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THE 3I0RNING OREGONIAN, MONDAY, DECEMBER 27 1920
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ESTABLISHED BY HENRY L. PITTOCK.
Published by The Oreg-onlan Publishing- Co.,
135 Sixth Street, Portland. Oregon.
C. A. MORDEN. E. B. PIPER.
Manager. Editor.
T nMniun I, . m,mhFr of the Asso-
,l . r-4 tr..u- Th, iHAriaUd Press Is ex
S"ri'"l!ifiS.i.,arffiUS!Sei able to understand county fi-
i unu
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Mich. San Francisco representative, R. J.
Kidwell.
HOW LONG. O LORD. HOW LONG?
The amazing story of increasing
taxation in Oregon for the past
twenty years cannot be better told
than by the table of totals for Mult
nomah county prepared by Assessor
Reed. For all purposes except fed
eral state, county, city, school,
dock, port, market, road, and so on
- the taxpayers have poured into
(he public treasury the following
amounts:
Tear
lflon
i nor, -. . .
1SIO
1U
lf16
1P17
UtS
1019
1920 (estimated)
. i.oo 3:b
. 2.07H.U69
. 6.401.-'8
. 7.!M.S7
. 8.1IS.71.1
. 8.4S.-,.72rt
. !.S07..H
.12.007.782
. 14.713.0o0
The ' population of Multnomah
county in 1900 was 103.167. The
average per capita tax was there
fore 9.7S.
The population of Multnomah
county in 1910 was 226.261. The
average per capita tax was therefore
f28.29.
The population of Multnomah
county is 275.288. The average per
capita tax is now therefore H3.it.
The population' of Multnomah
county has not quite trebled in
twenty years. But the average citizen
pays more than five times as much
taxes. Is the average citizen more
able to pay? Or is property?
While the county has merely
trebled in population or less the
amount paid in taxes has increased
more than fourteen times.
The end is not yet for the taxpayer
bearing five times the burden he
bore in 1900 (always excepting the
other heavy load of federal taxation)
unless he makes up his mind to
end It.
The first place to begin is with the
legislature.
WHAT'S THE ANSWER?
; There will be no quarrel with Doc-
tor Rockey over how fine a thing it
" would be to tstablish a great medical
- - center on Ma,quam Hill. It is dis
tinctly recalled that that '-as the
- - argument that prevailed in securing
location of the county hospital in
that district. A great county hos
pital caring for a thousand or more
patients would also be a nice thing
to have. But the idea that we should
continually be spending millions for
that which would be pleasing or
monumental to our enterprise is, as
heretofore pointed out, the principal
cause of our high rate of taxation.
The Oregonian, contrary to a pos
sible implication in Dr. Rockey's
letter published Sunday, has not spe
cifically condemned the county's
participation in the medical center
plan. It is not now certain that it
has been wise in that regard. It is
not sure that we should not have
saved much money by awaiting more
definite enlargement of the center
and establishment of transportation
before spending a million dollars to
help along the plan.
With due regard for what Van
couver, B. C, has accomplished with
a million-dollar municipal hospital
which houses 1000 patients, most of
whom pay for the care given them.
It may be pointed out that we are
spending a million dollars for one
unit of a hospital, and that that unit
will have 110 bads, We are to invest
virtually the cam amount as Van
couver for caring for about one-tenth
ef the number of persons.
Customs and prejudices of people
vary, moreover. There is an un
doubted prejudice in this country
gainst entering an eleemosynary In
stitution even as a pay patient And
he who is unprejudiced and able to
pay his way will, if accommodations
- are available in any of the) several
excellent private hospitals in Fort
land, go to one of the latter in pre
ference to secluding himself in an
institution where his family and
friends cannot visit him except under
. serious transportation inconvenl-
V eqces.
But aside from the foregoing trie
history of the county hospital has
T; been disquieting. The outside esti.
mate for the completed unit wltb
accessory buildings was originally
net more than $450,000. The mea
ure of public approval that it gained
was based on that understanding; of
its cost. But since its inception cost
has crept upward and upward with.
the end not yet in Right. Money has
been borrowed from other funds to
keep it going and there is prospect
1" that other funds that were levied for
. needful purposes wirt be diverted.
. We are paying an extra price for the
- color of the brick used and have
; turned down home industry to do It;
" we are paying several thousands for
the mistake of an engineer in estab
lishing the foundation depth; we are
paying in public inconvenience and
personal injuries for reckless dis
pesal of earth excavated front the
site.
The commissioners have deviated
from established customs in letting
contracts' for equipment. The his
tory of the purchase of Xray appa
ratus requires better . explanation
than that the equipment has been
' approved by a competent and honest
physician. If It be. said that aa
X.ray machine built twelve years
ago Is still doing duty, it may also
v - be said that the same is true of
" many automobiles. Tet no person
' wants an antequated automobile and
po person in his private capacity
would buy an automobile at the
present peak of prices if he would
have no use for it . for eighteen
months. Minor improvement are'
constantly being made in X-ray appa
rahusi M la sVUtosuabUs Ud Lbe
1 as well as the probably lower price
. to be had a year hence, are clearly
worth considering. '
It is Indeed true, "as Dr. Rockey
says, that all men make mistakes.
But what is to be said when one.
commissioner of seven years' experi
ence in office makes public ac-
- t k n nwloH af, that. Yia haa
never
nances, ana in is aespue me iaci iimi
every month a comprehenaive' and
accurate financial statement is laid
before him by the county auditor?
Here is one of three men who will
spend 92,000,000 of public money ir
1931. Is it the answer that the
county is engaged in naught but
noble enterprises and that no .com
plaint should be entered as tOhow
they are constructed or . conducted
lest the enterprises themselves shall
suffer? What is the property ownei
to do? Scratch for his taxes and aay
nothing?
NO CAl'SE FOR PESSIMISM.
Alarm at the prospective exhaus
tion of the petroleum supply of the
world just when its' use for fuel and
many other purposes has become
well nigh universal should.be allayed
by recollection that there have been
such scares before. -When produc
tion from the original oil fields in
Pennsylvania began to diminish
there was fear of their running dry,
but in the eighties discoveries ex
tended into West Virginia and Ohio
Since then oil in vast quantities- has
been found in Kentucky, then in
California, then in Kansas, Okla
homa and Texas and last in Wyom
ing. Abroad great oil fields have
been found in the Baku district of
Russia, in Galicia, Roumania and
Persia and last in Mesopotamia.
There are good indications in Alaska
and the republic of Colombia, and
vast areas have yet to be explored.
There was probably a similar
alarm when the forests of Europe
began to show a deficient supply of
wood for fuel, but coal took its place.
This fuel is known to have been used
by the Saxons of England as early as
the middle of the ninth century, but
did not come into general use for
about six centuries. It is now mined
in vast quantities in almost every
country in the world, and was man's
chief reliance as fuel until oil began
to supplant C Great beds of lignite
are still nearly untouched to eke out
the coal supply, and we need not fear
actual exhaustion of oil resources
till the great deposits of oil shale in
the Rocky mountain region are
worked out.
Experience with wood, coal and
oil justifies confidence that other
means of producing power and heat
will be found when they become
scarce. Scarcity sends prices upward,
and thereby sets enterprise and in
genuity to work in search of cheaper
substitutes. Each substitute has been
more effective and economical than
that which it replaced, and so it may
continue. High prices also impose
economy in use, which postpones the
date of final exhaustion. . The possi
bilities of electricity are but partly
known, and the supply of that sub
stitute for fuel will last as long as
streams continue to flow.
THEY FORGET ALVRKADY.
Those members of congress who
call for reduction of the army and
navy programme have uncommonly
short memories. They give as a rea
son the enormous burden of taxa
tion which the nation has to pay,
largely to meet interest on its huge
debt. Yet the greater part of that
debt represents the cost of unpre
paredness, not the cost of war.- The
waste and the inefficiency which led
to most of it' were due to the fact
that we did not begin to prepare
until we were at war. Only three
months before the defiance which
drove us to war we had elected a
president because he "kept us out of
war" and by inference because he
kept us unprepared. The cost of the
war was that part of our expenditure
which would remain after we de
ducted the part that could be
ascribed to failure to prepare earlier.
If we had had no more than that
balance to pay, the debt would have
been far lighter, and the taxes which
we must pay in future would have
been lighter in proportion.
In fact it may fairly be argued
that, if we had been prepared, we
should have had no war bill to pay.
The action of Germany was decided
after careful calculation of all the
factors, military, economic and psy
chological, of the world situation.
One of the most important of these
was the situation in this country.
Having a traditional policy of non
intervention in Europe's affairs, we
had a pacifist administration which
had endured Intolerable wrongs from
a weaker neighbor without striking
back, which retorted for the Lusi
tania outrage with a campaign of
notes and which persisted in unpre
paredness though further outrages
were added to that one. Germany
was reasonably justified in believing
that we would not fight when we
should, and that we could not figiit
when we would.
The time when congress is about
to reorganize the departments and
to draw the line with careful dis
crimination between necessary and
unnecessary expenditures the time
also when the lessons ef the war are
fresh In our memories is the time
to adopt a military polity which will
provide adequately for defense of the
country.
A DEBT PAID IS ADVANCE.
Experts of the department of agri
culture who remind us of our debt
to the old world for food plants
brought to this country to improve
our agriculture are hereby informed
that America's contributions to Eu
rope, Asia and Africa have probably
been sufficient to pay the debt be
fore it was incurred.
It Is true that durum wheat, now
worth 150,000,000 a year to the
United States, was imported from
Russia in 1899; that the cotton which
is tbe basis of our long-staple crop
is an Egyptian product; that Siberia
and Turkestan have contributed al
falfa; and that Japanese rice is a
profitable crop in Louisiana - and
California, The quest for exotics of
the plant kingdom has been con
ducted with discrimination and assi
duity that reflect credit on the de
partment scientists.
It is not so widely known, how
ever, that the world owes to Ameria
the maize, the potato and probably
preservation of the European grape
against extinction. It is difficult to
estimate the economic value to the
peoples of ether countries of the
potato alone. Taken to England in
the time ef Sir Walter Raleigh, U
not by that adventurer In person, U
found a hospitable soil and after
some centuries a cordial reception.
The world record for potato produc
tion per acre was long held, in Hol
land. The British Isles found it an
ideal food crop under their climatio
conditions and Germany and France
a few veara r harT advanced the
art of potato culture far beyond the
stage it had reached in the United
States. : Per capita consumption in
Germany just before thr war was
about four and a half times that of
this country.
Corn, a native of America, is still
best understood in the western
hemisphere, but other countries now
produce a total of about - half as
much as we do, the world crop hav
ing reached more than 4,000,000,000
bushels in a favorable season. The
bearing of this crop on meat pro
duction has been highly significant.
It was carried to Europe by Colum
bus on his first return voyage, re
quired a century to reach France
from Spain, and probably penetrated
southeastern Europe by way of
Switzerland. It is now one of the
principal crops on which the famine
stricken people depend for rehabtn
tation during the coming year.
Antiquity of the grape is undoubt
ed, but there was a time not long
ago when viticulture in Europe was
thought to be doomed by blight, and
U, was averted only by utilization of
resistant native American stocks for
replanting of European vineyards.
Success of the plan is evident from
tho fart that rh mnst remunerative
I vineyards of Europe have roots of
American species.
Though it would be the height of
ingratitude to 'undervalue the con
tributions of the eastern hemisphere
to the agriculture of our own, it
would be particularly difficult to
visualize the situation that the old
world would now be in but for these
staples which in many respects rep
resent the ideal in food yield in pro
portion to area and labor required
for-their production.
A TEAR OF RAH.ROAD ACHIEVEMENT,
In a review of the railroad situa
tion for the year Thomas De Witt
Cuyler, chairman of the Association
of Railway Executives, with good
cause takes credit to the railroads
for the great advance that they have
made toward normal conditions dur
ing the- first nine months of private
operation. They have moved a
greater tonnage than ever before by
increasing the number of miles per
day that the average car moved and
the average load per car, by reduc
ing the number of unserviceable
locomotives, by reconstructing thou
sands of old cars. They have moved
open cars east and box cars west to
the sections where they are wanted
and they have reduced the number
of loaded but unmoved freight cars
to one-fifth of that existing . on
March 1. They have spent $500,-
000,000 on improved maintenance
and $250,000,000 on additions and
betterments, and are buying thou
sands of new cars and locomotives.
The increased transportation which
they have supplied with the old plant
is equivalent to expenditure of 12,
000,000,000 on additions to the
plant.
This achievement vindicates the
superiority of private over public
operation. In the new year the
people will look to them for further
evidence of the same kind. They
will not grudge the full 6 per cent
of net earnings that the law allows,
provided- that it is obtained in such
manner as not to injure the business
that produces traffic, as in the case
of lumber from the Pacific coast to
the middle west. If care in that re
spect is not exercised, the railroads
may find that instead of having to
struggle with -congestion of traffio
as in the last two years, their traf
fic will take to the water and their
problem will be to get enough. of it
to employ their facilities.
Nor will there be complete satis
faction unless the railroads live up
to the principle that runs all through
the Esch-Cummins law that public
service must be the first considera
tion and that competition between
companies must be subordinated. If
that rule be followed, the Portland
terminal dispute will come to a quick
end with consolidation of the ter
minal properties. Then also the North
Bank road will perform its proper
function, which is to haul all the
traffio that is naturally tributary to
it and to the Port of Portland to that
port. - Private operation will not
fully satisfy the public until all
uneconomic relics of the competi
tive system have disappeared. '
FISH AS THEY ARE.
We ought to be grateful -and we
are to Hugh Wiley for bringing the
"Wildcat" to the Columbia river and
embodying the wonders of the fish
ing industry in his tales of that in
genuous, food-consuming negro and
his goat mascot, Lily.
In the current number of the SaU
urday Evening Feet the Wildcat
jumps a train somewhere above The
PaHes during- a hold-up, makes his
way to the river's brink, scoops out
with his hands enough smelt to sati
ate his appetite for a while, later
falls in the river, is carried into a
fish wheel and does battle with fleets
of steelheada and 100-pound ChU
nooks.
As we say, we are grateful to the
author for having the Wildcat try
his Lady Luck with the fish of the
Columbia river, but it is only fair
that those unfamiliar with this sec.
tion should not gain their ideas of
Columbia river fishing wholly fraro
fiction, as they have gained their
misconception of western ranch
life, cowboys, sheriffs, mining camps
and the like. More things that are
not have been gleaned from western
romances than the world will ever
unlearn.
To catch smelt with the hands is
pretty difficult, if not impossible,
though true tales, seemingly more
preposterous, of catching i smelt
where they are actually to be found
ceuld be told. We have yet to hear
of smelt signalling the Celilo canal
or of mounting the rapids above the
falls of the same name. It is said
that smelt last year got. ivr the
rapids at Cascade Locks but this was
extraordinary it had not been ob
served for years before.
One would be unusually blessed by
Lady Luck to encounter smelt, steel
heads and Chinooks at the same time
and place in the Columbia river in
commercial quantities. Steelheads
run in the winter months; smelt
enter the river in February, Maroh"
or April and make theirV way into
smaller tributaries of the lower river
such as the Cowlitz and Sandy. F-tsh
wheels ter the spring run of Chi
neoks begin operations about May 1.
Fifty fish an hour would be phr
nomenal Caleb, for a wheel.
A Chinook weighing over-6 5 pounds
would attract attention among fish
ermen and few are larger than 76
pounds, the average ranging from 22
to 23 pounds. When the Wildcat
was assaulted by a 100-pound Chi
nook the -novelty was augmented by
bis sight or sometnmg many old-time
fishermen on the river have never
seen, " ..
We fancy one might obtain abun-
4fit losil fiolor Iqjt 'story, gj auit
fishing in the Sandy river. The con-
gestion of automobiles, the cries of
the vendors, the screams of women
amateurs wielding the dip nets, the
sight from the bridge of myriads of
fish wending their way against the
clear current constitute a scene not
! found elsewhere. And it is to be
! observed at a spot thirteen miles
from Portland reached over a paved
highway.
Or a trip up the Willamette river
during the spring salmon trolling
season, the wait in the mist of the
falls or in the rapids for the strike,
the fight with a glorious fish that at
least pulls like he weighed a hun
dred pounds one needs no literary
brush to touch up the local color
there. Kipling, who experienced It,
wrote of salmon fishing in the
Clackamas 'near its confluence with
the Willamette:
How shall Z tell the stories of that day,
so that you may be interested? Very
solemnly and thankfully we put up.-eur
rods It was g-lory enough for all time
and returned weeping In each other's arms
weeping tears of pure joy.
Kipling and his companions caught
sixteen fish aggregating 142 pounds.
But three of these weighed more
tban ten pounds. That was .more
than thirty years ago. Salmon are
still plentiful enough in the Willam
ette to cause constant war in legis
lative halls between sportsmen and
commercial fishermen for advan
tage. Sportsmen in the last season
caught salmon in the Willamette
that weighed up to 42 pounds, and
they were caught within twelve miles
of the post office In Portland.
There is ground work there for
stirring fiction, too. Boats some
times capsize in the rapids; officers
sometimes do battle with commercial
fishermen poaching out of season or
out of bounds. We imagine that one
accustomed to it could spin fish
yarns all day long without causing
smelt or salmon to digress from their
natural habits or exceed their maxi
mum size and make them excit
ing, too.
REMEDY FOR COAL PROFITEERING.
Extortion of the most shameless
kind has been practiced by coal op
erators and dealers while the law
for control of food and fuel was In
operation, while the attorney-general
had authority to enforce that
law and while the interstate com
merce commission had authority to
regulate distribution of cars. One
of the svorst .cases of profiteering
was at the expense or me war ae
partment, which paid $11 a ton for
the same kind ef coal that others
bought at $3.50. Tet Senator Calder
talks of more government control
as the re"medy.
, So far as extortionate prices are
the result of unlawful combination
to maintain prices and restrict pro
duction, they can be broken up by
prosecution under the anti-trust law.
Though juries have been loath to
convict under those laws when prison
sentences were probable and though
judges have been loath to impose
such sentences, the offense charged
against the coal men is so flagrant
that judges and juries might harden
their hearts when such greed was
proved. So far as the evil is the
result of deficient supply, develop
ment of the new coal areas of the
west under the leasing law should
give relief. But increase of supply
from that source must await invest
ment of capital and development of
new mines. Capital does not enter
that field readily because the pres
ent tax laws drive it into unproduc
tive investments or appropriate it to
run the government.
Government intrusion into bust
ness to the extent that Mr. Calder
suggests does not remove the evil
but substitutes another, usually
worse in that it prevents operation
of remedial influences that would
be permanent. Experience with
government shipbuilding, spruce pro
duction and other branches of in
dustry proves that the. government
wastes as much as private operators
take by extortion and that the con.
sumer is actually worse off, for prl
vate enterprise fears to enter a field
that the government occupies, while
high prices attract it to a field that
is clear to it. One reason for return
of the republican party to power
was that it might take the govern
ment out of business, not lead :t
deeper in.
It is strange that in discussion of
means of suppressing the crime
wave, no one seems to have thought
of declaring a moratorium on pa
roles and similar manifestations of
tolerance of wrong-doing and lack
of sympathy for law-abiding citizens.
L Mississippi woman has an
nounced her candidacy for senator to
succeed John Sharp Williams. Being
in Mississippi, qf course she will not
be elected, but she will "throw a
scare" into somebody.
Having dropped a little matter ef
$5,000,000,000 or so, the American
farmer goes on doing business at the
old stand. . Is there another business
that could keep on its feet under
similar conditions?
The government proposes to add
100 guards to the force employed
to watch the whisky stored in bond
ed warehouses--perhaps to stand
guard over the 200 already employed
for that purpose.
The spectacle is presented in Polk.,
a strong republican county, of a pos
sible recall campaign against the
county judge, who is a democrat,
with the contender likewise of that
political faith.
Chicago's . chief wants more pay
for his policemen, to relieve them of
temptation. That plea is good any
where. Foel people think' the first
man to be apprpached must be the
policeman.
.Two hundred millions will be
needed to relieve the starving Cltf
nese, and this country has thought it
much of a joke ta squander more
than that during the past few years.
A New York judge rules that an
employe is entitled to one drunk be
fore he can be discharged. That puts
the boozer on a par with the dog and
his one bite.
Funny how the hold-ups could on
Christmas- eve pick out men with
much money when most all of man
kind were near "broke." ,
Those Winlock eggs shipped to
New York by the carload should be
stamped and dated, to put the town
on the eastern map.
If hiccoughs become epidemic
here, some men will have -a good
alibi; but it's hard to fool a wife:
The thrifty days for the, woman
who did not spend all the Christmas
mosey, begin tod' - -
BY-PRODUCTS
OF THE PRESS
Days Recalled When Eels 'Were a
Delicacy la Pertlud Markets.
The news story coming from Ports
mouth. New Hampshire, telling of
the stopping of a ferry boat by rea
son of an eel getting into the feed
tank and interfering with the injec
tor, serves as a reminder of the early
days when all the means of public
travel between Newberg and Port
land was by steamboats plying on
the Willamette river, says the New
berg Graphic. Often during the win
ter season the locks at Oregon City
would be closed at intervals on ac
count of high water, and following
each such freshet the pockets in the
rocks below the falls would be filled
with bushels of eels. While the locks
were being opened and closed as the
boats were passing through, which
required half an hour, tbe deckhands
would go below with eacks and fill
them with all tbe slimy eels they
could carry and take them to Port
land, where they found a ready mar
ket for them. While an eel is not
much for looks, in the eyes of one
who has a finicky stomach, it is said
they have an excellent .flavor, and
the supply in those days appeared to
be never failing.
An elderly lady stepped from a
train at the local depot, and imme
diately noticed that workmen were
engaged in tearing up the sod upon
the depot lawn.
"My gracious!" she exclaimed to a
friendly brakeman, "What in the
world are they doing that for?"
"Oh, that's nothing," he conde
scended, "in this city they take the
grass in every winter."
"Mercy me!" exclaimed the startlefi
old lady. "Does It get that cold
here?" The Dalles Chronicle.
All the "mystery" news in the mem
ory of the oldest reporter pales be
fore the "bridge king" Elwell mys
tery. At first everybody said, "Look
for the woman!"
Later, detectives said, "Don't look
lor a woman." When Elwell was
found dead, just after -the bullet hit
him, his false teeth were out and
his little wig had been taken off the
top of his head. Therefore a man
not a woman, was with blm when he
was killed. Very good reasoning and
quite Interesting. If there is a "cher-
cbez la femme" feature of the case,
thoy must seek some woman that
the "bridge king" had known for a
very long time. It would take Vidocq
or some other Frenchman to tell
just how long a "bridge king" would
need to knew a woman in order to
talk to her minus wig and falsa teeth.
Aud the murder, after all these
months- is just as great a mystery
as ever. .
William Lyon Phelps, professor of
Knglish literature at Yale, declares
he gets credit for only 26 per cent of
the after-dinner speeches he actually
makes. "Every time I aceept an in
vitation to speak I really make four
addresses," he says. "First is the
speech I prepare in advance. That
is pretty good. Second is the speech
1 really make. Third Is -the speech
I make pa the way home, which is
tbe best of all, and fourth is the
speech tbe newspapers next morning
say ( made, which bears no relation
to spy of the others."
-
Go up into the attic, granddad, and
get out the congress gaiters. They're
all the style again. Remember these
old congress gaiter style of (Shots,
the tepg ef which were made of one
piece leather, and were made olese
fitting by means of the elaiitic gus
sets on each aide of the tops of the
shoes?
They're all the fad again.
Only they're patent 1-a.her.
Several nattily dressed young chaps
up in the As tor were seen wear'ng
them.
They don't cost the $1.50 that gran
dad used tQ pay, though; they cost
$15 "and up,"-New York; Sun,
The little island of Kotheneyfr, off
the coast of France, has for Its sola
Inhabitant an eccentric hermit who
for many years ha devoted much
of his time to carving humanlike fig
ures out of the rocks which slope
down to the sea.
There are-hundreds of thsm mostly
lying on their backs, as If staring
up at the sky, but some la a seated
posture and a few standing erect.
The effect la weird and unearthly,
the figures looking like petrified men.
They are understood to represent
Biblical characters. Along the top
of the- wall Iq front of the hermit'
dwelling are a number of heads, like
wise carved out of stone.
The hermitage is on the summit of
the rocks, overlooking - the carven
Shore and the sea. People who live
on the nearhy mainland call the place
the "island of ghosts."
Tbe hermit keeps his sculptures
swept clear of sand. Tbey seem to
have for him a religious significance.
-Popular Science Monthly.
Hera's a tb'Jnibnajl sketch of a
man who, the London Times thinks,
deserves some kind of recognition:
Long Lang, 63 years old. Loyal North
Lancashire regiment: father of ti
children; called up as a reservist at
the outbreak of the war; served on
five battle fronts- ranee. Palestine,
Sslenifcl, Bulgaria and Italy; wit
nessed the rail or Jerusalem; served
in Constantinople following the
armUnioe; qnwounded throughout tho
war; two sens, William and Thomas,
both of the Loyal North Lancashire
regiment,- were killed early in the
war: another son, t-eier, in tne bcots
Guards, was wounded: another son.
James, a sergeant in the Ley at North
Lancashire regiment, is suu serving.
The penny tickets for the Pony-
rnd-TraD Baffle were selling in thou
sands, McGregor wasn't having any,
however. Ha called the whole thing
a swindle, Eventually his friends per-
maded him to buy one tiouet- WOO
should win the pony but McGregor!
When the prize wa brought te htm
he urveed it gloomily, and finally
I told ye tne wnqis ining was a
swindle!"
W hat s tne matter r- asaea ms
friends.
Where's the whlpT" hissed -McQre-
gor. Edinburgh Scotsman.
'The sise of the waves of th Ati
lantio ocean has beea carefully as
eertaifled result Of extensive in
vestigations made by the officers of
the hydregraphia offiee of the United
States navy department. In height.
we are assured, these waves usually
average 30 feet, but in rough weather
they will attain seme q to b reet.
During Btorras they are frequently
from 600 to 600 reet long ana enaure
10 or 11 seconds. The longest wave
measured by the hydrographlc office
officials was half a mile and it did
not spend itself for 23 seconds.
Those Who Come and Go.
Beneath the cheering glow of a
brilliantly lighted Christmas tree in
one of the down-town hotels Christ
mas eve, there was enacted a Tuletlde
homecoming that wrung the hearts of
those who knew and understood. He
was dressed in the cotton fabric
which a thoughtful public provides
ere the big iron gate swings tjutward.
The prison pallor had not erased the
copper tint of his skin, nor had the
years of servitude bowed the shoul
ders of this unsmiling descendant of
early American Indians. She was
dressed neatly but plainly. All tha
pent-up emotions of 15 years of lone
liness were plainly writ upon her
face. It was 16 year ago that h had
been torn from her side to serve a
term for killing of another while his
brain was fired with white man's
whisky. And for 15 years ha had
toiled patiently in a federal prison.
His term was up last week and Port
land was chosen as the place of meet
ing for. him and his faithful wife.
It so happened that the homecoming
was brought about on Christmas eve,
when the spirit of Yule is broadcast
about the land. Yesterday they left,
arm in arm, for their Montana borne
on an Indian reservation. According
to hotel attaches, the Indian is a. Car
lisle graduate and is the son of a
former chief of a Montana tribe.
If Manager Myers of the Oregon
had not fitted up a big Christmas tree
in the lobby Robert 13. Lee Brenner,
aged i, of Baltimore, Md., would have
lost all faith in Santa Claus. Robert
is here with his father and mother.
en route to southern California for
the remainder of the winter, and his
sole topic of conversation throughout
the trip across the continent was
Santa Claus and Christmas. Hit
youthful -mind couldn't understand
that Santa would make his annual
visit desDite the fact that the family
fireplace is hundreds of miles away.'
But when be arrived at the Oregon
early Christmas eve and found that
tree was in readiness he was satis
fied. He was one of the first guests
in the lobby Christmas morning,
where he found that Santa had not
failed him. Hotel attaches cot quite
a "kick" out of the young man's ex
periences.
Every hotel in Portland that serv 1
Christmas dinners reported a bigger
business this year than ever before.
Many dinner parties were the order in
every hotel dining room, while there
were countless incidents wherein
families of two to four selected the
hotel dinners rather than suffer the
trouble of cooking dinner at home.
Hotel managers say that- the in
creased business this y-r Is due in a
great measure to high living costs.
For small families, they point out, it
was much cheaper to dine at hotels
with dinner at from $1.25 to ti a plate
than to purchase the turkey and
other necessities for a dinner at home.
"Our main business was from families
ef two to four and these whs live In
apartment houses," said one manager
whose Christmas dinner trade was
nearly double of that of a year ago.
If tha "Come and Go" reporter had
wandered into the Portland lobby
Christmas afternoon he eould have
procured a list of hotel guests such
as he had never found before and
which would be on the missing list
for many months to coma In the
center of the lobby Manager Childs
had fitted out a large Christmas tree.
which shone with brilliance and exud
ed the Yuletide spirit. Then, from the
streets he invited every little urchin
he could find to enter the hostelry as
guests of the manarement. Presents
and food and candies . -id fruits were
distributed to every little street
urchin who entered the hotel during
the afternoon, and the guests had as
much fun out of it as did tbe young
sters.
Billy, the Irrepressible bellhop 1
one of the hotels along Broadway, la
entire' - satisfied with Christmas and
tha things it brought. Hotel guests
were in a gift-giving mood, and Billy
was receptive, to say the least. "I
got enough 'Jack' yesterday te get me
gojl the diamond we've been looking
at for the past few months, and it
looks like old man Mendelssohn's
well-known tune for us if this Christ
mas spirit keeps up until the new
year arrives," prophesied tha young
man yesterday as ha delivered Christ
mas messages and accepted Christmas
offerings with speed and smiles.
George Kingsbury, manager of
Three Wise Fools," which shewed at
the Heilig for three nights last week,
made Christmas eve a lot brighter for
the maids and ether woman on the
Portland hotel staff by having them
as his guests at tha Christmas eve
performance. He told Manager Childs
that Portland had given him tha moat
Pleasant Christmas he had enjoyed In
years and he wanted to round out his
pleasure by providing it for ethers.
He and Mr. Childs made up a list of
hotel employes who witnessed the
performance as Christmas guests .of
the happy manager.
A miniature tidal wave which swept
Bay City Christmas day left enough
drift wood in many front yards to
provide families with fuel for months
to come, says J. O. Bozarth, Bay City
real estate dealer, who signed his
name on the Oregon register. The
sea waves rolled away up Into the
yard of the Elmore hotel and a flock
of chickens were struggling around
in the dampness before they were
rescued, he says. It was one of the
highest tides which aver swept that
section, as the spray dashed complete
ly over the seal rocks.
Tern Nolan, who sports a new "lid"
every time he leaves his Corvallls de
partment store and comes to Portland,
is again in the city and stopping at
the Portland. And, as jer usual, ha
has a new creation In the way of
hats. He was one of those who en.
joyed the antics of street urchin
about the lobby Christmas tree Satur
day afternoon.
Some of the choicest Christmas ap-,
pies in Portland and elsewhere came
from the famed Rooi River valley and
some of them eame from the orchard
of A. W. Stone, well-known grower
of the well-known apples. Mr. Stone
spent Christmas in Portland and was
registered at the .Portland.
Kenneth Bartlett, one of the stellar
football players at the University of
Oregon during recent years, was at
the Imperial over the Christmas holi
days. Mr, partlett la now in business
at Seattle and registered from the
sound metropolis.
A. C. Mttehell, a well-known resi
dent of Salem, is visiting in the city
over the Christmas holidays. He is
accompanied by Mrs. Mitchell. They
are at the Multnomah.
E. P. Allen, traveling auditor of tha
Mutual Life Insuranee company of
New York, is among those registered
at the Portland over the Christmas
holidays. His home is at New York
city. '
I. B. Bekman, well-known merchant
of Albany, 1b here to replenish a stock
which Christmas shoppers depleted.
He is stopping at the Oregon.
Mrs. H. M. Morse of McMinnvllle Is
visitinr Portland friends and is reg-
I istered at the Multnomah.
SCHOOL BEAD MISUNDERSTOOD
Ellmlaatioa ef Ferelca Laaraeges
for Elementary Schools Only.
OREGON AGRICULTURAL COL
LEGE. Or., Dec. $. (To the Editor.)
In Tbe Oregonian recently I note a
statement In a story from Salem that
the "elimination of all language In
the public schools and colleges of
Oregon other than English" had been
advocated by me in an address at the
annual banquet of tha Six o'Clock
club of the First Methodist church
of that city. Tha statement just
quoted does not at all represent my
views upon this question. Jn the ad
dress referred to I devoted a few min
utes in closing to a discussion of the
relation of education to cltlienshlp.
and emphasised the fact that, as dis
closed in the war and Indicated in the
1920 census, the United 'States had
not, been as successful as we were
wont to believe in the assimilation of
Immigrants, notwithstanding the
great growth of the free public
schools. I had in mind the report
that of more than four million men
In the service from the United States
during the recent war, 25 per cent or
about on million, were illiterate.
I -emphasized the importance, In
training for citizenship and in pro
moting the general welfare of th
country- of providing ample oppor
tunlty for Immigrants to learn the
English language and to become fa
miliar with the government and In
stltutions of this country; that for
eignera coming to the United States
should not only have an opportunity
but should be required, to learn the
English language. It was in this con
nection that, having In mind reports
that in some sections of the country
Inhabited by foreigners, a foreign and
not 'the English language had been
used In the elementary public schools,
I emphasized the importance of hav
ing all such schools conducted in the
EnrlUh language.
Fim the above it will be observed
that In my discussion of this question
I had -in mind the elementary public
schools only, and urged as I believe
al! thinking people will agree, that
alt such schools should be conducted
in tha English language.
In this particular statement I made
no reference to Institutions of higher
learning, in which, of course, pro
vision should be made for the study
of foreign languages. Aildo from
other considerations, tty is necessary
in the development of our trade re
lations that many of our people be
come familiar with the languages of
other countries. This Is true par
ticularly of French and Spanish, and.
to a greater or less extent, also of
other languages. W. J. KERR.
JAPANESE niti FITS ARE DE.MED.
Iaelusia ( Korean la Popalatiaa
Resented by Native
NEWBERG. Or., Dec. 26 (To the
Editor.) Permit roe te say a few
words In regard to tha Japanese
population, reported in The Oregonian
a few day ago.
Tbe 1820 census of Japan shows
77,000,000 people. Including her con
quered possession of Corea. Japan
takes a real prid in announcing to
the world that the Corean people are
subjects ef Japan, hence they art
considered aa Japanese population.
The writer, being a Corean, cannot
but feel It as an insult to the Corean
people and wishes to tell the reading
publio that the people of Corea do
not wish to be counted aa Japanese
subjects, as Corea has formed a gov
ernment of her own choice, based on
principles of democracy, and has de
cided not to submit to the Japanese
authority. This voice !s unanimous.
Of course, the republio of Corea has
not been officially recognized by the
leading powers of the world but It Is
the official organ through which the
Corean people are working for world
recognition, Japan knows- that she
has fai!d In the administration of
Corea, yet she is trying to subjugate
a people who ere loyally united for
self determination. The independent
of Corea is inevitable It is only a
Question of time. Sooner or later the
people of Corea will -reallee "their
dream of national rreeaom.
: Again, the writer wishes to decry
the terms "Insurgents" and "bandits,
applied to the Corean patriots in the
northern-part of Core where flght
tpg is going on between the Coreans
and the Japanese. They are the
term which the Japanese manuiac
tured to create a bad impression of
Coreans In the eyes of the world but
the truth is mat tney are me patri
otic "Minute-men" or tne Korean
revolution, a sacred strua-gle in wnfn
there are involved the very life and
existence of an oppresses people.
C. p. rjL.
CHINA RELIEF PLABf TFPRED
ACeeptnece of Bond fer Grain Pro.
nosed to Save Starving Million.
BROCK WAT, Or., Dee. J4e-(To th
Editor.) The great drive pow being
made te raise money to feed th
starving cnuaren or central Europe
while a most wormy movement.
causes us to wonder why the atten
tlon of our philanthropists should be
directed almost wholly toward eu
rone, whlah the conditions in China,
as the result or two severe aruuins,
era even worse than In Europe, end
where it is said some 20.ouo.ouo win
perish is food is set received this
winter.
Whv could not some arrangement
be mad between the governments of
America and China by Which our gov-
rnnient would accept Chinese bands
in exchange for American grain to be
used for food ana eea tor tne oom
ing season. This would not only sav
millions of lives In China, but wound
raliev th congestion in American
grain markets, thus benefiting our
farmers as well.
It seems no valid objection could
be urged against such an arrange
ment and if a precedent were neces
sary it may be found in ur selling to
the entente nations auring in we
supplies to the value of nearly $9,000,
000,000 on mucn tne same plan an.
with no better security.
With our granaries overflowing
and when whole provinces are th
eped with depopulation by famine in
that unfortunate land, it certainly
seems something should be don and
done quickly. Is not the plan prac
ticable and is not the duty of Amer
ica plain? CLARKE) COULTER.
Human Mint Reported.
SALEM, Or., Dec. 25. (To the Edi
tor.) I eee by The Oregonian that
an Idaho man coughed ' up a lixard
from his stomach.
From the akaptlcal way you com
ment on this fact I hardly expeet yoq
to believe this true aoeount ef a sim
ilar elrcumatanoa. A man accident
ally swallowed a t-cent pieoe. He im
mediately went te a doctor, whq made
him cough up $5.
. 1 had this man pointed eut te me,
and as far as I could e he was no
differently constructed from tha rest
of us.
Maybe you are a bit hasty In draw
ing conclusions.
V. F. NEIDERHISER.
Bonus Lew for Soldiers.
GRESHAM. Or., Deo. (Te the
Editor.) JDos th state ef Pennsyl
vania pay a bonus to ex-asrvlce men
enlisting In that atats, ana u o now
much? Is It cash?
A READER.
Adjutant-General Whit, who baa
compiled a list of bonus law, ha no
record of one adopted by Pennsyl
vania, . ..
It!
More Truth Than Poetry.
Br James J. Heatirts,
PRE-DIGKSTr.lt LITERATI RB.
Although, like every llterateur,
I'm deeply interested
In classic lore, I much prefer
To take It pre-d I Rested.
I'd rather not partake of pie
When I can get a tartlet.
And that explains the reason why
I'm strong for Mr. Bartlett.
A thousand author he ha read
Who wrote through all th age.
And put tha tippy things they said
In fourteen hundred pane.
No weary hour you'd need devote,
If you but only knew It.
In memorizing stuff to quota.
You'd just let Bartlett do It.
I don't know how ha found the time.
And yet hi book disclose t
That h haa read all prose an'd rhyme
From Kipling bark to Moses.
And. culling tuff that had the punch
io nit the puhllo favor.
He spread a literary lunch
Chock-full of pep and savor.
If In these labored lays ef mine
A phrase seem rather happr.
Or If your eye should meet a lin
Particularly snnppy.
Tou will not register concern.
Or wonder a you spot m,
If you read Bartlett. you will lean
Just how and wher I got 'm.
Tan Happen.
We are glad Ohregon has starteil
many reforms, and we trust that Uncle
Sam doesn't have to go down end
finish sny of them.
s
Aak Mr. Ce He Kilsn.
A scientist assert that weher
conditions affect politic. 11 probably
noticed the November froi-t.
X Wonder.
The Germans ure still paying sal
aries to the ilohentollern. but they
aren't pinning any nior meuala on
them.
(Copyrisljt. 1J0, r Th Moll pnnlral,
Inr
John Burroughs' Nature
Notes.
Can you answer these aueatinnaT
1. Do birds of different specie flock
together In winter?
2. Do animal ever eat dirt in win
ter? 3. Does a man' house reflect hi
character?
Answers In tomorrow's nature
notes.
Answer to previous question!:
1. How does winter bring ua In
closer touch with wild nlmal?
Under the pressure of the cold, all
the wild creatures, become, outlaws,
and roam abroad beyond their urunl
haunts. In fact, winter like inn
great calainil. changes th status of
most creatures and set them adrift.
Winter, like poverty, make us ie.
quainted with al range bedfellow.
2. Are new net ever built on top
of the last year' nest?
A farmer took m out under hi
porch one April day, and showed m
a phoelietilrd a nrst six stories hih.
Tha same bird had n doubt relumed
year after year; and aa there was
room for only one nest upon her
favorite shelf, phe had each season
reared a new super-structure upua
the old a a foundation.
S. I farm life aa picturesque as
formerly?
It is unquestionably true that farm
life nd farm scene In this country
are less picturesque than they wer
60 or 100 yeara aco. Ths la owing
partly to tha advent of machinery,
winch enable th farmer to do re
much of his work by proxy, and hence
remove turn rartner from tn unit.
(Right reserved by Houghton
Mifflin Co.)
In Other Days.
Twenty-five Year Aao,
Prom Th Oreroaian of Pewnber IT, 1M.V
A very large and highly Interested
audience was present at the armory
last night to mitnc th quarterly
review and Inspection of til Firt
regiment O. K. U.
The council committee on wave and
mean compute the total tax levy
for next year a about 25 mill.
Lust year it wa 27 1 mills.
rrsldent Roosnvrlt, of th New
York police board, damonatrated en a
recent hunday h had nK relaaad hi
determination to uphold th etclre
law to their letter. Many salesmen
were taken In custody for plying
their trade on tbe Sabbath.
Th Seattle chamber of c cm me re e
has prepared a memorial to eoagreea
setting forth tha need of fortifica
tions oa the sound.
Fifty Tear if,
rrora Tha Oresenlaa of rm ST, lwnt.
The New party In Now Hampshire,
which has bern kept alive wllh great
difficulty by a fw disaffected demo
crats, le dead at last.
Potatoes are very sctrr In Peor
ia county t f 1 SO par bushsl. I
there any exrus for tills un thrift end
Improvldenoc?
Mrs. Mary Curtis I, le a letter
to one of the member ef the Le
Memorial committee, statM that her
late husbands nam was Robert to
ward.
Notwithstanding that the skating
Is very sick at Couch's lake, a lot of
persistent people were still eplnnlng
una yterdy.
iOT LAST. Of KXPRESS It IPF.H
jt p i' r, a i
v;le2-4rles
5RSi-v
Writer VWeaH,nd..n af Living
Member Kasnons rioaeer Cirwnp.
PORTLAND, Do. It. (To Editor )
In an editorial under th heading
Last of tha Tony Express Riders.
The Oregonian speak of a Mr. Uo or
itur as probably the last of that one
famous group of Intrepid pioneer ef
the western country, This is a mis
take. I am honored with th friendship r
one of America's noblemen: s gentle
man of the olden Ivpe, living in re
tirement in Alameda, Cal., Mr. Will-.
lam Pridhem. Te meet this rasa of
gentleat nature end a courtesy ofl
manner seldom round in tn matter-'
oNfact business world, and listen to
tbe tale of frontier life ae he x
perlenced it In his work a pony ex
pressman, and later In the employ
of the Wells-Fargo company, ie a
pleasure not te be forgotien.
Certainly, no one meeting .-vir. rrin-
ham could suspect that ona of hie
gentle nature could ever hav been
engaged in ma naxarunu worn tn
the pny express, but Mr. Prldham
is an illustration of the fact that tho
very experience which In a 1
noble mind tena io orutaua niinu
and heart, may serve to awaken and
foster that love lor ni fallow whic.n
characterised tn in ana prac
tice ef this member ef the Wells-
Kargo company. -
No doubt h eould and would f nr
ninh olenty of Interesting matter for
the readara of The Oreeronlan on one
at th molt wonaerrui ana nero'O
episodes in th rich history of herore
Of empire-building en this continent.
J'