4
OREGON CITY COURIER, OREGON CITY, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7. 1915.
nDT7P.nT PTTV r'nTTDTtTU tice that a" the "Kreat newspapers,"
ViVJLJVi.l Vjl X 1 V-iV J 1.1JL;1V many of which have less circulation
Published Thursdays from the Courier Building, Eighth Street, and entered
in the Postoffice at Oregon City, Ore., as 2nd class mail matter
E. R. BROWN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Subscription Price $1.50. Telephones, Pacific 51; Home A-51
THIS PAPER REPRESENTED FOR FOREIGN
, ADVERTISING BY THE
GENERAL OFFICES
NEW YORK AND CHICAGO
BRANCHES IN ALL THE PRINCIPAL CITIES
THE FARMER SUFFERS
Noting in the daily press that wire
less telephony has bridged the gap
across the American contient, and
that people have actually talked to
each other through the ether between
Washington, D. C, and Honolulu; we
are again reminded that the farmer is
the principal sufferer from the dupli
cation of telephone service by two
competing companies. And in this
county we have several striking proofs
of this, one of which may be cited.
In a community not over five miles
from the county seat there are three
"farmers' phones." One line is con
nected with the Bell system at Port
land, another line is connected with
the Bell system at Oregon City, and
the third line has connections in some
mysterious place with the Home com
pany. If farmers using the first mu
tual line want to talk to Oregon City
merchants, they can ring up and get
any store or shop that has Pacific j local merchants, as they fill many of
stock on hand on the day of assess
ment. Mayor Cross said:
"A little inquiry at my home city
elicited the following answers to the
question, 'About how often do you
turn over the value of your stock?
hardware and furiture, once per an
num, dry goods, two and one-half, or
three times; shoes, one and one-half
to two times; drugs, two to three tim
es; jewelry, once in three years; gro
cery, three to eight times annually;
meat market, once a week or 52 times
a year,
"From these answers we find that
a jewelry store is taxed 156 times as
high as a meat market having the
same amount of sales, etc.
Wholesale houses turn their
stocks over about three times a year,
while the large mail order houses in
the large cities throughout the coun
try turn their stocks over much
quicker. These latter are given a
big advantage ,in taxation over the
states phones in the county seat, and
they get direct service. If a farmer
on the second line wants to talk to
Oregon City friends, he has' to call
Oregon City through Portland, and
then he may talk with any Bell sub
scriber in the county seat. If the
farmer on the third line wants to
talk to either Oregon City or Port
land, he is limited in his conversation
to such people as have Home phones.
But if the farmer on the first line
wants to talk to a farmer on the sec.
ond line, he must call around via the
county seat and Portland, and his toll
charges are correspondingly high
even though the man he wants to
talk to may be only half a mile away,
And if the poor farmer whose mutual
line connects with the Home phone
wants to talk to a farmer on either of
the other two mutual' lines then he
must go over to his house and talk
with him in person, for his phone
isn t any use at all.
The chief beauty of the telephone
as an ideal is that it makes it pos
sible for city and country to talk with
each other at a moments notice; and
that it also removes the isolation of
farm life. That is the ideal.
But under the double system of
telephones, with the Bell and Home
companies refusing to interconnect
their exchanges, the farmer is more
isolated than ever by having a tele
phone, and he can only talk to
limited number of phone subscribers
The farmer pays for his telephone
thinking he can use it to expedite his
business and he finds that he pays
for only half or one-third of the tele
phone service he might naturally ex
pect.
If there is any excuse for two tele
phone systems, which work in per
fect harmony as far as rates go; and
which only give such service as
actually paid for, the Courier would
like to have Bomebody enlighten it,
It is true that one of the competing
phone companies appears to charge
a lower rate than the other--but the
reduction is only apparent. As a mat
ter of fact the cheaper telephone has
not the extended service that the
other company has, it has not the con-
necions, and it cannot get them as
things are at present. So the cheaper
service is not cheaper it is simply
limited.
The city dweller does not suffer
quite so much from this duplicate and
unsatisfactory service. The city man
or woman can usually find a neigh
bor who has "the other phone." But
the farmer is handicapped every time
he wants to call up somebody on "the
other phone,'' for he may have to go
miles to get to a house that has n
line connecting with it.
Duplication of telephone service is
a waste, a polite form of robbery and
a nuisnnce to the city man; but to
the farmer duplication of telephones
is grand larceny as far as time, money
and convenience go.
MORE ABOUT TAXES
There seems to be no end to dis
covery of injustice in the general
property tax. At the Conference on
September 14 of the League of Iowa
Municipalities at Council Bluffs, May
or Cross, of Burlington showed the
unfairness of assessments of merchan
dise, even assuming that every mer
chant return the exact value of his
their orders direct from the factory
where the goods are manufactured
which therefore do not show upon
any invoice of stocks for taxation.''
In other words, however, conscien
tious assessors and taxpayers might
be, anything approaching a fair and
equal assessment of merchandise is
an absolute impossibility.
There are other reasons, of course,
why merchandise should not be taxed.
There should be no tax levied on any.
thing produced by human labor, be
cause we do not want to discourage
production of wealth.
In the same address, Mayor Cross
made clear the inexpediency of tax
ing any kind of personal property or
improvemtnts on land. He urged lo
cal option in taxation, so that any
community which might want to
alopt the single tax should do so.
THE MODERN VIEW
After Artemus Smith had left the
inquest, his friends gathered about
him and asked him what he had told
the coroner's jury.
"I didn't tell 'em anything,'' re
plied Artemus. "A lawyer asked me
if I had seen the accident, and I said
no, that I got there right after it,
and I was excused. But I'll get my
witness fees just the same, for I was
subpoenaed."
"That's pretty easy money," re
marked one of his friends.
"I should worry," said Artemus,
"it ain't my money, it is county mon
ey."
And therein Artemus expressed the
modern point of view. "I should wor
ry, it aint my money, it is county
money." Or maybe it is city money,
or state money as long as it is
money raised by more or less .indi
rect taxation we don't worry how we
spend it.
This is not to be taken as a criti
cism of any coroner's case, or of any
specific case at all. It is typical of
the way nine-tenths of the people feel
about public expenditure. Just be
cause we Oregonians don't pay a poll
tax, we look upon all tax-raised mon
ey as some weird kind of God-given
provender, to be obtained on every
opportunity. And some of our offic
ials, who have the spending of this
money, seem to hold the same view.
One of these days we will all wake
up to the fact that we all pay taxes
either directly or indirectly; and
then we will take an interest in the
public funds, and regard them as our
finds. And we will watch to see how
they are spent, and who gets them,
nnd what each person receiving public
money did to H.AKN it. And when all
of the people get curious about that,
and rend the monthly expense ac
counts of the counties and thee ities
and thes late why then taxes will be
educed and We wont all of us be
yelling that times are hard, and that
we want economy in public offices.
the fault doesn't lie at the ton of
the heap it lies with common citizens
ike the imaginary Artemus Smith
whose imaginary but typical remark is
the excuse for this bit of wisdom.
Have YOU wakened up yet?
WAR STUFF
In beginning this editorial we wish
to offer an apology to our readers for
not having had one sooner. We no-
Childhood Memories
Isn't it a fact that some of the
things that happened to you
in your childhood are still a
mong the most vivid things in
your memory?
Childhood impressions are lasting. As the twig is
inclined, the tree will grow. If you teach the child the
saving habit by starting a bank account, the habit will
grow. Many parents realize this and have had their chil
dren open accounts ut our bank. They are taught to
save pennies, the nicklcs and the dimes. In after years it
is easy for them to save the dollars also. You couldn't
do better by your children than to help them start a little
bank account.
The Bank of Oregon City
34 Years in Business
than ours, have a war editorial every
day. We have only had about three
since the war started, but we will try
to make up for this later.
Now after making that beginning,
we wish to call attention to a dis
covery that we made when we wrote
the heading of this brilliant editor
ial; and that is that if we had spelled
the first word backwards, the cap.
tion would have read "Raw Stuff"
instead of what it does read.
Upon discovering that by this
simple transposition we could make
"war" read "raw," a great thought
struck us; and we wish to give it as
our honest and frank opinion here
that this great war is pretty raw
stuff.
And this is an age in which the
human race is supposed to have out
grown the cave-man period, when raw
meat, raw vegetables and raw thots
and actions were the proper thing
because then man didn t know anv
Detter,
So we therefore close this editor
ial with the declaration that war is
raw, and that we ought not to have
any more of it.
publican leaders," whatever that is.
And this Bourne party, who never
had any actual residence in Oregon,
but who maintained a legal residence
in a room and bath at the Portland
hotel, has now apparently deserted
the ranks of Oregon's stalwart repub
licans and has gone to South Carolina,
the latest gem in the prohibition dia
dem. What does it mean? Does Bro,
Jnothn. love Oregon less than he did
when he was on the payroll, or has
he concluded that the republican party
in Oregon has been submarined and
burst wide open down the middle?
Sailors say rats desert a sinking
ship and maybe seafaring men know
what they are talking about.
MORE PAVING PLANNED
Do your Christmas shopping early!
Rain opened the hunting season,
but they went out just the same.
AGAIN WE VENTURE
The Benton County Courier, which
we dearly love to read, and whose nug
gets of wisdom we and the Oregonian
occasionally like to reprint, remarks
in its issue of last week that it ob
serves the Oregon City Courier does
"printing with a punch." And our
Benton county namesake says that
it supposes we are going to print the
ball scores of the world's series with
that punch.
The Estacada Progress also ob
serves that we do "printing with a
We haven't heard anv more about
the bar association. Have all the
attorneys reformed?
While ankle-watches may be all the
vogue, we fail to see what use they
would be to straight-laced ladies.
Oregon City seems to have awaken,
ed to the desirability of hard sur
face paving for its streets, judging
from the work being ordered.
Why is Councilman Templeton like
a dictionary? He has so many words
inside of him. And why is Council
man Templeton not like a dictionary?
A dictionary is useful.
A federal consular report tells us
that during the years ending March 31
1915, Canada spent over $38,000 for
skates. That's nothing before Ore-
Special Meeting of Council Decides on
Improvement of Hill Street
At a special meeting of the Oregon
City council late last week an appli-1
cation signed by practically all the !
property owners on John Q. Adams j
street from Fourth to Seventh was
presented, asking for the immediate I
improvement of that section of the
thoroughfore with a four-inch hard
surface paving of the Worswick
specifications at 75 cents per square
yard. Part of the cost of this will
have to be borne by the city, as the
library park fronts on one side of the
street.
With Councilmen Hackett and Van-
Auken absent, the application for the
street work was carried. Albright
Meyer, Long and Metzner voting foi
it, Templeton voting against it, and
Andrews and Cox voting mentally but
not audibly. It is believed that if
Andrews and Cox had expressed their
vote verbally they would have been
registered in the "no" column.
Owing to the desire to get the
work completed before the winter
weather sets in, the council instruct
ed the Worswick company to proceed
with it at once, and the council will
in regular routine go through the red
tape necessary to drawing a contract.
Mr. Andrews spoke briefly in opposit
ion to the plan, and Mr. Templeton
talked for fifteen minutes upon his
reverence for the city budget, as an
alibi for voting against the idea. Had
there been a full council present it is
expected that the petition for the
paving would have been recommended
by a five to four vote, and with
Templeton voting for it. Mr. Temple
ton, however, said that he wouldn't
have voted that way at all, but would
DICK'S HAND AND POWER
FEED CUTTERS
Also Diamond Grinders, Giant
Roller Mills.
HOOSIER DISC DRILLS
No Better Made
The Light Draft J. I. Case Plow
Walking and Riding
Sanders and Benecia Disc Plows
Best for the Northwest
AH
SEE US
FOR YOUR
NEEDS
IN
Farm
Machinery
Implements
Buggies
Pumps
Engines
Our Stocks Are
New--Our Goods
Are Up-To-The
Minute.
We Sell at
Portland Prices
W. J. Wilson
&Co.
Oregon City
Geo. Blatch ford
Molalla, Oregon
VULCAN CHILLED PLOWS
We guarantee them to work where
any other chilled plow will work
and places where others will not.
DOWDEN LIQHT DRAFT
UJ YY lLai POTATO DIGGER
Digs cleaner and easier than others.
Iowa
Curved
Disc
Cream
Separator
Guaranteed to skim closer (warm or
cold milk) than any other cream
separator on the market.
The Bloom Manure
Spreader
With the patented reach Is the low
est priced GOOD spreader made.
MYER
DOOR
HANGERS
Easy
Running
Long
Lasting
ST
I m
punch," and modestly says that for
itself it doesn't use a punch, but uses
a job press. We long suspected that
the Progress made its weekly debut
from some such bed.
Perusing our exchanges further, we
note that the Benton County Courier
in 24-point type announces that "The
Courier doesn't take orders from any
man."
As the Courier usually "prints the
truth as it sees it," we are pained to
hear from its own ink-stained lips
that its customers are all ladies. Tak
ing printing orders exclusively from
the fair sex may be very delightful
but there is money to be made also
from printing orders handed in by
mere men.
We trust Brother M. J. Brown will
soon see the error of his way, and
make his print shop coeducational.
gon City went dry that much
probably spent here for "skates,"
was
too.
Cutting out three of the county's
road districts may help some; but
we know three road supervisors who
wont be able to see any benefit in
the change.
No, that "noise last Friday morn
ing was not a surprise attack from
the Japanese army of invasion it
was simply the Oregon army of
pheasant hunters "going after 'em."
WHO SAID RATS?
Brother John Jonathan Johnathan
Bourne has purchased a vast estate
in South Carolina, and will erect
thereon "two magnificent bunga
lows." Brother Jonathan is the present and
selp-appointed lender of the attack on
the Wilson administration the un
patriotic, unreasonable and uncalled
for attack that our friend and neigh,
borly contemporary over Barlow's
store so dearly loves to aid and abet.
Brother Jonathan used to be a re
publican senator from Oregon, and
at present is one of the "national re-
There is a "h" of a difference be
tween Oregon and Europe. No pro
fanity is here meant. In Europe the
men with guns are hunting peasants;
and in Oregon men with guns are
hunting pheasants.
Some people wonder why the inter
urban line fears jitney competition
from the county seat to Portland
when the "jits" charge a nickel more
for the ride, and make no better time.
In spite of the fact that telegraph
service with Europe was suspended
for 48 hours this week for reasons of
"military necessity," we didn't notice
any falling off in the big headlines
over the war news.
Did you ever give the Courier a
trial on your stationery? You will
find that they have the most up-to-date
faces of type and are right there
with the punch in getting up a suit
able design that will please you and
have balked at the ballot and left the
matter up to the mayor for decision.
Earlier in the session Mr. Schuebel
called the attention of the council to
the fact that after being instructed on
May 19 to foreclose certain liens held
by the city, he had drawn and filed
papers, only to find that the instruc.
tions for so doing had been accident
ally omitted from the minutes. He
asked the council to order the minutes
corrected.
Mr. Templeton rose statuesquely in
his place, and announced that he re
membered the original motion per
fectly, that he had made it and that
Mr. Mettzner had seconded it. He
then said he would move for a correc
tion of the minutes and losing the
trend of his thought at that point he
consulted a piece of pink paper lying
on his desk and in a second or two
read off the motion, which carried.
The pink slip of paper was unsign
ed, but contained the following orders:
"Make motion to instruct City Re
corder to enter into the minutes of
May 19, '15 a motion instructing the
City Attorney to foreclose all city
liens returned by the City Treasurer."
Who slipped these "orders" to
Templeton was not divulged, and he
showed considerable peeve later on
when a newspaperman grabbed the
pink slip from his desk. Other coun
cilmen who saw the proceeding laughed.
"Printing
Courier.
with a punch" at the
RESOLVED
THAT WHEN YOU
WANT A THNCJ
IN A HUR.RY
PHONE US-
we've cor the;
GOODS.
Our Store Stands for 3 Things-SERVICE-QUALITY
FAIR PRICES. These three things are
a part of every transaction whether over the counter
or by mail.
It is not necessary that you personally buy at
this store in order to protect your interests and insure
your getting full value for your money. Your mail
and phone orders receive the same careful attention
as a personal visit.
In any event you are always protected, for we
consider no transaction closed until our customer is
perfectly satisfied.
If you have never had a charge account with us,
better see our credit man and arrange for one. It will
insure your mail and phone orders being promptly fill
ed without bothering you to send in the money each
time. Try our mail order service".
kiiiiiiiim
Huntley Bros. Company
THE tH&xaML DRUGGISTS
Oregon City, Oregon
Social Is Success
G. Everett Baker, of Portland, and
Albert Roake and Verne Roake's or
chestra, of the county seat, were the
chief entertainment stars of the
"Peace and Plenty" social given last
Friday evening by the brotherhood of
the Congregational church. Refresh
ments were served on shingles instead
of plates, and music by local players
added to the festivity of th occasion.
Mrs. Orchard Dies
Mrs. S. A. Orchard, a pioneer of
1852, died last Friday at The Dalles.
She was 87 years old. Mrs. Orchard
is survived by two daughters, Mrs.
C. E. Myers, of Gladstone, and Mrs.
Lucy Allen, of The Dalles.
J. A. LIZBERO
Abstracter
See him for Abstracts of Title, Loans,
Real Estate, Insurance, Deeds, Mort
gages and any facts in any Public
Record.
OFFICE 718 MAIN ST.,
Oregon City
Residence 612
Center St.
Phones: Main 1 101
M. 72
Dr. A. McDonald
Veterinary Surgeon
Office, Red Front Bam
Phones: Main 1 16
B-9
OREGON CITY
Dr.
L. G.
DENTIST
ICE
Beaver Building Oregon City
PhonM Paolflo, 1221. Horn A 18
New System
Painless
Dentists
First-class Painless
Dentistry at rea
sonable prices.
All our work
Guaranteed.
Painless
Extraction
EXAMINATION FREE
We Speak German
LADY ASSISTANT
Rooms 9, 10' 11, 12
Andresen Bldg.
Phones:
Pacific 10
Home A 200
Geo. C. Brownell
LAWYER
Caufield Bldg.
Oreenn City
Oregon
Office phones: Main 50, A50; Res. phones, M. 2524 175
Home B251, D251
WILLIAMS BROS. TRANSFER & STORAGE
Office 612 Main Street
Safe, Piano, and Furniture Moving a Specialty
Sand, Gravel, Cement, Lime, Plaster, Common
Brick. Face Brick, Fire Brick
D. C. LATOURETTE, President. p. j. MEYER, Cashier.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
OF OREGON CITY, OREGON
CAPITAL $50,000.00.
Trangacti m General Banking Business Open From 9 A. M. to 3 P. M.
V. S. TJ'REN, formerly of
Oregon City
FRANK C. HESSE
Phone Main 6376
U'REN & HESSE
Attorneys at Law
DEUTSCHE
601-2-3-4 RAILWAY EX. BLDG.
ADVOKATEN
PORTLAND OREGON
')