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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1917)
lO THE MORNING OREGONIAN. SATURDAY, " JANUART 57, 1911 m$ Bxm xsmmx PORTLAND, OREGON. -Entered at Portland (Oregon) Postotflce aa second-class mail matter. Subscription rates Invariably In advance: (By Mail.) Ually, Sunday included, one year ..$3.00 Daily, Sunday included, six months 4.25 Ijaily, Sunday included, three months - . 2.25 raily, Sunday included, one month .... .75 X)ally, without Sunday, one year ........ 6.00 Daily, without Sunday, three months ... 1.75 Dally, without Sunday, one month ..... .) Weekly, one year 1.50 Sunday, one year 2.50 Sunday and Weekly 8.50 (By Carrier.) Dally, Sunday included, one year 9 00 Dally, Sunday included, one month .... -75 How to Remit Send postoff Ice money order, express order or personal check: on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's risk. Give postoffice address In full, including county and state. Postage Kates 12 to 16 pages. 1 cent: 18 to 32 pages, 2 cents; 34 to 48 pages, 3 cents; 50 to 60 pages, 4 cents; 62 to 76 pages, 5 cents; 78 to 62 pages, 6 cents. Foreign post age double rates. Eastern Business Office Veree A Conk Iln, Brunswick building, New York; Verree & Cor.klin. Steger building, Chicago. Ban Francisco representative, R. J. Bldwell, 742 Market street. rOBTLAD, SATURDAY, JAN. tl 1917. business,- post and publish - in the Record bulletins and notices of all meetings and for what purpose, and advertise all public hearings.- Elec trical voting is also proposed in order to. save the hour wasted on each roll call and to foil those whose political purposes are served by congestion of business. The chief object of having few rollcalls would then be defeated. namely, to avoid going on record on questions which may injure a mem ber's standing with some of his con stituents. These changes would be in the di rection of that "pitiless publicity" of which President Wilson said so much four years ago, but of which so little has been seen. Secrecy is favored by the leaders of both parties for their own ends. If the close election of last Fall should substitute publicity, it will not have been devoid of compensations. THE MELON OREGON CUTS. Among possible economies suggested to the Legislature none is more proper and reasonable than that embodied in the bill introduced By Senator La Fol lett. It proposes elimination of the subsidy now given by the state to cer tain not all industries to aid them In insuring themselves against losses due to personal injuries to employes. The budget estimate for payment of this subsidy is $225,000. The estimate is probably far too low. The state contributes one-seventh of an insurance fund which provides for a system of workmen's compensation. In the last six months this one-seventh has amounted to about $70,000. For a two-year period that would be $280 000. It is admitted that throughout the two years the state's subsidy has not been so great. But Oregon s prin, cipal industry was languishing" It has only begun to revive. In addition a new hazardous indus try is getting on its feet. Concerning it shipbuildings the statement was recently made that $55,000,000 in contracts for construction of vessels on the Columbia River have been en tered into. That means, according to estimates, a payroll of $18,000,000 in a new industry during the next two years, which in turn means a payroll contribution to the state insurance fund of about $800,000 and a state contribution of nearly $115,000. It would mean that much additional to the sub-normal subsidy of the last two years. The amount that will be demanded from the state if this industry meets expectations and if other, hazardous industries revive can hardly be com puted. The state stands to pay out as a pure gift vast sums of money which are sadly needed for roads, for buildings at institutions which it is morally bound to maintain and for other purposes in which is involved the well-being of the people. Probably, as heretofore, the argu ment will be offered that elimination of the state's subsidy is a blow at the principle of workmen's compensa tion. If that be true, then Oregon is the only state in the Union which has adopted the principle, whereas Gov ernment publications list thirty-two states and three territories in that category. In other words, Oregon is the only one of thirty-two states and three territories that aids employers to meet the Individual responsibility of compensating their employes for in juries suffered in industry. It was said; when the Oregon work men's compensation law was adopted, that this state had set a model for other states, that its system would be widely copied. Yet since the Oregon law was adopted thirteen other states and territories have newly adopted the principle of compensatlon-and not one has copied the Oregon plan or sub sidizing an insurance fund. A four teenth, Utah, rejected the Oregon plan the other day, after getting reports from this and other states. The principle of workmen's com pensation is widely successful almost throughout the United States without the aid of state subsidies. It would be so in Oregon. There is no more reason for the state to help pay the insurance premiums at employers in this particular than there is for it to pay part of their fire insurance pre. miums. Moreover, the experience of the past year in Oregon has demon strated that success of the principle is not dependent upon a subsidy. The insurance rates are fixed by definite schedule. Employers in hazardous occupations accepted the rates and Cruite generally insured in the fund administered by the state. They were able and willing to pay the schedule. Yet before the year was over one sixth of their premiums was remitted. The premiums they were able and expected to pay were thus reduced more than the equivalent of the state subsidy. The state cut a melon of about $100,000 for the employers and the general taxpayers provided the fruit. If the Legislature at Salem desires to cut, here is an extravagant growth that yearns for the pruning shears. UPLIFT OF OFFICE DOTS. . The West Side Y. M. C. A. in Chi cago has courageously undertaken a gigantic task the training of office boys and an interesting phase of the experiment is that it is calling upon the boys to come downtown an ' hour earlier than usual three days of each week, and to give the time to their special studies before their usual day's work begins. The good wishes of a great army of employers" who long have wrestled with, the office-boy problem will at tend the efforts of these would-be in structors of young and lively Ameri cans, but there are sure to be some misgivings from the start. The office boy is in a class quite by himself. In the Rollo books he attends strictly to business, anticipates the wishes of his superiors, studies the business in his spare time and eventually rises to a partnerhip in the firm but outside these books he does other things, mostly aggravating ones. The first demand made upon him, that he shall rise an hour earlier on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, offers an interesting selective test. If he responds, he is of the sort that would not remain an office boy long, anyway, and if he does not, it is dif ficult to see how the new school is going to do him any good. tained the secret of the lapses of these San Francisco women, in a good many instances. It is proper that all necessary steps shpuld be taken to remove the temp tations of poverty from the paths of the young. Social justice ought to be done. But nothing will quite take the place of moral fiber, and it is well known that a vast number of young women do possess that essen tial element of character and do live upright lives without demanding a minimum wage of $20 a week, or any other amount, as the price of their virtue. The high cost of living has enough to bear as it is, but it is not responsible for all the vice there is in the world not yet. REPRESENT THE ACTUAL VOTERS. If Senator Poindexter's plan of bas ing representation in Congress on the actual voting strength of the states were to be adopted, it would cut two ways. It would deprive the South of representation for the suppressed ne gro vote, and would thus offer an in ducement to the white oligarchy to let the negro vote and to count his vote. It would also give the suffrage states of the West much larger repre sentation in proportion to population than would be enjoyed by either the East or the South. The inducement to enfranchise women would there fore be strong. The Poindexter scheme is too ideal to win until women have been given votes in enough states to align three fourths of the states in its favor and thus to render its ratification sure. A combination of the North with the West might accomplish this, and such a combination may come about if the suffragists continue to win more states. It would not be necessary to complicate matters by striking out the word "male" from the constitution. If the West were redeemed from Democracy, it might join the North east and Middle West in carrying the actual voter basis of representation in order to correct the Southern sit uation. The rest of the East would then have an interest in adopting woman suffrage, in order that the West might not have undue weight in legislation. r A PROSPECT OF PUBLICITY. There Is a prospect that the tie between the Republicans and Demo crats In the next House will be used by the seven Independents in alliance with certain independent members of the two parties to force a radical change in the rules. The Searchlight, published by the Voters' League, has analyzed the composition of the next House and gives a list of eighteen Republicans and six Democrats who can be relied upon to join such a movement. A total of thirty-one mem bers working together would have in fluence out of all proportion to their numbers in a House which was equal ly divided. The first change desired is to break the absolute control of the rules com mittee over the machinery a,nd pro cedure of the House. That committee. or rather its majority, reports rules parceling out the time among meas ures and between parties, and the majority party always adopts its rec ommendations. A few speeches are made on each side, and any others who wish to speak are given leave to print. There is no freedom of debate. Publicity of committee proceedings is also desired. During the present session Representative Garrett re minded Chairman Henry, of the 'rules committee, that "It is not customary for gentlemen to state what occurred in the committee-room," and Speaker Clark added: "It is absolutely against the rules." The most decisive work of Congress is done in committee, but it is done in secret. The Searchlight Bays this secrecy Is "indefensible and an Insult to the public." The reform ers are expected to demand that each committee) keep a calendar of its THE PRICE OF VIRTUE. The singular spectacle in San Fran cisco of a large delegation of female denizens of the underworld entering a formal protest in a public place in this instance a church against an anti-vice crusade which proposed to destroy their occupations without pro posing a way for them to make a liv ing, brings up again a problem that is as old as the world. Thoughtful students will not withhold their sym pathy from the unfortunate ones, nor cease to look for a solution of the pressing question. - Yet it will not serve useful purpose to be maudlin about it, or to place too much re liance on the good faith and sincerity of those who took part In the San Francisco demonstration. The affair bore a good many of the earmarks of having been "staged. There was, by coincidence, in addi tion to the hundreds of women gath ered for the purpose, a motley assem bly of male hangers-on from the vice section. These were ejected from the church, it seems, and went away mak ing grumbling platitudes about not being welcome In a place of worship but probably they were present for no good purpose and with no real de sire to be put on the road to .reform. Nobody sympathizes with them, any way, unrepentant as they - seem to have been. Also the movie-picture operators were on hand. Some of the charges made by the spokesman for the women were fa miliar enough, and some of them no doubt were true: such as the state ment that men were primarily respon sible for the financial support of vicious institutions. ' The railing that was Indulged In at the expense of "so ciety women" and at "mothers who drink cocktails and leave their chil dren ,to the servants" had a familiar ring. There is a good deal of claptrap about It, and it was clearly an at tempt to arouse class hatred that does no good for any cause. There was suspicious unanimity, too, about the allegations that the women assembled there were driven to their extremity by the low wages paid them when they formerly had been employed How many of you," asked the pas. tor, "are in this life because you couldn t make enough to live on?' All hands, says the news dispatch were raised. Butnot many month ago, when so-called vice investigations were the vogue all over the country, and committees were sitting in many cities, there was no such unanimity of opinion. Indeed, some of the investi gators reached the conclusion that the question of wages was by no means all there was to the question. The San Francisco urrderworld has, it seems, only one mind about it. Then "the women laughed." as the news account goes on, when they were asked how many would leave the lives they were leading if they could be assured of work at $10 a week. They were all willing to be reformed, it seems, but there must be a minimum compensation. With shoes at $10 a pair, no girl can live on less than $20 a week, said the woman who spoke for them. But a great many girls, even nowadays, get along and are reasonably happy with shoes that do not cost $10 a pair. One would almost suspect that $10 shoes, and the Incidentals that go with them, con- WHY ALL SHOULD BE TRAINED. While President Wilson was telling the Maryland League for National De fense that "physical training can be had without compulsory military serv ice," on the assumption that physical training is the only 'incidental benefit which men would derive from mili tary tra ining, Henry L. Stimson on the same evening was furnishing a com plete refutation of that theory in an address to the National Security League Convention. Military training teaches democracy in practice, a teaching which is much. needed in a Nation which is fast be coming divided into classes of rich and poor, of capitalist and workman. of pretended aristocrats and common people, among which animosities are growing that impair the unity of the Nation. Mr. Stimson spoke the truth when he said that universal military training is "the only basis on which the only democracy can rest; it is one of the surest Ievelers of undemocratic distinction. It brings together men of all kinds under the same discipline to live under the same conditions." It brings the boy "face to face with both the hard and the noble facts of life." He added: It is the only way in which some boys can experience the elemental facts of hun ger, cold, exhaustion, or may learn of the vital stores of nerve, grit and courage by which such evils can be met. Far from being in itself militarist. universal service has grown with th.e growth of democracy, hence it has been adopted in "free republics like Switzerland, France, Argentina and Chile, in "commonwealths like Aus tralia and in free constitutional mon. archies like Norway and Sweden." Every person who sees or has ex- perlenced its effects on men becomes a convert to it. That, said Mr. Stlm. son, has been the effect on men who have been through the course at Plattsburg, and on their fathers and mothers. It is necessary to counteract the softening effects of the transforma tion which our population has under. gone in the last century. We have changed from a "Nation of hardy and vigorous frontiersmen" to a Nation the majority of whom live in cities with their "softening influence upon the fiber of body and resolution.1 Only by the hardy outdoor life of the camp .can these effects be pro duced on all our young men. It Is necessary not only to give them phys ical training, as the President seems to suppose, but to get them outdoors and to habituate them to outdoor life. Nor is the training wholly physical Men in military life learn to care for their health, to keep the camp clean and sanitary. They learn what diet will best preserve their bodily strength. They learn habits of order. punctuality and neatness. The new immigrants who have come by millions from Southern Europe and who have a most imperfect con caption of the duty they pwe to the democracy can by this means be Im bued with loyalty to American insti tutions. They came to escape duty to government which was often .op pressive and which trained them as soldiers to fight for aggression. They need to learn that they must also be trained to fight in defense of a free democracy, and that it is worth fight ing for. Universal service is the only just system," for it requires of all prepara tion to defend the country, which is the duty of all. The volunteer system fails to provide enough soldiers for the National safety under modern con ditions, but it does worse It takes the man who Is willing to do his duty and lets the shirker escape. Mr. Wilson said in opposition to this system that "any brief service in the Army withdraws men from civil pursuits just as much as the recent service on the border does," but it is their duty, it is necessary and the proposal is to withdraw men from civil life for this purpose in their nineteenth or twentieth year, when and are physically fit, for less than half the money we have spent during the past six months in the barren job of mobilizing 138,000 Guardsmen upon the Mexican border." Against the. opinion of Mr. Wilson may well be set not only that of Mr. Stimson but that of Senator Chamber lain, the man of Mr. Wilson's own party who has given deepest study to this subject and who declares it the most vital issue that confronts Con gress. Universal training is just to all, it is democratic, it is the most economical means by which we can render the country secure against at tack. It would inspire patriotism, it would unify the Nation and it would restore that manly vigor which our citizens are losing under the influence of luxury and city life. Chairman Hoover, of the Belgian Relief Commission, estimates that it will cost $250,000,000 to feed the Bel gian people this year. This seems an impossible sum to raise by subscrip tion, but if all industries in this coun try would do as the Rocky Mountain lumbermen have agreed to do give 5 per cent of their receipts on one day a week to the fund it could be done. Though taxed for the war and paying an enormously increased cost of liv ing, the belligerent nations are giving millions of dollars for war relief of various kinds. A quarter of a billion dollars from the immense profits of our abounding prosperity would not be out of proportion for the American people to give. What convincing evi dence it would be of the sincerity of those noble sentiments' with which they are so profuse, if the American people were to take upon themselves the task of keeping the Belgian na tion alive until peace removes the necessity. The moving-picture business is set tling down from its boom stage, as Mr. Brady indicates. In its infancy any kind of pictures would draw a crowd, but the promoters were tempted to wild extravagance by the great profits and by the rapid devel opment of possibilities for gorgeous spectacles. It has now reached the stage where it will have as many classes of theaters as there are in the so-called legitimate theatrical business. Already there are picture plays which rank with the best plays by the best actors, both in artistic merit and in price. LAW HE51CES STOCK .INDUSTRY Land Fit Only for Graalna; Takes by Homesteader Under S40-Aere Act.' PRINEVILLE". or, Jan. 24. (To the Editor.) The 640-acre homestead law has ruined one of the greatest indus tries in the West the wool Industry. Let me give the truth regarding this arita desert region which many East ern people know nothing about. yet are eager to possess some of It. What Is left of this public domain Is practically worthless except for sheep, and little of it is fit for that on account of lack of water. It is hilly and , steep land, rocky and cannot be cultivated, as much of It Is too rough even for good sheep grazing. The best of. this land .was taken under the 320 acre homestead law, and what was left is considered worthless except for grazing purposes. Many who have settled on these S20 acre tracts are not even making a liv ing and many of these will be aban doned. Few of them have water and are compelled to haul water for miles. Some store water in cisterns and use It very sparingly. This is a "bad sys tem, as the water becomes more or less contaminated when kept so long. Their stock is watered in this way. Rabbits and sage rats are pests the dry home steadeisPmust contend with. They must fence with rabbit wire, which us pensive. It must be wire fence or there will be no crop raised. It must also be an exceptionally wet season at that if anything is raised. All Eastern Oregon Is being so fenced under these dry homestead laws. Many locators are from Eastern states and are ignorant of conditions. The result is stock grazing, our greatest indus try, is being totally ruined. Free range is a thing of the past. If this land was halfway fit for agricultural purposes this letter would not be written. But it is hardly worth the fencing and lm provementa put on It. Many of the ignorant locators have homesteaded tracts that 20 years ago were not considered a good sheep camp, because too hilly, rocky and steep. A plow cannot be used on any part of some of the tracts taken under the 320-acre law. It is needless to say uch locators are well aware that they Villa seems now to be competing for the favor of the United States by inviting American mine owners to op erate their mines by promising them security, while Carranza threat ens confiscation of much American property. If Villa should occupy the territory which is evacuated by Per shing, he might claim recognition as de facto ruler of Northern Mexico. Why not? His de factoness would be as good as Carranza's. are stung, but you will find them very Still 85 per cent of the best paid labor reticent, as they are ready to sell out give out" at the earliest oppor tunity. The writer has no ax to grind, owns no stock or land, nor has any to sell or wishes to buy any. It is simply written to keep poor people from mak ing the blunder of wasting time or money on worthless land: He whom the 640-acre law will benefit is the tockman who can grab a section ad joining his holdings, which will give him an outlet for grazing. No home- teader will derive a benefit from it. as it Is unfit for a home. Twenty-five years ago much of the wealth of Oregon was obtained from scarce cold enough to chill a germ or this arid section by stockmen who used! pierce light underwear. We toss our it is the divine creator willed that it nearireit sympatmes to aweiiers in me East, where sharp frost needles sting should be by grazing. Every section of it then was yielding big. golden re urns and the stockman and every body prospered. Then the stockman came to filnevme ana bought sup plies by the wholesale and hauled them I penned at home. We cry to them to to his headquarters with slx.und eight-I emigrate with all their household horse teams. - The merchants pros-1 things .out to this climate-favored The timber deal in the Coos Bay country is an earnest of the great de velopment In store for Oregon in the next few years. Eastern manufac turers are turning to Oregon's vast forests as the biggest reserve of tim ber in the country, and are preparing to satisfy the great post-bellum de mand which they foresee. ered and grew wealthy. The alfalfa farmer made money raising bay for the tockman and others who were team- ng. Today the song is quite differ- nt. The homesteader cannot raise his living, much less have anything mar ketable. ELBERT RAMBLE. TYPE OF DANGEROUS BUILDING Woman suffrage looms up as a cause of domestic jars in the charge of Mrs. Chris Lyse that her husband was a party to her being counted out in the election of Constable. But who can blame the poor man for wishing his wife to stay at home instead of roaming the country making arrests? If a man Is to be sent to state prison for punishment it is the duty of the state to keep him in good health to the end of his term. With that end in view, a sanitary institution is nec essary. The controversy of Cat vs. Bird has been revived and will again be threshed. Meanwhile the boy with an air rifle can find a better target in the cat than in the bird. Somebody Is getting easy money from former slaves and their heirs by advancing a claim for $68,000,000 as wages for cotton picked during years of slavery. Nemesis does better work in Seattle than all the peace officers. She over turned two thieves in a stolen car and pinned them under it in a thirty-foot ravine. their earning power is small and when the education of many is not yet fin ished. This training, too. Is a most valuable part of education. The plan is to give intensive training, as Mr. Stimson said, "in a single, unbroken period, during which the pupil's at tention is concentrated upon his mili tary work with no intervals for dis traction or forgetfulness." The bulk of this training "would be applied in a single period of about six months in the open season of the year." This would not interfere seriously with a young-man's mental education, if he were attending college, or with his oc cupation, if he had started to earn his living. Some persons raise the objection that this system would be excessively expensive, though the experience of Great Britain has proved that no other system can bring the entire able bodied manhood of a nation to the army and navy, as Is necessary to suc cess In a modern war, for which na tions arm their entire able-bodied male population. That nation enrolled half its fit men as volunteers an un precedented feat but it did so amid the fervor of war and at much heavier expense than its enemies. It was able to do so only because it had over whelming naval superiority and pow erful allies to keep the enemy at bay while it prepared. In order to do the same, the United ! States would need equally unques tioned naval supremacy and would have to incur as much heavier expense as our standard of pay and living is higher than that of Britain. The pay of soldiers already absorbs half of our ariTiual military budget, and to pay half of our available men on the same scale would impose on us a staggering financial burden. Britain found that even its unprecedented success in getting men under the vol unteer, system was not enough, and It had to overcome a prejudice against compulsion which Is as deeply rooted as is that of Americans in order to raise armies large enough to have a prospect of winning victory. There is no reason to believe that the United States could succeed in war by any other means. Compulsory training would, as Mr. Stimson said, practically wipe out the item of pay, for regular Army officers calculate that "we could train for six months the estimated 500.000 youths of this Nation who reach the age of training each year The war has been a godsend to the Hill lines. It has enabled them to sell their white elephant, the steam ship Minnesota, cost. at a price near its Farmers around Gooding, Idaho, are safe in commandeering (up-to-date polite word for stealing ) a carload of coal. No jury will convict them. A recent session of the Japanese House is said to have been "tumultu ous." Those little chaps will be real Democrats if they progress. These are the days when Portland feels the lack of alleys. The timid man carrying his two-quart package is sure to meet his friends. Rev. Paul Smith forsakes the job of cleaning up vice In San Francisco as too big for him. It is too big even for earthquake and fire. A city official has a four-year term. a member of the School Board gets five, and two years is not excessive for a superintendent. Lansing says he will not resign and all will believe him. Only a great Democrat can do that William. J, Bryan, for example. One of the Joneses in the House has a bill to stimulate marriages at Vancouver by requiring blood tests of man and woman. More, restrictions are designed to make marrying harder in Oregon, but nothing is done to create difficulty in securing divorce. The quickest way to get rich is to locate in Idaho and catch silver foxes, whose pelts are woth $1000 each. Somebody In New York will have Job on his hands when' feeding that woman who is on a hunger strike- Trouble piles on to Dan Kellaher to keep him "from getting rusty. The demon of Blue Sunday Is restless. The Blue Sunday law is back the Legislature. It is to laugh! Germany has advanced a few feet westward at Verdun. CALIFORNIA CITIES CONTRASTED Los Angeles Lead Over San Fraselsr ' Ascribed to Open Shop. PORTLAND, Jan. 26. (To the Ed itor.) Los Angeles is not only an open shop city but It Is clean of "Unfair" banners, picketing and many other lib erties which San Francisco ha3 nursed until recently, and Portland continues to nurse. The Los Angeles Times, quoting only official assessed valuations, says "there Is no parallel In the Western Hemi sphere for these wonderful increases." Here is a contrast between the as sessed valuation of California s two leading counties: 1906 1316 Los Angeles... $226,150,339 $991,378,862 San Francisco. 524.230,936 756,235,232 The Industrial advance in 1916 in Los Angeles county demanded an in vestment of $13,753,000. I have no ng ures for San Francisco. Los Angeles has more than 2000 manufacturing plants employtng 35.000 workmen and producing $130,000,000 annually. The savings deposits are $100,531,380. These are a few of the startling facts where real estate ts about as oulet as -in Seattle or Portland. The metropolis of Oregon has one-third of the water power in the United States within one hundred miles, with two large corporations having power to serve. Why not use It7 Los Angeies spent $30,000,000 for her water Bupply, ten times that of Portland, still we pay as much for water as ts charged In Interior cities or the country. There .is no climate in all creation superior to Western Oregon for textile production of all kinds. The largest cotton production in the world is in a climate Just like ours. It is true of woolens, linens, worsteds, yarns, silks. We have pure, soft water in endless quantities, and that Is the chief need of all textiles. But you can t succeed with a sys tem of laws that sane, common sense is against. You can't Bucceed when the strike maker controls, for there is no freedom of the member of many of the unions in even having an opin ion. You vote no and you are a scab. Twenty-five Years Aaro. From The Oregonlan. January ST. 1S92. Walla Walla Quite a large delega tion of Oregon Sheriffs visited Walla Walla yesterday. Among them were P. M. Kelly, of Multnomah County; A. A. Cowing, of Harney; P. A. Conde. of Baker; J. I. Bo lies, of Union: 1. F. Cates, of Wasco, and J. S. Ritchie, Deputy Sheriff of Umatilla County. Ben Longley. who recently received $100 as a prise for the finest potato grown in the United States last year. a resident of Union County. The Alnsworth National Bank has received a supply of the new silver coinage of 1392, in 50-cent, 25-cent and 10-cent pieces. The bank clerks are not altogether pleased with them, as the new coins have a high milled rim which - renders it difficult to stack them. . New York There is enough talk of "third party movement" to warrant the attention of present political leaders. Captain Foreman, of the British bark Dunraverv now in port, in an Interview with The Oregonian has given an in teresting account of life on Pitcalrn Island, which place he recently visited. Mayor W. S. Mason, who has a severe cold, has been confined to his home since last Friday. of the United States Is In open shops. Portland and Oregon never so need ed brave men with courage, convic tion and sincerity as now. Fads have cost dearly. "Just to get the union labor vote" Is the silent platform of some officials. The open shop Is a necessity. TOM RICHARDSON. 'PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL." Our boasting crowds the limit when our climate is the theme, with joyous voice and girted pen we class it as supreme. Our Winters scarce deserve the term applied to them, our air as bees and worry man and beast, where blizzards choke the air with snow from cloudland's frigid dome and people who desire to go somewhere are Yet Burned Lodging-house May Be B habilitated L'nder Present Laws. PORTLAND, Jan. 26 (To the Ed- ltor.) This building, on Third street. burned a few days ago with loss of life, was one of the structures that In spired the article I wrote and you Kindly published some time ago on Building Obsolescence. In fact the banner "Operfed Under New Manage ment" on this old flretrap set me to making a little quiet investigation as to how such buildings are nursed along. rnis is not the only one there are others and it Is safe to assume the Are chief knows all of them. But what can he do? At a glance there Is nothing to hin der this building being repaired and back. niiuLuci uci buii iiiLcreBiea in tne at luring prospect of a downtown room lng-house. "right on a main street: just fitted up; low rent; furniture on the installment; pays for Itself; big profits; hurry before someone grabs it, etc state where Winters rival Springs, Then old King Lear, goldarn his hide and triple-plated gall, flashed up the olden saw that pride will go before a fall. He sent a sudden snowfall down he thought a fleecy beaut and froze the ponds anear the town where skaters went to skoot, and when he thought we had been in cold storage long enough to expiate our boasting sin, he called his doln s off and floated back unto his lair up in the mountains high, where frost gems sparkle In th air and his possessions lie. J. Flu vius again is here with aqua pura showers that wash the healthful at mosphere and coax to life the flowers, and since Lear pulled his frigid frelgh far from our eastern door we certain-! ly appreciate our balmy climate more. JAMES BARTON ADAMS. Alcohol and Beverages. PORTLAND, Jsn. 26. (To the Edl tor.) I have been sending every month in my name ror liquors for my hus band, as he has no time to get it. do not use any of it myself, but I am In need of alcohol to rub my weak I use it only externally. If get this at the drugstore, will this stop getting tne liquors lor my husnand? SUBSCRIBER. In Other Days Are Confused. PORTLAND. Jan. 26. (To the Edi tor.) In the letter of I. V. Smith The Oregonian inquiry was made concern ing the Child Welfare Commission. In your- reply you gave data apparently applying to the Child Labor Commis sion. The Child Welfare Commission ex ists by virtue of honorary appoint ments by the Governor. Its five mem bers have given gratuitous service to the state for four years, not having received one dollar' from the etate treasury. Its purpose Is survey work, studying conditions affecting child hood and finding ways to remedy ex isting evils. Preventive work Is ac complished through education and leg islation. Several beneficial laws have been enacted and others are now pending that would give greater protection to the boys and girls. The recommenda tions offered by the commission and an outline of Its work are found in the first and second biennial reports, obtainable from the State Librarian. The officers of the Child Welfare Com mission are Mrs. Robert H. . Tate, chairman, and Dr. Mae H. Cardwell, secretary. MRS. ROBERT H. TATE. Eagland In Safe Hsads. PORTLAND. Jan. 26; (To the Edi tor.) When David Lloyd George in troduced his Socialistic state Insurance measures and old-age pensions in the House of Commons, some of the Tories were opposed to It. but afterward most ably supported the measure. Today we find bona fide" applicants draw the old age pensione. True, it is not a very large amount. Still It Is a recompense after services rendered to the country. This brilliant Welshman today is Prime Minister of England, irrespec tive of all opposition, winning on merits alone. The opening of prison doors to prisoners of good conduct on probation to serve the government and the state control of certain industries indicate a bright future for the old land. There are breakers ahead, but with David Lloyd George at the helm eventually the Whig ship will reach snug harbor. WILLIAM PARR TINDERY. No, not now. but after the Legisla ture has passed the pending "bone dry' When obsolescence has proceeded to I 'aw you cannot get liquor under any a certain point, as in the case of such I conditions by lawful means, Duuuings in such localities, the effl ciency of our fire department becomes contributing factor in the mainten ance of such menaces in that they (the Duuoings) are not allowed to be de stroyed below the limit of rehabilita tion. Would it be such a terrible reflec tion on the- efficiency of the Are de partment if, after all the people are burned that can be and all the adjoining modern buildings safeguard ed, the old shacks should be allowed to get just enough to insure a modern building in the downtown zone? At any rate, no more does one swallow make a Spring than does a pot of paint rejuvenate an obsolete building and to advertise 11 as a "new hotel" after renovation would suggest that the ad vertisement be glimpsed by the eagle eye of the Ad Club as well as the hotel Dy the building and fire departments. O. G. HUGHSON. Manager Builders' Exchange. "CHESTLE5S CHESTERS." Originality for men Is surely out of date; . Now, every time I see a man I think I'm seeing eight; And every time I do see eieht. I think I'm seeing one. But when I call these fellows men. I fear I'm seeing none. The stilts and hats and shoes, they mane ail men iook just alike. And all these suits and hats and shoes Fit excruciating tight: I should not think they'd like them tight. For this style has revealed A dearth of bulging bleeped forms Which were before concealed. These youths In all their slender suits come shambling up the street. And often they must let a cane as sist those slender feet; And many of them are so weak. That hours at a time Against a friendly lamp post Their fiugres must recline. Some busy corner of the town where girls are passing by. Is just . the place where they must rest Won't someone tell me why? When 'gainst a-post there leans a guy It's more than I can do Sometimes to tell which Is the post And which the guy. Can you? I'd like to see one sturdy man, whose form and shoulders square Would not fit in an English suit Without a chance of tear. I think a man would be quite rare Whose chest in front he wore. And not in back as others do. Oh, aren't there any more? MISS DIOGENES. (Looking for an "honest-to-goodness" man.) Change In Cabinet. LEBANON. Or, Jan. 25. (To the Editor.) Has President Wilson made any recent changes In his Cabinet? Please give me their names? SUBSCRIBER. The only change in the Cabinet In the last year was the appointment of Newton D. Baker. Secretary of War, to succeed Llndley M. Harrison, resigned. Bridges Over Colombia. PORTLAND, Jan. 16. (To the Edi tor.) (1) Please inform me how many bridges there are crossing the Colum bia River and where they are. (2) Also if any bridges crossing the Willamette at Portland besides the railroad bridge have been torn down and rebuilt. SUBSCRIBER. (1) Three between Oregon and Wash ington, the North Bank Railroad bridge at Vancouver, the Interstate bridge at Vancouver and the North Bank Rail road bridge at Fall Bridge. There are several In Washington and British Co lumbia. (2) The existing railroad, Morrison and Hawthorne bridges replace old ones removed. Alaska's Agricultural Resources, JACKSONVILLE, Or.. Jan. 25. (To the Editor.) Please advise me where I can get Information regarding the agricultural resources of Alaska, through which the new railroad is be ing built. CHAUNCEY FLORET.1 Write to Chamber of Commerce. Sew ard, Alaska, or to "James Wickersham, Congressional delegate, Washington. D. C. In 17, S. Immigration Service. CELILO. Or.. Jan. 25. (To the Edi tor.) Please give me the address of the immigrant officer of Oregon for Canada, and oblige. M. T. ROGERS. The question is indeffnlte. If you mean the Portland office of the U. S. Immigration Service It Is In the Rail way Exchange building. Near the South Pole With Sir Ernest Shackleton -in- THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN Wonderful are these pictures of heroic Antarctic exploration " the great bergs that guard the South Pole; incidents of the light hearted yet desperate vigil on Elephant Island; the death agony of the ship Endurance as the ice field gripped her, crushed her 'hull and opened to let the wreck slip down to black oblivion. These are the pictorial records of one of the most courageous - ventures ever attempted against great odds the actual camera caught scenes of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition in the Ant arctic. A double-page feature of The Sunday Oregonian. KAUFMAN'S WEEKLY PAGEl "Let's be bigger," pleads Herbert Kaufman, specialist to the optimism of America, in the lead artiele of his own particular page of the Sunday issue. "This earth was plainly planned for giants," is his conclusion. How about you? CIVILIZING THE ESKIMOS Don't blubber about the down-trodden, whaler-debauched native of the far North. Bevit known, says that eminent travel specialist, Frank G. Carpenter, that the Eskimo villagers are electing their own town councils; that the co-operative store is an established success, and that New England hasn't "any thing on" the coming culture of Kotzebue Sound. P ATRIA" The first episode of the great romance of preparedness, written by Louis Joseph Vance, and dramatized for the films. Mrs. Vernon Castle appears in .the pictures as Patria Channing. You must not miss this story. "SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD" Of the many songs of other days, contributed to the Sunday page of favorite poems, none was ever more properly placed in prominence than the song which is featured this week "Darling, I am growing old . . ." You 11 remember John Gilpin? He makes his renowned ride again on the old poems page. PHYSICAL EFFICIENCY OF PORTLAND PUPILS A news-story of Professor Robert Krohn's plans to make the Portland school children superior in physical efficiency to any in America. Twenty-mile tramps each week for high school maids. SCHOOL AND CHURCH NEWS Keep pace with the schools of Portland and the programmes of the city's many churches through the full-page departments in the Sunday issue. FOR THE FAMILY From Dad down to Dot, there's reading for every member of the family correct, clean and clever in the mar shalled columns of THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. Just Five Cents.