Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1915)
6 . THE 3IORXING OREGONIAW. MONDAY, APRIL J 9,' 1915. PORTLAND, UBKGON. Entered at Portland, Oregon. Postofftce econd-clasti mutter. Subscription Itates invariably In advance: (By Mall.) Dally, Sunday Included, ona year 18.00 3 -ally. Sunday Included, six mouths .M Xally, Huniiay included, throe months. 2.25 Xally, Sunday included, one month.... .7i Dally, without Sunday, one year B.UO XJally, without Sunday, six months. . f Iaily, without Sunday, three months... 1.7o J-atly, without Sunday, one month..... Weekly, one year l.oO Sunday, one year Z. CO feunday and Weekly, one year. ........ . 3-Ou (By Carrier.) rally, Sunday Included, one year a.uu Xally, Sunday Included, one month 75 How to Kemlt Send Postofflce money or der, express order or personal check on your local bank, stamps, coin or currency are at vender's risk. Olve postoffice address In lull. including; county and state. I'oMage Itaten 1'- to lit pa.es. 1 cent; 18 to 1 pages, 2 cents: 84 to 48 pages, 8 cents; CO to tJU pates. 4 cents; 62 to 7tS pages, & cents; 7S to U2 pages, o cents. Foreign post age, double rates. Kastern Business Office Verse A Conk, lln. New York, Brunswick building; Chlcauo, tenner building. fun Francisco Office R. J. Bidwell Com pany, 742 Market street J'ORTLAM), MONDAY, A fill I. 19, 1015. TO REDEEM OBEGON. The Oregonian has never held a strong expectation that Intervention a.t this lata day by the State of Ore gon through its Attorney-General in the land grant forfeiture case would influence the character of the decree to be handed down by the Supreme Court. It has felt, however, that every legitimate means to bring the ham strung: condition of Oregon to the at tention of National authorities and to the people of the state itself should not be neglected. The attempted intervention has pro duced exclamations of horror from the outfit that was back of the dis credited attempt to deny the present generation rigrht to build industries on or otherwise develop overflowed lands; it has brought outbursts from the faction that is urging adoption of a law to convert part of Oregon's water power resources into funds to be used to reclaim arid lands in other states and support a gluttonous Federal de partment; it has wrung protests from the element that countenances and en courages the Forest Service in pre venting the homesteading of agricul tural lands. But it is offensive only to those in Oregon who place political party policies on a higher plane than state welfare. Opposition to it is of the type that will best awaken Ore gon to the actual consequences of taxing 40 per cent of the state to maintain not only that 40 per" cent but the remaining 60 per cent as well.. There are few who will deny that the railroad company did not ad minister the land grant for the best interests of Oregon. That the terms of the grant were not complied with Is indisputable. It would perhaps be just retribution if the company were compelled to forfeit the grant. But there is something besides revenge upon a corporation to be considered. Government administration of public lands is now as oppressive on the peo ple as the railroad's administration of its land grant. Unconditional forfeiture of the grant means merely a change of padlocks, unless the Government can be forced to a higher Bense of duty toward a reserve ridden state. The railroad land grant was never set aside as a reserve of any kind. The people of Oregon do not now want it locked up by either railroad or Gov ernment. They want it opened to settlement and development. The Legislature In adopting the resolu tion sought a means to ac complish that desire. If it cannot be done by court decree an appeal to Congress will be in order. If settle ment can be had by eliminating rail road title, well and good. If it can not be had without conceding the right of the railroad to 12.50 an acre, that is small cause for worry. Settlement and development overtop desire for retri bution or hate of corporations. Use of the land Is the essence of the peo ple's need. Meanwhile there is a growing senti ment against bureaucratic control and very unintelligent reservation of Oregon resources. , It is almost an organized movement. The decisive defeat of the vicious waterfront reservation amendment in the last election was the beginning of it. It found voice in the call by the Ore gon Legislature to other western states to join in a waterpower and public land conference in Portland. The resolution calling for intervention by the state in the land grant case is part of it. It will not be aban doned until the Oregon treasure chest has been pried open, not for the benefit of plunderers, but for the per manent enhancement of the people's welfare and the multiplication of the wealth therein contained.. EXPORT BOOM IS ALL DCB TO WAS. t . In almost every Instance those com modities which show an increase of exports during the eight months end ing with February have been in heavy demand for military . use. In almost every instance those commodities which are not in such demand show a decrease. There are some cases where the war has had an indirectly adverse effect, but it can have been only one of the chief causes. The Department of Commerce re ports increased exports of wheat, meat, dairy products, horses, cot-' ton manufactures, harness, saddles, cars and carriages, chemicals, leather, explosives, cottonseed oil, commercial automobiles, shoes, woolen manufactures, sine, sugar, mules, vegetables. Copper and its manu factures show a decrease from $96,800,000 to $58,600,000; mineral oils, from $99,700,000 to $85,000,000; naval stores, from $13,900,000 to $6, 300,000. though these commodities are extensively used in war. Of articles not largely needed for military pur poses, cotton shows a decrease from $498,900,000 to $243,900,000; lumber and Its manufactures, from $68,400,000 to $32,000,000: agricultural imple ments, from $20,800,000 to $4,600,000; passenger automobiles, from $14,900, 000 to $7,600,000; fertilizers, from $7, 200,000 to $2,200,000; fish, from $10, 400,000 to $3,100,000; iron and steel manufactures, from $171,600,000 to $121,300,000: tobacco, from $43,100, 000 to $32,300,000. The export boom due to the war has been sufficient to offset the decrease in exports of commodities which are in juriously affected by the war or are not affected at all.- Lumber and steel have suffered most, sales of the former com modify having decreased more than one-half. Germany, Austria,. Russia and Belgium, being unable to import agricultural implements and fertiliz ers, are thrown on their own resources while the other belligerent nations have not the money to epend. During the eight months ending with Febru ary the vast increase In exports of war supplies had not quite sufficed to offset t.he decrease, in exports ot other cpm modities and the general paralysis of foreign commerce which immediately followed the outbreak of war. Only by persistently building up foreign trade that is not dependent on the abnormal demand created by the war can we overcome the adverse effects of the Underwood tariff and maintain perma nently a favorable balance of trade. ' Of COURSE. It is a pretty safe guess that Mr. West owes to public antipathy to the aloon business his present freedom from a personal Judgment of $1000 or so. . The saloon is but a tolerated in stitution and in Oregon the voters have but recently badly discredited it in addition. The jurist on the bench may, as result of long training, be able to segregate prejudice and sentiment from the cold legal aspect of a case and decide the issue on the basis of the latter. But the ordinary juror la not built that way. It does not seem to him a serious matter to seize a discredited business by force of arms and ship the stock of goods out of the country. What would have been the verdict had it been dry goods expelled from Copperfleld can be imagined without difficulty. And in truth there was about as good reason for closing out a dry goods store as there was for disposing of the saloons in that man ner. Has not the lurid tale of general disarmament of the populace of Cop pertield been told in rhyme and story by press and magazine throughout the world? Orgy there might have been but no massacre. The seizure and expulsion of booze from Copper field was not a measure of safety, but presumably an act to make sure that offending saloonkeepers should be punished in the way that seemed proper to the Governor. It is something stronger than tradition that the saloonman has no friends in court. He is never able to collect at law a bill for goods sold on credit to a consumer. at the bar. If caught by a deadbeat the liquor dealer. unless he can threaten or conjole pay ment from his customer, now charges it up to profit and loss. No Jury will help him. So it naturally follows that if one is seeking another to kick in the pocketbook for amusement of the gallery, the safest man to pick is a liquor dealer. POLAND'S CALI- P3B HELP, Poland's sorrows have been almost overlooked, so absorbed has been our interest in the sorrows of nearer Bel gium, yet they are as great, and Po land has as strong a claim on our sym pathy. The reason is that Poland is more remote and has lacked the pow erful advocates who have spoken for Belgium. Yet none can fail to be moved by the appeal of Paderewski, the great Polish pianist. On their advances to and retreats from Warsaw the German troops have destroyed many towns and villages. The Russians, in the course of hostilities, have added to the devasta tion. Western Poland is laid waste as completely as it ever was in the days of anarchic Polish independence and 5,000,000 people in the parts occupied by Germany are in danger of starva tion. Their cry for help deserves as generous an answer as was made to the cry of Belgium. Of Poland it may be said, as it has been said of some men, that in the days of independence ehe was her own worst enemy, for her soldiers could fight as bravely as any, but she could not govern herself. King" Ladislas II formed and Ladislas III consolidated a kingdom which promised to dominate Central Europe, but internal dissension tore it apart and made the fragments a prey to the neighboring monarchies. No more stirring story of war haB been written than that of John Sobieskl's relief of Vienna or that of Kosciusko's last blow for national existence. Poland has given the world great men of letters, of whom Sinkiewicz is best known, but of whom she had a bright galaxy in the period following the renaissance. To science she gave Copernicus, and in our own times she has given Modjeska to the stage and Paderewski to music. The United States owes something to Poland, for Kosciusko fought under Washington for American independence. . .NO LAW WITHOUT FORCE. The utter futility of an international tribunal for settlement of disputes and for enforcement of .international law without armed force is shown by Mr. Balfour, the former British Pre mier, in a statement defending the blockade of German commerce as jus-' Unable retaliation for the submarine campaign against British shipping. He maintains that the Germans vio late not only international law, but in., ternational morality by linking mer chant ships which "they believe to be British, without regard to life or the ownership of cargo, without arry assur ance that the vessel is not neutral and without even the pretense of legal in vestigation." In defense of the British retaliatory action he says: It cannot cause the death of a single In nocent civilian: it cannot destroy neutral live and neutral Drooertv without legal process; it cannot Inflict Injury upon neutral commerce coniparaDie )n cnsracier or ex tent to that which would be produced by a blockade whose legality was beyond question. As to whether the British blockade conforms to international law, he says that, while the obligation of interna tional morality is absolute, that of In ternational law ia conditional and that one of its conditions is reciprocity. He explains his meaning by supposing the case of a state which has "lost all power to enforce obligations, to pro tect the innocent or to punish the guilty." Such a community might prosper so long as there was a general agreement to obey the laws and the agreement was maintained, but if the criminals broke it, the Innocent ought not tamely to submit. He says that this condition now prevails as to in ternational law, for "no penalties are inflicted on those who violate its rules, and, if a state makes use of forbidden weapons, the neutrals, who blame its policy, do nothing to protect its vic tims." He continues: But let them (neutrals) remember that Impotence, like power, has duties as well as ftriviieges; ana it xney cannot eniorce lag aw on those who violate both Its spirit and Its letter, let tnem not maKe naste to criti cize belligerents who may thereby be com Delled In self-defense to violate its letter, while carefully regarding its spirit. For otherwise the Injury to the future develop ment of international law may be serious indeed. Jf the rules of warfare are to bind one belligerent and leave the other free, they cease to mitigate suffering; they only load the dice In favor, of the unscrupulous; and those countries will most readily agree to changes in the law of nations who do not mean to re Douna by them. International law without courts to interpret it and without force to exe cute the court's decrees is therefore no law at all. Violation by one nation ah solves all others from obedience to its precepts, and the world sinks into an archy, so' far as relations between na tlons are concerned. Nations thus fall back on elementary morality, This U the condition to which the war has re duced the world. Montana was just such a state as Mr. Balfour imagines when the outlaws spread terror. There being no law. the vigilantes rose up on behalf of the in nocent against the criminals and estab lished law by superior force, which was the only means by which law could be established. By the same means alone can law be made supreme among nations. Hague treaties, arbi tration treaties, declarations of Paris and all such documents are worthless. Only when each nation unreservedly puts at the disposal of the Hague tri bunal armed forces which, when those of all nations are combined against one nation, can reduce that nation to sub mission will international . law come into actual operation. "STAT OX THE FARM." When Governor Withycombe in .his speech at Salem last Saturday said "Instead of "back to the farm,' the injunction should be 'stay on the farm.' " he was speaking from a wealth of information gathered during his long connection . with the Oregon Agricultural College. James Withycombe, the farmer, started his farm career without capital. He made it pay. He went steadily ahead until he was recognized as authority on agricultural and live stock subjects. He read, studied and worked. He was liberal in buying the best that could be had for his farm, frugal in his personal and family ex penses. He was a real farmer of the best sort. And what he accomplished can be accomplished by any farmer of intelligence. If you were to ask Governor Withy combe what portion . of his life he enjoyed the most he would say that portion spent upon the farrr!. The Governor still owns that farm, still keeps ' it on the up-grade, still watches over It as the apple of his eye and if his life is spared ho will go back there and undoubtedly be come one of the best farmers in the West. "Stay on the farm!" It ia good advice coming from any source. but coming from a man who knows. who founded a distinguished career on a farm, it is doubly valuable. QUACKS AND DRUG FTEN'DS. Recent legislation has made It very difficult for drug addicts to obtain their favorite potions. Several states have prohibited the sale of morphine, cocaine and the like without a physi cian's prescription under severe penal ties and others are- likely to follow suit before a great while. The new Federal law in particular has done much to injure the nefarious trade of quacks. But the victim when deprived of his drug suffers intolerable torments and readily resorts to cunning and de ception to obtain the means to con summate his own ruin. It has been found that there are plenty of people ready, for a considera tion, to provide the morphine, cocaine or heroin for which he longs. The United States Treasury Department reports that quite a thriving trade in habit-forming drugs has been set up by express since the new Federal law went into effect. The drug-user's name is obtained by some of those un derground methods known to the great brotherhood of quacks and he is then invited through the mail to forward description of his symptoms, with the assurance that they will be studied by great scientists and treated by the best methods. What is actually done Is first to analyze the symptoms and learn to what drug he is enslaved and then send him carefully graded supplies by express. It is dangerous to- use the mails for this purpose. The quacks make a thin pretense that the "medi cine" is forwarded to cure the patient but the real object is, of course, to fasten the chains of the habit more and more securely upon him. These treacherous medicines are sold under a hundred alluring names but they are all alike in that they never cure but always confirm the deadly addic tion. Some gain increased attractive ness by adding from 15 per cent to 20 per cent of alcohol to the mixture. But the business of luring drug users to their destruction is not carried on entirely by mail. There is a set of depraved physicians in almost every city who pander to their unfortunate cravings and stand ready to sell pre scriptions to all comers. They are able to make a plausible pretense of legitimate practice since the best way to cure some addicta Is to administer their drug in diminishing doses. These false physicians administer the drug with a liberal hand but the dose never diminishes. If it did, t their business would suffer. The Federal Govern ment has its eye upon these ill-favored characters in some parts of the coun try but they are a slippery breed and hard to catch. No doubt it will be a long time before they are all shut up In Jail, where they properly belong. MR. KOtKKKEl-LKR'S , LATEST TRUST. John D. Rockefeller is now applying to the purposes of benevolence the great talents for economical and effi cient organization by which he built up his huge corporation. A man of his habits and experience can have little patience with wasted money and effort in any direction. A badly located, badly managed college, hospital or other public institution gains no sympathy from him. If in a poor location, he would close it and com bine it with some other, just as he would close one oil refinery and en large another. If badly managed, he would re-organize it completely, dis miss the inefficient enthusiasts and substitute men and ' women who came up to his standard of efficiency. He uses the great power of his wealth to procure the adoption of his ideas, for unless they are adopted he gives nothing. Mr. Rockefeller's plan for carrying out his idea, as described by himself in the Saturday Evening Post'and as carried out by himself in the Rocke feller Foundation, is that each mil lionaire who designs to give or be queath money for the general good should create a .benevolent trust. The trustees would be a body of success ful business men who applied to those institutions which sought donations the same principles by which-they had succeeded in business. They would have a staff of efficiency experts who would Investigate each applicant. If it came up to their standard of effi ciency, they would subscribe. If it fell below that standard, they would make donations conditional on cer tain changes of management. Thus the general standard of efficiency would -be lifted. But why should each public bene factor establish 'a separate trust? To do so would Involve great duplication of expense and effort, which is ab horrent to a'man of Mr. Rockefeller's passion for getting full value for every dollar expended. Why not have one great trust In .which all benefactions should be pooled and by which all applicants for donations would be judged? Mr. Rockefeller seems to have had trfat idea in mind when he made a speech in Chicago to "men of worth and position," which he quotes. He advised them to do with their public benefactions as they would do with fortune bequeathed to their families, saying: Let us erect a foundation, a trust, and engage directors who will make it a lite work to manage, with our personal co-operation, this businoss of benevolence proper ly and effectively. If this plan were put into execution a man or woman would draw a check once a year to the National Benevolent Trust and consider his or her chari table duties done for the year.. The trustees would place the money in the common fund and apportion it ac cording to certain standards of merit and efficiency which they had es tablished. If a rich man or woman were making a will, he or she would not make a. series of bequests to a number of institutions, but would make one big bequest to the Benevo lent Trust and leave it to do the rest. The Rockefeller scheme, like the entire idea of combination, ef which Mr. Rockefeller is the most dis tinguished vproduct, takes no account of the personal equation. Charity is a sentiment springing from the heart towards a definite object and finds its greatest exercise not in giving money but in personal servite. When it gives money, it. wishes to apply that money to certain chosen purposes and to su pervise its expenditure. Shakespeare says "Charity is twice blessed. It bless- eth him that gives and him that takes." He that gives enjoys this blessing by numberless gifts and acts from day to day; he cannot enjoy it by pouring a certain sum of money into a hopper once a year, to be distributed by a committee, of business men. Either charity would be dried up by such machine methods or it would evade them. Individual givers would persist in givirrg in their own -way to their own selected objects. Nor is it desirable in the general interest that benefactions should be concentrated under the management of one or a few boards or committees of business men. These boards would have great power for good, but they would also have great power for evil. They could give education a certain trend by discrimination, which might be unconscious or dictated by worthy motives but which would be pernicious in its effects. They could blacklist cer tain institutions and enlarge others to swollen proportions. Mr. Rockefeller says: I have no fear hat such foandations are likely to exercise any undue influence or. education, nor have I ever hearj. of any persons or institutions altering their con victions or their teachings as a result of gifts from our foundations. Nevertheless, men possessing, such power as would be vested in th pro posed benevolent trust would be more than human if they did not exercise it. Heads of institutions which sought their aid would be sorely tempted to modify their teachings and their meth ods in order to ingratiate themselves with the rulers over so many millions. It would be better to continue a large measure of duplicated, wasted effort from a monetary standpoint than to place all benefaction in the hands of a machine. In all the years it has been in control of Government, the Democratic party has been notorious in failing to recog nize the laborer as worthy of his hire. The present Administration is a little worse, however. For example: The carrier of the new rural route out of The Dalles will get $572 a year,;when he should be paid $1200. ' Most women depend upon the cler gyman when they desire a change of name; but a Douglas County widow has petitioned the County Court to eliminate a few syllables. Men of Douglas, where art thou? Tea, Governor, we will go back to the farm when we can get there with out wading through mud. Wo have been living in cities so long that good roads have ceased to be a luxury and have become a necessity. It is significant that a husband who administered a severe beating to a masher who bothered his wife was not arrested. Some policemen have a keen sense of humor mixed with justice. A noted German ascribes the war to "Russian tyranny, French passion for revenge and English jealousy," yet he does not accuse his own country of lamblike conduct. The Sherwood County people will need to administer the twilight sleep to Yamhill, Washington and Clackamas to get away with the goods. H. W. Holmes' record of actual work speaks louder for him as a good road engineer than a long series of civil service examinations. Sunnyslde school children have the Japanese peril brought home to them when a little brown girl beats them at spelling. Once more is the great basic fact established that one who would sue for damages must go into court with, clean hands. Austria is calling for her untrained men, looking for a prolonged war. Great Britain Is likely to be the next. The Government is seeking a stand ard for soap, while everybody believed all the difference was in the scent. Wanted: A President-maker by the Republican party, but he must have no dollar marks on his clothes. . When Great Britain gets the 80,000 mules ordered there will be few kicks left in the Missouri Valley. When Turks lyncji Kurds for killing Christians, the affair has the sound of the movie camera. Russia's loss of half a million men ia a mere bagatelle. Russia has plenty more to sacrifice. Flycatchers are not contraband and more than five million are corning from Germany. Was the Greek steamship torpedoed to involve the. little fighting nation? Miss Thomas will now be the envy of all the other teachers. We must intervene at Turtle Bay before going into China. Mr. West could not help grandstand ing In the courtroom. Intervention In China needs force for backing. . Twenty-Five Year Ago Prom The Oregonian ot April 18. 1S90. Washington Dr. Mary Walker, who has been suffering from injuries re ceived in a fall. May 30 last, will never be able to use her limbs again it is feared, and ehe has about kiven- up hope ever of leading the active life that she has been accustomed to . Tacoma The census of Tacoma. taken to determine the right of the city to form a new charter, shows a total population of 28.481 within the present limits. The United States census in June will embrace some additional ter ritory and will show more than 30.000 or an increase of some 6791 since 1880. Ex-President Hayes and daughter Fannie, sailed from New York Thurs day afternoon for Bermuda. While A. Baker was reading a news paper the other evening in his rooms a lamp exploded and but for the quick action of Mr. Baker a serious fire would have resulted. Mr. Baker will be laid up for a tew days with burns. Mrs, Slgel White is on a visit to Albina and may remain over the Sum mer. Sol Abraham, of Roseburg. has sold hi extensive lumber mills at Glendale, Douglas County, to a company consist ing of C. A. Roberts, Francis Feller, W. H. Byers, E. S. Larson and D. D. McClure. A large body of timber was sold with the mills, the transaction in volving $80,000. Wednesday evening a surprise party was tendered Miss Minnie Parker at the residence of John Parker on Rod ney avenue. A moat delightful evening was spent in dancing, cards and social conversation. The plans for the six-story building to be erected on Third and Washing ton by Frank Dekum have been ap proved. The building will be a "dandy." Phil Motschan. the candidate for Treasurer, will pass a few days in town, getting acquainted before he re turns to Baker. San Francisco Jack McAuliffe, the lively lightweight, has met his match in the little bantam champion. Dan Cupid, and the engagement of Mc Auliffe and Miss Kitty Hart, leading lady of "The Hole in the Ground" com pany, is hereby announced. New York A rumor that Lyman Abott is about to resign bis pastorate ot Henry Ward Beecher's old church In Brooklyn, is current here. It Is said that Dr. Abbott said he would not re main where his creed and theology was subject to controversy among the members of the church. Rev. Dr. Bur rell, now in Minneapolis, is to be of fered the church, it is said. The Dalles W. C- Tarlton, manager of the Prineville Land & Stock Com pany, was killed 75 miles from here recently, when the team he was driv ing ran away, upsetting the wagon and dragging him some 2Q0 feet. G. P. Rummelin. the well-known fur rier, leaves on the next steamer for Alaska on business. A. M. Hamilton & Co. will reopen their race bureau at No. 11 Alder street this morning, commencing with the races at Elizabeth, N. J. They have a special wire running direct to the track. A San Francisco dispatch says "Bll" Ayres. of Portland, ia in that city tak ing a look at the flyers. Mr. Ayres has been Interested in "bangtails" and many a time his colors came under the wire flrBt. APPRECIATE "EW ELECTRIC LINE Willamette Valley Southern Bceatc and Taps Rich Country. ALBANY, Or., April IS. (To the Ed itor.) A trip over the Willamette Val ley Southern Railroad, a new electrlo line leading into the interior of Clack amas County from Oregon City, will be an attractive outing for city people. Starting out as a branch of the Oregon Water Power line. It gradually ascends by an easy grade to an altitude of 00 feet above the summit and from there down into the Molalla Valley, running around the conformation of the hill. It might well be named the zig-zag road. Passing over canyons, hundreds of feet below the roadbed, gliding by im penetrable forests of fir timber, look ing into oasla-llke valleys and, above all, a magnificent view of the Cascade Range, looming above all Mount Hoed in all its grandeur it certainly will be an inspiring sight to strangers, sec ond only to the Columbia Highway. It ia an object lesson of the re sources awaiting development, not only in timber for manufacturing purposes, but water power that will shortly be of inestimable value. The richest soil in the valley lies along the right of way and it is safe to predict that the future will see many suburban homes dotting the landscape where now it primitive forest. Its proximity to Portland as well as Oregon City will draw upon the agri cultural interests to supply the mar kets with vegetables (every train run ning into the city), let alone supplying milk for the creameries. When it ia considered this road was built to a great extent by co-operative stock subscription, the right of way donated by the young farmers, promoted by a young man without linanclal support or capitalists, simply by the confidence placed in the promoter and officials of the former Clackamas Southern Railroad until completed to Molalla, it is evident that integrity la all that in necessary to build many industries that are needed in the valley, as well as evidence that this is only an enter ing wedge to transportation facilities. As a pioneer farmer remarked, it had taken him a day to go to Oregon City and return by ox team, while now it takes but an hour by the care. An other, asked what corporation owned the road, replied: -"We, the farmers along the line," with as much pride as a capitalist. He little realized that the officials had to sweat drops of blood to meet the payroll for the building of a road. A J. MILLER. Assessment Against Government, PHOENIX. Arizona. April 11 (To the Editor.) Please state in your columns whether the United States Government ever pays for street improvements in front of its property. They are about to improve a street here on which the federal building fronts and it has been stated here that the Government never pays for street improvements, that the city will have to pay for it. If that is the case, I think it a shame. It strikes me that the Government should be first to pay for street improvements, there of setting a good example. G. C. KISSEL. There appears to be no fixed rule in regard to this matter, according to local .Federal officers. The Govern ment may or may not pay for street improvements In front of Federal prop erty. In the event this charge is met, a special act of Congress Is necessary whereby the appropriation may be made, unless this item Is provided for at the time the original appropriation for the building or the purchase of the property la made. No lien can be taken on- Federal property In the event It should be decided not to meet such charges. You had beat consult the UnltM States District Attorney in Ar. zona ag to the practice in (hat state. MR- KELSON AND KANSAS CITY How Editor Awakened Community In terest aad Caused Civic Revolution. STEVENSON. Wash.. April 17. (To the Editor.) I was greatly Interested in your editorial. April 14 on the service" to Kansas City of the late William R. Nelson, of the Kansas City Star. From the standpoint of one who was a daily reader of that paper from the time that Colonel Nelson acquired It to my removal from the zone of Its circulation, a period of some SO years, I can indorse what you nay of its in fluence in Kansas City and throughout half a dozen states adjacent thereto. As an editorial writer, who aees the world from hla esk and the horizon of hie library, he was not to be classed with the limited number of great Jour nalists who have exploited their views on questions of National importance fpr party's sake. In fact, he claimed to be independent of party affiliations, but had a strong leaning toward the Demo cratic (H, nevertheless. He was not a theorist who evolved nne-apun ays terns aa vehlclee for -the display of eru dition and personal aggrandizement, but an eminently practical man of the very-day sort of common sense that accomplishes results. Doubtless If all the editorials he ever published In his paper were assembled in a book It would make, as books go, a sorry vol ume, but if all he accomplished by these editorials could be told in one story it would remind the reader of one of the most vivid chapters of the Arabian Niphts. Usin; the term in an unoffensive sense I should say he was the cham pion "knocker" of his time. With pro nounced convictions on all the great questions of the day which agitate the world of politics, finance, theology, sociology, moral reform and what not, he never allowed any of them nor all of them to divert hia best energies from the main question which was. at all times and under all circumstances. Kansaa City. Herein he found hia never-falling theme and most con genial employment. He took hold of Kansas City when he took hold of the Star, and he found them both in a rut and somewhat of a Joke. He had the foresight to see the possibilities of each as well aa the candor and cour age to admit the lamentable conditions existing. The town was stuck In among the hills and hollows of the Miscsouri River bluffs In a lack-lustre sort of way. content with its strategic Importance, Its mud. its filth and Its packing-houses. As for the paper. It was scarcely known outside the county, county. When the new management was an nounced people asked what on earth a capitalist and man of large financial affairs wanted of such a paper! In due time the question was answered. He made It the vehicle for his knocking. He started out by telling the plain, unpleasant - truth about the town and its needs. He hammered away at this until he forged out a commendable de gree of civic pride among the Inhabi tants. He employed the keen weapon of ridicule unmercifully. Instead of covering up or apologizing for faults and defects he exposed them and sat irized them until they disappeared. He thrust at sluggards and mosnbacks right and left- He went after the con dition of the streets, the untidiness of the business and residence section, the wretched excuse of a streetcar system, the inadequate water supply, the ex cessive charges for gas, the need of parka and boulevards, the unsightly telephone and telegraph wires and their forest of polea that obstructed the streets and'obscured the aky. He lam basted the old Union Depot and pub lished things about it that made the public gag. He eald It was swarming with vermin and headquarters for all the dreaded pestilential terrors that stalk in darkness I am not sure but ha sent reporters down there to become inoculated In confirmation of these charges. That was 30 or more years ago. Colo nel Nelson la dead and his work Is done, but neither time nor death can efface the results of the revolution of which he Is the acknowledged hero. Kansas City la "The City Beautiful" now and admired th world over. It has a system of public parks that would be an honor to a city of four times the. size. Its boulevards for physical design construction and scenic beauty are unexcelled in Amer ica. Ita Union Station is excelled by but two m-the Western Hemisphere and the population of the town of nearly half a million, point to this magnificent marble pile as the crown ing achievement of their patron saint. Colonel William R. Nelson. It would be inexcusable to omit to mention in this connection the effective instru ments assembled by the wisdom of this great newspaper manager for the ac complishment of hla magnificent work. It is not often that such news paper genlu.se an Noble L. Prentis, Alec Butts. Rose Field, William Allen White ard Frei Vandergrlft are em ployed under the came roof to write for ore paper. I am particularly led to the above tribute because of the magnificent vic tory you won this week in favor of modern roada In Multnomah Oountv, ALBERT R. GREENE. fllmpliried spelling. VANCOUVER, Wash.. April 17. (To the Editor.) To what extent has the Spelling Board simplified spelling? MILTON RICHARDS. The Simplified Spelling Board has prepared a number of llsta of words simplified in spelling. The first list prepared by the Board contained 100 words, the spelling of which was sim plified. Later another list containing 100 words was adopted, and the latest list put out by the Board contains con siderably more than that. The Board haa no power to enforce the use of the simplified spelling- and consequently it is merely up to the various schools to adopt or reject the llsta of words prepared. The movement is still new and ao yet but few schools have adopted the simplified spelling. Reed College has adopted one of the lists. Collecting Note Made in J008. PORTLAND. April 18 (To the Ed itor.) Will you kindly Inform me if a note of hand for $250, t per cent in terest, given me for money advanced in lttOg, in the State of California, la still collectible? Have had the matter in a local collector'a hands, but have received no payment on said note, al though on the case being taken Into court 18 months since, the court cost, fees," etc.. are being paid to the col lector at a small payment monthly by debtor. Ia such a note ever outlawed? MRS. R. HENDRYX. A. If the suit was atarted before the note' was legally outlawed, the note la atill collectible. The "statute of limitations" in California runs five years. In Oregon six, A Judgment St court. If one haa been rendered, will be outlawed In the same length of time, but may be renewed. Germany's Quarrel With China, VANCOUVER, Wash., April 17. (To the Editor.) Kindly inform us the ex act trouble between China and Germany in the fecent war, sino'e July, 1914. MISS SUSIE M'KEXNA. When Japan attacked Kiau-Chau, Ger many protested to China that the terms of her lease were being violated. In view of the facts that China was pow erless to resist Japan and that Ger many could not then bring China to book, the protest can be regarded only aa preliminary to more forceful action when Germany is In a position to take such action. Half a Century Ago From The Oregonian. April 19. 1S5. True to the reckless arm suicidal policy that has actuated it from the first, rebellion haa complicated, ita own fate by its last dastardly act one that will forever render Ita history ac cursed among men. From thu soul of Abraham Lincoln It had reason to ex pect every concession he could In honor grant. Never had he for a moment en tertained toward the South the bitter ness of spirit that it extended to him: never had he allowed the passion if the hour to obtain a mastery or per mitted a prejudice for an instant to sway the councils of the Nation. From him the baffled and disappointed rebel could expect much for his was a nature capable of forgiving all that honor could overlook; cardie of bestowing benefits In return for a multitude of injuries received. If his (Lincoln's! assassination waa planned and executed in the hope of embarrassing the administration- of tho Government, de moralizing the Nation and aiding re bellion in ita death grasp, the hopo waa but vain and futile. Every auch act but adds to National unity and calls more loudly Into action the pop ular voice that Is so omnipotent in frei governments. The consequences of the act are not to be calculated easily; the wheels of government will roll un hindered: the people will mourn a great and good man lost but the Immediate effect will be to steel and harden every heart against the cause that calls to Ita aid -the most barbarous and fiend ish acta that can be concelvei and ex ecuted. H. W. S. The bill granting Conarresalonal aid for the construction of the Oregon and California Railroad passed the House of Representatives a ehort time prior to the adjournment of Congress. No action waa had on the hill in the Sen ate. The Bulletin, of San Francisco, says the matter was neglected, by Cali fornia Senatora because of Jealousies between Mr. Conness and Mr. Cole in the House. Washington Andrew Johnson was Inaugurated President April 15 at 11 o'clock. The funeral of the late Preai dent will take place Wednesday. A petition haa been sent to Senator William3 urging on him the necessity of having our malls to California con tinue on the best plan available and with the greatest dispatch the Govern ment can obtain. It Is said that Mount Baker, a lofty peak to the northward, is rapidly sink, lng in. It Is asserted that the moun tain has fallen 1000 or 1T.O0 feet and that ita summit which formerly was a sharp point, is now much flattened. This peak for aome time haa been In a state of active eruption. Dense cloud of smoke have of late been eeen to Is sue from It. The Sunday law, which calls for the closing of all kinds of stores and places of amusement goes into effect May 1. It occasionally may happen that lit tle inadvertancles occur In our city items which omissions or mistake may give rise to Indignation or that, we may auy, sometimes create pleasant feelings ia not unlikely We do not hope to satisfy every person by our course; to do so ia not within our mortal grasp, hence anyone who may feel aggrieved or have emotions vlca versa and wish to take a look at us, are advised that We may be seen as accurate as life on the west side of First Btreet, two or three doors above Wawhtngton street at the entrance of Dalton's gallery where Mr. Desmond has iduced shadow of our substance. GERM A MAIL WAt KM ARE KI7.EI. Cbarue of Aurrless sabsert lence Enclaad at Least Premature. EUGENE. Or.. April 17. (To the Editor.) You bring the news that England has ai;ain conhsraled 2&09 mail bags from Germany from an Italian steamer. The powerful American Nation sub mits to such outrages without a mur mur. These outrages are directed against the citizens of this country, a. neutrHl country, be they hyphenated citizens, Uerman-Anierlrun or Anglo Saxon or others. Germany Interferes with the malls f Ambassador Van Dyke, upparently on military grounds. The United HtateM prowxta and Uermany makes good the mistake. I:ut how about English Interference wth the mulls containing letters and other matter sent by American Con suls, American citizens, to probably the American Government and to American citizens? Is thin neutrality? Is this the way to stand up for the reputation, the power and the honor of this great Nation? It certainly shows the aplneless.'iess of our Ad ministration in its worst shape. "Clvia Amirlnnun sum!" Thl proud expression, which you called upon all citizens to consider aa the highest honor they can bestow upon themselves and their country, this American citizenship Is trampled into the dust by our present Administra tion in their subservience to England. What haa become of the principles declared In the Declaration of Inde pendence? Have the citizens of thix country no right to travel and live In foreign countries or to Join the lied Crobs Society and from there write home to their kindred and frlonfla? Has a German-born citizen no right to communicate with hla old home and relatives? la It the privilege of the Englishmen alone to Bay, "Blood la thicker thsj water," as our humane American exporters of arma and muni tions proclaim? "Clvia Amerlcanus sum" can be said with pride only, if Justice ia done to all citizens alike, born in this country or naturalized. B. SCHWA RZSCHILD. When our correspondent knows that there was American mail in the seized aacks, that aome of it was official and that, In that event, the Administra tion haa not demanded satisfaction. It will be time enough for him to say that "American citizenship la trampled into the dust" and that the Adminis tration is subservient to England. So far he haa no more knowledge than The Oregonian haa that such 'are the f cta Trouble In Polities. Judge. Ferris I'm going to move. Harris What's the trouble? Ferrla Tha fellows on each aide ef me ran for the same office this year. Harris What of that? Ferris Well, I can't stand It to live between a swelled-head and a sore head. "I Know Because "I know, because I aaw It In the paper" You bear the phrase every day and Ita very finality teatlfiea to the esteem in which readers hold their favorite newspaper. The message of the newspaper carries confidence, and the same confidence goes out to the Intelli gent advertiser. That explains the pull of news paper advertising. People not only read the advertia. ing. but they accept It at ita correct value. They patronize the advertiser be cause he haa gained their confi dence. If he repays in kind they became permanent and valued customers.