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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1920)
THE 3IORXIXG OltEGOXJAX, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1920 itlonuuc Orrrmitnu tSTABLlMlED 11V HENRY I.. TITTOCK. Published by The OreRonlan Publishing Co., l:r. sivth strpcL ir'ortland. ureson. C. A. AlOKl.B.V, B- M- 11IAfc!1?? Maimitcr. Editor. T1.9 Orrgonian is a member of the Asso cbwed Pkm. The Aesociated Press Ux- iusivelv entitled to the om for publication uf ail n.-ws disr.at. hfs credited to it or not orherwi.-a credited in thin paper ana t!it local news published licr.in. AU riKnv. 01 publication of tpcciiil liapatcb.es herein are also reserved. Subscription Rates Invariably in Advance. (l!y Mail.) Jallr, Sunday included, one year. . . . . s 00 lJa.lv. Sun. lav Included, six months... J-J ):itiv. Hun. lay included, three months. - z 1'a.lv. SuiKlav included, one rnonln .75 lJ.ul. Without Sunday, one yr--J-aiiv, without Sunday, (six months. al;-. without Sunday, one month AVec kly, one year ........ 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An inquiry is implied in a letter published today as to -whether vari ous crimes and misdemeanors have r.ot been more numerous in Multno mah county since the bone dry law vent, 'into effect. The letter writer offers the records of the county jail over n term of years, and on their lace the statistics how that the rumber of prisoners fell off most in V.'1i;, which was the one year during most of which a modified form of prohibition was in effect. The sa loons and breweries had been closed hut individuals were permitted to import intoxicants in limited quan tities. After 1916 the number of prisoners began to increase. In jus tice to the analyist who discusses these statistics it should not be over looked that he also calls attention 1o the fart that the years embraced include the period before the war, the war period and the year follow ing the war. It is extremely doubtful if the true and lasting effects of prohibition and v.ar emotions are yet possible of de termination, and it may be said in passing that increase in crime dur ing and following the war has not been peculiar to prohibition com munities. The "crime wave," such as It is, has been world-wide. lint there are factors which ren der the county jail statistics in seem ingly significant particulars of no significance at all. The county jail in Multnomah county receives only a fraction of the drunk and disorderly oases and the number has fluctuated in the past for reasons remote from the ease with which liquor was ob tainable. Most of the drunk and disorderly are arrested by the police and are sent to the city jail, and they are sentenced to that institution as a rule. But periodically the county rock pile has been in operation and at such periods it has been common to sentence the more flagrant vio lators to serve their sentences there. The prisoner sent to the rock pile is also recorded on the county jail docket. But as indicated the rock pile is operated only at times. In a year during which the rock pile re mained idle the county jail docket would show a comparatively smaller number of prisoners serving sen tences for drunkenness and disor derly conduct, when such misde meanors might in fact have been more numerous than in a year In which the docket showed a greater number of cases. The same condi tions affect the records for vagrancy cases. In the years for which the record speaks, the custom of sending pris oners from the city jail to the county jail for one reason or another inci dent to conditions at the city institu tion was followed and later aban doned. The county for a time fed city prisoners witiiout requiring an accounting from the city. Then de mand was made that the city pay board for its prisoners and city pris oners thereafter- were in most in stances kept in the city jail. Wherein the rockpile factor and the cost of prisoners' meals affected the population of the county jail, certainly prohibition or war had little to do directly with it, though one might perhaps argue that the leek pile is operated generally when misdemeanors are most common and that its operation is therefore an in dication that prohibition or war or something else has caused people to do wrong. Forty-five persons, held in the county jail for being drunk and dis ordorly, is on its face no indication of the number arrested or sentenced on that charge in a city the size of 1'ortland in the last year of the sa loons. But that is the county jail figure for 1915. That ninety-four v ere docketed in 1919 on the same charge is also of small significance in a city of Portland's size, even though that number is double the number for 1915. The records are for only a fraction of the total num ber of cases and constitute so small a fraction that an unusual circum stance, such as the ratding of a road house and the arrest of fifteen or twenty inmates, while not indicative of widespread drunkenness and dis orderly conduct, would materially affect an attempted comparison. A complete survey of the facts and records is necessary to a legitimate conclusion as to the increase of crimes and misdemeanors and the cause thereof and it must include the city jail as well as the county jail. It is quite probable that there is- more drunkenness of the disor derly kind now than in 1916. The often poisonous article that goes by the name of whiskey makes quicker and more disastrous work of the ronsumer than the old beverage. Moreover, the drinking party in 1916 was not necessarily disturbed by the police. So long as the members were not disorderly they were committing no crime, for liquor was lawfully ob tainable. Today the drinking party implies the nearby presence of still or bootlegger's supply. Also in raiding stills all those hanging about r.re taken in as being possibly impli cated in illicit manufacture, and if the evidence is not at hand and there is even slight ground fop the lesser charge, they are held for investiga tion tinder tho charge of "drunk and disorderly." He who reads the newspapers is likely to be convinced that moon shining and bootlegging are on the increase. Perhaps they are. But few of the calm thinkers on prohibition expected anything else for a w&ile. There is this to be said, that the ris ing generation does not have intoxi cants thrust before it and as it matures and the present generation declines the market for intoxicants will diminish. One can hardly fancy an adult a generation hence paying an exorbitant price for something for which he has acquired no taste and which, he well knows, may be poisonous and distilled from garbage. HARDING AND TIIK SENATE, No senator of the United States ever before left that body to become president, though more than one president had previously been a senT ator. The popularity of Mr. Harding with the senate is deservedly great. It was a factor in procuring his nomination and subsequent election. But will it continue when he goes to the White House? Probably, be cause Mr. Harding openly proclaims his purpose to have no quarrel with congress. But it is not certain that the en tente cordiale will be maintained for the next four years. Precedent tells another story. It Is an interesting fact, but it may be hoped that it is not ominous, that the three presidents who have had bitter and memorable controversies with congress particularly the sen ate had been members of the sen ate. They were Jackson, Tyler and Johnson. The feud between Jackson and the senate over 'the charter of the United States bank reached such unex ampled 'bitterness that the senate, unablelo overcome his vetoes by the necessary two-thirds vote, denounced the president in a resolution of cen sure which was expunged from the record, several years later, when the heat of the long struggle had to an extent subsided. John Tyler, elected vice-president as a Whig, became president through Harison's death, and got into alrnost immediate trouble with the Whig majority in congress, led by Henry Clay. By his vetoes he divided and all but destroyed the Whig party, with which his connection was only casual, and for which his sympathy was never marked. Andrew Johnson was a senator from 1857 to 1S62, and, becoming president with Lincoln's death, fell out with congress, which impeached him and he escaped removal by only one vote (35 ayes 19 nays, one short of the necessary two-thirds). Benjamin. Harrison, once a sena tor, and later president, had no se vere clashes with congress. Theo dore Iiooteyelt, never a senator, as president came in frequent conflict w-rth congress, but was able usually to compose his disputes and to have his way. The strain between Woodrow Wil son and the senate has been severe, but has led to no such scenes as marked the Jackson, Tyler or John son administrations. The reason is, probably, that in later days the amenities are better observed. President Harding can get along with congress by letting the senate have its way. But he will not get along with the people by surrender of his rightful prerogative. It is not too much to hope that he will satisfy both the senate and the people. BIST 3LIVKS. Announcement that no fewer than 150,000 letters written by Theodore Itoosfcvelt have been preserved gives us not only an. impression pf diffi culties confronting Intending biogra phers, but a conception, if we also have imaginations of our own, of the amazing faculty for employing time advantageously that men like Colonel Koosevelt possess. An aver age of fifteen letters a day for thirty years, not excluding Sundays and holidays, because these to the busy statesman are likely to be more fer tile of letters than ordinary days, is an achievement that to be appre ciated must be taken in connection with other work that he did. The list of books he wrote, at least two of which were completed while he was president, would be fairly long even for a professional author. He was in addition an assiduous reader, a traveler and explorer and, as every one knows, a dominating figure in public lite. If the intimate biographers of great men would serve the rising generation well, they would discover and publish the secret of how these men so organized their time that they seemed always to be able to do one thing more without slighting anything that otherwise would have been done. The extraordinary fact about most men in commanding po sitions is not exceptional genius so much. as it is ability to find time to do things in. Perhaps this is in it self a mark of genius. It is a gift that few possess. An interesting thing about it is that those who understand the art never seem to complain of being overworked. If it is a knack that can be acquired by application it is quite worth while including in the curricula of the schools. NAVY AND MERCHANT MARINE. Admiral MeKean's admonition to the people of the Pacific coast not to boost only for the navy yard at their own particular port but to work for all the naval bases, each including several yards, on the whole Pacific coast, is timely. The joint naval committee of congress which lately visited the coast will certainly make recommendations which are likely to lead to action, and in pressing for action each port should remember that the first duty of the Pacific fleet is to protect the whole coast and its shipping and that all stations anywhere between the Canadian and Mexican borders are equally neces sary to that end. But good judgment will provide for possible concentration of the fleet at porta where there is the largest tonnage of shipping, both to protect the ships and the great ports which always exist where there is much tonnage, and to obtain the benefit of the large supplies and re pair facilities which are to be found at large ports. An invading army would make the great ports its im mediate objectives, since they are centers of wealth and sources of sup ply and are the terminals of rail roads. Their defense would require concentration of troops, and the navy would need to draw supplies from the interior- For both of these purposes control of the railroads would be essential. The rapidly growing commerce of the Columbia river makes it a logical point of con centration for both naval and mili tary forces. While it is true that the merchant marine is dependent on the navy, it is in a less degree true that the navy is dependent on the merchant ma rine. Shipping was a principal cause of the building of railroads to Portland, and it caused great quan tities of, commodities used by the navy to be assembled here. In that J way the merchant marine serves the navy. It also trains a great reserve I of seamen, who are available for ser vice in the navy. The need of such a reserve was for years one of the arguments for an American mer chant marine, it was. keenly felt in the war, and it is now supplied by the young Americans who navigate the shipping board fleet. The Columbia valley is the funnel through which nature designed that the wealth of the interior be poured from railroads into ships at Port land, and the rate decision, by re- Lmoving an artificial obstruction, will increase the volume of that flow. While the general defense of the Pa- cific coast against approach of a i hostile fleet demands bases located at strategic points along the coast, the particular defense of points for large concentration of merchant ships demands that bases located for that purpose be maintained. Hence it is reasonable to expect that de velopment of the Tongue point base will be governed not only by the re quirements of the navy for shelter, repair and supply but by the needs of defense for the great port of the Columbia river and all the other ports between it and the sea. GRANT THAT PERMIT. The Portland Sanitarium is a busi ness concern. It has been, conducted here for many years from small be ginnings to a. large institution at Mount Tabor. Thousands of patients in all walks of life testify to its ex cellent character as a hospital. It never appeals for help and pays as it goes- characteristic of the people who own it. Because its building was of frame construction the men in control de cided to tear it down and replace it with a steel and concrete structure, the first unit to cost a quarter-million. They applied to the council for a permit. Granting of the permit has been delayed for one reason or another. The first contention was that its immediate neighbors objec ted; yet canvass by authority of Commissioner Barbur shows that no resident within a radius of two blocks is opposed. Some owners of vacant property express fear they cannot selV if plans are carried out and others say the hospital will con taminate the water in the reservoirs. That is babble. Portland is campaigning for in dustries to make a bigger city. The Portland Sanitarium is one of such. Hillsboro, Forest Grove and Mc Minnville want this hospital; but here is where it belongs, on the grounds it has occupied for more than a dozen years. Opposition is inconsistent. Mayor Baker favors granting the permit and so does Commissioner Bigelow. Why do the others object if they object? BACK TO WHERE IT BEGAN. Withdrawal of the Argentine dele gates from the assembly of the league of nations with the support of Paraguay and the sympathy of other Latin-American states, because the assembly refused to consider their amendments to the covenant, is the consequence of making the league an adjunct to the peace treaty with Germany. It vindicates the wisdom of the proposal made by thirty-seven senators in the round robin that the ,j nines ,iiuuiu ticsi. uiaive peace wnu Germany and the other central pow ers, and that afterward a conference of all powers be called to organize a league. President ' Wilson originally proposed that the peace treaty and the "covenant be coupled together, and he insisted when the senators proposed that they be separated. On his second arrival in Paris he found the peace conference about to sepa rate them. He again demanded that they be united, and the conference yielded to him. The points in the covenant to which objection is now made can be traced to its origin. The nations at war with Germany, having formed the league, took precautions that Germany sljould not be admitted, that they should retain control, and that the league should become an in strument for execution of their peace treaty. They then invited the neu tral nations to become members'! after having excluded their enemies. Representing three-fourths of the population of the world and assum ing that the neutrals would indorse their settlement with the central powers and, through the league, would help them to enforce it, they formed the league without consult ing the neutrals and made its first task the execution of a treaty to which the neutrals were not parties. Resentment is natural aiong the small nations at being forced in.to a position of inferiority by the giving of permanent places on the council to five great powers and. by the giv ing of a veto on all .acts of the as sembly to those fi-e. They go to the opposite extreme by demanding that all members of the council be elec tive and that the vote -of all have equal weight. The neutrals refuse to see any distinction between one group of belligerents and the other. and some demand that Germany be admitted on equal terms with the nJ lies. The present split brings to tho surface the conflict of purpose which inevitably existed between the bel ligerents, which regarded the league as having been primarily designed to assist them in liquidating the war. and the neutrals, which regard It as designed to preserve peace and jus tie among nations after the bellig erents have liquidated their war by their own efforts Postponement of formation of the league until after peace was made is the policy that was proposed, before the conference met, by many who after that policy was rejected, urged ratification Xt the treaty with or without reservations. They did so through conviction of the urgent ne cessity of peace, and in the belief that the covenant could and wouJd be perfected by amendment. But ab stention of the United States has deprived the league of a great source of strength, its involvement with the pea,ce terms has weakened it, and it has not aided either in execution of the Versailles treaty or in restoring general peace.. The work of organ ization will apparently have to be gin anew, and may be carried out without regard to . execution of the peace treaty, though it cannot avoid disposing of the aftarmath of the war. v The principal powers at Geneva doubtless opposed immediate con sideration of amendments because they foresee negotiations with the United States for general revision of the covenant and because they do not wish to complicate that work. Action of Argentina, the amend ments offered by the Scandinavian countries, and the Canadian proposal to strike out article X force the question of amendment to the front. The outcome may easily be a general conference for complete revision of the covenant, at which the policy of President - elect Harding would have powerful support and at which the neutrals would participate on equal terms with the belligerents. That would impose on this country and the allies the duty of enforcing the terms on- Germany, it would release the neutrals from any obligation in that regard as members of the league, and It would open to consid eration by neutrals as well as bellig erents the question of admission of Germany. ' Thus the prospect is that the league question will go back to the position where it stood before 'the peace conference, but with the great difference in point of view that has been produced by the disheartening events of the last two years. Expe rience has sobered enthusiasts and, though the nations are more than ever impressed with the necessity of combining for the common interest of mankind, their representatives will talk Ies3 of Ideals and will show more respect for realities. LIGHT IN THE GLOOM. Meager though it is, the National Safety council is able to. detect rea son ;for hope in its analysis of auto-4 S. Crum, an insurance statistician, writing in the New York Spectator, finds that in the cities in which an organized "safety first" campaign was conducted in 1918 through or ganized local councils, the percen tage of increase in fatal accidents, by comparison with previous years, was smaller than in those cities whose attention had not been regu larly called to the importance of the subject. Unfortunately, the statisti cian is unable to report a decrease anywhere; but a slowing up of the pace is better than nothing, and per haps for the present all that the most optimistic can reasonably ex pect. There is, however, another ground for hope discoverable by still further dissection of trie figures. In propor tion to number of automobiles in use, fatal accidents show a falling off. The total number for the year approximately 10,000 is the great est ever known; yet it represents a decrease in seven years of 50 per cent if the great increase in number of motor cars is taken into consider ation. The rate per million of motor car registrations was 2756 in 1912; in 1918 it was only 1574. Conges tion of vehicles has added to relative probability of accidents, both to drivers and to the pedestrian public. Education of users of automobiles is constantly offset by the Increasing complexity of their problem. Yet existence for the average man is not as much more perilous as the automobile statistics alone would in dicate; ' As a kind of atonement for the increase heretofore alluded to every other form of vehicular acci dents shows a decline. The fatality rate for steam railways was 168.9 per million in 1906; in 1918 it had dropped to 05.2. For street railway fatalities, the figures for the same years are 43.7 and 28.9 respectively "All other vehicles" caused 36.3 deaths per million in 1906 and 27.3 in 1918. In sum. fatalities caused by all vehicles, including- automo biles, has increased only from 245.0 in 1906 to 253.3 in 1918. All other accidents, not involved In traffic, have decreased from 685.3 per mil lion to 563 per million in the same period, a decrease of 18 per cent. On the whole one's chances of avoiding fatal accident are slightly better now than they were a decade and a half ago. . The campaign -against vehicular acciaents or ail Kinds is a campaign of education, directed not only to drivers of motor cars, but to pedes trians and public officials as well. Officials of the National Safety council believe that some thousands of lives can be saved annually in this manner. To those who still regard human life worth saving the effort undoubtedly will seem worth while California believes in hanging for cause, but the execution of all the gang concerned in the killing of thlee peace' officers at Santa Rosa will not balance the account. Several are ex-convicts, Who, all must ad mit, form the worst class of crim inals. . Their crimes against young women will hold them, if they es cape the rope. The governor of Kentucky has named Bo McMillan, quarterback of the Centre college football team to be a colonel on his staff. It never would do to let a Kentuckian be come famous who couldn't be ad dressed as "Colonel." Cost of food and clothing in Ge neva has jumped 60 per cent and people of fixed wages are rather frantic about it. Switzerland must get back to its normal business of taking money from the tourist. Probably there are millions starv ing in China; anyway, a large num ber. China is our nearest neighbor and may be our best in time to come Charity that does not begin at home might start near by. Summers of Washington had bill in the first day to impose a duty o 2 5 cents a bushel on wheat, with flour and other products in accord That ought to be "rush" business. Man's problem of . something for his wife for Christmas Is better solved by giving her the money, plus war tax, of course,' and letting her do the buying. The unidentified driver who crip pies a pedestrian escapes for ' the time, but his day is coming. The law of retribution is always at work , In the death of Rev. H. T. Cash many friends will miss a gentleman of the cloth who went about doing goodin his kindly way. May as well admit that Portland strong on carnivals, is running true to form in its present carnival o crime. The hope of the holiday trade is with the weatherman. . Snow is no an essential of the Christmas season here. j Orphans, are- not the worst off about Christmas. Sometimes half orphans need a bit of cheer. "Know any? " Those are said to have been "holt day" cigars In the fire Sunday morn ing. Wow! .What an escape! What a man has for breakfast pretty much governs him all day. Kver think of that? Nobody in good health need com plain . of open ventilators in street pars, BY-PRODUCTS OF THE TIMES Glory of Placer Mining Camps Quickly Fanin Away. The annual fall exodus leaves fewer than 20 people in the once amous though always desolate. beach camp of Nome. Returning Alaskans say the curtain Is all but rawn on the old camp where, in the ummer of 1898, nearly 15,000 people surged, swore, fought and caroused. Nome has gone the way of scores f fitful placer camps. Its glory is the tale in another Betting of Orofino, Pierce City, Warrens and Florence of the early '60s in northern Idaho; of the North Fork placer camps of the Coeur d'AIenes In the early '80s; of Central City and Ieadville In Colo rado, of wasted feamps in Montana nd southern Idaho, in British Colum bia, Oregon and Nevada, to say othing of. the wild days of the '60s in California. Exceptions .to the rule, of hectic ctivity and quick decay are Helena, ite of a one-time noted placer camp nd the city of Denver, where, in the ummer of 1853. James H. Pierce panned out a little gold from a sand bar near the mouth of Cherry creek, a discovery that fired the expecta- ions' of thousands and started the historic rush to the famous Cherry creek. The fine and progressive city of Iewiston, Idaho', is another exception to the rule of oblivion that has been the almost unfailing fate of placer amps. While strictly speaking, Lew- iston was not a placer camp, but the outfitting point at the head of steam boat navigation for the stampede into he Clearwater region In the early 60s, it was a placer camp in all its aspects and in the wild spirit of early day sold hunting. With the sailing away of the steam ship Victoria, beaVing 350 Nome residents, most announced their pur pose never to return. The brooding spirit of rpelancholy came in with the long, long winter. Again the wolf's long howl is heard on Ounalaska's lonely ehore," and the little remnant of population is left with memories and disappointed hopes. Yet a few will cling to the de serted beach to the last breath of life, for such is the unfailing record of every famous camp, to live over again in memory, through the long Arctic nights, the stirring scenes of 20 years ago. Spokane Spokesman Review. Worms are now a valued commod ty and worm digging is a profession in one of the principal boroughs of New York City. Outdoors and health ful, with only the tang of the fresh Salt air as it sweeps from Longr Island sound across man's tender lungs. Bight exercise, for the spade that routs the worm is not a shovel, but gentle tip of aluminum such , as children disport themselves with on the sands. It made the court gasp with envy. All this was brought out in the Flush ing Bong Island police court when John Buser of College Point was ar raigned before Magistrate Thomas Doyle the other day on a charge of disorderly conduct brought by a sen sitive neighbor, who declared that Buser's vocabulary was a bit too pungent. , 'Where do you work ?" finally asked the magistrate. "I work for myself," Buser replied. proudly. "I am a worm digger." "A worm digger!" exclaimed the magistrate, leaning forward at once and extendnig an attentive ear into the foreground. -Yes, your honor," came the ex planation. "I dig worms for bait." "Do you make a living that way?'' came the skeptical question from the bench. And the answer: "I make J7 a day." Someone touched B. A. Parsons, for mer president of the Chamber of Com merce, on the a$m recently as he paused in front of the. Commerce building, Tenth and Walnut streets. "Will you help me across?" a voice asked. Mr. Parsons turned, to encounter a blind man, who said something else which was lost in the traffic noise. The two men moved out cautiously, Mr. Parsons guiding the sightless one, whose cane hung, unused for the mo ment at his elbow. At the base of the Republic building, at the southwest corner, Mr. Parsons prepared to re ceive the thanks of his new acquain tance when the latter, raising his voice in a challenge to a rumbling streetcar, said: "I suppose you didn't hear all that I asked you. I said I wanted to go to the southeast corner." Which proved to Mr. Parsons that what he had heard about a blind man's sense of direction not being lost with his sight was true. Kansas City Times. One of the interesting things the last campaign brought out was the keen interest taken in voting by numbers of dear old ladies through out Missouri. There have been very many mentioned in the various papers as "the oldest voter," but Mrs. Manora Johnson of Carthage seems to have captured the pennant. She walked to the polls to vote, telling the elec tion judge she was "106 and healthy." This is just what she meant, too, as she does all her own housework and goes about town without a cane. Her appearance is described as heroic. She is six feet six inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. During the civil war Mrs. Johnson was a nurse back of the lines and lost her husband dur ing -that conflict. She is a native of Scotland, coming to this country when young. Many of her ancestors lived beyond the 90-year mark. Kansas City Star. Should novelists read novels? Mere dith Nicholson says he reads only three novels a year, and these are chosen for 'him by his wife. Having read, he says, all the novels which everyone must have read long ago, ani being engaged in writing fiction himself, he finds novel reading un profitable. However, he reads fever ishly in the field of political and o cial discussion, biography and poetry, and he has long specialized in Italian literature and history, particularly the period of the renaissance. . Mr. Nicholson holds that no writer should produce fiction exclusively, as he Is likely to exhaust himself, and Mr. Nicholson finds relaxation and re freshment on such subjects as "Should Smith Go to Church?" or in making political speeches in Indiana, where, according to his eastern publishers, politics is the most popular winter and summer epori, Those Who Come and Go. Seymour Jones gazed sadly around the hotel lobby and admitted that it didn't look natural. "There's no or ganization, fight in the legislature,' he observed, "and the organization fight was always good for etirring things up before the session started. I don't see any of the boys around, probably because the speakership is settled. Mr. Jones was speaker oi the 1919 and 1920 sessuns. I sup pose Louie Bean and Roy Ritner are fixinar ur their - committees By tms time. Making up committees isn't, a pleasant task, for it i" hard to give veryone what he wants. Mr. jsean proposed a committee on committees two years ago and I voted for it. I wonder if he will follow mat iaea now that he is speaker?" Public improvements are being planned for Bend so as to take care of the labor situation in the event of shortage of employment this win ter. Judge J. A. Bastes, who nas been mayor of Bend, Is at the Im perial, to bring Ms. Eastes home with him, Mrs. Eastes having been in a local hospital. Judge Eastes didn t run for re-election and he is aooui through with his office, but that does not interfere with his looking atter the welfare of Bend. To see about financing public works, the judge is in town consulting financial agents. It is planned to do a lot of street im provement and extend the sewer system. C. A. Comer landed at the Hotel Oregon from Yorfcalla yesterday and was somewhat surprised to discover that the little village in Douglas county has attracted national atten tion. In the recent election some of the women folk didn't' like the way the men were running the town so they quietly organized and put the skids under the men candidates, and the offices from mayor to council men were filled by women. This elec tion was considered sufficiently in teresting for one of the national pub lications to tell all about it last week. Selling the walking stick of Abra ham Lincoln used to be a favorite outdoor sport in Washington, D. C, among the slickers. In Tarrytown. N. Y., there are a score or more of old houses which have been sold by speculators to the present occupants on the idea that they were once the headquarters o f General George Washington. Lewis R. Arnold, reg istered at the Multnomah from Tar rytown, says that the sale of bogus "headquarters" has been a thriving industry for the past -20 years. Tom Kay. woolen mills man of Salem, and also representative of Marion county in the legislature, was in Portland yesterday. Mr. Kay thinks that the country is passing through a big "silent" panic and he is also opposed to the legislature increasing salaries, figuring that the H. C. B. will drop next year and present salaries will stretch fur ther than they are now doing. Also Mr. Kay, with an eye to the interests of Salem, wants another big state building erected at Salero. Some of the finest land in Wal Iowa county is in the Prairie creek country. It is Irrigated and is so rich it will raise a crop of almost anything. A man who can own 1000 acres of this land is pointed to as a distinguished citizen, and that is the status of H. B. Davidhizar, who is at the Imperial from Joseph, Or. In ad dition to being a big farmer, Mr. Davidhizar is a banker and he likes one occupation about as well as the other. i "Conditions in Bend are very good, the mills are working two shifts and there is no unemployment to speak of, if any," says Thomas H. Foley, electric power manager of Bend. Mr. Foley says that Bend has been having fine weather and that he had to come to Portland, to get into some rain. The roads through Wasco county are so bad that he decided to come here by train rather than by automobile, his usual means of conveyance. W. T. Miller, in the law business at Grants Pass, is registered at the Hotel Oregon. A brand new theater building is being erected at Grants Pass and will soon be completed. It can be used for motion pictures or regular plays, and the intention is to induce road companies to stop at Grants Pass as well as Medford. On official business and also to see how his chances of appointment as United States marshal progress. A. A Roberts, chief of police of Pendle ton, is at the Perkins. Mr. Roberts has discovered that he has a whale of a lot of competitiion for the com mission as marshal. Newspapermen were getting kind of thick around the Perkins yester day. C. L. Ireland of Moro, the owner, editor and publisher of the Observer, is at that hotel and so is Don Carlos Boyd, who used to be at Junction City, but has shifted his field of activities to Oakland, Or. Nearly a dozen residents of Joseph, Or., were in town yesterday, quartered at the Imperial. Most of them are stockmen and in the crowd were D. W. AVarnock and E. Donley, the lat- ter's place being on Sheep creek. Carl Christiansen, who is a butcher at Joseph, was another visitor. Sheriff F. D. Rinehart of Wallowa county is among those present Portland on a little matter of an illicit still or something of the sort. The sheriff, being an incumbent and also on the republican ticket, was re elected by 709 votes. J. C. Perry, newly elected, member of the legislature from Marion county is registered at the Oregon hotel with Mrs. Perry and Kenneth and Vernon Mr. Perry, a druggist by profession, is one of the five house members from Marion. Once upon a time A. B. Kelly was in the laundry business at Astoria. When he registered at the Imperial yesterday he handed Harry Hamilton a card showing that he makes paste for billposters'and Seattle is his head quarters. W. S. Coates, who was re-elected as the surveyor of Tillamook county last month, is registered at the-Im perlal. A surveyor in Tillamook has to be something of a goat because he has so many mountains to scale. Compared with Minneapolis weath er, where for weeKs at a time it l below zero, Portland climate is trop leal, according to J. E. Getchell, who is registered at the Multnomah from the Twin Cities. Rolle Wright of the Utah Construe tion company, which is building a railroad out Buxton way, is regis tered at the Hotel Oregon. A. R. Cruikshank of Hood River is one of the several county surveyors who are in the city just now. Assessor S. B. Leinenweber of Clat sop county is among the Imperial ar rivals. Superior to Suffering. "Do you think contact with human suffering is calculated to make men gloomy?" "Not at all. - Some of the jolliest men I have known were undertakers and tax collectors." San Francisco Chronic-La. John Burroughs Nature Notes. CAST YOU ANSWER THESE Ql"E , TION'Sf 1. Are birds that flock brighter hued than solitary birds? 2. Are cows and sheep good engi neers? 3. Will a starfish amputate one of its own arms? Answers in Tomorrow's" Nature Notes. Aoiweri to Previous Qaentions, 1. Why is the robin such a suc cess? The robin Is wonderfully adaptive. If he does not find a tree to his lik ing, he will nest on the wall or un der your porch, or even on the ground. His colors are not brilliant, but the secret of his success lies in his cour age, his force of character, so to speak, and his adaptability. 2. Can a dog express joy. When John Muir and his dog Stickeen, at the immiment peril of their lives, at last got over that ter rible crevasse In the Alaska glacier, the dog's demonstrations of jov were very touching. He raced and bounded and cut capers and barked and felici tated himself and his master as only a dog can. 3. How do the shoots from a stump replace the parent trunk? Cut down a tree in the forest and In the spring a half-dozen or more shoots start from the stump to replace the parent trunk. They grow vigor ously the first and second season, and ayoe for severar years more. But some of the shoots outstrip tlieir fel lows, they get the lead, they get more light, more foliage, and this enables them to take up more nourishment from the soil. The others lag. then stop, then die. (Rights reserved by Houghton. Mif- fin Co.) STORY SEEN IX JAIL PI1.1RES Are Crimes and Misdemeanors Crow. Ing Beeaune of Prohibition or War? PORTLAND. Dec. 6. (To the Edi tor.) There is a treasure house of in formation for the student of social drifts in the statistics of prisoners passing through the county jail which were compiled a short time ago by Sheriff T. M. Hurlburt. The compila tion covers tne rour calendar years ending with 1919. during which the country passed through the several phases of prohibition and its enforce ment and pre-war, actual war and post-war conditions. It deals with all classes of prisoners booked on a charge, federal as well as stale and municipal. The striking story which the fig ures tell is the constant and larere in crease in the number of prisoners be ginning with 1917. In 1915. the last year of liquor selling in Oregon, the number of prisoners listed at the jail was J6io. In 1916. the year before the war, when importations of liquor were permitted by state law, the number of prisoners fell to 1363. In 1917, the first year of the war and the first of the bone-dry Drohibition in Oregon, the number of prisoners rose to 2173. In 1918. the big year of the war. the number rose to- 2644. In 1918 as well as in 1917 federal arrests of deserters, slackers and others hld for investigation helped materially to increase the total. In 1919, the year after the war ended and the first year of national prohibition, the num ber of prisoners reached 2756 with out any material aid ' from the na tional government in the way of es pionage suspects, deserters and slackers. , uuenses for which lower totals were reported in 1916 than in 1915, but which have increased in number every year eince 1917. are drunk and disorderly, insanity, white slavery and other felonies commonly referred to as "statutory" charges, vagrancy, juvenile cases and the group includ ing Durgiary. forgery, larceny, and robbery. In 1919 compared with 1916 the number of drunks received nearly trebled, the number of insane cases .more than doubled, the number of cases of white slavery, etc.. increased fcu per cent, the number of juvenile offenders increased nearly four nrl a half times and the number of cases of burglary, forgery, larceny and rob- oery increased over 40 per cent.- Non- support charges dropped very heavily in ia.it) compared with 1915, doubled in 1917 and have been falling steadily ever since. The figures in detail follow: Charpp Drunk and disorderly ............. Insanity White slavery, etc Contributing to the delinquency of minors rirujrs . . . Non-support Vagrancy Violation of prohibition laws Bnrfflary, forKry, larceny, robbery Juvenile matters . . .' Murrtier and attempted murrler Federal investigation; slackers, deserter All other charges Totals Sheriff Hurlburt estimates that the prisoner record for 1920 will closely approach, if not exceed that of 1919. Up to June 30 last the number of prisoners booked was 1239. The lead ing charges for the six months' pe riod were: Insanity. 226; burglary, forgery, larceny and robbery, 207; juvenile matters, loo, and violation of prohibition laws. 111. Insanity took the lead in 1917 and has maintained it ever since except for the big run of federal espionage cases in 1918. D. E. H. HVK'S TUOlBLK I.IKS WITH I V Wrltrr Infers That Lonely O Is Morose and Suspicious. PORTLAND, Dec. 6. (To the Edi tor.) I read with interest the letter in The Oregonian written by one who signs herself "Kve." Poor Santa Claus. He will have to be a. good old sport to satisfy her Chritstmas wish. Strange, the different ideas people have of happiness. And to think in this great, big world one can be as lonely-as this poor woman seems to be. From the, tone of her letter she will go on being lonely. She has the wrong spirit altogether to bring people about her. She carries a "chip, on her shoulder," as it were. One would judge so, anyway, by what Bhe says about the pastor's oft repeated expression, "Glad to see you with us." Certainly a pleasant thought to carry away. She also takes the handshakes in the same manner. The trouble lies with "Eve," not those who pleasantly greet her. She says there are many about her as lonely as she and often wishes she could meet them. What for? Could one of her spirit cheer theth? I'll say not. She also says "there are many elderly people well fitted to make and maintain comfortable homes to be cheery companions to one another, to go down the 'sun down path' together instead of wan dering down alone." Do you suppose she could be a cheerful companion to any man but a wooden one? She would better cheer up, for the worst may come when old Santa shoves a "big wholesome husband" down the chimney to her ADAM. Sad Predicament. "So Alice caught her husband kiss ing the maid. What is she going to do about it?" - "She can't seem to make up her mind, poor dear. Sometimes she thinks it would be easier for her to get a new husband than to find a new caid." Minneapolis Tribune. More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montacne. THOt'GHTS ON WORMS. A Colorado entomolygist insists that insects would provide us with excellent food were it not for our prejudices. We have no doubt that bran and hay are filling: We're not averse to dietetic stunts: We've eaten wiiale and shark, and we are wlEling To sample almost any creature once. We quite applaud) the scientist's en deavor To build synthetic food of harm less drugs. But not for any reason whatsoever Will we eat bugs. We're fond of bugs we think they're pretty creatures The bugs that fJy the bugs that squirm and crawl The ugliest have their redeeming features. We know they must be useful, one and all. We like to watch the butterflies at twilight, To see them sail on every breeze that stirs. ' We like to watch the moths above . the skylight Though not in furs. But while we have no doubt that they're nutritious. And cooked with butter sauce would likely make A dish as appetizing and delicious As oysters, fish or even sirloin steak, We feel that there's a squashiness about them, A certain softness that could not be chewed. And we are sure we'd rather do with out them, Tnough starved for food. The lusty trout has no such stern objections Whatever bug he finds delighta his oul He eats the angle worm in writhing sections And swallows beetles, gnats and locusts whole. But though the trout may to th moth aspire. When he observes him perched upon a limb. We'll eat the insect food we may. require When we eat him, JadKlnn; by Developments. Apparently some of those basebaVl players who went to work for the shipping board were given high exi ecutive places. ' Cheap Skates. The lawyers who took only a mf! lion dollars for settling the Field will must have been astounded at their own moderation. The Only Wnyv If Italy wants to get D'Annuniis out of. Fiume it will have to think up some scheme for keeping Fiume out of the headlines. f Cnpvrlirht. lOL'O. by !! fimflt'atn, 1r Circumstances. By Grace E. Hall. J There are spirits who come in the darkness Well laden with tasks you must do; They plan for the morrow, unheeding- The voice that is calling in you; They have no regard for your weak ness. Nor pause to consider your will. As they leave for your shoulders a burden. Or mission for you to fulfill. You plead for a path ever winding Through gardens all fragrant and sweet. But the outline that's given is crooked And rough to the touch of your feet; You ask for the sound of God's music That trills o'er his great out-of-doors. They give you instead a dark corner. And sound of the traffic is yours. They come to arrange for man's labors. These spirits that lead where they choose. Grim servants of circumstance, serv ing Out tasks'that no tne may refuse: Yon ask for the pleasant and cheery. Iil5 116 117 mis nun . . 4,- 'J.1 H 7 4 1 H4 . 3". 23X 3r.O 412 47c IL! 40 47 !i! 7J . 4l :trt 21 40 . 2 2 4 ni . !H 41 2 7." (.-. . 4S7 ln r,:i 77 2:17 . 7 141 2r.4 1s:i 1SJ . rr.s a:n si 7 .-sj.i .vji . lr.ft Srt is.-, 2i-..- 37- 4 4i in . 17 13 107 Sir. M . .-, 8IM 5MJ SSti 7.".7 2ir i.iti:i ;i73 2044 '.'7D And wine of life's vinti red. You find a cross laid e, blood - on your must threshold. And measure of tears you shed. In Other Days. Klfly Yrnrs Afro. From The Preftonian of December T, 1.H70. San Francisco had a big lottery but now don't want any other town to have one. Agents who have been selling Marysville residents lottery tickets have been arrested and fined. E. R. Meeker of Olympia has gone east, where he will spend several months making people whom be meets acquainted with the attractions of Washington territory. In Helena, Mont., the meat markets are filled with the carcasses of moun tain sheep. Pendleton has three frtores, two hotels, two saloons, two butcher shops, two livery stables and two blacksmith shops. The town has the appearance of being prosperous. A district school house 24x40 feet is in course of erection. Twenty-five Years Ajto. Prom The Oregonian of December 7, 1 SOS. Ashland The Ager-Klamath Falls stage was robbed again, about mid night, by the lone highwayman at the foot of the Topsy grade. Daniel Sully the well known actor, who is playing an engagement at ths Marquam, is at the Portland hotel. The winter season of entertain ments to he given by the M. A. A. C. will be inaugurated by a special ses sion in the gymnasium clubrooms this evening. The teller of the First National bank at Baker City has a piece of quartz that came out of a $20,000 pocket at the Virtue mine. 1 Practical Boys. These nine-year-old class marvels are all very well, but the average American family prefers a lad who will move a lawn mower with speed and precision. New York Herald. This Lover Should Win. Judge. She Do you think it possible for a man to love two women at once? "i'oung Soldier Yes, twenty at once. If tbey were ail like you.