Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1914)
TTTE MOTJXTXG OttEGONTAN, MONDAY, NOVEMBER . 1G, 1914. PORTLAND, OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon, Postoftlce as Second-class n.at.ter. (subscription Kates Invariably in Advance: (By Mall.) , Dally, Sunday included, one year ..$8.00 laily, Sunday Included, six months . .... 4.23 laily, Sunuay included, three months ... 2.25 liaily, Sunday Included, one month ..... .73 Uttily, without Sunday, one year ........ 0.0U Daily, without Sunday, six months ..... 3.25 lJuiIy, without Sunday, three months ... 1.75 Jjaiiy, without Sunday, ons month .60 Weekly one year l.oO Sunday, one year feunday and Weekly, one year .......... 8.10 (By Carrier.) Dally, Sunday included, one year $9.00 L)utjy, Sunday Included, one month ..... .75 JUuw to Item it Send Postoftlce money or der, cxpresa order or personal check on your Jocal bauk. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's risk. Give posioffice address in fuii. including county and state. Postage Kates 12 to id pages, 1 cent; IB to 32 puties, 2 cents; 84 to 48 pages, S cents; bu to tiu pages, 4 cents; 62 to pages, 6 cents; 78 to U2 pages, o cents. Foreign post age, double rates. Eastern Uuiness Office Verree & Conk lln. New York, Brunswick building. Chi cago, Sienger building. ban Francisco Office R. J. Bldwell Co.. 72 Market street. l'OKl'lAM), MONDAY, NOV 16, 1914. SMOOTHXNO TUB BUSINESS PATH. Optimism 13 the prevailing ton of comment on the business situation from all quarters, including the most conservative. The result of the elec tion is construed as a demand for the abatement of radicalism on the part of the Administration. The fall in for eign exchange rates and In interest rates and the opening of Federal re serve banks on Monday are evidence of greater ease in the money market. Increased exports of cotton, assurance that the cotton loan pool is a success and reopening of the exchanges re move anxiety in regard to the cotton trade. More active buying of bonds and stocks is further evidence of re newed confidence and contributes heavily to financial ease. Except the reopening of the stock exchange, the adjustment of the cot ton situation Is the last step necessary to square business with war conditions. Wheat exports at war prices have reached enormous volume and are limited only by scarcity of tonnage due to the war and by the presence of German raiding ships on the ocean which makes insurance high. The proportion of the crop marketed at this time of the year is the highest on record, and prices are expected to go higher. Corn also has been ex ported in such large quantities that reserves on the farm are lower than in any year since 1901, though the crop is above the average. Livestock also brings high prices. In conse quence, as one writer puts it, "the farmers are growing rich almost by the hour," they are paying their debts rapidly, they have more to spend than they had last year and they are buy ing liberally. Their full pockets as sure good trade to the merchants throughout the Winter. Northern bankers realize that the cotton situation is not a purely South ern problem, for, as the Boston corre spondent of the New Fork Evening Post says, "the cotton growers and all who share in their prosperity, or lack of prosperity, are indebted to local merchants, who in turn are Indebted to 'Northern merchants and manufac turers, who in turn are indebted to Northern banks." Northern banks are, therefore, contributing their Ehare to the cotton loan pool. Re opening of the exchanges will estab lish a market price for cotton and will encourage spinners, who have been holding off because of uncertainty as to price, to resume buying. Exports are increasing in volume and the ob stacles to sale of the crop are proving to have been only temporary and arti ficial. There Is much reassurance for cotton-growers, and for all who are Interested in their prosperity, in this statement of the Economlste Fran caise: Tho world's actual requirements of cotton are canable of absorbing: all the abundant American croD. Financial difficulties of the hour are interfering with the process, but for oroducine states to hold their cotton arbitrarily back because the price is not satisfactory may cause worse results in the end. Relief of the cotton-growers and reopening of the markets will swell the already growing volume of cotton exports. This will vastly increase the favorable balance of trade, which grows week by week. More commer cial bills were offered in Philadelphia during the first week of November than during the three preceding weeks a significant evidence of growing exports. So great is the demand for war supplies and for goods to meet the ordinary needs of foreign nations, de spite their reduced purchasing power undSr war conditions, that Sir George Paish predicts that natural trade movement will take care of American -'obligations in Europe without further exports of gold. In other words, we shall pay our debts in trade instead of in cash. The steel trade has felt less benefit than any from the revival of industry, but relaxation of the financial tension is expected to cause heavier buying of steel, for it is the credit situation which, has bothered that industry. With better borrowing facilities, mills can take contracts for future delivery &nd expand sales. Railroads are the steel trade's best customers, and they are getting into better position to buy, even should they not be permitted? to advance rates. The grain movement has been heavier than in any other year, and, although in the earlier part of the season this increase was counterbal anced by reductions in higher classes of freight, the latter class of business Is now increasing. With liberal buy ing by merchants In the farming dis tricts and with heavier export traffic, the railroads should in this fiscal year get into a position to make long-deferred purchases of equipment arid material. Should the rate increase be authorized, railroad credit will be strengthened sufficiently to render Improvements and extensions possible. The one "snarl" growing out of the war which remains to be untangled Is the stock exchange situation. In curb dealings, under restrictions imposed by the New York Exchange, prices have gone several points above those of July 80 and activity Increases day by day. The domestic demand has become so strong that reopening of the exchanges about New Year's day in being 'considered. The bankers' pools were so successful in handling the New York City note issue and the foreign exchange difficulty that they have not only been encouraged to un dertake organization of the cotton pool, but are now considering forma tion of a $250,000,000 gold pool to take over stocks and bonds which may be thrown on the market at the re- opening of the- exchange. Should this pool be formed, its mere existence might so far reassure many Investors that they would resolve not to sacri fice their holdings. Its operations might then be limited chiefly to those lorelgn holders who, because of necea slties growing out of the war, are forced to sell. With all the rough places in the pathway of business smoothed out either by co-operation of this kind or by circumstances, the coming year should find American industry and enterpirse going ahead at their old stride. IX THE INTEREST OF HUMANITY. ' The suggestion made at a Portland meeting Saturday night that a speaker should not be permitted to deliver his address until he had Informed his auditors what tie intended to say is commended to the attention of man agers of banquets, promoters of lec tures, church deacons and .other guid ing spirits In our public gatherings. Adopted as a general rule, it might deprive us of the great flow of agreea ble eloquence surrounding a small island of ideas, but, on the other hand, it would be a convenient means of escape from the dull, the tedious and the long-winded. We are not unmindful that the real Inspiration of the ruling at the local meeting was a disinclination to listen to arguments with which the audience did not agree,- but why confine the principle to the one issue? Think of the tortures that might be mitigated and sometimes wholly avoided. PLUCKING THE PEOPLE. "It Is futile, it Is almost wicked," says the New York Times, Independent-Democratic, "to attempt to per suade the Democratic party that it has not received a stern warning (in the recent elections). The country has taken note of the shameless extrava gance of the Democrats, who, forget ting their preaching and their profes sions about economy, have shoveled out of the treasury funds so laVishly that new taxes have been levied, taxes that might have been spared to the people but for the wastefulness of Con gress." During all the hungry years when the Democrats were out of power, their favorite occupation was denun ciation of the extravagance of Republi can Congresses. In 19 04, the Democratic National platform declared that "large reduc tions can easily be made in the annual expenditures of the Government, with out impairing the efficiency of any branch of the public service." In 1908 the Democrats fervently de nounced the "needless waste of the people's money." , In 1912, the Democrats again de nounced the "profligate waste of the money wrung from the people by op pressive taxation through the lavish appropriations of recent Republican Congresses." Yet, when the Democratic Congress got Its hand in the treasury, it ex ceeded, the "profligate waste" and "lav ish appropriations" of the last Repub. Hcan Congress by the great sum of $100,000,000. The penalty of gross and unblush ing Democratic violation of its public pledges is a fake war tax a Demo cratic deficit tax to raise $100, 000,000, ACT THE GOOD SAMARITAN. Never was a greater opportunity to act the Good Samaritan offered to the American Nation than by the pitiful condition to which the war has re duced the Belgian nation. That part of it which has not fled to Holland, France and England is without food and in large degree without Winter clothing or shelter. Many towns and villages have been partly -or entirely destroyed by war, industries are wrecked or suspended, farms and or chards are laid waste. The able-bodied male population has either been killed or wounded or is fighting in the allied army or has fled to other coun tries. Few men in their vigor remain to care for the women, children and old men. An industrious, thriving na tion of 7,000,000 peopla has been re duced to the verge of starvation or has become dependent on the charity of neighboring countries. , Even those who uphold the invasion of Belgium by tho German army and who defend the acts of that army as due to the stern necessities of war cannot fail to be moved to pity for this ruined nation. They cannot but admire its pluck in fighting so bravely and with such determination for a cause it held sacred and for which It un faltering- v sacrificed pvervt rtimr. "R1- glum could"' easily have bought peace and Immunity from harm, but it be lieved that to do so would bring dis honor and it has paid the awful price. Germany and those who uphold her believe that Belgium chose wrongly and that Belgium's resistance was folly. If so, it was splendid folly, such as the Germans themselves must admire.. The crying need of the Belgians for food, clothing and shelter constitutes a claim on the civilized world. This claim is strongest on the United States. Little Holland, already taxed to defend her own frontiers, has uncomplain ingly assumed the care of the hundreds of thousands who have taken refuge with her, and staggers under the bur den. France and England, though in a struggle for existence, are providing for those who have fled to their terri tory. Those countries are prevented from aiding the people who remain In Belgium by the fact that the country is occupied by the enemy. The United States, as a neutral country, can do so. As the richest and most populous of the neutrals and as the one country in whose impartiality, all the bellig erents ' have confidence, the United States is best able to help. A noble beginning has been made at feeding the hungry by the American relief committee in London, by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York and by many organizations in this country, but it is only a beginning. The people must be fed, clothed, shel tered and kept warm through the Winter and until peace or the fortune of war enables them to restore their ruined homes, industries and farms. No sudden burst Of generosity will be equal to the occasion; it is a case for liberal, continuous giving and system atic distribution, extending through months. Such a stupendous disaster to a whole people should move the great heart of the American Nation. We, of all nations, suffer least and profit most by this war. Ont of our abundance we should give abundantly. We should give not as we would give to paupers whose needs are the result of moral delinquency, but'as we would give to brothers In distress, our equals in every quality that gtes to make up noble manhood and woman hood. Their dire misfortune is the best tribute to their moral worth, for they brought it upon themselves rather than abandon those Ideals of national honor and independence which every self-respecting nation holds ' dear. There is no danger of their being pau perized by our bounty; for they are a .nation of workers men and women alike who had made a country no larger than some Oregon counties a hive of industry teeming with wealth. Every circumstance about the case of Belgium is a call to the American people to open their purses and to act the Good Samaritan by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, shelter ing the homeless, healing the sick and wounded and comforting the broken hearted. That is the essence of Chris tianity. It will be a practical exam ple of civilization which may shame the nations, fighting while boasting of their culture, and may thereby hasten return of peace. ' ON OCR OWN RESOURCES. One of the incidental benefits whlcn the United States derives from the war is the fact that in many respects We are thrown on our resources. Notwithstanding the long predomi nance of the protective party with its purpose of making this Nation self- supporting, we have been drawing our supplies of many necessary commodi ties from foreign countries. We take creosote, potash, dyes, chemicals and toys from Germany, nitrates from Italy and Norway, ferro-manganese from Russian Caucasia, and so on with other commodities. We can produce all these articles at home. The coke works of Pennsyl vania could make creosote, tar and a number of by-pro.ducts from the gas and smoke which have rendered the Connellsville region a blighted waste. There are great deposits of potash in California awaiting development. We waste the sulphur, zinc and arsenic from our base ores, and treat as a nuisance what may be made a source of wealth. We burn up stumps which would yield many useful chemicals. We surely have technical colleges equipped to turn out chemists com petent to manufacture dyes and drugs. The Nation which makes "Yankee notions" can surely make as good toys as the Germans make. Italy and Norway make nitrates with water power, of which we have immensely greater supply. Why can't we do the same? One reason is that the American manufacturer is always after large and easy profits and Is loath to engage In new, difficult undertakings where he is dependent on high technical skill and where he may meet foreign com petition. Coke-making is a simple process, requiring large amounts of comparatively unskilled labor, but paying good profits. Saving the by products requires a higher degree of executive ability, much ' technical skill and a higher quality of labor. We also have had an impression that our resources were so abundant that we could afford to waste them. We have been slow to apply chemistry to everyday affairs and until recently would have scoffed at the suggestion that It had any connection with stump-pulling. Now that we are forced to produce some of these commodities ourselves or go without, we find we need not depend on any other nation for them Our manufacturers will find that by combining American capital and brains with application of chemistry they can supply their own needs and make good money at it. In fact, the number of things for which we need depend on foreigners is extremely small, and, as we continue experiment and research, their number will be further reduced. Without any desire to be cut off from the rest of the world, we shall find satisfaction in the knowledge .that, if we should be cut off, we can get along without the rest of the world. EARL ROBERTS. Demise of Earl Roberts adds one more to the number of deaths of great men which have occurred since the outbreak of war, and puts the British nation in mourning for one of its greatest generals. There can be little doubt that the emotions and anxieties stirred by the war hastened the end of his long and active life, as it short ened the span of Pope Pius and of King Charles of Roumania, The spec tacle of his country engaged in a titanic struggle, its unreadiness for which was due to its deafness to his warnings, must have wrung his patri otic heart. The end seems , to have come when he saw fighting for the Empire the Indian troops whom he had led to many a victory in their own and neighboring countries and for whom he must have cherished an al- most fatherly affection. Roberts' career as a soldier covers a period of half a century and extends from the Indian mutiny of 1857-8 to the Boer war in South Africa. His fame as a General was established by his series of victories over the Afghans in 1878-80, which were crowned by his march from Kabul to Kandahar and his victory at the latter place In 1880. He had Just defeated Yakub Khan and placed Abdurrahman on the throne at Kabul, when another claimant; Ayub Khan, marched from Herat, overwhelmed a British force at Maiwand and besieged Kandahar. Relief must come speedily in order'to save the garrison. Roberts started from Kabul with 10,000 men and all their camp equipment, munitions and supplies and In twenty-two days marched 313 miles through a moun tainous country, full of possible traps and of hostile tribes. The day after his, arrival, September 1, 1880 he fought and won the battle of Kanda har, sending Ayub in flight to Herat. While on the march he was entirely cut off from communication, and the British nation, with painful memories of the massacre of Elphlnstone's army on its retreat from Kabul in 1842, was In an agony of suspense. When the news of his safe arrival and of his victory at Kandahar arrived, this sen timent gave place to acclamations of Joy and praise for his generalship. The march, for its rapidity under such circumstances and for- its glorious sequel, was written down as one of the greatest feats of military history. Of equal. If not greater moment. was Roberts' triumph over the Boers. Before his arrival with reinforcements, incompetent generals, who seemed in capable of adapting themselves to the methods of warfare pursued by the enemy and to the country in which they had to fight, had suffered disaster after disaster; British forces were be sieged at Ladysmith, Kimberly and Mafeking; the British were every where on the defensive and Cape Col ony was Invaded and partly in rebel lion. Roberts in a few months swept over the country, relieved all the be sieged towns and reduced the Boers to guerilla warfare, then left Kitchener to finish the work and went home. He was raised to the peerage and honors were heaped upon him. He was ac claimed Britain's greatest General and the Kaiser pronounced him the great est soldier of his time. During the last nine years of his life Roberts applied all his energies to awakening hi3 country to the necessity of universal training for national de- fense. He clearly foresaw war with Germany; he knew only too well that the British military forces were mis erably inadequate to cope with a whole nation armed, as Germany is. He wrote and spoke without rest In favor of training the entire manhood of the nation In arms. He proposed training the first year for three months and during each subsequent year for two weeks, with more frequent rifle practice, and he induced large numbers of employers to pledge themselves to hold employment open for men while they underwent training. But the British people branded his scheme conscription, against which they had Inherited an invincible prejudice since the days of Napoleon. They boasted that they had whipped Napoleon with a volunteer army, forgetting that the heavy work had been done by the continentals, which Britain merely subsidized. They looked back on the empire's military triumphs with Its volunteer soldiers and they believed their navy invincible, and invasion, therefore, impossible. They turned a deaf ear to the farseelng old soldier. Had Roberts' advice been taken and had the British Empire been as well prepared as Germany was, it is prob able that war would not have come. Had Germany known that invasion of Belgium would carry against her not "General French's contemptible little army," but an army equal in size and quality with her own, she might have left Belgium untouched. Had she taken the risk, a British army of 1,000,000 men could have barred the path. The Intended rush to Paris be fore Russia was ready being then out of question, Austria might have been prevented from sending the ultimatum to Servia and from declining media tion. As the British people look back and study recent events they may real ize too late that "by rejecting their wise,' bravo old General's advice they brought the present disaster on Eu rope and they may vow never again to be caught unprepared. PORTLAND, Nov. 14. (To the Editor.) Your editorial of November 12, commenting on Mr. Mills' address before the Retail Mer. chants Association doesn't, as I view It, fully accord with your pre-election utter ances. Before election you told us there was no hope for better times until there was a material change of our present tariff law. Now you advise us to "turn our- minds from times of adversity through which we have been passing to the time of prosperity whlau Is before us." How do you reconcile these apparent oppo site views? The Underwood tariff law caused the depression before election, then why not after election? Of course, we have just elected a Republican Governor and a Republican Legislature for the first time In a generation that may have something to ao with it; then again. It might be ' psycho logical." I could ask more questions foolish and otnerwlse but JOHN M. WALL. Doubless this correspondent is well equipped to ask more foolish questions; but these are quite enough. The Ore gonlan has at no time said there was "no hope for better times until there was a material change in the present tariff law." It said, that the Under wood tariff was and is a contributing cause ot the widespread industrial de pression. We hope for better times. We think they will come. A promising sign is the results of the recent elec tion, which were distinctly a rebuke to the Democratic Administration and its policies and an evidence of a pur pose to restore the Republican party to power. Justice requires carrying out of the intent which was In the minds of those who provided that public land should not be taxed. That intent was that the land become taxable when it was ap propriated to the exclusive use of an individual or corporation. No other form of such appropriation, except out right sale or gift,' was then known. It is now proposed to adopt a new form of appropriation the lease and to make this new form a pretext for ex empting the leased land from state taxation. The proposed leases are, to all Intents and purposes, transfers. The lessee is to have possession for fifty years ana, it ne does not secure a renewal, he is to be compensated for his improvements by the Government or by his successor in the lease. He is as much the owner as were the medie val barons, who held land on condi tlon of military service by themselves and their retainers. Nothing better illustrates the inten elty of the fighting than the story of the capture of Dixmude. The German commander ordered the advance to take the city or not return alive Eighty per cent were killed and the bodies formed a footway on the flooded field for the troops that followed and captured the place. One way to prevent a fight between Mexican factions as soon as the Amer lean troops evacuate Vera Cruz would be for General Funston to bring that 11,000,000 away with him and put it in escrow until some man Is undis puted ruler of Mexico. Probably by that time the Interest would equal the principal. Another man has been killed on the track: between Barlow and New Era. In this case he was blinded by the glare of the headlight, it is re ported, in the season of muddy roads temptation to use the right-of-way is great, but the chances of death are greater. Nevada sustains the Administration by giving Newlands a plurality of 88 in a total of little more than 21,000 This should make Mr. Bryan feel proud. The war is becoming a siege of Ger many and Austria by Russia in the East and of France by Germany Jji the West. Local Chinatown Is a place to be avoided by white people who desire to live out their days. Discoveries of frauds In recall peti tions are to be exoected. The whole affair had the odor. Audacious seems a more appropriate name for those who sank the great ship of that lame. Union County did a good piece of work in sending two bad-check men to the penitentiary. Deluded raspberries are ripening In Clarke County, forgetting this Is cran berry season. This is the time when the wise man with a little money buys real estate. Tires and auto horns are immune from the hoof and mouth disease. Judge McGinn Is the sole serene person in the great controversy. Colonel Goethals has made the Canal a dry place in which to worlt. KILLING TWO WITH ONE STONE Prepare Nation by Recruiting; Soldiers From Unemployed, Says Writer. PORTLAND. Nov. 15 (To the Edi tor.) The magazines and newspapers are discussing war and preparedness of the United States for war. There is no doubt that we are not prepared for war with any first-class fighting nation. We have millions of men ready to lay down their lives for their country, but that is far from putting a real army into the field. An apt il lustration Is that we have a large Navy but It Is In the Iron mines yet. People who insist that preparedness for war only helps to make war should also say that the maintenance of a fire department is the cause of con flagration. We want peace, of course, but six months ago if a man would have said In earnest that millions of men would be flying at each other's throats, and that Mars would sit In throne on the destinies of the nations throughout the earth, he would have been examined for lnaanity or shunned. Who knows what the next six months will bring? Who- knows what hour may make the maintenance of the Mon roe Doctrine a vital Issue? We have in our National Army 84.602 officers ar.U men. and approxi mately 65.000 men available for war In the militia. In conferring with men who know the condition, I find we have sufficient camp equipment In this state and vicinity to take care of 25.000 men, and, undoubtedly, each sec tlon of the Nation has as much equip ment in proportion. The Nation realises now, through the experience that England has Just passed through, that w need an army reserve. The suggestion that I am about to offer will be criticised, and 1 realize that arguments will be made against It, out piease ao not forget, when you sum up the arguments, would they hold If war were declared in this country? I say we will have in Portland this Wln'ter 20.000 idle men or unemployed no must be taken care of. It Is the duty of the people of this Nation to take care of idle, citizens who are ide through no fault of their own. Then I suggrest that the Government estab lish military camps some distance from rail and water transportation (reason for this is obvious), and put Into those camps sufficient regular soldiers to train and drill the recruits that could be taken from the unem ployed; taking only young men be tween tne ages or 18 and 45. unmar rled, and establish those men in those camps. The details could be worked out by the Government, but the suggestion is all that I offer here. But we have taken out of the slums and off the streets of American cities 1,000,000 men, who are unmarried and unem ployed, who are competing with the married men for the little work that exists. In four months the Nation has made an army reserve of 1.000.000 sound, sober young men physically and men tally Improved, and has partially solved the unemployed question, and maae a reserve lor the .National Army I have worked out the details rough ly, but I have not the space here to go into hem. I would like to know what the people think about the plan. THOS. A. SWEENEY. PLATGROCSD PAST BECOMING FAD Citizen Objects to Sacrifice of Parka and Coat of Proposed Plans. PORTLAND, Nov. 15. (To the Edi tor.) Referring to the Ladd School delegation of pupils and teachers who appeared before the Commissioners re cently, urging the use of a park block tor playground purposes. Mr. Wink ler's remark In his letter of November 10 Is quite right. It would be no time before the beautiful park block would be like a chicken-yard. We In Sunnyslde have also a school ma'ms scheme that they are trying to put over upon us. A committee of about two dozen has been appointed from the various schools from the river to Alt. Tabor, and from the Sandy Boulevard to the Powell Valley Road, to agitate the building of a community-house on the large Laurelhurst block on East Stark and East Thirty ninth streets, that the generous Laurel hurst Company will lease free pro vided that the taxes and street assess ments are paid, a community-house costing not less than 130,000 erected within a few months, and $70,000 paid for the block at the end of five years. At the last meeting in the Sunnyslde School, Commissioner Brewster was over and explained that there was no money on hand for the purpose, and that if the plan was to be carried through a district assessment could be made taking in about 10 blocks. Now it does not seem quite fair that a small district should have to pay for a community-house that is to be made use of by thosa located anywhere from the river to MlHnt Tabor. Other districts have got a community-house without a district assessment: $50,000 was spent on the Peninsula Park house, be ing $15,000 over the contract price. At that rate we are liable to have a dis trict assessment of $120,000 against us for a community house and the Laurel hurst block and, without exception, scarcely a single one of those that are agitating this matter live itv the pro posed assessment district. One ot the chief proponents was the delegation of one from Mount Tabor, who seemed to have the Laurelhurst .proposition all cut and dried at the last meeting, and also had the Laurelhurst Company on hand to meet Mr. Brewster. It seems to me that children nowa days are too much coddled; they might be thankful enough to have a nice park at their very door to play and romp in, but that is not enough. We have to build a $50,000 community house with stage and assembly rooms, baths and attendants, and. last but not least, an Instructor to teach the, child how to play. One aged papa from the Laurelhurst district was converted to the community-house idea right away on observing the park instructor show ing his youngster the art of playing. An other fond mother in her ecstasy pro posed to sacrifice the beautiful trees if only her young hopefuls could have playgrounds. Finally, it seems that we grownups will have to find our rest and recreation In walking the streets and turn over the beautiful parks to school teachers and children for play grounds and $50,000 community houses. CITIZEN. SONG OF THE PRODIGAL. Thirty years a swineherd. In a far countree Thirty years of husks for meat Tossed by swine to me; And they guessed not that they were Naught but swine, while I Cast my choicest pearls for them To trample In their sty! Thirty years a swineherd God alone doth know All the bitterness that means, All the depths of woel Songs that bubbled to my lips Gasped and fought for breath In the stifling atmosphere Of that vale of death. ' Thirtv years a swineherd! Gladly will I give Want and cold and hunger for A land where man can live. Youth and strength and love are Gone to come no more. But my Father'll open wide The dear old homestead door! MARIE CRAIG LE GALL, Her MarriaRe Day. Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I heard it rumored that Mabel was to marry. What day does she prefer?" "Any one of the 365." WHAT IS DUTY TOWARD MEXICO? Yon Can't Clean a Plcsty by Spraying; With Rosewattr, Says Writer. HOQUIAM, Wash.. Nov. 14. (To the Editor.) With all due respect to Pres ident Wilson and Secretary Bryan and the many others who seemingly believe like them, I would like to point out that to "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them tbat hate you and .pray for them which de spitefully use you and persecute you" simply means looking upon evil-doers as we all look upon insane people and helping them by keeping them from hurting themselves or other people. It may be that our hereditary Ignorance, evils ana race prejudice and our ever growing fantastic belief in our own progressive importance mak. it pasv for us to despise everything we know notning about. I am well within the mark, however, when I maintain that a large majority of the Intelligent hu mane people of this and otr er coun tries think It high time for the United States Government to step In and stop the wanton, revengeful mutder and maiming of human life and the rob bery and brigandage miscalled revolu tion. , The continued attempts for many years chronic of the old-time Spanish or half-breed Spanish very wealthy aristocracy to buy peace from the thieving, ignorant rebels their ancient despotic ancestors bred is all in vain. The people of Mexico as a whole are incapable of securing republican con stitutional government or of maintain ing It if they had it. What they evi dently need more than anything else is the strong hand of this Government (the historical permanent Monroe un written law keeps off foreign govern ments) to maintain the laws, punish swiftly and surely all lawbreakers, rich and poor. Do the people of this country really know that the trouble In Mexico Is chronic and as bad as It ever was under the despotism of Span- isn rule and that since throwing off that rule in the last 70 years they have had 25 Presidents and one Emperor, principally men politely called revolu tionary leaders, who would rather be President than right? Messrs. Wilson, Bryan and company should get down from the ideal to sane, practical every-day life. They will never be able to clean a pigsty by making believe or by spraying it with rosewater. Survival of the fittest as a natural law means what they seem to forget if they ever knew that the fittest for the environment, good or bad. will survive. If this Government and people can't do justice to Mexico and humanity without a precedent, what more do they want than what happened In Egypt In the year 1882, when the British gov ernment, headed by the illustrious Gladstone, sent troops to Egypt and had its iiavy bombard Alexandria when the rebellion against misrule, beaded by Arabl Pasha, was almost a success? It was officially asserted more than once that the Intervention was solely in the Interests of humanity and for the protection ot the Suez Canal, of which Britain owned two-thirds through purchase. It is only Ignorant or make-believe prattle to talk about occupation ending when conquered people become capable of self-government. The British rule In Egypt yet and are as likely to give It up volun tarily as they would Gibraltar. Egypt is a better country and the Egyptians are happier than they were before British rule and what Is true of the Egyptians would be Just as true about the Mexicans If this country would do what they have a moral right to do for the Mexicans, for themselves and for humanity. ALEXANDER COCHRAN WALLS. GREED AXD IGNORANCE BLAMED "Scientific" Breeding Held Responsible for Spread of Animal DlNease. GOLD HILL Or., Nov. 14. (To the Editor.) If Dr. Wisdom, from the University of the World, should an nounce that mouth and foot disease are related forms of bovine tuberculosis. just as lupus is an external manifesta tion of consumption among the human race, and that these fatal sifrtis are the result of a continued violation of the laws of animal life, the world might listen, but as the necessary remedies would reverse many of the most Im portant practices in animal Industry, not Important to life, but to the preva lent theories of animal development, state and National legislation would be necessary to enforce these remedies. Greed and ignorance of man are at the bottom of the trouble. The great evil Is wrought by converting the hog into a fat-producing machine and the cow into a milk factory." The ultimate effect is the same in both cases, viz., a fatal degree of degeneracy. To bring about the greatest results, artificial selection is employed which narrows down a strain of stock that is care fully guarded against outside contam ination. Nature intended a cow to give enough milk for her young and such an animal would preserve her race ef ficiency, but when greedy man has completed his work of selection, he has weakened her by in-breeding, be sides developing an abnormal milk flow, which depletes her vitality from generation to generation until these fatal signs of constitutional degener acy make their appearance to indicate the irremediable evil done. Science has been greatly amiss in not sounding the alarm in regard to these matter long since. The animal brings with It a store of energy not in any sense designed for man, but for itself alone. This store of vital energy cannot be increased, but it may be drained away from tho animal in ab normal production of fat or milk flows until the transmitted degeneracy man ifests Itself In hog cholera and bovine tuberculosis. Then the ignorant author of these stupendous evils sets up a howl for serums to drench an animal marked for death by outraged Ignorance. The case is alarming. They talk of extermination. That Is well, but the only permanent remedy Is a new point of view In animal Industry. The great law of nature, known to science as "the law of the conservation of energy," is the one whose violation is threatening the animals under man's control. Including himself, with prema ture extinction. The first question to be settled is the microscopic appear ance of normal or healthy flesh or milk. All the tainted animal herds, whose flesh or mlUc is bo examined, will be found wanting In this prime evidence of standard efficiency. Indi cating the degree of degeneracy. The point most difficult for the layman to comprehend, though vital to the sub ject, will be that no degree of degen eracy, however small, can ever be re stored, that the energy lost in this respect has taken some abnormal form and that he must abandon his tape lines and scales and go to nature for counsel if he would maintain the race efficiency of his herds. J. R. KENDALL. Fonnd. BAKER, Or., Nov. 14 (To the Edi tor.) Your "Jokesmlth" wonders what has become of Jack Johnson. The fol lowing item taken from the Weekly Dispatch of October 18, published in London, proves that he still has at least one automobile: JACK JOHNSON FINED. Jack Johnson, the colored pugilist, was fined 40s at Bow-Street Police Court for obstructing the footway near Leicester Square. SUBSCRIBER. PORTLAND. Nov. 15. (To the Edi tor.) Is Charles Becker still In prison for the murder of Herman Rosenthal something over two years ago. SUBSCRIBER The case Is pending on appeal from the Judgment in the second, trial. Christmas Giving; in 1914. By Dean Collins. I The merry Tuletide's on Its way. And soon it will be here. When Christendom will tribute pay. (Such Is Its way each year). To Bethlehem, and every race Will celebrate this year of grace. And everybody will release Their anthems to the Prince of Peace. It Is the time for giving gifts Appropriate to all. It is the time when each heart lifts The happy Christmas call. The Christmas shopping doth appear To be done early, in this year. And now already on their way Go gifts to brighten Christmas day. His pretty shells the Kaiser sends To almost every nation; The Czar his pocket money spends On guns of French creation; And France and England do combine To send the Kaiser shrapnel fine; And everywhere do gifts increase In this year of the Prince of Peace. Hark, hark, the heavenly angels sing: The shepherd's tale is told; The seraphs pause on filmy wing Above the star-lit fold; And Christendom politely shifts From place to place its Christmas gifts. By powder post, with speed dispatched. With tags of nickel steel attached. How good old Father Mars, with glee Will smile and rub his hands. The greatest gift of all to see Send him from many lands; A million souls of dead men drift Across the Styx his Christmas gift: Nor doth the bounteous driving cease In this year of the Prince of Peace. Twenty-Five Years Ago From The Oregonlan, November 14, 1SS9. The Library Association will prob ably erect its new library building on the half block at Seventh and Stark streets. The building will probably cost about-$100,000. It will be built with money bequeathed by Miss Ella M. Smith, with sums donated by several wealthy citizens. Probably the largest casting ever made on the Pacific Coast, outside San Francisco, was cast in the foundry of the Willamette Iron Works yesterday. It was a cylinder for a compound en gine. The iron weighed about 10,000 pounds. New York, Nov. 13. Eva Ingersoll, the daughter of Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, married Walston H. Brown, a local lawyer, today. There was no religious ceremony. New York, Nov. 13. The New York club was awarded the championship pennant today. I. E. Young was re elected secretary of the National League Association. L G. Davidson yesterday sold to Clinton & McCoy 35 acres at the foot of Mount Tabor for $52,000. The prop erty lies on the Base Line road near the Prettyman place. Noah Lambert yesterday purchased of Mr. Lombard the lot between East Oak and East Pine streets, on East First street, for $36,000. The Western Union Telegraph Company has two story brick building on the property. As a sample of how numerous wires are becoming in this city. It may be noted that 80 are strung along in front of H. W. Corbett's building at Third and Oak streets. About 100 are hung at the corner of the building. Poundkeepcr Myers and his assist ant, Ab Lawrence, were out on a dog catching expedition yesterday. Ab's style of handling the dog net attracted a large crowd. Society Is much Interested In the Freldenrich concert, and a large at tendance is assured. Half a Century Age From The Oregonlan. November 15, 18&4. W. Church, 78 Front street, has been appointed agent for the sale of the Singer Sewing Machines in this part of the country. He has already received a large Invoice of the machines per steamship. ' Maximllion Kaufman, a native of Worms, Germany, died yesterday. The funeral will be held at 10 o'clock this morning from the home of his brother, I. Kaufman. Rev. Thomas H. Pearne leaves today for the East on the steamer Brother Jonathan. The following men have been grant ed furloughs after their re-enllstment in the Army: Lieutenant Davidson, Fourth California Volunteers; Corporal Charles McDermott and Privates John Tucker, Nelspn Cook and James L. Picket. All, except Lieutenant David son, were members of Company 1. A. J. Dufur has been appointed fore man of the Multnomah County grand Jury for the November term. The fol lowing are the members: Henry Law, Ell Morrill, Henry Schelland. Israel Graden, William Lewis and William Doublebower. Among the lawyers In attendance at the Courthouse yesterday were: Will iam Strong, William Page, W, W. Chap man, Lansing Stout. D. Freidenrich, L F. Mosher. D. Logan. M. F. Mulkey, J. N. Dolph, Thomas Chapman and J.J. Hoffman. The shaft of the steamer Rescue was broken on the last trip to Montlcello, when Just below St. Helens. The bounties offered by the Govern ment and the State of Oregon should be considered as a good inducement for volunteering, to say nothing of tho satisfaction it would be to serve the Government under a picked officer. Commission Has Power, PORTLAND. Nov. 15. (To the Edi tor.) Have the Mayor and Commis sioners under the commission form of government the power to reduce the liquor license less than $400 per year in the City of Portland, Or.? Yes. The Commission has power to fix the license as it sees fit. There is no charter limitation. The Bread Mother Makes. Baltimore American. He This bread isn't like the kind mother makes. She I hope not. This bread Is fit to eat. The Days That Are Lost There was once a ruler who took his Job very serjously. He was an exponent of efficiency. Each evening he checked up the day's work and If he felt that noth ing constructive had been accom plished since morning he was ac customed to remark: "Friends, we have lost a day." The newspaper never "loses a day." - It is the everlasting reflec tion of daily progress the ever ready -door to tomorrow's oppor tunity. The non - advertising merchant who Is trying to compete with the man who advertises can take a cal endar and write this sentiment under every date: "Friends, we have lost a day."