t: '
OREGO
i
COUMM
34th Year
OREGON CITY, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1916
Number 30
-V
END
WRITTEN
IN LIFE TRAGEDY
WOULD REPLACE WOMAN AS
ADMINISTRATRIX OF ERNEST
CASE, KILLED BY BROTHER
SAY. COUPLE IS NOT MARRIED
Case Family, Ties Shattered by Feud,
Brings Pictures of Grave to
County Court Room
A concluding chapter is ieing writ
, ten to the sad life dramas of the Case
. families as they haye been told and
retold in Clackamas county within the
past year, or since the killing at Park-
piauc uii wctuuei ot ULOt ui. uiueai v4.
Case by his brother Sam. An echo of
' that feudal climax resounded in the
probate court before Judge H. S. An
derson here on. Monday. Meanwhile
the wee daughter of the dead man
climbed about the benches and gig-,
gled in babyish glee as she found
some new sight to attract her eyes
and center her attention, taking it
.. away from the harsh banter of hate
ful sisters and the lawyers whose le
gal talents sought to untangle the
threads that are adding to the tragedy
which caused the death of Ernest Case
and which is now causing a fight of
hate to be waged among those of the
family still living.
On Monday, County Judge Ander
son considered evidence presented
with a petition to "remove Leona Char
ters,1 known here as the wife of Ernest
R. Case, as administratrix of his es
tate, on the ground that the CQuplo
was not legally married. The petition
, was filed some time ago by Mrs.
Ralph Smith, widow of Sam Case,
and Cassius M. C. Case) her brother-in-law.
It was alleged in the courtroom
that no marriage ceremony was ever
performed to bind Leona Charters and
Ernest R. Case, although a mock cer
emony for he benefit of the woman
. was admitted. Attorneys brought
could not show the tears that had
bespoke a wedding ceremony evi
dence that, at any rate, the couple
lived under contract marriage vows.
Pictures of the simple headstone
that sets apart the grave in Riverview
cemetery of little Thelma Case, anoth
er daugher of the murdered man and
Leona Charters, were produced a a
sadly silent witnesses testifying to a
marriage. The pictures were want
jf.. ing, though, for they did not they
t could not show the tears that had
fallen from a mother's eyes on that
grave the tears . of a mother-love
that vainly wept and prayed that life
might be restored to the little body of
her first born; a body and soul
snatched from a world that proved
cruelly cold to the mother, who,
though she may not have walked cir
cumspectly, seemed always to follow
'.-'' " in the path of the love that bound her
,' to7 her husband and to her children.
The simple headstone did not show
4 the tears. It did show the inornate
. , inscription, "Thelma Case," and an
undertaker testified that the name
had been placed there at the order of
Ernest Case, the father, and the man
whose name his own brother and sister-in-law
would deny, by means of
the august statutes of the state, to
little Thelma, sleeping these many
- months in her quiet grave, and to the
tiny two-year-old tot who clambered
. about the benches in the court room
Monday, all unmindful of the story
that was being told to Judge Ander
son. Sam Case, who killed his brother
a few days more than a year ago,
died following an operation a brief
month after the tragedy. His widow,
before the legal interval had elapsed,
married Ralph Smith at Hillsboro.
Smith had been a bartender in the
employ of Ernest Case in the days)
hefore Oretrnn Citv's nrnhihit-.inn Inwal
were made.
Investigation has revealed no rec
ord of a marriage ceremony "and at
torneys in the case liken it to the cir
sumstances in the recent Ford trial
at Portland. The opinion is that the
ctAple married by contract and 'as a
precedent the local court will have
, the Ford action and the decision,
which declared a contract marriage
legal. Although the women in this
action are sisters, they are bitter
enemies as a result of the feud be
tween their husbands, who . were
brothers, and they are pulling at ev
ery legal possibility to write a final
chapter in what is declared to be one
of the saddest stories of tangled lives
and hearts ever aired in Clackamas
county.
Socialists Rally
Under the auspices of the Social
ist county committee candidates for
office nominated by that party will
hold a meeting on Saturday evening
at Beaver Creek and on Monday eve
ning will meet at Molalla. P. W.
Meredith, candidate for the legisla
ture, and other county candidates
will speak.
Marriage License
A marriage license was issued here
Monday by County Clerk Harrington
to Rachael Rebecca Rueck and Lois
F. Killing, Aurora, route 1.
JOHNSON RECORD IS
BUILT ON SERVICE
CANDIDATE HAS REVISED TAX
BOKS OF TWO COUNTIES.
IN WORK MANY YEARS
At Wilsonville
last night George
F. Johnson, demo
cratic .candidate
for assessor, open
ed the eyes of a
large number of
taxpayers to the
i m p or tance ' of
competence in that
office and laid be
fore them for their
approval a record
of continuous ser
vice in one branch
of business that
G. F. Johnson
speaks volumes for the ability of the
man. - Mr. Johnson was one of the
speakers at the democratic precinct
meeting at Wilsonville. Other county
candidates won stirring applause from
a good audience. . ,
In his talk Mr. Johnson, who Has
been chief deputy assessor here for
the past eight years, recited his ca
reer in tax assessment work and left
for his audience to decide the question
of his qualification for the' position,
and his ability to hold it down more
successfully than any other candidate
who has appeared thus far in Clack
amas county. , .
'Mr. Johnson entered the tax as
sessor's office of Umatilla county un
der his father, Burr Johnson, a pio
neer Oregonian, at a very early age
and he has not been out of that line
of work for long since that time. Af
ter serving with his father for a num
ber of years Mr. Johnson became
chief deputy in the assessor's office of
Baker county, where he served from
1902 until 1906. During that time
Mr. 1 Johnson entirely revised the
methods of work" in the office and the
new system which he installed is in
use tqday. ' Mr.' Johnson is a native
of "Yamhill county, born in 1864, and
is now a resident of Oregon City,
where his two fine children, a son and
a daughter, are high school pupils.
He and Assesor Jack are alone re
sponsible for the splendid system in
use in the Clackamas county office now
and have eliminated, much of the for
mer bunglesome work. '
Those who have visited the office
during Mr. Johnson's tenure there,
and that has been throughout the past
eight years, can best testify to the
character of his work and his ability
to take up the position vacated ' by
Mr. Jack. In addition to being thor
oughly familiar with every detail of
the office work, Mr. Johnson is a
draftsman and has saved the county
many hundreds of dollars m the pas:
eight years by eliminating the ex
Dense of hiring a draftsman, which
has been found such a burden in other
counties. He has personally platted
and mapped every tract and piece of
land in Clackamas county, most of
them several times. And for this
work " he has not accepted one cent
above his usual salary. He has alo
made maps of every road and school
district and every voting precinct in
the .county. He has checked every
item of work in and out of the office
and knows every tract of property in
the county.
In his interesting address at Wil
sonville last night, Mr. Johnson said.
"The greatest asset an assessor can
have is the inclination and desire to
be fair and equitable. He should
never get the idea that he is the
'whole show.' In the course of time
many knotty problems are thrust
upon the assessor problems which
only one experienced in the work can
hope to solve. The assessor must be
fair and square and must always com
bine his best judgment with good
common sense."
Mr. Johnson is conducting a clean
campaign and is hopeful of election.
He stands solely on his record of the
past eight years, and is right in be
lieving that there, is probably not
another assessor o? candidate in the
state of Oregon whose qualifications
will compare with his. He has .been
a very careful student of tax prob
lems all his life and from the time he
completed his education in the schools
of eastern Oregon he has been en
gaged in assessment work. Mr. John
son's ability cannot be questioned and
his candidacjr js.to be a prime test
of the consistency of the voters of the
county. Voters have prayed, year in
and year out, for capable officials,
men capable of handling the work of
the offices they seek. If Mr. Johnson
is not elected it will look greatly as
if the voters enjoy being fooled and
that'they no longer care how and for
what service their money is spent
Mr. Johnson's service is offered Clack
amas county at a bargain, consider
ing the capability of the man.
Admitted to Probate
A petition to admit to probate the
will of Mrs. Julia Ann Mumpower,
who died a Stone on October 2, was
filed in the county court by Lorenzo
D. Mumpower, a son, of Gladstone.
The estate comprises 112 acres of
land at Stone, originally the Horace
Baker donation land claim, and val
ued at $5000. The principal heir and
husband of the deceased, Joseph L.
Mumpower, is a patient at the state
hospital at Salem.'
Mr. Hughes has yet to define firm
Americanism.
, A
ROADS
CONGRESS
LIVE IRE PLAN
IDEA IS TO COOPERATE WITH
COUNTY COURT TO BRING
GREATEST PROGRESS
HOLMAN SCORES PAVEMENT
Next Meeting Will be "Bee" for Po
litical Discussion. County and
City Problems Presented
A good roads- congress is planned
for the near futiwe by the Live Wires
of the Commercial club and a report
presented at the meeting on Tuesday
by a roads committee was adopted
with this congress in view. " It is the
idea ,of the committee to hold a two-
day program at which good roads will
be the only topic and when a plan of
o-operatiort with ' the county court
and other development agencies can
be outlined. The committee recom
mends that all district supervisors at
tend the congress. A detailed pro
gram will be prepared, and the meet
ing will probably be held soon after
the general election. '.
The Tuesday meeting was ad
dressed by Rufus C. Holman, Mult
nomah county commissioner anl
prominent in the good roads move
ment in Oregon. The hour was de
voted to the discussion of roads topics
and to arangements for the next
meeting, which is to take the form
of a political "bee" and will be held
next Wednesday evening at the club
rooms. At this time the various
measures before the voters will be
discussed from all angles and civie
problems will be introduced. ' The
organization will probably take some
action with regard to. the city park
question. ,
Good roads sentiment among the
members made another advance step
at the meeting Tuesday, when Mr.
Holman dealt with road building facts
and theories in a very interesting
talk. Mr. Holman laid special em
phasis upon the failure of the plan
of appointing county road supervisors
and expecting from them construction
of good roads. These men, said the
speaker, are usually without training,
and are almost invariably appointed
either for political reasons or because
of their, affability, while their capa-
bilites are entrely overlooked.
"The' supervisor plan, Mr. HoU
man said, "is as preposterous as
would be a plan to call ahese same
men into your home to set a broken
arm or cure a fever. They are, in a
majority of cases, utterly without
training in road work and the result
of the system is that the roads we re
quire are not being built. It takes as
much training to build a road proper
ly as it does to erect a building.
"There is one way to correct some
of the shortcomings in the road pro
grams of the county courts of Ore
gon. That is, to elect to office men
who do not care a snap for re-election
and will, therefore, bend every effort
toward doing their work without fear
or favor.""
The speaker stated that not ond
per cent of the roads of any county in
Oregon, unless it -,be Multnomah,
would be hard surfaced within the
next decade. He pointed out that hia
experience had shown drainage of
highways to rank with hard surfacing
in importance and said that earth
roads were in many cases very ser
viceable where proper attention had
been paid to drainage. He commend
ed the program of the Clackamas
county court, although he personally
denounced the type of surface applied
here, He said, however, that proof of
the value of this type at the cost at
which it has been laid, would be one
of the greatest steps ever made in
road development in Oregon.
Mr. Holman has found, he says, a
hearty co-operative spirit in the mat
ter of road development in the state
and especially in connection with the
construction of the West Side high
way from Portland to Corvallis. He
pledged the support of Multnomah
county to any program outlined by the
Clackamas county court or any other,
and "promised that any road built to
the Multnomah county line from
Clackamas county would find a high
way of the very highest type to join
it and run into Multnomah county and
Portland. Mr. Holman suggested the
importance of ... the county budget
meeting -and pointed to the import
ance of a general interest in the prep
aration of the budget.
BOY THIEVES FREED
Trio Gets Heavy Sentence if Boys
Fail to Make Good
Sentenced to serve from two to five
years in the penitentiary and pay the
costs of action, Edgar Conboy, Aug
ust Prery and Ray Pietzold. indicted
and tried on a charge of burglary.
were paroled Tuesday by Judge J. U.
Campbell. The bovs were found guil
ty of a series of thefts in the north
ern part of the county. , The parole
issued by the judge requires that the
youths report in writing twice each
month to Sheriff Wilson and that, if
they lose employment, they are to re
port the condition immediately.
NOT GUILTY PLEA IS'
MADE FOR WILBUR
FRIAR'S CLUB MANAGER TO BE
TRIED BY CAMPBELL ON
NOVEMBER 9
Not guilty, was the plea entered
before Judge J. U. Campbell on Mon
day by Julius Wilbur, indicted secret
ly by the grand jury last week on a
charge of violating the prohibition
laws." Louis Rosenfeld, waiter, and
Tommy Nishioka, Japanese porter,
indicted with Wilbur on the same
charge, entered similar pleas through
their attorney, ex-Senator Charles W.
Fulton of Portland. ' Judge Campbell
set the trial of Wilbur, on the indict
ment returned against him singly,
for November 9 and on the following
day Wilbur, Rosenfeld and Nishioka,
indicted jointly, will be tried;
Wilbur is at liberty under $2000
bonds, an increase of half over the
bond that was exacted at first. - Ros
enfeld and Nishioka are 6ut under
$1000 bail and Casey Jone3, musician
and Wilbur's chief roustabout,' who
is held as a witness, is free under
$500 bail. In each case the bail was
provided by prominent Milwaukie and
Portland men. ,
At the hearing on Monday a de
murrer to the indictments was pre
sented by' Attorney Fulton, who held
that the charge of selling intoxicants
was not sufficient cause for action,
because it did not name purchasers.
The demurrer was overruled by Judge
Campbell, who advised the ex,-senator
and defender of the. notorious Wilbur
to read the prohibition laws. The
law, pointed out Judge Campbell,
made it unnecessary to give the
names of purchasers. District At
torney Hedges requested that the
trials be set for the earliest possible
date so that the cases might be
promptly disposed of. In compliance
with this request Judge Campbell
named November 9 and 10.
Wilbur and his accomplices were
arrested on Sunday morning, Octo-.
ber 1, when Sheriff W. J. Wilson and
a party of deputies" surprised revel
ers at the infamous Friar's club at
Milwaukie and confiscated 70 quarts
of miscellaneous intoxicants. Thirty-
five of the half-drunk merrymakers
who were enjoying Wilbur's hospi
tality and spending their money fool
ishly for tiny glasses f his well
known "ginger ale," were brought to
Oregon City and their testimony tak
en. Much of this is of a certain in
criminating character and an excep
tionally strong case has been devel
oped around Wilbur and his helpers
by District Attorney Hedges and
Sheriff Wilson.
fcyC
EX-GOVERNOR HERE J
j
Oswald West,' former gov-
ernor of Oregon, will address !
a public meeting of voters at J
Seventh 'and Main streets, Or- J
egon City, on Monday eve- J
ning. The former executive, S
an able orator and a thorough-
ly advised man, will discuss &
the political issues of the day. J
He speaks at 7:30 in the eve- J
ning under the auspices of the J
Clackamas county democratic
central"committee. J
5t vl t?8
YOUNG ROD-RIDER HELD
With Letter From Mother Boy Es
capes From Training School
With fifteen cents in - one pocket
and a much thumbed letter from his
mother in another, Lacey Oliver, a 10
year old lad, was arrested in the
Southern Pacific yards here last night
and slept in the city jail in place of
on the brake beams of a south bound
freight train as he had expected. The
boy escaped from the Washington
State Training school on Tuesday and
boarded a freight train for Portland.
He had just completed a walk from
Portland to Oregon City when arrest
ed by Night Officers Woodward and
French.
- The letter in the boy's pocket was
from his mother, Mrs. J. K. Oliver
of Ashland.1. In part it said: "May
God guide you and keep you and bring
you home to me in His own good
time." "His own good time" was in
terpreted as the present by the boy
and he was making all haste toward
Ashland.
Several weeks ago the boy went
from Ashland to Sunnyside, Wash., to
visit an uncle, and from that place
was committed to the training school.
He was sent from the school to a den
tist, but started on his long journey
instead of seeing the dentist. Train
ing school authorities have. been no
tified. LISTS BURNED GOODS
Mrs. Mary C. Wells, acquitted
some time ago on a charge of arson
in connection with the destruction by
fire of her houses at Oswego, has filed
an amended answer in her suit against
the Firemens' Insurance company of
New York, through which she seeks
to recover insurance on her burned
buildings.
The new complaint is not different
from the original, except in that it
lists the contents of the house at the
time of its destruction. The original
complaint was filed on August 17.
IS
p
LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE ROUS
ES MANY AT BIG DEMOCRAT
IC RALLY AT MOLALLA
ADVOCATES TAX LIMITATIONS
Candidate is Son of Pioneer Oregon
ians. Says Too Much Time is
Spent on New Laws
J.E.JACK
Tax limitation, fewer laws, econo
my rightly placed with rigid honesty
are the planks in the platform of
promise upon which J. E. Jack, pres
ent county assessor, stands as a can
didate for the state legislature from
Clackamas county. Mr. Jack, as
county assessor during the past eight
years, has seen the thorough value of
honesty in and out of office and during
the years of his life he has practised
that honesty to the last letter. Mr.
Jack makes honesty a strong point in
his campaign arguments.
At the big democratic rally at Mo
lalla on Saturday Mr. Jack was one
of the principal speakers. He told a
large audience there that the para
mount qualification of any officer is
honesty, and that a man who is not
honest and whose character, there
fore, is in disrepute, should be auto
matically disqualified to fill any of
fice within the gift of the people. Mr.
Jack earnestly requested his auditors
to investigate the record of all can
didates for office and to use their best
endeavor to vote honest men into of
fice, regardless of politics. '
"I believe that in former years
our legislature has held too many
professional politicians, who work
more for their personal . interests
than for the interests of the people.
"As to tax limitation I am con
vinced that it is the right thing. We
have laws limiting the taxation in
cities, counties, road and school dis
tricts. , They, have been successful.
Why cannot they be applied to the
state with the same measure of suc
cess? I favor tax limitation legis
lation, not radical but legislation with
a purpose for the good of the state,
and I shall, if elected, work to ac
complish such a purpose.
"If our state legislature devoted
more time to the consideration of ap
propriations, through which the tax
payer's money is spent, and less time
to the passing of new and usually
very unnecessary laws, the people
would be better served. ' I do not be
lieve in the present plan of devoting
39 days to passing laws when we have
so little need for additional laws and
only one day to the consideration of
appropriations and the expenditure
of the people s money. If I am elect
ed I propose to devote the major por
tion of my time to an attempt at the
consideration of appropriations and
only time enough to additional legis
lation as good and needed laws re
quire. "The state commissions are, in the
majority of cases, well worth-while.
They serve a good purpose and are
self-supporting. There are many
commissions, however and some of
them are wasteful and some unneces
sary. I think these should suffer in
vestigation and I will go to the legis
lature, if elected, with such an under
taking in mind."
Mr. Jack, democratic candidate for
representative, is without doubt as
well qualified as any . candidate the
county could produce for that office.
He is anative son of the county which
he expects to represent in the next
legislature. He is a son of one of
the early pioneers of the state and
county, his father having located on
the Jeremiah Jack donation land
claim near Marquam in 1847. For
thirty years Mr. Jack remained on the
farm and achieved notable success in
that pursuit. -
After leaving the farm Mr. Jack
came to Oregon City and has lived
here since that time. For four years
he was chief deputy sheriff under J. J.
Cooke and the following six years he
was in the mercantile business. Dur
ing that time he was one of the lead
ing grocers of Oregon City. During
the past eight years Mr. Jack has been
continuously a public servant as coun
ty assessor and he bears the distinc
tion of having occupied that office to
the greatest satisfaction of the ma-
(Continued on Page 8)
LANK
On
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
RALLIES ARE HELD
COUNTY CANDIDATES GREET
LARGE AUDIENCES AT ALL
MEETINGS.
The war horses of the democratic
county campaign have put in some
very busy days this week. J. E. Jack,
candidate for legislative honors, C. W.
Risley, who seeks the county commis
sionership, G F. Johnson, the demo
cratic choice for county assessor, and
District Attorney Gilbert L. Hedges,
candidate to succeed himself as dis
trict attorney, are the local politicians
who are stirring things up around
over the county.
Monday night the four spoke at
Brown s school house at New Era.
Tuesday evening, at Schuebel's hall
at Beaver Creek, they addressed an
interested audience. Wednesday eve
ning they spoke at Wilsonville, and
tonight they will speak at Macksburg,
Friday night they appear at Barlow
and Saturday evening at Clackamas,
where a big program is planned.
There is a general awakening in
the county to the fact that these four
men are citizens of sterling qualities
and that that they are to be reckoned
with at the November election. On
all sides a fine interest is being manl
fested, not only in the meeting, but
in the men as well, and that old
stuff" about a strictly partisan vote
is going to be badly upset next month,
if the Courier is not mistaken. Next
week, also, the candidates will be on
the job, but their itinerary has not
been made public as yet. One nigm.
only will be taken off and that will be
when ex-Governor Oswald West and
Senator George Chamberlain talk
here in Oregon City.
The candidates are all splendidly
qualified for the offices they seek.
Ed Jack, who aspires for legislative
honors, has been county assessor for
eight years and his fairness and im
partiality in conducting the office has
made for him a most enviable repu
tation. He has served the people
faithfully in the past, and this leads
voters to believe he would not betray
their trust in the legislature. Jack's
record is without a blur.
Fred Johnson, candidate for asses
sor, will conduct an efficient -administration.
He has been in assessment
work for the past fifteen years and
has personally platted every piece of
land in Clackamas county probably
two or three times. His judgment
is good and his long experience should
give him an edge which the ' voters
should not overlook. . '
C. W. Risley is a man who doe?
things. He has done things all his
life and today is one of Clackamas
county's most prosperous and sub
stantial citizens and a man who is
respected on all sides. He promises
a business administration and thosu
who know Mr. Risley know his word
is good as gold. If selected for the
commissionership the taxpayers may
expect the same shrewd, careful and
business-like attention to county af-.
fairs that Mr. Risley has always given
his own personal affairs.
Gilbert L. Hedges, who has "made
good" with a vengeance, is turning
his guns loose in a manner that is
creating no'end of comment about the
county. His record of big achieve
ments while in office has probably not
been duplicated by another district
attorney in the state. He has won
damage cases against the county
amounting to $31,000, has won five
important cases in the supreme
court, secured 14 convictions out of
15 liquor cases tried, and has never
drawn a faulty complaint or indict
ment in over 500 he has prepared
since entering the office. His honesty
and integrity are above reproach and
there is a general knowledge among
democrats and republicans alike that
the legal affairs of Clackamas coun
ty, a $30,000,000 corporation, will re
main safeguarded if Mr. Hedges is
kept in office. He has kept the prohi
bition fund intact, and a balance ex
ists in the county's "favor after all
expenses, including the deputy's sal
ary, have been paid. Hedges is tried
and true and the voting public know?
it.
DENOUNCE LOAN PROPOSAL
Pomona Grange Meeting Yesterday
Largely Attended." Spence Speaks
A well attended meeting of the Po
mona Grange of Clackamas county
at Parkplace yesterday went on rec
ord at being strongly against the pro
posed and so-called people's land and
loan measure which will be upon the
ballot at the November election.
Resolutions were passed condemning
the bill after C. Schuebel, Oregon City
attorney, had denounced it as vicious
legislation. ' Another resolution
passed urged the state government to
open state lime deposits so that farm
ers can get lime for their lands at
cost.
C. E. Spence, master of the state
grange, spoke in favor of the rural
credits bill upon which voters will
ballot. The grange meeting was in
session throughout the day and in ad
dition to a very interesting program
of speaking and music, delegates
from most of the granges of the coun
ty enjoyed a luncheon at the noon
hour.
Mr. Fairbanks' active entry into
the campaign put an abrupt end to
the hot weather.
BALLOT MEA5UES
ARE BIRDBLEAfl
VOTER WHO HAS NOT STUDIED
1
IS HANDICAPPED BY CON
FUSION IN TITLES
BILLS CROWDED WITH JOKERS
Peoples' Land and Loan Law Denounc
ed as Ultra-Radical and Worth
less Proposal
It is not within the province of a
newspaper to attempt a dictatorial
attitude in connection with a voter's
action at the polls. We were granted,
thanks be, by a far sighted ancestry,
that wonderful liberty of voice and
pen that has made America THE na
tion of the world and all the printer's
ink in the world and all Webster's
words rightly combined could not in a
thousand years deprive us of that
right.
Yet the newspaper fills a peculiar
field in each community when it is
properly provided with honest minds
and motives. There are newspapers
that dictate or attempt to but their
dictation is more laughable than ser
viceable and their motives are too of
ten mean. The honest press is close
ly in touch with the feeling of its
field. It is in a far better position
than the individual to gather the sen
timent of the voters in its community
and it is only fair to the individual
that, having gathered that sentiment,
the newspaper should discuss with its
readers its findings.
For that reason alone and without
any idea of attempting to dictate or
sway the personal feelings of its read
ers the Courier here presents, as, con
cisely as possible, what it feels to be
the very general sentiment toward the '
proposed amendments and measures
upon which Clackamas county people '.
are asked to vote at the election No
vember 7.
Oregon has in the past few years
taken entirely too much advantage
of its liberal privileges. It has cat
ered to cxanks and special interests .
in ballot hall and legislature until it is
in an unenviable position as an ex
periment station for the analization
of all the freakish and foolish brain
storms of every political dreamer and
scheme who carfcs to hoodwink the
public with catch phrases and nicely
worded laws, whose purposes are so
different from their promises.
Eastern capital frowns upon Ore
gon. This is a fact, though it sours '
our hopes to think of it, and eastern
capital refuses to consider the pur
chase of Oregon securities, except -
bonds, because eastern capital, east
ern business men, are afraid of Ore
gon. They are afraid of Oregon leg
islation nd voters, they have no con
fidence in the future because the past
has seen so much radicalism enacted
within the borders of the state. This
is a condition that must be remedied
by the exercise of the utmost care and
precaution on the part of the voters.
The voter is duty bound to correct
the evils that already exist and to
avoid contaminating the state consti
tution with further scheming dreams.
November 7 is the day to start the
house-cleaning in Oregon that will re
establish the confidence of the nation
in this great state and its voters.
November 7 is the day to kill the ri
diculous ambitions of those who would
pollute our constitution and statute
books with their damnable rot and
November 7 is the day to show these
triflers that the voters of Oregon are
done with the degrading efforts, re
peated at every election for ten years,
to defile the intelligence of the people
of the state.
There are several measures upon
the ballot that are supported but
such an evenly divided sentiment that
the Courier will not attempt to dis
cuss them. They must be decided by
the individual voter after a careful
study of their meanings. We have
our own opinions, but every voter has
his own opinion and, withal, must ex
ercise his franchise right as that
opinion dictates.
Because it appears to be the most
radically vicious legislative machina
tion that has been attempted in the
history of this state, the Courier is
frank in flatly denouncing the so
called people's land and loan law,
or the Full Rental Value Land
Tax and Homemakers' Loan Fund
amendment. Even Socialism has de
nounced this foul measure. It is sup
ported by single taxers and is out-and-out
single tax. Read the propos
al. It spells confiscation in large and
glaring letters. It takes everything
and gives nothing and, according to.
the most capable authorities, it spells
ruination for the state of Oregon if it
is passed and permitted to remain on
the books. It is a giant "wood pile"
crowded to the edges with "niggers."
Indications are that it will be voted
down by a heavy majority. It is
fathered by W. S. U'ren, the crank
whose dreams and schemes have
caused so much trouble in this state
in the past. Mr. U'ren is due for
heavy setback this fall at the hands
of intelligent voters who have tired
of his criminality. Veto 307 No.
(Continued on Page 8)