THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1916.-
PAGE TWO
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER
RED TAPE IN JAPAN
They Have as Fine a Brand There
as We Have Ourselves.
BUT IT IS NOT VERY COSTLY.
An Experience With th Clrcumloeu
Hon Office That Would Hev Bn
Amusing to th Innocent Victim but
Per th Drd or th fcxpn.
.. v.
Titer arc many curlou custom In
Japan, and many things are don in
that interesting empire according to
sttlMda that would be called topay
lorry when Judged by tbe atndarda
t civilisation in western lands. But
Jl on respect tbe, Japanese art fully
breast of any of toe occidental coun
tries, and that is In their ability to ma
alpulate official red tape. Tbe follow
ing incident, recounted by a corre
spondent of tbe Voutb's Companion,
admirably illustrates tbe point. He
writes: :
"Although 1 bave lived loDg In Ja
pan, I bave tried to keep pace witb
western ideas. - A corner in my com
pound bears witness o tbe fiict that 1
once tried to make practical applica
tion of flie modern uiuilin 'Help tbe
poor to belp themselves.' It worked
out in a rather surprising way. A beg
gar asked me for money oue morning,
and I saw a way to help him wltbout,
as tbe expansion goex, 'paniierlr.tng'
nun. '
"There was a UHd place Just inside
tbe compound gute that needed to be
filled in wltb stones, of wblch there
were plenty on the neiiHuore near by.
Here was a man who could transfer
the stones to the compound for tho
80 sen (10 cents) that be liail nuked of
me. The man fell lu with the plan
cheerfully ami set to work.
"The Job was about completed to his
satisfaction and mine when a police
man, who appeared on the scenn. ask
ed my man If. he bnd received permis
sion to remove the stones. The work
man referred the pDU-cr to me. and 1
had to confess that I had not thought
it necessary. - Evidently the officer
thought othern-lxe, for 1 was politely
bnt (Irmly told t hut I mlj,'lit secure a
permit by applying ut the city hull.
"To the city hull I went, knowing
tlint It Is not wine to trifle with the
regulations of the police department.
From there I was referred to the pro
vluclul bulldiiiK. Ah 1 was personally
known to tho governor of tho province,
I sent my card Into him, only to learn
that be was absent.' Tho lieutenant
governor, however, said he would ho
Klad to receive me. That courteous
gentleman wus frolnp to puss the whole
tiling by, but thought It well first to
speak of It to the department of public
works.
"Now, the department of public
works had an elllclont head, who bo-
llevcd In letting nothing go at looxo
ends. Mo announced that I must 1111 In
a certain form In duplicate, making
formal application for the stones. Then
two maps would Imvo to bo drawn.
' (bowing where the stones had been
found and tho place to which I wished
to remove thorn.
"Tho board of public works stood
ready to make the maris ut my ex
pense. There was nothing to do ex
cept to agree to this arrangement, since
I bad already had the stones moved. I
thanked the lieutenant governor for bis
assistance and withdrow.
"In a day or two n messenger came
wltb the maps and forms requiring my
signature. After that they were sent
to tho city halL Then another mes
senger took them to the governor for
his signature. One set was tiled at
tbe city ball nud the other at tho office
of tho executive.
"In duo time notification came by
special messenger that I was permitted
to remove tbe stones which every oce
knew I bad done a week before. All
that prevented me from thoroughly en
Joying the wholo affair was tbe thought
of the bill that I should receive from
the department of public works.
"After several weeks of suspense I
was notified to appear before the treas
urer, at city hall, to pay my indebted
ness to the municipality. Armed wltb
my bank book, I appeared at city hall.
What was my surprise and relief to
find that the bill for all this red tape
and Infinite trouble amounted to 11
sen, eiual to about CVii cents in good
American money."
Value of an Inch of Rajn.
Every inch of rainfall nhoe four
inches In the Dukotas, California,
Washington, Kansas and Nebraska in
May and June means an tncrcnra of
flO.OtXMlOO in the wheat crop. Every
inch of rainfall above three Inches in
July in Indiana, Illinois. Kansas, Iowa.
Ohio and Nebraska Increases the value
of tho corn crop by 1100,000,000. These
figure are compiled by E. J. Crngoo
for the Journal of Geography.
Hollow Shafts.
By careful experiments It has been
proved that a solid column subject to
bending strain Is no stronger than a
hollow one. Consequently all Iron
shafts arc made hollow, and the steel
shafts which drive the screws of steam
ship bave a holt- bored down the cen
ter so that the weight may be reduced.
Penny Weddings.
Until 1045 marriage feasts, Known as
"penny weddings," were held in Scot
land. Each guest paid a penny or a
mail sum of money t- defray the ex
penses of the feasL Ir nny money was
left over it went towutci the furnishing
of tbe new home. KxcLange.
Idleness wastes a fortune in half the
time that industry make it Sauiaci
Smile.
LITERARY HYPOCRITES.
Here' a Writer Who Frankly Admit
He'a On of the Clan. . .
How many of us If we were really
honest could make a list of great books
that we have tried to enjoy and
couldn't rise to?
We nitre for our own part a greater
sin than that on our conscience. There
are a number of books that we habitu
ally pretend we have read which w
bave never read at all. They are great
books, we suppose. At least we've
beard a lot about them and read a lot
about them, and people who assume to
know say they are great books. Some
of them we bave tried to read and
couldn't read, but we have pretended
at one time or another to have read ail
of them. Here Is our list of shame:
"Tom Joos.'.' We have tried to read
it four times and could never get flr
pages Into it . ''
"Tbe Vicar of Wakefield." We have
attempted It at least six timet and
taken tbe, count In th Drat round
every time.
"Dante's Divine Comedy." W hart
been going against the Cary transla
tion, wblch we bear hi a good one, at
least once a year for twenty years, and
we can't get Interested lu It. Yet up
to tbe present moment we have always
pretended that we bad rend all of it
and liked It,
Don Quixote." We have read a lit
tle of It, and we know all the usual
tbings that are said a bo tit It, and we
even wrote some stuff about it one
time, suylng all tho things that are
usually said about it, for which we got
$20. but we don't really like It It pats
us to sleep; it seems long drawn out
and clumsy to us.
"Boswell's Life of Johnson." We
never read any of it But wo have pre
tended to and imve pretended at times
to quote Incidents from It and have got
away with the Incidents.
We have ulways pretended that we
were familiar with Walt Whitman's
poetry, but as a mutter of fact we
never read anything through, except
ing "When Lilacs Lust In the Door
yard Bloomed." Dou ilanjuln In New
York Suu.
THE TREE ON THE ROOF.
An Old Building Custom to Propitiate
' the Pagan Gods.
Did you ever stop to tlilnk why a ult
of ornament lu the form of conven
tionalized fruit, grain or flowers Is al
most Invariably added to the gnble of
u Gothic building and very frequently
to the gable of uny other typo of build
ing? Do you know why the lightning
rods of dur fraud fu tilers were branch
ed at tho cuds like little trees und why
the old fashioned Scandinavian. Dull
ish uud German contractors contrive
to fasten a brunch of a tree or an ear
of corn to Uio topmost peak of a houso
tliut has progressed so fur lu the course
of construction that the rafters are In
place? Usually the contractor Inugbs
sheepishly when he Is asked about the
mutter, giving no oilier reason than
that Ills father always provided the
birds with somo grain or offered them
a green branch to rest In.
The fact Is Unit the birds have noth
ing whutcver to do with tho custom
It is purely religious in its Nignlllcuncc
and entirely pugnu. Jt hud its begin
ulug before Christianity was "lutllcted
ou the barbarians of the north." The
fable of a building was exposed to
both wind and lightning, so the gods
must be propitiated. Kor Wotau there
wus a small evergreen tree and for
Thor there wus n bunch of (lowers. If
tho favor of the god had been Invoked
while the house was still Incomplete,
the ceremony must be finished the day
the house was done by tbe burning of
the llttlo tree or the withered flowers.
Tbeq a bunch of grain was tied to the
gnble to feed tbe white horse of tbe
death god, so that bo would hasten on
his Journey without stopping at that
particular house. St Louis Glolva-Denv
ocrat
Ho.-viemada Qas.
Spanish peasants living lu the cork
oak region use homemade gas obtained
from cork refuse. As described by one
authority, tbe process consists In fill
big sevcrnl large teakettles with tho
wnste bark and placing each In turn
over the fire during tbe evening, burn
ing the volatile gas a it escapes from
the spouts. Tbe carbonised residue
forms the line black-brown pigment
known to commerce as "Spanish
brown."
His Golf Prix.
When the Duke of York was living In
Edinburgh in 1U81 be was told that a
certain shoemaker named 1'atersone
was the best golf player In Scotland,
and him, the duke, later James II.,
chose aa partner in a foursome, win
ning a huge stake. He promptly turned
over the money to Patcrsouo, who
forthwith built a house in which the
duke placed a atone with a Patcrsouo
crest bearing the motto, "Car and
Bure."
Always Wrong.
Manage I'm disgusted with Ute
mistake that new man makes! IU
gets everything balled up. Assistant
Manager Oh, well, some of the best
ones are that way at the beginning.
He may bring borne the bacon yet
Manager He won't auless we send
him for ham. Judge.
His Motlvw.
ond theft after yon had Just been ac
quitted or toe nrxt oner lllsooer I
had to pay my lawyer, yonr honor.
Uoston Transcript
Their Work..
"What a noisy clatter children do
keep op at the tnbleP
"They certainly do pot tbe din Id
dinner." Baltimore American.
ART IN BOOKBINDING.
How Miss Lahey Won Mercler, the
Matter, For Her Tutor.
A womuu who spent ton yenra and
all the money she had In the world to
become a skilled bookbinder Is Mar
guerite Dupreis Lahey. After studying
wltb the most skilled fooler in Paris,
ays tbe American Mnganlne. Miss La
bey went to tbe world's greatest crafts
man, M. Mercler.
M. Mercler was a man of large
wealth and broad culture.. HeVtooied
for tbe love of it in bis beautiful Pari
borne. His only pupil was his only son.
No oue In tbe Itln quarter bad dared
to penetrate M. Mercler atelier. Un
daunted, tbla American . girl, armed
with the "Life of Fragonard, by Pierre
de Nolac," the toil of year and which
had earned M. Domont's prals, went
to M. Mercler' home.
Tbe master was at b I country teat.
"I this your work?" cried hi son,
when Miss Lahey had disclosed th
volume. "Leave it with ma. ; I will
bow It to father. It will please btm to
see auch strong work,"
"And now what dd you want of me?"
asked tbe master, when tremulously
she called later for tbe book and Mer
cler had sent his praise.
"To work with you." K
"Good! I lake you!"
Throe times a week for two sum
mers she worked under Merder'a SB
pervlslou, the master tactfully refus
ing the pupil's proffered money..
"Perfect!" be said, when she had fin
ished Prosper Merlmee's "Chronicle of
Charles IX."
Before this triumph ber gold tooling
on a volume of Frederic Maason's
"Napoleon and Women" procured for
her tho work of the Into J. P. Morgan's
library. This was in 1008 the turning
point of bur unique career. Hers Is the
distinction of having designed, tooled
and bound the cover of Mr. Morgan's
persounl copy of the catalogue of his
world famous Chinese porcelain collec
tion. BREAK YOUR MATCH IN TWO.
A Suggestion That Became a Rule In
Forest Fire Prevention.
One day late in June a man in a
room on the seventh floor of an old
fashioned brick building In Washing
ton, holding a shenf of telegrams in bis
left hand, was busy with his right tak
ing red headed pins out of his mouth
and sticking them Into little Irregular
blocks of green Ink scattered over a
large white wall map of the United
States.
"The big problem," he said, taking a
fresh pin out of bis mouth and turning
sldewise to his assistant, "is to get at
the fellow who knows what conserva
tion Is but forguts to apply it when he
lights up n cigar In the woods."
Tho( assistant wit at a tint topped oak
desk In the middle of the room, strug
gling through a mass of reports from
field men lu the endeavor to And sug
gestions for a set -of fire prevention
"rules." . '
"Well, what do you think of this?"
ho said, holding up a report from the
Pacific northwest: " 'Break your match
lu two before you throw It away.'"
The other man stuck the last red pin
Into the map, reached for his pipe and
lighted it
"Let's see." lie enld. He snapped the
burning match In his fingers. As the
pieces dropped to the floor ho tittered a
sharp exclamation and tenderly licked
the index finger of his left band.
The assistant laughed. "That's the
idea!" he said. "You've got to blow it
out before you break it or get burned."
So this suggestion became No. 1 of a
set of ten rules which the forest serv
ice seut to 0.000 newspapers at tbe be
ginning of the summer's Are season in
the national forests. Outlook.
tSauawicn's Wonderful Drum.
Trie eccentric Lord Sandwich bad, ac
cording to his biographer, a strange
passion for the thunder of big drums.
for tho gratification of which passion he
bad caused the entire side of one large
music room In his mansion at llluchin
brook to be covered with parchment
so that when It was struck with a
massive stick It gave out a roar suffi
cient to terrorize nny sensitive soul
Many who heard this drum once struck
positively declined ever to enter the
apartment again lest they should be
given a second performance. St Louis
Republic.
Our Biggest Industry.
.Measured by the number of persona
employed, what ts the country's big
gest manufacturing industry? Lum
bering, with Its 4&000 sawmills, its $1,
000,000,000 investment In these plants
and Its employment of 005,000 men to
operate them. This does not include,
says the Nation's Business, the stand
ing timber, which brings up the to
tal Investment to $2,500,000,000. Wall
Street Journal.
Ootid Start
"I'm going to start a comedy com
pany on the road in n couplo of
reeks," said the theatrical manager.
"What play?" asked the critic.
"Oh, I haven't that written yet but
I heard a good Joko today that w can
use in it" Kxchauge.
tfeat Him.
'My ancestors came over in th M.
flower," announced the man who pride
tilmselr on his blue Wood.
"Huhl" snorted the man of red cor
puscles. ."Mine sailed In the arkr
Dallas New.
Not Acquired.
N. Bead How you stutter! Did yon
ever go to a stammering school? J.
Terry N-n-no, sir. 1 d d do this n-nat-orally.
Brooklyn life.
To ean another's bo art
target one' own.-Abraham Lincoln.
JUi. Trade Muk. U. 8. PU. Office.
Th one perfect front-lace
corset with that exclusive
VENTILO back, and VBNTTLO
front shield. A mode for every
possible figure and a price for
very purs. 2.00 and up.
MRS. ROBERT PATTI80N
' CORSET! ERE.
Other models at $2.00 up.
Residence 1702 Oak
Phone Red 3221
s
J
KING COAL
Does Not Talk, It
SHOUTS
when it couies to lasting
quality.
A fire built with King
Coal does not require
constant attention.Build
your fire, regulate your
draft, and go on to bed;
your room will be warm
in the morning.
We Handle dry 16 inch
Wood.
LA GRANDE? FUEL
COMPANY.
106 Fir St.
PHONE : : MAIN 700.
Opposite Thome & Wlleo
Grocery.
Your Eyes
Their Care
When Normal
Yes
PROTECT
ENLIGHTEN
ENTERTAIN
You watch this apace and from
time to time we win give yon
information on the proper cart
of your eyes not generally
known.
We have absolutely the only
plant in Eastern Oreon that
grind and polishes the auf race
of a lonse.
We have the most up-to-aate
fitting parlor and manufactur
ing departments in Eastern
Oregon. Call and examine our
plant and compare with others.
The firm that tries to. deceive
yon with fletitons advertisement
is unreliable, beware of them.
J.H.PEARE&S0N.
La Grande' Leading Optomet-rlata.
We Have First
Class
Fresh Fruits
Roman Beauty Apples box 85c
Jonathan Apples, box....$1.2S
Pearmain Apples, box...$125
Grapefruit, each 10c
Cocoanuts, each .'. 15c
HARRIS GROCERY
PHONE MAIN 70 FARMERS PHONE B 192
408 North Fir Street, Cross Track
Notice
;. While the heavy storm is on there will be only four
' deliveries a day, as more would be impossible. The de
liveries will be at
8:30 o'clock
10:30 o'clock
2:30 o'clock
, 4:30 o'clock
s
Kindly order your supplies so that we can serve you
on this schedule.
Merchants9 delivery
Lynch & Stewart, Prop. La Grande, Ore.
The New York Store Is
The Workingman's Friend
LOW PRICES NOW
Men's suits $6.00 to $10.00
Men's hats and caps 85c, $1.50, $2.00
Men's shoes and rubbers ..75c, $1.35, $2.50, $3.00, $3.50
Men's work shirts ' .40
Men's work shirts, wool $1.25, to $1.45
Men's heavy underwear 39e
Union suits 95c to $1.75
Cotton glaves and sox and handkerchiefs 5c, 10c, 15c
Cotton gloves and sox wool, 20c 25c
OverallB, Union 50c, 75c, 85c, $1.00
Suit cases, trunks and bags $1.25, $1.50, $2.00, $3.00
We buy and sell nil kinds of jewelry. We keep open until 9 p. m.
214 Depot street, La Grande, Oregon
WE BUY ALL KINDS
THERE ARE MANY REASONS
WHY EVERY HOME IN LA
GRANDE SHOULD HAVE
ELECTRIC LIGHT.
Eastern Oregon Light &
Power Co.
Always at Your Service
Try Our Want Ad Column
& Vegetables
Hothouse Lettuce
' Carroto
Beets
Turnips
Cabbage
Celery
Sweet Potatoes
Old Potatoes
OF EAW PURS IN TRADE.
Telephone Ma!n43