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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1922)
THE MORNING OREGONIAX, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1923 ESTABLISHED BY HENRY I. PITTOCK. Published by The Oregonian Publishing Co. i& Sixth Street, Portland, Oregon. C A. 1IORDEN, E. B. PIPER, Manager. , Editor. The Oregonian Is a member of ths Asso ciated Press. The Associated Press is ex clusively entitled to the use for publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights ot publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Subscription Kates Invariably in Advance. (By Mail.) Bally, Sunday Included, one year tS.OO Dally, Sunday Included, six months... 4.25 Daity. Sunday included, three months. 2.25 J'aily, Sunday included, one month ... .75 Dally, without Sunday, one year 6.00 Daily, wltfiout Sunday, six months.... 3.25 Daily, without Sunday, one month 60 Sunday, one year 2.60 (By Carrier.) 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President Gompers of the Ameri can federation of labor attacks the joint commission of agricultural in quiry on th ground that it was "controlled absolutely" by railroads, banks, trusts and anti-trade union employers; that its objective was to "drive farmers and wage-earners Into hostile camps" and that it "hoped to create suspicion and hos tility" between those elements. What has the commission done to merit this indictment? The commission described the de pressed condition o agriculture, the prosperity of which is necessary to tuat of all other industries, in which the wage-earners to whom Mr. Gompers refers are engaged. It s'lowed from the scientific studies oC the bureau of economic research that in 1920 the purchasing power of the farmer's dollar was only 89 cents, that in May, 1921, it had fal len to 77 cents, and that "during the past twelve months it (the farmer's dollar) has been worth less than in any preceding; twelve months in thirty years." After allowing 5 per cent return on the value of his in vestment, "the average reward per farmer" for labor, risk and manage ment in 1909 was $326, in 1918 $826, in 1920 $219. Measured in the same manner, the average reward of the employe in the mining industry in 1909 was $618, in 1918 $808; of the railroad man $682 and $882 respec tively. The commission says: Measured by the standard of purchas ing power of his products, by the absolute jric of farm products as compared with t'lie prices of otii&r coanmodfrtles, by the teat of quantity 0-utput or the test of in come e-nd rewards Cor capital invested and labor employed, agriculture in 1920 and thus far in 1821 is relatively worse off than other industries. The cause of this condition was that the value of farm products had fallen farther since the general de cline began than had other commo dities. Taking the wholesale prices of 1913 as 100, in July, 1921, farm products Stood at 115, food at 134, clothing at 179, fuel and lighting at 184, metals and their products at 125, lumber and building materials at 200, house furnishings at 235 and all commodities combined at 148. The farmer had taken more than his ehare of deflation. This means a reduction in the wages of the farmer's labor, for in 3 919 the percentage of the value ot liis product which he paid to em ployes was only 9.8, which shows that he provided over nine-tenths of that value with his own labor and capital, while the percentage for all Industries in 1918 was 53.9, running as high as 78.1 in manufactures and 78.2 on railroads. The fall in prices reduced the. farmer's wages more than those of men in other indus tries. That the plight of the farmers and the general depression of industry are in large measure due to the fact that other industries have not re duced prices in the same proportion and maintain standards far above the combined wholesale price of all commodities is proved by figures quoted by Secretary of Commerce Hoover in his statement to the in terstate commerce commission on railroad rates. With the prices of 1913 as 100, crops at the farm stand at 98 and all animals at the farm at p2, but retail foodstuffs at 150. Wool at the farm is at 101, but retail clothing is at 213. There is a cer tain relation between these figures and the facts that farm labor is at 135, while wages in the textile indus tries are at 210. Pig iron is at 128, 6teel billets at 113, while wages in the steel industries are at 150. Though Douglas fir at the mill is at 125 and yellow pine at 189, retail lumber is at 200 and wages in the building trades at 190. Bituminous coal at the mine is at 160, but at re tail from 198 to 220 and coal mining scales are at 173. . To the "Inequality in prices and wages between different groups of commodities; the great increase in spread between producers' and con sumers' goods; and the lag in wage scales" that those figures reveal, Mr. Hoover ascribes the depression. The deflated industries agriculture, metals and wood comprise half the population, and they are able to buy less than 70 per cent of their pre war consumption. He believes that since 1913 there has been an in crease of 100 in the spread between producers' and consumers' prices, and he says: It la rlght here where the most of our economic difficulties lie today. This spread is caused by "a vast complex of increased taxation, in creased wages, rents and a dozen items, all reacting upon each other and also expressing themselves in Increased cost of operating the rail ways." This is his remedy: An attack upon the causes of the spread and thereby to bring consumers goods down to the producers' buying power. - It 1 a certainty that in order to decrease the spread, railway rates must come down, and for rates to come down coets of rail way operation in wagee and prices of sup plies must be reduced. We cannot and should no expect wages to come back to pre-war levels. Many of our wage scales were too low in pre-war times. They can follow down step by step wUti the cost of living. When Mr. Gompers sets himself against the remedy that Mr. Hoover recommends, he does c poor service to the workmen for whom he speaks. Full employment is not possible for them until the farmers' market for their products is restored. If the farmers should adopt their (the union) panacea and go on strike,' they would soon feel the effect in higher food prices. Workmen would then realize the fallacy of measuring wages by the number of dollars re ceived rather than by the purchas ing power of the dollars. Unemployment Is one most serious result of the process of economic re adjustment. It can be cured only if all, workmen Included, do their part in It. Stubborn resistance in the be lief, inspired by Mr. Gompers, that some greedy Interests are trying to enslave them, will-only injure work men, Such interests are powerless to force wages down to the standard prevailing before the war, for they would encounter opposition from the general public that would par alyze them. What Is needed is to scale down prices by scaling down costs, and thus to enlarge the market to the point where it will employ the full capacity of industry and the full time of the workmen while sup plying them with goods at lower prices. This would be to make wages "follow down step by step with the cost of living." This should involve no hostility between farmers and workmen. Any such feeling is due to resistance by Mr. Gompers' organization to the same economic forces to which the farmers were forced to submit. COSTLY RESPONSIVENESS. "The great benefit of the direct primary," observes the Pendleton East Oregonian, "is that it makes public officials responsive, not to the political bosses, but to the people." It is the old familiar argument; it is not true In the sense that public of ficials are thus made to consider and promote always the best interests of the people. It has not kept poli ticians out of office; It has put poli ticians in office, every one operating on his own account. The cost of government in Ore gon has increased during the past twenty years five times, and in some instances ten times. Is it mere co incidence that this heavy increase has been coincident with the estab lishment and operation of the new political system? Or is it not? Undoubtedly there were abuses- gross abuses in former days undef the "boss" system. It is largely bun combe, however, that it was a boss system, and nothing else. Taxes were low. That was before the days when there was so much vote-catching talk about "service" to the pub lic, with no effective talk at all about its cost. Now that the taxpayer Is finding it hard to pay he is beginning to look for ways of relief. There will be precious little relief so long as the public places its affairs in the hands of an officialdom that is "responsive to the public," when its method of responsiveness is to please this or that particular group or interest, de manding something for itself, so that in the end everybody gets what he wants. The accumulated result Is staggering. Now, of course, nobody wants a boss." But the great need of the time is public officials who will be responsive to considerations of the general public welfare, and not to considerations of votes. FLAPPERS PAST AND PRESENT. In the fabled country of Laputa the distinguished citizen was at tended by a flapper whose duty it was gently to jog the attention of his master lest in his preoccupation the aforesaid master would walk over a precipice or crack his head against a post. ' The modern flapper In this realis tic world performs a somewhat sim ilar service, except that one's atten tion is likely to be so jogged by the manners and appearance of the flapper that he walks over a preci pice or butts his head against a post. In the unromantic dictionary a flapper is also defined as a young bird just trying its wings. In Eng land a flapper used to be a young girl who wore ber hair in braids that flapped when she was in a hurry. Cosmo ' Hamilton, an authority on the subject, says that a flapper, fig uratively speaking, is a high-powered engine in a flivver body. But it does not wholly depend upon one's understanding of the term whether one agrees with Miss Eleanor Adams, professor of Oxford college, in the statement that the mothers of today were the flappers of yesterday. Miss Adams, one may infer, in clines to the Gulliver definition. The forte and purpose of the flapper is to jog attention. In that sense short skirts and bobbed hair and flopping goloshes are no worse, as she re marks, than the balloon sleeves, the hair rats, the merry widow hats Fand the Boston dip waists that the mothers of today affected in their youth. Nor any worse, it may be added, tha.n the bustles and hoop skirts and the wasp waists that the grandmothers of today affected when the grandmothers were young. For ourselves, we had not thought that the flapper needed much de fense aa regards the length of her skirt or the way she wears her hair. It has been noted that the severest critics of woman's clothes are long haired men. Women usually are satisfied with current styles. Vir tually the same men who today con demn the short skirt condemned the street-sweeping, germ-laden skirt of yesteryear. The question that inter ests most is what daring custom mother followed, when a flapper, that corresponds to plucking eye brows, wearing one-piece bathing ; suits, smoking cigarettes and danc ing cheek to cheek. Mother, if she danced at all, waltzed, of course. She was perhaps carried away by the devastating in fluence of the roller skating rink. Her skirt, unless she was unusually demure, was almost immodest in those days when she mounted her bicycle, and the bicycle, as most of us recall, was then recognized as a device that bred an unholy spirit of independence among our youth. If extremely venturesome and indiffer ent to gossip, mother sometimes at tended a theater where the women performers actually wore tights. Grandma lived in the day when the improprieties of the waltz were being forced upon the attention ot the people. The quadrille and the minuet, the hay ride and the bob sleigh party were diverting the thoughts of young folk from the serious and finer things of life. It was proper to show the ears, but it was almost indecorous to mount a stile lest some poet might glimpse her ankles and write a sonnet to them. It strikes us that there is one brand of morals that is pretty much a matter of convention. The flapper of today introduced into the society of mother's youtU would have been blackballed for that which she gen erally is not; whereas mother's customs and diversions, had they been brought to isolated notice in grandmother's time, would have brought blushes to the cheek of modest persons. A prime distinction that we Ob serve between this fashion era and the preceding ones Is that nowadays a leg is a leg, whereas it was once a limb. We are a little franker, but are we less moral in the true sense of the word? OLD HEADS AND YOUNG HEARTS. "Uncle Joe" Cannon tells his con stituents, in a letter announcing his approachig retirement from public life, that "the time has come for, old heads to give way to young hearts, alert and active minds and vigorous bodies." The former speaker, who will be 86 next May, has in mind no doubt the increasing responsibilities that fall upon public men as the na tion also grows older. Yet it may be that the tendency of the people to prefer older men nowadays, by com parison with an earlier period in our history, is due to other causes than mere distrust of youth. Nevertheless it is true that there are relatively fewer young men in high public service now than there were in the early days of the repub lic. Thoma9 Jefferson, it will be re called, wrote the immortal Declara tion of Independence when he was only S3. Patrick Henry was but 29 when he said: "If this be treason, make the most of It." Albert Galla tin, who did not come to America until he was 19, was a United States senator at 33. Andrew Jackson was barely 80 when he entered the sen ate. Henry Clay also reached the senate at 30. Calhoun was secretary of state at 85. Returning to Jeffer son, we are reminded that he was the oldest member of Washington's cabinet at 46, when his associates were Hamilton, who was 32, Knox, who was 39, and Randolph, 36. It was a remarkable cabinet, in other respects than the comparative youth of the ministers. It is often said that the present is the day of young men. This is prob ably truer of business than of poli tics. Theodore Roosevelt, who was 42 on his accession to the presi dency, was an exception in a long line of more recent public men. But it will be remembered that more than a century ago the steps by which men rose to public eminence were fewer and the way less tortu ous. Competition, too, among those who elected public life as a career was less keen. The problems of each period make about equal de mands upon maturity of judgment, but the process of winning ' recog nition in a nation of upwards of a hundred million people is more com plicated than the old one. States men are older than they used to be partly because it takes longer to find them out. KEYNES' PLEA FOR ECONOMY. Having strengthened German op position to reparation by his hostile dissection of the peace terms In Economic Consequences of the Peace," John Maynard Keynes, the pro-German Englishman, has writ ten a sequel entitled, "A Revision of the Treaty," In which he calls the allies to account for their entire course of action in regard to repara tion and tells them what they ought to do in the way of revision cf course very much to the advantage of Germany. He begins with the content-on that the reparation clauses of the Versailles treaty violated the con ditions laid down by the United States and the allies as a basis for the armistice, especially in requir ing Germany to repay the allies for soldiers' pensions and allowances. He ascribes two-thirds of the sum demanded in the London ultimatum of March, 1920, to this cause, and he argues that Germany can pay the other third, and that it would be better for the allies' own interest to abandon the attempt to extort more. He traces the high sum demanded to Lloyd George's election promise to matte uemiiiiiy pay tne wjioie i-um of the war and to the French peo pie's false hope that Gernfany would be made to pay in full. He cites against the French widely divergent estimates by their statesmen of the amount of damage done and he un dertakes to .prove that their figures are grossly padded. He tells the story of all the conferences that have been held in the last two years, and his explanation may be summed up in the statement that the allied premiers realized that they could not make Germany pay In full but feared ,to undeceive their people after having raised their expectation high. In his discussion of Germany's ability to pay Mr. Keynes slurs over that country's neglect to make an honest effort to comply with the terms. He tests this ability by the possible balance of exports, by tax reVenue as revealed - by German budgets and by the national Income, but bases his conclusions on esti mates and pays no attention to the notorious fact that German taxation has not been equal per capita to that of the allies, as the treaty requires. In calculating the ratio to national Income of taxes sufficient to pay government expenses apd a mini mum of 70 milliard paper marks a year for reparation, he averages 20 paper marks as equal to one gold mark, though the ratio is now 46 to 1. Then he takes a number of vary ing estimates of the per capita in come of the German people in the middle of 1921 and bases on them his, own estimate that "say 6000 marks (paper) is about as near the truth as we shall get." He calcu lates that taxation for government expenses' plus reparation would take 2170 marks, or 43 per cent, leaving about $35 a year for each German to live on, and he triumphantly asks: Would the -whips and scorpions of any government recorded in history have been efficient to extract nearly half their In come from a people so situated? He ends his discussion, in which all his gibes and satire are expended on the allied statesmen, the bitterest on those of France, those of Ger many being treated most tenderly, by proposing that the allies abandon their claim for pensions and allow ances, reducing the amount to 36 milliard gold marks, "which is probably within Germany's theoreti cal capacity to pay." But he does not think this um "ls practically obtainable over a period of thirty years." He continues: I recommend, therefore, that as a sep arate arrangement from the revision of the treaty, the British empire should waive the whole of their claims, with the ex ception of one milliard gold marks reserved for a special purpose explained below, and should undertake to square the claims of Italy Jind the minor claimants by cancel lation Of debt owing from them: thus leav laX Germany It pay ljfhtea milliards U France and three milliards to Belgium (on the assumption that the United States also would forego the trifle due to her). This Bum should be discharged by an an nual payment of 6 per cent of the sum due (being 6 per cent interest and 1 per cent sinking fund) over a period ot thirty years. - , - He proposes also that the allies withdraw their troops from Ger many and waive "all rights of in vasion except by leave of a major ity vote of the league of nations," and that "in return the British em pire and the United States should guarantee to France and Belgium all reasonable assistance short of war- a., a it.. , v,ii their reduced claims; whilst Ger- many should guarantee the com plete demilitarization of her terri tory west of the Rhine." To set against Mr. Keynes' theor ies' and estimates we have the un deniable facts that German taxation since the armistice has been far less per capita than that of the allies; that German revenue has been squandered on a swollen civil ser vice, on subsidies to exporters and shipbuilders and on maintenance of an army far beyond the treaty limit; that the fall of the mark is due to this extravagance; that German capitalists have made fortunes on money much of which would have been paid to the government in taxes if they had been taxed as those of the allies have been taxed; that bil lions of these fortunes have fled abroad to escape possible future tax ation. Germany did not begin to pay anything material on account of reparations, except in kind, until the allies threatened to occupy more ter ritory. Last November the German government Informed the reparation commission that it would be unable to pay the Installments due on Jan uary 15 and February 15, 1922. The commission went to Berlin, exam ined the state of German finances and reported to the allies that Ger many would be able to make pay ments In full. Nevertheless at the Cannes conference the allies agreed on smaller annual payments than were required by the London ulti matum, thus proving that they have egard for Germany's ability to pay. Far safer than Mr. Keynes biased conomic studies and estimates based on other men's estimates as basis of judgment as to what Ger many can pay, would be an honest effort on the part of Germany to pay to .the limit of its ability. If then it should prove , that the allies' de mands exceed Germany's capacity, there would be good cause to revise the annual payments, perhaps even the total sum, downward. If public opinion drives the allied premiers to insist on impossible demands, we may find the ground for that public opinion in Germany's financial rate's progress. In order that the allies may abate their demands, public opinion must change. If the allied nations should see Germany man fully struggling to cut government expenses, to increase revenue and to swell the volume of production by industry and foreign trade in order to meet the reparation debt and if then the payments should fall short or should imperil the economic life of the nation, the allied peoples would dictate leniency. Such indul gence cannot be expected by a guilty debtor nation that squanders or hides its assets. The most hopeful sign of Europe's economic recovery is the new taxation and the forced loan that Chancellor Wlrth proposed and that the relch stag adopted. It indicates that the German people begin to realize that the period of evasion is past and that they can gain indulgence only by honestly applying themselves to the work of paying for the wrong they did. Writings like those of Mr. Keynes have a pernicious effect, for they encourage the "German people to believe that they can win clem ency without earning it. Grandpa John and Father Mc Cormick could give Mathilde some thing almost, as royal as the affair in London by "loosening up" and the magnate could make the hostler a Unip-ht nf thA nrdn nf emunllna tn improve hs business. Every climber jn America would eood monev for a seat. ' It's about all the royalty we can have, unless Mr. Ford but he is impossible. Harvard university has perfected a method which will measure the J exact distance of all the stars from the earth. After the learned profes sors finish that job they might find out how far Harvard unlvirsity is from the earth. A burled city dating back to 2000 B. C has just been discovered in Palestine. .Wouldn't surprise us if further investigation discloses that the .citizens shoveled it under when their tax rate became unbearable. We take all this talk about whole sale drownings in Russia with due caution. Even if true it probably in dicates nothing worse than that Lenin Is making a scientific study ot the submerged one-tenth. Those ' who may think a raHwaJ company never gets "soaked" will be surprised to learn a step was missing on a freight car in La Grande and the company pleaded guilty and paid $100. Sixteen clergymen will be on hand to assist the archbishop of Canter bury at!, the royal wedding today. Most fellows who stood tip before one will chuckle at their luck. ' The American Federation of Labor is not adding to i its good standing by favoring repeal of the Volstead law. The bulk of labor pre fers to keep sober. ; All who mourn are not bereft of loved ones. For example:. Those who owned the 1080 quarts captured on a truck down the river the other night. Edwards will run for senator on a "wet" platform, it is said. A "wet" platform in New Jersey is just a bucket of slop to the rabble.' The man who marries the princess today will be at the altar on time. One naturally would not take a chance on that. Probably Lloyds will handle a bet that the next princess royal will marry an American. There is a reason when an auto mobillst bumps into a train standing on a crossing.- Give Mary lots of credit for not taking up with anything royal on tie ggutineut, , , . PRESS ON TELEPHONE DECISION I Several Papers Condemn Commission j One Supports It. 1 Astorian. . I The people of the commonwealth of Oregon regret the impertinence of uieir conauci in annoying tne puoiic service commission in the matter of telephone rates In the state. Through ignorance the view had been gained that no impropriety on the part of the people would be involved if the suggestion was made to the commis sion that the toll paid for using talk ing equipment, installed on the high ways and byways and streets and falleys of the state, by sanction of the reopla and under control of the peo. pie, was an excessive and an undue burden, the suggestion also being that tacts would disclose that a lower toll would assure adequate returns to the corporations enjoying the public grant and privilege. It seems now all these impressions entertained by the people constituted gross error and in fact offered gross insult to the indi viduals comprising the commission the throne men. Humbly therefore pardon is asked by the people. "The Public Be Damned." Albany Democrat. With' a laugh and a giggle and a slap in the face, the public service commission In' effect utters that old slogan of politicians, "the public be damned," in its order filed Tuesday reaffirming its original order of February 28, 1921, granting increases of telephone rates ranging from 30 to 200 per cent. With utter disdain the commission, composed of Fred A Williams. Fred G. Buchtel and H. H. Corey, derides the efforts of thou sands of petitioners from all over the state who sought last summer to se cure a modification of the order. The cities of Portland, Albany and other towns, the Oregon Hotel asso ciation, farmers' organizations and private citizens were represented among the petitioners. What do the people who signed these petitions and wasted valuable time In attending meetings all over the state think of this sort of ef frontery? What are tfiey going to do about it? There was strong talk of recall last year. ' Now it seems that this is the only course to pursue. There will be more of this later. Commission Believed Right. Corvallls Gazette-Times. We wish new evidence could have been found. Telephone rates are higher than we care to pay. They seem higher than they ought to be, but a careful investigation of all the evidence at the time the rate decision was made convinced us that the com mission was right and was acting on it best judgment with all the facts it had been able to obtain. We had hoped the rehearing might develop some figures that the commission had not taken into consideration, but the utter fizzle of the petitioners to show anything that could even be consid ered by a court of record was scandal ously noticeable, and the utter paucity or the arguments offered by the pe titioners was little short of disgust ing. If ever "politics" wae written large over a quasi-judicial proceeding, it was written over this telephone re hearing.'. Ought to Have More for Money. Oregon City Enterprise. The incident, as far as the commis sion is immediately concerned, is end ed. But the company's obligations to the public are not lightened. The con sumers are entitled to something defi nite in return for the increased charges which they have to meet There has been more or less general dissatisfaction over the state regard ing the character of the service given by the telephone company. Admitted ly the service has not been as good as it should be, and if the public is to be called upon to meet the additional charge as a definite cost rather than as a temporary arrangement, it is en titled to expect the best that the com pany can give. Rebuke Is Outstanding Feature. Grants Pass Courier. A hasty glance through the "opin ion and order on rehearing" indicates that it is a rather remarkable state document. Its outstanding features are open and plainly worded rebukes to the thousands of people who asked that there be a rehearing. .The order for the maintenance of the previous order seems based upon what the com mission terms a poor showing made by the petitioners; yet it would seem that it was up to the commission and not the people to dig deeper if other facts were necessary. Job Ought to Await Them. Woodburn Independent. Telephone rates will not be lower, the public service commission having held that the telephone company earns only a fair return on the investment. There may now be an effort made to recall the members of the public serv ice commission. Even if these men are recalled, they could probably get bet ter positions with a telephone com pany. No Need to Be Mean. Athena Press. In reaffirming its telephone rate de cision the public service commission is at some pains to clinch Its own un popularity. Granting that it feels sure of its ground and has the courage of its convictions, it need not have let fly such a stinging verbal broadside against the complaining ratepayers. A hard answer invites wrath. Facts Are Obvious. Pendleton East Oregonian. -In the telephone rate case the pub lie service commission holds the an pellants did not prove that rates should not be advanced; most people noia mat tne tacts are obvious and further proof unnecessary. . One More Blow Will Fix It.' Mollalla Pioneer. Now that the public service com mission has knocked "service" out of their title what is the matter with the people knocking out "commis sion." We at least would have public left Most Powerful Explosive. DRAIN, Or., Feb. 26. (To the Edi tor.) Will you please state what Is the most powerful explosive known? I had supposed that it was either mitiroglyce-rine or trinitrotoluene, but upon looking the subject up in an encyclopedia, I find that hydrazodc acid is considered one of the most vigorous explosive compounds known. It is quite possible, nowever, that the encyclopedia is out of date and that other compounds have been discov ered! since it was publ-isihed. ANNA S. LEA. T. N. T. is considered the most pow erful explosive used commercially. Chmiet state that It Is difficult to identify the most powerful explosive as recent experiments have developed n-ew ones. Employment on Highway. PORTLAND, Feb. 27. (To the Edi tor.) 1. B says that a man tried and found guilty of white slavery cam pay a fine, instead of going to the peni tentiary? A says not; that he will have to serve his time. Which is right? 2. Where does a man, Mre out to work on. the highway where they axe clearing the ice and enow off.? OLD SUBSCRIBER. L The federal court may impose either a fine or imprisonment for vio lations of the white slav act. 2. The county commissioners, court house, employ the men on the high way. . , . ,. . :' - Those Who Come' and Go. Tales of Folks at the Hotels. A B. Eurghduft, state game warden, has gone to Grants Pass, where he is to speak at a meeting of the Josephine County- Sportsmen's association tonight. The annual meet ing of the Jackson County Game Protective association will be held in the Medford hotel, Medford, tomor row night, and a banquet will be served to 250 persons. Before leav ing Portland Mr. Burghduff said that one of the things to be sought at the Medford meeting is the establish ment of co-operation between the Sportsmen's association and the farmers of Jackson county, with the view or creating more harmonious relations, and- working out, if pos sible, a better system of destruction for predatory animals and the pro tection of game animals and birds. I. N. Fleischner of Portland and Bert Anderson of Medford, both members of the game association, will speak at the Medford meeting. 'Tillamook Head was the south end and North Head was the north end of the mouth of the Columbia river at one -time the river having a mouth 20 miles wide," declares Cap tain Macgenn of the steamer Rose City, who is at the Perkins. "Asto ria and Clatsop plains have been pushed up from beneath. Notice the rocks along the river and you will observe that they have emerged and the lines are as equally divided as though they had been placed by stone masons. The peninsula, and by that 1 mean the east side between the Willamette and Columbia rivers, was once the bed of the Columbia." Aside from being a geologist, the mariner Is a deep-sea poet and few people have traveled with the captain, either on his old run between Coos Bay and Portland, or between th Golden Gate and the Willamette, who have not read or heard epics from hia-pen, "The main thing we have to do in the summer is answer the questions of summer girls," confessed Charles Miller, assistant chief of the New port light at Agate beach, who is on his vacation at the Perkins. It is two years since he has tramped the pavements of the metropolis. "The visitors to the light ask all ques tlons "nder the sun.. and we always give them a satisfactory answer. If they inquire whether the waves come up to the tower in a storm, we admit It, although no wave can get any where near it They even want to know the number of bricks there are in the tower." Mr. Miller says that the automobile has made a change in the beach colony. Formerly people rented a cottage' and remained at the beach all season. Now people come in machines, visit a few days, then pack up and go to another beach, in this way covering half a dozen places in a summer. Sixteen years ago, when F. F. Me- Caffery landed at Powell Butte, there wasn't much of anything in that country except sagebrush and juni per, except at Prineville, while Red mond was a tent city. Mr. McCaffery turned real estate operator and is one of the pioneers in that line. "There is some real estate moving," said Mr. McCaffery at the Imperial, and former service men are buying farms, thanks to the bonus measure. Mr. McCaffery is a stockman as well as a real estater and proudly an nounced that yesterday he "topped the market and whooped 'er up two bits more. There has been more winter this winter in his section than for several years, but it has been dry and the best kind of feeding weather. so that there will be little hay left over by the time the stock is put on the grass. There is at Arlington a wading pool for children which has never had drop of water in it and therefore no wading. A few years ago a number of women, in the Gilliam county town decided that (t would be nice to have a pool where the children could pad dle during the warm weather, which hits that section during the summer. At considerable expense a concrete tank was built and pipes laid, but there the enterprise stopped. No water was ever turned into the con crete basin, and there it stands to day as it did when completed. Some time when water is plentiful in Arl ington the pool may become a reality A E. Blackburn of Arlington is among the Imperial arrivals. When W. W. Smith left Aberdeen, Wash., and came to the Hotel Ore gon, the clam packers were preparing for the annual resumption of opera tions. Canning the meek and silent clam is quite an Industry in Aber deen, and much of the minced clams on the shelves of grocers all over the United States come from the shores nearby. About 1000 clam diggers are engaged in burrowing after the ra zors and this army has already mobi lized. Minced clams are said to have been first experimented with in Clat sop county, near Warrenton, Or. "We've got," said Hanse Kjar pro nounced with the "j" silent "the fin est country in the world for alfalfa. And as for spuds, we won't take back seat for anyone. I'm talking of the Powell Butte country, which is irrigated and successfully so." Mr. Kjar came to Portland yesterday with some livestock. Another stockman of the same district who is in town, Hube Ingstrum, having escorted shipment to the North Portland yards. W. B. Hunter of Lostine is at the Imperial. What the residents of Lost ine want is for the state highway department to complete the link be tween that town and Enterprise. This section was left alone because it was the best part of the road through the county, but the time has come when it needs attention. Something may be done this year, if the commis sion sees its way clear to finance the undertaking. E. J. Garland and J. M. Montgom ery of the Silver Falls Lumber com pany, at Silverton, Or., are at the Ho tel Portland. The company is operat. ing its mill full blast F. A. McMinamln, now an attorney of Heppner, but formerly clerk in one of the circuit court departments in Multnomah county, is in the city and registered at the Imperial. Everett Hughes, who left Portland two years ago to represent the Port land Cattle Loan association at Bur ley, Idaho, is at the Nortonia, spend ing a few days in the city R. R. Gill, of Spokane, secretary of the Columbia Basin irrigation enter prise, is registered at the Benson. He came to Pertland to meet General Goethals. Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Barrett of Al bany. Or., where Mr. Barrett is in the implement business, are at the Hotel Portland for a few days. Jerome J. Day and son, of Moscow, Idaho, are at the Hotel Portland, in which institution Mr. Day is a part owner. - J. P. Welbourn, a stockman of Parma, Idaho, who is here with shipment of livestock, is registered at the Perkins. Herman Allen, one of the commis sioners of Crook county, is in Port land, bringing two carloads of live stock. " - George A. McMorran, proprietor of a department store in Eugene, is reg ister ed at Uia imperiaj. Burroughs Nature Club. Copyright, Houghton-Mifflin Co. CAN YOU ANSWER THESE QUES TIONS 1. How long does'1 it take ostrich feathers to grow to marketable length? 2. Can a sterile fior tree be 'fertil ized? 3. What is the difference between a turtle and a terrapin? Answers in tomorrow's nature notes. Answers to Previous Questions. 1. Are chicken snakes harmful about a farm? As several of the colubers are called "chicken" snake, this is a little hard to answer. Coluber obsoletus, tne lour-banded, yellow, yellow-rat and striped house snake does take a good many chickens and eggs, but it also eats many mice and rats. All the colubers eat warm-blooded prey and frequently do more good than harm by keeping down small rodent pests. !. I saw your Daracraoh about deaf white cats. Is it true that it they have one eye blue and one yel low it is a sign of deafness? We can't Sav Dosltlvelv. hut nur belief is that cats thus marked are often deaf. The blue eye is a defec tive organ, lacking normal pigment, and is a symptom of partial albinism As we said before, the albinism might account for poor powers of hearing. as wen as ror an eye lacking ths normal color which the other eye retained. . - 3. In wlu:t Dart nf th TTnltort States is the peafowl most plentiful? we cannot say. Peafowls nr in troduced species from India, Ceylon, etc., but now thoroughly domesti cated. They are known tn hm. hun domesticated on Judea when King Solomon was living; and early rec ords show them known in Greece and rvome, irom whence they spread to the west of Europe and finally were brought to America. You mlc-hl n well ask where any fowl are most plentiful they are plentiful wherever poultry raisers find it profitable to Keep mem. HOW TO FIGURE PHONE RATES Cost As If Intricate System Were Disentangled Should Be Basis. PORTLAND. Feb 27. (Tn ih v.at. tor.) It reauires no arpiimpnt what ever tO Prove that Multnomah r,r,t and the city cf Portland are wasting tax money at a terrible rate by the duplicated cost of government for the same territory, paid for by practically the same people. We have duplicated tuiiiimssioners, auditors, treasurers, criminal and legal departments, sur veyors. etC. Of course if will rem,!,... a constitutional amendment to sim- piiiy and economize these govern ments. Who is to blame? That ini and unwieldy body of voters yclept me general puoiic. This same general public aroused itself and antuallv VioH tv,,. rn-i,A n attack the telephone system, and reejveu a Knock-out. The writer was a witness and stated nn tv stand that the "parent" company ought to cut off all these subsidiary camouflages, enter the state and do uuaiiieHB unuer us own name, so we would have one place only in which to center all responsibility. The commission opinion admits that the "big one" owns and controls al! the "little ones," but says it has done a power of cood for immunity These companies do not need any constitutional amendment to cut down the immense- rnst nf thoip duplicated presidents, understudies, treasurers, legal departments, books, auditors, purchasers, "scientific workers," etc.. etc. The users pay for all this exactlv the namo n "public-be-damned" pays for dupli- caiea governments here. The differ ence is the people kind of like the latter: they are so used tn it vr since they were cave men. But the lormer makes them sore and they want to do things and somebody. The main nurnose of thiu ,ittr i. to bring out clearly a point the writet urgea tne city attorney to present with great emphasis, but it was no made clear, nor is it dealt with at all by the commission. nils very simple proposition is that if the owners of the telephone sys tem Voluntarily choose tn maintain a string of corporations, and this makes a ainerence oi expense over what a single concern and a single staff could carry on the whole business for. then the commission should con sider it and reduce rates with refer ence to a basis of what they would be under economies existing with a single management, purchasing de partment and responsibility. Had this bold stand been taken by the commission, the companies would find this way of economizing very shortly. We would not have been treated-to an inglorious Bpectacle of the com pany metaphorically applying its thumb to its nose with outstretched fingers, and inviting the city attorney to show them his economy stuff ROBERT C. WRIGHT Tongs Among 'hlnee. GOLDENDALE. Wash., Feb. 26. (To the Editor.) What is a tong? How far-reachlnsr is it? l it fra ternal, or an organization ruled by laws, etc..' we read considerable about the "tong wars," but we have never been able to find anything au thentic on this subject. B. E. CHAPPELL. Chinese tongs are societies of many kinds. Some are composed of the men of a province, much like state societies; others are fraternal. In the early days of Chinese on the Pa cific coast Chinese who were not members of strong families, or clans, organized a tong to protect them selves against the aggressions and impositions of the four families. Later there were many tongs and Chinese tongs are Organized as easily and readily as any fraternal society of white, men. Most are organized for a specific purpose. For instance, the Bow Leong tong was organized in Portland for the rescue of slave girls, being composed of Chinese resi dents who entertained reform Ideas. A few years ago this tong combined with the Bing Kung tong when It re quired greater strength. Tong wars generally start over comparative tri fles. Tongs engaged in these wars are the fraternal ones. A Chinaman can belong to several tongs, just as a white man can be a "jiner." The tongs, like all societies, are governed by by-laws of their own making. The fighting tong,' as existing in America, is unknown in China. Shrine Order Defined. CAMP LEWIS, Wash., Feb. 26. (To the Editor.) Is the Shrine order a branch of the Masonic order, or is it a separate order? F. FREEMAN. The Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Is an organiza tion whose membership is comprised wholly of Masons who have attained to the 32d degree, either through the Scottish Rite or the Knights Templar. Although its membership is restricted to Masons it ia not a Masonic lodge. More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montague. THE LITERARY COMET. Abashed let Indiana shrink Nor longer loudly prate That she can boast mora men of Ink Than any other state. Her triumph is no longer sure. Precarious now her pride; For in the ranks of literature Missouri has her tied! From Joplln, Hannibal, K. C, St. Louis and St. Joe Springs verse both regular and free And words and phrases flow. Mark Twain, Gus Thomas, Fanny Hurst Beheld the dawn of light Somewhere in old Missouri first And so did Harold Wright! Amidst the literary news How often do we see The shining names of Rupert Hughes And Fanny Hislip La? And others still the list is long Resplendent lists of those Who thrill a listening world with song. Scenarios and prose. Let Indiana, haughty jade. Behave more seemly now Before the laurels droop and fade Upon her ageing brow. Let her beware of high blown pride And fatuous conceit. For ole Missouri has her tied And soon will have her beat! Cruel. Film stars were examined secretly in the Hollywood investigation. Not even their press agents were per mitted to accompany them. By Way of Comparison. Life in Russia is almost as uncer tain as an American congressman's attitude toward the bonus bill Frightful Prospect. The dreadful thing about the news that the Ford car is to have a rival l, that nil thP Alii la LI1J vt-i LOItllJ stories will be worked over to fit it. (Copyright by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.) HIGH-GRADE MEN ARE NEEDED Public Service Commissioners Should Be of Class of Supreme Justices. PORTLAND, Feb. 27. (To the Ed itor.) For several years, in season and out of season, I have maintained that the public service commission should be composed of men of the highest integrity and of the most distinguished ability. The duties de volving upon the members are such that none but men of ability and special fitness can be of any benefit to the public whom they serve. No person who has not a thorough knowledge of the law creating th- commission and defining its duties and powers, together with a substan tial understanding of the 'work of similar bodies in other states, is qualified to sit on the board. In addition to these, no man who has not the will and the capacity to separate and analyze large masses of figures and critically to under stand the systems of bookkeepini; used by public utility corporations and to derive therefrom the true condition of their assets and liabili ties, their needs and earning powers, has any right to be on the commis sion. One without Biich qualifications cannot properly serve the public no matter how good his intentions might be. The office is essentially judicial in character and in large part technical in its nature. For judges of the supreme court we select the most eminent and distinguished members of the bar. No one would think of elevating men without experience or ability to such places, and yet in most respects it is just as essential to have high-class men of undoubted probity and unchallenged fitness and capacity on the public service com mission as it is to have men of known and tried fitness on the suprems bench. I am not in favor of abolishing the commission any more than I am in favor of abolishing the courts; but 1 do think that we ought to have big men and qualified men in the one case as we have in the other. There are men in this state who are prop erly qualified to discharge the duties of public service commissioner and render decisions fair alike to the public and just to the public utility corporations who serve the people. If the compensation of the office is not sufficient to warrant hlgh-erade men to seek it then the law should be amended in this repct. The right man at $10,000 a ytar would be cheap in comparison with an incom petent at a dollar a year. C. E. KINDT. THING! I HKAIJ FIRST. I've found just recently in print, A most impressive caper. Entitled "What do you read first" On picking up your paper? And reading most religiously. These interviews progressing:. The intellectual sidelights cast. Where great minds are distressing. The lawyer, doctor, merchant. And the Judpe matured with age. Reach, on 'rising in the morning. For the editorial page. . So I made my inventory. Though my nerves are overwrought, For I feel outclassed and. petty, In this higher plane of thought. For I must confess on 'rising, I am hungry for a glance, Such as, will the hank reopen? Or has Charlie Hall a chance? Has Billy Gatens won again? And who's young Stillman's sire? And has the highway opened up? Or still must Julius Meier? And has Jack Dempsey quit the ring? Did Charles Morse tell the truth? Is six too much for five-cert rides? Will Landis pardon Ruth? In nineteen twenty-five to know Will Portland's light be shining? To ascertain will rolled socks stay? Will bobbed hair be refining? But even though above all this, The first I see, undaunted. What personally means much to me. A column typed "help wanted." So this choice of the lowly mind, I'm willing here to wage. I have never seen appearing On the editorial page. Ar.d so It is with most of folks, Of this editorial college. On these same subjects just disclosed Have most abundant knowledge. E. B. H. Postmaster-General I'nder Wilson. PORTLAND, Feb. 27. (To the Edi tor.) To settle a difference ot opin ion, will you please tell me who was postmaster-general and who was as sistant postmaster-general during Wilson's two terms as president? SUBSCRIBER. Albert .Sidney Burleson was postmaster-general throughout Mr. Wil son's two terms. Daniel C. Ropei was first assistant postmaster-general from March 4, 1913, to August 1. 19i6. He was succeeded by John C. Koons, who served until the Wilson