. A woman's cloak is offered for $75 In the early Fall. The same coat is sold about Christmas, when the season is nearly over, for $30. I know this, for my wife bought such a one last year. A man well posted In the grocery business told me that 40 per cent was the usual profit made on sales in that business. Forty per cent for what? Simply for transferring the goods from the man before him to me. Now what Is the cure? A year or so ago, farmers in Wisconsin and Michi gan were getting 63 cents a bushel for their potatoes, while in Indiana, a couple of hundred miles away or less, they were selling for $2.65 a bushel. The freight was 10 cents a bushel. The balance of the profit went to the com mission merchant and other parasites who were handling the potatoes before they got to the consumer. The Mayor of one of the towns bought a couple of carloads and offered them at cost in small quantities, and immediately the price of potatoes went down to $1.25 a bushel, yielding a fair profit, even at that price. Now, even at the risk of being ac cused of "paternalism," I do not see why the city could not establish public market places, charging a small rental for upkeep, where the producer and the consumer could get together. You are making a splendid fight on the loan sharks, why not carry it a little fur ther, and help the overcharged con sumer get prices on things that bear some reasonable relation to the cost and first selling price. If the. middle men were to become producers, then there would be an abundance of every thing for everybody at reasonable prices. L. C. AVERY. School Teachers' Organizations. PORTLAND. Dec. 12. (To the Edi tor.) The advocating of organization of the school teachers no doubt is prompted by the best of motives for assisting these valuable people In bet tering their condition. If to get state wide association means moral and social uplift,, then all encouragement should be given the Idea, but If, how ever. It is an effort for the sole pur pose of increasing their pay, ain the face of the already large expense ($3. 099,200 according to a published state ment) for Portland alone for school purposes, it would be well to use caution and very much "thought" in the matter.. A CITIZEN. Ha.f a Century Ago From The OreKonlan of December 13. 1862. .MA-An minUlo, tO RUSStft. snvo trmr the rebels are building Iron clad ships in England. i xjAn.i-.i..if thA Tndlana- XllUlllilS V- IJVHUU.n polis State Journal declares, will prob- . . . ... . .-. t.i nnni)nra fn. aDiv De me jsrecitmi ... United States Senator. He is a -, ; . nt "Vonlipd" nrM auruuniiguins n;ttci - has advocated the secession of the Northwestern states irom inn muu with a view of ioinlne the rebel Con federacy. , our attention nas Deen hu . m fact that the dirt thrown out of the cisierns receniiy ouni. o w... lll crossings ul otrvcia. o The general tenor of the news from the East Is good and strong. There is to be no going into tiici yum ici Our armies are everywhere moving. In the Southwest the game is our own. Rosecrans' victories and Curtis' and Butler's management secure that sec- tion irrevutMuij iu nc . if,.i..! 1 Tavi- avnal. great iiiaoiiMii . tlona are progressing finely. The re maining rebel seaports are trembling in anticipation of speedy attacks from . ,-. 1.. (h Vl-nlnlo thA our ironciaus. wuj n atfnnn. nn ..nil rti PT1 1. enemy app'a - . and is crouching at Fredericksburg and Richmond for his most fearful spring. I offer for sale lots 5 and 6 in block 59 in this city to enable me to pay my proportion ui. iiwicuiw" for Z. N. Stansburg. former treasurer of Multnomah County. H. W. Davis. PURCHASE OF JEFFERSON'S HOME, Writer Thinks Money Could Be Ex pended More Wisely Elsewhere. EUGENE. Or., Dec. 7. (To the Edi tor.) some articles have appeared lately regarding the purchase or con demnation of the Jefferson home prop erty by the Government for the pur pose of retaining the same in perpetu ity, or as a relic of historic note. One or more of the papers or magazines re ferring to the matter make statements laudatory of Jefferson and even men tion him as the greatest statesman ever produced in America, which leads us to meditate a little or peruBe in passing some of the events and characters of the past. One writer or author has said some where that "any fool can read history, but it takes a philosopher to Interpret it." This may be a little strong In these days, at least we hope Buch is the case, but the magazine or state ment referred to makes one think of the old saying. Also a famous act which was promoted and carried into conspicuous prominence tends to give effect to said quotation the placing of the Lee statue in the Capitol at Washington. "Let bygones be bygones" Is a good motto In many cases, or es pecially In those of personal or Indi vidual moment where there is no great principle involved or question of mor als, but in affairs concerning the pol icy of the Government and public mor als, as well, it is well enough to in quire into them and that seriously. I do not see that there is any pub lic demand to acquire the Jefferson property. The policies he stood for are most of them outdated or positively detrimental to the country's welfare, and one of them came well nigh dis rupting It the secession doctrine, of which he was the father and chief sponsor. This one doctrine in Its evil influences vastly more than outdid or overbalanced all the good he ever ac complished. The writing of the Declaration, while a brilliant accomplishment or exploit, was of no great fundamental service. Others would have performed It prac tically as well, and there is some ques tion of the part he had in it as to the substance or thought of the document, there being five men, all prominent on the committee. But the phraseology was perhaps In the main his. This gives his main claim or importance in history. He was little more than a good phrase maker. In executive mat ters he followed the tide of events or was sagacious enough to see what the people wanted. If the Government has the money to spend on such outworn relics of doubt ful importance, there are ways In which It can be done to the advantage of the people. In certain lines and some of which are becoming of press ing importance. For example, it could be expended toward a commission to look into the land monopoly or conser vation question, or if not that then spend It to enlarge or Increase the ef ficiency of some of the present depart ments, for example the Tariff Commis sion could use this money very handily in carrying out its work of investiga tion, as also that of the currency ques tion which could be properly added to it as they were men who seemed to have the public respect and confidence. , CITIZEN. Greait Potential Power at Celllo. CELILO, Or., Dec 11. (To the Edi tor.) In The Oregonian I notice men tion of the immense water power that the Deschutes River can produce, which Is doubtless the case, but no mention is made of the Celilo Falls, which all United States engineers, who have seen them, pronounced to be the third great est water power in the United States. Colonel George H. Mendell told me some 25 years ago 'that "millions of water power could be taken from the Celilo Falls with properly-constructed retaining walls. I. H. TAFFE. Three Big Special Features Theodore Roosevelt He will present in The Sunday Oregonian the first of a series of big game stories relating to the outdoor pastimes of an American hunter. He tells of a cougar hunt in Colo rado. It abounds in live action and is told in Roosevelt's force ful, graphic style. Maxim Gorky The famous Russian writer presents a char acteristic story, "On Christmas Eve." Complete, with illustra tions, Sunday. Winning Oregon The first in stallment of a brief history of Oregon. The important events in the state's past are summed up in attractive form. There will bo two installments of a page each, illustrated profusely with photo graphs and drawings. American Trade Spies A keen analvsis of foreign trade fields and the work of American ajents who are developing new markets for our products and wares. An article of rare value. Madonna and Child An illus trated pase on masterpieces of art that have been painted on that best-beloved of topics. Santa's Toy Factory An illus trated page ou the making and marketing of toys for Christmas. Society's Sidewalk Gallery A striking poster page in full colors. Four pages of colored comics and Many Other Features. ORDER TODAY FROM YOUR NEWSDEALER. f