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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1912)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, APRIL 14, 1913. J - . I, . .. . FISHER SEES NEED OF LARGE CAPITAL Secretary Says Utilization of Waterpovver Involves Mo nopoly Features. PRICE IS BASED ON FUEL Rates Cannot lio Iofr Naturully, and to Reducv Tliem hjr Statute Would Ciive I'nfalr Advan tage to Few Perxn. OREOONIAN NEWS Bt'RKAL. tt'iih Ington. April 13. It 1 evident from the recent report submitted to the President by Herbert Knox mlth. Commissioner of Corporation.", that Mr. t'mlth. U firmly of the opinion that watr pofr kite remaining on the public domain should be retained per manently by the Government, and be made to yield a material revenue. In fart. Mr. Smith clearly expressed the opinion that the only way to regulate water power development In the fu ture In to retain control of the remain ing power sites. This Is the I'lnchot Idea and Is another specific Instance where the radical conservationists hove undertaken to make, the natural re sources heavy contributors to the Fed eral treasury, through the Imposition leases or rental". A perusal of Mr. Smith's report dem er.srrates one thing clearly: he has not an intimate knowledge of water power conditions In the Far West, where most of the Governments power sltea are to be found. This Is evidenced by -his assertion that "the demand for power considerably exceed that which can be economically produced from water In every considerable section of the country." raal rs)ls oted. - It evidently has not occurred to Mr. Smith that the. West, until conservation tied up all known power sites on the public domain, had far more power than li could utilise. The statement I'ist quoted Is certainly at variance with another statement In Mr. Smith's report, namely, that "approximately 41 pr cent of the total eetimated min imum power of the country Is found In California, oreson and Washington. Addlna" to th's the power In Montana. Wyoming and Idaho gtvee 60 per cent of " the total minimum power In these six states." Mr. Smith also quotes an authority as saying that In Oregon. Washington. California. New York and Main there la a total of J4.000.000 horsepower, mostly undeveloped. . Another interesline feature of Mr. Smith's report Is his assertion tlist "the price whl'-h can be chareed for water powr can n!t exceed the price at which fuel power can -be sold." And yet on top of that assertion Mr. Smith would" have the Federal Government retain control of all power sites, to prevent monopoly. The report of Mr. Smith contains a Jtreat deal that will prove, of Interest, and from It the fol lowing extracts are taken: Tin need of water power develop ment la obvious. The non-use of lr power means the dlmlnutt"n of our otiier sources of power. The water power now In use saves at least 53. 000.000 tons of coal annually. Heavy luveataaeta Repaired. "Prompt utilization Is therefore es sential. But It mut be frankly rec oantxed that the most efficient use of water power requires a considerable derre of unified control. Certain highly monopolistic tendencies are In herent In the water power Industry, larsely centering around the expensive fixVd Investment in transmission and attributing lines. "our public policy must recognlxe both the n-ed for utilization and the Jancers of monopolistic control and lakevrf fectlve action on both. It must lo rerosnUe the. close relation and possible conflict between water pow er, navigation and Irrigation. "One Important fact must b empha sized. The point at which such effect ive public policy must be applied Is the power site Itself. The public can not be protected by any attempt to fix by law the selling price of water power by Itself. Nor can any such method secure- for the public Its due share In the natural resource. Fuel power will substantially fix the price of all power, because there Is practically no consid erable area In the Cnlted Statea where water power can supply the. entire de mand for power. of course. water power cannot be sold above, the price of fuel power. On the other hand. If the price of water power be fixed by law below that of fuel power, not all the, community. In most Instances, can be served with the cheaper power, and an unfair discrimination must result. Method ef C ! niaewaaea. "If we take water power by Itself, tiiere Is. broadly speaking, but one ef fective method of control. Insofar a the power sites are still public prop erty. The public can either develop and operate the site, selling the energy at market rates, or the public may lease the sit at a rental fairly repre senting Its natural value. In either rase the public treasury will jet the profit one to that natural value. There may be certain exceptional Instances which would Justify the outright sale, of pub lic power sites. The rental system, nowever. presents distinct advantages foremost of all. that of retaining; In the public banda the ultimate control of the resource. Assured public control Is peculiarly desirable, because, broadly speaktna. water power la inexhaustible and permanent, and therein differs from almost all the other natural re sources, which are expended In their using. "Whatever form of public action Is taken, that action should be Immediate first, to save our fuel by the use of water power, and. second, because, our remaining public water -powers are fast passing Into private control, mak ing regulation thereafter difficult." Mr. Smith summarizes his view on the water power question In the fol lowing Untui;r: "The power now required to oper ate the Industrial enterprises and public-service utilities of the country tex cludlng iiam railroads) probably ex ceeds J0.000.on0 horse-power. Approx imately C.Oou.ooA horse-power are now developed by water. It la certain that several additional mllllona of horse power could be profitably developed from water, thus effecting a atlll fur ther conservation of coal. It la ob vious, therefore, that the early and complete utilization of all commercial ly available water power of the coun try should be encouraged by every proper rorans. aa-lae la Real Waste. "The real waste of water power la Its uon-use. The most efficient utiliza tion of such power, however, tends directly toward concentration of con trol, through advantages derived from couplfitt-up' of sltea and markets, unl fi.tion of storage and relationships wl public-service corporations. The prulle.n, then-lore, la to recou.-lls this J necessity of full and early development of water power with the proper pro tection of the public "It la aelf-evldent that the price which can be charged for water ojwer cannot exceed the price at which fuel nowee on ha aold. On the Other h-l'ld. , experience Indicates that the price of water power will not oe materially than thie fuel-power price. It m.gbl be less If the supply of water power were greater than the market could assume. This, however, rarely happens. Indeed, the Bureau's investigation Indi cated that the demand for power con siderably exceeds that which can be economically produced from the water In every section of the country. There fore trte owner of the water power has no need, except for the purpose of tem porarily effecting an entrance into a market, to reduce the price to a point substantially below the price of fuel power. "L'nder these conditions it would be Impracticable to attempt to force by law the sale of water power, at a price less than that of fuel power, since this would result In favoring those con sumers who obtained water power at this lower price. Tiie benefits of water power would thua merely be transferred from a group of waterpower atock liolders. to a group of water-power buy. er Thus, even under nubile operation. J t.ie. only equitable plan of price regu- j Htlon would be to sell water power at ' substantially the same price as fuel power. Price Rearulallea Impractical. "These conditions clearly demon strate that it Is impracticable to regu late the price of water power as an en tirely separate and distinct thing, re gardless or the price of fuel power. There remains to be considered the problem of obtaining for the public aa a whole. Its proper share of the ad vantages inherent in the naural re source Itself This problem assumes great Interest, because of the fact that t.'icre Is still a large amount or uuuewi. oped water power on the public domain, chiefly in the National forests. A rough estimate of such power places the total at 14.0rt0.000 horsepower; the actual total is probably somewhat less. "If the power is developed by the public and aold at the price of fuel power, the public treasury will receive the prortt arising therefrom. If. on the other hand, private parties develop and operate water powera the public can still, by charging proper rental, secure Its due share of the benefits inherent in the resources. "The important fact which the Bureau desires to emphasize here. Is that the one point which this right of the pub lic can be exercised Is in the resource itself, the power site, and not by any attempt to regulate the price of power. Thus, in the case of private operation of water-power privileges, the Government can . charge a rental for that right commensurate with the natural, advan tages of the power site. Such rental, moreover, can be adjusted from time to lime to Insure the public increaaed com pensation to correspond to any Increase In the value of the power site which may arise from Increased settlement of the country or other causes. In some cases, of course, a lease without rental charge might be desirable for a limited I-ertod. In order to encourage devel opment of Inferior sites, which other wise might not be utilized." CLOTHES FROM SEAWEED Fiber of PoMdonla Australts, From Southern eas. Within the last few months there has been perfected In England a method for using the fiber of the Posidonla australls. found In the Southern seas. Samples were submitted by the Board of Trade to a Manchester university demonstrator, who experimented there with and reported that the raw fiber seemed to have fragments of sea debris among It some seedlike objects and very minute shells, which all rame away In the process and the limp, straggling nber. after treatment, was soft, pliable, strong, much like wool In Its disposition to curl and twist, and easy to spin In Its raw state. It takes dye well, except with respect to green, when the result is usually cloudy. Also It requires a mild bleach, to avoid mak ing the nber tender. It Is treated on long-fiber machines, so that the varying lengths of the Poai donla can be fully and lalrly taken up In the silver or roving. Woolen spin ners generally spin their fiber In an i.lly state and afterwards get rid of the oil. In the case of the new fiber thla would Involve aome risk of damage. It should be spun without oil. When the fiber Is ready for spinning, brushing or combing Is used rather than the rougher process of deviling. Brushing or combing gives Immediate parallellzatlon of filaments, whereas deviling Involves thorough breaking up and dlslntegretlon of the fiber. After the raw material has been treated for two hours, plua the time of drying. It Is ready for the spinners. One man can prepare a ton a week. The manufacturers say that the esti mated cost of delivery and preparation of the. raw material, ready for the spin ner, is 3 cents f. o. b. and after spin ning, weaving, and dyeing charges have been added the finished fabric 52 Inches wide, can be put on the market at 12 to 14 cents per yard. FLY-DAY IN ONE TOWN One Hundred Thousand Killed In - an Ohio Town. Woman's Home Companion. Early in July. Ill. the newspaper In our village tackled the fly problem for thla community. At the outset it was announced that on a certain day the citizens would be asked to co-operate, .with thla paper in "swatting the fly." A local clothing concern co-operated to the extent of distributing, without any charge, wire fly "swat ters." and on the day appointed S000 of them had been distributed. Boys and girls were encouraged to assist In riding the community of flies by the offering of prises on the part of thla concern, and when the day had coma and gone, more than 100,000 flies had been slain In Hamilton. During the daya which preceded the day designated, educational articles were carried by the town paper. The co-operation of the city authorities, and especially the health officer, waa se cured for "Fly day" and efforta were put forth at that time looking to the permanent cleaning tip of places where flies could breed. "Fly day- In Hamil ton was generally conceded to have been very successful. There was no effort made, of course, to absolutely exterminate the fly. becauae such a re sult waa realised to be out of the ques tion, but this paper had as its aim. simply, to give the people an Idea of how far they could go In solving the fly problem if they all got together and worked to that one end. . Both In the Same Boat. National Monthly. The new Swedish cook, who had come Into the household during the holidays, asked of her mistress: "Where bane your son? I not seeing hem 'round no more." "My sin." replied the mistress, pride fully. "Oh, he has gone hack to Yale. I miss him dreadfully, though." "Tas. I know yoost how you feel. My broder. he bene In vail salx times seence T'anksgaving." The first trisl fr breach of protnlje ess hei.i tn -.nf)jad during the rsiga of guttii Elizabeth. a . Thinkin of Furnit lire ? . Furniture has a lot to do with your comfort, and every thing to do with your pride in your home. You will cer tainly be judged by your furniture. Buy it carefully. Here is the best way to buy it: In the first place, you don't want furniture that will soon go to pieces, or furni ture that is ugly or that look just like your neighbor's furniture. Therefore, let us show you furniture that is well made, correct in design, and exclusive. SECOND Select from our immense stock pieces thas are comfortable and handsome in themselves, and harmon ize with your rooms. THIRD Satisfy yourself that our prices are right (if you are in doubt) by comparing them with what others ask. We have earned the reputation of carrying more f urni ture of the kind that every woman is proud to own than any other house in the Northwest. Naturally, you would prefer to buy this furniture if the prices are no higher than you are asked for the other kind. All WE ask is a chance to help you make a comparison. Fifth and Stark 3 G. 'MACK & CO. Fifth and Stark BOLO TALKS THRILL Lectures on Marriage by Fa mous Prelate Enjoyed. WILFUL BACHELORS RAKED Speaker Criticise Divorce Apologist More Than Advocate and Dwells on the Many Happy Feat ures, of Married Life. PARIS. April 13. Fashionable Paris la following with Intense Interest the lectures of Mgr. Bolo. at the Salle Gaveau. on the risks of marriage. The subect Is a thrilling one. Judging from the way the lecture hall Is crowded, and houra before the lecture begins no more seats are to be had. Mgr. Bolo Is the Father Vauglian of France. He has been giving these lectures once a fortnight since last Januarv. and people who would not have dreamt of going to a cold, awe Inspiring church, have been eager to hire a stall In a comfortable concert hail with electric light and upholstered armchairs. Mgr. Bolo believes in pro gress. He has sought out the fashion able world In its own haunts, and the fashionable world Is grateful to him. Ha also lays aside the rigid severity of theology and dogma as It Is preached tn the pulpit. He prefers to speak In a hall, because here he can treat of mun dane things In a mundane way. He can take the part of the mild critic, the genteel artist, and meet philoso phers, lawgivers and "litterateurs", on their own ground. He can speak of marriage and divorce In the same-language as Is sometimes used by play wrights and authors. Dealing with marriage and lis risks. Mgr. Bolo makes terrific onslaughts on wilful bachelors, and the young women Ilka to hear them. He tells bachelors Just what young women think of. them, and says it fearlessly from behind a desk In a quiet lecture-room. A bache lor is one-quarter wise and three-quarters coward, he has no faith In mar riage because he has no longer faith In anything except his own selfish ness. Ha Is opposed to marriage until he aees a profit In It. The beat part of the lecture thla week was on divorce. The speaker did not criticise It so much as he criticised the apologists of di vorce. The fact that husbands and wives separata is sad enough. It is far worse to find apologists of that sepa ration: the advocates of divorce, said the lecturer, seem to believe that rea son Is beat replaced by noise. One of them he quoted aa saylag that a wed ding march always seemed like a war march. "If married- couples some times have difficulties, these are only trifles. Quarrels between husband and wife are never bo aerious as people try to make out." He pictured the exas perated spouse throwing up her hands and screaming that she could stand It no longer, that It la better for her to die. "Then." answers the husband. "It Is better for me to die also." The quarrel Is immediately made up when the wife hears this. "No." she says, "neither of ns must die." and she throws herself Into her husband's arms. Mgr. Bolo has no respect for divorce apologists who advocate free unions. It Is often more difficult to separate an unmarried couple than a married one. He read tragic reports every day of how the unmarried tried to - sepa rate. They seemed to have no other resource than the knife, the revolver, or vitriol. By trying to save some holy water these freely-united couples split a lot of blood. Next he attacked the fsmous phrase In Iltersture and the theater." "Vlvre sa vie." living one's life. The phrase is sbaurd. A person who wants to live only his or her life Is ilk the player of the trombone In an orchestra, who, when all the other in struments are playing a soft, subdued air, fjoes mad and blown his instrument for all he is worth. Life for each In dividual Is good only because we can live In society. If tl-.e whole object of It Is made to separate us from those to whom we are bound by every natu ral and sacred tie. we destroy all the benefits of life. The Apaches, as well ns all thieves, murderers, and scoun drels, want to live their own life. The principle of "everyone living for him self is more nonsense. The lecturer amused his audience by Informing It that If 'America has Its divorce states, France has her divorce magistrates. A Parisian authority, at a recent congress of lawyers, mentioned a magistrate who had in one day grant ed li decrees of divorce. The next time, the same magistrate signed at a single slttlnjr. 242 decrees, and his rec ord was reached on Iecember 15. 188. when. In the space of four hours, he signed 294 decrees of divorce. That magistrate, he thought, must have imagined that he was in the midst of carnival, and that divorce could be dis tributed as freely aa confetti. Those who continued to say that divorce was not yet easy enough must be difficult to please. - WOMAN OF THE FUTURE She AVI1I Be the World Housekeeper, Says a New Prophet. William Hard In "The Women of "To morrow." The world housekeeper that is the future woman. What I mean is that the unique province of the woman of the future will be the thousand and one unremuneratlve Jobs of civilization. She will. of course, marry and fulfil her household duties toward her husband and her children. But modern housekeeping and modern schools give her in many cases large relief from home cares and a certain amount of leisure, especially aa she grows older. This leisure makes It possible for her to be a much more active cltlsen than her husband. She has much mora time than he to work for or aerve on the school board, the board of health, the water commis sion, the milk commission, the factory or tenement-house Inspection depart ment. After a while In these and kindred fields of public housekeeping, there will be developed a system of "part-time" Jobs in which hundreds of thousands of married women can find a distinctly useful and a distinctly feminine occupation for several hours each day. Ultimately these "part time" Jobs -will carry salaries with them, but In the meantime, although they are unremuneratlve. they are at tracting multitudes of earnest women and they are showing us that outside the home, as well as Inside it, we need a housekeeping touch which only women can give. Of course. I think women should vote. They have accomplished a great deal without the ballot, but they will be more reasonable and more helpful when they have the ballot than they are now. ' As to the domestic relations of the ultra-modern or future couple, perhaps the best way to test a man's civilisa tion isvthe kind of woman with whom he can find happiness. If It Is neces sary to a man's happiness that his wife's life should be absorbed into his own (and then It is often forgotten by him) he had better get married now. Tne woman of the future will have a life of her own. and a continuing personality of her own, and that fact, to the man of the future, win keep the man of the future awake. There will be fewer husbands who, having caught the car. think they don t have to do any more running. NEW OIL MONOPOLY DUE Germans Said to Contemplate Con verting Industry to State. BERLIX, April 13. (Special.) There are circumstantial reports that (ha German Government seriously contem plates the establishment of a state mo nopoly of petroleum, with a view to piovidlng fresh revenue tor ureaa noughts and other "national" purposes. The only official Intimation is that recently (nd in the Reichstag by Dr. pel b ruck. Imperial Secretary of the In terior, who said that the government "might" find It desirable to convert several Industries now In private hands into state monopolies. The newspa pers amplify thla cryptic Ministerial utterance by stating that the Chancel lor of the Exchequer, Herr Wermuth. actually has plans and specifications In hand for nationalising the oil trade. At present the trade Is practically in the hands of the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Rockefeller's "combine" works In Germany through aeveral branch com panies, ostensibly German, but actually American owned, and by means of a splendidly organised scheme of dls- trlbutlon controls the German market almost completely. It Is estimated that the government might derive an an nual revenue of $15,000,000 from a pe troleum monopoly. STATESMAN GETS MEDAL M. dc Freycinct at Age of 8 4 Hon ored as Soldier. PARIS. April 13. (Special.) M. de Kreyclnet, who has been many times Prime Minister. Minister of Foreign Af fairs, and Minister of War. is the first eminent French statesman to accept the simple medal of a soldier, at the ago of 84. Parliament voted a law last year conferring a special commemora tive medal on all the combatants of 1870-71. or those who in any way took an active part in the campaign. M. de Freycinet was 42 at the time of the war, and acted as delegate of the Government of the National De fense at Tours. M. Mlllerand, the pres ent ailnister of War, went In person to the home of M. de Freycint to hand him the diploma of the medal in the name of the Government. "While the per capita consumption of t-a In the United Slates Is about stationary. that of coflVn Is r.TPldly im-reasing. We Portland Hotel offers to Its patrons every convenience and luxury of a modern guest-house. Newly decorated through out; many new and charming suites arranged. "gfe Dining-Roorh and Grill excel In the refined beauty 'of their appointments. You will be delighted with the excellence of the cuisine snd with the perfect service that obtains. 0 a This evening a concert will be rendered In the hotel lobby from 8:15 to 10:16. Orchestral music n the grill every evening during tne week. Direct entrance to the grill on Seventh street: Irect entrance to both grill and uining-room on Morrison street. G. J, K.UFMA.VX, Jllu. I! f The GrEAt Ame BALL BEARING LAWN MOWER A BALL-BEARING MOWER THAT ISN'T BUILT RIGHT SOON GETS OUT OF ORDER. THE GREAT AMERICAN IS NOT ONLY BUILT RIGHT, BUT IT'S BUILT TO STAY RIGHT. IT HAS PERFECT DUSTPROOF CUPS AND CONES AND IS ADJUSTED WITH THE ACCURACY OF A BICYCLE AND IS THE EASIEST-RUNNING MOWER ON THE MARKET. IF YOU WANT A HIGH-GRADE MOWER, BUY THE GREAT AMERICAN. PENNSYLVANIA BALL-BEARING LAWN-TRIMMER IS JUST THE THING TO TRIM UP THE RAG GED EDGES OF FLOWER BEDS AFTER THE LAWN MOWER HAS DONE ITS WORK. YOU CAN CUT THE GRASS WITHIN HALF AN INCH OF THE FENCE OR WALL AND DO IT QUICK LY AND EASILY. SAVES TIME AND BACK ACHES. GARDEN TOOLS GARDEN HOSE GARDEN STICKS POULTRY NETTING WINDOW SCREENS AND SCREEN DOORS HONEYMAN HARDWARE CO, . Fourth and Alder Streets. .'' -