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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1920)
3 THE MORNING OREGONTAN, TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1920 . ESTABLISHED BY HEXRY FITTOCK. "published by Tha Oreronlan Publishing Co, 133 tilth Street. Portland. Oregon. CL A. HORDE?. B. B. PIPER. Managac, Editor. Tha Oreronlan la a member cf tba Asso sf&ted Press. The Associated Preaa ia Aluslvely entitled to the use for publica tion of all newa dispatcher credited to It or not otherwlae credited In thia paper and also the local newa published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are aJao referred. Subscription Bstw Invariably In Ad ranee. (By Mail.) Dally, Sunday Included, one year 00 Pally. Sunday Included, six months .... 4.25 Dally, Sunday Included, three months.. 2.25 Iaily, Sunday included, one month . . .. .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year 6.01 . Daily, without Sunday, six months 3.23 Daily, without Sunday, one month . ,. .60 "Weekly, one year ....... .... . 1.00 Sunday, one year , , ,, 2.50 Sunday and weekly ..i 3.50 (By Carrier.) 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The many students of governmen tal science that the Oregon system has bred win no doubt find much of Interest tn the national initiative and referendum provisions of the consti tution under which the Ebert gov ernment is now operating: in Ger many. Those provisions are com- saents iot analytical searcn lor the ' pauses of the present shaklness of Germany's form of government and for Inquiry as to why, with the refer endum at its beck, a mob protested with violence the other day against farther consideration of a certain law by the national assembly. Germany's constitution grants to da people universal and ea.ua! suf frage, and In addition to the initia tive and referendum a modified form of recalL The national assembly cor responds somewhat closely to our national- house of representatives. The national council i3 similar to the United States senate in composition, but its principal powers are confined to the veto of laws adopted by the assembly and to the introduction by it as a body, or in co-operation with the cabinet, of bills for consideration by the assembly. In the general sense laws are Introduced in and en acted by the assembly. The German constitution reverses our familiar state process of enact ing, emergency legislation. National laws must be published in a national bulletin within one month after en actment and go into effect on the fourteenth day following their pub lication. Deferment of promulgation of a national law requires the affir mative act of one-third of-the mem bers of the assembly and only de ferred laws are subject to referen dum, except that the president may refer to the people on his own mo tion a law not so deferred. Also, with consent of the council, a law may be declared urgent and the de ferment thereby denied. A deferred law may be referred to vote of the people upon petition of one-twentieth of the qualified voters. This is the same percentage required for a referendum under the Oregon 'system, but here a liberal construc tion is given the term "legal voter" by the state constitution. An act of the national assembly may be an mjfled by popular vote only if a ma jority of those qualified take part in the voting. A similar provision would not, we think, have affected the pop ular decision on any measure de feated in Oregon by referendum. The initiative is invoked by peti tion of one-tenth of the voters, a percentage slightly greater than that required in Oregon. The popular vote does not take place if the desired bill is enacted without amendment by the national assembly. A popular vote may be taken on the budget, tax laws, and laws relating to the classification of public officers only by authority of the national presi dent. A. variation is provided for amend ing the constitution. It may be done ,Sy legislation by two. thirds vote of the assembly, provided that two- - thirds membership of the assembly is present. The national council may demand a popular vote thereon. Constitutional amendments may be initiated by the people, but their -adoption requires the assent of a ma jority of the qualified voters. In Oregon a constitutional amendment may be adopted by the affirmative vote of a majority of those voting on the question. ' Americans with their genius for and experience in politics would, we fancy, not find it impossible to re cord the popular will under such a system. But it is adaptable only to a people who concede the justice of rule by the majority. Germany is under the shadow of a nation where the tyranny of the minority is ap plied. Minorities are given represen tation in the German asembly by the proportional process, but a minority proportionately represented is still a minority and if determined to rule, it finds direct legislation much less effective than gun-fire. It Is even conceivable that a majority may overthrow the new German gov ernment and constitution. The peo ple suffer from economic ills brought about by the war. They are not ac customed to democratic institutions or the methods of expressing the popular will provided for them in their constitution. Even here, with all our familiarity with advanced processes of popular rule, some grow impatient with the slowness of the allot or its unresponsiveness to their desires. The German mutterings against their government with peaceful government-making within their hands, is hardly more anomal ous than the expenditure in Wash ington and Oregon of money, time and energy to form a triple alliance of specific classes to control the legislatures when a lesser effort through the initiative would put their programme of legislation squarely before the people. The peril likely to arise from the secretary of agriculture's advice to farmers to reduce production of win ter wheat by 15 per cent is pointed j:'-out by Daily Financial America, Which estimates that the fall sowing amounts to only-. 38,770,000 acres, while literal followingxof the de partment's advice would have meant 42,000,000 acres. The present acre- age, which is the smallest since 1913, will be harvested at a time when Europe will not have recovered from the war sufficiently to support itself j with cereals, and when its fields will be starving for plant food, so that only a small crop will be ex pected la proportion to acreage planted. Canada has increased its winter wheat acreage by 9 per cent, but this makes only 770,000 acres in all, and will not atone for the short age in this country. Altogether the outlook is for continuance of high priced bread, which is good news, ac cordingly as the man who - reads it happens to be a consumer or a pro ducer of grain. NOTHING DOING. Senator Borah and Senator John son serve notice that they will not suffer the .crossing of a 1" ' or the dotting of an "i" in the Lodge reser vation to Article X or on the Monroe doctrine. President Wilson has made it plain that he stands unalterably against any chirographic or other liberties with any word or syllable of the sacred document he brought back from Paris. What Johnson and Borah want is a form of treaty and league which they know the senate will not ratify. J If they thought the Lodge reserva tions would be accepted they would fight them. They voted once against the treaty with the Lodge reserva tions. They will do it gain. Yet they insist on no modification or al teration. Between President Wilson and the truculent and irreconcilable minority of the senate, the outlook for the treaty is gloomy. The president is playing into the hands of the treaty killers. He refuses to move. He will not permit his party to mdve. They must fight a losing fight for his treaty. He would prefer to let the heart of the world break, unless it permits him alone to prevent it. No senators need apply. Yet there are eighty senators who are for a treaty In some form. They would find a way, if they had the aid or consent of the White House. But stubbornness and silence rule there, and nothing is or can be done. Meanwhile, the senatorial tail, in the hands of Johnson and Borah, is wagging the entire dog. REASONABLE. The truth about the auditorium is that the city got more than its mon ey's worth from the contractor in its construction. No one questions now that it was and is a fine job and a good investment for the city; if an other like it were to be built now, it would cost far more. It is fortunate that it was built when it was, by an honest contractor who sought to dis charge all his written obligations and to do a piece of work, besides, which would be a monument to his enter prise, good faith, and public spirit. In the effort he lost large sums, and failed. Now his bondsmen are involved in the failure. They are -obliged to pay a deficit amounting to some $59,000 mostly due to sub-contracts. They face ruin as a result, and they ask that some consideration be given of the equities of their case. A committee of citizens nominated by the city commission to investigate the case has reported that the con tractor Pederson performed certain work not required by the contract and that he incurred certain losses not due to his lack of diligence or workmanship but to added re quirements imposed by the city it self. The board asks that a commit tee of engineers and other experts be named to determine just what this extra service was, and what amounts are fairly due. The plan to submit to a new board of engineers the question of amounts equitably due is fair and reasonable; and it should be done. TIIE PSYCHIC SPARK IX ANIMALS. The death the other day of Pro fessor Richard Lynch Garner recalls the painstaking effort of a life time, by a devoted scientist, to ascertain the truth of a proposition which, however interesting, buttered no bread for the investigator. He was one of the group of men who, con tent with comparatively meager money remuneration, found happi ness in pursuit of an abstraction. Professor Garner set out to find out whether animals of the higher orders possess the faculty that we call rea son. A large part of his work was done among the primates, these con stituting the logical starting point for inquiry. He published nearly twenty years ago his conclusion that "not only do primates have the fac ulty of speech, but the whole family of mammals have some form of speech which is in keeping with their conditions of life." A corollary was that "all mammals reason by the same means and to the same ends,' although not in the same degree. Professor Garner in the later years of his life may have been under the spell of his preconceptions, but his conclusions were not reached until after he had devoted a great deal of time to special research. His belief in the universality of the force which, for want of a more definite terra, he called the "Great Cause, was constantly strengthened by his labors. He coined the word "micro- sophici to describe a type of "pedant" who dispute the common authorship of life. With these, judg ing from his writings, he had no pa tience at all. His faith in the one ness of all nature was superb. "If man," he declares in the concluding paragraph of his "Speech of Mon keys," "would only pause and calmly view the facts, he would find that he is but a joint-heir of nature, and why not so?" From a religious point of view, he did not doubt that "the wisdom and mercy of God would be stow alike on all the faculties of speech and reason as their conditions of life require them," and as a scien tist he refused to charge nature with disorder. It were in either case, he said, "a harsh and jarring discord in the great harp of nature, whether played by the hand of chance or swept by the fingers of Omniscience." The proofs which Professor Gar ner offered were the products of a long series of experiments which re garded no point as too minute for consideration that seemed to have any bearing on the problem. He was not a metaphysician, though he fre quently made use of the terms of metaphysics. One thing he tried to do and this may have accounted for the spirit of criticism which seme of his monographs evoked was to dis abuse the minds of men of contempt for things below their plane of life. But in doing this, he also offended by betraying a certain contempt for those whom he conceived as in an other sense below the plane which he himself occupied. He did not pre pare a way of easy approach to his own dogmas by his allusion to the siren voice of self-conceit" which he conceived to have seduced all doubters, or by his sweeping declar ation that "while the vassals of his empty pride control man's mind, the plainest facts appeal to him in vain and all the cogency of proof is lost. He is unwilling to forego that vain belief that he is nature's idol, and that he is a duplicate of deity." Yet the same thing has been said by others, more euphemistically, and has not Invariably provoked hostility. Inversion of the scriptural notion that God made man in his own image has been a pleasing and harmless diversion of philosophers since time began. Professor Garner convinced him self that "the psychic spark which dimly glows in the animal bursts in to a blaze of effulgence in man." The same faculty which guided man to tame the winds of commerce, he in sisted, "taught tWe nautilus -to lift its tentacles and embrace the passing breeze:" This was the keynote of his belief. He was both an illuminating personality and a type found not in frequently In the realm of specu lative science. His work illustrates also the vagueness of the line that divides the physical from the meta physical sciences. MORE HOSPITAL, FACILITIES. The crowded condition of Port land's hospitals was impressively demonstrated the other night when it was found that not even space for the treatment of emergency patients could be provided at any one of the three largest institutions in the city. The unfortunate sufferer in this case sustained severe burns when her garments caught fire from an open flame gas heater. Because the city has failed to provide adequate facil ities for handling such emergencies, proper hospital treatment was un available. It is impossible to say whether the protracted delay In finding hospital space was the cause of serious com plications or not in this case; yet the recovery of the patient has been con sidered doubtful. The blame for such a situation rests with the com munity, which has failed to provide the protection it owes its members, A proper concern with such vital matters would make daily existence more secure for the individual sub jected to sudden accident or injury. and whose one recourse in the past has been provided by a private insti tution. Appeals have been sent out fre quently during the last few months for increased hospitalization, the latest being in behalf of the Good Samaritan hospital, where an anti quated wooden wing has been kept in service long beyond the time when it should reasonably have been con demned. As an example of the in crease undergone by this one institu tion in the past ten years, the hos pital trustees have given figures showing that the number of patients cared for in 1919 was 125 per cent greater than in 1909. Attention to such facts should be no longer post poned. BREAK THE DEADLOCK. Those who read the address 'of the leading men in finance, commerce and statecraft of the United States and the chief allied and neutral na tions to their governments, the repar ation commission and the United States Chamber of Commerce, are apt to pass it by with the comforting thought that the governments and the big financiers will look after that. and that it imposes no duty on them. In fact it is the affair of every man. for it affects his individual well be ing and prosperity and the future of his family. Upon the action of the American people in this world crisis depends the decision whether Europe shall sink in ruin and anarchy and whether America shall be dragged with it into a condition of industrial and financial depression and of con sequent disturbance without parallel. America can save Europe and by so doing can save itself from this catas- trope, and every American can help. We must help Europe, not only from love of humanity and democracy but to protect ourselves, each one of us, from the threatened catastrophe. The situation is that the war has left almost all of Europe with mil lions of men unemployed or only partly employed, because employers have not money to buy machinery, tools and materials on which to set them to work; also because the fi nances of their country are so dis organized as to prevent their buying what they want, or borrowing the money wherewith to pay, or selling all of what they now. produce. Europe is consequently slipping into bankruptcy, of which famine and de spair would be the accompaniments. Victorious bolshevism has already ruined Russia, in order that it may build its own hideous form of mis rule on the ruins. Europe has . been America's best customer, for it bought two-thirds of our exports in the year 1918. It owes us, in both government and private loans, about $18, 000, 000, 000. If this money should be lost through bank ruptcy, the loss would not fall on the high financiers of Wall street of whom we hear so much but on the large numbers of people of moderate or small means who bought the bonds with their savings. If bolshe vism should follow bankruptcy, it might begin by repudiating all debts. The effect of that loss would not be confined to owners of the bonds. It would extend to all among whom they would have spent their income from the interest, cutting probably $1,000,000,000 a year from our do mestic trade. But the loss would be small by comparison with the loss of our best customers. That loss would not be limited to the total of almost four billion dollars' worth of goods which we sold to Europe in 1918. Against similar export, Europe's inability to pay would erect a wall far higher than our oft-denounced tariff wall against imports, and it would also diminish the ability of other nations outside of Europe to buy from us. Worst of all, it would force on our domestic market two-thirds of the goods which we have been accus tomed to export, which with our other exports represents the surplus over our own needs. Unprecedented depression of prices would result. The men who have been employed in pro ducing manufactures for export would be thrown out of employment. The fall in the price of farm produce would reduce the purchasing power ef the farmers and would throw still more employes in manufacture out of employment. The breakdown of industry in Europe would also de prive us of many manufactures and raw materials wnicn we now impon from there, or would so reduce the supply that they would rise to un heard-of prices. Oregon and the whole Paclflo Northwest would suffer at least as severely as any other part of the country. Europe buys wheat, flout and lumber and other staple com modities from us. They would be thrown on our own or on other foreign markets at greatly reduced prices. With two-thirds of our for eign commerce practically gone. there would be small demand for ships to employ our shipyards. With operation of our principal industries wholly or partially suspended, the unemployment and distress which would follow can be Imagined. This - gloomy prospect can be averted, and it is within the power of the American people to avert it. The address to which we have re ferred points out the means. This is to place the wealth of all the nations which have been enriched by the war at the service of those which have been impoverished, in order to set them on their feet and put them to work, clothed and well fed. When that is done, they will be able to ex change their goods for our goods and to pay their debts with what they produce. The problem is on a grand scale the same as that which con fronts a banker when a farmer who has had a bad season wants to re new his note and to borrow more money in order to start the next season. By making the loan the banker saves that which he has al ready lent, keeps a good client and prevents a loss to the community on which he depends. But the machinery for giving this aid to Europe cannot be set in mo tion unless the United States parti cipates and takes the lead, for at least 75 per cent of the needed credit must come from this country. We cannot adequately help Germany, Austria and Hungary so long as we are nominally at war with them, yet the reasons for extending aid apply as forcibly to them as to the allies. The most effective means of bringing all nations, both lenders and borrowers, into co-operation is the league of na tions, which now includes air the great nations except the United States and Russia. As we are the principal leading nation, our becom ing a party to the treaty and a mem ber of the league is the best way of bringing us into co-operation and set ting the machinery of relief In mo tion. The obstacle Is the controversy be tween President Wilson and his op ponents in the senate on the ques tion of ratification with or without reservations. They have carried it to the point where their minds have become so absorbed in the effort for political triumph that they have lost sight of the disastrous consequences to Europe and, through it. to America. There is actually nothing left to quarrel about, for the princi pal organ of French opinion, has de clared the Lodge reservations ac ceptable to France and the leading organ of British opinion says Britain is willing that the United States have six votes in the league assembly to place it on an equality with the Brit ish empire. Then the ground for the president's opposition is removed, and it remains only for the two par ties to come together on reservations in a form which will be most ac ceptable to the allies while retaining the desired protection for American interests. But one power can bend the ob stinate wills of the parties to this controversy the irresistible pressure of public opinion. Former presidents and senates have bowed to it and, if that pressure is applied and sus tained, the present president and senate will be no exception. It is incumbent on every citizen in his own selfish interest, as well as that of his country, to call upon the presi dent and senate" to adjust their dis putes by reasonable compromise, to ratify the treaty and make the United States a member of the league. Xot only does it need us; we shall need it as an instrument for the gigantic work of salvage of distressed nations which is before us. That collision on the eastern end of the Canadian Pacific Sunday, in which eight people in a sleeper of the first section were killed, was due solely to carelessness, and that is re markable for that road. The first death from "flu" need not frighten anybody, but it should inspire caution, especially about wearing out a slight cold. The physician comes for less than the undertaker. Switzerland is thrifty above all things. She approves the Dutch view about Mr. Hohenzollern. Switzerland has hundreds of refugees spending good money, and they, too, may be wanted. Unfeeling police yesterday stopped what might have been the beginning of one of those cults that break out now and then. They arrested a man who was dancing barefoot in the mud. Policemen, by virtue of office, have the right ta carry firearms, but the guns are never expected to be unloaded. That's why accidents hap pen to policemen. Governor Coolidge of Massachus etts denies that bis hat is in the ring. But then that may be only the Bos ton way of rebuking the use of slang. A New Yorker wants state legisla tures to pass a law protecting snakes. He ought to have acted before snake bite antidote was abolished. Only ten candidates, actual and tentative, for secretary of state! Do the dilatory ones consider the possi bilities in the job? The man (or woman, most likely) who invented alimony was a genius. It beats paying the tailor after the suit is worn out. Hoover seems to be causing the politicians a lot more worry than the politicians are causing Hoover. "Political fermentation has started in Idaho." Xews item. Federal pro hibition officer, take notice. There was a seismic disturbance in Spain Saturday probably Victoria making Alfonso stay put. Being a policeman in Ireland seems to be the most exciting job open just at present. Being Monday, proverbially wash dav. many a road around here had a washout on the line. BY-PRODUCT OS THE TIMES William Howard Tart In Fair Way to Become Capable Kcwiptsef Mam. Now that the campaign is coming oa there is a young reporter in Washington whose work Is attracting a great deal of attention and the olditlmers declare that If he keeps up the lick he has started soma day he Is going to make a right capable newspaper man, says the Washing ton Times. I This young fellow's name is Wil liam Howard Taft. He writes for Mr. Curtis paper up In Philadelphia and several otner papers around the country. A lot of working newspaper men around town would like to know Taft's secret for getting news. No body' ever sees him around political headquarters, or buzzing politicians when they come Into town, yet sev eral times a week be breaks right out on the front pages and seems to have the inside story of current po litical happenings. If Mr. Taft will advise some of the older reporters how he manages to do this work without digging they certainly will be much obliged to him. It may not be fair to discourage a yotrwg writer who is trying to get along, but authoritative information is to the effect that Mr. Taft turns out what is known in newspaper of fices as "dirty copy." That Is to say, that his copy comes Into the office of the newspaper for which he works frightfully lacerated by a large black lead penciL Of course, nobody ever changes Mr. Taffs copy after It reaches the newspaper office, and it Isn't necessary because he makes such a powerful lot of changes him self before he turns the copy In. Before going on his present job as a reporter this same Mr. Taft held a reportorlal job on a Cincin nati DDer some thirty years ago. Since that time, of course, he has had jobs at one thing or another, such as being president, etc., but he now Is back on the old job because he can have more fun at It than anything else that he ever did. ' To say that a man Is worth his weight in gold is not really an ex travagant statement when the facts are closely analyzed. There are thousands of men whose capitalized earning power is greater than the earning power of gold coin of the same weight as their bodies. The analogy has been worked out by the editor of the Target as fol lows: "Take a man who weighs 150 pounds," says this editor. "What would he be worth? He would be worth as much gold as it takes to balance him on a butcher's scale. That would be 182. 2 pounds not 150 pounds. This is because gold is weighed by troy weight 5760 grams to the pound; and a man Is weighed by , avordupois weight, in which 7000 grams are required to make a pound. "Gold today is worth 120.67 a troy ounce 1248.02 a troy pound. So the man who weighed 182.3 pounds troy, or 150 pounds avordupois, would be worth $45,192.85, an amount that, at 5 per cent a fair rate of interest would yield about 12260 a year; less than $44 a week." Of course, as salaries go, $44 a week is high millions are getting much less and, therefore, are not literally worth their weight in gold. It will scarcely be believed that the question of the shape of the earth could ever have disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of the law courts. Yet in 1878 the question, in directly, indeed did come before three learned judges, and the case excited deal of interest and amazement. The circumstances were as follows: The plaintiff, one Hampden, en tertained the opinion that the world was not round, and issued an adver tisement in a paper challenging philosophers, divines and scientific Drofessors to prove contrary from scripture, reason or fact. He de posited 12500 in a bank, to be for feited to anyone who could prove to the satisfaction of any intelligent referee that there was such a thing as a convex railway, canal or lake The challenge was taken up by no less a person than the late Pro fessor Alfred Russell Wallace, who proved to the satisfaction of the referee the curvature to and fro of the Bedford level canal between Whitney Bridge and Welsh's dam (six miles) to the extent of five feet more or less, and the $2500 was paid over, to him. But he did not keep it. The plain tiff apparently began to see that he was making a fool of himself, and brought an action and recovered back his deposit, on the ground that the whole affair was a wager, and therefore illegal.-Springfield Repub lican. The Erie railroad has demonstrated the practicability of a theory that a freight train may lose a car from its midst and keep to its schedule with its crew in Ignorance of their loss, and Ed Mott, of Goshen, the local his torian of New Haven, is happy. For a generation Mott has been telling folks of an Erie train that left Susquehanna in the winter of 1855 with 15 cars of cattle. At Port Jervis one car was missing. It had disappeared from the middle of the train without leaving broken couplings or other traces of the man ner of its ejectment. Two days later the missing car was found in a field near the track at Shohola. It was empty. The cattle it had held were recovered in Sullivan county. New York. They had freed themselves from the car and crossed the Dela ware river on the ice. Engineer Albert. O. Roberts was driving a train to New York last Sunday morning. At West Tuxedo air brake trouble led to the dis covery that the 14th car was miss ing. The 13th and 15th cars had re coupled themselves. Search led to the discovery of the missing car alongside the track a mile to the north. The accident of Sunday was ex actly the same as the one which Mott describes as of 60-odd years ago. except that the modern form of brake caused the loss of a car to be discovered more quickly than was the case In the old days, when the couplings were of simple design and the brakes were operated by hand. New Haven Union. Those Who Come and Go. "There will be more than 100 per cent Increase in loganberry acreage this year," says Louis Lachmund of Salem, who Is connected with one of the fruit juice companies. "There are about 2500 acres of berries now in the valley, and this will be added to by 3500 more this season. Prices will be up, for there is a limited supply of berries and there are now many concerns bidding for the crop. The recent storm Injured yards about is per cent. All vines which were strung up were lost, but those wnicn were on the ground and covered with snow were not damaged. The acreage or loganberries this season will be lim ited to the amount of tips available for planting. We are now having inquiries from Washington and other places about tbe loganberry, and Til lamook. Clatsop. Coos and all coun ties on the coast, where there Is plenty of moisture, are prospective berry fields. The counties with the moist climate will do better than the fields In the valley, for the berries will be more juicy. We will have to come to irrigating the berry patches in the valley some of these days." "We are at the end of our string, practically, and the proposed amend ment to the constitution Increasing the indebtedness for roads from 3 to 4 per cent will enable us to go on," said E. E. Kiddle, state highway com missioner, at the Imperial. "Mr. Booth and 1 were at Salem during the spe cial session to give Information, and many members asked us what we wanted, but we invariably replied that we were not making sugges tions and were not asking for legis lation, but that we were ready to carry out such directions as the leg islature gave. I believe that the pro posed amendment will carry, judging from the way It was supported in the legislature and from the many state ments made to us." Mr. Kiddle says at the February meeting of the com mission he will meet his co-league. Simon Benson, the chairman, for the first time. The only time he saw Mr. Benson was when, as one of a delegation from Union county, Mr. Kiddle appeared before the coramis- ion; but" explains the commis sioner, "Mr. Benson wouldn't remem ber me and I wouldn't recognize him this minute. O. V. Hurt went into the Yachats country when a young man as a member of a government survey crew and possibly because he liked the coast country or possibly be cause the road's were so bad that it was too hard to get out again he elected to remain Every one in Benton and Lincoln counties knows "Vic." Yesterday he was at the Imperial on a business trip from Gorvallis. where he winters. Mr. Hurt reports that the government is building a four-mile section of the Alsea road, which trickles through and across the coast range between Corvallis and Waldport. The section under improvement Is from the bridge to the state fish hatchery. From the bridge, which was con structed by the siate last year, the forestry department has already built a good but narrow road along the edge of the river for a few miles toward the coast. "Fifty thousand dollars was sub scribed in Salem a few nights ago as a fund for solving the housing prob lem," reports James Linn, farmer, hop man and hotel owner of Salem, Our town is short on houses and this has become particularly notice able of late, since a great many peo pie have baen moving into the val ley and after a few weeks have moved away because they found no place to stay. The plan now being directed by the commercial club is. to have this fund of $50,000 and build houses which people oan buy on the same basis as paying rent. Prominent business men are putting their money into the pool, several subscrtbin $2(100 and $1500 and $1000. The draw back in Salem, as elsewhere, when it comes to building has been the large cost for materials and labor, and after a prospective home builder has talked with a contractor or two he has been afraid to go ahead with plans because of the high costs." Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Hall of Yaquina re at the Multnomah while Mr. Hal is attending the convention of Stand' ard Oil agents. Something almost as good as Standard Oil, as a money maker, is the jitney which operates between Yaquina and Waldport. The government built a standard railroad between those points to get out spruce, and when the war ended the railroad was rented to a man for $1 year, the government paying for maintenance of way. The renter of this railroad has placed flanged wheels on a Ford and carries passen gers the 16 miles between Yaquina and Waldport for $1.50. and as he has a score of passengers a day and totes a few tons of freight besides, his investment of $1 a year, paid to the government, is better than a gold mine. "Probably the biggest plan the state chamber of commerce has on foot for this year." observed Charles Hall, the president, at the Benson, as he was departing for Coos Bay last night, "is sending the delegation to Washington to work for the passage of the $100,000,000 road bill. if this big road bill goes through congress, then we should be able to get gov ernment money from it to match the Roosevelt highway bond issue which the people of Oregon voted. The big Dill is in accordance with the recom mendations of the convention of state highway commissioners and engi neers, held in Kentucky in December, and the Oregon congressional delega tion was memorialized to support the measure by the special session of the legislature. Four Greeters were initialed into the Shrine Saturday night. They are A. H. Meyers, manager of the Hotel Oregon; George Tremblay. clerk at me -MUitnoman; victor urandt. pro prietor or the t;arlton, and George M King, clerk at the Imperial. The Greeters will meet tonight at the Im perial. About 50 Standard Oil agents from as many different points In the north west are registered at the Multnomah. They are holding their annual con vention, which concludes Wednesday. To attend a' conference of the Pa cific coast box industry, W. P. O'Brien of Astoria has arrived at the Benson and S. A. Sizer and W. S. Cram of Raymond. Wash., are at the same es tablishment. A. C. Marsters. member of the state fair board and formerly a state sen ator from Douglas, was in Portland yesterday to attend a meeting ot the board. D. E. Llewellyn, an ironmaster of Los Angeles. Is at the Benson on busi ness and made a side trip to Vancou ver yesterday in connection with his mission. Mr. and Mrs. Matt Hayes of Kel logg. Idaho, are at the Perkins. Mr. Hayes, who is a stockman, brought a shipment to the Portland yards yes terday. W. T. Vaughn, attorney and demo crat, was not at the Jackson club meeting last night, as he left for Cal ifornia Saturday to be gone a week. J. 1.. Henderson, attorney and for merly muchly interested in politics. Is registered at the Perkins from Tillamook. FEW WORSE OFF THAIT IS 1914. Com pari no na ef Income suad Necessary Outgo Seem to Acquit H. C L. IXDEPETsD ENCK, Or., Jan. 25. (To the Editor.) Notwithstanding all this cry of "Wolf! wolf!" I fail to see any such animal as the high cost ef living, which is at all out of propor tion to the high cost of labor. The true cost or current value of anything is the number of hours of labor nec essary to earn the requisite amount for it, as we all know. A man in 1914. a farm hand, we'll say, was earning about $.100 a year and board. This man could easily have caved $200 a year, providing that be really wanted to save, as $10 was at that time enough for gooo. comfortable clothing. At the present time he earns at least $b00 a year and board and doubles his expenditure. Now, allowing $200 for clothing, which seems liberal, he can eave $400. How has the high cost of living in jured him? A young woman of my acquaint ance, a bookkeeper, was earning $50 a month in 1914. She is now earning $100 a month, which is not considered high figure. In 1914 board ana room cost her $25 a month, leaving $25 per month, or $300 a year. At present she is paying $40 for the same board and room, leaving $60 a month, or $720 a year. How has the high cost of living injured her? Certainly the necessities are twice as much, but she is earning twice as much. In many cases the wages have more than doubled, leaving a good margin. This dos not seem to be considered at all by many people I know who have more today than they ever had before. The same applies to all industries the wages received more than coun ter-balance the advanre in prices. There never was a time in the his tory of this country when anyone willing to work had such a good chance to make money and save it. This does not include soino profes sional people, whose salaries are still little more than they were some years ago. They are the real sufferers; neither doe it include the people who think that they must buy $16 shoes and $5 silk socks. Those are the ones who complain most about the high cost of living. They wish the un necessary luxuries, not the real com forts of life, and a nice little sum for the rainy day. Most wage earners 'can be more comfortable and can save more than ever before If they are not paying too high a price for false ideas of living. Indeed, It seems to me that the high cost of false ideas of living Is respon sible for much. A WORKER. HARDSHIP OX WORKERS FEARED Military Service Deprives) Parents of Vacation Help, Says Father. BANCROFT, Or., Jan. 25. (To the Editor. After a man has raised boy to the age when he may be of some heln to his parents before ne comes of age, the advocates of uni versal military training propose tak ing him away from his parents for five or six months a year. The par ents would doubtless like to give the boy the other six or eeven months at school or college, but. with the loss of any assistance from the boy on ac count of military training how many can afford it? I am the father of two girls and seven boys from 3 to 19 years of age. Is it just for my boys to be taken from me as eoon as they are old enough to be of some help to, me in my work? I have talked to many fathers about this question and fully nine out of ten are strongly opposed to it. Most young men of my ac quaintance are opposed to It. All mothers I have talked to are opposed to it. .Every father I have ever known to be in favor of it is a man wealthy enough that he does not need the as sistance of his sons but, on the con trary, they are generally an expense to him in or out of school. It was claimed by some military men (about the time we entered the war) that the training the national guard had received was of very little benefit to the men from a military viewpoint. The young men of our country would doubtless get the same benefit for their wasted time. From what I have seen and read of former wars I believe our govern ment can assemble and train rei-ruits faster than guns and ammunition can be provided for them, with which to fight. Most soldiers I have talked witn claim military life and training have not benefited their health. The only soldier I talked with from the Rus sian expedition expressed sorrow for the 'young men sent to Russia to re place himself and others, saying. 'They will return more or less In jured in health." We, and our children, are reaay 10 answer the can in lime or wjy. um. do not do this injustice to the work ing families, the big majority or Americans. J. O. FARMER. ONLV SHOCK AWAKENS 11 III.IC Writer Fran Lesson Ia eedeil to Arouae (irralrr Interest in School PORTLAND. Jan. 2. (To the Edi tor.) The Oregonian's editorial last Sunday is a timely one to draw at tention to the advantages ot an in telligent survey of th public educa - tional system. It may jar the aver ago taxpayer and citizen slightly, but probably not. It takes a terrible jolt, to get a real, an intensive ac tion, from the American people. They dearly love to read, such editorials or listen to a live talk of the kind, applaud loudly, wag the head ap provingly and do nothing. Or. it falls to a committee of good souls, such as you describe, who perhaps go in prejudiced and are bound to make good by convicting someihing or somebody. Thus the fruits are poor lemons. Unquestionably an open and fair investigation from a layman's view point may disclose lost motion, un expected failure of economy, etc. If the school authorities have failed to Ken the.ie things from their view point, or. seeing have not found the right remedy, there is no doubt they will gladly welcome useful informa tion on constructive criticism and act upon it. For several years the writer has been minded to make a personal sur vey exactly as proposed for his own information and satisfaction. To ac quire an intimate and practical knowledge of our school system and activities was an ambitious task to be undertaken. Alas, the stern de mands of a daily business grind, brushed aside every auspicious mo ment. The task will require much time, much painstaking effort, much writing down of facts if the work is conscientious, satisfactory to one's self'and worthy to present to others as reliable. However, hope is not given up. Aut viam inveniam aut faciara. ROBKKT (. WRIGHT. Head of l"OHtofft'e Department. PORTLAND. Jan. 26. i To the Edi tor.) Please tell me to whom to write and what department in the L". S. government in authority over the Portland postoffice? A READER. Probably you desire to address the postmaster-general. Washington. !.... rn'npaicr Woman's Broad Shoulders. PORTLAND. Jan. 26. (To the Edi tor.) One thing these "awful news paper women" are good for is to shoulder the blame when the state ment sounds differently in cold print j from what the maker thought it would. H. More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montagne. A RenumciattoBw The Hungarian monaachlsta ajrn looking for an American to be their king. Cable Dispatch. I used to believe that a Ufa en a throne Was one of continual pleasure. That being a king was a wonderful thing For a person addicted to leisure. With never a fancy so hard to fulfil But Fortune would readily gran it. With all of the booze he could pos sibly use. And a beautiful queen to decant It. I thought If I ever were offered a throne. No matter by what sort ef naxlon. With an emphatlo "Year" I'd atsssnpt to express My sense of profound obligation. And though all my friends, filled with envious rage. Would loudly decry and upbraJjJ m, I'd reach for the helm of my little old realm. And never let go till they made m. But now a poor king cannot aret a night's sleep The bombs that burst round him won't let him. His personal guard has to chase from the yard The thugs that have dropped tn to get him. He keeps both his eyes on the food that he eats. Because, if neglected a mtante. Some Novlbazar hurries in with a jar And pours raw wood alcohol in it. But now, though a royal estate might be mine To have and to hold, if I chooe It, I never shall wear any crown on my hair. In fact, I shall sternly refuse it. The wages of kings, I have never a doubt. Are more than my meager per diem. But a life on a throne in a bolshevik zone Don't attract a mild person like I am! Hurry Tp and Cotn It. We're going to need that 2-eerrt piece. They will soon be selling matches one at a time. Perfectly Safe. There Is one good thing about presidential candidates. They never strike. Where Ia Hct We are for any candidate of whom tho profiteers will say, "He kept us out of profits." (Copyright, 1020. by The Bell Syndicate, Inc. ) Don't you know that the soul muet have its rest From the troubles that wear the brain? Then try but the once this simple test When weary and Bick and sore: Go into a room that you love the her Face fairly each care and pain. Recall how you conquered In times gone by And your strength should today be more! Then cease from your useless fume and fret. Let hopefulness brightly grow. There is time for the burden's 'lifting When at last you must bear its weight; The dew on the grass is cool and wet. The storm you are dreading so May go whence the clouds are drift ing Leave that to the winds o' fate! J In Other Days. Tweiity.flT Tram Ago. From The Oregnnlan. January xll 1SOS Washington, E. C By a resolution adopted by the senate today President Cleveland's policy of non-intervention in Hawaii was sustained. San Francisco. Adolph Sutro will immediately have work started on a new Cliff house to replace the one destroyed- by fire Christmas night. The cut of Grays Harbor mills for the year 1S94 was 79.500,000 feet. De cember shipments were about 8.O00.000 feet by water and 18 cars by rail. A creamery will be built at Inde pendence. Polk county. providing farmers of the vicinity will guarantee milk from 200 cows. Firty Years A pro. From The Oreponian. January 1'7, ls7. Richmond. A salute of 100 guns was fired in the park here today in honor of the admission of Virginia by Congressional action. Washington. The post master-general has entered into contracts with steamship lines for csrryiiiR the for eign mails, all the contracts being for 27 years' service. Omaha. Reports from the Pawnee r "Va ol a- on a tribe of friendly Indians and captured their horses were overtaken by a severe storm and perished with thtir plunder. Boise. Extremely coUl weather has prevailed for four weeks. The Rocky Bar expressman reports that 72 miles of the distance between Boise and that point has to be made on snow shoes. How President Is Klected- rOirPLAXD, Jan. 26. (To the Edi tor.) Please inform me if the presi dent of the Cnited States is elected by the direct vote of the people or does congress take any part in the presi dential election? Will you please ex plain the electoral vote? AN OLD SUBSCRIBER. The voters in each state vote for electors and electors thus chosen con stitute what is termed the electoral college. Thereafter the presidential electors vote for president. Eaou state elects a number of electors equal to its number of senators and representatives in congress. A ma jority vote in the electoral college ia required to elect, but if no person re ceives a majority then the members of the lower house ot congress elect as president one of the men, not ex ceeding three in number, receiviiiyc the greatest number of votes in th electoral college. In the house tio votes are taken by states, the repre sentation from each state having one vote. Thus in Oregon each voter votes ir five presidential electors, not directly for a presidential candidate. Small Snns for told Hay. ARLINGTON. Or.. Jan. 25. (To the Editor.) Being interested by a letter signed by J. L. Mars of La Grande, in The Oregonian. in which he stated that the $2.":!4 yearly- family bill Is .1 spendthrift's estimate and that $1F,00 is a fair income under "present con ditions." and that it is possible to save $100 of this for a cold day. I would be pleased to see Mr. Mart' estimate itemized. I am not skeptical at all. but how long would that $10Q survive under present conditions? IX DEBT. Winds o' Fate. By Grace E. Hall.