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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 1919)
A '' 9 THE MORNING OREGON I AN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31. IfHiJ. 4ffk . A . coining special session, which will modities except precious stones and; of peace. They were strong for it. OlUltt SX XttnVtiltl mar an1 color the entire course of some metals that are too rare for use (They knew then as they know now V " Sr 2? legislation. It will renew and en- as money. One example will suffice, jthat the armistice was based speciflc- "MsTABLISHED BY 11KNRV I PITTOCK. ', large the feeling and desire that the When the bolshevists removed their j ally upon President Wilson's four- lijFubliiied by The oregonian Publishing Co.. people should have an opportunity government from Petrograd to Mos-lteen points of peace. They knew JfV 13.". Sixth Street. Portland. Oregon. t il ., nf ..,nr.T- at the cow thv tnnlr witTo , ,,., ahmit rl thpn a nrl tTnev know now that the I C. A. MORDE.V, E. B. PIPER. Manager. Editor. The Oregonian Is a member of the Asso ciated Press. The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use for publica tion of all news dispatches credited to it r not otherwise credited in this paper and a. so the local news published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. next general election. Subscription Rate (By Mail.) Dally. Sunday included, one year Daily. Sunday Included, six months .. Daiiy. Sunday included, three months Daily, Sunday included, one month . . Daily, without Sunday, one year Da j'.y. wit hout Sunday, six months -. : Da..y. without Sunday, one month . .. 1 Weekly, one year , Sunday, one year ; Sunday and weekly (By Carrier.) ; D:t , iy. Sundav Included, one year . . . . , Daily, Sunday Included, three months Bally, Sunday Included, one month . . J Daliy, wl hout Sunday, one year . . . . ".D.'illy, without Sunday, three months. !, Dully, without Sunday, one month THKY SOW XOT, BCT TtTEI REAP. If. as is proposed in the Cummins bill, the Interstate Commerce com mission should be divested of its ad ministrative functions and should be- InvartnM In Advance), j come a purely judicial body for ad justment, or ranroaa rates, it win dc times tne nuniDer ot cars ior $400,000,000 in gold, which was the fourteenth point was a definite pledge reserve of the old Imperial bank. I of a general association of nations They stored it at Kazan, and Kol- j "under specific covenants, for the chak's army captured it with that , purpose of affording mutual, guar town and took it to Omsk, then to ! antees of political independence and Irkutsk. If that reserve had been in j territorial integrity to great and silver instead of gold, many times I small nations alike." the vault space would have been j They knew then and they know needed for its storage and many Its lz5 I confronted with a number of former transportation, and a severe strain r. ;j Decisions made by it when it was , would have been put on the over- only semi-judicial, the other half of ; taxed rolling stock of the Russian that, more important, the 3.2ojiU composite brain being guided by railroads. Extend the same rule to j nations, relying upon the good faith . . . i v. 1. 1 1 i Liiau i.ii tuiiniuciaiiuua. i jtriouu nuv 1.1. .1 -"u .v. 11110 ..(.i.vu. ..v .tiv.t y . - ...... 2.50 3. SO .sn.oo . 2JH . .75 . 7.S0 . 1.95 . .65 How lo Remit snd postofflce money ewder, express or personal check on your local bank. Stumps, coin or currency are st owner's risk. tlive postofflce address In full, including county and state. I'oelHgc Rat cm -12 to 1 pages. I cent: 1" S2 liases. 2 cents: 34 to 48 pages. 3 Cents; 50 o H pases. 4 cents: 02 to 76 paxes, 5 cents; 78 to 82 pages. 6 cents. Foreign postage, double rates. Kastern Businesft Office -Vcrrce & Conk lln, Brunswick building. New York; Verrst Jfc Conklln. Stegcr building. Chicago; Ver , ree & Conklln, Free Press building, De troit. Mich. San Francisco representative. K. J. Bldwell. As a strictly judicial body, it would handle coin, and we can understand I future security as certainties and find that the decisions mentioned : why silver Is not likely to supplant and which might be consistent with ' gold, its formerly semi-judicial character, did not square with justice and therefore could not be maintained i after It had become wholly judicial. For example, Portland merchants might discover that the rates which they paid on canned goods to the inland empire were far higher In proportion to distance and cost of service than the rates from San Francisco. At great expense, they BY-PRODUCTS OF THE TOSBS Ray Stannard Baker's Book on Wil son It res I la Boom-Town Story. Jay E. House, formerly of Kansas, who now contributes a dally column to the editorial page of the Philadel phia Public Ledger, is responsible for the following: It is pointed out by his publishers that Ray Stannard Baker began writ ing his book about "What Wilson Did at Paris" in the middle of October and now that with this and other pledges j turned In the completed manuscript by the United States before the ; n N'ovember 4. Having, so to speak, world. Germany was stripped of all j no acquaintance with the literati, we power to continue the conflict and (do not know whether Mr. Baker's per- alliecl I formance Is regarded as notable or otherwise. And so its only effect on us was to recall the story they used to tell on "Bill" Hackney. What was the story? Thank you! We had hoped you'd insist that we tell It. When the boom came to his small town In the middle west the Hon. William P. Hackney, more familiarly that their armies thereby lost the will to continue the war. The president's fourteenth point was embodied In its exact phraseol ogy in section ten of the league pact. and its general promise and the Those Who Come and Go. PREMUL'M Ml nOCATT DICTATOR Col. M m.fi. in Letter Rearneel Krans Waste Basket. Defends Rlphts. PORTLAND. Dec. SO. (To the Edl- Six million pounds of cheese have i .i f i.l . J mnA cold in Tilla- mook county in the past year, accord- I tor.) 1 submit to The Oregonian a ing to C. J. Eowards. oanxer. of Til- j letter which I wrote to the Journal, lamook city, who is at the Seward. but which the journal has not pub The cheese has brought In about liehed. ft seems to me the deliberate $2,000,000 to the county, which speaks , attempt of the World to arouse popu- More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montague. It's a Cols. Hard World. Tour hair was brown and your SI ee were blue And oh! you were fair to see. But my love was vain, for a girl like you Was not for a lad like me. pretty well of Tillamook as a dairy hlti,i,,. ainst tne United States I I knew that mv dreams were hona- cotintry. Air. r.Qivaraa says me e-xf.i does not become COMPENSATIONS OK CAPITftf.lHat. War is made on disease, poverty and ignorance by the Rockefeller J aeflnjte pledges were carried out in known as Bill." found himself seised foundation with its hundreds of mil- the other provisions of the covenant. ; and possessed of a plot of ground lions of dollars. In no other way . th ,.... .. hnunriarv ' which had been his fee in a certain than by use of large capital in pri-,jlles were rirawn wi,n smaller con lawsuit which he had engaged less. dear. And life loomed dead and dun. For you were the child of a bank cashier And I was a plumber's son. - j.- . woor) net ror tne ruiamooK cneese is ids; i saw you first when I came to mend wide, wide w orld, ana tne cneese ..didti a n-i-i n- "3 iKdttor of A leak in vour kitchen rasas makers are determined to keep the; Thf Journal.) I notice the extract And I felt my fluttering pulse ascend -1 . de- ta n 43 K) lli ll ngures on tne cneese output . e nj. figurehead and violate the con- yet available, but 6.000.000 . pounds S'utlo? by living all treaty-mak-wlll not be far from the mark. This, power; to the executive alone, would represent several trainloads of , ' unnoticed. tne isDStaDtia uuusiuit . i ui-u-. market supplied able. At present far as they however, the are p v .-ir wnrM In vour to a Ditch that nas n on.i i Ae M.in.tT.- n.rnmhpr IS. to the! stranare. mand exceeds the supply, but there effect tnat by refusing to accept the j I saw you passing my father's shop are still thousands of acres available ,.0, am hH.rt t It the United! In a wonderful new anrins- hat tor aairy nerasin iiiauiuoa. State. sei ate has discredited not only President W ilson. but future presidents. Unless foreign powers nesrotiatir.tr with the United States i are sufficiently informed to know that bv our constitution the sen. vate hands is it likely that the causes and cure of hookworm, pel sideration of other guarantees ; against aggression than would have lagra and other diseases would have : been tne caac had u not been fo, r rancisco. At great expense, tticy - L-een tne case naa it. not m ui might complain to the commission ! been discovered and the knowledge , this p)edge. Burdensome exactions and secure material reduction of 3PrpaI a"d applied, or that a sys- based on futllre military strategj- those rates. Immediately, under tematic campaign would have been rulings of the commission, the rail-'""1" r,iUK:e af"'al lu"t,u"U5B' h. ,,,m h. hiiH t t,hii.h chance is small that the govern- ONE MESS AFTER ANOTHER. The Oregonian confesses Its com ;v1lete Inability tc follow the many -Jstrange divagations of Governor Olcott's mind relative to the fish and game troubles. The masterly incom petence and consistent inconsistency with which he has handled the whole situation, growing out of the contro versy over the Finley dismissal, are now to be enhanced by outright dis charge of commissioners In whom tiovernor Olcott has publicly de clared his confidence, and whose action as to Finley was in part in spired by him and in its entirety ap "pTived by him. It is no solution of , ;the muddle; It aggravates it gravely ' and postpones the day when there may be reconciliation between the , several factions among the sports ; ;men, and between the sportsmen and tie commercial fishermen, or har mony and co-operation between all Interests and the new commission or two new commissions. The governor finds It necessary to . ' give the public his assurance that his action has been long in contempla- tion and that it is not due to the Finley episode, but to the "squab Volings and bickerings which In - 'themselves have caused dissatisfac tion, distrust and lack of confidence," and he proposes to "wipe the slate "clean" and start anew. It is Impos jjsible to accept this gratuitous guar V anty at its face value, and not to re j gard his threatened action as an I other chapter of the continuing Finley story. It is pertinent to ask the governor what he would have done if the commissioners as a whole had re- tP'inded to his call upon them to re verse themselves, as he reversed himself, by agreeing to reinstate Mr. ; Finley? Would he have followed their meek compliance with an im mediate announcement that a com- "mission which was obedient to him in this matter, as it had been in all other . matters, so far as the record shows, ,as unfit to hold office under him, and that they must get out? It would have been a strange perform ance not much stranger, however, tjan the other performances of tho governor in his distressful endeavor to extricate himself from an impos sible situation at the expense of men ' who have been associated with him ijon terms of mutual confidence and trust in one of the important branches of the state's service. The Oregonian will not say less than that his newest project of weathering the :. storm by casting his four fellow officers overboard smacks of sur render and bad faith. It would like to say and think otherwise; but no candid survey of the case will per mit it to do so. Here is one of the remarkable paragraphs In the governor's sen tence of his commission to a return 9 to private life: aT I believe that the men on the com mi n slon arc hlg enough and broad enough to see these things. I further believe If .-iV'l called them in and submitted to them my belief that harmony cannot prevail ' while they are on the commission, they . would resign, without hesitation, for the V food of the service, arid probably would . be glad to do so. But to call them in now with such a proposition would be un fair to them and place them In a delicate position, which 1 would hesitate to do. Consequently I have decided to bear the the same rates from Seattle, Tacoma and Astoria, though those cities would not have lifted a finger or spent a dollar to obtain them. There is parity of rates with great dis parity of effort to obtain just rates. There are other flagrant inconsis tencies and inequities growing out of the attempt to enforce equality of rates where there is great inequality of conditions governing those rates. Some of these may prove to conflict with fundamental principles of jus tice, but the commission may find itself so involved in the maze of its own contradictions that it may be unable to reconcile them. Resort to a higher tribunal may be necessary to establish some general principles of rate-making which will give the commission a good start on its way as a wholly, as distinguished from a semi-, judicial tribunal. WHAT THE FIGURES TELL. Some instructive figures, bearing on the efficiency of government op eration of railroads and on the rail road men's claims to higher wages, were brought out in the senate de bate on the Cummins bill. Between December, 1917, and July, 1919, the number of employes Increased 190,539, or mrfre than 11 per cent, to handle practically the same volume of traffic as in 1917. Rates were increased in 191S so that, if the increase had been in merit, much less any state or city board of health, would have under taken it. Agreed that such vast fortunes as that of John D. Rockefeller cannot be accumulated under laws that are absolutely just, more moderate for tunes in the hands of citizens who hold that success imposes an obliga tion of service can prove an unmixed good if used in the way described. The chance is small that a large number of persons would make small contributions large enough In the aggregate to investigate so ob scure a question as the cause of physical degeneracy which has been traced to hookworm and pellagra. That would require an amount of sustained Interest which the subject could hardly evoke. But the posses sor of a fortune acquired in business would have the ability to direct the work and the patience to await results. Under a government which baps capital as an evil in itself, no such accumulations could be made. Men capable of acquiring them would either be killed off as soon as they showed a disposition to save and to become heads of industries, or their accumulations would be confiscated as soon as the total attracted atten tion. That would be their fate in Russia, for which reason mental and physical energy would be turned away from money-making pursuits. That country has been stripped of much of the machinery which con were relinquished because ot tne pledge that a league of nations would Insure the political independence and territorial integrity of great and small alike. The Oregonian Insists that Amer ica shall keep the faith that a pledge by which peace was made possible an1 which became the very basis for the terms of peace shall be made good. The Corvallis paper and those it apes insist that it shall not. It points with pride to its long antagonism to the league of nafions and calls it "consistency." Clod save America from a consistency that betrays its friends. force during the whole year, they would have yielded $1,100,000,000 stitutcs fixed capital and its men of more gross revenue than in 1917. The actual increase in gross revenue was J200.000.000 in excess of the increase of wages for the same num ber of men. but in two years, 1918 and 1919, the. railroads lost from $650,000,000 to $750,000,000. The greater part of that loss must have been due to employment of additional men to do the same ag gregate amount of work. This increase in the force of men is attributed to shortening the hours of service. Railroad employes have said that the companies could pre vent Increase of cost from the eight- brains and industry have been almost exterminated. There is no means of establishing a Rockefeller Founda tion or a Carnegie endowment fund in Russia, yet no country stands in greater need of just such institu tions. The terrorism of the ignorant savages who rule there has not only sunk the people in famine and dis ease; it denies them such means of being raised again as America enjoys. The Irony of the situation consists in the fact that only capital can restore the industrial life of Russia and that the heads of the soviet now seek peace In order that they may buy FRANCIS I. MeKENNA. When the local Artisans observe their silver anniversary tomorrow they must not forget the founder of the order, Francis I. McKenna. It was In the midst of the hardest times Portland has experienced that he formed this fraternity with one aim of keeping at home some of the money that was being sent east by benefit members of many organiza tions. He gave to it his time and effort, and he succeeded. Mc Kenna, by the way. was one of the few men of that date whose faith In future Portland shone like the brightest of beacon lights. Old timers will recall and files will show he was the one big "circus" adver tiser. Years before he had acquired many acres in the Portsmouth region which he had platted and sold on very reasonable terms. When a lot changed hands the money went into more advertising, which brought more sales and more "displays." It it too bad he did not live to see all the realization of his hopes. hour day by speeding up movement i machinery, which is capital, to re ft brunt or tnts uecislon and announce openly my Intentions that -these men may be relieved of possible embarrassment. The governor's idea of being fair to his commission is to fire them without giving them a chance to say anything to him in the way of pro test. Thus he seeks to close the door upon an unpleasant and difficult effair by denying to the commission the right of a hearing. He has not communicated to them at any time HO intimation of his solemn purpose, formed "some time ago," that "a new commission must be the even tual solution." On the contrary he has given many indications, public and private, of his satisfaction with the commission, shown in one in stance by the prompt reappointment of a member whose term had ex pired. The present commission re lieved Mr. Finley of his job without a hearing. It did not occur to the governor, until he had made the be lated discovery that the procedure was creating dissatisfaction and criticism in various quarters, that it had the aspects of an unseemly pro- eeding, and he then asked for re consideration and reinstatement of i he state biologist. In what respect does his own action differ from the 'omniission's method as to Finley? If the one justifies a call for resigna tion of the commission though we do not lose sight of the fact that the Governor says it has nothing to do with the case what should be the penalty as to htm in the other Instance? The fish and game controversy has exceeded the bounds of the Finley . episode. It has given to the state a V painful revelation of executive shilly shally and retreat which will make It hard hereafter for Mr. Olcott to maintain an unimpaired position at the head of the state government. It awakens anew the question as to authority and Its exercise by public officials and the duty of firm sup port, so long as It is exercSsed within ; proper limits, by higher constituted : authority. It creates distrust as to the ability of any state commission to perform its functions faithfully, and with a sole view to the public of trains. This is one of the ele merits of efficiency that were ex pected from government operation, but it has not been realized. From 1915 to 1919 wages were in creased 7 2 and a fraction per cent, and the cost of living rose 7 3 per cent. From December, 1917, to July, 1019, wages increased 42.7 per cent, but, according to Senator Kellogg, "during that time the cost of living had not gone up quite that amount." The inference to be drawn from these figures is that the pending de mands for higher wages are not jus tified by the increase in the cost of living, which has not been material since July, has not risen as much as usual in the fall and is destined to fall in the next two months. In the opinion of Attorney-General Palmer. If railroad men's claims are to be judged, not by the value of the serv ice they render or by the cost of liv ing, but by the massed numbers which support them with threats to tie up the railroads, then, as In 1918, an advance in rates to pay a return on the investment would no sooner be made under government owner ship than it would be absorbed by an advance in wages. place that which they have de stroyed. It will be interesting to see them hire new bourgeois from abroad to manage their communized industries, and to see them permit these bourgeois to grow into a new crop of capitalists,, as they must If they would get the full exercise of these men's abilities. Will Colonel Irvine of the Walla Walla Bulletin, who is the only genuine de tector of spurious English in these parts. according to our way of thinking, kindly tell us whether he tulnks an editor who solemnly asserts that "the eyes that see the chaos wrought in Europe and receive no Impression that It means anything to America are blinded," as does he of The Oregonian, has any special license to rag the Republic for making the poultry at Hood River "set" when It should have "oat" ? Yakima Republic. While Colonel Irvine, the great detector of spurious English, is at it. let him cast his unblinded eye through the Bible and say what he thinks of such English as "seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand," and "eyes have they, but they see not." A FREAK OF FINANCE. One of the financial freaks of this freakish age is that holders of silver certificates present them at the United States, treasury, demand re demption in silver and make money on the deal. The government melts down silver dollars In its vaults, sells the bullion and makes money on the deal. The danger, viewed with alarm in 1896, that silver cer tificates would be presented with a demand for redemption in gold until all the gold would be drained from the treasury, has passed, and the danger, if any. is that the treasury will be drained of silver. One consequence was that there was a scarcity of small notes, aggra vated by the fact that the banks hold THE WEI.CHERS. It Is a distinguishing mark of the petty partisan and provincial mind that It likes to think of other minds as governed by politics and incon sequential circumstances. So it is not at all remarkable to find in the Corvallis Gazette-Times the untrue i statements that The Oregonian eleven months ago was criticising the league of nations scheme; that it came out for the league as soon as It observed the enthusiasm at the Taft meeting in Portland, and that it became a reservationlst at a later date when it saw how public senti ment was tending. It would perhaps be proof of in consistency and partisanship and provincialism if the statements were true, but they are the baldest fabri cation. More than eleven months ago. to-wit, on January 9, The Oregonian in discussing the ad vocacies of this and that form of league of nations, announced defi nitely and positively that it would be for any league of nations that would insure a lasting peace. This was more than one month before the text of THE league was made public. From that position The Oregonian has at no time wavered an inch. The Oregonian has been wholly unable to see that a measure for Insuring world peace has any con nection with the internal political issues of the United States, and it has said so. It has proclaimed its willingness to support a workable league pact whether drawn by Wood row 'Wilson, or Senator Lodge, or ex-President Taft, or whether part of It were written by the republican All sympathetic persons will be saddened by the plight of the city of Bend, where four alleged bootleggers have escaped conviction because peace officers have the wood alcohol scare and are afraid to "test" the liquor to prove its alcoholic con tent. Apparently the Job of city tester In the good old days before wood alcohol was not entirely a labor of love. Money was easy and the town was spreading rapidly over the adjoining prairies. The result was that the Hon. Mr. Hackney took what money he had in hand and so much addi tional as could be raised by first and second mortgages and caused to be erected on his plot of ground a mag nificent business block. On the fa cade of the building he had cut In large, strident, deep-voiced letters the initials "W. P. H." In time the boom receded. The town flowed back into Its natural channels and the Hon. Mr. Hackney's building was left stranded high and dry beside the banks of extinguished hope. Its tenants followed the trick ling stream of humanity back to town.. .The mortgage took it and for ton years or so it stood Idle, tenant- less and hollow-eyed, the home of bats and creeping things. One day the Hon. Mr. Hackney and a crony stood In reflective and ruminant mood before the building. "Bill." asked the crony as he contemplated the neglect ed structure with a critical eye. "what do them letters up there stand for?" "Them letters," "Bill" replied, as he shifted his Battle Axe from one jaw to the other, "them letters stand for William Played Hell." It Is a curious thing that the an nouncement of Mr. Baker's forthcom ing volume should have recalled the story on "Bill" Hackney, but It did. One of the most curious marine phenomenon known to seamen is that called by Norwegian sailors "dead water," which without any visible cause makes a vessel lose her speed and refuse to answer her helm. The sailors' only definite knowledge of Its origin is that It exists solely where there Is a surface layer of fresh water resting upon the salt waters of the sea. Several explanations have been ad vanced by the captains of ships for the effect of dead water, the common est of which Is that the two water layers move In different directions. The true explanation, however, re cently offered by Swedish na'igators and verified by mathematical calcula tion and direct experiment, is that, in addition to the "resistance waves" at the surface, the vessel creates a sec ond line of subaqueous waves between the two strata of water Further experiments were made to verify the sudden loss of speed due to dead water. A boat model was drawn across a tank and the towing string suddenly slackened when the boat was half way across. In cases where the tank contained salt water only the boat stopped gradually, moving some boat lengths after the towing string had been slackened. When the tank contained a layer of fresh water resting on salt water, on the other hand, the boat slackened quite sud denly and moved only a short dis tance. Detroit News. Labor unionists who are receiving the circular appealing on behalf of the Centralia murderers will note the absence of the label as fit and proper. Union labor does not aid the murderers if it knows it. As a document from a "rat" shop it Is unique in Its quality of "gall." Oregon teachers ask a minimum salary of $1080 per year. It seems all the more moderate when com pared with the $1050 per barrel that bootleggers asked and obtained for poisonous wood alcohol. Now a university professor de clares that Australia is forty yearH behind America in teaching good speech. With a political campaign just ahead, we only wish this applied also to good speeches. This administration can feel as sured of thorough dislike of woman kind if it allows the price of sugar to go to twenty cents. treasury notes because they are legal tender and that congress omitted to" j majority of the senate committee on make gold certificates legal tender. I foreign- relations, or whether it con Congress remedied this state of af fairs by making gold certificates legal tender, and thus gave the free silver men a chance to crow over the depreciation of gold and the high price of silver. Senator Thomas sug gested that. In order to live up to the sound money principle, congress should make the certificates redeem able in silver instead of gold, and dwelt on the unsoundness of cur rency based on depreciated gold tained only the thumb-prints of the democratic minority. The Oregonian criticised certain provisions of the league of netions covenant brought Jiome by President Wilson, but before Mr. Taft arrived or declared his position thereon in Portland. The Oregonian pronounced itself on the whole as satisfied with the covenant. The Oregonian has not approved i of all of the Lodge reservations, but The Turks are fast becoming civil ized. Now girls formerly in the harems are acquiring husbands after the American fashion, and pres ently, no doubt, will learn the bless ings of divorce. A man of 65, hit by an automobile, is alluded to as "aged," but why? That number of years makes a man "elderly." Centenarians and four-score-and-tens are in the "aged" class. Fear of Bryan fills the hearts of the other candidates, but as a good democrat never gags at crow, they may be yelling for him before the frost of 1920. If he could have his way, no doubt lit has expressed the opinion that a he would have two measures of value ' league with them is better than no and would add the labor of calcu lating the relative value of the two metals to that of calculating the price of commodities in one or the other. The world has trouble enough with Its plethora of money without adding to it by adopting two stand ards. True, paper currency has be come separated from its pre-war basis, gold, but the bond uniting it with that metal can be more easily restored than with both gold and silver. Gold is not cheap because it Is cheaply produced, but because governments have fixed on It a price that is far below cost of production. The reasons for adopting gold as league at all. It wants the best league that can be had, but it wants a workable league. Now this may be wholly incom prehensible to one who conceives that even an issue between world wide peace and world-wide distress i Is not too big an issue for American politics, but it is common sense and it is consistency. And it is fit at this time to inform its contemporary up the valley that last ditch opposi tion to the league of nations prin ciple, beginning only last January or thereabouts, is not only incon sistency but savors of dishonor. The Corvallis Gazette-Times, and all the other fystes and bigger snap Looks as if Governor Olcott In the fish and game commission con troversy was going on the theory, "If at first you don't decide, try, try again." The wonder is Harry New was not long ago committed to an asylum if the testimony for the defense is to be believed. the medium of exchange still hold interest, if a subordinate is likely at i although for convenience it is stored pers at the heels of those who want a league ot nations joined in the gen eral rejoicing over the signing of the armistice and the promise therein jit time to be elevated over it. It as reserve for paper currency. It forebodes a clash between the gov- contains the largest value in the ernor and the legislature at the I smallest bulk and weight of all com- Now is the time for the would-be immigrant to hit the correspondence school for the forty words of English. One New Year's resolution most men will keep is not to drink any wood alcohol. Watch Tacoma fares grow. Ten cents for a car ride next month. Good-bye, 1919! pretty good year. You've been a The "dry" watch party's the thing -unless it rains. The novels that were being read 50 years ago have mostly vanished, but then, as now. says a writer in the Times of London, novelists were writ ing about labor conditions and de scribing strikes. "Strikes, as we all know," remarked a popular novelist, Mrs. Henry Wood, in 1867, "have lat terly been growing Into notoriety." A few years earlier she had written "A Life's Secret" herself, which the mod ern reviewer finds superficial enough as a labor aovel, but which caused remonstrance among the eaders of the Leisure Hour, in which It was printed. "Put Yourself In His Place," by Charles Reade, was probably much more influential in presenting labor troubles, and the influence Was wid ened by daramatization. Mrs. Qas kell's novel. "Mary Barton," pub lished in 1848, was perhaps the first really Important novel of Industrial conflict. One gets an impression that strikes were then regarded as special cases and that the novelists themselves hardly realized them as the expression of elements of human nature, on both sides, that must eventually be modified and harmon ized If civilization is to mount to higher levels. In the "Letters to His Children." writing to Theodore Jr. from the White House, June 21, 1904. Roosevelt mentions a visit to Valley Forge. "Sunday we spent at Attorney -Gen eral Knox's at Valley Forge, and most unexpectedly I had to deliver a little address at the church in the after noon, as they are trying to build a memorial to Washington. "Think of the fact that in Wash Ington's army that winter among the Junior officers were Alexander Ham ilton, Monroe and Marshall a future president of the United States, the fu ture chief Justice who was to do such wonderful work for our government. and the man of most brilliant mind Hamilton whom we have ever devel oped in this country." r Faust, 1 therto regarded as a legendary character emanating from tho brain of Goethe, really existed as a self-styled prophet, quack doctor and peddler of fake horoscopes, ac cording to a discovery made during the recataloglng of the Munich 11 brary. In the diary of Canon Klllian Lieb there was found this entry: "Fauste 5 June, 1528, when the sun and Jove meet in the same constel lation other prophets like myself will be born." Under this Canon Lieb had written: "Faust may believe he was a great commander with high-sounding titles undertaking a pilgrimage through Germany, but he was, as a matter of fact, a quack doctor selling fake horo scopes and remedies. The fact that he became rich was due chiefly to his education, he having been a graduate of Heidelberg In the class of 1487." The Roosevelt highway la an ob session with Ben F. Jones, mayor of Newport. Mr. Jones, betng the father of the Roosevelt highway resolution. Is anxious to nee the highway built. Oregon has performed its share, but congress is hanging back. Yesterday Mr. Jones, who is in the city, de clared that the Oregon coast coun ties affected by the highway will end two representatives to Wash ington. D. C to prod congress along. Mr. Jones has about reached the con clusion that unless someone camps on the job and follows the highway committee to its lair. Oregon Isn't going to have that coast road. He points out that there Is a new con gress pending and that If the com mittee to which the highway was re ferred doesn't Intend reporting fa vorably, then there may be a way of tying the Roosevelt highway up with some federal road programme which carries an appropriation. L M. Graham of Forest Grove Is registered at the Multnomah. Mr. Graham will, in a couple of weeks. don his robes as a statesman and Jaunt over to Salem and sit as a rep resentative for Washington county. Mr. Graham has already drafted a bill authorizing a bond issue for $."..000,000 for roads, conditioned on on the adoption by the people of nn amendment to the constitution In creasing the indebtedness of the state from 2 to 4 per cent for road purprfses. Mr. Graham's bill, which will be backed by the house commit tee on roads and highways. Is Intend ed to provide funds for the comple tion of the Pacific and Columbia river highway systems. Mr. Graham wrote the $10,000,000 bond issue which was passed by the legislature last February. "We get nearly all of our raw ma terial from Sweden and since the war we have been able to get all we need," says Emll Reich of New York, representing a large brass goods manufacturing concern, who Is among the Multnomah arrivals. "We also handle quicksilver and that product comes from Spain. We do not sell much quicksilver In Oregon. It Is mostly, sold In states where the min ing Industry is a prominent feature." Parenthetically. It may be remarked to Mr. Reich that quicksilver is mined In Oregon it is taken out of the mountains near Gold Hill and as for mining, there is considerable industry along that line In Oregon In Jose phine and Baker counties, not to men tion a few others where mining is carried on. Hotels are crowded to the limit. Accommodations are as scarce as they would be during the Rose Festival. Cots are in demand every night now at the hotels to take care of the patrons, and as It Is, there isn't a hotel which is not turning away scores of people every evening. One man slept Monday night on a lounge In a hotel lobby rather than take a cot. declaring it more comfortable, and he paid for the lounge. One rea son for the congestion In the Influx of school teachers from all parts of the state and these. In addition to heavy travel, has simply swamped the hotels. When the Mexicans went on the rampage a few years ago and began the continuous circus which hasn't ceased yet. Hal J. Slsty abandoned his mining properties for the safer shelter of the United States. Be ing a mining man. which means that the search for precious metals Is In the blood, he went to Grants Pass and Is now operating in that vi cinity. Mr. and Mrs. Sisty are regis tered at the Hotel Portland. For single we both remain The same Impassable social line Still stretches between us twain. For all my moneyed friends would sneer And whisper. "That Isn't done!" If the child of a common bank cashier Were to marry a plumber's son. And I thought my hammering heart would stop And It almost did at that. But caste is a hard and cruel thing And only too well I knew ate Is part of our treaty-making I that the doors of the banker would power, expressly held as a check never swing against the president, the only rem- j To a plumber that came to woo edy. of course, is to abolish this part I hid my love in my breaking heart of our constitution and please the While my hair grew gray and tbia. foreign powers by either vesting in And the ways we took led far apart the president sole authority, or. what I As 1 dreamed of wbat might have Is the same thing, make the senate I been, a figurehead to register his will. But! as this has not yet been done, and And though today I might make you as our constitution Is a public docu- i mine ment. neither the senate nor tne peo ple of the United States are. as it seems to me, responsible for any assumption by the allies that Presi dent Wilson had the senate and the people of the United States in his pocket. Certainly so long as the con stitution survives we do not want to violate it any more than we have already done. "I see by the same issue of the Journal that Represe itlve McAr thur will vote to unsei. Victor Ber ger because, as he says. Rerger has not supported the constitution: yet the inference from the World's article is that the senators shall surrender their clear-cut views and constitu tional duty and do only as they are bid by the president. The president himself said that the covenant for the league of nations was so Inter woven with other parts of the treaty that it could not be disentangled from it. Now. certainly there is room for nn honest difference of opinion. We take the Shantung province from our own associate. China, and give it to feudal, imperial Japan. We give to England 931.000 additional square miles of territory in Africa, approxi mately one-third of the United States in area. We divide the German col onies, many of which were taken from their original owners by Ger- A Rreeri. For the first time in his career Mr. finds himself in asrreemer.t with the United States supreme court. Can Von Cnrb a l andlord. Of course we could live in tubs, like Diogenes, but that would only make profiteers out of the coopers. In Such a Honse Body. Dempsey Wants $25s.000 to Fight France Headline. Two minion good Americans were glad to fight there for $30 a month apiece (Copyright. 1819. by the Bell Syndi cate. Inc.) J In Other Days. Twentj-Klvf Years Ago. From The Oregonian. December 31. 194 Jacksonville. Fin it i. ..ia man force, between England and ' lni as a result of the blizzard which Japan, and by the covenant we guar- sw'ept the peninsula yesterday half antee the present Integrity of these I " the orange crop of this state was two great lmperiums. Great Britain ""lu,- -t i am pa the thermome With a shipment of stock from his ranch about seven miles out of Gate way. John ri. Friday is In town. He Is registered at the Imperial. Mr. Friday says there is plenty of feed, but since hay is $20 a ton he recalls with regret the days when a man could buy all the hay he wanted at $4 or $5 a ton. Now that the Bnow Is gone, the country In his section Is a mess of soft, oozy mud. Gavin McNab of San Francisco is registered at the Hotel Portland. Mr. McNab has been a prominent figure in Bay City politics and at one time received national prominence for tell ing Washington to take a jump in the lake, or something like that, when he was ordered to do something that he didn't consider according to Hoyle. X. A. Ellsworth registered at the Perkins from Brighton, Or.. and formerly registered from South Bend, Wash. About four months ago Mr. Ellsworth shifted his field of op erations to the sawmill town on Ne- halem bay. He is a tlmberman and went where the timber is thick and plentiful. At some hotels yesterday resident patrons found in their mail box a cen sus blank. The census does not start until Friday, but the blanks were dis tributed a little ahead of time by- some of the enthusiastic and energetic enumerators. Guy E. Dobson of Redmond. Or., is at the Imperial. Mr. Dobson is more than nominally Interested in Irriga tion and not only irrigation In Crook county and Deschutes, but as far off as Silver Lake and way points. John Tait. whose laundry washes the dirty linen of Astoria, is at the Multnomah. Mr. Tait now boosts as strong for the city by the sea as he did for Portland when he lived In the Rose City. Douglas Jarmuth. erstwhile aviator. Is at the Hotel Portland with the purpose of becoming manager of one of the local cinema palaces. E. J. Adams, former member of the state highway commission, was in the city yesterday. Mr. Adams is still interested in the good roads move ment. Mr. and Mrs. A. Townsend Kurtz of Arlington, Or., were married in Portland Monday arternoon. They are occupying the bridal suite at the Multnomah. D. F. McCurrach and A. .1. Flagg of Olympia, of the public service com mission of the state of Washington, are arrivals at the Imperial. Frederick Berchtold of the Oregon Agricultural college Is at the Perkins while attending the teachers con vention. W. B. Aldermen and A. H. Harris, members of the council at Tillamook, are among the arrivals at the Imperial. and Japan. There are many other grave and serious points which have been discussed on the floor of the senate. Is the New York World pre pared to say that It wants to abolish all such discussion before the peo ple and make the president an abso lute dictator In the matter of treaties? "I notice, also, by the same Issue of your paper that ex-service men unable to find employment are selling Christmas greens to give their fam ilies a Christmas, and there have been accounts, from time to time, of str'kes. On the train yesterday I tried to convince a Pullman porter that this country Is a country of per fect freedom and democracy and wholly above criticism. I told him there was a comfortable Job for everyone willing to work. He asked. "Whar Is It? and went on to say he only got $60 a month, no allowance for overtime, the dollar shrunk to 40 cents In value and 'nobody ain't givin' tips like they used. and he had a wife and four children, the children growing and the dollar shrinking. I have no sympathy for him. however, as he could make an honest living by bootlegging if he chose, but I sym pathize with the miners and steel workers on an average of $500 a year and no chance to bootleg on the side. "I hasten to add. however, for fear or tne united states district attor ney, that I think this a perfect coun try, under a perfect system and a perfect administration. I am sure the attorney-general will reduce the H. C. L. and put the dollar back to Its old 100-cents value, and then I remember Emma Goldman is deport ed and all will now be well. "C. E. S. WOOD." ter stood at 18 above zero. London. A Pekin dispatch sav that Liu Kun Y has been appointed to command all of the Chinese forces, ousting Li Hung tThang. J. F. Graham, formerly master mechanic at La Grande and now at Marshalltown, la., has been appointed master mechanic of the Oregon Rail road & Navigation company. Flf.y Years Ago. From The Oregonian. December 31. 18B9. New York. The World announces that the settlement of the Alabama claims will be made in Washington and that Kngland will be represented by the Duke of Argyle as ambassador clothed with authority to act upon anvil icrms as may oe agreed upon. New York. Terms have been ar ranged by cable for a race between the American yacht Dauntless, owned by James Gordon Bennett Jr.. and the English yacht Cambria, owned by Mr. Ash bury. The whole number of marriages In Multnomah county during the year 1869 was 123. The number of di vorces granted will probably not ex ceed forty. OPPOSITION E-XDAX.FJKS PUBLIC Smallpox Hospital o Menace to In "S r ia-hhorhofvd. PORTLAND, Dec. 30. (To the Edi tor.) Anyone who knows anything about smallpox, and who objects to a hospital anywhere to relieve private houses or hotels is a selfish individ ual. Supposing one person in a fam ily has the disease. Taken away quickly the others are safe. As for contagion, germs do not fly about in the air. There must be contact, and very close at that with materials from the sickroom, or with the person afflicted. To condemn a hospital, even next door. Is to presuppose care lessness on the part of doctors and nurses equal to that of a century ago. before disinfectants were discovered. Why, nurses, with care, may attend a patient In safety. Doctors call on the sick continually, and do not carry diseases unless they are criminally careless. While those selfish people are fuss ing, some one through their action may be exposed, suffer, and die; or be disfigured for life. If they (the objectors) had ever seen a malignant type of smallpox, and they must know- such cases are still prevalent, they would haste themselves to assist the MAR.SK lll:lll TALKS POLITICS NothiniE Surer Than Republtf-nn Vic tory In IPSO. He Maya. Harvey's Weekly. He says tie doesn't, but he does. He likewise talks sense. It is more or less a habit with him to do that if he talks at all. and he generally talks. He is too courteously amiable to re fuse to do that when folks want him to. and that is what they always . want. So. when the New York Herald cor nered him down in Jacksonville the other day, Marse Henry was his own kindly, cordial self, and answered questions that were put to him in his own direct way. Among other things he said the Hepublicans would carry "'several" southern states next year. But how many are "several"? Would Kentucky and Maryland made "sev eral"? He was not pressed on this point, which is rather a pity. There are strange things reported as going on even In Texas, and as for North Carolina and Tennessee almost any thing might happen down there and nobody would be much surprised. But Marse Henry lets In a possible sidelight on solid south disintegration He ciphers out that there is no dem ocratic party any more. In its place there is only a Wilson party. Mr. Wilson's health will not permit him to exercise his proprietary rights over this new party, so he is going to give it to his son-in-law. Mr. McAdoo. Thus the Wilson party will be in the movies, anyway. Now. how much is this Wilson party believed In In the south? Senators Smith and Shields do not seem to be held In any less esteem in Georgia and Tennessee, respectively, for having gone over to the fold of the blasphemers of the undotted "I" and uncrossed "t" cove nant. .On the contrary, their home stock appears to have gone up several mayor, instead of hindering him. I should not be afraid to give a room point coincidentslly with their back. In my house. I have seen families who saved all but the first one by home quarantine. And I beg any who finds s member of his household under suspicion, to Isolate that one Immediately. Give him a room to himself, paste paper over the passage ways between the sickroom and the other rooms (over the cracks of doors), use an outside door or win dow for communication. Do this at once. Smallpox, like scarlet fever. Is scarcely communicable In Its first stages. Plenty of disinfectants, and a good fire to consume all effluvia, will save a regiment. And the germs will not pass off In smoke as many excitable people suppose. E. H. Bend Press Christmas Number. The 32 pages in the Christmas num ber of the Bend Press furnish all the Information anybody can desire of the city and the country roundabout Typographically the Issue speaks well of the possibilities of Editor Whlsnanrs plant. Letter presB is perfect. Illustrations are many, and sustain the assertion that a picture better tells a tale. The text fits into the . scheme. Already the best-advertised "small town" In Oregon, this number can increase Bend's fame by Judicious distribution. A Matter of Balance. Toledo (O.) Blade. "I know a bookkeeper who wanted to be an amateur acrobat, but he didn't make good at his first dem onstration. He lost his balance." "What a pity: And It was his trial balance, too." sliding. But Marse Henry was rather crytic when asked If he thought that the league of nations was responsible for the growing republican strength in the south. "The republicans have gained strength in the south." he said, "from general conditions and not from any special cause." A safe answer and true If Important. And on an other point Marse Henry relieved the strain of his Interrogator's curiosity with an equally sage observation: "Now, get this down right," he said In reply to a question a to demo cratic presidential possibilities in 1920 "get this down right, for It Is Important: presidential possibilities are always in the air." True, true; how very true. And Marse Henry might have added that some of them are always up in the air. What s pity it is that Marse Henry In the same breath said: "Don't you know I am retired and don't know anything about politics?" It is a pity he said this, because It some what detracts from the interest of another remark he had made but a moment before, which was this: "Mr. Wilson will not be able to lead this (.the Wilson-thafs-all party) because of ill health. But his son-in-law. Mr. McAdoo. In line succeed ing, will lead it to overwhelming de feat next year. Nothing seems surer than that the republicans will sweep the country In 1920." And this from Marse Henry, who. if ever there was a democrat, a staunch, loyal, fiery and fierce democrat, was precisely that democrat. But that was back In the days before Mr. Wilson Jhad supplanted the democratic party.