Morning Oregonian., September 13, 1917, Page 2, Image 2

THE MORNING OREGONIAIT. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1917.
TEUTON HOPE LIES
If BIG INDEMNITIES
War Financed by Bonds Until
Now Interest Alone Is
Staggering.
FREE PORTS AID BUSINESS
German Plan Allows ' Manufacture
of Raw Material and Re-export of
1'inUlied Product Without Pay
. meat of Customs Duties.
BY JAMES W. GERARD.
American Ambassador to the German im
perial court, July 128, 1J13. to February
4. 101". (Copyright, 1317. by the Public
Ledger Company.)
Much of the commercial success of
the Germans during- the last 40 years
is due to the fact that each manufac
turer, eacli discoverer in Germany, each
exporter knew that the whole weight
and power of the government was be
hind him in his efforts to increase his
business. On the other hand, in Amer
ica business men have been terrorized,
almost into inaction, by constant prose
cution. What was a crime in ons part of the
United States under one Circuit Court
of Appeals was a perfectly legitimate
act in another. If we have to meet
the intense competition of Germany
after the war, we have got to view
ail these business problems from new
angles.
Free Ports Proposed.
For instance, there io the question
of free ports. Representative Murray
Hu!brt has introduced in the House
of Representatives a resolution direct
ing the Secretary of thi Treasury, the
Secretary of War and the Secretary of
Commerce to report to Congress as to
the advisability of the establishing of
free ports within the limits of the es
tablished customs of tha United States.
Free ports exist in Germany, and
have existed for a long time, although
Germany is a country with a protective
tariff. Jn a free port raw goods are
manufactured and then exported, of
course, to the advantage of the country
permitting the establishment of free
ports, because by this manufacture of
raw materials and their re-export,
without being subject to duty, money is
earned by the . manufacturers to the
benefit of their own country and em
ployment is given to many working
men: thus, of course, improving the
condition of these workingmen and all
others in the country.
''Drawbacks" Perform Kerviee.
It is self-evident that the employ
ment ojl each workingman in an in
dustry which would not exist except
for the existence of the free port with
draws that workingman from the gen
eral labor market and therefore bene
fi's the position of his remaining fel
low laborer.'.
Although free ports do not exist in
the United States, an attempt has been
made to g. - certain industries, by
means of what are known as "draw
backs," the same benefit that they
would enjoy were free' ports existent
In our country.
Thus the refiners of raw sugar from
Cuba pay a duty on this sugar when
It enters the United gtates, but receive
this duty oack when a corresponding
amount of refined sugar is exported to
other countries.
Industrie May Stove.
There has lately been an attack made
upon this system in the case, however,
of the sugar refiners only and the
question has been treated in some
newspapers as if these refinets were
obtaining some unfair advantage from
the Government; whereas, as mattor
of fact, the allowance of these "draw
backs" enables the sugar refiners to
carry on the refining of sugar for ex
port much as they would if their re
fineries existed in free ports modeled
on the German system.
The repeal of the provision of allow
ing "drawbacks" in this and other in
dustries will probably send the indus
tries to Canada or to seme other teri-
ritory where this system, equivalent to
the free port, is permitted to exist.
A few days before I left Germany I
had a conversation with a manufac
turer of munitions who employs about
18,000 people in his factories, which,
before the war, manufactured articles
other than ammunitions.
Tales Put on Profits.
I asked him how the government
treated the manufacturers of munitions
and l.e said that they were allowed to
make good profits, although they had
to pay out a great proportion of these
profits in the form of taxes on their
excess or war profits; that the gov.
ernment desired to encourage manu
facturers to turn their plants into fac
tories for the making of all articles
required by the nation in sustaining
the war, and that the manufacturers
would do this, provided that it were
only a question of how much of their
profits they would be allowed to keep
But if the government had attempted
he said, to fix prices so low that there
would have em a doubt as to whether
the manufacturer could make a profit
or not, the production of articles re
quired for war would never have
reached the high mars: that it had in
German;'.
Bonds Pay for German War,
As a matter of fact, about the only
tax imposed in Germany since the out
break of the war has been the tax
upon cost or war profits. It has been
the policy of Germany to pay for tha
war by great loans raised by popular
subscription, after authorization by the
Keichstag. I calculate that the amounts
thus raised, together with the floating
indebtedness, amount to date to about
80.000,000,000 marks.
For a long time the Germans ex.
pected that the expenses of the war,
would bs paid from the indemnities to
be recovered by Germany from the na
tions at war with it.
Ilelf ferich shadowed this forth In his
speech in the Reichstag on August 20,
l'Jli, when he said:
"Instigators' Pay for War.
"If we wish to have the power to set
tle the terms of peace according to our
interests and our requirements, then
we must not forget the question of cost.
We must have in view that the whole
future activity of our people, so far
as this is at all -possible, shall be frei
from burdens. The leaden weight of
billions has been earned by the in
stigators of this war, and they, in the
future, rather than we, must drag it
about after them."
Of course, by "instigators of the war"
Helfferich meant the opponents of Ger
many, but I think that unconsciously
he was a trus prophet, and that the
ELL-AW
Absolutely Removes
Indigestion. One packages
proves it 25c at all druggists..
j
"ieaden weight of the billions" which
this war has cost Germany will be
dragged about after the war by Ger
many, the real instigator of this v.-orld
calamity.
In December. 1915. Helfferlch voiced
the comfortable plea that, because the
Germans were spending in Germany
their money' raised by the war loans,
the weight of these loans was not a
real weight upon the German people.
He said: "W are paying almost ex
clusively to ourselves the money, while
the enemy are paying abroad their
loans a guarantee that in the future
we shall maintain the advantage."
Fallacy Prevails In Germany.
This belief of the Germans and
Helfferich is one of the notable fal
lacies of the war. The .German war
loans have been subscribed mainly by
the great companies of Germany, by
the savings banks, the life and fire in
surance and accident insurance com
panies, and so on.
Furthermore, these loans have been
pyramided; that is to say, a man who
subscribed and paid for 100,000 marks
of loan No. 1 could, when loan No. 2
was called for, take the bonds he had
bought of loan No. 1 to his bank, and,
on his agreement to spend the proceeds
in subscribing to loan No. 2, bcrrow
from the bank 80, COO marks on the se
curity of his first loan bonds, and so on.
There is an annual increment, not
easily ascertainable with exactness, but
approximately ascertainable, to the
wealth of every country in the world.
Just as, when a man is working a farm.
there is in normal years an increment
or accretion of wealth or income to
him above the cost of production of
the products of the soil which he sells,
there is such an annual increment to
the wealth of each country taken as a
whole. Some experts have told me they
calculated that, at the outside, in pros
perous peace times the annual incre
ment of German wealth Is 10,000,000,000
marks.
Soeial and Moral Bankruptcy Prospect.
Now, when we have the annual In
terest to be paid by Germany exceed
ing the annual increment of the coun
try, the social and even moral bank
ruptcy of the country must ensue. If
repudiation of the loan or any part-of
it is then forced, the loss naturally
falls upon those who have taken the
loan. The workingman or small cap
italist who puts all his savings in the
war loan is without support for his old
age, and so with the man who took
Insurance in the insurance companies
or put his savings in a bank if that
bank becomes bankrupt through re
pudiation of the war loan.
You then have the country in a posi
tion where the able-bodied are all
working to pay .fhat they can toward
the Interest of the government loan.
after earning enough to keep them
selves and their families alive, and the
old and the young, without support and
deprived of their savings, become poor
house burdens on the community.
Already the mere interest or the war
loan of Germany amounts to 4,000,000,-
000 of marks a year, and to this must
be added, of course, the interest o the
previous indebtedness of the country
and of each political subdivision there
of, including cities, all of which have
added to their before-the-war debt by.
incurring great debts to help the des
titute in this war. Of . jurse, to all
this must be added the expenses of the
administration of the government and
the maintenance of the army and navy.
It is the contemplation of this state
of affairs, when he is convinced that
indemnities are not to be claimed from
other countries, that will do moi: to
persuade the average intelligent busi
ness man that peace must be had at any
cost.
(Continued Tomorrow.)
LOOT PLOT IS SCENTED
EVIDENCE POINTS TO PLANS TO
ROB KIXG ESTATE.
C. B. Means, Business Manager for Mrs.
Stand A, King Who Was Killed
Mysteriously, Is Suspected.
NEW YORK. Sept. 12 Assistant
District Attorney Dooling, who is in
charge of the investigation here into
the death of Mrs. "Maude A. King, at
Concord. N. C, announced today that
after an all-night examination of
papers and correspondence belonging
to Gaston R. Means, he had found suf
ficient evidence to warrant indictments
for grand larceny against one or more
persons for alleged looting of the King
estate.
The assistant prosecutor said he had
found in Means' effects a paper upon
which was an agreement whereby
Means was to receive $950,000 in case
the new will of Mrs. King's husband
which is now up for probate, got
through successfully.
Means was business manager for
Mrs. King and was a witness of her
death on August 29 by a pistol shot.
Documents also were found in Means'
trunk. Assistant District Attorney
Dooling announced, which showed that
Mrs. Joseph li. Foraker,- Jr., widow of
the son of the late Senator Foraker,' of
Ohio, had borrowed large sums of
money from Gaston Means and from
Mrs. King.
ITALIANS HOLD HEIGHT
AUSfRIANS ATTACK MONTH SAX
GABR1ELE UESl'ERATKLY.
Battle Begins at Dawn and Con.
tlnues From West, East and
South Until After Noon.
ROME, Sept. 12. Austrians yesterday
made an extremely desperate effort to
drive the Italians from the positions
they occupy along the crest of Monte
San Gabriele, northeast of Gorixia. The
battle lasted from dawn until nearly
noon, when the Austrians, defeated,
gave up the effort, the War Office en.
oounced today. The statement reads:
"The enemy yesterday made various
attacks, which were repulsed, against
our lines on the JJainoizza plateau,
afterwards carrying out his greatest
efforts northeast of Gorizia.
"After violent fire on the positions
occupied by us along the crest of Monte
San Gabriele and on the western slopes
of the mountain descending towards
Malcaro, he attacked them from the
east and south. The bitter struggle
which began at dawn, became more
pronounced around the western edge
of the table land of St. Caterina,
Finally, towards midday, the enemy,
beaten and repulsed, gave up his fruit
less attempts."
FREIGHT ON SALMON HIGH
Atlantic Service Costs $0 a Ton,
Instead of Former $3. CO.
VANCOUVER, B. C, Sept, 12. Trans
Atlantio freight rates on salmon have
risen, it is stated here, from the before-the-war
figure of about (2.60 per
ton to $60 a ton, with prospects of a
further increase. Despite this fact, ar
rangements t.ave been in progress for
the past month for the shipment during
the Winter of a large consignment of
salmon from Canada and the United
States to Great Britain and France.
The arrangement nide, it is stated,
concerns no less than JOp.000 cases of
salmon.
FEDERAL RAP TftKEIl
AT TEUTONIC PRESS
War Comment in German Pa
pers Must Carry Complete
English Translation.
SEVERE PENALTY PROVIDED
In Passing Trading With Enemy
Bill, Senate Extends Presi
dent's Powers la Ticffu-.
late Import Trade.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12. The. ad
ministration trading-with - the - enemy
bill, which passed the House without a
dissenting vote last July, was passed
by the Senate late today with many
amendments, Including one giving the
President power to embargo imports
and prohibiting publication of war
comment in the German language un
less accompanied In a parallel column
by a translation in English.
Other important provisions interdict
commerce between Americans arid Ger
mans or the latter's allies; give the
President broad powers to regulate
operations of - enemy insurance com
panies in this country, and extend es
pionage powers.
The import embargo amendment,
added today at the Administration's re
quest, would extend present presiden
tial powers over export trade to im
ports as well.
The bill passed the "Senate after two
days of listless debate heard by an av
erage of less than a' dozen members.
Provisions Are Enumerated.
The amendment restricting publics
tions in German, adopted by a viva
voce vote, was offered by Senator King
and is subject to elimination in confer
ence. it provides:
"That during the pendency of the
present state of war and until peace
shall be concluded and the fact de
clared by proclamation of the Presi
dent it shall be -unlawful for any per
son, firm or association to print or
publish or cause to be printed or pub
usnea in tne berman language any
comments respecting the Government
of the United States or of any nation
with which Germany is at war, its poli
cies, international relations, stats or
conduct of the war, or of any matter
relating thereto, without printing or
publishing in a column parallel to such
matter a true and complete translation
of the same in the English language.
Penalty Is Severe.
"Any print or publication in the
German language which does not eon
form -to the provisions of this section
shall not be admitted to the mails,
and it shall be unlawful for any per
son to transport, carry or otherwise
publish or distribute the same.
"Any person violating the provisions
of this section shall oil conviction
thereof be punished by a fine of not
more than $500 or by imprisonment for
a period of not more than one year,
or may, in the discretion of the court,
be both imprisoned and fined."
Senator King urged adoption of his
amendment as a. "curb against the
vipers in our midst trying to create
dissension.
"There is no question," said the
Utah Senator, "that the German press
but I do not mean to say all has
done everything it could to stir up
sedition and strife and make this war
unpopular and those newspapers ought
to be suppressed.
PACKERS' RIOT IS FATAL
MORE THAN 3O00 STRIKERS TAKE
PART IrV DISTURBANCE.
Disorder, First ot Serious Nature
Since Strike Started, Starts When
Workmen Leave Packing; Plant.
KANSAS CITT, Mo.. Sept. Z. A riot
in which it is estimated more than 2000
packing-house employes and their sym
pathizers participated took place to
night at Armour & Co.'s plant in Kan
sas City, Kan., with the result that one
man was fatally injured and two others
were injured. More than 20 shots were
fired.
All saloons in the packing-house dis
trict. 68 in number, immediately were
closed by the police, who rinally suc
ceeded in restoring order. The trouble
was the first of a serious nature to
break out in connection with the packing-house
strike, which has been in
progress almost a week, resulting in
the idleness of several thousand men.
Tonight's disorder is eaid to have oc
curred when the crowd of strike sym
pathizers assembled before the Armour
plant and began "milling" as 600 or
more employes who had not joined the
strike came out of the gates.
PAPER MAKERS TO REPORT
Publishers to Be Acquainted With
'Print Stock Situation.
WASHINGTON. Sept. 12. To keep a
check on the newsprint paper situa
tion, the Kederal Trade Commission
will institute a system of monthly and
weeKly reports by manufacturers. The
aim is to keep publishers constantly
YOUR
HOME
Perhaps there's some
thing lacking in VOI R
home betokening cul
tivated tastes, some
thing of rare and perma
nent charm and value that
new I.Al RKLHLKS'i' home
can provide.
A home in LAl'RRLHrRST will
grow into your life like a habit,
minister to your present needs
and will not fade away and
vanish.
May we not show you some of
our artistic new JLAt-RELUL'RST
homes? .
FAVl, C. MURPHV,
bales A(t for
270 Stark St. Main J TOO.
Nearly 10,000 already
have realized and
bought.
Not one ever realized
whq did not first
come and see.
Because of low rent, cash selling,
buying in thousands and selling
at low profit we can duplicate
for $1 any suit or overcoat value
shown at ground level at $25
informed as to the rate of production
and consumption and as to the amount
of paper stocks on hand.
The Trade Commission hopes that
the system will put newspaper pub
lishers in a. position to demand fair
prices and make it impossible for pro.
ducars to raise prices through fear of a
,0
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a nasi ---
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JIOTIHWCJICI II vjt
If all the men in Port
land realized how
good our proposition
is, we would sell all
the men's clothing
sold in the city.
rRf 5 veesb. ?zx mBmmm mm msB Cmjy
I , '-TV i f"" -J l V
IVorthwcst Building 1 Washington and Sixth
paper shortage. The Canadian gov
ernment will be asked to co-operate hn
the plan.
As many as 2000 women a month,
mostly from farms,' are said to visit
the restroom established by the city of
Phoenix, Ariz. f
n
9
SOMEWHERE
99
IN FRANCE
THERE or in the train
ing Camps the young
men of Oregon who serve
their country in the Na
tional Armies will find the
long arm of Northwestern
National Bank service
reaching ready to accept
deposits and forward funds
in Checking and Savings departments.
Make Vnr Bankinff Arrange
ments .VOW.
SNorthwesterit'
Portland
Greori
" Tf A
r: 'y Z- -w :
3 " " - vN I s li 1
it ' HAi 'Vf- II
Real Economy
Foot-Schulze Footwear will do its
bit to help you beat the high cost of
living.
Here's how: Foot-Schulze Shoes
will give you long and satisfactory service;
they will cut down the yearly cost of shoes.
They are better made shoes. No at
tempt has been made to meet the rising
cost of materials by cheapening these shoes
JS THIS MARK
ONTMCSOLC
DENOres
QUALITY
Wl ON TMC50LS ri
M DENOreS
i ' li Mi in il ill i H l"'l-iilHH Ihl't rifil..1 him 11 ill
m any particular.
They have the same wear-resisting,
shape-holding qualities they
have always had. These qualities
are intensified by better making
due to better working condi
tions n pur new sun-lighted
factory.
Every member of the family
should wear them. Go to the
J oot-Schulze dealer in your
town. He's easy to gad;
good man to f now.
Foot, Schulze
&Co.
Saint Paul.
N