10
THE 3IOEXIXG OKEGOXIAN, THUKSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. 1917. "
PORTLAN D. OREGON'.
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PORTLAND. THl'RSDAV, SEPT. 27, 1917.
FOR THE NATION'S WELFARE.
The great work of shipbuilding in
and about Portland is practically at
a standstill because the men are on
Strike. They have assumed the heavy
responsibility of holding up the Gov
ernment's war ship programme, so
far as Portland and its vicinity have
a part in it, because they insist upon
recognition of the unions. They say
they will not return to work except
as union men and unless all non
union men are excluded from employ
ment. They will not accept any tern
. porary adjustment pending full ex
amination of their claims and griev
ances; and they ore not willing to
place their case in the hands of Presi
dent Wilson, or of any board appointed
by him.
That is plain statement of the situ
ation, made without prejudice or pas
sion. The Oregonian thinks that the
first essential to the settlement of any
controversy is a clear and candid un
derstanding of the facts. If misunder.
standings may bo cleared away, a set
tlement may be reached. The men
have, of course, thought they would
win, else they would not have struck.
How?
l)c they think public opinion is with
them? Let them make an impartial
inquiry. They will learn that it is
not with them, but it is with Presi
dent Wilson. Can a strike be won
without a fair measure of public ap
proval ?
It might be won, indeed, against the
general wish, with the aid of powerful
hands, such as the President's. But
the President has given no sign that
he sides with their demand for a
closed shop. At the same time he has
given many evidences that he is in
full sympathy with the proper aspira
tion of workers everywhere for a good
wage and agreeable living conditions.
The men think, perhaps, that the
President must eventually side with
them. He may, indeed, but is he more
lively, or less likely, to take their
part as against their employers, when
they refuse to accept his mediation,
and when they plainly show that they
do not trust his implicit assurances
of fair play and prompt action? Do
they think he will respond more
quickly to coercion than to persua
sion? Will they get more from him,
or less, by doing nothing for him and
for the country in this critical hour,
when he has promised to do much for
them?
A decision by the President for the
closed shop here leads inevitably to
similar action everywhere in all em
ployments in which the Government
is concerned. We will not argue fo'r
or against the merits of the open or
closed shop, but only point out the
difficulties of the President's position.
The barriers against requiring all
concerns having Government contracts
to employ only men belonging to
unions ara insuperable. The Presi
dent will not undertake it. He will
rot plunge the whole Nation in a con
troversy over unionism when the work
of every hand is needed to get ready
for war and to sustain the men al
ready at war or soon to be.
A grave mistake, for themselves and
for the Nation, has been made by the
men in rejecting the President's fair
offer and in taking the extreme meas
ure of a strike. It ought to be recon
sidered. They ought to place them
selves right with the public, as the
men at San Francisco have done, by
accepting a temporary adjustment,
and going back to work, while the
questions between themselves and
their employers may be fully inves
tigated and settled.
The concern of The Oregonian and
of the public, in this grave business,
is not unionism or non-unionism. It
is the country and its welfare.
WHAT THE FARMER 18 DOING.
How much the American farmer is
doing to feed the world is illus
trated by a map with an article
in The Nation's Business. While it
purports to show business conditions,
the text shows these to correspond
closely with crop conditions. With
the exception of small patches, all of
the Eastern. Southeastern and Middle
Western states are colored as "good,"
and all of the rest as "fair" except the
Western Dakotas. Montana, Northern
Idaho, a strip of Eastern Washington,
Southwestern Oregon, Western Texas
and Southeastern New Mexico, which
ara "poor."
Notwithstanding these blots, the
writer of the article forecasts a crop
of 8,800,000.000 bushels of corn. 725,
000,000 bushels of wheat and 12.500,
000 bales of cotton. The number of
cattle and hogs is increasing, though
sheep still decrease, cattle-growing is
extending in the South, and rain has
greatly benefited pasture and made
planting of large forage crops pos
sible. Some 400,000 silos, to which
constant . additions are made, have
stored 31,000,000 tons of feed for
Winter use. Kail plowing is very
general under most favorable soil con.
ditions, and gives promise of a great
acreage of Winter wheat for next
year, and all changes in the condition
x.iap ere from "fair" to "good. '
lhie is sound logics in the defense
that is made for the American farmer
against the criticism that his yield
per acre is less than that of Europe.
Intensive farming cannot be prac
ticed in this country aa in Europe
because we have less man-power, and
t'.ic problem in this country is that of
using machinery on a large scale to
compensate for the scarcity of men
on the farm. Our unit of production
in agriculture io per m? n, and in this
the American farmer excels. His
growing: prosperity and the larger
supply of capital which has been
placed at his disposal by the rural
credit system enable him to make
greater use of machinery, and thus to
enlarge this unit of production with
out more men. As population grows,
a" country life becomes more attrac
tive and as farms become smaller, the
supply of farm labor will Increase and
more intensive cultivation will be
practicable, adding still more to the
unit of production.
ONE GREAT PfBLlC ASSET.
The Oregonian supposes that the
Multnomah Athletic Club would dis
claim any purpose to assume the role
of a reformer or of a factor in the
various uplift movements which have
been carried on in the city and
throughout the country during the
past several decades. Yet it is a fact
that at a time when there were 300
or 400 saloons in Portland, and when
liquor was considered an indispensable
factor in the attractions of other or
ganizations, there was no bar in the
club, and there were no bottles or
demijohns jn lockers. Within recent
memory, too, there has been public
gambling in the city, and there has
been much of the same kind of sport
under cover. But never at the club.
That organization took its stand
against liquor and gambling twenty
six years ago, at the very beginning,
and has faithfully lived up to its prin
ciples ever since. Other athletic clubs
were not so strict, but the Multnomah
hewed to the line. What an immense
contribution to clean and wholesome
ways of living. What a valuable force
in the finer life of the community.
Of course, it is essentially an ath
letic club, but to make young men
and young women sound physically,
it set about to give them correct sur
roundings and influences.
The Multnomah Club has acquired
a membership of approximately 4000
members, and it needs 1000 more if
its work shall be carried forward at
a high standard. It owns real estate
and equipment of the approximate
valuation of half a million dollars.
The institution has lost approxi
mately 350 members who have joined
the Army and Navy. It is at present
engaged in a vigorous campaign to
increase its membership and to re
place the missing men. The club's
loss is the country's gain. Its mem
bers were physically fit, intellectually
competent and morally acceptable.
,The enlistment of these members is
a high tribute to the efficiency of the
organization. Sixty-five per cent of
the applicants for military duty are
rejected on account of physical and
other imperfections. This fact has
aroused the interest of the people of
this community and has impressed
upon them the necessity of improving
their physical condition. It is caus
ing large numbers to join the ranks
of the club, if
The present low initiation fee of $5
will be increased on October 1 to $25.
Already 675 applicants have sought
membership. The institution employs
the best instructors in physical train
ing, swimming, boxing and wrestling
that can be obtained. It has provided
classes at convenient hours for the
business men, women and children.
The club ha,s always cheerfully
given the free use of its athletic field
for worthy purposes. It has given free
instruction In military training and is
widely known throughout the United
States, and is a credit to the city and
the state.
THE TEDDLER NEXT?
Portland is headed toward first
principles in the sale of fish at the
Ad Club's market, but the point has
not yet been reached. Older resi
dents of Portland can remember when
it was not necessary even to go to
market to buy fish. The peddler with
his untuneful horn announced his
presence daily in the residence dis
tricts. In still earlier days the In
dians, if memory is correct, peddled
their catch the later peddlers were
men who bought from fishermen.
Fish peddling continued until a
much later period in the Puget Sound
cities. The canneries were not estab
lished so early. Indians brought sal
mon by the canoe-load to the docks,
and one who would go there could
obtain sockeyes or silversides for
about 25 cents a fish. Today one
would pay about $1.50 for the same
sized salmon at the reduced rate at
which tho Ad Club market is selling
them.
It is not Intended herein to imply
that the increased price is wholly due
to change in methods of distribution.
Increase in number and capacity of
canneries, development of cold storage
and refrigerating transportation have
greatly extended the Western fish
market and materially influenced
prices. But Portland is close to the
source of supply, and it can hardly
be disputed that a gain of 600 or 700
per cent in tho price of fish on its
way from fisherman to consumer is
not exorbitant.
Why the fish peddler should have
gone out of business we do not know,
unless his demise was caused by the
appeal to the fastidiousness of a peo
ple able to pay. Today the particu
lar fish purchaser goes to the market
where the product of sea and river is
handsomely displayed in a glass and
white tile cold storage compartment.
He may there make his selection and
have it delivered to his home with
out coming in contact with stale
odors.
But the. Ad Club's experiment indi
cates clearly that there are thousands
of persons in Portland who- are not
fastidious about such things when
economy is offered in the place of
them. They will not only go out of
their way to buy cheaper fish, but will
carry it home,
We imagine from this that the pub
lic would welcome the return of the
fish peddler and his unmelodious horn.
The peddler's chief problem is sup
ply. If he goes to the wholesaler he
cannot greatly undersell the regular
dealer, although those vegetable ped
dlers who buy on Front street seem
to make a living, regardless of whether
the householder saves much by pur
chasing from them. In a way the
peddler is a solicitor as well as sales
man. His mere presence at the door
recalls to mind the product , he has
to sell. But a fish peddler ought to
be able to buy at the source of supply.
For the lowest prices quoted the
people are now getting cold storage
fish and not the freshly caught fish
for some kinds of which, according
to reliable testimony, the deep-sea
fishermen are well contented to re
ceive one cent a pound on the docks
at Newport. Granting that it takes
considerable money to buy ice and to
ship boxes to and from Portland, it
is quite inconceivable that this ex
pense is more than 300 per cent of
the original cost of the fish. A profit
of 25 per cent to the retailer is suffi
cient to keep any man out of bank
ruptcy! and the quantity that can be
sold daily is sufficiently large to pay
several men more than wages.
Where is the enterprising man who
will make another fish-selling experiment?
ABOUT SECRET DIPI.OMACT. ,
The diplomatic conspiracy by which
Germany, and Austria plunged the
world into war has led to much con
demnation of secret diplomacy which
ignores the proper limits between se
crecy and publicity. There is cer
tainly a sharp distinction between the
secrecy of the Austro-German con
ference at Potsdam on July 5. 1914.
at which the ultimatum to Serbia was
agreed upon, giving the latter only
forty-eight hours for a reply which
might cause war, and the secrecy
which .surrounded the negotiations for
the purchase of the Danish West
Indies.
In the former case the nations con
cerned had absolutely no voice in. the
matter before they were so far com
mitted that protest was useless. Their
sovereigns had exclusive power to
manage foreign relations and to de
clare war and make peace, conceal
ing the correspondence until long
after the event or publishing only
such a garbled or mutilated version
as would support their own policy.
The correspondence between Germany
and Austria leading up to the war has
not even yet been published. The
only restraint upon such sovereigns
is the possible determined opposition
of their people, but the first inclina
tion of any nation is to stand by its
government after war has been de
clared. The governments of the cen
tral empires also, through control
over education and through press cen
sorship, had trained the minds of their
people to approve the policy which
they undertook to carry out in 1914.
They suppress or distort news which
is adverse to their policy, and permit
publication only of that which fa
vors it.
In a democratic country, on the
other hand, no government ventures
to pursue a definite diplomatic policy
until it Knows beforehand that pub
lie opinion will approve. Questions
and discussions in Parliament or Con
gress elicit the lines of policy and
voice public opinion on it. Congress
in this country. Parliament in Great
Britain, has the sole power to de
clare war, and not a dollar can be
spent on war until it has been voted
by the people's representatives. For
several days before Britain declared
war the course of negotiations regard
ing Belgium was announced daily in
Parliament. Within a short time after
war began the governments of Britain,
France. Belgium and Italy published
the entire correspondence. Every dis
patch which passed between this
country and Germany during the sub
marine controversy was published im
mediately on its receipt, and the en
tire discussion was carried on in the
open, much to the displeasure of the
Prussian militarists. When the Presi
dent asked Congress to act, that body
knew as much about the merits of the
dispute as he did, and so did the
whole Nation. ,
But publicity could not be given to
all negotiations without grave injury
to National interest. For example, in
the case of the Danish islands it was
known. that Germany, would do her
utmost by the most unscrupulous
means to prevent the sale, for she
had induced Denmark to refuse ratifi
cation of the treaty made by Presi
dent Roosevelt. Public opinion was
known to approve the purchase, for
it had been plainly expressed on two
former occasions when it had been
attempted. Under such circumstances
publicity would have-served no pur
pose except to thwart, instead of to
ascertain, the popular will. It would
be as impossible to bring about a
diplomatic agreement as to close a
business deal if every step were to be
made public what was said at every
interview between the Secretary of
State and a foreign Ambassador. The
people act when the Senate decides
whether a treaty shall be ratified or
not. Such affairs cannot be made
public without the consent of both
parties until some document results
which may properly be regarded as a
public paper of each party.
FRANCE DEFENDER OF CIVILIZATION.
Rally of one nation after another
to the alliance against Germany's con
quering armies and the barbarous
methods of warfare pursued by Ger
man armies suggests a comparison of
the present war with that in which the
Hun invasion of France was stayed,
and with the later war in which Charles
Martel drove back the invading Mos
lem hordes which had already sub
dued Spain. From the time of the
Roman empire beautiful France has
been a lure to the barbarians who
strove to advance westward uritil they
reached the ocean. Practice of the
allies in styling the Germans Huns is
justified by the devastation and bru
tality which mark the latter and by
the fact that they advance from the
east to overrun the west of Europe.
Vague tradition tells that the Huns,
who inhabited Central Asia about the
beginning of the Christian era, began
to move westward after an attempt
to invade China had been repulsed.
One body of the tribe, of which the
Bulgarians may have been an offshoot,
settled for a time near the northern
end of the Caspian Sea in Southeast
ern Russia. Thentje they started far
ther west about 372, conquering and
forcing into their service various other
tribes, until they came in conflict with
the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, over
powering them also and extending the
Hun kingdom to the Danube and the
Carpathians, occupying the whole of
Southern Russia and Roumania. At
tila became King in 433 jointly with
his brother Bleda, who died about
445, and conquered Media in Asia,
advanced to the gates of Constanti
nople and into Greece and tripled the
tribute which his father had exacted
from the Eastern Roman Emperor.
He extended his dominions through
out Central Europe, and for twenty
years ruled from the Caspian Sea to
the Rhine and Rhone rivers in France.
For more than a century the Ger
manic tribes, under constant pressure
from the Huns and other barbarians
in the east, had been moving west
ward by alternate colonization and
aggression into France. They entered
into alliance with the Romans, and,
when the Huns crossed the Rhine in
451, their army joined that of the
Roman General, Aetius, to stem the
torrent. Attila abandoned the siege
of Orleans when the city was on the
point of surrender, retreated north
east' and met the Gothic-Roman army
near Troyes, on the plain of Chalons,
in what proved to be one of the de
cisive battles of the world. They
fought all day in a conflict which the
Gothic historian Jordanese describes
as "ruthless, manifold, immense, ob
stinate." words which fitly apply to
the battles of the present war. Theo
dorie. King of the Visigoths, was
killed, and the slaughter is estimated
anywhere between 175,000 and 300,
000 men, but victory rested with the
armies of Romans and Goths.
Attila retreated next day and crossed
the Rhine to his central dominions in
what is now Southwestern Austria
and Hungary. The Goths.. Franks and
Burgundians were themselves bar
barians, but had already begun to
adopt Christianity and civilization
from the Romans, and they were the
means of saving Western Europe from
the unmitigated barbarism of the
Huns. Attila in 452 ravaged Italy,
but after his death in the following
year his sons quarreled about the di
vision of his empire. The dependent
tribes rebelled and defeated the Huns
in a great battle, after which the na
tion dispersed into several hordes,
which settled in various parts of
Southeastern Europe.
Nearly three centuries later another
peril threatened France, when the
Arabs and Moors, equally ruthless
with, though less barbarous than, the
Huns, invaded France after having
conquered Spain. Charles Martel, the
Frankish King, had only recently es
tablished his authority over . all of
France when the Moslems, under
Abdurrahman, overran Narbonne and
advanced northward. Charles met
them near Tours in October, 732, won
a great victory and drove them across
the Pyrenees.
France is now for the third time a
rampart against conquering hordes,
in which the instincts of barbarism
have broken through the veneer of
civilization. The deeds of the Ger
mans in Belgium and France prove
their nature to be akin to that of the
Huns, and the description of Attila as
a man who "walked with a proud
step, darting a haughty glance this
way and that, as if he felt himself
lord of all," well fits the Kaiser.
As the great barriers of the Alps
have been obliterated by the soaring
military airmen of Europe, so will be
those of the Rockies and the Andes,
the Himalayas and the Caucasus.
Communication will be so rapid and
easy that all nations will be brought
into close intercourse, each nation
will of necessity learn the languages
of other nations, all will mingle so
freely that mankind will become prac
tically one nation, and the confusion
of tongues worked at Babel will be
undone. This war, which we now re
gard as a curse, may yet be hailed as
a blessing through having incalculably
hastened the conquest of the air.
The United States seems destined
to take the lead in air means of
communication, as it did with the
railroad, the telegraph, the telephone
and the automobile, for it leads in
inventive and manufacturing skill and
in supply of all the necessary mate
rials. Of what account will be dis
tance then? Rio Janeiro and Buenos
Ayres will be as near New York, in
point of time, as Chicago now is;
Portland will be no farther from
Philadelphia than Pittsburg now is,
and men will fly with easo from Rio
Janeiro to Lima and Valparaiso.
Embargo on exports of gold comes
at the same time as an increased use
of paper nfoney in the United States.
Gold is now a munition of war, and
must not be permitted to strengthen
the enemy. The great accumulation
which the United States now has came
chiefly from the nations which are
our allies, and will be used as a
basis of credit in financing the war,
both for ourselves and for them. Pa
triotism demands that the people of
the Pacific Coast overcome their old
prejudice in favor of hard money.
Castor oil is the best lubricant for
aeroplane motors as well as for small
boys' insides, and is extracted from
castor beans, which come mainly from
India. But Britain needs all of that
country's product, and American
farmers must produce the supply for
tho great air fleet which the United
States ia building. A good crop was
raised this year, but a far larger one
will be needed in 1918.
The scene .of hostilities is no place
for a Congressional junketing or
smelling committee, and President
Wilson did well to squelch the scheme
to send one to France. The idea of a
junket to ' the field of such terrible
business as war is repulsive, and
France in 1793 and Russia in 1917
supplied warnings against political
meddling with an army in action.
The sentence of General Soukhom
linoff, the Russian traitor, to life im
prisonment illustrates the repugnance
of the revolutionary government to
taking life. If ever man deserved the
death penalty he does, for his treason
must have cost hundreds of thousands
of lives.
The resignation of a Eureka pastor
because his salary was insufficient is
gentle reminder to all churches that'
it costs a clergyman as much to live
as the layman. A contented minister
is a good investment.
Douglas MacMonagle, the San Fran.
Cisco aviator on the western front.
wanted to "pass out fighting and doing
his best," and so he did.
October 9 is the anniversary of the
Chicago fire forty-six years ago, and
that is why that date is chosen for
Prevention day.
Currency as substitute for coin has
one great advantage. It can be hidden
in more ways from the predaceous
wife.
The moderation shown by the local
carmen Is commendable. There is a
hint of firmness in it, however.
Illinois elected Billy Mason. J. Ham
Lewis and other "celebrities," but "Bill
Thompson will make it gag.
Keep the name of Lownsdale street.
Portland has too few "monuments" of
the men who made it.
What's the use? An argus-eyed
Deputy Sheriff can spot a container a
block away.
Trains all day to Salem, and some
so late returning that nobody can
miss them.
Happy is the man whose job is not
subject to a strike, and far happier is
his wife.
Toleration of La Follette inspires
"Burgomaster" Thompson's ambition.
What can "Billy" Reidt adopt, now
the Third Oregon has gone?
Portland day at the State Fair. Go
early.
Hay isn't hay just now. It's money.
Last word: Go to Salem.
Stars and Starmakers.
Ujr Leone Cass Daer.
Louise Chalfonte. prima donna de
luxe with Kolb and Dill at the llellig
in "The High Cost of Loving," was a
newspaper girl in Los Angeles. She
still finds time while on the road to
grind out little stories and when she
gets time they're going to be woven to
gether into a big story.
Speaking of Kolb and Dill, the man
ager of the company is Bill Jacobs,
one of the best known newspaper men
in California. He went from newspa
perdom into active dramatio work, and
his appearance here on the Orpheum
a few seasons agro In his own sketch,
"When Caesar Ran a Newspaper," was
one of the richest riots of a season.
Waldemar Young, another newspaper
chap, appeared with him in the sketch
as Cleopatra's press agent, and Miss
Ethel MacFarland was Cleo with the
original jewel story to land in the first
edition. Since that day Mr. Jacobs
has been writing scenarios, and now
he is anchored to a life job and one
he likes, as manager for the come
dians, Kolb and Dill.
Robert Cleckler, leading man of the
Baker a season or so ago, is playing
in "Mother Carey's Chickens," a com
edy by Kate Douglas Wiggin, with
Edith Taliaferro in the leading role.
Baker Moore, who was juvenile three
years ago with the Baker Players, has
enlisted in the Medical Department of
the United Statss Army and will soon
sail for France.
.
Lora Rogers started things off nice
ly for the new Alcazar company mem
bers by giving a big dinner party at
the Multnomah Hotel on Tuesday night
in their honor. The entire company
was present, plus a few additional
guests outside the profession, and the
event was a gala one, with flowers
and music and toasts and all the flub
dubs that go with a big get-together
party.
e
Walter Kegan, who was with the
Baker Stock Company two seasons ago,
is now in the cast supporting Billie
Burke.
a
Warren Jackson, Portlander, who
played bits with the Baker folk a sea
son or so ago, and who wandered from
our midst as a bit of atmosphere with
the "September Morn" company, is now
stage manager with "Oh, Boy," in the
Eastern company.
st e
The premiere of the new play in
which Mrs. Fiske will appear this sea
son will take place next month under
the joint management of Klaw &
Erlanger, George C. Tyler and Arthur
Hopkins. The play will be concerned
with the life of George Sand and will
Introduce the French novelist at the
beginning of her love affair with Alfred
de Musset. Philip Moeller, one of the
directors of the Washington Square
Players, is the author of the play.
e e
Joseph Ritter, New York manager,
has received a letter from Mary Ander
son (Mrs. Antonio F. de Navarro)
which defeats for the present the plans
he had entertained of bringing the
actress to America for a serias of per
formances in "Pygmalion and Galatea."
a drama in which she formerly ap
peared. Madame Navarro writes In
part: "I am now engaged far ahead and
cannot accept any offers."
m m
Nella and Sara Kouns, the Orpheum
prima donna sisters, are rowing with
their stepmother in the courts here
over the estate lert by their father, the
late C. W. Kouns, general manager of
the Santa Fe Railroad.
The estate totals approximately
$200,000. Mrs. Kouns has been named
as administratrix.
The principal point of contention is
the family Bible and a set of Fennimore
Cooper's works which were their
father's. The girls maintain the old
family Bible containing the record of
the comings and goings in the Kouns
family for many generations past
should come to them as the direct de
scendants of the family and that the
stepmother has no right to it. The
courts are being asked to settle the
question of who shall have the custody
of the family record.
Jean Haves has formed a partner
ship with William Dale (late of Bob
and Dale), for the writing of special
material for vaudevillians.
Dale will devote himself to dialog
and Harvez to the lyrics. A staff of
composers has been recruited.
They are located in the New York
theater building. New York City.
e
II. A. Gillespie, husband of Chrystle
MacDonald, has suffered a nervous
breakdown and all plans for the pro
duction of a new musical play for Miss
MacDonald have been called off. Last
season Miss MacDonald appeared un
der her husband's management in
"The Little Missus."
m
Billy Pangle says that some day he's
going to invent a telephone book In
which the first name you look at is
the one you want.
William Powell, who played Juvenile
roles with the Baker Players about
four years ago, is appearing in stock
with Vaughn Glaser in Detroit. Mich.
Fay Courtenay la playing the leads op
posite Mr. Glaser.
Brandon Evans is with the Somer
ville Theater Players in Somerville.
Mass. He was a great ravorite there
last season and la returning this year.
Myrtle Gram, known on the stage as
Betty Gram, is one of the cast in the
Ralph Herz musical comedy "Oh, so
Happy." Miss Gram has a song and
dance number all to herself in the new
piece. It is now running in Chicago
at the Powers Theater. The piece
was originally entitled "Good Night,
Paul," but has been rechristened "Oh,
so Happy."
t
Out of the Months of Babes.
Cleveland Plalndealer.
The teacher said: "What kind of an
overcoat have you, James?"
"I have a woolly overcoat," answered
James.
"What kind of an overcoat has your
dog, Charles?"
"My dog has a woolly overcoat,
teacher."
"Peter, pan you take your warm,
woolly overcoat off?"
"Yes, I can."
"Frederick, can your dog take his
warm, woolly overcoat oft?"
"No, he can't."
"Henry, why can't a dog take his
warm, woolly overcoat off?"
"Because, teacher, God only knowi
where the buttons are!"
WHY EAT LESS MEAT AND BREAD f
Writer Assumes Campalca Is Directed
at IllEB Coat of Lirlns;.
OAK GROVE, Or., Sept. 28 (To the
Editor.) Who gets the benefit of tho
meatless and wheatless days that are
now advocated? . Why deny ourselves
the thingR we want unless we can
really benefit some needy one thereby?
Are we saving anything by doing with
out meat and using in its stead more
vegetables, more sweets, or other
things? Something has to be substi
tuted. I believe In conservation of food and
in reducing the high cost of living,
which is oftener the cost of high liv
ing. It did not take this wartime nor
high prices to make me think of ton
serving food. I have advocated for
years that the American people learn
to be more saving of foodstuffs and
that the American women learn to use
the coarser parts of vegetables that
are usually thrown away the little
leftovers that can be used in many
ways and make tasty dishes, but are
too often discarded because there is
not sufficient of it for the whole
family.
In so many little things women of
America should become batter enlight
ened to reduce the high price of food
stuffs. Only a regulation in prices for
the producer, the commission man (if
there really must be one), then for the
retailer, will help. To use judgment In
buying and using what we need will
help in the cost of living, but until we
learn to live within our means and
not try to live a little better than cur
neighbor will the high cost of living
be reduced? Then will we be conserv
ing food, together with learning the
use and preparation of such as we now
discard.
As I stated at first, when we deny
Ourselves something and use the
amount we would have spent for it
really to help a needy one, and don't
substitute any other article of food
for it, then will we be beginning to
consetve. V. G. B.
The primary purpose of the campaign
for meatless and wheatless days is not
to reduce the high cost of living, but
to conserve those articles of food which
have keeping and transportation qual
ities and of which there is a world
shortage. Substitutions are recom
mended, such,' for example, as fish,
poultry, fruits, vegetables and eggs,
for beef, pork, mutton, sugar, bacon.
Reform in eating habits and preven
tion of waste is to be commended at
all times and is now particularly urged
on ty o grounds: That by use and econ
omy of all food resources there may be
a greater conservation of articles of
which there is a shortageand that the
economic burden of the war may be
as readily borne as possible.
But even if a person saves nothing
on the cost of his food he is helping
the needy the armies in the field and
the hungry civilians of Europe if he
deprives himself occasionally of meat
and white bread.
STRIKE DIG TO GLIB AGITATORS
Such Is Correspondent's Opinion After
Reading of Sunday Meetlujc.
PORTLAND, Sept. 26. (To the Ed
itor.) The action taken by tha ship
building unions is a disgrace to the
Americanism of' Portland and a deter
mined attempt, apparently, on some
body's part to help the Kaiser.
The majority of tho working men at
the meeting Sunday night, at which it
was voted to go out on a strike, are
Americans and patriotic, which was
shown by the applause and cheering of
1'resident Wilson's message asking the
men to continue at work on shipbuild
ing, when it was read.
Had a motion been put to a vote at
this time without agitation to continue
shipbuilding. It would have carried
with an overwhelming majority. But
no, that would not have given the J4.ai-
ser s friends a chance.
Tr i - a well-known far.t tha.t tha ma
jority of working men are easily led.
They will ait in a meeting, such as that
of Sunday night, and never say a word.
but will let tneir minds, tneir tnougnts
and their feelings be swayed by some
gllb-tongued agitator, without a thought
for the future prosperity of themselves
and family, or tho welfare of their
country, and invariably will vote In the
affirmative. The man who suggested
the proposition to strike and to turn
down President Wilson's appeal should
be investigated.
Will American working men never
learn to cease being the dupes of agi
tators? AMERICAN.
PATRIOTIC JEX3IEN.
' By Everett Earle Stanard.
O, some must march to the roll of
drums.
Somewhere the gray ships steer.
Must halt the desperate foe that comes
To smite the world with fear.
But other heroes, loyal, brave.
Our equal praise demand
The writing men who warn and save,
And bid the country stand!
All honor to them who wield the pen
To combat foes at home.
That battle line of earnest men.
Far flung on freedom's loam.
Into the light they hale the tribe
Whose only thought and care
Was leveled taunt and venomed jibe
At those who cried "Prepare."
Year in. year out, the treason ran.
Preached by the pacifiist.
That not until the fight began
Need soldier boys enlist.
For a pacifist could see no doom
Upon the ocean path,
His blindness could not pierce the
gloom
Nor ken. the day of wrath.
Said he, "Preparedness is just
A snare the magnates cast.
Let all the rifles choke with rust;
This war scare cannot last."
But hero thinkers flung the truth
Abroad on every breeze:
"America must train her youth
Upon the lands and seas."
So honor we them who smote the lie
Dead in the traitor's teeth
Editors, poets, men who vie
Not for the warrior's wreath.
The men who march not with the
drums
Or where the gray ships steer
Make battle with the foe that comes
To smite the world with fear.
Not all the battles are at sea
Or on a foreign strand.
Someone must fight for liberty
In our own native land.
Inside the walls the traitors lurlc
And chant fair words of "Peace."
But for the German cause they work
And Germany's release.
So honor them who wield the pen
To combat foes at home.
Staunch battle line of writing men
Far flung on freedom's loam!
Style and Wedding; Clothe.
Pathfinder.
"I suppose you are busy having your
wedding clothes made?"
"Oh, no! If I had them made now
they'd probably be out of style."
A Look Ahead.
New York Sun.
Knlcker Didn't know you could af
ford a car.
Backer I- may be able to next year
and this is next year's car.
In Other Days.
Twenty-Five Years Aso,
From The Oregonian September 27. 1802.
New York Grover Cleveland has
written a letter accepting his nomina
tion for President on the Democrat!",
ticket.
William ITaworth's new spectacular
drama, "The Ensign," was presented by
I.itt & Davis at the Marquam Grand
last night.
A pressed brick manufactured by
Robertson ec Alexander, owners of the
Portland Pressed Brick Works was
submitted yesterday to a test at the.
Portland Iron Works and came out
with tho world's record badly beaten
and the limit of the hydraulic praaa,
20.000 pounds, reached. The brick
showed no signs of weakness when the
highest pressure possible was applied.
The world's record heretofore was
16,000 pounds.
Work has been started on the ex
cavation for the new City Hall.
Among the attractions at the Port
land Industrial Exposition is a mode)
of the great battleship Oregon which,
will bo completed in 1S94.
Margaret Mather, perhaps one of the
best-known of the legitimate stars to
day will appear at the Marquam Grand
next week, She will offer the curtain,
raiser "Nance Oldfield," the Ellen Terrs
version of Charles Reade's sketch,
"Art"; for those who like the intense
style, her latest successful tragedy.
"The Egyptian"; "Romeo and Juliet'
and "The Lady o' Lyons."
Half a Century Ago.
From The Oregonian September 2T, 1867.
Owyhee The last clean-up of the
Morning Star mill will amount to more)
than $8500. Seventy tons of ore were,
crushed.
Olympia James Biles was elected
grand master of the Masons at the)
conclave here last week.
The roan marc "Nellie" defeated tha
sorrel horse "Attila" in an exciting
race at Ilillsboro yesterday which went
five heats. The mare won by 12 feet
her time being 2:53. The fastest heat
was the second made in 2:45. Mr. Welch,
through Jamison's Kxpress. furnished
us with an exciting account of the
race.
"West of the Mississippi" is the title
of A. D. Richardson's new book which
has just reached the Library. It is the
compiled letters written to the New
York Tribune with some additional
notes. It contains an engraved picture
of Portland taken in 1S5.
DRAFT SEXT FOR SIIU'BI ILDIXO
Xavy Man Advocates Making Men
Work or Go to Trenches.
PORTLAND, Sept. 26. (To the Ed
itor.) For some time past 1 have been
desirous of expressing my opinion as
regards the strike in the different ship
yards and this morning seems to be
the right time to do it.
If the United States Government cart
draft men to serve in the Army for $30
per month, why can It not draft men
to work in the shipyards? If it can
compel a man to serve on a jury at $3
per day, why can it not compel a man,
to work in a shipyard for $3 per day?
True, the cost of living has gone up,
but has it gone up any more for men
employed in shipyards than it has for
men in the naval, or military service?
Besides, the "high cost of living" in
Portland. Or., is not more than one
half of what it is in the Middle West
Montana, for instance. In Portland
one can rent a six-room modern house
for $3 or $10 per month. In Montana
one will have to pay from $35 to $40 a
month for the same kind of a house.
Kverything else in proportion, snd in
that section of Montana that I hail
from the men are not striking or ask
ing for a $6 per day minimum wage.
Also the shipyard workers use the
excuse that a man in the Army or Navy
can send $23 or $30 per month home
and that the Government will provide.
Well. I have parents partially depen
dent on me and I don't see the Govern
ment providing for them. I send $23
per month out of my pay home and
these men in the different yards can do
the same.
The real solution of the strike will
be: . The Government to draft every
man. Give him his choice of the ship
yard or the Army and make him work,
if he refuses to work in a shipyard for
a fair wage, put him in the Army. I'll
volunteer to guard a half dozen of
these fellows, either to make them
work in the shipyards or to keep them
in the trenches. And I won't ask any;
extra pay either. NAVY MAN.
MR. LA FFEHTY TAKES IT BACK
Finds That He Made Mistake In Dm
clnrlnn for LaFollette.
PORTLAND, Sept. 26. (To the Edi
tor.) May I have space to say that
while I have always admired Senator
LaFollette and have done all I could
for him in this state, I desire especially
to repudiate his rfcent declaration that
we had no grievance for the present
wa r.
While many of us would have like!
to have seen the war settled by the
force of intellect rather than by tha
fc rcn of the bullet, I crave the oppor
tunity publicly to assert that the war
was justified a thousand times over.
A. W. LAFFERTY.
The concern of Mr. Lafferty arises
doubtless from his statement, in his
latest pamphlet announcing his newest
candidacy for Congress, that "I am
still for Woodrow Wilson, but I am
also still for Robert Marion LaFol
lette. I believe that they are both,
honest and patriotic that they merely
differ in judgment."
Mr. Lafferty'a declaration for Wi.on
and LaFollette followed the latter's
tactics in opposition to the President's
course, including his (LaFollette's)
vote with the "willful twelve" in op
posing arming merchant ships and his
vote against conscription and his other
vote against a declaration of war with
Germany. The man who is for Wilson
and LaFollette would in the Civil War
have said that "I am for Abraham Lin
coln, but I am also still for Jefferson
Davis."
Duration of Food Control.
OREGON CITY, Or., Sept. 21. (To
the Editor.) As I understand it. tho
food control law recently passed by
Congress Is in effect for the duration
of the war. Is the price of the 1918
crop of wheat guaranteed to be $2,
whether the war terminates or not?
W. W. HARRIS.
The food control law, under which
the President may requisition supplies
and fix prices, ceases to be In effect
"when the existing state of war be
tween the United States and Germany
shall have terminated and the faet
and date of such termination shall be
ascertained and proclaimed by the
President," but such termination does
not affect any right or obligation
accruing or accrued under the law.
Section 1, which deals with wheat
prices provides that the guaranteed
prices for the several standard grades
for the crop of 1918, shall be based
upon No. 1 Northern Spring or its
equivalent at not less than $2 a bushel
at the principal Interior primary mar
kets, that the guarantee is absolute
and shall be binding until May 1, 1919.