THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1916..
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER
TAGS FOUR
THE OBSERVER
-
t An Independent Newspaper.
Published Duily and Weekly at La
Grande, Oregon, by the
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER
PUBLISHING CO.
J. D. MEYERS, President, H. B.
LEITER, Vice President, CLARKE
LEITER, Editor and Publisher.
Entered at the Postoflice at La
Grande, Oregon, as second class
matter.
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News Stand, Portland; Imperial
Hotel News Stand, Portland.
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City Official Paper. Member United
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 191C.
FOOD
EMBARGO DANGEROUS
BOOMERANG.
The job of a congressman is any
thing but pleasant these days. Added
to the multiplicity of stirring and em
barrassing thomes which faced the
last congress and made the recent
election the closest and most uncer
tain contest that America has seen
for a generation, comes the demand
for a food embargo. It matters lit
tle that this demand comes from peo
ple who do not produce foods. It mat
ters less that the congressmen them
selves know that any interference
with the prosperity of the fanner will
wreck the thrift of the nation. It
matters not at all that he knows that
such action will meet with summary
action by those nations whose vessels
carry our commerce and that those
nations possess and will use the power
to destroy our commerce if we fail
to feed them in their hour of need.
The demand is being made upon the
congressmen by their constituents in
the cities who are feeling the cold
clamp of the high cost of the neces
sities of life. ,
The member with a farming con
stituency is indeed fortunate. He
can oppose the embargo and Test as
sured of the loyal support of his
friends back home as well as of the
lending men of the business world.
For once the interests of the farmor
and the dealer in war orders are
identical. But the congressman
whose constituency mingles the city
dweller and the grower of food
stuff s hns before him a titan's task
to maintain his seat unshnken.
An ndngc as old and as true as the
nation itself maintains that the pros
perity of the man who tills the soil
insures the prosperity of the nation.
The history of a dozen generations
proves it. A food embargo will
merely cut down the farmer's in
come. On the cost of foods is bascl
:... ..., Drl iha dealer who sup
plies them with the necessities oi
life. Their recompense nan ewi
just enough that the prudent man
might live and save just a little of his
daily wage. 'If foods jro up. his daily
wage must increase. If foods go
down, his pay will certainly fall. Th
lot of the worker and the small shop
keeper has always been more toler
..i.i....kn rri,v were hiirh. With the
farmer prosperous, .nore people will
go back to tno sou anu u:v mvi .
ers of the land there are in any com
munity, the more prosperous and
healthy that community becomes.
Let congress think well before it
nnv food embariro. Such an
act will prov.; a dangerous uwm
erang. ! THE FALL OF BUCHAREST.
' Of great strategic importance is
Bucharest. Commanding as it does
the rich valleys of Roumania, its im
portance as a base of war operations
cannot well be over-estimated. But
of far greater momen; at the present
time is the moral effect of its down
fall. German armies, wearied by
long months of fighting, take new
courage nnd press forward with re
newed vigor with the prize in view.
And once in Bucharest, what German
warrior can fail to make high re
solvo that so far as he is concerned,
the ambitions of his leaders shall be
realized in the days to follow.
But what of the effect on the al
lies? Roumanians see their fairest
provinces overrun. Their promise of
support and assistance and the re
ward of Besarabia and Transylvania
they now realize to be but empty
husks, thrown to them in attractive
phrasenge bright guile that led them
to national suicide. With what heart
can the loyal Roumanian now support
the cause of the allies?
Greece and the other smaller na
tions of Southern Europe which have
not yet taken part in the great holo
caust will find scant encouragement
in the fate of Roumania to induce
them to support the cause of the al
lies. The morale of the rank and file of
the Allied troops has undergone a se
vere strain in the past few months
1 and the fall of Bucharest but adds to
the tenseness. Its full effect is not
.ni !.. in th months to come. Truly.
the fall of Bucharest is of mighty
portent in the giant struggle of Eu
rope. Portland wins. The railroads havs
the right to charge less for hauling
goods farther, says the Supreme
court. It is hard for people who live
in the Inland Empire to see why rail
roads can haul goods three hundred
miles farther over high grades for less
money than they can unload them in
I,a Grande, Baker or Spokane.
England's government is to be re
constructed for the 'steenth time
since the war began. And each ha3
been an improvement for Germany.
If this is the hard winter which the
prophets foretold, it seems that we
will live through it.
Give Venizelos enough rope and he
will hang his whole following.
More and better days are ahead for
the Northwest.
4
An Expert Foot Specialist will
be at Our Store December 9th to
December 11th. Consult him-free
Your Choice of Any Ladies'
Suit in the Store Newest Fabrics
Latest Styles-!3 Off.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
The inside making of a Suit or Over
coat is either the making or ruination
of it. The secret of long wear and shape
looking lies beneath the surface. That's
why you can't buy by looks alone you
must buy by reputation. Our reputa
tion has . been in good standing with
good dressers for many seasons. We
know the inside making of every gar
ment we sell.
Hart Schaffner & Marx Suits and Over
coats j $20.00 to $30.00
Other .Makes $15.00 to $17.50
CotrjTifiht Hurt Srluf fnrr & Marx
EXTENSIVE SHOWING
Bath liobes $3.50 to $18.00
Smoking Jackets $4.00 to $12.00
Gloves $1.50 to $5.00
Hats - -.-$1.00 to $5.00
Shirts $1-00 to $7.50
Underwear $1.00 to $7.00
SUppers -$1-25 to $2.50
Neckwear 25c to $2.00
Enormous Stocks of Good, Sensible, Useful
Christm as Gifts.
Some Job
If Judge Stephen A. Lowell of
Pendloton, who has headed a league
for the abolition of ' profanity, is
successful in toning down the wild
and picturesque expletives of the
Umntilln county sheepherdcr he will
be fully competent to tackle the
brand used by the hoss wrangler
and the pirates of the seven seas.
The Portland Telegram,
City Affairs.
I.a Grande, Dec. 7. (To the Edi
tor) Of the present City Commis-
the recompense of the toiler in the i sioner campaign, I have nothing to
"Life's Seven Ages"
Through all life's seven ages there is the
need of a Bank Account, but not through
life's seven ages will there be the chance
to save, there is today. You can start a
bank account today and keep it alive,
and feel that those dependent on you are
provided for.
There never was a belter time to save than
today, and every dollar you place in this
bank is fully protected: always acccssablc,
and acts as an ever-present inspiration
to save more
COME IN TODAY
Deposits
Assets .
$1,040,000.00
....$1,365,000.00
cCa Qrande JYational Bank
do; but as City Manager, I am pleased
to keep the public informed of the
city's affairs. When matters creep
into print instigated by ignorant and
vicious it seems proper that they be
corrected. The city recorder's books
are open and plainly written, contain
ing a full history of every financial
and legislative transaction; hence,
there is no excuse for the irresponsi
ble demogogue to make assortionj
about measures which the public rec
ords show to be idle and false.
Wihat is there about the light ques
tion calling for information?
There are four business blocks
alone Adams avenue which last year
were provided with electric cluster
lights of three lamps eacn, or tnirty
two clusters. These cost the city
three dollars each per month to
maintain. In the interest of the
whole city and of economy, the com
missioners, in an effort to reduce an
enormous city debt, considered these
lights more of an ornament than a
necessity since other streets with
equally ns much travel had but one
lamp at each post. The stores be
fore which these cluster lights were
placed, closed at six o'clock; henco
they were not specially benefitted.
There was a constant demand from
other parts of the city for a supply
of lights. So these cluster lights
were pruned down from three lamps
costing $:i(.00 per year each to $12.00
per year and the extra lamps put in
lark business nlleys, and over tns
entire citv where actually needed,
with less capacity, and thereby ac
commodating all the people, nnd by
reason thereof, the expenses were re
duced one hundred dollars per month
or twelve hundred per year a saving
to the taxpayer in that amount.
It is folly to assert that Ln Urando
is poorly lighted at night.
Mr. Harmon, the manager of the
compnny furnishing electric lights to
Baker, North Towder, Union ana La
Grande is authority for the state
ment that Ln Grnnde is as well
lighted ns any city in Eastern Oregon
including Pendloton.
The question is asked docs the tax
payer see any difference in expenses?
No taxes hnve beon collected since the
reduction in lights. The budget for
the coming year shows a reduction in
general expenses of over $22,000
which will reduce the city's debt that
amount hence leases the taxes.
It was intended to make further re
duction, but the Reaver crock dam re
quired nn expenditure of $10,000
while the septic tank a legacy of
former years, requires an expenso rf
$7,000 -for which the present gov
ernment is not responsible.
Concluding, it might be a good sug
gestion that if any who arc aged and
decrepit experience difficulty in per
ambulating the streets on dark nights,
they should keep early hours or pro
vide proper guides having sufficient
eyesight.
J. E. FOLEY,
City Manager.
SPIES OF WORLD ARE GATHERED
' AT STOCKHOLM.
' BY WM. PHILIP SIMMS
' Stockholm, Nov. 8. (By Mail
United Press Staff Correspondent.)
This is the spy-center of the world.
Hero foe meets foe but with his
fingers crossed. It is neutral ground
and the spy plays his ungrateful game
in perfect safety.
' "See that chap over there?" a frend
asked, pointing across the lobby of one
of the prettiest hotels in the world.
"That is an Austrian military attache.
The man he is talking to is a Russian
from Petrograd. I know them both."
"There they were playing their
frames. Each trying to trick the other
to some end, only heaven knew what.
"Never mind about locking your
chest of drawers, or your bags or
trunks," an acquaintance told me the
day I landed in Stockholm. "Locks
. are no good here. If anybody wants
to see what you have hidden away they
I will manage to do so. And they usual
ly want to see."
There is perhaps no more fascinat
ing spot anywhere than a certain
! great hotel here. In the world's most
bentiful dining-room under a sort of
collonade ranging alongside u formal
garden whore a superb lawn grows
i under n lofty glass dome, where huge
palms and flowers grow in profusion
nnd the tinkle of a fountain in the
, Venetian court is not much softer than
tho music of a hidden stringed-orches-1
spying on spies and spies spying on
spies set to catch spies. It i3 a great
game. There is on record at least
one case of a spy doing nearly all of
these things at one and the sr.me time,
being simultaneously in the employ of
France, England and Germany.
There are ,of course, big games be
ing played by men not ordinarily call
ed spies. Diplomatic agents being the
more dignified term. These are educa
ted, cultivated men. And they do the
finer, larger work. Smaller fry keep
track of shipments to Russia, of the
movement via Sweden of government
agents, etc., or in the case of the Allies
of the shipments of materials to
Germany by boat, etc. Of course there
are free-lances who scurry around
picking up scraps of information and
selling the same for whatever the in
terested parties feel like paying.
These are the rag-pickers of the pro
fession. Of course there arc women spies or
women agents. These are not always
used as Oppenhcini and other romanc
ers lead one to imagine, but there is
much of it that is true enough to
make these women interesting. Their
great utility comes through being able
to mingle in high circles where they
can listen to the gossip.
"Listen, my dear," says one lady to
another, "here is some great scandal:
I promised not to tell but I must tell
it to you, knowing you'll not breath it
to a soul."
"And so on it goes.
l Hotels are packed. Only by reserv
ing a room days in advance can one
find accomodation save by rare good
luck. At tea time, at dinner and again
at supper, the splendid restaurants
here are jammed and tables are at pre
mium. Champagne corks are popping;
like machine guns. Everybody seems
to have plenty of money and nobody
appears to be stingy with it.
One sees many German people here
Here and there in dining rooms are
German diplomats, army officers in
mufti or evening clothes, and frequent
ly they have their women-folk' with
them. These are wearing skirts quite
as short as any seen in Paris nnd the
cut of their gowns is proof that thought
Frenchmen and Germans are killing
each other, Rue de la Paix styles have
found their way to Unter den Linden.
This is the Great , Cross Roads, the
meeting place of the folks of the war
'ring nations. Tonight, in the lovely
'upper-room, at adjoining tables, two
men, their wives and daughters, all
faultlessly dressed in evening clothes
hear each other talk, though in'differ
ent languages. Tomorrow these two
men may be leading charges at each
other, over rain-soaked, shell-pitted
ground. One may slaughter the other
and leave the bloddy, muddy corpse to
bo trodden on ty a regiment of iron
shod men, leaving a woman without
a husband, a family without a father.
But tonight they dine elbow to elbow.
tra, Germans nnd English, Austrians
and French, Russians nnd Bulgars,
: Italians and Turks, Belgian and Hun
garians and all the rest mingls at ta
ble, but their elbows sometimes lit
' ernlly touch at adjoining boards,
i Stockholm Is easily accessible to all
the wnrring countries. At the Central
I Railway Station every night, on nd
' loining tracks, are three trains. One
goes north to Tornea, the Russian i
frontier town; one to Bergen whence
one takes tho boat for England and
France; Express whirls one to Berlin.
The Russian train leaves first nbout
9 p. m., the Germnn train second at
; 0:20. So on the platforms one sees
mingling and jostling German and Bri
tish, French and Prussian nnd all tho i
rest.
In the hotels one has the impression j
that each column conceals a spy and
each pnlm two or three. And one is ,
nearly rii'ht in this impression for they
are as thick as fleas everywhere. Spy
spying on unsuspecting persons, spysj
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Pianos of Quality Sold
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