Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1917)
v 10 PORTLAXD, OREGON'. Entered at Portland (Oregon) Postofflce ma second-class mail matter. Subscription rates invariably in advance: (By Mail.) Dftlly, Sunday Included, one year .$3.00 lally, tiunday included, six months ..... 4.25 XJaily, Sunday included, three month ... 2.23 lally, Sunday Included, one month ..... .75 fully, without Sunday, one year 6.VO IJally, without Sunday, three months . . . 1.75 I)ally, without Sunday, ya mouth "Weekly, one year .... j ............... . l.SO (Sunday, one year 2.30 buula aud Weekly 3-50 (By Carrier.) Dally. Sunday Included, one year 0.00 Ijally, Sunday Included, one month ..... .78 How to Remit Send postoftlee money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's risk. Give postofflce address in full. Including county and state. Postage Kates 12 to IS pages, 1 cent; 18 to 2 pt-ges, 1 cents; 84 to 4S paves, 3 cents: 0 to ttu pages, 4 cents; 62 to 7U pages. 3 cents; 78 to pages, o cents. Foelun post age double rates- Uabtern Buswem Office Verree V Conk Un, Brunswick building, Xftw York; Verree & Conkllu, Steger building, Chicago. Ban i'raucifto repreaentatlvo. It, J. liluwell, 742 Market street. POIilLAND, FRLDAT. JANUARY; 12, 1917. SCPPBESSION IS NOT THE END. If the House of Representatives should adopt the recommendation of tha rules committee that no inquiry be had into the reports that official secrets have leaked from Wellington and that Government officials have speculated on information thus ob tained, that will not end the matter. The charges stand, denied by all per eons mentioned in them, but not dis proved. The principal sponsor for them, no matter what may be said to his discredit, declares his readiness to give to a committee having: full powers to dig to the bottom the names of those whom he has mentioned in general terms. Unless the informa tion which he professes to have should be obtained and disproved. Govern ment officials will remain under sus picion, the innocent with those .who may be guilty. Suppression by the House would really aggravate the scandal. The inquiry which the rules com mittee of the House has been con ducting was not an inquiry into the charges themselves; It was designed to enable the committee to determine whether there was sufficient ground for a formal and searching inquiry by a committee vested with the broad Inquisitorial powers of the House and authorized to make findings of fact and to recommend action, either in the shape of prosecutions or of legis lation. In this respect the rules com mittee corresponds somewhat to a grand jury, which does not hear all the evidence and determine the guilt or innocence of any person un der suspicion but simply determines whether there is sufficient evidence upon which to base an indictment and a court trial. There is good cause for such in quiry, and the rules committee has only skirted around the rim of the subject. The committee has heard only the statements of tkose persons who say there was a leak and that it was used in speculation and the denials of persons who were named In those statements. It has not sought out evidence which would either cor roborate or disprove the statements. Mr. Lawson has promised, if a full Inquiry is held, to reveal the names of the persons whom he has mentioned anonymously. The House owes it to the people and to those members of Congress and of the Administration who are Innocent that the guilty be named, if any there be. Unless this is done, each .one of the ten members of the Cabinet will be under suspicion that he is the one mentioned by Mr. Lawson; each one of the ninety-six Senators will be under suspicion that he is the one who is alleged to have speculated on the leak. It is intoler able that this suspicion should be abroad and that the innocent shouia rest under It. No clemency is due to the guilty, and no desire to shield them should be suffered to keep the innocent under suspicion. This is the more imperative be cause refusal to dig deep would fos ter belief that the evil Is so wide spread In the public service that Con gress dare not reveal Its extent, or that the persons implicated are so highly placed or so influential that Congress shrinks from their exposure. The only sure way to dispel such a belief, if it be unfounded, is to re veal the whole truth. The only way to cure the evil, if it exist, is to make known its extent and to apply the knife without flinching. SENATOR STONE'S HONOR. Senator Stone is extremely sensitive about any reflections on his personal honor. Soon after Mr. Lawson made his statement about leaks of State De partment secrets, the Senator rose to a "question of personal privilege" and called attention to a New York dis patch published in the Ottumwa, la., Daily Courier saying that total sales on the Stock Exchange up ta 1 o'clock December 21 approximated 2,000,000 shares, and adding: "Of this amount United States Senator Stone alone con tributed 574,900 shares." The Senator was highly indignant at this example of "newspaper men dacity or news agency mendacity," as he called It. He denied that he had bought or sold "one penny's worth of stock of any kind." He, however, ad mitted that State Department secrets had leaked "years ago" and said that he did not care a snap of the fingers whether the stock gamblers In Wall Street won or lost, but he was "deeply concerned to know that no public of ficial has betrayed a trust or profited by speculations." But such things do not happen under the present holy and pure Administration. Impossible! .Any man, such as Lawson, who says they do, he denounces as a "sensa tional fakir,'.' "a creature of this low type, this abominable and contempti ble human thing." The verbal as saults of such creatures are not worth "a moment of serious thought." Thank Democracy that the Government "does not have to wait upon the Stock Ex change of New York or any exchange anywhere to determine when it shall communicate with, or what it shall say to. foreign governments." Mr. Stone conveniently forgot that Jacob H. Schiff, Bernard Baruch and other financial backers of Democracy are not entirely unknown In Wall Street. Then came the anti-climax. Sen ator Borah took it that "this article Is an Associated Press dispatch" and that "all this Is due to a mistake somewhere in transmission." It I would have appeared in hundreds of newspapers, "if we are not to assume I an error as to this paper." He then punctured the bubble by saying: This undoubtedly refers to United States Steel Instead of United States Senator Stone. . . . If you Will look up other similar dispatches you will find It says United States Steel and so forth. The Senate laughed. Nothing more was said, There was no more to say. In his excessive eagerness to vindicate his honor and to express his loathing for such "creatures" as Lawson, the Missouri Senator had picked from among the hundreds of newspapers which published the same dispatch or others of like tenor the one newspaper of local circulation around Ottumwa whioh had blundered through a co incidence of initials. To one who gives the matter second thought, the blunder Is obvious. If Mr. Stone had dealt In 674,900 shares, as the bungled dispatch reads, his dealings would have involved a par value of $57,490,000.. Many of the leading stocks are selling far above par, hence the market value might easily have exceeded $100,000,000. As brokers require customers to put up margins as high as 20 points, such ex tensive dealings might easily require, a cash capital of $20,000,000. Though in his lonr political career, Mr. Stone has doubtless exercised enough thrift to accumulate a good many dollars, such large transactions would be be yond the means of men in his finan cial class. He has simply made him self ridiculous by Industriously seek ing an occasion to vindicate his honor, when no person has even talked about it. 1 ONLY BIG TIIDfCS WORTH WHILE. It was a stock argument of Salem job holders two years ago that the consolidation bills did not . in them selves provide a material saving in state expenditures. It was true that salaries of department heads specifi cally abolished did not amount to a great deal. But the argument was superficial. Along with consolidation of depart ment management would go consoli dation of clerical forces. The only practicable procedure is to consoli date, after ascertaining that consoli dation is feasible, and then let the head of the consolidated departments take up with the ways and means committees the needs of his office. The same kind of bill is met with the same sort of argument this year. But there are departments in the Statehouse doing more or less corre lated work. In one the clerical force may be hard pressed during a season when the clerical force in the other department is practically idle, and the force in the first office may be prac tically Idle when the force in the sec ond is burdened with work. If every consolidation bill must be worked out, independent of depart ment heads and ways and means com mittees, down to the smaller detail of clerical work, then consolidation is something merely to dream about. But, for our part, we can see no good reason for maintaining even one $2000 job that is not needed. JOHNNIE'S JOB. Of late we have been haunted by the words and melody of an old-time song. It ends with something about all drinking stone blind when Johnnie comes marching home. Clearly one should not be haunted by this old favorite In dry Oregon. Then, too, the sentiment that of joy and thanksgiving is out of date. It ought to run, "We'll all get Johnnie's job ere Johnnie comes marching home." Johnnie was a fool to go to war. We are speaking of the late Mexican war, which we believe is still occupy ing the attention of our available mili tary forces. Johnnie should have been too proud to fight. If a man quits a good job In a gro cery store to fight for his country let him take the consequences. And how, we ask, could a sun-burned vet eran of the border hope to grace the effete surroundings of the Adjutant General's office? The job in the grocery ought to go to some fellow patriotic enough to have protected his employer from the necessity of hiring a temporary sub stitute. The Adjutant-General, we learn of late, should be a home-loving officer a Brigadier-General or a field officer who has served heroically In the sanguinary wars between Blues and Browns at Gearhart. Kick them out. They'd no business going to war. And, having gone, they've no business coming home. AMERICAN SURGEONS IN WAR. Announcement only a few days ago by Professor Le Page, physician to King Albert of Belgium, before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, that he had obtained remarkable results from the application of Dr. Alexis Carrel's discovery of a yew treatment of wounds to the curing of compound fractures confirms the right of this new development of the surgery of the war to be called the greatest surgical- discovery of recent years. It is a triumph for the American physician that the French hospitals are now coming around to his way of thinking and that the . method practiced for some months in the American Am bulance Hospital now gives promise of becoming well-nigh universal. A striking feature of the. discovery of Dr. Carrel Is that, in the words of an enthusiastic admirer, it justifies the forecast that some day the sur geon's work will in some respects partake of the precision and at the same time the simplicity of that of a train dispatcher. The treatment is based upon frequent counting of the germs in the suppurating wound. The germs are taken from given areas, are placed under a microscope and their number estimated. Irrigation of the wound with an antiseptic solution meanwhile is practiced. As the num ber of germs decreases, the surgeon is able to tell exactly when it will be safe to close the wound altogether. When this time is reached, no chances are taken of further infection. In a war in which heavy artillery fire causes a vast proportion of deep wounds, the new method is of especial importance. The experience of the physician to the Belgian King, who reports that only two cases out of sixty-eight in which compound frac tures were so treated failed, greatly extends the possibilities of the dis covery. It is now recalled with especial In terest that Dr. Carrel only a few years ago was the recipient of the Nobel prize for his studies of cellular struc ture and life, through which he ap parently demonstrated that life has its possibilities in the individual cell. He found it possible to transplant cer tain organs from one animal to an other and to maintain them for a cer tain length of time, although In the imperfect state of knowledge these organs eventually lost their functions. An Important phase of his life work has been his demonstration of the pos sibility of increasing the rapidity of cell formation, so as to lessen the time required for repair. Experiments with this end in view are only now begin ning to bear fruit in the development of wound treatment in connection with the war. The part Americans are playing In this new field Is a highly important one, It was Richard Strong;, an Amer ican, who conquered typhus In Serbia Richard Harte and Fred Alvee have done wonders In the repair of shat tered bones; Harte particularly in the reconstruction of mutilated faces, one of his wonderful accomplishments be ing the making of jaws out of ribs. Americans have taken a leading part in the eminently practical work of adapting scientific theories to existing conditions. They have achieved results. BLINDED BY PARTISANSHIP. In Its partisan haste to condemn every act of a Republican statesman, the Portland Journal disagrees with the two leading Democratic news papers of the country the New York Times and World. It J.akes the op position of Senator Lodge and other Senators as proof of hesitation "to back up a President in his appeal to the nations to discuss peace" and as proof that "there is a body of United States Senators -who, in spite of its perils for America, want the war to go on." The Times approved the action of Mr. Lodge in opposing the Hitchcock resolution on the ground that such action by the Senate would go far to destroy the President's usefulness as a peacemaker and to defeat his ef forts. It said that the President ad dressed his note to the belligerents "as a distinguished individual whose known motives and high character commanded the attention and respect of those to whom he spoke," but that, if the Senate, which is a political "body, ties up with his proposal, throws it "into the political pot," It will cease to be his proposal alone; It will be come also the proposal of Senators Stone, Hitchcock and their , following, whose motives are "more than sus pect" In the eyes of the belligerents. From the moment that American poll tics are tied up with the President's efforts, said the Times, "those efforts will be utterly disregarded by the bel ligerents." The proposed action of the Senate was described as imperti nent and as a menace to "the Presi dent and the country." The World said flatly that the President's note was "none of the Sen ate's business," and that Mr. Lodge was "wholly right when he pro tested" against the Hitchcock resolu tion, for the note was "an exercise of unquestionable Executive power" and "until all the resources of diplomacy are exhausted the question is one sole ly for the Executive to consider." The resolution Is described as "a piece of meddlesome interference on the part of Congress with the prerogatives of the Executive," and "all that can come out of it is a mischievous debate." So Mr. Lodge, who is accused by the Journal of an effort to obstruct the President's labors for peace, is hailed by the two most influential newspapers which support the Presi dent as one who is trying to prevent an act of mischievous meddling with those labors. Here we have an exam ple of the difference between blind and discriminating partisanship. HOLDING BOYS ON TJIE FARM. An Important contribution to the effort to stay the movement of young folks away from the farm has been made in Illinois, and incidentally it stjows how important a part can be played by far-sighted bankers in a rural community. The cashier of a New Brighton bank, according to the report of the details recently made public, bought last March in another state eighty-four head of good-grade heifers, ranging in ago from six to sixteen months. These were shipped to Illinois and sold to schoolchildren at cost. The bank took in payment the notes of the children, bearing 6 per cent interest. The average price of the animals was $4 3 a head. There was an understanding In advance with the buyers that they were to be sold by public auction within a year. The difference between what they paid, plus Interest at 6 per cent, and the amount realized at the sale was to be the profit of the children on the trans action. The outcome of the sale last month constitutes the first chapter of the object lesson. The heifers brought an average price of $92.30 a head and the total profit to the young buyers was $4137. It was the first sale of the kind ever held In that region and it gave convincing evidence of the practicability of the Calf Club move ment recently inaugurated in Illinois. There already are nine such clubs In the state and bankers of other sec tions are interesting themselves in the success of the general enterprise. The cost of keeping the heifers sold at the first auction was not large, the children having been encouraged to study profitable economies in that direction and having utilized pasture to a large extent. It Is encouraging that interest has been aroused so suc cessfully that a second enterprise of the same kind is to be launched in the near future, except that the next consignment of animals will be sold on condition that they be retained to form the foundation of dairy herds. The children who made their profit this time are said to be enthusiastic over the scheme and willing to go into the dairy business, as the bank ers who fostered it in the beginning had intended. The intensely practical phase of the new movement is that it has given a taste of profit to several youths at an age when they are impressionable and also when they are nearing the period at which most boys begin to yearn for city life. It was better than a "back-to-the-land" movement, be cause it made an appeal to those al ready on the land. Plainly, it is more profitable to keep farm boys on the farm than to send them to the towns and try to replace them with city folk, poorly equipped with ability, tem perament and experience. The farm boy has the foundation for the work, and he labors under no illusions te begin with. Under the new dispensa tion, he is the best kind of subject for education in better farming methods, because he is able to adapt theory to practice. . It is by awakening his in terest anew at the critical stage of his life that those who are fostering the new plan are doing the greatest public service. A truly pitiful feature of the drift of young men from the country to the city is that, while they leave the farm just at a time when they might begin to profit by staying, they have passed the age when they care to "begin at the - bottom," as boy apprentices in useful trades. For this reason they seek the first opening that Is afforded at what they call a man's work, which Is often only a slightly elevated form of common labor. Many Jitney drivers and freight handlers in some cities are recruited from this class. Their tem porary occupations do not lead to sub stantial results. When they marry they are barely able to. support their families. There are exceptions, but these are the rule. It Is probably true that a large proportion of them would be better off If they had remained on the farms on which they were born. It is significant that, according to the figures compiled by the United States Department of Agriculture, there were in 1915 nearly 3,000,000 fewer cattle on farms in the United States than there were in 1910. Thirty years ago about 75 per cent of the people lived on farms. About half live in the city and half In the country to day. The Calf Club plan is important for more reasons than. Its bearing on the dairy industry alone. Its possi bilities are almost Infinitely capable of adaptation to other lines of farm industry. DICK SWTVELER FINANCE. Congress looks forward to a deficit on July 1, 1918, which is estimated as high as $300,000,000, but the House committee on rivers and habors pro poses appropriation of $10,000,000 for new projects in addition to more than $28,000,000 for work already under way. The Senate committee will al most surely add to the total till it reaches, perhaps exceeds, $40,000,000. The expenditure of $10,000,000 in this manner is downright profligacy; it is Dick Swiveler finance.. Only ur gent necessity could excuse It at a time when Income falls so far short of expenses. That necessity has not been proved, and it cannot be proved. The only necessity which has been proved is that river and harbor money shall be so distributed among Congressional districts as to insure enough votes to pass the bill. The utmost that Con gress should do at this session is to provide funds for continuance of proj ects already under way. There is some encouragement for those who would substitute business for pork-barrel methods In the state ment that President Wilson has de clared In favor of a commission to have charge of all waterway work. But this, like other utterances of his, may be no more than a pious opinion. ; If he would make it one o the car dinal points of his policy by exerting his great influence in behalf of the Newlands or the Frcar bill, he might have a fight on his hands but he would have the backing of public opin ion and would win. He has not shrunk from a fight on other questions, even when they caused division in his party, but in this case he would step on the toes of the Southern members, who are the chief beneficiaries of pork, and he has always been tender with Southern susceptibilities. He has side tracked National woman suffrage be cause the South does not like it, and he dropped the Presidential primary like a hot potato when the South would have none of it. The best hope of improvement In the handling of waterways is that a Senatorial filibuster may either kill the bill or cut out the pork or force amendments on the lines proposed by Senator Newlands and Representative Frear. This is one Advantage of a time limit to the session; it affords an opportunity to extort concessions from the spoilsmen. A belated "Christmas, ship" is now carrying gifts from Americans' to the settlers on far-off Pitcairn Island, who perhaps come nearest to living the simple life of any civilized people in the world. The island, which is only about two miles long by a mile broad, has a population of more than 100. It was settled originally about 125 years ago by a party of nine muti neers from a British ship and eighteen natives of Tahiti, and for a time was a scene of turbulence and lawlessness. But order was gradually restored and when the population increased beyond the capacity of the island to support it, part of the inhabitants were taken to another island. But so strong was the1 home-loving instinct that several of these subsequently returned. Those now living there have no automobiles, no cable or wireless communication, no machinery and few modern Imple ments. A passing ship several years ago is said to have left a talking ma chine in exchange for food, and this has since been the only amusement of the people, if it Is still In good repair. The island is, roughly speaking, about half way between the Panama Canal and New Zealand. It may appear that the chief of police of Chicago, under arrest on charges involving "grafts had too many partners, some of whom were bound to "snitch" under pressure. That la the great fault of the insidious crime. While an official is alone In it, his receipts cannot be large and mankind is prone to be lenient even jocular about the size of them. When ambition reaches thestage that needs help, the end is in sight, for there is no honor among thieves, despite the aged line to the contrary. War conditions have Increased wages enormously in the East, notably those of laborers, which have gone up 100 per cent. This shows how low i the pay of the laboring man had ; dropped in the early years of the Wil i son Administration. The rush to file on lands for grazing in the Central Oregon counties will lessen the opportunity to hold that kind of land for "dry" farming, which is more or less an experiment one year and often a delusion the next. One of the crowd convicted at San Francisco of violating neutrality laws hopes the punishment fits his noble birth. Likely It will. He may get the heaviest hammer and toughest rock. If this Administration desires to start something by removing post office employes from civil service, it may be sure the country will respond with a vengeance at the polls. The terms of the allies outlined in the reply to Wilson never will be ac cepted by the dynasty that rules Ger many. . Yet from a British point of view they are moderate. The Efficiency Club is right In askr ing removal of. the age limit In Gov ernmental civil service examinations. No bars should be put up against the man with "ginger." Western people, with big ideas and living in big states, will wonder where a railroad can find room to spend $75,000,000 in such a boxlike affair as Pennsylvania. Rooms occupied by non-union men seem to have an attraction for ex plosives. Carelessness in handling may account for disaster, and, again, it may not. The miscegenation bill should be killed. It is not in line with the movement for Uplift of the Colored Race. i If Harry Thaw shall die, he will have committed one decent act. Greece, bag decided to. be. good, IT IS THE VOICE OF AUTHORITY Anti-Saloon I.r a n e Decides on Form of "Hone-Dry" and That Settles It. PORTLAND, Jan. 11. (To the Edi tor.) Being inspired by an editorial in Tbe Oregonlan you will permit me to try and correct & falsa impression that seems to obtain regarding pending bone-dry legislation. You will find it exceedingly difficult to trace the story that a search and seizure clause Is to be placed In the legislation for bone-dry Oregon to any advocate of prohibition. None of us have ever contemplated anything of the kind and no search and seizure clause will be placed in the legislation if we can prevent it. Neither will we ask that the possession of liquor, now lawful, shall be declared to be unlaw ful. It would be manifestly unfair to allow it to be shipped in under one regulation and then declare its posses sion thus obtained unlawful by subse quent regulation. Very often the purposes of the drys are distorted by those contramlnded for obvious reasons. Suggestions are sometimes made as coming from us by those who do not believe as we do, for their own purposes. And when this is done, often editorial pens like yours scratch the words "extremists" and "radicals" across the editorial page. If you have observed anything, sir, and will be candid about it, you will note that the majority of the people of Oregon, and almost. If not quite, the majority of the people of this Nation, are what you call "fanatics"; or would I it be more appropriate to call the mi nority "fanatics"? But, if It suits your fancy, we do not object to a bit of opprobrium at your hand and pen. since the fact of ulti mate prohibition remains, notwith standing, i Let it be repeated that we now In tend to get bone-dry legislation if possible, but we do not intend to In corporate search and seizure, nor make possession of liquor obtained lawfully before the enactment of bone dry legislation unlawful and, like Lawson before Congress, you will scarcely be able to repeat the name of one, after investigation, who favors such legislation. 13. A. BAKER, Pres. Oregon Anti-Saloon League. The Oregonlan has been Informed by one high in prohibition councils that search and seizure have been seriously proposed and discussed by some prohi bition workers and advocates In Ore gon. The Oregonlan concedes that Mr. Baker is a very important orficer in a very Important organization. Birt he is not so Important and his organiza tion Is not so important that when gen eral reference is made to bone-dry leg islation the Baker brand or the Anti Saloon League is inevitably in mind. The Anti-Saloon League, if Mr. Baker actually speaks for it, seems to have the same failing as the Saloon League. A little success makes it overbearing. and dictatorial. What do other pro hibition workers think of this "eockey" declaration, right from headquarters, by Jinks! that they can't have search and seizure in the law? BARD'S BOXE-UIiy SAEXGEHFEST. About the same time that George Cordon burst into song, came also L. D. Eaton, of "Lick Skillet. Oregon." with a song which we suppressed because of Its slanderous references to ourself. But now that the state has gone bone dry, we don't care much what he says about us, and so we give him back his mandola and bid him sing. . We will remark, however, that his pome seems likely to go out of date pretty quick, now that the legislators are on the Job, so w would advise him to revise his chorus before they revise the existing laws concerning the shipment of llcker. And now. Eaton, proceed with your lpn restrained song. Oh yes, pean has been there, that fact Is apparent. You could "twig" it the minute he began to bewail. That his thoughts were back yonder, he was pining like thunder For the days of the mug, and the bar, and the rail. I'll bet it's been often his hoof he has "his ted" As he beckoned the barkeep and felt for his "kale," And tried to be funny at the expense of somebody. While his foot pawed the sawdust In search of the rati. And I shouldn't wonder if he'd stood off the barkeep. Or tried to at least as he told the old tale, 'Bout the "nail in his coffin" he'd like to have driven. We've all heard it you know, with our feet on the rail. CHORUS. But those times are over. The way. to do now is. To send in your order: "Return me by mail. Two quarts of your best, and be quick about it. The country's gone dry; they've abolished the rail." BY DEAN COLLINS. . BVFFALO BILL AND) HIS SHOW. All hail to the chief. Old Buffalo Bill, The hero of battles galore; He comes to amuse. To instruct with his skill. And show us the dangers of yore. We gather in thousands to see the Old Scout. Who always was Indians' friend; A glad wave of interest Runs here, round about. While on us his redskins descend. We honor him here and we honor him there. For much that he does. And has done; The Nation's Instructor of early days' care, Repeater of years that are gone. L'ENVOT. No more will he ride with the rush of the wind, No more shall the warwhoop resound; He has followed the Bison; left Indians behind. He's gone to the far hunting ground! S. D. MARTIN. Civil War Events. TROUTDALE. Or.. Jan. 11. (To the Editor.) (1) What Is tbe date of Pea Ridge battler (2) The opposing offi cers of same? Casualty list of both armies? (3) Date of Shelby's second raid Into Missouri? (4) Date of vote on secession in Texas? A CONSTANT READER. (1) March 7 and 8. 1862. (2) Federal troops numbering 10,600 were commanded by Gen. S. R. Curtis. The Confederates, consisting of 14.000 men and a brigade of Indians, were In general command of General Van Dorn. Federal loss. 1384; Confederate loss was given at 800, exclusive of Indians, but was undoubtedly larger. (8) She'lpy led a raid into Missouri in the Fall of 1863 and was with J?rlce in his Missouri raid In September, 1864. (4) February 1, 1861. Flace Not Given. EUGENE. Or, Jan. 10. (To the Edi tor.) Where is Salmon River. S. C? What is nearest telegraph office? G. S. No river, creek or town is listed by Rand-McNallys atlas under that name In South Carolina, nor does the postal directory give such a postofficoj COW STABLE CAROL IS I'PHELD Sir. Moore Cites Wonderful Instances of Power of Music. CORVALLIS. Or, Jan. 10. (To the Editor.) While Benton County dairy men would probably prefer to retain their faith In bran mush and silage as the best milk producer, "Greenhorn's" assertion that his McMInnvlUe bovine la Inspired by a regular diet of music to give down increasing quantities of lacteal fluid seems very reasonable to me. Personally, I am a believer in muslo as a cure-all for everything but measles and' the mumps, and all of us know that muslo hath charms to soothe a savage, please the baby and split a cabbage. What more natural then that music, lovely music, prop erly applied, should cause even a car nation sign to give a few quarts of milk, or a quarter-inch of cream to rise on the fluid In the average milk bottle? I once heard a story to the effect that after a circus had milked an en tire region bone dry. Its band, en route to the next stand, stopped by chance in a patch of milkweeds and played to such effect that each weed of that variety gave up from a quart to a gallon and a half of milk. In Juet a few minutes this was a land literally flowing with milk and a short time after alonp came ''honey" and her beau. At the P. P. I. E, in the Hawaiian display In the Palaco of Horticulture, a car of cocoanuts were so affected on hearing the quartet there sing the songs of their native home that they leaked so much rich milk the restau rants around about came near getting some of it into their roffee, despite the valiant efforts of a host of waiters to prevent it. Also, it la a well-known fact that confectioneries cannot maintain first class orchestras any length of time for the reason that at each lovely strain the chocolates have a tendency to 'give up their milk, and milk shakes quickly dwindle to nothing but the shake. If a brass band, quartet and or chestra can produce such effects on objects naturally so inauimate end un responsive, what might not be the re sult obtained from the family Jersey by the scientific applications of music from such classical instruments as the zoboc, bugpipe, Jewsharp and ukulele? N. R- MOOHK, ARGMG AGAINST CONVICTIONS Many Student!! Doing It Through Com pnlalon In Debates. POItTIAXD. Jan. 11. (To the Editor.) For some time I have boon wanting to call attention in The Oregonlan to what appears to me to be a mistaken method our city school management has in conducting debate.) between tha high school children. The announced effort of President Foster, of Reed College, to inaugurate a change as far as college debates are concerned gives me courage. A bright youth of my acquaintance, who is frequently called upon to take part in debates, has called my attention to the fact that In a large percentage of the debates In which he takes part he is required to take the sido in which he does not believe. The subject la selected and, regardless of the convic tions of the debaters, their sides are assigned to them. In my judgment, it Is all wrong, while youths are taking Impressions that stay with them all their Uvea, that they should be put up to announce their beliefs and convic tions for that in which they do not be lieve. It has a bad moral effect; but when I have presented that view to some of my acquaintances 1 get as a reply that "they all do it." as though that were a good argument. It Is a strance thing that our educa tors have not before this seen that this system is all wrong. It tends to im press on the youth the Idea that truth telling is not of great Importance; and I hope that our city achuol manuKe ment will follow President Foster and make a radical change In the present day method of conducting high school debates. R. M. TUTTLE. Car Shortage and Demurrage. TORTLAND, Jan. 11. (To the Edi tor.) I noticed under date of January 9 an article written by O. C- Crow, en titled "Oregon Under Railroad Thumb." If my memory is right. I remember aiw article in The Oregonian some time ago stating that there Is a law in Ore gon which allows the shipper demurrage- after the second day, if the ship per has sent In a written order of a car and it is not furnished him. Rindly advise me if I am correct or not. J. C. COTTON. m There is a law to the effect that the railroads must furnish cars to ship pers upon written application within a stipulated time and penalties are pro vided for failure to comply with the law. However, it is said unfavorable rulings by the Supreme Court have been made in interpreting this law so that it ia not' enforced. The law provides that a shipper, hav ing freight on hand to load in carload lots, may demand that cars be supplied to the number of five or less in five days, from five to ten cars In not more than ten days, more than ten and not more than 80 in 15 days, etc. Failure to supply cars makes the railroad com pany liablle to a demurrage charge of $2 for the first 24-hour delay, "per car, $3 for the second 24 hours of delay be yond the time specified, and $4 for each additional 24-hour delay. But the law expressly states that the railroads shall not be held liable when congestion of traffic elsewhere, acci dents, delays and other causes for which the companies are not responsi ble make It impossible to supply the cars as required. This provision will, naturally, explain about every delayed delivery of cars in this territory. Author and Violins. PORTLAXD. Jan. 11. (To the Ed ltor.) 11) Please tell me the time and place of the birth of the author. Ran dall Parrlsh; also his complexion and size. (2) I wish to know how old are the Stradivarius violin! What are they worth and to whom should one write if he wished either to buy or sell one? A. READER. (1) Randall Parrish was born in Henry County, Illinois, June 10, 1858. We have no information on his phys ical characteristics. (2) A viojin made by Antonio Stradi varius would be from 180 to 46 years old. It would probably be difficult to find one for sale. "Stradivarius" is a name frequently used to designate the model or pattern of a violin and may be applied to the cheapest instruments. Consult any dealer In musical instru ments. Mothers' Pension Law. PORTLAND, Jan. 11. (To the Ed itor.) Are there two kinds of pensions for widows, a mothers' and a widows' pension? Does the widow get any money for herself, or Just for the chil dren? G. G. ANDERSON. Strictly speaking, Oregon has no "widows' pension law." The act. which is often so termed, is a mothers' pen sion law. No pension Is granted unless there are dependent children living with the mother, and unless In the absence of pension relief the home would be broken up. A woman with children dependent upon her because of the physical or mental Incapacity of the husband Is eligible to receive a pension. No pension Is provided for a widow: .without children. In Other Days Twenty-five Years A gro. rrom Ths Orevontaa, January IX l&PX Washington It Is reported here that Judge Hanford, of Seattle, now United States District Judge for Washington, may be appointed to the Circuit bench as a promotion for his work, which has been highly satisfactory to President Harrison. Columbus, O, Jan. 11. William Mo Klnley, Jr., was Inaugurated Governor today. Theodore B. Wlloox, manager of the Salem and the Willamette Valley flour ing mills, has given orders to close down, as tha wheat is all worked up. The mlll' capacity has been louo bar rels daily. Strauss is 66 years old. but his hair is as black as if he were a youth of 35. His barber, it is said, is the secret. Lou Cleaver, a well-known newspa per man, real estate agent, attorney and turf patron, is at the St. Charlea Hotel. W. T. Stead, editor of the Review of Reviews, has compiled a book of ghost stories. He is an Inveterate ghost story teller, and much to the disgust of his wife, who thinks they are foolish, relates story after story with mucn internet. Henry Oxer. Portland, librarian, who clipped on the sidewalk ami cracked his kneecap, is still confined to his bed. One of the triplets born to the wife of David Honeyman died yesterday. Tho other two are getting along nicely. Half a Century As. a. From The Oregonlan. January 12, ISBT. Wo have on our table some samples oT OreKon-made paper, the first ever manufactured in this state. They are from the Oregon City paper mills and at the tlmo of wrtiinir are not more than 24 hours old. The milte, after considerable delay and a lew altera tions in the machinery ns first set up, ere started January 10 on brown wrapping paper. J. Carroll Is the su perintendent of the Oregon Paier Mills, a gentleman recently from California The Chicago Tribune says that the ITnion I'acifio Railroad Company lias laid down all Iron at Its preesnt dis posal and. finding it difficult to obtain it rapidly enough by way of the Mis souri River to keep Its forces em ployed, has determined to cease fur ther operations until next Spring. They havo completed the bridge across the North Fork and Inid the track over it. so as to deliver tho mails, freight and passengers to Holllday's Overland Stage Line on the western side of the river. The Department of Columbia, Major General Frederick Steele commanding, will embrace the stato of Oregon and the territories of Idaho and Washlnc ton. Headquarters will be in Portland. Judge B. R. Curtis, of Boston, ha heen selected as umpire of the com mission consisting of Rose of Mon treal and Jolme-ou of Albany. N. Y.. to arrange the indemnities arising under tne settlement or the Northwestern boundary between the American pos sessions of Great Britain and the Ignited states. The interests of the Hudson Bay Company are Involved. The following are among those on the list of corporations which have filed articles of corporation in the of fice of the Secretary of State from September 1. 1861. to Augutst 31. 1S. inclusive, having principal business of fices in Portland: First Presbyterian Church, capital stock Jl'5.000. incorpo rators. Thomas Fraaer. E. D. Jliattuck. R. R. Thompson; Lone Fir Cemetery, capital stock 15000; incorporators. Levi Anderson, Robert Pittock and B. F. Cardwcll. WHEX SHEEP ARE FOlXD AILING What to Do When Imported Animals Are Passed by Veterinarian. MENLO. Wash, Jan. 10. (To the Ed itor.) Sheep are purchased in Oremn receiving the required sanitary certifi cate so as -to be shipped Into Washing ton, but upon arrival at destination, after a day's travel, are found to have all the symptoms of distemper, from which they soon bcKin to die. How can compensation be received for our loss through a fraudulent examination of the sheep? (2) What is tho cause and what the treatment for a sheep that seems in perfect health but suddenly has the eyes become covered by a milky-colored film, causing blindness. The eyes be come inflamed and mattery; the nos trils have a thick discharge. A bL'BsCIUBER. (1) Sheep do not have distemper. All long-wool sheep have chronic nasal ca tarrh, which may easily be aggravated by travel on trains, throush catching cold, or sniffing dust. If sheep are in bad condition, take the matter up with the former owner or the examining vet erinarian. If tho examining veterinar ian knowingly or carelessly passed any great number of diseased sheep such examiner would be liable for damage. (2) Tho disease probably Is an in fectious opthalmia, sometimes brought on by feeding cottonseed meal, but more frequently by infection from other animals. Wash eyes with a solution of boric acid and keep the diseased sheep from the well ones. More de tailed information may be secured by writing W. 1L Lytle. State Veterinar ian, Salem, Or. Same Old Gas. PORTLAND, Jan. 11. (To the Edi tor.) Your columns reporting the elec tion of Gus C. Moser as President of the Senate tell us that the vote was unanimous and that the five Democrats in the Senate not only voted for him but that they made speeches eulogiz ing him. Is this the same Gus C. Moser that the Portland Journal has been denounc ing in column after column of edi torial bunk as the author of the "spoils man's bill" and as one of the briga diers of "the midnight resolution" In the last Legislature? And is it true that every Democratic Senator, In spite of his horrible record, not only voted for him, but actually spoke of him in terms of highest praise? Ain't it awful, Mabel? INQUIRER. Descent of Property. PORTLAND, Jan. 11. (To the Ed itor.) Two young people married. Each had some money before marriage. He had most, which they invested in five acres of land near Portland. It was deeded in the wife's name. She died six months ago, leaving a child over 1 year old. What share has the child in this property and what share its father? A. F. . The child inherits all the property, subject to the father's life interest In the' income from one-half the estate. More Than One-Third Fords. M'MINNVILLE. Or, Jan. 10. (To the Editor.) Please tell me how many automobiles were registered in the state of Oregon in the year of 1916. and what per cent of them were Fords. A SUBSCRIBER. Of the 33,917 automobiles registered in Oregon during the 1916 series a total of 13. 0S5 were. Fords,