A2. THE MORNING OREGONIAN, FRIDAY. DECEMBER 15, 191G- r xmtmt Vi - G tfftir'T.Avn, OREGON. Efjore4 at Portland (Oregon) Postofflce aa Second-class mall naatter. adaption rates Invariably la advance. I-.ilylffliy Included, one year ,JfcAi Vu'iriay Included, six months . ' J Iua, jhMtjr included three months.. .J s likely, isnnay included, one montn. .75 -jinny. v?-9iit bunouy, one year.. 6.00 1.73 .BO Jv.ly. iTHm Sunday, three months. '1isiiy, wLhaut Sunday, one month... V. klyjlinift year ... 1.30 . .. 2.50 .., 3.50 rw Qiy, one year ............. fciduy and Weekly M , . (By Carrier.) I 'ally. Butlay Included, one year 0.00 l'&lly. Sunday ..included, one month..-. .75 . 'JH'nv to Kemit Send postofflce money tw;r, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's risk. Give postofflce addrs in full, including county and state. Postage Kates 12 to 16 pages. 1 cent; 18 to 3:2 pages. 2 cents; 34 to 48 pages, 3 cents; 60 to tiO pages. 4 cent!: 02 to 7tl pages. cents; 78 to to pages. 6 cents. Foreign post. aj?, double rates. Eatitern Business Office Verree & Conk II i. Hi unswn:k building. New York; Verree r Conklln, .Steger building. Chicago. San Krancisco representative, R. J, liidwell, 742 Market street. POSTLAXD, FRIDAY, DEC. 13, 1916. WHY MEN DRINK LIQUOR. A professor of philosophy in the University of Iowa, Dr. G. V. T. Patrick, has a curious article in a medical journal on the reasons men drink tea, coffee and alcohol and smoke tobacco. The startling-, though familiar, fact is presented that the American people consume annually two thousand million gallons of alco holic liquors, half a thousand million pounds of tobacco, a thousand mil lion pounds of coffee and nearly a hundred million pounds of tea. Dr. Patrick does not undertake to answer his own question as to tea and coffee, and it does not seem im portant that he should; but he offers the interesting and more or less satis factory theory as to alcohol, that men take it as a "short cut to relaxation." The "so-called higher and more re cently developed areas" of the brain are directly affected by alcohol. They are the centers of attention, concen tration, thinking and anaylsls, and they are earliest to become fatigued, and alcohol first stimulates them and then puts them to sleep. Tobacco has somewhat the same effect. The learned professor's idea Is doubtless correct as to many drinkers, but not as to all. We wonder how many men have begun to drink mere ly to relieve fatigue or for relaxation? Doubtless in a sense all social drink ing is for relaxation: but certainly Jt is not merely to relieve fatigue, and not much of it is purposeful except to satisfy the demands of .appetite or to stimulate pleasure or to relieve the day's tedium. Few imbibers get drunk deliberately; but they progress into intoxication through several stages. Is prohibition a remedy for the con firmed drinkers? Nobody saya so; but it is hoped that it will help the merely social drinker. When he is reformed, in the course of years, there will be few habitual drinkers, for sobriety will then be a fixed habit, and the social drinker will sot grad uate into the advanced and regular imbiber. If men drink merely to relax, what Is to take the place of alcohol? What Is offered? ADVISERS WHO WASTE TIME. The River and Harbor Congress, as an Institution, seems to be about through. After thirteen years of activity, it is dying of inanition. In Its prim It attracted to its annual sessions in Washington some 2000 delegates, men and women Interested one way or another in waterway im provement. At its recent and thir teenth session It was attended by a scattering 100 delegates. There is no particular reason why the River and Harbor Congress should live; it has no particular mission to perform. Without official standing, it has never been more than a volun teer body of people ready to advise Congress, and Congress has never given the slightest indication that It had heard of the River and Harbor Congress. At the outset the River and Har bor Congress worked for an annual river and harbor bill; it maintained that appropriations for waterways should be made annually instead of biennially or intermittently. Con gress is now passing annual river and harbor bills, though it may skip one tbis session for the first time in a decade. Of late, the River and Harbor Con press has had no particular aim; it has talked of waterway improvements; it has talked of flood control, and it has been a staunch supporter of the old method of river and harbor ap propriations. It also has deprecated the cry of "pork" in river and harbor bills, and has sought, by resolving every year, to make the country be lieve there Is no "pork." But In this it has failed. The last River and Harbor Con gress advertised in advance that it was going to get at the facts about "pork." Word went forth that every one having knowledge of unjustifiable river and harbor appropriations would be asked to attend the congress and lay bare his -information. But none of the men who know about "pork" and who have gone to the pains t6 get the facts were invited; rather, the congress left to its 100 delegates the task of finding "pork." As these dele. gates contend there is none, none was aiscovered. The exposure, promised by the advance notices, did not ma terialize; in fact, nothing else worth while materialized, and the thirteenth annual session proved an abject and dismal failure. Even the delegates themselves seem to realize that there is no reason for .continuing the congress, unless it be to allow Senator Ransdell, of Loulsl ana, to hold a life job as president of the congress. Senator Ransdell In spired the congress in the first place he. was its first president, and has been president every year since; no one else has had a chance at the presidency, and naturally interest has died out. Thus is one more self appointed citizens advisory body pass ing into history. It being conceded generally that'the " ! crying need of Mexico is a system of .; education reaching all corners of the ' republic, especial interest attaches to the recent renort of the rma.ee com . 1 mittee at the yearly meeting at Phila, delphia of the Society of Friends, that ' provision be made for a" number of Mexican students in American col leges. Haverford College has started the movement by awarding two schol arships to suitably prepared Mexican students, by which is meant young Mexicans'having about the equivalent of the average high-school course in the United StatesJ The hope of the movers in the new plan is that other colleges may become Interested and that within a few years there may be In various parts of Mexico several hundred able young men who can look back on the -United States as their educational home. It is believed that permanent friendly relations would thus be brought nearer. The edu cated classes in Mexico have hereter fore shown preference for European institutions of learning. PROVINCIALISM. In Benton County our main highway from Albany to Linn County Is' worn out by transient autos, by parties poing south to California and north to Portland. Year after year the county dumps a pile of money, and gravel, onto this road and Summer after Summer the autos tear through and tear it up autos whose own ers do not pay a dollar of taxes in the county. It always seemed ' to the Courier that it was dead wrong to take the money of a property owner far back from these main roads to maintain them. If the tourist and the state want interstate auto roads, let the tourist and the state pay for them. Benton County Courier. Benton County roads for Benton County vehicles! That's the stuff. It might be a fine idea to put up at the county boundaries a sign many signs warning the incoming tourist to come in at his peril. Let him pay for the privilege. Let everybody from everywhere else pay. Or perhaps it would be more prac ticable to build a board fence around the county and erect toll gates at all the road entrances and exits and tax everybody who wants to get in. Thus a large revenue, might be obtained from the outside visitors to the Government-supported and state-endowed agricultural college at Corvallis. Tax payers who wanted to use the county roads to drefp in on the college at Corvallis would be especially pleased at this exhibition of provincialism, or of local thrift, or whatever it might be called. The many thousand Sum mer sojourners at Yaquina Bay who go and come through Benton County would also be quite happy to pay. This selfish and impossible pro posal is mentioned here, not because it reflects Benton County's or any coun ty's state of mind, but because It is typical of a small spirit that has crone, and is doing, much harm to Oregon. CONGRESS SHOULD STAY AT WORK. Congressmen do not take kindly to Speaker Clark's proposal that they take no Christmas vacation. The members of the present and the last preceding Congresses feel that they worked unusually hard and are en titled to all the usual rest. They were n continuous session from the be ginning of last December until well along in September. They interrupted their labors only to attend the Na tional conventions and, when they ad journed, they plunged right into a campaign. They call that work, too, and they are intellectually dextrotuj enough to reason that it was work in behalf of the people. But Congress began this session with a large amount of important work to do and had only three months for the job. Whether the work be finished or not, its power to legislate will end at noon on March 4. In ad dition to the regular appropriation bills, it must dispose of the immigra tion, water-power and Webb foreign trade bills, held over from last session. and must legislate regarding railroad wages and hours. This legislation Is imperatively necessary and, with small prospect of an extra session of the newly elected Congress, should be acted on at this session. If Corfgress were to dispense with Its Christmas vacation, it would not be seriously overworked. The mem bers who have been re-elected will have a vacation at full pay from March 4 to December 3, 1917. Those who have not been re-elected can hereafter attend to their own affairs. Whether they go into business, prac tice some profession or enter the em ployment of some other person, they will not be able to vote themselves nine months' vacation. If they be come somebody's hired men, they may have to be content with two weeks. If they should go Into business, their own interests will forbid any such prolonged leisure. As Congress has authority to decide on what days it -will work, it is not likely to forego its vacation, but if it intends to give proper attention to the Nation's business ft will adopt the Speaker's proposal. . ' FIGHTING THE DBCO EVIL. Confidence in human nature is put to a severe test in the fight now being waged by the United States Govern ment and by many of the states against the use of habit-forming drugs. The United States Public Health Service, according to the news dispatches, has just issued a special warning against the growing use of heroin, which, it says, constitutes a serious menace to the health of the people of the United States. All phy sicians in the service are ordered not to dispense the drug henceforth on any account. Hope is expressed that the example set by the service will have a wide Influence among general practitioners. Meanwhile the state of New York is grappling anew with the problem. Testimony given the other day be fore a joint legislative committee ap pointed to investigate the habit-forming drug traffic revealed that the New York statute, which had been counted on to stamp out the evil, had failed of its purpose, and that as a matter of fact it had operated as a bulwark for unscrupulous physicians and drug gists. The physician in charge of the narcotic wards of the workhouse on Blackwell's Island said that there were 200,000 narcotic addicts in New York. He favored providing "honest ad dicts" with the drugs they needed as a means of preventing them from get ting their supplies through the un derworld, as they do at present. Much hope was entertained when the Harrison law was passed by Con gress that it would be effective be cause of the machinery it supplied for tracing supplies of restricted drugs from the point of origln to the con sumer, but it has been made clear that a great deal more depends on the vigilance and persistence of local authorities. The Federal Government does much through its internal rev enue department, but the ramifica tions of the illicit traffic are so ex tensive that it is virtually impossible to trace them all. The evil is so great that It is necessary for every community to join whole-heartedly in the task of discovering it and stamp ing It out. Under the Federal law, records are made of all purchases by retailers from their wholesalers; there are nu merous restrictions as to -sales, a rec ord, of which is kept, and the drug gist must account for the drugs he has purchased or suffer a penalty. In the Eastern states, however, the prac tice is growing of buying morphine, cocaine and kindred drugs and ex porting them to Canada, from whence they are smuggled back into the United States and sold by persons who are not required to keep a record of them. A recent decision by a Federal judge in a Pennsylvania district that the penalty for possession of the drugs by an unregistered person ap plied only to persons eligible to regis try, and that the keeper of a Chi nese laundry might possess unlimited quantities, though the legitimate drug gist was hampered by restrictions of many kinds, has been an embarrass ment to officials in enforcing the' law. It is clear that the battle has not been fought to a. conclusion. There still remain an appreciable number of evilly disposed individuals who will ruin their fellow-men for profit. In its effect upon society as a whole the drug habit presents the most serious problem of the day. Not only Federal laws but state laws supplementing them, and not only Federal enforce ment but state and county and city enforcement, and persistent and consistent-work by all these forces will be needed if the issue Is to be met. DECLABB' WAlfT OX BATS. Why not-swat the rat as well as the fly? He Is a far worse enemy of the human race. He disseminates bu bonic plague, tapeworms, trichinae, flukes, roundworms and other para sites and is suspected of carrying leprosy and infantile paralysis. He gnaws through walls and furniture, being ; stopped ouly by stone, - hard brick, cement, glass or iron. He eats our food and defiles what he leaves behind. He steals our clothes, even furs and laces, to make his nest. He causes many fires and in the days of less perfect insulation he caused the wreck of a telephone exchange, a great city being left without service for six weeks through his ravages. Rats swarm in the holds of ships, damaging the cargo and carrying disease around the world. The female rat is more fecund than the rabbit, giving birth to a litter at intervals of a month. The food devoured by rats in a year in the United States alone is estimated to be worth $160,000,000 by Mary Dudderldge, writing in the Forecast, but that is only one of the Items in the account against them. It has be come necessary to make buildings rat proof as a precaution against fire and pestilence as well to protect food, clothing and furniture against their ravages. In order to shut out the bu bonic plague, San Francisco In 1907 laid nearly 6,500,000 yards of con crete In sidewalks, basements,-areas, stables and chicken ,yards, says Miss Dudderidge. New Orleans expects to spend millions in the same way and has had to tear down the historic St. Louis Hotel, because the cost of rat proofing was prohibitive. But rats must also be deprived of food and nests outside of buildings. This re quires sanitary disposal of garbage and manure and abolition of wooden sidewalks. If they get inside a rat proof building, they must be trapped or poisoned. Perfect sanitation demands that the crusade that has been made against the fly and the mosquito be extended to the rat. The waste and slovenli ness which "permit piles of garbage and manure to accumulate must be stopped, both because there is a good use for these materials and -because they feed and harbor rats. Wharves and docks with concrete seawalls would prevent rats from swimming ashore'from ships. Concrete or stone basements and floors for warehouses and stores would keep them out. Rats should be starved out. Let war be declared on them. AS IT IS DONE IX DENVER. Last May the city of Denver over threw commission government -after an unsatisfactory trial, and restored councilmanic government in modified form. , In the main the objections there to commission government were the same as those voiced in Portland. There was lack of centralized author ity. The city had several Mayors in stead of one. Each was engrossed in building up a department of his own and the cost of municipal government was mounting higher and higher. In considering the new Denver charter it must -be borne in mind that the city and county of Denver have been consolidated. The county bound aries are congruent with city bound aries, but area of county and city is somewhat smaller than the area of Portland. Population is about the same. The change in government was at tained by adopting an amendment to the existing charter. The amendment dispenses with all commissionershlps as elective offices, and, in brief, estab lishes the office of Mayor and em powers hlmfcto appoint all heads of departments. Administration Is wholly centered In the Mayor and several de partment heads who constitute his cabinet. A legislative body of nine Councllmen, elected by wards or dis tricts and paid $1200 each a year, is established. The amendment creates the follow ing departments: Department of Im provements and Parks, Department of Revenue, Department of Health and Charity, Department of Safety and Excise, In addition to which are the offices of City Attorney, Clerk and Recorder and Commissioner of Sup plies. All heads of departments, City Attorney, Clerk and Recorder, Com missioner of Supplies, and in additiott thereto, two Justices of the Peace are appointed by the Mayor and may be dismissed at his pleasure. The Department of Improvements and Parks has under its control pub lic improvements and parks and park ways. The manager of this depart ment apparently has duties similar to those . that would be established in Portland if the departments of Com missioners Baker and Dieck were com bined. The former Denver charter provided for a public utilities com mission which is retained. The manager of the Department of Revenue performs services equivalent to those of County Assessor and Treas urer. In the Department of Health and Charity are lodged control of poor farms, markets, hospitals, charities and corrections and the duties of County Coroner. The manager of the Department of Safety and' Excise has supervision over police and fire bureaus and licenses and also performs the duties of Sheriff. The office of Clerk and Recorder is. practically equivalent to that of County Clerk and Recorder. The of ficial in charge is also a member of the election commission. The Commissioner of Supplies is purchasing agent and custodian of buildings. The office of City Auditor, created by the former charter, and the offices of two elective election commission ers are retained. The Mayor has the regulation -veto power as to ordinances, two-thirds vote of the legislative council being required to override his disapproval. His cabinet consists of the managers of the Departments of Improvements and Parks, Revenue and Safety and Excise. The Mayor and cabinet are charged with the duty of formulating administrative policies and of carry ing them out. All inspectors are em ployed by and are" under the control of the Mayor and cabinet and they may be assigned to departments' or their duties consolidated. The Mayor and cabinet may reduce or Increase the number of city employes, provided they do not exceed appropriations. Classified civil , service is retained only In the fire and police bureaus. In all other departments the Mayor or responsible head makes appoint ments and dismissals, except that ap pointees must be examined by the Civil Service Commission, and If found unfit the appointment becomes void. The Civil Service Commission has been wholly detached from Mayoralty or Councilmanic Influence by vesting appointment of the members In the District Court. One marked difference that will be observed between the Portland and Denver charters is that, whereas the Portland charter permits the Mayor to be an autocrat if he so desires, the Denver charter requires him to be one. The Denver plan, in a way, approaches the' city manager system, with the dif ference that the manager is elected by the pople instead of being appointed by the legislative council or commis sion. The salaries. ef the Denver head officials and Councllmen, not includ ing those of City Attorney, Auditor, Public Utilities Commissioners and Election Commissioners, foot up to $38,000 a year. . Portland pays its Mayor and Commissioners $26,000. It should be observed, however, that the manager of one Denver department is In fact health officer, which is an additional office' at $3600 in Portland. Portland also In 1916 paid 96.4 of the taxes ofMuItnomah County. It there fore paid 96.4 of the salaries of Sher iff, Treasurer, Assessor. Clerk and other county officers that are merged with city offices in Denver and that percentage was upwards of $28,000. Comparison of totals paid executive heads do not signify much unless there is the same relative difference as to department organizations. But there is good ground for reflection In the Denver system, not only as to advantageous changes In city govern ment but also as to financial bene fits to be obtained from consolidation of city and county governments. A fund of $500,000 is being raised for Atlanta University, an institution for the higher education of colored men and women. That way, as well as by way of Tuskegee and Hampton in stitutes, lies the road of the negro race to efficiency and respected citi zenship. The negroes should hae teachers and professional men of their own race, as well as the farmers and skilled mechanics that are being turned out at the technical schools. There are plenty of negroes having the capacity tobecome good lawyers, physicians, surgeons, dentists, chem ists and engineers, and they should find plenty of clients among their own race. Such people would become the social leaders of their race and, while Inspiring respect among the whites, would- turn the negroes' minds from that social equality which is some thing entirely apart from political equality. Concrete evidence of the value of good roads Is given by the Depart ment of Agriculture, which records specific instances of increases in the selling prices of farm lands in coun ties in which the roads had been ma terially improved in a short period. In Spottsylvanla Ccunty, Virginia, the value of the tillable lands along the improved roads increased from 63 to 83 per cent, while in Dinwiddle Coun ty, in the same state, the increase was from 68 to 104 per cent. Estimates were made on the basis of lands with in a mile of the road on either side. The evidence Is important because it meets the chief objection heretofore urged against road 'improvements the cost. When it Is shown that the ex penditure made is returned in dollars and cents, a powerful propaganda will have been set In motion, for the ar gument is well-nigh irresistible. There is money In being janitor of a New York apartment-house, and that money helps to explain the high cost of living. A janitress testified before the Wicks legislative commit tee that every time she moved to a new house the milkman gave her $10 to $20 for turning the milk business of the tenants to him, while the ice man and bakers give her free ice and bread the year around. Of course the tenants pay for these things in the end. The House of Lords stamps the bar sinister on the alleged Slingsby heir and the case cannot go further. A half century ago Charles Reade ex. plolted substitution in his novel, "A Terrible Temptation," through half flie book until the natural course of events made a bogus heir unneces sary. tSome things told of in fic tion cannot happen in, real life, for always some unobtrusive detail is omitted. Actors and acrobats did some fine life-saving stunts at a recent fire in a New York boarding-house. What a waste of good material for the movies, if no camera man. was on hand. . Mr. Roberts was once a director of the Mint and knows what he is talking about In saying too much gold is a menace; but the popular mind Is Mls- sounan and needs a demonstration. Any probe that includes the income and statement of expenses can un cover "a good solution of the prob lem of high cost of living. Russia, who was given a quit-claim deed to the Dardanelles a week ago. is preserving ominous silence on the peace idea. A Belgian may teach a Briton to eat horse meat, but he cannot make him relish It. Mr. Bull knows beef too well. Bend's business has solid growth. but hysteria is in the newspaper field Both papers are Issuing daily editions. , Bonar Law intimates there are too many figures in red Ink to permit consideration of peace proposals. - The milkman is the most trustful of dealers and, like all over-confident people, gets the worst. If womenfolk only knew it, most men prefer to buy their neckwear but submit. Japan takes little stock in the pro posals from the Honorable Germany. Lloyd George's counter proposal is a call for 1,000,000 more rnen, How to Keep Well. BY DR. W. A. EVANS. Ounllnii nrtlnint n hvrlene. sanitation and prevention of disease, if mattera of gen eral Interest, will be answered in this col umn. Where space will not permit or the subject is not suitable. letter will be per sonally answerea. subject to proper 1 1 . .r, -nri V. . .- . f n Ti H a ri m Ulfri enVelOPO Is Inclosed. Dr. Evans will not make diagnosis or prescribe for individual diseases. Re quests for such services cannot be answered. (Copyright. 181o. by Dr. w. Published by arrangement with ho Chicago Tribune.) MA.LARL4. IX SCHOOLS. Dr. Jere Crook, of Jackson, Tenn., sent his boy to Vanderbilt University last September. He spent Sunday, No vember 12, with him in Nashville. He found the boy having chills. He did some Investigating and then he called on Chancellor KIrkland. The chancel lor was glad to see an alumnus and patron of the school. Dr. Crook was glad to see the chancellor, especially as he wanted to tell him something that would, be for the good of the school. "Chancellor, I am an alumnus of Vanderbilt. I root for your ball teams and talk of the university. My boy got old enough for college and I sent him here. He never had malaria In his life. I sent him here for you to take care of. I come to visit him and find him having chills. He is living In the same dormitory with boys who are Infected with chronlo malaria. , "There is not a screen on a window In this dormitory. Mosquitoes have bit ten the Infected boys, my boy among them. I don't think that's treating an alumnus right. Your team lost Its foot- ball game to the University of Tennes see last Saturday. They have no license to beat us. I think malaria did It. To morrow screens go In my boy's room, They are a contribution from this alumnus to his alma mater. I want you to persuade other alumni to screen the remainder of therooms.". - I do not know about the football end of this statement, but the balance of the story Is right,.and the remainder could be easily. When a few thousand people are gathered together from dif ferent parts of the country some ma laria carriers are reasonably certain to be among the number. Anophelene mosquitoes, themalarla variety, are found In every part of the country Unless the rooms are screened the per sons suffering from chronic malaria are reasonably certain to infect others, It would be unkind and unjust to Vandertillt to print this story without referring to other universities. So long as we have Introduced football and football has the center of the stage, we might as well draw on Illustrations from football. A few years ago the University of Chicago had an epidemic of smallpox among the members of its team. An Eastern university had the came ex perience this Fall. The system of health insurance at present In opera tion at the University of Wisconsin and so highly recommended by Dr. Cabot had its beginnings in an epi demic of tynallpox and one of typhoid among the students. mallpox and typhoid are prevent able, as much so as malaria. AVhon a parent sends his boy to the university he has a rigrrt.to expect that he will bo protected against preventable dis ease. A costly educational machine may be effective because the students are below par from malaria, smallpox, typhoid or some other preventable dis ease. Varicose Veins. J. W. writes: "what are varicose veins and what causes them? Are they curable, and, if so, how? Would ex ercise, diet or rubbing be of any ben efit? I am a young man 25 years of age and notice some large veins in the calf of one of my legs when I put all my weight on that foot.- I also have a tired feeling in that leg- Where I work it is dusty and when I sit down I can't notice the veins, but there Is one spot that is black, as if It had been sticking out and rubbing against my pants. "2. What would cause a person to wake in the morning with a severe pain over his heart and make it diffi cult to take a deep breath?" REPLY. 1. The walls of the veins are much thinner than Lhose of the arteries. The pressure of the blood in the veins la considerable. Soma of the veins are so located that the tissues around them do not lend much support to their wallSi The pressure of the blood in some of these unsupported veins Is increased at time by contraction of the muscles. For these several reasons the veins are liable to eilate. Dilated veins are - called varicose veins. Clearly you have one or more vari cose veins. .The vein wall la thin and near the surface at the black point.- The only speedy cure for varicose veins of the leg is operation. PosSlbiyyou should change your work, you may get relief by using an elas tie stocking. X do not think massage, diet ing or exercise will help your leg. 2. The probability is that this pain 1 due to neuralgia or rheumatism In your cheat wall. Do you sleep with enough open win dows? " ' Headaches. Mrs. M. L. writes: "All my life I have been a great sufferer with, chronlo headaches. For the last five years I have had to spend one day a week in bed, with the most violent headache. I have doctored, but with no results. Can you advise me? I am 42 years old and otherwise in good physical condi tion." REPLY. Tou can be helped, yet I am sure you will be disappointed in what I tell you. t There are many different kinds of head ache due to many different causes. What would help one will not help another. Some where in your dally habit you are at fault. The fault Is to be corrected. But first you must find out what the fault is. It may be an eye defect, constipation, high blood pres sure, lack of exercise, wrong diet, or some constitutional state such as rheumatism or gout. You say you have doctored, but with uo result. You probably mean that you have taken different kinds of medicine. What you heed is a thorough physical examina tion, an anaylsls of your headache and a plan for prevention based upon the fault discovered. 60. E. P. W. writes: "1. Is there any question of the possibility of a positive cure for syphlllls by the 606 method? "2. Is tbis treatment dangerous to the future health of a man who has a slight leakage of the heart?" REPLY. J. No. Most cases require treatment In addition to 606. but cur follows where in telligent treatment is persisted in. . 2. There1 is a little danger In the use of 606. but the danger is no greater where the patient has a heart leak. I ' Unskilled Labor on Tbis Jab. Industrial Management. In this particular, job (welding) It was found that the production by skilled welders was not more than half that by unskilled operators who were merely trained to carry out this one operation. Bo the work was performed at piece rates, at so 'much per hun dred for the different operations. DRESS REFORM MORE IMPORTANT Sartorial Competition Greater Evil Than Co-Education in High Schools. PORTLAND, Dec. 14. (To the Edi tor.) As a special student, not long ago. at Lincoln High School, older than any of the other pupils, I had an insight Into school life and condi tions there not usually obtainable by a teacher; and it has occurred to me that my strong convictions resulting from that experience may be of some interest and service to those con cerned in the proposed high school changes. No one who- had the opportunltltes for observation which I had could avoid the conclusion that something should be done to check the evils of which J was a witness. The splendid school and equipment, the capable teachers and the wonderful educational oppor tunities afforded stood in marked con trast to the much-needed social re form. With the excessive dressing and ever lasting round of gaities. there is little time or strength left for study. I con sider the girls the worst offenders. Among the seniors, at any rate, the social relations between the boys and girls in short, their flirtations seem to be the sole interest of life, and learning Is decidedly a side issue. 1 rarely overheard a conversation upon any subject other than these relations. The dressing-room of the school, be fore the bell rang, suggested scenes behind the stage of a theater when the curtain Is about to rise and the ac tresses are "making up." A few of the wealthier ones set a pace for extreme dressing, and exaggerated the facta of fashion, and these were Imitated by others all down the line, until. In the pathetic and most natural attempts of the poorest to keep up, some of them were mere caricatures. Several, to my knowledge, have given up the struggle and gone to work to earn money with which to satisfy their longing for clothes which they could not otherwise afford. The whole thing Is undemorcatlo In the extreme, cultivates bad taste and defeats the objects of the school. Uni form dressing Is, to my mind, even more Important than segregation of the sexes. Why not make the rule that all the girls shall wear white middy blouses and dark blue' skirts, with the choice of all white in Summer? Nothing could be prettier or more becoming, and what heartaches would be spared the girls, and what- anguish the mothers! The blouses could be pur chased by the school authorities. In quantities, and sold at a price within reach of the poorest; and during school hours, at "least, the appearance of the rich and poor would be the same, and the spirit of rivalry would be devoted to more important things. Many would go to school who cannot now afford It, the scholarship average would be raisea, ana certainly the girls would present a more pleasing appearance, and would be happier, with the possible exception of the more affluent leaders of fashion. The separation of the boys and girls v.ouia oe a great Improvement, and would put a damper on the general frenzy of the girls for finery, but an economical and pretty uniform In ad dition would bring about an almost periect public school system. ELIZA SCOTT PARKER. AUTOMOBILES IX Ml'MCIPAL fSE Number la 41, Not Including; Trucks and Fire Machines. PORTLAND. Dec. 14. (To the Edi tor.) I have been Informed that the heads of the departments In the city of t-ortiand nave in their emo ov 40 auto mobiles. Is this so. and if it is, what is the occasion for this number, and woai is tne cost to the city? 1L II. NORTHUP. There are '41 autos In the city service, exclusive of trucks and fire machines. These are used as follows: Health bureau One Ford used for gathering milk samples, one Ford used for visiting dairies on inspection work, one Overland used by Health Officer in contagious disease work, one Ford used by meat Inspectors, one Ford used by. quarantine officer. ' . Purchasing bureau One Ford used for general utility work. Weights and measures bureauOne Ford used for visiting stores through- kout city. ' ' Park bureau One Ford used by park engineer, one Ford used by park su perintendent. Public works department One Hud son used by Commissioner Dleck and others for visiting municipal projects. Sewer bureau Two Fords used for engineers and Inspectors to visit sewer projects. Bureau of highways and bridges Three Fords used by district street and bridge maintenance Inspectors. Bureau of standards One Ford used for gathering paving samples for testa Bureau of surveys One Ford used for transporting survey parties. Police bureau One Pope-Hartford used as general utility car, one White used by Chief of Police, one Ford used by women's protective division on In vestigation work, five Fords used for patrol cars. Fire bureau Six. cars used by battal ion chiefs on fire runs. "Street-cleaning bureau One Ford used by West Side foreman, one Ford used by East Side foreman, one Max well used by superintendent of bureau. Mayor and Commissioners One Oak land used In general work, principally by Mayor. " In addition to( these there are 22 fire trucks, two patrol trucks, 10 water, trucks and six other trucks elsewhere In the city service. No figures are available as to the cost of operating these machines. A report is now being compiled. GREAT HAIR WORM CONTROVERSY This Independent Investigator Supports Side of Scientists. FOREST GROVE, Or., Dec. 13. (To the Edlor.) As no scientist seems in clined to explain about hair snakes or hair eels, mare properly speaking, 1 will tell what I once really saw. This nematode lives in stagnant pools or any quiet, unmolested water, hence M. J. P. had an ideal breeding place for them when a child. I was taught as he was that horse hairs turned into hair snakes and patiently kept a hair in water in the house for months, but it remained just a hair. If I had put it anywhere, in reach of a cricket I might have succeeded, as after reaching adult age one day 1 saw a cricket hop upon the edge of a box holding stagnant water near our spring, and expel a long hair eel from Its body. I kept the creature and ex amined it with a small magnifying glass. It was. twice as large around as a horse hair and its mouth .could be plainly seen. The books say they usu ally come from the bodies of water bups which eat the esters. It certainly is strange the way mother nature has of increasing her queer families. The Department of Ag riculture at Washington published last year a very Interesting article on nematodes. It would pay. to have It read in our schools, although I doubt if any of our young Americana could be made to believe that a horse hair could in any possible way be trans formed Into a hair eel. MRS. J. A. R. - Fine Old Family. Judge. "Your wife came from a fine old family, didn't she?" - "No; she brought them with her." In Other Days. Twenty-Five Years Aaro. From The Oregonlan of December 15, 1891. M. Baum, the senior member of the firm of Baum & Brandes, died at his home last night from the effect of a pistol wound. H. E. Mitchell, son of Senator Mit chell, haa returned from an extended trip to the East and South and is at the Portland Hotel. The funeral of the late Captain Chard was held from the chapel of Good Sa maritan Hospital Sunday afternoon. It was largely attended, the master of every vessel in port being present. O. N. Denny, former adviser to the King of Corea and director of foreiirn affairs, in an interview here yesterday aiscussea conditions in the Far East. H. W. Corbett, Donald Macleay. Henry Weinhard. W. S. Ladd and C. H. Lewis have each subscribed (1000 to help pay for a horticultural and forestry ex hibit at the Columbian Exposition. ' Half a Century Ago. From The Oregonlan of December 15, 1P6G. Washington, Dec 13. Forney has declined the nomination for United States Senator in Pennsylvania and suggests the election of Thad Stevens. Bonnets the shape of stars, with jet black stars In the center, are the latest London style. James Bell, of French Prairie, and Miss Mary A Bullock were married at the home of the bride's father in Ore gon City December 13 by Justice of the Peace Trullinger. G. A. Warner, of this city, has pat ented an Invention for rapidly sacking flour. CITY -MANAGER HELD SOUITTON Mr. JosselynRccalls Suggestion Made Five Years Ago. PORTLAND, Dec 14. (To the Ed itor.) Your editorial Tuesday on the subject of municipal government is most timely and should be heeded by the taxpayers of Portland. About five years ago, when the com mission form of municipal government was being discusssed, the writer was Interviewed on the subject and it is interesting to refer now to that Inter view and see how little if any change in that plan now suggests itself, in view of our experience with the pres ent form of government Tn Portland. The Interview among other things outlined a plan for the election of non-salaried commission of say Ave members, who would be self-perpetuating, but subject to the recall. This commission to be named in the charter amendment, so the voters would know who was to administer the legislative affairs of the city and select the man who would be charged with the admin istrative government under the title of city manager. I mentioned for the positions of Commissioners such men as T. B. Wilcox, W. B. Ayer, W. F. -Woodard. W. M. Ladd. Adolphe Wolfe, A. L. Mills or others who have demon strated their success as business men. The city manager to have the appoint ment of all other city employes, sub ject to approval of the Commissioners, with possible exception of City Treas urer and Auditor, who might be elect ed by the voters aa watchdogs of the city affairs. It is my Idea that safe, economic and businesslike government of municipal affairs should follow the lines of what has been considered best In large busi ness affairs, which, if good for the In vestor, should also be good for the tax payer. The City of Dayton, Ohio, has had a city manager form of govern ment for several years and in February while there I inquired of many people what they thought of their plan and without exception every man inter viewed was loud in' its praises, most of them stating that a better manage ment had been obtained, the city kept in better physical condition and at a less" cost than formerly. Now Cleve land, Ohio, is arranging to adopt the same plan of government, the Realty Board Of that city being behind tho movement. The only opponents to the plan in any city where it is proposed are the. politicians or those with some special axe to grind. Push the city manager plan along. B. S. JOSSELYN. TEACHER HELPLESS WITHOUT LAW Tenure of Office Statute Necessary From Instructor's Standpoint. PORTLAND. Dec. 14. (To the Edi tor.) As an interested spectator dur ing the numerous hearings of the charges filed against Mrs. Alevla Alex ander by Superintendent Alderman, I would like to make a word of com ment on the proposed modification of the tenure of office law, as espoused by the School Board. If the present , law should be abol ished or so amended as set out in your article Thursday, what would be the status of a teacher's employment in the Portland schools? In the first place, the trial is held before the Board, who act not only as' Judge, Jury and executioner, but are In every respect, through employes acting under their authority, prose cutor, detectives and witnesses against a teacher placed on trial before Uhein. They have complete access to any and all records of the schools, which they cau use to the exclusion of the teacher on trial. The facts brought out during the trial of Mrs. Alexander, concerning em ployment of teachers without the ac tion of the examining board as pre scribed by law, led me, as well as all others who have followed the trial closely, to believe that, without the present tenure of office law a teach er's Job in the Portland schools would be a very uncertain affair. The present trial, which has hung on so long, has been crowded since the first with Interested spectators, and I believe the entire assemblage at the hearings will bear me out in the state ment that these protracted sessions have shown how helpless . a taacner would be without redress other than the decision of the Board on charges brought and pressed by itself. MRS. JAMES M. REEVES. ALPHALPHA. There's zomethig gode wrog Juzt zee if uou please. We've buzted a few of our typwryter's keys; Zo dode be embarrassed If words are amlzz. Just ubdue your patiezg while de--cipherlg this. We kadt plaze the forms of those let ters dowd here. We kadt spell sutzh words as zhlldlsh t or klear; We kadt help admittlg we're Id a bad ' fix, It's awudder to us that the dard thig ztill klikz. Well dow. we have phraktured Juzt phour of the staph. The key of E midor is almost id halph; Ad zo we are wudderig where we would be If we ruptured the a, the I, or he e. Thair roi the phlphth wug, a vowl ad that, Wu'v blow out addodur typwrytur slat. Zo wu'll kloz dowd th" kovur ad lat ! th' thig b. B 4 thay'r all broak O, hully G. .PHfUTZ PHULGRAJPH. . 1