63417
OEEGOM CITY COUM
33d Year
OREGON CITY, OREGON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1915
Number 33
X,'
LT
AT 9:15-
QUIET AND SPEEDY SESSION
HELD WITH TEMPLETON
AMONG THE ABSENT
NEW JITNEY LAW IS SPRUNG
Gay and Festive Time Held over Con-
dition of Streets, and Tangles
are Referred to Committee
UNCI
HRDUGH
ALMOST
With Mr. Templeton among the ab
sent, Oregon City's council managed
to get along very nicely Wednesday
. night; and while a few little prob
lems were referred to the street com
mittee for settlement, it is perhaps
noteworthy that at a quarter after
nine Mayor Jones announced that the
table was clear. This never happen
ed when the chairman of the street
committee was present.
Though the chair of Mr. Templeton
was vacant, there were several things
that happened that reminded the
council of his efforts, however. There
" was a second' jitney ordinance, for in
' stance. Mayor Jones found that on
his desk at ten minutes after nine,
and denied at first that he knew where
it came from. The ordinance was
referred to the finance committee for
consideration, on motion of Council
man Hackett. After it had been sent
to this committee, Mr. Hackett rose
and said he would like to know who
was the author of it.
"I don't know,'' said his honor, "I
found it on the table here."
"It's not my child,'' said Council
man Cox.
"Maybe the cat brought it in," sug
gested City Engineer Miller.
The Honorable Christian Schuebel
blushed, and upon being questioned by
the newspapermen, Mayor Jones said
that the honorable Christian Schuebel
had brought the document into the
council chamber. Asked who had
given it to him, Mr. Schuebel said he
declined to be interviewed. Possible
light on the origin of the ordinance
may be shed, however, by a remark
' dropped to the mayor before the coun
cil meeting by Clarence Fields, of
the Portland Railway, Light & Power
company. Ho told his honor that he
thought the ordinance would be ready
for consideration Friday afternoon, at
which time a special council meeting
is elated to be held.
The ordinance in the form it reach,
ed the council last night was peculiar.
It provides for the regulation of pub
lic utility vehicles, and divides them j
into, two classes, those that run on
routes wholly within the city, and
those that run on routes not wholly!
within the city. The ordinance pro
.. vides that the jitneys shall pay a
monthly fee, according to their seat
ing capacity and class, that they shall
be inspected every month as to the
safety of their brakes, gears and
bodies, and that they must obtain a
license from the council to operate.
This license is revokable at any time
at the pleasure f the council.
In regard to the first class of pub
lic utility vehicles the ordinance says
and then there is a quarter page
perfectly blank. In regard to the
second class of public vehicles the or
.. dinance says and then there is two
thirds of a page perfectly blank. Pre
sumably the blank spaces will be fill
ed in, under proper inspiration, when
the time comes.
Section 9 of the ordinance provides
that public utility vehicles shall run
from "blank" o'clock to "blank''
o'clock except on Sundays, when they
need not start until "blank'' o'clock.
Then is added a line which reads:
"etc., etc., etc., etc."
Section 13 is equally important: it
provides that cars seating "blank"
people shall pay a license fee of
"blank"' dollars a month; that cars of
"blank" seating capacity shall pay
"blank" dollars, and that cars of
"blank" capacity shall pay "blank"
dollars. All this must be done in ad
vance. Section 15 provides that any
chauffeur or driver who violates the
. ordinance shall be denied the privi
lege of running a public utility ve
hicle for a period of "nice long blank.''
Section 20 provides that every operat
or of a public utility vehicle must ob
x tain a bond in the sum of "blank" dol
lars; and section 21 provides that
people who violate the ordinance shall
have to pay a fine of "blank" dollars.
Taken all in all it is a pretty blank
ordinance in its present shape.
And then just to have more fun
with itr Section 23 (the skidoo sec
tion) hangs an emergency clause on
thfl end of the whole works. Oregon
courts have already decided that a
city has no power to pass emergency
- ordinances. And the decision was on
a iitnev ordinance, too.
There will be lots of fun for the
finance committee when they fix the
ordinance up, and whoever helps them
will he hnsv. too.
When the council audited the
monthly bills it was further reminded
of Mr. TemDleton. There was a bill
from a local machine shoD for "one
dollar for sharpening the city lawn
mower'' and there was a bill from
Henrv M. TemDleton for $2.05 for
"repairs to . the city lawnmower."
There was also a bill from Templeton
and Metzner for "80 cents for flush
er." Councilman Meyer wanted to know
if the 80 cents wasn't for a schooner
or two, but Mr. Metzner explained
that it was for carfare to and from
Portland when' they had gone down
and looked at the flusher. Mayor
Jones said that a local automobilist
had taken the committee down once.
but admitted that Templeton and
Metzner might have made another
trip.
An estimate of $83,102 for the
completion of the sewer system in
sewer district No. 10 was submitted
by City Engineer Miller, with the ad
ditional information that the proper,
ty benefitted would only stand an as
sessment of $26,314.88. This is the
sewer system that "Amigo" Dieck, of
Portland, planned for the city some
years ago. Messrs. Burke, Llewellyn
and Randall were appointed a board
of appraisers to look over the district
and see if it would stand the assess
ment. Included in the total cost of
the sewer work are laterals, the lay
ing of street grades and a mess of
surveying.
Main, Third, Seventh and Tenth
street improvements were formally
accepted by the city, and the assess
ment of Main street was fixed at
$14,154, of which 80 percent, to be
paid the contractor at present, was
$12,030.90. A balance of $200 was
due on this, but was held up on motion
of Huckett, who declared the contract
ors had not yet paid all local bills.
The council finally voted to draw a
warrant for the contractors for $150,
but to have the recorder hold that
until accounts were settled. The
other 20 percent will be held as a
guarantee fund against repairs for
the street. .
Reports of the chief of police and
recorder showed that there had been
$45 in fines collected during October,
that two men had been arrested for
being drunk and two for violating
Ordinance No. 680 the Jones anti-
booze law. Fifty-four hoboes had
been given lodging, and the sale of
three dogs had netted the city $4.10.
Improvement bonds totalling $7904.
06 were authorized to clean up ac
counts on Seventh, Fifteenth, High
and Third streets, and Mr. Van Auken
had the recorder instructed to order
some more bonds printed. Nothing
was stipulated by him in regard to
buying the bond blanks in Oregon
City.
v Property owned by the Latourettes
on Eleventh street, between Madison
and Monroe, which Mr. Hackett and
a committee had been asked to inves
tigate, was reported to be assessed as
worth $250. Against this there are
$77.85 unpaid taxes and approximate
ly $1600 assessment liens. Mr. Schue
bel volunteered the information that
there was also a cement sidewalk to
be put down in front of the property
that would cost about $325. The city
is considering foreclosing on this
property to get the improvement
charges but after the report the
matter was referred to Chris to find
a way out.
Robert Sarton, who has been clean
ing Main street with a two-inch hose,
estimated that he could do the work
next year, including John Q. Adams
street, for $120 a month. Mr. Temple
ton, though not present, sent in a note
to theVfect that it would cost $190
a month, and that about every three
months new hose would have to be
bought. Apparently Mr. Templeton
doesn't think much of the hose as a
substitute for the power flusher. An
ordinance appropriating $1300 for the
purchase of the flusher went on the
table to sleep till Mr. Templeton
comes down and rescues it.
Councilman Meyer and City Attor
ney Schuebel sprung a happy thot
on the city fathers just before clos
ing, when they jointly announced that
the ten-mill levy already made and
published, and for which the budget
has been drawn, was a half-mill
strong, as it doesn't include the 'half-
mill library tax. The levy as it now
stands if for ten and a half mill in
cluding the library. At the joint
meeting of the taxpayers and the
council next Monday night, this extra
half-mill will have to be crowded into
the ten-mill limit so there will be
some more pruning.
A delegation from Mountain View
asked the council to stand half the
cost of improving Holme's Lane. The
council referred the delegation to the
taxpayers' meeting Monday night.
A bill from Moffatt & Parker, for
$3232.14, for laying and trenching
the elevator supply pipe, nad for
which there is only a pending appro
priation of $3150; was referred to the
elevator committeef or action.
And to close the meeting there was
a round-robin discussion of an alleged
leak in the Hawley flume, which Mr.
Schuebel thought would cause a cave
in of the new Main street paving; of
a broken sidewalk near an Eleventh
street commission house, where eleven
carloads of potatoes had been driven
over the walk, and of the hump on
one side of Main street and the pool
of water on the other side, where the
Willamette Valley Southern tracks
cross. The street committee was ask
ed to look into most of these matters,
and City Engineer Miller was instruct
ed to crawl into the Hawley flume and
find the leak.
Then the council adjourned.
Do you care to know about the hap
penings, etc., in the county? Do you
like to read the news of the different
towns and suburbs? Then subscribe
J for the Courier.
TIE "'SCARE"
IS
CONGRESSMAN GIVES HISTORY
OF SOME "PREPARE FOR
WAR" CAMPAIGNS
CHIEF AIM IS TO AID TRUST
Trick Played in France and Germany
Long Before the "Armor Ring"
Tried it in America
From Remarks of Clyde H. Tavenner.
Although scarcely believable, it is
the proven fact that British and Ger
man war trusts many years ago ac
tually set about to represent to their
respective home governments that
their rivals were planning to build
great armadas of giant fighting craft,
which have since been proven abso
lutely to have been figments of the
imagination pure and simple. The
same character of campaigns has been
going on between France and Ger
many, between the countries in the"
triple alliance and the triple etente,
and it is yet to be established whether
the United States of America has
not, also been the victim of a similar
brand of commercialism, in which pa
triotism is the means and profit the
end.
Misrepresentation as to the build
ing programs of Great Britain and
Germany were carried on to such an
extent that the papers became full of
it, and the suspicion of the people to
ward each other grew and grew. It
was inevitable that there could be
but one end to such proceedings, and
that end war.
Specific information, replete with
details, is available to show just how
the work was carried on.
Briefly, this is the story: Begin
ning in 1906, Mr. H. H. Mulliner,
managing director of the Coventry
Ordinance Co., of England, one of the
great British war trafficking concerns
gave himself to the work of propa
gating the myth of a gigantic ex
pansion of Krupp's works in particu
lar and German military acceleration
in general. .The "Diary of the Great
Surrender,'' which Mr. Mulliner him
self afterwards published, (London
Times, Jan. 3, 1910), contains these
two entries, which practically covered
the period of the campaign:
May 13, 1906, Mr. Mulliner
first informs British Admiralty
of preparations for enormously
increasing the German Navy.
(This information was conceal
ed from the British nation until
March, 1909.)
March 3, 1909, Mr. Mulliner
giving evidence before the Brit
ish Cabinet, proves that the
enormous acceleration in Ger
many for producing armaments,
about which he had perpetually
warned the Admiralty, was an
accomplished fact, and that large
quantities of raval guns and
mountings were being made with
great rapidity in that country.
It was an underground campaign,
but subsequent letters and speeches
(Mulliner's communications to London
Times, Aug. 2 and 16, Sept. 21, Dec.
14 and 17, 1909; Jan. 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 12,
15 and 18, 1910, etc.,) indicate that
Mr. Mulliner's "information," sent
first to the war office in May, 1906,
was "passed on to the Admiralty,"
was discussed by them with several
outsiders," and then "passed from
hand to hand o that hundreds have
read it."
Of this "information" it need only
be added that as soon as it became
public it was contradicted by Messrs.
Krupp, through Hon. John Leyland,
member of Parliament, in England,
and other correspondents. After some
years it was practically admitted by
the British Government to have been
false. Time has proved it never had
any real basis.
But the "information" had its ef
fect, the effect that Managing Direct
or Mulliner, of the Coventry Gardens
Ordnance Co., desired that it should
have. The "information"' becoming
public, swept -Great Britain off its
feet. The people took up and repeat
ed the war traders' slogan:
"We want eight, and we won't
wait," meaning battleships.
Ten days after Mr. Muliner pre
sented his "information" to the su
preme governing body of the British
Empire the statement explanatory of
the navy estimates was made. It
showed a total of $170,793,522 for
1909-10, an increase of $13,720,752;
new construction accounting for. an
increase of $6,512,400.
As a result of the "tip'' furnished
by the managing director of the war
munition firm, the British Govern
ment foretold that Germany would
have 17 dreadnaught battleships by
March, 1912, and Leader Balfour, still
more impressed by the fake "scare,"
declared Germany would have 25, or
in any case, 21, dreadnaughts in
March, 1912.
On almost the same day the pre
dicting was going on in England, the
German admiral, Von Tirpitz, told the
budget committee of the German
Reichstag that the German Navy
would have "only 13 dreadnaughts in
the autumn of 1912.
1
CI
IKED
GEORGE HAS CONVERT
Brownell Anti-Prohibition Campaign
Wins Ardent Prohibitionist
The- Hon. George C. Brownell's
campaign against the statewide "dry"
law has won at least one convert. S.
MacDonald, formerly one of our most
ardent and active prohibitionists, told
a Courier reporter Tuesday that he
thought George was right, and that
the legislature had slipped one over
on the "drys" when they passed the
law that will go into effect in Oregon
the first of the year.
Mr. MacDonald thinks that George
is doing a great work in making the
people realize how the wicked solons
up at Salem, and the Committee of
One Hundred down at Portland, fool
ed the people, and gave them a pro
hibition law that was a joke. Ac
cording to our local dry" friend, who
went out and got many prohibition
pledges signed, the law soon to be
in force is a farce; and ought to be
radically altered.
Once again the Courier remarks
that it is curious that the "wets feel
the same way about the law that
George C. Brownell says he feels.
And incidentally, it is still more cur
ious that many former Oregon "wet"
workers are now en route to Califor
nia, there to agitate absolute prohi
bition in that state. When the
"wets" want an absolute prohibition
law, it is curious that prominent
"drys" should want it, too.
TO AID COUNTY SEAT
"Buy It At Home" Committee Organ.
ized to Conduct Campaign
In an effort to show Oregon City
and Clackamas county people the ad
vantages they will enjoy if they do
all the shopping possible , at the
stores of their own district, Tom
Burke, main trunk of the Live Wires,
has appointed the following commit
tee: Dr. Louis A. Morris, chairman;
E. Kenneth Stanton, O. D. Eby, E .E.
Brodie, Theodore Osmund, Dr. W. E.
Hempstead, M. D. Latourette, Charles
T. Parker and Clyde G. Huntley.
This committee will work with a
similar committee to be appointed
by the Board of Trade. Clyde G.
Huntley, of the Live Wires committee,
is president of the board.
Chairman Morris, of the committee,
says that he will try to get local mer
chants to guarantee their customers
equal service and prices with Port
land stores, and that patronage will
be sought chiefly on this ground.
ALBIN FLOSS KILLED
Ardenwald Farmer Dies Alone from
Gunshot Wounds While Hunting
Albin Floss, a well-to-do farmer of
the Ardenwald district for the last
nine years, was found dead within a
hundred yards of his home late last
Thursday night when search for him
was made by Sheriff Wilson and Coro
ner Hempstead. Floss had died about
noon from the accidental discharge of
a shotgun he was carrying; it appear
ing that the weapon had caught in a
fence he was crawling through.
A sad feature of the accident was
that his wife heard the report of the
fatal shot while she was in her home,
but presumed that her husband was
probably shooting at a bird.
Mr. Floss was 60 years old, and
had come from Germany to the
United States about 35 years ago.
Aside from his widow, three daugh
ters and a son survive him.
NEW GRAND JURY
nquisitors Will Pay Special Attention
to Liquor Law Violations
Swearing in the new grand jury
this week, Judge J. U. Campbell, in
the circuitc ourt, urged the members
of the inquisitorial body to pay spec
ial attention to cases involving viola
tions of the statewide prohibition law.
The judge told the jurors that regard
less of their own personal opinions,
the new statewide law had been held
"good law," and would be rigidly en
forced.
Members of the new grand jury
are: August Staehley, foreman, of
New Era; W. A. Procter, Sandy; P.
F. Nelson, Mulino; E. Heiple, Eagle
Creek; J. D. Ritter, Needy; W. G.
Buckley, Wichita, and B. A. Howard,
Mulino.
GEORGE WHITE, HERO
Oregonian. Praises Its Ex-Reporter,
Now a Political General
Governor Withycombe's military
staff which is accompanying him to
San Francisco for official Oregon
day at the Fair, is in striking contrast
to the average staff of a chief execu
tive. There are no gold-braid Govern
or's staff officers in the lot, but ac
tive officers picked from various parts
of the state where troops are located.
Governor Withycombe is fortunate in
having no gold-lace staff, the last of
these flowery gentlemen having been
dismissed by him shortly after he was
inaugurated. The officers who give
serious work to the National Guard
the year around are entitled to these
tours, which in so many states are
reserved for political pets. (Oregon
ian.) Germany, had, in fact, according
to the British Naval Annual, only
9 dreadnaught battleships and cruisers
on March 31, and only 14 on March
31, 1913.
STRANGER
ASKS
JUSTIFICATION
RICHARD BELMONT TYNNE IS
PEEVED AT REMARKS OF
UPPER VALLEY PAPER ,
VISITOR TELLS ODD STORY
Man Referred to as "Plug-Ugly" by a
Corvallis Publication Says He
Is Really a Sociologist
Ye humble scribe who writes this
and some of the other things that
Courier readers have dished up to
them every week was sitting in the of
fice the other night after a council
meeting, when the door opened and a
tall, stocky, broad, shouldered person,
clad in rough and somewhat soiled
clothes came in. He said he wanted
to see the editor, but when told that
the editor was presumably home in
bed, he said that the scribe would do
just -as well. We asked him to be
seated, and carelessly reached for the
big office shears with which we clip
government reports. "This was simp
ly a matter of "safety first," for the
stranger was a big man, with a se
vere countenance, and the hour was
late.
"What's the best way to get satis
faction from a man who prints lie3
about you in the paper' the visitor
asked.
Ye humble scribe tried to think
quickly of all the things that the
Courier had said recently which might
move somebody to wrath. Not feel
ing guilty of anything special, he took
heart and advised him to lick the edi
tor. "That would be inconvenient," said
the visitor, "I'd have to go back too
far."
"Well, tell us the trouble, and
maybe we can see a better way out
of it," we suggested.
The man unbuttoned his coat, and
reaching to some mysterious pocket
inside, drew out a wallet. As he
opened it we saw a goodly supply of
paper currency, and so knew he was
probably an Easterner. From T the
wallet he drew a card and a newspa
per clipping. He laid the card on the
desk. . '
"Richard Belmont Tynne, Washing
ton, D. C," proclaimed the card. We
shook hands with Mr. Tynne and
then surreptitiously wiped off dust
and cinders that had been transfer
red from his hand to ours.
"I am conducting an investigation
for the American Institute of Sociol
ogy,'' said Mr. Tynne. "Just at pres
ent I am investigating, labor con
ditions, and trying to determine why
it is that so many men are 'on the
road,' and how best to finc them
means of getting steady and renum
erative employment. To do this I
am 'on the road myself,' and recently
I have been walking from San Fran
cisco northward. Some days ago I
was near Corvallis, when a sudden
shower came up, and I took shelter
under a water-tank beside the rail
road. While I was waiting for the
rain to abate a bedraggled person
came along and joined me. He was a
tall, thin man, rather dark complex-
ioned, and seemed to be of the vaga
bond type that does not even want
to work. I judged him to be what is
commonly known as a 'moocher,' a
parasite on our social system, that
wanders about picking up an easy liv
ing here and there by the qucikness
of wit so often found in men of that
type.
"The fellow had on fairly 'good
clothes, which I presumed he stole
somewhere, as they showed signs of
having been recently pressed. He had
tobacco and cigarette papers, and as
we sat there he nervously rolled a
'pill.' Sizing the person up for a pet
ty grafter of some sort, I told him
that I had 'stuck up a rube' in the
next town south and had got enough
money to buy 'eats and offered him
a slice of ham and some rye bread.
To put him at his ease I told him of
a number of imaginary criminal ad
ventures that I had been through, and
then we got on better terms and got
to talking. He wouldn't tell me a
whole lot about himself, but I gather
ed that he did no manual labor and
that he managed to make a living
that satisfied him. Finding that he
was not very interesting as a type or
an individual example, ' I was glad
when the rain ceased and we could go
our separate ways.
"When I got to Salem I stopped at
the hotel for a few days and get my
notes into shape. I had a report to
make out for the Institute of Sociol
ogy, and some other business matters
to attend to, so I was in your cap!
tal for some days. And imagine my
scurprise upon one of these days to
pick up a copy of a Corvallis paper
and find therein an editorial on 'Men
Dogs Bark At.' Thinking from the
title that it might be related to my
special line of research, I read it
closely that is closely until rage
clouded my vision. For the editorial
undoubtedly referred to me.
"It then dawned upon me that the
person whom I met under the water
tank in the rain was probably some
penny-a-line hack writer, and that in
FORD BUILDERS NOT NORMAL
Scientific Investigation Gives Results
That Read like "Funny Story"
In a plea for every man and wo
man in the United States of adult
age to join in a movement for anna
al or other periodic medical examina
tion of themselves, which will be
launched on December 8, The National
Association for the Study and Preven.
tion of Tuberculosis presents figures
in a Bulletin issued today which show
that practically 100 percent of the
supposedly well people of the United
States over 30 years of age have some
physical defect or impairment. About
70 percent of these impairments were
of a more or less serious nature.
There were besides about 30 percent
of defects of a minor character.
The figures which the National As
sociation presents are based upon the
careful studies recently made by the
Life Extension Institute among two
highly specialized grops of people,
the first group consisting of employes
of commercial houses, banks and trust
companies in New York. The records
of these examinations show that prac
tically none of those examinations
show that practically none of those
examined, men and women, are nor
mal in the strict sense of the word.
Another striking fact in the examina
tion is that only 10 percent of those
who are impaired were aware that
there was anything the matter with
them.
In these groups about 23 percent
showed abnormal blood pressure,
while nearly 27 percent showed com
bined disturbances of circulation and
kidneys. Organic heart disease,
thickened arteries, lung trouble lead
ing to possible tuberculosis, nervous
affections, digestive troubles and ve
nereal disease were among the other
impairments discovered, practically
all of which had escaped the notice of
the individuals examined.
During Tuberculosis Week which
Will be celebrated throughout the
United States from December 6 to De
cember 12, a national medical exami
nation day will be observed on De
cember 8. Groups and individuals will
be urged to make arrangements for
physical examination on that day.
OREGON FORESTS LEAD
Greatest Stands of Young Timber to
be Found along Coast Line
Forest Service officials have just
completed "an extensive timber recon
naissance" bf the National Forests of
Oregon, Washington and Alaska, and
the figures assembled as a result of
this reconnaissance give the total
stand of government timber as 297,
643,000 feet.
According to the compilation, the
largest areas of young timber in any
of the National Forests are found on
the Sieuslaw Forest along the Ore
gon coast, while the most extensive
and unbroken bodies of old timber are
found on the Olympic Forest in west
ern Oregon on the west Blope of the
Cascade Range, lead in the amount
of' Douglas fir; while the Olympic
Forest in western Washington leads in
the amount of amabilis fir and west
ern red cedar. Three of the Nation
al Forests in the Blue Mountains fo
Oregon each have in the neighborhood
of five billion feet of western yellow
pine; the greatest amount of sugar
pine is found on the Siskiyou Forest
in southwestern Oregon.
Not a Bad Idea
Dr. E. L. Tufts, of Portland, is be
hind an initiative measure for an air
tight law that will make compulsory
one day of rest in Oregon. It is my
opinion that an initiative law guaran
teeing six days of work in Oregon
would be far more important. (Ben
ton County Courier.)
his gullibility he had swallowed the
story of my imaginary criminal ad
ventures, and had written a grossly
exaggerated article about them. The
editor who bought his stuff evidently
deemed it unsuitable for his news
columns, and so ran it on the editor
ial page. It referred to me as a 'plug-
ugly,' 'a man a woman would be
afraid to meet,' a potential murderer,
in short a conscienceless villain. Here
is what he wrote you can read it for
yourself."
And so saying Mr. Richard . Bel
mont Tynne passed us the newspaper
clipping he had taken from his wal
let. It was an editorial from the
Benton County Courier, and it surely
was lurid enough, and was written in
M. J. Brown's most telling style. The
editorial wound up the probable ca
reer of Mr. Tynne with the following
prophecy:
"The end of this hobo will be either
a long term over the road, or a death
by shooting some of these days, when
he goes up against the wrong man or
house. '
Well, we had to laugh. Mr. Tynne
naturally didn't see anything funny
about it, and wanted the joke explain
ed. So we told him that M. J. Brown
was some sociologist himself, and
that probably he wos "short of copy"
and had used his meeting with Mr.
Tynne as inspiration for something
with which to fill his paper. Mr.
Tynne, having a scientific mind, which
hated a vacuum, was somewhat ap
peased, but was not entirely mollified.
"Well, it may be as you say," he
admitted, "but I don't like it at all,
and I wish you would tell this Mr.
Brown about it if you get the chance."
And that is what we have just
done and told a few others, too.
SENDS
PRICESSOARING
ONE CAUSE OF HIGH COST OF
LIVING TRACEABLE DI
RECTLY TO CONFLICT
AVERAGE MAN FEELS PINCH
Sufferer from Headache or Rheuma
tism Forced to Pay for Euro
pean Row When Stricken 111
Some of our republican papers, in
a futile effort to make political capi- t
tal that can be used against the Wil
son administration, are charging that
under Democratic rule the cost of liv
ing has gone away up far higher
than it ever went under the "grand
old party." Even the slightest inves
tigation of conditions, however, will
showi that the Wilson administration
has nothing to do with the increase;
and that prices of commodities would
go kiting up to the sky just the same
(if not more so) had Roosevelt got
his third cup of coffee, or had William
Hward Taft been reseated in the
White House.
Little Willie wakes up in the night
and tells his mother that his knee
aches, and that he can't sleep.
Mother wakes up dad and tells him
to rustle down to the drugstore and
get something for Willie's rheuma
tism. Father goes and comes back
swearing. Sodium salicytate, which
is the basis of all rheumatism cures,
used to cost the druggist 40 cents a
pound wholesale.. Since the war the
price has gone to $6.40 a pound and
Willie's father pays the difference.
The same way when Willie's father
has been out to lodge,- and wakes up
next morning with a headache. He
drops in to the drugstore and asks for
some "headache wafers." The drug
gist hands them to him, and tells him
what they cost. "Good heavens,"
says Willie's father, "they only used
to be ten cents; what are you trying
to do fine me for having a head
ache?" And then the druggist says that ac-
etanalid, which formerly cost 34 cents
a pound wholesale, now costs $1.29
a pound; and that phenacetine, which
formerly cost 12 cents an ounce, is
now listed at 83 cents an ounce,
wholesale. Acetanalid and phenace
tine are the basis of all headache
res.
These increases in price are due
mainly to the war, and the tremendous
demand for drugs and medicinal sup
plies by the armies in the field. The
blockade of German commerce has
also helped raise prices; and then in
addition to .this eastern drug whole
salers have started a nice little trust,
which is already being investigated by
the Wilson administration.
Just as an example of the increase
in drugs and kindred supplies which
is only a part of the story of the war's
influence on the price Americans are
paying for the enjoyment of peace
the following quotations will be of
considerable interest.
Before the war the wholesale price
of carbolic acid was 20 cents a pound.
Now it is $2.28 a pound, and it is
hard to get it in more than pound lots.
Glycerine, which milady uses every
morning when she is fixing up her
beautiful complexion, and which she
uses at night when she tries to mas
sage out the wrinkles, was quoted at
18 cents a pound before the war. Now
the retail druggist has to pay 72 cents
a pound for it, and can't get very
much at thnt price.
Quinine, "the American cure-all,"
was 38 cents an ounce, wholesale, be
fore the war made it a part of the
trench equipment in Flanders. Now it
costs $2.10 an ounce.
Cream of Tartar, which is widely
advertised as being the base of good
baking powders, was 28 cents a pound
wholesale, before the war. Now it
is 70 .cents. Yet people expect good
baking powder to stay at the same old
price.
Mercury, which tells us how warm
we are or how cold it is out-doors
when we look at the thermometer, was
70 cents a pound wholesale before the
war. They are not making ten-cent
thermometers now, for mercury is
$1.90 a pound wholesale.
Saccharine, a substitute for sugar
in candy that is composed largely of
glucose and coloring extracts, and that
is the delight of the small boy and
small girl during recess hours at
school, sold for 19 cents an ounce
wholesale before the war. It is now
listed at $1.04 and penny candy has
gone out of fashion.
Chloroform has jumped two-bit3 a
pound wholesale; blue-stone has gone
up a nickel a pound; lanolin has leap
ed up $1.56 a pound; santonin has
jumped up three dollars and forty
cents an ounce. And an ounce isn t
very heavy.
Sodium bromide, which the doctor
gives you when you can't go to sleep
at night owing to your troubled con
science, is worth more than ten times
as much today as it was before the
w"ar. It used to be listed at 64 cents
a pound wholesale; now it is $6.70 a
pound. Potasium bromide, another
soother of the troubled nerves, has
(Continued on Page 8)