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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 1914)
8 TIIE arOIlXIXG OHEGOyrAN, FTUDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 191 4- ... X -A PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered at Portland. Oregon, Postofflce as becond-class matter. "Subscription Kates invariably In Advance: (Ev MalLI JDally, Sunday tncluflea. rear ....... ISOO lJaily, Sunday Included, mix months ..... 4.5 Jaliy. Sunday Included, three months ... a-5 I3ailv. Sundav Included, one month o Pally, without Sunday, one year y-JJJ Iaily, w ithout Sunaay, six months ..... 8.o ' Xaily, without Sunaay, three months ... T m 1 1 v vtthAHl RunJiLV. Mil m lltllh ...... .OU Weekly, one year J-60 Sunday, one year ................ fcnnday and Week! V. one vear o.av (By Carrier.) Dally, Fwnrtay Included, one year ...... .fB.WJ Blly. Sunday Included, one month ..... Mow t Kernlt Send Poatoffice money or. der, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's rsk. Give postofflce address In lull. Including county and state. Foetaare Kates It to 16 paces, 1 cent; 18 to 32 pages, 2 cents; 84 to 48 pages, 8 cents; M to 00 pages. 4 cents; 62 to 76 pages, o cents; 78 to 2 pages, 6 cents. Foreign post age. double rates. Eastern Holiness Office Verree Conk ltn, Xew York, Brunswick building. Chi cago, stenger bonding. Kan Francises Office R. J. Bldwell Co., 742 Market street. PORTLAND, FRTOAr, KOT tl, 1914. OKE MORS DISaSTEB, First Lord of the Admiralty Churchill assures the world, In the House of Commons, that the destruc tion of the battleship. Bulwark 'will "not sensibly affect our military posi tion"; but there can be no doubt that It has a disconcerting- effect on the nerves, of the British people? The mighty British navy has from Vie be ginning of the war achieved public notice mainly through its disasters. Undoubtedly the British fleets are heavily at a disadvantage through the fact that their veesels must be de ployed in the open sea, while the Gar man vessels, except the pestiferous submarines, are Becure in the shelter of mined rivers, canals or harbors, or heavily fortified ports. The Ger man ships "will not fight; the English therefore cannot. But how far will the process of picking off the British (warships one by one be permitted to go before desperate measures of some kind are adopted to step the steady decima tion? It is true that the Germans have lost nine or ten cruisers and a few torpedo-boats, and their mer chant marine has been driven from the sea; but it Is also true that the honors for brilliant achievement rest largely not wholly with the Ger mans. We have not forgotten the feat of the Sydney in driving the Emden to bay. It is fair to say that the British fleet has disappointed expectation. The correct answer would be doubt less that too much was expected. On the other hand, not much was looked for from the German navy;' but there can be no question about the daring and triumphant nature of the prow r ess of its submarines. The Bulwark disaster was an acci dent; but its effect on Great Britain ""will not be greatly different from that of other disasters. One more great English battleship Is at the bottom of the sea, and hundreds of valuable lives are lost. In any open engagement the Brit ish navy will unquestionably give a good account of itself. But when are those annoying Germans going to quit their guerilla warfare on and under the, sea, and come out to be licked? ' ANTT-DRUG LEGESLATIOJT. It Is disheartening to learn how many drug addicts there are in the United States. According to a writer In the New York Sun they certainly numoer a minion, ana pernaps as many as four millions. His authorities ment of Agriculture, who have every means of discovering the truth. We must believe that the multitude of . drug addicts is very great from the Vinct nf i n cHtntlnna that rev nnnn their misery. At least a hundred san itaria devote themselves to curing drug habits, or pretending to cure them. Worse still, there are some thirty tnrlving "mail order" drug cures in the country, of which one claims to have 100,000 patients on its lists. It is said that these cures are not to be taken seriously except as we look seriously upon any other fraud. Com. 1 petent physicians do not believe that drug habits can be treated by mail or t Vi a f tan i n il i 1 1 n m 1 vlptim a n Vi a t t-i i u f ed to administer the proper regimen to himself. As long as the stuff is . obtainable he will get it and use It in epite of all the good resolutions he "may make. The only help for him seems to be In abstinence rigorously enforced by an unyielding private physician or by public authority. Opium for smoking is no longer ' admitted to the United States and the use of that destructive druer has there fore . probably fallen off somewhat. lng rapidly. This unfortunate state of things prevails not alone in the prohibition states, where something of the sort might have been expected, . but all over the country and in about the same degree everywhere. All the alkaloids and derivatives of opium, ' eocalnA ajld th nnn I - tn r n rfnth'a a r consumed more extensively than ever before. Nobody knows exactly why this Isso, but the fact must be ad- Lam-s against drug addiction afe :. comparatively ineffective. Conscience- - less doctors, unscrupulous drugstore : keepers and wretches of the "bootleg- - glng" variety distribute the terrible doses in spite of every prohibition and the horrible work goes on almost un-" checked. New York, after many ex periments, has finally put its faith in the Boylan Act, which virtually for bids the handling or possession of the habit-forming drugs, except as a phy sician may prescribe them, and heav ily penalizes Improper prescriptions. Time will tell how effective It is. One is almost driven to believe that no legislation can help much until there has been some deep change In our National character and habits. Still . we must use the law for all it is worth and get the best results possible from its strict enforcement. WAR POETRY. A great deal has been written about the war In Europe and much of it is "ambitious. Eminent prose writers "have delivered themselves upon the all-absorbing theme and poets have eung its various aspects. Some of the literary output has been bitter as wormwood, some of it has been more or less philosophical and some has been self-conscious slush. Professor Sadler, of Leeds Univer sity, a distinguished seat of British learning, says that the best of the pro- , fesslonal writing upon the war is fit only "to provoke a smile." He barbs ' the sting of his words by adding that the poets remind him of cooks "mak ing verses by the kitchen fire when they might better be cooking dinner." TV 7 1 1 1 : i t rrri. ' war verses that have come to our no tice are sad stuff, Mr. Kipling's ef forts not an atom better than the rest. An artist needs a certain calm in his soul before he' can do good work. Poisonous hatred does not help him any more than It does a philoso pher. The European thinkers who hurl anathemas back and forth at one another have been compared to hos tile bands of pagan priests engaged in their favorite occupation of exchang ing curses. It Is a sad piece of busi ness all round. May we soon see the last of it. WHERJS KEXIT Secretary Bryan, in his original role as editor of the Commoner, has brought consternation to his dimin ished Democratic following by the following utterance in the latest Issue of his paper: The Democrats of the Nation have an Issue to face, and they may as well prepare for It. The liquor Interests are at bay; they are on the defensive. They realise that they have Dut a lew more years in which to fatten upon the woes of their victims, but they are fighting desperately. The Democratic party cannot afford to shield the brewery, the distillery and the loon from the rising wrath of a determined people. Democracy is the Nation's hope on political and economic questions -let it not, by taking sides with the Honor Interests, repel those who put moral issues first. The liquor Interests are & millstone about the party's neck. What is this direct challenge to the liquor cohorts but an intimation that Mr. Bryan will appear at the next National Democratic convention as the champion of prohibition? The Demon Rum will get more than a run for his money when Mr. Bryan sets out to convert the Democracy to prohibition. But Mr. Bryan may not be alone. Long ago he had occasion to complain that Theodore Roosevelt had stolen his thunder by the adoption, or adaptation to his own uses, of the Bryan progressive ideas. If Roosevelt does not beat Bryan Into the prohibition camp, we are no prophet. AMERICAN TRAVEL IX 1915. The official estimate is that from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 people from the territory east of Salt Lake will attend the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 1915. The aggre gate attendance will of course be vastly greater, since the Pacific Coast, and particularly California, will con tribute the greater part of the visitors. The interest of Oregon and Wash ington, however, is chiefly in the numbers who come from the East, the Middle West and South, and for eign countries. There Is no visible sign that California is exciting Itself to divert this immense travel in this direction; but there are other evi dences that it will come. A pamphlet at hand from a famous travel agency the Temple Tours has a prospectus of Ameiican excur sions for 1915. Fifteen touM are ad vertised for various periods, but mostly beginning in June and July. Of the fifteen, thirteen are routed to Portland, "the city of roses," where there 13 an average Btop of two days, and twelve to Seattle, with a similar stop. Two excursions come via the Panama Canal and all the rest are by various transcontinental railroad routes. Opportunities are given, with equal Impartiality, to make the Alaska tour, or to see the Canadian Rockies, the Yellowstone, Glacier Park, the Royal Gorge, and the Grand Canyon. The duration of the tours runs from thirty to sixty days, and most of them provide a seven days stay at San Francisco and two days at San Diego. It seems to be clear that, tf the ex cursion agencies have their way, the Pacific Northwest will . get its full share of the 1915 travel. But there is a taboo on Europe, unless "condi tions permit." OREGON'S PLAN ALREADY ADOPTED- It appears from a letter received by The Oregonian from John A Fox, secretary-manager of the Mississippi River Levee Association, that the pol icy recommended by The Oregonian in an article published on November 7, of requiring, each community to share with the Nation the cost of im proving rivers, Is already in operation along the Mississippi. Mr. Fox states that so far the people of the delta lands have contributed $70,000,000 and the Government only $20,000,000 towards levee; work. Completion of the levee syst.fS is estimated to cost $75,000,000 wore, of which the Gov ernment Is asked to provide $60,000,- 000, while the localities offer to con tribute $15,000,000. The total cost would then have been divided about equally. The whole subject is exhaustively dis cussed in a most elaborate pamphlet by Mr. Fox, which accompanies his letter. He seems to make an incontestable case for treating the Mississippi River improvement as a National duty. The drainage basin of that river covers 41 per cent of the area of the United States proper. The floods . come from states above the delta which they Inundate and In the words of Lieutenant Charles Ellet, Jr., of the Corps of Engineers, "the process by which the country above Is relieved is the process by which the country below is ruined." Floods have been aggravated by the settle ment of the country along the upper river. The people of that section are, therefore, in a large measure respon sible for the devastation wrought by the floods. The people of the Lower Mississippi Valley states, having already borne the largest share" of the burden of levee-building and being ready to bear one-half of -the total burden, are thus committed to the same policy which has been applied to the Port of Portland and to other ports in Oregon. Congressional delegations from the Mississippi Valley states should, therefore, Join hands with the Oregon delegation in striving to bring about the, adoption of that policy by Congress with regard to all river and harbor work. The same statement is true of all communities which have river and harbor projects of real merit. Were Congress to lay down the rule that it would appropriate no money for any project unless the ben efited community expended dollar for dollar, a large number of worthless projects would be automatically weeded out. Were the Judgment of the engineers or of a National com mission as to each ' project accepted as final by Congress,, other projects which the interested community wrongly imagines to have merit would be 'ruled out. There would remain only the projects of proved merit, among which would be divided the money that would otherwise have been expended on pork-barrel schemes. It appears, therefore, to be clearly the interest of the people in the Mis sissippi, Missouri, Ohio and other valleys ot big rivers to unite their political forces in support of this new policy and against the Dork-barrel. United, they should be strong enough to defeat the pork-barrel forces. The Nation would be with them, except those small communities which de sire to have creeks improved entirely at National expense. Their offer to pay dollar-for-dollar would be an in vincible argument. NO DRUGSTORE SALOONS. In sharp contrast with the expecta tion, more or less general, that pro hibition will largely mean the substi tution of the liquor-selling drug store for the barroom, is the letter from one of Portland's biggest druggists, published on this page today. Mr. Woodward earnestly asks to be re lieved by law of the trade necessity of carrying a stock of alcoholic stimu lants. Truly, any leniency or liberty that may be granted the druggist in the disposal of intoxicants cannot be held to be a health measure. The physical ailment that nothing but an alcoholic beverage will alleviate is probably yet to be discovered. , The use of in toxicating liquor as a remedy for this or that is founded pretty largely on the fact that it is so often a welcome prescription to the patient. The com petent physician can ordinarily pre scribe something Just as beneficial. In the article "Copying Kansas" The Oregonian did not intend to ex press doubt as to the propriety of suppressing by stringent law saloons that masquerade as drug stores. The Oregonian's doubt concerns the sever ity that should be applied to the re strictions on acquirement of liquor for personal use. As Mr. Woodward says, the way to prohibit is to pro hibit. But what has Oregon prohibit ed? Plainly it has prohibited the sa loon and that institution must be abolished whether it is a public bar or blind pig or disguised as a drugstore. But interference with Individual use of liquor acquired through an- agency other than the saloon is an other matter. It cannot be honestly questioned that antipathy to the sa loon as an institution brought to the support of prohibition thousands of voters who do not wish to be denied nor have others denied the privilege of.having alcoholic beverages in their homes. How far to go in statutory enactments that the plain intent to abolish the saloon shall not be made a farce, but that there shall not be unreasonable interference with what many are pleased to term their "per sonal liberty" constitutes the doubt and the problem. As for the saloon-drugstore, keep it out. Better the open barroom than the sneak-hole behind the prescrip tion case with its insidious Influence and its vile concoctions. GERMAN SPIES IN I5RITA1X. The wide ramifications of the Ger man spy system in England were made possible by the traditional Brit ish policy, which permitted any for eigner, to come to the islands and re side there without question. The con tinental system of requiring foreign ers to register and of keeping them under the eye of the police is repug nant to British ideas of liberty. Dur ing the long peace in Western and Central Europe there has been a great mingling of nations, and each country has a large alien population. Many International marriages have resulted and the ties of country which bind "outlanders" have become weak. Children born of such marriages are naturally Inclined to favor the land of their nativity rather than that of the alien parent, though there have been many exceptions. There has been more migration of Germans to England than to any other European country. British sen timent generally favored Germany In the war of 1870, and this migration at first aroused no opposition. Ger many was Just entering upon her ca reer as an industrial and commercial nation, and young Germans were sent to. England 'to learn business methods by obtaining employment " there. As German is the commercial language of all Europe west of the Rhine and of the North Sea, they were useful to conduct foreign correspondence. Many of them married Englishwomen and raised families which seemed more English than German. . As relations between the nations became strained, Germans in England began to be looked upon with dislike, and, as evidence developed that a German spy system had grown up, with suspicion. A recent statement by the British official press bureau says that German efforts to establish a system of espionage were clearly ascertained five or six years ago and a special intelligence department was then established. In 1911 an act was passed extending the law with regard to espionage, and since then the ram ifications of the spy system have been discovered. The press bureau says little valuable information passed into the hands of the enemy. The identity of the agents was learned and they were watched. When they attempted to convey plans or documents to the enemy, the spy was arrested, and the evidence was usualy found upon them. Six convictions were obtained under this law and all other known agents were kept under observation. On August 4, before war .was de clared, the arrest of twenty was or dered and was effected. About 200 others were under suspicion and have since been interned. The day after war was declared an act was passed forbidding enemy aliens to enter or leave the country, to have wireless or signaling apparatus or homing pig eons, or to reside within certain dis tricts. All private wifeless stations were dismantled and a system of de tecting illicit wireless messages was adopted. A law passed August 8 made espionage a military offense, with life imprisonment as the mini mum penalty. The press bureau says that the or ganization was completely broken up in the early days of the war, and cites as proof that on August 21 the Ger man military commanders were still ignorant of the dispatch of the British expedition to the continent. The press, cable and postal censorship is said to have stopped secret communi cation with Germany. All private owners of wireless and of homing pigeons have been registered. All Germans and Austrians of military age have been Interned, and all others have been registered. The methods of espionage adopted by Germany were revealed to some extent at the hearing of one of the spies arrested on August 4. He is Karl Gustav Ernst, a barber In Lon don, and he had. been in the pay of a man named Steinhauer, of the Ger man secret service, since 1911. His offense was discovered in October, 1911, and since that time his letters have been opened and copied by the police. A large number came from Berlin and Potsdam for distribution to other spies in England, and among his belongings was found a list of spies. He was paid at first 1 a month, afterwards i 10s and ex penses. He seems to have been the center of a spy mail service. Although the press bureau ex presses confidence that the re-establishment of the spy system has been prevented, events suggest that infor mation is still being secretly conveyed to Germany. Otherwise it Is difficult to conceive how the Germans learned of the concentration of a British squadron at Lough Swilly and were thus enabled to sink the Audacious There Is ground for the belief that spies aided German cruisers in pene trating near to Yarmouth, where they attacked the Halcyon. Such events as these have caused a general spy scare in Great Britain, which puts every person bearing a name of German sound under suspi cion. The alarm has not only caused annoyance to such warm American friends of the allies as Reginald Wright Kauffman, but has caused acute distress to British wives and British-born children of interned Ger mans and Austrians. It Is breaking up homes and reducing families to poverty by depriving them of the breadwinner. A protest has been en tered by the London Chronicle, which has published letters from wives of German residents protesting their loy alty and their husbands' Innocence. That Journal says that nearly 80 per cent of the wives of aliens who apply for assistance are British-born. Aid is rendered them by the German gov ernment through the American em bassy in London, by the British gov ernment and by private organizations. The cowcatcher Is not put on a lo comotive for ornamental purpose, al though its absence makes a switch engine look like an unfinished Job. In early days of railroading its purpose was, no doubt, to elevate the cattle from the right of way; but animals nowadays are wise and the lowing klne sidesteps and with a compound flirt of tail signals the engineer a clear track. The pilot has its uses and one of the best of them was exemplified in the accident below North Yakima, where It picked up two children and carried them unhurt to a stop.- The little ones will have a story to tell as long as they live. The Kansas City Star prints a list of eight Kansas - counties In which, forty years ago, everything was de stroyed by grasshoppers and drouth. The people were without food, fuel and clothing. Charity had to relieve them. This Fall four of those coun ties produce together 10,000,000 bush els of wheat, while the others fall but little behind them. Time has indeed brought changes there. The men who tood by their jobs in those counties have not failed of their reward. The report that the Gentians as similate the charitable supplies sent to the Belgians as fast as they are distributed is incredible. If this proc ess actually took place American charity would be helpful to one of the belligerent powers and Its good intentions would be thwarted. The Belgians are only deprived of their original possessions. The contribu tions from America are spared. The city of Cracow, which lies at the head of navigation on the Vistula, is the center of Poland's literary, artistic and religious life. Its myth ical foundation by Krak occurred in 700 A. D. The focal point in Polish history for more than a thousand years, Cracow is still living up to its old name. The war may be de cided under its ancient walls. The mortality on the football field keeps well up to the mark this season, but the superior attractions of the European war distract attention from it. The high school boy who was kicked to death in a game at Santa Cruz, Cal., no doubt died gloriously, but the world might have been better off if he had lived. A game need not be a massacre to be manly. The women's literary societies at Whitman College have made a change which speaks of a progressive spirit. Heretofore the societies are said to have chosen their members by the "rushing" process for social reasons. Now anybody may Join and show her abilities in a free field. Whitman has done well. May other colleges catch the same spirit. Potato-growers suffer from the same trouble as many fruitgrowers. They are not organized and therefore find markets poor and prices low. Co-operation is the remedy for their woes. The Marion County potato growers have formed an association. Their good example ought to be wide ly followed. The King of Saxony and his court have been compelled to flee from Poland, whence they had gone to rule in event of German victory. Kings, as well as peasants, should never count their chickens before they are hatched. The allies are now predicting that Italy will shortly extend them her aid. The question is, do they need it? Fur thermore, would Italy give her aid if they did need it? There will be needed somebody wiser than any Solomon now .in the City Hall to determine how high a "spite" or other fence is built to con flict with law. The United States Is to make Its own rules of war. We should insist that no country use more than two platoons. Then we would be prepared. Roosevelt has won a change of venue In a law suit. Now if ho would secure a change of venue politically there might be' some chance for him. A dispatch reports a Russian cap ture, of the Kaiser's overcoat. We take it that Wilhelm has another one. If the State Treasurer and the Gov ernor delay putting on the gloves a few weeks the cause will be removed. It is a wonder those German bul lies, the submarines, do not take something of their etee. One might have been led to believe that Summer had settled here for Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving day might have been July the Fourth so far as the weather was concerned. Germany's eastern horizon is dark ly overcast again. Now let ua feel thankful that it is over. The Songs of War By Andrew R. Marker. I am war. I was conceived In passion and am the offspring of violence and brutality. I was suckled, at a she-wolfs nipple, and was schooled in the savagery of primitive ages. I . came into being in the morn of antiquity when lust was rampant and rapine ravaged the earth. My genealogy is stained with count less crimes of many vanished years; I am cursed by llpa that long ago were dust. The wails of the wronged, the moans of the maimed, the sobs of slaughtered innocence are my pleasing memories. I am full of old old scars and wor ried by many wounds, but my vulture eye Is not dimmed nor my savage force abated. I have a giant's strength and. I "glory in the use of it. Through gore and ghastliness, by sword and cannon, I have fought my way to power o'er the great and glori fied of earth. Upon my forbidding front shine the symbols of deity; a compliant civiliza tion worships me as King. My scepter is the club of, Cain, in carnadined in the blood of butchery. My iron crown was forged from the spear that pierced the heart of Christ. My jewels are pearly drops of grief caught on the cheeks of women weep ing In my weltering wake. My throne is built of bleached bones from a thousand battle fields. My regal robes are dyed in the purple pools of coagulated blood. I am devoid of human feeling. I despise pity. I deny mercy. I know no joy but the wild delirium of battle and devastation. The glorious genius of an intelli gence derived from God I prostitute to the service of the basest passions, I find men in health and happiness, Singing as they toil 'amid the golden sheaves of the - garnered harvest. 1 force them from their - fruitful toil, fling them to the cannon, and leave them grotesquely writhing on fields of agony. The dead who perish in my defense I leave to rot on alien soil, pausing in my vulture flight but long enough to whet my sword for more sanguinary desolation. I lay siege to splendid cities. 1 destroy the choicest gems of art. 1 demolish the cherished trophies of civilization. And lo! when I depart only gutted ruins stand to tell the gruesome story of a vanished splendor. Disease and destitution on my foot steps wait. 'At my fell approach the tools of honeat toll fall from the hand of industry, commerce lies motlonlesr and withering while the wind wantons with idle sails and moans through de serted docks and desolated factories. Religion I make a mockery and a solemn sham. I beguile a wayward world to believe that Christ's creed of universal peace is the bleat ot senti mental weaklings, the subterfuge of craven men. Ruthless conquest I justify with as sumption that despotism is divinely delegated; that the end of power is to get all it has the strength to seize; that God, working through the law of evolution, wills the subjugation of the weak and the survival of the strong. Treaties, peace-pacts, nations' solemn pledges, I convert Into "scraps of paper" points of strategy to deceive the amiable and the unwary. Brute force I make the true founda tion of a nation's glory, cannon the sole custodians of a country's honor. Blatant jingos and men of blood and iron I elevate to be the privy coun selors of presidents and kings. I seduce the assembled arts. Under my sway, poets with their songs, painters with their colors, orators with their eloquence, take their inspiration from combat their themes from the sanguinary triumphs of the sword. Thus, by transmuting its rage and horror Into sounds and colors and forms of immortal beauty, I give to war a stolen splendor and create illu sion that it is beautiful. For support of my establishment I lay stupendous burdens on the sweat ing shoulders of the poor. With wantonness I squander the lives and savings of my most devoted subjects. I exact the last drop of sweat and blood and return naught but death and desolation. The celebrity which I confer on con quering captain generals is but the empty glamor of false standards, wherein the right to commit wholesale murder is the insigne of glory. My splendor is as cheerless as the hearse's nodding plumes, as cold as the shimmer of the coffin's silver plates, as shallow as the riven graves .on Resur rection morning. If arraigned before the bar of en lightened public conscience, I could give no valid reason for my existence. My sole defenders are the designing few who glut their greed at cost of the deluded many. If the day e'er dawns when they who create me must support me, in that hour shall I wrap my gory battle flags about me and lay me down upon a bed of dark oblivion. I acknowledge no superior. I revere no God. I respect no court. I know no law. I, myself, am God, the law and the court of last resort. I AM WAR! La Grande, Or., November 23, 1914. DRUGGIST SPCRNS LIQUOR BALKS Sir. Woodward Declares Materia Medi na Can Get Along Without Tkrmt PORTLAND, Nov. 2 6. (To the Kai tor.) Tour editorial of Wednesday, "Copying Kansas," expresses a doubt as to the wisdom of adopting certain stringent features of the prohibition laws of that state by our own. Years ago John Sherman, asked as to the best method of resuming specie payments, answered tersely, "The way to resume is to resume." There is but one way to prohibit, I. e., prohibit. Any and every law and penalty which will produce the result a result asked for by 30,000 Oregon voters at the last election should be enacted. For over 30 years the writer has fol lowed the vocation cf a druggist. Dur ing all this time the firm with which he is connected has sold stimulants, paying the full Federal and city li censes therefor. We do not believe any drug store or druggist should be given either the privilege of or responsibility for selling intoxicants, directly or upon prescriptions. Such a privilege will surely be misused and the law rendered worthless as to its purpose. Decent druggists have enough to answer for in the sale of vile or worth less nostrums. In this, however, they (-but meet an insistent demand from the public a passing demand created by skilful and unscrupulous advertising. Many, and the writer believes by per sonal knowledge a majority, of our best physicians never prescribe intoxi cants. Our materia medica furnishes a long and efficient list of stimulants which serve every good purpose in the hands of the skilled practitioner aids which form no habit, and endanger neither life nor decency. Already, it is said, many "drug stores" will open in anticipation of the harvest to be garnered. Our legisla tors should leave no such loophole give to the decent druggist and his calling an opportunity to hold and re tain the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. Kill out and prevent the booze-seller who would masquerade under the title of an inherently honorable calling. WILLIAM F. WOODWARD, jiWoodard, Clarke & Co.) REAL GOSPEL OF PREPAREDNESS Work and Pray for Peace, font Tench Tontn to Shoot Straight, ASTORIA. Or., Nov. 26. (To the Edi tor.) I do not always agree with that I find In The Oregonian. but, generally speaking, your leading editorials are above criticism. But your last "Force to Obtain Peace" is a "bullseye." Should the author of that production live a thousand years and write a thousand articles on this subject, he could never improve a word. Calm, terse, sane, there is not a word amiss; nor an ellipsis in which to slip another that would add to the clear, definite and incontrovertible stand now taken by the Administration, and heartily supported by the great majority of the population of the United States. This article should be in the hands of every school pupil and nailed to every home's gate post in this land. A beautiful theory may be a most attractive piece of art, for half-informed, quasi-loyal people to simper over and admire; but when it ' won't work in practical life it is waste ma terial and only fit for the scrap pile. But why add another word? You have said it all. Now put your editorial into a leaflet and sow It broadcast over this land. Some of us who know what war Is from personal experience abhor it and dread it with all our heart, and would urge every reasonable submission, for the sake of brotherly peace; but any other kind of peace would be only a fraudulent contract to be again vio lated at the .option of the fraudulent party. People in this country so ready to tell us that the command to his early disciples by the great master was turn the "other check," go "two miles" when forced to go one. and give up your "coat" when your "cloak" is stolen, never quote the rest of his instructions. He did give these orders; but was care ful to tell his followers Just what would happen. They would be com pelled to fly before the mob from city to oity. Men would seek their lives; their foes were to be "those of their own households." "Brother was to rise aglnst brother," and to emphasize this act and cap the climax he gave them that strange paradox: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." Now, if our "other cheek," no force, spineless friends want to try this the ory on again as the early disciples did under command, they need not he de ceived. The master has shown propheti cally what will follow, and the early Christian history has fully proved it. Why, then, did Jesus order it? Probab ly for the same reason that he sub mitted to baptism into the Jewish priesthood. "To fulfill all righteous ness.' It was necessary in that age to get a foothold and establish the foundations of his kingdom on earth. Every great movement the world has ever seen has been compelled to send out Its "forlorn hope." We had ours in the Revolution and the 4.000.000 freed slaves in this country had theirs in the Civil War. We don't want any more. Let the loyal men and women of this country hold up the hands of the Ad ministration, work and prar mightily and fervently for peace, but while war threatens us for no fault of ours, teach our boys to shoot straight, have plenty of power and keep it dry. J. H. ACTON. WILLAMETTE VALLEY FARMER TALKS. Put down your knittin', mother, it Is nearly 9 o'clock. An 'fore we say our prayers, let us have a little talk; I ain't a-feelin' sleepy yet, an' mebbe you're likewise. Fur I kin see no droopin' of the kivers to your eyes. It's Just live years ago today since we sot foot upon This spot on the Willamette, in the tate o" Oregon, An' fve been sizin' matters up In very serious thought Been flggerin' up mentally if we was fools or not. You recolleck what neighbors said back in Nebrasky state When we was selltn' oft the farm an' stock to emigrate; They said there wasn't any fools like ol' fools; 'twas a case O' poor misguided people goln' on a wild goose chase. They said it rained in Oregon 'bout " nine months o' the year, An' durin' of the other three the skies was never clear. An when we'd got well soaked out here in that perpetchul rain We'd scrape the moss off of our backs an' mosey back again. An" now where are we at? I wouldn't swap one crop o fruit Fur all the farms them neighbors own, their stock throwed in to boot. A-sayin' notliln' of the crops o other things we ve grown, Fur which we've got right smart o' cash in bank down there in town. The rains are gifts the Master sends from his great generous hand To quench the Summer thirst o' this onequalled stretch o' land. An' give it proper nourishment bo's it can freely yield Its treasures to the farmers' hands in orchard an" in field. Sometimes when I set thinkin' o" the blizzards 'way back there. An' them cyclones that nearly strips the cows o' horns an' hair. An 'trampin' 'round to feed the stock in knee-deep falls o' snow. The zero mark a-peekln' at the mere'ry 'way below. An' then compare these gentle rains an' Winter climate and The wonderful productiveness o' this God-favored land, I wonder if they ain't the fools that stay back there Instead Of us they said was troubled with bugs buzzin' in the head. We've prospered here amazln, more'n we ever dremp we would. In way o' health I reckon ours is double extry good. Our threescore years set lightly, an" I bet there isn't two Contenteder ol' people in the land than me an' you. We've got a farm we're proud of, got it stocked right up to date With hosses an' with cattle fine as any in the state; We couldn't find a land t'd suit us bet ter until when We rise to realms o' glory an perhaps not even then. JAMES BARTON ADAMS. Vancouver, Wash. Many Seconded Motion. PORTLAND, Nov. 26. (To the Edi tor.) I Baw in The Oregonian the statement that the motion for a 4.5 mill tax levy made by Mrs. Sarah Hind Wilder at the Armory Wednesday night was not seconded. I wish to state that I and three-score more seconded that motion, but the Hon. Judge Munly ignored them. Another thing that should be men tioned in this state of equal suffrage is the fct that Mrs. Wilder, the only woman who spoke, was the one whose right as a taxpayer to vote or speak was challenged by Judge Munly. This thing should be remembered by the women of Portland at the coming election when Judge Munly's term ex pires. W. L. BLOCK. 1309 East Stark street. Danxerona as Genu ' PORTLAND, Nov. 26. (To the Edi tor.) It has been brought to my no tice for months back that the tops of milk jars are battered and split, sometimes falling off as the top is removed. I have been always told glass was almost sure death taken inwardly. Now. if dairymen will not observe this will some of the city au thorities please take notice and see if a little care on the dairymen's part will prevent this? I call this as dan gerous as the germs we have read so much about. SUBSCRIBER. Half a Century Ago From The Oregonian of November 26. 1864. Complaints against the brandishmnnt of dangerous weapons in the streets nave come to City Marshal Hoyt Last night he arrested a man who created a sensation by shootine a revolver and defying the officers. The new city charter is an elaborate instrument, and as no provision has been made for its Immediate publica tion, the Oregonian will lay it before its readers in supplement form at an early day the coming week. tinguished tourists of Europe, visited this city during the week, en route to N. Arrigoni while in the city. Three cases o-f ("runk Anil Am-rAaylv conduct were preferred before Judge McCoy yesterday. Rev. G. H. SrtmMf r ty, tt,.tio-h cal Protestant Church will preach again licit oaooata at 10 o clock at the Court House. The Sierra Nevada will arrive to night in accordance with the new schedule adopted at San Francisco, which provides that vessels coming north leave on the 9th, 19th and 29th of every month. The eminent artiste. Julia Dean Hayne. supported by G. B. Waldron, is appearing at the Willamette Theater. General Sherman reports the aggre gate number of troops 98.707, and the number of guns 245. Twenty-Five Years Ago From The Oregonian, Nor. 24 to 26, 1889. OeorrA Amos th. T - I T Works, San Francisco, is in the city, the guest of Mayor De Lashmutt Mr. and lira. TT. W amtiani Att.n.j the inauguration of Governor Ferry at Olympla on last Monday and returned to the city on Tuesday. TheniiniA Tt Ttrf1,w i . Miss Carrie Wilcox, returned from San Francisco on Thursday. F. D. McCain has been annolnted chief clerk in the Terminal Company in piace or t. naries Dixon. Charles Morris is assistant clerk and time keeper. The new order of Elks held an en thusiastic meeting yesterday afternoon in Pythias Hall, in Union block. Eleven members were received, bringing the total membership up to nearly 100. Hon. J. W. Phillips, a well-known and popular capitalist of Oakland, CaL. accompanied by his wife and daughter and two nieces from New York, have been spending the past few days in the city, guests of Dr. C. W. Cornelius and family. The first fast mail of the transcon tinental service left New York Thurs day of last week at 9 o'clock P. M. It arrived In Portland at 7 o'clock Tues day morning. Stephens School in East Portland was totally destroyed by fire Friday night at about 10:SO. The first city teachers Institute opened in the high school at 7:30 o'clock Saturday night. Ex-Senator George H. Pendleton died, at Brussels Sunday evening. San Francisco, Nov. 24. In a fight to a finish tonight at the rooms of the Occidental Athletic Club for a purse of 1800, Frank Glover, of Chicago, was easily knocked out In nine rounds by Billy Smith, of Australia. Charity Prolongs War. PORTLAND, Nov. Z. (To the Edi tor.) My heart 1 aching beyond words for all the unhappy and wretched peo ple in the countries at war. I can feel for everyone, because every member of my family, froxn the aged to the suck ling babe, is a sufferer In consequence of the war. My mind is constantly at work scheming out problems as to how to bring this awful conflict to an end at any cost, and last night the idea occurred to me that If the rest of the world would refrain from giving any succor to the needy of the war zone the Kings and Emperors and field marshals would soon have to come to some sort of an agreement tending to peace. This might be a drastic remedy, but it certainly would be preferable to having the war last three years, as kind "K. of K." indicated, or even one year, which In all probability it is going to last. A. MILLER, 215 Tenth street. Who Are Ileal SaTaees f CHEHALIS, Wash., Nov. 26. (To the Editor.) A news item entitled "Ameri cans Decry Allies' 'Savages' " (see The Oregonian, Nov. 25) reports that sev eral Americans in Munich have united In a protest to- their countrymen against the use by the Allies of Occi dental and African savages to fight in liurope. They invite protest against these savages slaughtering Christian kinsmen. Is it possible to make any distinction between Christian and Occidental or African savages? All are engaged in playing the game of savage warfare and slaughter. It seems ridiculous to discriminate between them, ono is as savage as the other, with Christian savagery by reason of 16-indh and ma chine guns partaking more of whole sale savagery. We have not yet heard of the Africans anrj Asiatics sowing mines in the open seas, or dropping bombs from the sky on women and babies. F. ANDERSON. Creation of Jefferson Connry. PORTLAND, Nov. 26. (To the Ed itor.) Please state in The Oregonian when and how the new County of Jef ferson was formed. READER. Jefferson County was created Novem ber 3 by vote of the people of Crook County, from which the new county Is severed. Local submission of county division questions is authorized by a law adopted by the Legislature In 1913. A new county must be petitioned for by a majority of the voters residing within its proposed boundaries and the issue is not carried unless it receives the favor able vote of 65 per cent of the voters within the DroDOsed county and 35 ner cent of the voters residing In the county or counties arrectea oy tne aivision. Peace on Earth Thoughts of the suffering and misery across the waters will make Christmas all the more - near and dear to North America. There will be a meaning to the day it has never held before. And with the increased sentiment will come a wider practical distri bution of little remembrances. Already the stores are In their holiday attire. Their announce ments are urging early shopping, and the invitation is backed up with merchandise. Run your eye over the advertise ments in The Oregonian and begin planning for Christmas.