THE 3IORXIXG OREGOXIAX, f?ATURDAY. DECEMBER 9, 1916. mnmx PORTLAND. OREGON. Entered at Portland (Oregon) Postofflce as second-class mail matter. Subscription rates Invariably la advance (By MalL) raJly. Sunday Included, one year J8.00 tany Sunday included, six months 4 25 i-aily, Sunday Included, three months... .-5 raily. Sunday Included, one month...... -"S Daily, without Sunday, one year 6-00 La:iy, without Sunday, three months.... l.5 DiMy, without Sunday, one month. .60 Weeklv, one year Sunday, one ver 2.50 tundij and Weekly 3.50 I (By Carrier.) pally, Funrtay Included, one year B-"0 Jjally, Sunday Included, one month 75 How to Remit Send postoltlce money order, express order or personal check on lour local bank. Stamrs, coin or currency are at sender's risk. Give postofflce address in full, irfcluding county and state. Postage Rates 12 to 16 pages, 1 cent: IS ty 82 pages, 2 cents; 31 to 48 pages, 8 cents; 60 to 60 pases, 4 centa; 62 to 74 pages. 5 cents: 7S to 82 pages, 6 centa Foreign post, age, double rates. Kastern Business Office Verreo St Conk lln, Brunswick building. New York; Verroe Conklla. Steger building, Chicago. San ' Francisco representative, B. J. Bidwell. 742 larket street. J"ORIlAXD, 8 AT CRD AY, DEC. 8, 1916. WHO AU WHAT DOES ITT When the late James J. Hill made his oft-quoted remark that the high Cost of living was due to the cost of high living, the Nation paused long enough in its universal pursuit of wealth and happiness to observe that Mr. Hill was quite art epigrammist and something of a philosopher. He was. He put his finger on a great part of the trouble, but not all; and Insofar as there was any Implication that the National high living was fast living, It was not true, except on the big and little Broadways throughout the coun try. There is of course now a sover eign remedy for dissipation Induced by liquor, and It is prohibition. Every body is doing it. Pretty soon there will be no more alcoholic gayety any where. Just now the alarming upward trend of prices approaches a "crisis. Every body Is frightened and wants to know what Is the matter. The war, of course, has made the situation acute. But the war is not the whole story. The President Is said to favor a gen eral investigation of the whole subject, and Conrrpsa has the same Idea. It's a great thing. Push it along. Let us find out Just what the war has done for us and to us. But let is learn more about our plight more about all Important economic phases ' factors that enter Into our daily life. It Is time to take an inventory. How much has the higher cost of government National, state, munici pal (especially municipal) had to do with the greater cost of living? Why does it take two men to do the Job one man used to do? What has eight hours a day,, or less, with a half holi day Saturday, got to do with-it? Why so many new public activities? What are they accomplishing? What do they cost? Why so many frills and accessories end superfluities to our school sys tem, covering many kinds of new serv ice, either useful or ornamental, tak ing fin ImmnnRplv nlflreArl tpnrhlnrr staff, utilizing new buildings, and calling for a hundred things the par ents of present-day children never heard of? Why an elaborate scheme of local government with Its top-heavy depart ments, every one with its separate manager o chief, its stenographers, secretaries, clerks, assistants, and so on, and so on? Why a larger police force, when the city is admittedly greatly sobered and benefited by pro hibition? Why a horde of Inspectors to look after our milk, bread, butter, eggs, meats and everything the gro cer or butcher sells inspection that does not stop even at requiring us to have sanitary stables? Why health inspectors, dental inspectors, fly-speck Inspectors and all the rest? To be Eure, we had to have 'em, but what are they costing us? The higher taxes are not all. By no means. They have increased only four or five times per capita over what th.ey were fourteen years ago curiously enough, that was when we adopted the beneficent Oregon sys tem only four or five times. That is all. Who complains at an increase of only 400 or 500 per cent in his taxes? Or. perhaps, it is as little as 300 per cent. Anyway, It's a trifle If you have the money to pay it. There are the automobile and good roads. How much have they con tributed to the lower level of the aver age citizen's bank account? Or do we hear it denied that the average t-itizen has less money? Wages are higher than ten or fifteen years ago, nnd he has more to spend. Certainly the banks have more on deposit. Somebody put it there. Doubtless it was the wage earner, with his sur plus wages. Though perhaps the tax collector has helped out the account Fomewhat with his large deposits. The middleman what has he done to manipulate and Inflate prices? He buys eggs, butter, chickens and tur keys and puts them in cold storage, and when W.inter comes he takes them out and puts them on the market at a large advance. Sometimes they ppoll on his hands and he suffers a heavy loss; but in the general balance of things he comes out ahead con siderably ready to try it again, when the clamor for his control or regula tion or abolishment has subsided. The minimum wage what has that to do with our great dilemma? Along with It there has been a general short ening of working hours a wise and proper reform, all agree. But has it cost nothing? Let us get back to education. We have an agricultural college to teach s better farming and to encourage the movement back to the soil. There are too many consumers and too few producers, as is obvious, and long have been. We are sure we are getting better farmers from our agricultural college, but we would like to know how many of them farm, and how many set out to teach others to farm? We have a state university a fine Institution. But we should like to pee some statistics as to how many of its students are able, through well-to-do parents, to pay their own way, and how many graduate into the over crowded professions and how many Into other employments? There was a time when we bought flour in paper or cotton sacks, and oatmeal and sugar in bulk, and prunes in the barrel, and other table ' articles in a form now regarded as somewhat rrlmlttve. How is it now? It. is the day of the small package and the fancy breakfast food, the telephone ' and the delivery wagon. How much have they added to the daily outlay of the ordinary household? To be cure, we have the public market, which was designed to curb the middleman, do away with costly free delivery, and permit personal inspection and pur chase all at prices approximating cost., with a small but fair profit to the : producer. How about it? Did we not see a warning the other day from the State Food Commissioner that prices la the public, market wero pot always lower than with the private dealer? The moving-picture houses take their toll, too. They are a boon to the poor mars and to others not poor, without a doubt. He gets a great deal of pleasure every week, or oftener, for himself and his. whole family, to be sure. We can think of a lot of things we would rather dispense with than the movie. But nevertheless it is well enough to ask if Charlie Chap lin really earns $600,000 a year. Who pays it? . Gasoline is up, too. A year ago, or so, it was to be had for 11 cents and now it is 214 cents. That means more expensive automobillng and therefore more costly living, for a great many thousand aye, million people. Did the war force gasoline so far skyward? Or what had the $100,000,000 which the late John D. Archibold accumulated have to do with it, to say nothlijg of the countless millions a world of oil and gasoline users have poured .into the coffers of John D. Rockefeller? Thus we might run on. The coun try is prosperous, in spots, and wages have gone up, also in spots. But there is nothing spotted about the advance of prices of all, or nearly all, articles which go to make up the citizen's and the family's expense account. A few years ago we got along with less, much less, and we had less. There has been a vast improvement in the standard of living everywhere, and we would not go back to the old days or the old ways if we could. Tet it is well enough to pause, once In a while, and take stock, so as to learn how much of the condition about which all complain is due to our own deliberate acts, and how much has been imposed upon the people by others. Not everything can be laid to the war, or the middleman, or Rocke feller. Something ought to be done about them, of course, but something else must be done to teach simplicity, economy, thrift and prudence in its average expenditure. RANKS OF VETERANS DWTSTHJB. Death works greater havoc each year among the soldiers and sailors who fought for the Union in the Civil War. The Pension Bureau says that the number on the pension roll has decreased from 745,822 in 1898, when it reached the maximum, to 362,277 on June 30, 1916. The number of deaths In the last fiscal year was 34,252, an increase of 997 over that for 1915. The number of Civil War widows did not reach Its maximum until 1912, when It was 304,373, and had fallen on June 80 to 287,753. The deaths of widows, minor children and de pendents in 1916 numbered 19,957, as compared with 17,916 in 1915. There are still 115 widows of veterans of 1912 and 513 veterans and 3785 wid ows of the Mexican War. The Spanish War has added 28,101 pensioners. Pension payments in the fiscal year 1916 were $159,156,000, a decrease of more than $6,000,000 from the pre vious year. The total sum expended in pensions from the foundation of the republic to June 30, 1916, Is $5,054, 630,727, all except $289,655,707 of which was on account of the Civil War. As the Grand Army dwindles, it should become the object of more ten der care on the part of the people. It still renders service of inestimable value to the Nation, for the lives of its members are a practical example of what patriotism really means readiness to sacrifice all for country. The veterans spread through the peo ple a leaven of loyalty and devotion which is still a power in support of law and international rights. WE ARE NEUTRAL. In another column an earnest seek er after truth asks The Oregonlan for the views of science upon astrology, spirit rapping and the transmigration of souls. It ought to be understood that In answering such, questions The Ore gonlan acts in a complete spirit of impartiality. It has profound respect for science and also profound respect for public opinion. The two at times differ. They do on the efficacy of vaccination. Popular opinion and scientific investigation run counter in Oregon almost fifty-fifty on that ab sorbing subject. Therefore, when It is stated that science discredits astrology it is not in tended as an Individual reflection upon those who are happy in the favorable ascendancy of some star. Just as there are persons who. In spite of scoffing science, know that a horsehair Im mersed In water will turn into a snake and Just as there are others who are certain that eczema is caused by vac cination, there are those who point triumphantly to certain facts favor ing astrology. Did not the war now in progress shortly follow the reappear ance of Halleys comet? Was not this Nation, now so rich and peaceful, born at a time when the position of the planets foretold success in war, devel opment of a great commerce, . and fecundity and prosperity among the people? As between popular opinion and science. The Oregonlan will not has tily voice an unneutral decision. The sovereign people may arise In their might some day and reduce the high cost of living by prohibiting the plant ing of crops in the dark of the moon. Ridicule of astrology would then come home to roost. THE rUTX-TLUE SCHOOL. Brooklyn, N. T., is entering upon an educational experiment which will be watched with interest throughout the country. The cornerstone was laid the other day for a new polytechnic school which is to be conducted on the "full time" plan. This has been tried pre viously in other and smaller school dis tricts, but Brooklyn will be the first large city to enter upon it in all se riousness and with a full equipment for the purpose. A feature of the new polytechnic will be its large and commodious grounds, as well as its workshops and classrooms, and supervision will be exercised over the pupils, not alone while they are at their studies but from morning until night. It is pecu liarly an attempt to solve one of the serious problems of congested dis tricts, in which parents find it ex ceedingly difficult to exercise control over their offspring In hours of the children's leisure. The paved streets, with their perils, -and the vacant lots, with their dangers of another but not much less serious kind, do not prove adequate. Allocation of the hours will be such that full use will be made of the classrooms and the time of the teachers, and while one class Is en gaged in games outdoors in fine weather, or in the (playrooms at other times, another class will be taking its place at study. An argument ad vanced in favor of the plan is that It doubles the capacity of the school building, or nearly so. " A few years ago the parent was re lied upon to direct the child during all the time he was not actually en gaged In. school, This "burden," h.as been shifted gradually, and in part automatically, by the tendency to In troduce educational methods In which parents found they could not be of much help, owing to variance from their own early training. And It was found, or it was thought It had been found, that many parents really do not know how to teach their children to play. All this is to be taken care of by the new plan, in which the child will be supervised continuously. He will be guarded against overexertion as well as against overstudy. A nice balance will be preserved between -indoor and outdoor activity. Special effort will be made to avoid excess of playtime enthusiasm to the detriment of serious purpose. That is, the scheme is so Intended. It is a pleasing theory. It would seem that In a city of stone-fronted houses, tenements and few back yards It would be hailed as a relief by par ents too busy to watch their young sters all the time; but the strain on the teacher under the plan Is corre spondingly great, and It remains to be seen whether an adequate supply of Instructors can be maintained. SENATOR CHAMBERLAIN OX PORK. In his speech to the Rivers and Har bors Congress, which is the chief champion of the pork barrel. Senator Chamberlain brought forward the old plea that railroads are fighting water way improvements, and added the new plea that they do so under the cloak of pork-barrel charges. Everybody knows that the railroads fought waterway improvement and water transportation most ruthlessly before the railroads were brought un der effective public regulation, but the legislation of the last ten years has made them powerless to resort to their former tactics. They may re duce rates to compete with water lines, but they cannot raise rates without the consent of the Interstate Commerce Commission as regards in terstate traffic or that of the state util ity commissions as to intrastate traffic. But the Senator has weakened the entire case he tries to make In defense of the pork barrel by his utterly un founded charge that recent filibusters have been Inspired either by the rail roads or by friendship to their cause and hostility to that of the waterways. Senator Burton Is a man of too high integrity to be open to such a charge, and he led the filibuster until March 4, 1915, when he retired from the Sen ate. He was supported by such men. as Senators Cummins and Kenyon, who have made a lifelong fight for effective control of railroads. The former in particular was largef in strumental in putting teeth In the law of 1910. The fight against pork In the House has been led by Represen tative Frear, of Wisconsin,'1 one of the La Toilette group which pioneered the more recent movement for railroad regulation. To assert that such men are either tools or the dupes of rail roads is preposterous. A radically new system of waterway Improvement Is needed. The pork grabbers have found a way to circum vent adverse reports by Army engi neers. They either Induce Congress to disregard such reports or they obtain new reports by new engineers until they get one that suits them. A test that is as nearly Infallible as possible is to make Federal appropriations conditional upon contribution of a large proportion of the cost of a proj ect by the community Interested. Mr. Chamberlain Is In a good posi tion to advocate this system, for his state has led in pursuing it. REEORsl THE GOVERNMENT FIRST. Postmaster-General Burleson Is so filled with confidence in the ability of the Government to handle a big business enterprise that he has re newed his recommendation that the telegraph and telephone systems be added to his department. He is en couraged to propose this change by the fact that the postoffice has shown a surplus for the last four years. He takes credit for the whole of this surplus, though the Department was under Republican Administration dur ing eight months of the first among those four years. He" also lays stress upon the deficit shown by the four years of the Taft Administration, though a surplus was shown In the last year of that period. He takes to himself not only all the credit fairly due him but some of that due to his predecessor. The arguments for and against Gov ernment ownership of telegraph and telephone service will naturally be brought out fully by the Newlands commission on railroads. There Is a close relation between these wire serv ices and the railroad business. British operation of the two wire systems has been a financial failure and the tele phone service is such as no American City would tolerate. Great Britain took over operation of the railroads only as a war measure, and left them in the hands of their former managers and employes. The closest .parallel to the condi tions applying to Government opera tion of these facilities of commerce is to be found in the British colonies of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They have democratic forms of gov ernment conducted under the party system similar to our own, and com merce is not subordinated to military purposes, as in the, great European countries where the governments oper ate railroads anf other utilities. Poli tics plays a great part mere, as it would with us, and we can Judge of the probable results from their ex perience. Canada has operated the Inter colonial Railroad for forty-seven years. and during twenty-five of those years has shown a deficit on operation of $11,500,000, while in the other twenty two years it gained a net income ag gregating $1,967,000, the net loss -for the whole period being over $9,500,000. The Prince Edward Island Railroad has been operated by the government of that province for forty-three years and has shown a deficit every year, its aggregate loss being $3,280,000. These roads pay no taxes and no interest on bonds, as do privately owned roads. The National Transcontinental Rail road, built by the Canadian govern ment, was estimated to cost $34,083 a mile, but It cost $99,000 a mile,' and the Grand Trunk Pacific refused to lease it at 3 per cent on its cost. Of the amount expended on it a-government commission found that $40,000, 000 had been wasted. Public owner ship In Australia and New Zealand has been equally unprofitable. Management of the government rail roads in Canada reeks with' politics, which are mainly responsible for the bad financial results. The Montreal Gazette said of the Intercolonial: - Almost every abuse known to railroading took root and flourished, such as under billing that is, permitting a favored ship per to load the cars with a larger quantity of goods than he paid for, while his com petitors on the other side of politics were restricted to a standard load and mulcted for any excess: the granting of secret re bates; the maintenance of an excessive num ber of stations and employes in order to swell the jliUual Influences of. the load at election times; absurd classifications: un just tariffs; the acquisition of more or less useless branca lines to serve partisan ends. The Government of the United States has the same vices as that of Canada, They are responsible for the pork barrel bills for rivers and harbors and public buildings. Unless we eliminate those vices and bring our Government up to modern standards of economy and efficiency, adoption of Mr. Bur leson's recommendation would add a telegraph and telephone pork barrel, and Government ownership of rail roads would add another of huge dimensions. With determination to leave nothing undone in the campaign against fruit tree pests. New Zealand has enacted a law empowering the Department of Agriculture to require every person owning a tract of land on which there Is even a single fruit tree to register with the Department. At the came time, a tax of a shilling an acre has been Imposed on all orchards more than an acre In extent to create a fund to be used for the double purpose of developing the fruit Industry along commercial lines and eradicating nat ural enemies. The tax was levied on petition of a majority of the fruit growers themselves. The regulations regarding the destruction of trees that are a menace to other orchards are much the same as in some of the states of the United States, and are to be enforced strictly, with strong pub lic opinion behind them. The fruit industry of New Zealand has grown rapidly in recent years, and depends for Its success largely upon its ability to market a good product in Europe in the season when fresh fruit is scarce In the Northern Hemisphere. The United States Bureau of Fisher ies does not see any reason why the Eastern lobster the crustacean should not thrive in the waters of the Pacific Coast, and is making a deter mined effort to establish a new indus try by transplantation. What Is re garded as a remarkable achievement was the shipment recently of approxi mately 6000 adiflt lobsters from Maine to Puget Sound, more than 5400, or 90 per cent, arriving at Orcas Island alive and in good condition. They were liberated on .grounds previously as certained to afford suitable physical and biological conditions, and the Bu reau entertains strong hope that they will thrive and multiply and event ually furnish material for transplan tation to' other waters on this Coast. Material for endless midnight suppers will thus be supplied as a strictly home industry and we shall be enabled to live up to the new policy of "keeping our money at home," even in our revels. - With Germany promising aid to Greece, General Sarrail's polyglot army has a good prospect of some severe Winter fighting In the moun tains of Macedonia. The allies now surely realize the folly of having wasted a precious year In temporizing with Greece, after having wasted the preceding year in vain attempts to win Bulgaria to their side. Their military blunders in the Balkans are fully equaled by their diplomatic blunders in the same quarter. Everybody concerned in the high cost of living seems more occupied in placing the blame than in finding a remedy, though each can do much for himself. The women can stop order ing by telephone, they can stop Insist ing on delivery and they can buy for cash. By carrying their purchases home, unless too heavy or bulky, and by demanding a discount on that ac count, they can cut prices materially. The automobile still holds the lead among vehicles for the number of deaths caused on the streets of New York City. In November it killed forty-six persons, the trolley car nine and wagons nine. But what is the proportion of each kind of vehicle 6n the streets? If that were known, the percentage against automobiles might prove less than that against cars and wagons. While the American people are con tributing to the relief of the victims of atrocities' on Armenians in Turkey, what are they doing for the relief of the Americans on whom the Mexicans are perpetrating atrocities equally bar barous? We have an army in Mex ico, for the professed purpose of catch ing the inhuman Villa, but it is not permitted to move. ' If Dr. Van Dyke should exercise that "full freedom to say what I think and feel" of which he speaks, he will no doubt have some thrilling things to say. He has been in Holland with war all around that little country dur ing twenty-eight months of war and can tell a first-hand story of this most tragic period In Europe's life. If Charles H. Wax should be tried and convicted of all the crimes of which he is accused, he would make a tour of all the forty-eight states and spend a term In the penitentiary of each one. His occupation during the rest of his life would be fairly well cut out. Even the British aristocracy con fesses its failure to meet a crisis, and it turns to "the little Welsh so licitor" as the "white hope" of the empire. It took a world-war and more than two years of disaster to ex tort the confession. One can comprehend why the wom an prisoner in the Umatilla Jail re fused to escape with the others who squeezed through a foot-square hole in the wall. It is time Indian girls on reserva tions be given protection from amor ous pirates, and Mr. Hawley's bill should be among the first to become laws. " Professor Thomas Shaw states what everybody knows, that waste of food ts a great cause of higher cost of liv ing. The garbage man's hogs are fat. The plan might work to send teach ers who marry "up to the Bronx," so to speak, but only a mean old director would favor such action. Just as well to form a Government employment bureau now. There will be plenty of work for it, once the war ends. The hen is queen these days. The movement of the egg maifcet is regu lated by her activities. There are 237,633 Japanese in Hawaiian territory, enough for an alarmist's nightmare. As Funston selects troops -to send home, he must just love the troop and battery. The two big shows close today and anybody who has not seen them must steg lively, BOYCOTT WILL DEFEAT OWN EVDS If Successful It Means Destruction of Poultry Industry. SALEM. Or., Dec 7. (To the Editor.) Some of the people of Portland seem to think that the prlco of eggs is too high, and are boycotting eggs. What a foolish thing to do I Don't the people of Portland know that the eggs are a little higher this year because there are fewer eggs produced than usual fewer eggs because there are fewer bens and fewer aens because people who kept hens have found It unprof itable to do so with prices of grain so high as we have them now? Don't think that boycottltng " will bring permanent relief. It may precipi tate a drop In the market and do in justice to innocent people, but if the boycotting amounts to anything and la persisted in the instigators will make a boomerang which will strike back. They will have only the consolation that they 'jiv done what they could to destroy the poultry Industry and added to the cost of living. Better let the poultry man alone. He is their friend, not their enemy. He works harder than they will work 'and de prives himself of comforts and pleasures they will not deprive themselves of. To my fellow men who like myself have Invested money in a poultry plant, I will say: Stay with it if you can. The present difficulties will adjust them selves. The cause of 'excessive high grain prices wfil disappear. With normal grain prices an abundance of eggs will again be produced. Boy cotting will also disappear as people see the absurdity of it. To the dissatisfied people let me say: Economize, not only In food, but In clothing and pleasure and there will be no hard tiroes for you. If you knew how people in many parts of the world economize in order to live and yet under such conditions are happy and satisfied you would feel ashamed of your own wastefulness. N. C. JORG ENSEN. CHANGING CHILDREN'S TEACHERS Opinions Differ aa to Effect of Utilising Normal School Students. INDEPENDENCE, Or., Dec. 7. (To the Editor.) I am much Interested in the question of whether it Is best to change our grade school into a training school for the state normal. We are facing that problem now and I am anxious to get information about the experience of other states and schools on this question. What I want particularly to know la the effect on children in the primary grade of six or seven different normal pupils teaching them every day and these all changed every few weeks. I would be very grateful for any help you could give me. A MOTHER. The opinion on training given children in schools where student teachers are employed Is divided, much like the controversy as to whether it is best to fish up or down stream. L. R. Alderman, superintendent of the Portland schools, however, favors It in many ways. The only objection he sees is that very young children pro gress better, perhaps, where the same teacher is with them all the time and acts somewhat like a mother to them. With the student teacher system, how ever, the children get the benefit of varied ideas and many persons think it is much to be preferred to the old sys tem. People frequently move to normal school towns so that their children will get the benefit of this-plan of teaching. ANCIENT AND MODERN KNIGHTS. In days of old. when knights were bold, they togged from heels to pate in handmade, highly polished, spear reslstlng armor plate, and n the up per deck of steeds they gallantly would ride and 'gainst each other fiercely Joust in etudi d knightly pride. No epidermic punctures could befall an armored guy, and hence they bat tled 'free from fear that death was snooping nigh, and he whose lance was stricken from his grip or lost his seat and hit the landscape with a thud acknowledged his defeat. The grand stand and the bleachers on those days of knightly sport were packed with wild, excited fana of every mortal sort, who cheered the knightly victor till the arching heavens (hook and smote the fallen scrapper's ears with cries of "Get the hook!"- And while the vic tor reined his steed before the howl ing crowd and raised the visor from his twinkling lamps and smiled and bowed the vanquished faded from the field, exuding language we omit from this crude echo c." the days cf chivalry. . Today the gallant knights who meet in battle's stress are clad in khaki chest protectors and the bulging nasal pad;, upon the football field they scrap with all their muscled might and often madly mingle in a rough and tumble fight, and he who from the field is borne with nose all out of plumb, with busted ribs and dangling ears and features on the bum, is hailed as hero by the girls of both the rival teams who spank their kids their gloves, you know until they rip the seams, and till another hero has been muti lated he remains the choicest pippin on the, sanguinary tree. JAMES BAKTO.. ADAilS. Astrology and Transmigration. rnnTT.ivn Tien 8. (To the Editor. (1) To what extent Is astrology credited by modern astronomers? . (2) Explain tne pnuosopny or prin ciple of table tipping and rapping and such so-called spirit phenomena. (3) By whom and when was the idea of Incarnation and transmigration of soul taught? Does the cult that teaches this doctrine in this country have any recognltidn from thinkers and scientific men? J. E. EAST HAM. (1) It has no scientific standing. (2) Much of it is legerdemain. In some instances psychic phenomena have baffled careful and conscientious investigators. (S) Metempsychosis or transmigra tion of souls was a doctrine held by the ancient Egyptians, taught by the Pythagoreans and In the Orphje mys teries of Greece and is a tenet of East Indian philosophy. The doctrine Is philosophical, not scientific Women Making Own Bread. PORTLAND. Dec. 8. (To the Edl tor.) May I Inform you that many of our housewives are saving money oy doing their own bread baking? Notwithstanding the present high price of flour, we are cutting down expenses by doing our own baking. We are going to keep right on with this home breadmaklng until conditions change. The present 8-cent loaf of "baker's bread" Is about half the former size, and the 10-cent loaf is proportionately small, y We can help conditions by a careful protection of foods we need for the table. MRS. J. S. JONES. East Sfxth street North. When Newspaper Is Gift. PORTLAND, Dec. 8. (To the Edl tor.) I am a resident of the state of Washington and subscribed ftr a paper printed in Oregon and paid for it in advance. Since the subscription expired they have been sending the paper. I haven't yet notified them to stop it, and it's been coming about two years since the expiration of subscription. Is the law such that they can force me to pay? SUBSCRIBER. Washington law provides that a paper sent under such circumstances is considered a gift, so you cannot be made j,o par, SOLUTION OF NORMAL, PROBLEM One Board, One President for aa Many of Present Plants aa Are Needed. EUGENE, Or.. Deo. 7. (To the Edi tor.) -A newspaper item has been go ing the rounds to the effect that, since the voters had declined to establish a new normal school at Pendleton, the Monmouth Normal would ask from the Legislature such an appropriation as would enable it to care for all normal students of the state. As one who has interested himself somewhat in the normal school problem, permit me to aay that it seems to me that there is another and more appropriate remedy. The whole argument against re opening the Weston Normal has been that Weston Is too small a town to furnish pupils for the practice schools of a normal. If that argument is good, it applies with special force against any enlargement at Monmouth since the town of Monmouth is only half as large as Weston. Personally. I am satisfied that Weston is large enough to furnish practice pupils for a moderate-sized normal, such a size nor mal as Is already there and owned by the state. The solution I wish to suggest Is that Jthe Legislature provide a single normal school board and one normal school president for the whole state, and that as many schools be conducted by them in the plants now owned by the state as are necessary to care for the normal school students of the state. A single normal administration would go far to prevent rivalry and compe tition among several normal schools and to standardize the schools them selves." It would relieve the normal boards of that bias that continually tempts them to build up In their par ticular locality an extensive plant at the expense of the state. While the cost of maintaining two moderate-sized normals would still ex ceed, probably, the cost of maintain ing one large one, this would more than offset in the advantage of having the educational facilities near the stu dent and saving him transportation ex penses. Then, too. schools are like magnets, the nearer thev are the more strongly they draw. The mere pres ence oi a scnooi suggests using It. No tice the catalogues of the University and Agricultural College, and see what large proportions of their students come from the immediate vicinity of the Institutions. The state has continual dlfffmiltv In getting a sufficient number of normal-trained teachers. One or two ad ditional normal schools In the plants already owned by the state, if under me same administration, will not greatly Increase the cost of educating our teachers, will increase the number of them, and effectively solve a prob lem, innerentiy troublesome, along lines already adopted. 8. D. ALLEN. Section Numbers Conflict. BEND, Or, Deo. 6. (To the Editor.) I note that the constitutional amend ment covering the liquor question voted on In 1914 and effective January 1, 1916, Is designated as section 36 of article 1 of the state constitution and that the constitutional amendment covering the abolishment of capital punisnment, voted on at the same time and immediately effective, is also des ignated as section 36 of article 1. This year the further constitutional amend ment covering the absolute dry meas ure is designated as 36A. Will you kindly explain the statu of these amendments in relation to their conflicting numbers. A SUBSCRIBER. Confllot in section numbers does not affect the validity of an amendment. in recent publications of the constitu tion the reason for two sections bear ing tne same number Is given in a foot note. Rural Credit Laws. ROBERTS, Or.. Dec. 5. (To the Edl tor.) Please let me know If I can get a loan under the rural credit law. Also if 1 can- get it at present time. What ever Information in regard to this aew farmers' loan, or to whom I may write to una out will be appreciated. H. H. The newly-adopted state rural credit amendment does not go into effect until February 6. Communications should be addressed to the State Land Board Loans under the Federal system await the location of farm loan banks. Blanks required in forming the prelim inary association oi 10 or more farm ers desiring loans, are now available. Write to the Federal Farm Loan Board. Treasury Department, Washington, Sixth and Yamhill. EUGENE, Or.. Dec. 7. (To the Edl tor.) Please Inform me where the "comfort stations" are located in Port land V. S. t Your Newsdealer Knows! Hand You The Sunday SOCIAL NOTES OF GOTHAM. A chatterbox letter from little old New York, with all the current gossip of the Four Hundred and other important folk. Special to The Sunday Oregonian. HERBERT KAUFMAN'S PAGE. How he does marshal his 'words 1 They stride vigorously across the printed page with victory in their bearing. That's Kaufman's message to all faint hearts and fearful ones victory! THE GIRL WHO LOST HERSELF. Grandfather had a penchant for making wills. He made so many and they were so gleefully received by- the lawyers that his pretty granddaughter couldn't draw a check on the grandparentai millions, though he fully intended that she should. A fascinating, real-life story in the ' Sunday issue. THE CITY OF GOLDEN SANDS. Frank Carpenter visits Nome, and you win when you wager that he found a-plenty of interesting things to write about. The golden sands of the ocean, for instance, from which millions of the sunny stuff have been washed, with lots more left. A Carpenter letter why say more? WHAT ARE THE WILD WAVES SAYING? That's the 'lead" poem in the feature page of old favorites appearing in the Sunday issue. There are numerous other flights of poetic fancy, winged a generation or so ago, that come to light to keep this one company Do you remember "Old Ironsides at Anchor Lay . . ." ? WHAT THE CAMERA CAUGHT. Events of world-wide interest reported in pictures by the camera man Macedonia, Japan, Washington, the Atlantic, a French cavalry charge, with explanatory paragraphs. CHURCH AND SCHOOL. A. full page devoted to each. The page of school news is edited by the student bodies of the various schools. Read Rev. W. G. Eliot's views on moral adjustment in the great war, answering "Has Christianity Failed?" THE SCARLET RUNNER. Again we have Christopher Race, the young motorist, whose big red automobile has been productive of more adventure than a month of "Arabian Nights." And this one is as exciting as any. Dramatized and produced in motion pictures at a local theater. HARDSHIPS OF THE EARLY PIONEERS. Lots of 'em those hardships of the days when Oregon was a beacon to the courage of the settler. Eva Emery Dye, historian of Oregon, in another of her intensely interesting articles, tells what these trials were and how the pioneers coped with them. FROCKS AND FANCYWORK. Two pages of the Sunday issue are devoted to description of the loveliest feminine garb of the prevailing mode. Then, too, there is a handsome embroidery design, ' just as there was last week, and will be next. THE STOCK AND POULTRY SHOWS Well illustrated and authoritative articles on the stock and poultry 6hows held in this city during the past week. Breeders and fanciers will do well to preserve copies of these as permanent records for future consultation. A NICKLE BUYS A LOT OF NEWS THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN In Other Days. Twenty-Five Years Ago. From The Oregonlan December 8, 1891. Washington The Oregon delegation has recommended Joseph Simon for tha Circuit Judgeship. The Clevelands and their baby with a big "R" have moved to their cottage at Lakewood. N. J., and are settled for the Winter. Mr. Francis Murphy and his son paid a visit to Failing School yesterday. County Clerk Powell and Assessor Sears have taken exception to being included in the number of county of ficers, who, Adjutant-General Mitchell says, are backward in rendering lists of persons liable to military duty. Washington Mr. Crisp of Georgia has been formally elected Speaker. The vote was: Crisp 38. Reed 83 and Wat son 8. n is reported tnat Mayor Mason win ill veto the ordinance granting the Pink ertons permission to establish a private natrol avstem hern Ex-PostmasterC W. Roby yesterday sold the Holton House to M. A. Dudley, an old and experienced hotel man of Nebraska. There are some who think Mr. Roby is preparing to enter politics. with his eye on the Governorship. HALF OF ROUMANIA. COX4CERED Statement That Teutons Hold B0.000 Square Miles la Exaggeration. VANCOUVER. Wash.. Dec. 7. (To the Editor.) Will you please publish through your paper the following ques tion: The National Geographic Society, some time ago. gave Roumanian terri tory as being 52,760 square miles. Is that right? . I read In The Oregonlan of December 7 about the capture of the Roumanian capital. In which It was stated that: "The taking of Bucharest virtually completes the conquest by the Teutonlo forces of the southern section of the Roumanian kingdom, embracing terri tory of more than 60.000 square miles." I am a very careful reader and want to know the truth about it. If the whole of Roumanla is 52,760 square miles, how can the Germans have more than 50,000 square miles, when they have. In accordance with the map, but half of that country? STEPHEN NEGOSSEU. The 1911 edition of the" Encyclopedia Brltannlca gives the area of Roumanla as 50,270 square miles. In 1913, by the treaty of Bucharest, Bulgaria ceded a strip of territory adjoining the Do brudja, which may explain the larger area of 5!, 76) square miles given by the National Geographic Society. The statement that the Teutonlo forces had occupied 50,000 square miles seems to, have given round figures on the assumption that conquest of the greater part of Wallachla assured that of the whole kingdom, which Is not warranted by the facts. The Teutons appear to have occupied about one-half of the area of the kingdom. HIGH EGO PRICES ARE JUSTIFIED Producers Must Be Recompensed for Mquntlng Coat of Feed. M"MINNVILLE. Or.. Dec 7. (To the Editor.) It seems to me the matrons of Portland got the cart before the horse when they boycotted eggs. If they really want" a Job, and one that will do them more good, investigate the high prices of wheat and other cereals. When these pricea are put down, eggs, turkeys, butter, milk, flour and many other things will be cheaper. Of course, we know there is a short age of crops, but these prices are much higher than they ought to be. When you boycott eggs you are giv ing the man that furnishes you with fresh Winter eggs a hard blow, because he cannot produce them any cheaper at the present price of feed and live. It Is the man that makes poultry and eggs a specialty that produces the Winter eggs, and not the average farmer. There is not one farmer in a dozen who is getting eggs now. To get Winter eggs hens must have spe cial feed and cave and lots of both. The farmer, with his cows, hogs and other work, has not the time for this special care of the hens. If this boycott Is kept up the real egg producer will have to go out of business. Then what will you pay for eggs next Spring and Summer? MRS. R. ft. WH1SNAND. He's Sure to Oregonian